GOLF IN BELGRADE (March 19, 2008)
I dreamt that I was visiting a golf course in the center of Belgrade. It was completed about a year earlier, and it became hugely popular in a very short time. I was a member of an international team of golf-development advisers. Everyone from the team was stunned by what we found in Belgrade. The golf course was teeming with people, mostly kids. It looked like an anthill. Older players could hardly move through the crowd of boisterous kids wielding their clubs with aplomb. As the golf course was built in a large public park, many people were strolling about and watching others play. Apparently, the sport became one of the favorite pastimes in the city. Our team’s hosts were delighted by everything they had to show us, and they proudly explained that the annual membership fee was no more than four dollars. The enormous number of members covered all the costs of the golf course. Now and then, one of the hosts would climb onto a small platform and speak into a microphone with enthusiasm bordering on ecstasy. Most people on our team were so bewildered by everything around us that they kept mum. In the end, I asked to be given the microphone. After all, I grew up in Belgrade. The first thing I wanted to propose to our hosts was that the annual membership fee be raised at least hundredfold. Unfortunately, I woke up before I had a chance to speak and see the consternation on their faces.