Last night Romania got snowed on, seemingly everywhere, though perhaps not at the coast. On the news, of course, all the talk was of the fact the capital was paralized. Intrepid reporters had gone out of the front door of their TV stations and were filming traffic moving slowly. It was gripping TV, as you can imagine, and once again served to give the impression that anything beyond the county of Ilfov (the county that surrounds Bucharest) doesn't actually exist.
This morning with the capital's 5 cms of snow still the talk of every TV station, the government had promised a "War on Snow". I swear I'm not making that up. What excatly does a war on snow look like? It's an intriguing concept. However, rdiculous, though, it is in some ways a nice way to highlight the ridiculous use of the phrase "A War on XX" which is so in vogue these days. It all started with the War on Drugs, but reached it's nadir with the "War on Terror". The principle weapon in the war on terror is (it seems) fear, which is blackly ironic to say the least. Strangely, real wars are no longer actually called wars anymore - the War on Iraq was never called that by any English speaking media outlets that I saw. It's a War on Language, I reckon.
Meanwhile, have a look at this picture, which I am reliably informed was not photoshopped.
. Now, I don't tend to trust anything that FoxNews says, since I regard it as extreme right wing bullshit, for the most part, but I never really thought they'd stoop to this level. I suppose I should be grateful they were even having a debate. I wonder what the "yes" camp had as arguments? It will increase the share price of weapons dealers? If everyone's dead it will make the country much easier for our boys to control?And finally
Before I sign off, and to take my mind of the idiots who run the world, a short Paula update. She seems to be recovering, though there are still occasional coughs, which send us into a panic. We even took her out for a walk on Sunday, which was an exciting moment - the temperature had cracked zero for once and we seized our chance. Just in time it seems, since it's got cold again. Yesterday she had her first vaccinations. Not quite sure whether there's still a real danger that children will contract diphtheria, but if there is, she won't be the one to get it. The next big worry is mumps, which is currently running rampant in Csikszereda. If Romania offers MMR you don't get it till you're one anyway, so this could be our next panic. With Bogi venturing each day into the mumps factory that is her kindergarten, we are daily inviting those vicious germs in our home. We must declare a War on Mumps (TM), and we must start now.
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