Ribcev Laz - Domzale - Ribcev Laz

Lunch

Today we drove about an hour to a small suburb on the outskirts of Ljubljana to see a friend of my Dad's from years past.

It has been 14 years ago since we saw them last and it was great to see them all again. 

We had a massive lunch and a great afternoon of eating, drinking and being merry.  

We heard that things are a bit tough at the moment with unemployment high and a lot of work being moved out of Slovenia (and their best people) which is making it even worse. 

Dad's mate Tom.  I'm not praying, I have their
parrot in my hands.  (That's not a euphimism.)

There are 3 generations living under the one roof here and we heard that Ales and Anja (the kids, 26 & 22) are working at McDonalds.  This is great for them because they know at month's end they will be paid!  

Apparently many people are working here and are not being paid at the end of the month and it can drag on for months before you get any money at all.  (And sometimes you don't get paid at all.)  An unbelievable situation but unfortunately quite common.

With the unemployment being so high at one stage one of the kids was supporting the whole family from her work at McDonalds.  In Australia people change jobs like they change their underpants.  Over here the whole idea of quitting your job for no other reason than you don't like it is bizarre.

Team Domzale

Had a second round of dinner and left for home about 9pm for the one hour drive back.  A great day with great hospitality shown to us.  

It's a bit of a bummer to not be able to repay any of the hospitality shown to us by our friends here (and elsewhere) as they have no hope (short of winning the lottery) of ever visiting Australia.