Backgammon on Pharmaceuticals

After arriving in Ohrid's western med atmosphere there was little inspiration to explore yet we settled in for two nights, on both the first and second nights we went overboard on food and Macedonian wine and after having some difficulty sleeping the last night or so I was looking forward to a full tummy, warm feet and a restful nights sleep in our humble studio flat in the Yugoslav socialist concrete style. which brings us to the Pharmacist from Berat...

Looking for something for sleep, Nytols maybe? and a stock of Flagyl should the need arise we were greeted a big faced, smiley old man with milk bottle glasses, white coat and baseball cap - I have no idea what his name is but I think of him as my newly adopted Grandad. Flagyl no problem - so no fear of repeating the Syrian experience - yet Nytols don't seem to be held in such regard here as they do in the West and so the second best option was blister pack of lorazepam handily sold individually or in a strip of 10 - a bit like buying penny fireworks, and just a cheap. We trusted our new friend very much but not ourselves so feeling like a high school kid buying individual cigarettes from the local corner shop we were on our way with two tiny little pills which were 'guaranteed' to provide the sleep I'd requested.

Not wanting to take the over sized heating contraption for granted, nor expect the over-eating and lashings of red wine to provide the required amount of sleep, it was time to trust in Grandad. It so happened we replaced dessert with the little blue pills and set off back to the studio apartment to break open the Backgammon (so I can thrash Ben's ass again!).

Half an hour later, now I'm not saying Ben plays Backgammon slower than a snail with a groin strain, but I fell asleep in between each of my moves and on waking up again some unknown time in the future I found Ben fast asleep, face down on the wooden table and I had won! again! I can only deduce that I am a far superior player than Ben even after my adopted Grandad has conspired with him to loosen my iron grip on the game. Dreams of standing atop the Olympic medal podium with my lucky dice in my hand, 9 hours later I woke in pretty much the same position I recall hitting the pillow.

I can without any shadow of doubt conclude I did not take a placebo.

Coming up on gullible's travels...
Viva la Vincini
Hotel Tutto, the 15,000 sq ft hotel with only seven rooms
Monastic interlude, Baptise the sinner! Gay icons, Oh, and Ben the sex slave to Sweaty Jovan - last I saw of him he had a smile on his face
Debar, oh how we loved Debar
The psychedelic Art Hostel
Quebecois speed junkies in Skopje
Free running socialists
Pickpockets fuck off!
7 o'clock curfew
Viva Kosovo the youngest country in the world- and its very fine chinese food
BLUE! sofa