65-year-old Algirdas Narauskas lives in a single-family house in the village of Pasimniai, in the Simno district. The roof of his house is painted in the colors of the Lithuanian flag, which can be seen from the Simnas-Ėuoliniai road and from a paraglider flight. Curious people wonder why the roof of the house is decorated with a tricolor. Passers-by even stop to take pictures. A conversation with A. Narauskas regarding life in a country house, where music and bright colors just ooze.
Tricolor roof
Driving along the Simnas-Ėuoliiniai road, regarding 250 meters from the road is the homestead of A. Narauskas, where he has been living for 18 years. The roof of the house is tin, painted in the colors of the tricolor flag. “Some people raise fabric flags, and I thought that the roof should be painted. There was everything, mockery and, as always, advice, but now everyone calls me a patriot, a Lithuanian”, says A. Narauskas, who painted the roof of the house 4 years ago, smiling. Every couple of years the colors are refreshed as the sun fades. Passers-by stop by the painted roof to take pictures. Almost every building in his homestead, even the gazebo or warehouse, has tricolor accents and details. And Algirdas is extremely sincere and pleasant to communicate with, he is always waiting for everyone who wants to see an exceptional roof.
By the way, the man consulted with a neighbor regarding how to correctly arrange the colors of the flag, with whom they both searched the Internet for examples of how the horizontal tricolor should look. Algirdas used 2 kg of good, more expensive paint to paint one strip. In the summer, the roof gets very hot, so the man often climbs up to check to make sure there is no fire. When asked if it was difficult to paint the roof, A. Narauskas smiles: “One laugh, I climb like a squirrel.” The man is optimistic, cheerful – he shares this with others. He is a patriot, with old traditional Lithuanian views! Elections are like a holiday for him. Algirdas says that he always waits for the election and never gets it, because then voting is like going to a family ball! He goes to perform his civic duties dressed up and with his head held high!
Musical taste
Algirdas lives alone, but he is not sad regarding it and is not looking for the company of women. Do as he likes. Namely – the man’s paternal grandmother. He grew up here, spent his youth here, and meets his old age here. The house where Algirdas lives is old, its age reaches 100 years. Here he grew up in a family of 8 children. Grandparents and parents lived together with everyone at that time, a total of 12 people. Algirdas remembers that somehow everything was enough for them then. There was a lot of warmth, mutual understanding and joy. In the time of my grandparents, the house was covered with straw. Only later covered with galvanized tin. The man owns 4 hectares of land, which he now leases to farmers. A. Narauskas plays music loudly in the yard almost every day during the warm season. The interviewee says that he has his own musical taste: he is fascinated by Lithuanian pop songs, listens to S. Povilaitis, S. Donskov. “And my voice is not bad, but it has changed in old age. And before, I might sing with the first, second, and even third voice!” – says Algirdas. No matter what, the man does not regret investing in a powerful sound column, which simply “gets high” when he takes it outside. Then the village is alive – Algelis at home. “When I went to the hospital, the neighbors immediately realized that something had happened to me. After all, our village is no longer fun without music”, says the interviewer with a smile.
Waiting for summer
A. Narauskas is open – he is waiting for summer and warmth, and depression attacks him from dargana. Algirdas has a way to protect himself from depression – he always lives in a festive mood. You won’t believe it, but even now his house is still decorated with Christmas decorations, a big old brainless is attached to the door of the house. But not all the illuminated Christmas decorations remained – Algirdas even asked a neighbor with a tractor-forklift to hang them up. The interlocutor does not lack ingenuity. In the old but running cars that his children drive, the man has made a lockable storage room in which he keeps various things.
For 32 years, A. Narauskas worked as a machinist’s assistant in Simnos reclamation. “I earned well, we celebrated well. There was work for everyone, even though they used to fire him for bad behavior,” smiles Algirdas, but admits that his health helped a lot there. Therefore, now the interlocutor especially wishes everyone health, well, and then money, optimism and strength.
Daniel Jakubavičius
