A Follow Up On The Last Post / A Warning

After explaining my story to some people about being harassed while running, one of my students informed me that his wife spotted someone naked masturbating near a popular biking / running path in Bratislava. 

People beware. Next time I go there I am going to bring a phone and call the police if I see the guy again. It's a scary thought to imagine someone in the woods doing things like this. He has to be dealt with and I don't mean with violence but he needs help and obviously needs to be taken away from people until he gets this help.

For those who live in Bratislava it's the park near Most Apollo. It's beautiful park and I don't want to avoid it because of one sick person.

Groped - Weird, homosexual experience # 3

As the title says, this was another one of those weird experiences. The first came when an old, drunk Polish guy offered me a blowjob when all I wanted was to get to a campsite. The second came in a sauna in Georgia when an Israeli started rubbing my leg and asked if I was gay. When I replied no, he left.

The third in the series of strange encounters happened last week when I was out for a run. I'd chosen a forested area as it's a great spot for a run and far from the concrete and noise of the city. I was running along enjoying the greenery and the Danube to me left when I came across a youngish guy. I started him as he jumped when I ran towards him. He mumbled something that sounded like 'hello' so I responded and ran on. Then I heard some footsteps behind me. I ran a bit faster and the footsteps increased their tempo. I thought it must be another runner but when I slowed down I saw to my surprise that it was that strange guy. He mumbled something that sounded like 'so' and then touched me in an area that I didn't appreciate. I didn't know what 'so' was supposed to mean and didn't want to find out so I quickly ran this time, more out of fear and shock than anything leaving the groper behind.

Once I was sure he was far behind, I slowed down. Planning the way back was tricky as I'd no idea where he was. I decided to talk the bike path as there were more people there and it seemed the safer option. Once I got close to where one of the bridges was I saw a runner being dragged back by the groper. He was struggling to get his hands off him but finally succeeded in getting away. After seeing this I went back into the forest hoping that there were no other similar characters around. When it came to the point when I had to cross over the river, I looked around very carefully but didn't see him so I ran up the steps and onto the bridge. I was enjoying my run again when I looked over at the other side of the bridge and there he was. My biggest fear was that we'd meet again at the end of the bridge so I ran at a fast tempo and kept watch out of the corner of my eye for any fast movements on the other side of the bridge. Thankfully there were none and the rest of the journey home passed by without incident. I must say that it left me feeling a bit vulnerable to say the least. Beware of the groper.

The Good and the Bad

The Bad

Slugs are eating their way through lots of the things we have planted. They have eaten our pumpkins, courgettes and nearly all of our cucumbers. Desperate attempts to save one last pumpkin sadly failed despite going round at night and rounding up as many slugs as we could. Below is just one portion of snails just before they got boiled.

The Good

Flowers are blooming and it's strawberry season. I don't have a picture yet but there are so many strawberries that we are finding it hard to think of ways to eat them and preserve the ones we can't possibly eat. We are in the process of making jam and have been enjoying smoothies the last few days but there are so many there that we may have to just restrict our diet to strawberries for the next while. Radish has been picked, the salads are growing well and we have finally planted the tomatoes that we had been growing at home. The vineyard is proving to be a challenge. We have pruned the shoots and branches without grapes and are carefully monitoring them for diseases as this seems to be a big problem here. Fingers crossed.