brrrrr

before i get back to drinks or bibliotekas,...or anything else,...a little weather report

people have been wearing overcoats here,...today and yesterday -- raincoats,...jackets,.... -- maybe the days before too -- i don't remember -- it's 57 or 58 degrees, at four o'clock -- the high hasn't gone much over 60, the last two days,...if it has even reached 60 -- it's to get to 50, overnight -- might have dipped into the forties, the last couple of nights -- my summer costume is always,...t-shirt and shorts (polo shirt, half-sleeve shirt, whatever) -- not today or yesterday -- long-sleeve shirt,...for sure -- and long pants -- socks, too -- although i've been formal here -- want to look presentable,...when i go into these libraries -- haven't worn shorts yet,...i don't think -- maybe once,...for a very short foray -- reminds me of being in baghdad

actually, i just looked at the weather channel's web-site -- even though it reaches 66, 65 and 67 degrees, the next three days, it goes to 46, 45 and 47, overnight

funny

it's supposed to warm up, saturday -- crack the 70-degree mark

i finally was able to find the temperatures for past days, on the weather channel's web-site -- the high was 62, yesterday; 59, sunday; 70, saturday

now,...back to drinks or bibliotekas -- i like saying "biblioteka"

vilniaus bibliotekos

that's libraries of vilnius -- not too hard -- i just had to learn the ending -- endings -- of both...vilnius and biblioteka

* * *
before we get back to drinking,...a little work

when i was in cleveland, and decided, three months ago, that i would spend the summer in vilnius, i thought i'd teach english during my stay here -- i corresponded with a few schools here, and they told me that to teach english here, one needed a certificate -- after arriving, i learned that a program to get the certificate lasts four or six weeks, and costs a thousand or so euros -- in the meantime, i thought i'd put up a shingle, offering writing and editing services -- i told aneta, at my old hotel, and my landlord that i was looking for work -- zita sent me links to three translation agencies here (vertimu biuras) -- the place is littered with them -- one of them, which provides translation services for businesses and the e.u., responded -- that they were actually looking for someone to write for their blog -- they liked some of my ideas,...so that meant i needed a library -- i've been to seven or eight

the first one was the closest to my apartment of the ones recommended -- lietuvos technikos biblioteka, on sventasis ignoto gatvé -- saint ignatius street -- sventasis starts with a "sh," and is always abbreviated "sv," with a little wide v accent mark over the "s," to make the "s" a "sh" -- somebody tell me what that accent mark is called -- most of the streets in old town, especially the pre-war streets, are narrow alleys -- cobblestoned streets,...or brick streets -- alleys, really -- the way they've been, for hundreds of years -- now with elevated pavements on the sides -- probably added, early in the twentieth century

the library is on the right side of the brick wall,...down the road a bit

that's the other end of ignoto -- the library is behind us, on the left

entering, from another gate 

before you enter the reading room -- which is around the glass case to the right

i don't know if this library is attached to any university or college -- its web-site says it was founded by the ministry of defense, last year, and that it's funded by the state -- i've seen a few men in military uniform here -- one, with his little girl, in the cafeteria -- its books are divided into design, architecture, landscape, aviation and other technical fields -- a good percentage of them are in english -- maybe 10 to 20 percent

it's quiet -- the cubicles are wide -- not too many people have been there -- friendly staff

this library quickly became my favorite -- then, what i discovered, a week or two ago, made it...soar...into the stratosphere -- into...something,...supernatural

next day, i went to the national library, on gedimino prospektas -- the main boulevard of the new city -- gedimino starts, directly across the street from the great cathedral

that's the library building -- to the left is the parliament building, one of the main sites of anti-soviet demonstrations -- which began in 1987

the building was constructed in soviet times -- i think, begun, in 1963 -- but they've been redoing the inside, for 10 years -- just opened up

i like their system of numbering the days of the week -- you see that, everywhere -- shops, restaurants, etc.

busy place -- it was hard to find desk-space

i couldn't understand what those were -- right across from the main desk

lot of lockers

it looks like i've got myself another series -- and i'm not even done with the second item in the series

same bat channel