Life According to Lubka by Laurie Graham

Life According to Lubka

Laurie Graham

Roll up! Roll up! The Gorni Grannies have reserved a place for you on their tour bus. Lessons in life, love and Bulgarian Mafia dodging are comically prescribed by Lubka on this lighthearted investigation of East-West culture clash. Like the world-weary music executive who has to marshall the tour I discovered a very genuine warmth in the strong characters who inhabit the uncool World Music scene.

Extract
We stop at South Mimms to get coffee and sandwiches and I'm in the restroom when I hear the sound of hysterical Bulgarians. Screams, laughter, then more screams. It's the motion-activated faucets. Lubka's figured out how they work and she's giving the other three a demonstration.
'An! Aff! An! Aff! Vater! Stop! Vater! Stop!'
Zveta's blouse is soaked, Dora's backed herself into a vacant stall, seems to think it is the work of the Devil and by the look of Kichka's bulging pocketbook she's cleaned the place out of paper towels. This tour could turn out like a first grade field trip.
Parallels
  • A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka
  • Any sketches by Victoria Wood

Pure entertainment