Our Man in Tirana

When we first arrived it seemed that I heard it everywhere. Now, as we get ready to leave I'm hearing it everywhere again. In the last three days I've heard it three times - on Wednesday in Juvenilja, on Thursday somewhere I can't remember, on Friday at an open air festival in Mother Tereza Square. The latter was a kind of ersatz reggae version - pleasingly different. I tried it once myself at Flares on karaoke night, but I couldn't hit the high notes. Maybe I ought to give it one more go.

Last night after another fine dinner at King House - highly recommended - I ended up at Tirana's trendiest nightclub, Lollipop. There were five of us there and I think between us we raised the average age considerably. I'm not a nightclub person, but there was a live band playing and a friend arranged some tickets for us. We arrived just as the band were playing Gloria - a taste of home. For those who don't know, Gloria was a song by Them, whose lead singer was Van Morrison before he got famous all on his own. Van Morrison is a son of my own home town of Belfast - and is the person they should have named Belfast City Airport after instead of drunken wife beater George Best. Then we could have flown from Van Morrison airport to John Lennon airport. We also had The Monkees, Elvis, Robbie Williams and a few others I can't remember or didn't recognise. I thought it was interesting that all the songs were in English and the few words the singer spoke between songs were a...

At midnight on Friday Albania went non-smoking, with a complete ban in all public places. I was sceptical - everyone I know was sceptical. Albanians are too addicted to the weed, we thought; the law is just for show for the EU; it will never be enforced. It looks like I was wrong. Tonight, day two of the ban, I was walking around the city with Bella the dog in tow. Bella is a leisurely walker - she likes to stop and sniff - so I had plenty of time to glance in the cafes and bars as we passed. In smaller local bars, the picture was mixed. Some places had cleared the ashtrays off the tables; in others the customers were puffing away as normal. In more central areas, the change was more noticeable. Most places had removed the ashtrays; one had placed a large no-smoking sign on the entrance; another had multiple signs on the walls; a third had individual no-smoking signs on all the tables. The timing of the ban has been helpful. Since the days are hot and the evenings are warm, many people...