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Hi everyone
This week is a week when I wish my English language didn't fail me as much as it does. I wish I could describe to you the way the snow glistens in the sunlight like glitter on a card in the light of a candle. How it sparkles like a myriad tiny fairy lights, lighting the way of the traveller. How it looks like millions of diamonds have been scattered on a white fluffy blanket. But none of these descriptions quite tells you how the sun dances on the snow. As I sit in the caravan window the sun is burning my back but the scene is still covered in snow a glistening white as far as the eye can see up the fields. If you look towards the village we are living in a Christmas card scene, we even have a Christmas tree in the distance. To walk through the snow is like walking through sugar, you can kick it and each snowflake rises and falls to the ground again. The pretty picture hides how hard it is to survive in these conditions. The slightest snow fall or strong wind blowing the snow around cuts the village off again; and men have to go out again to clear the road which can be as bad as before they started the day before. With snow up to three foot around the houses it is hard even for the fittest to clear paths to the livestock. I don't tell you how hard things are for us here to gain your sympathy for us but to try to give you an insight into life for the poorer people in Romania. There are some wealthy people in Romania as there are all over the world but the vast majority (I believe the figure is 60%) of the population falls well below the official poverty line. With temperatures falling well below zero every night (we have had 3 nights at -19C) the more vulnerable are hit hard, this year we have not been able to help very much because our present car won't cope with the conditions, but we have done what we can on foot. The logs stored for the winter quickly run out in these conditions and people are beginning to 'prune' their trees. People that have work driving or in construction are being told not to go into work, but they will not be paid while they are not working. Most of these men have not worked since before Christmas when they were laid off before the holidays, then they do not have to be paid for the holidays. People are now struggling with their credit payments, something which can easily be paid when the men are working. John, our help at the moment, has struggled manfully to keep us on the road as much as he can, but if the main road isn't cleared there isn't much we can do. We have been out round the village and a walk to the other end of the village that I can normally do in 15 minutes is now taking at least an hour, not all the roads are as clear as John has made ours. I must tell you that at the beginning of the week he came and said he needed to talk to us - the outcome of the conversation - we are paying him too much for what he is doing. Now with the hours he has been working for us we couldn't afford to pay him English wages but looking at the wages in Romania we thought 50,000 lei (about £1.00) an hour was fair, he has been working an average of 25 hours for the past three weeks, and we pay him weekly about 1,250,000 lei (£25.00). He says it is too much!!! But after you have read the diary this week you can decide.
Monday, when I left you last Sunday I went out with the dogs for their last run of the day and it had just started snowing again. It continued to snow through the night and the road that John had cleared was covered again. It continued to snow on and off through the day and not very much was done today. John and Sian walked through the snow to the elderly lady and the family, everyone is holding in there. Then John spent the day sawing up our logs so they fit on the fire. Unfortunately we lost another two of the smallest pigs today, if you remember I told you one of the hazards of a large mum and little piglets was her laying on them. We found two suffocated during the day. The other two are still holding their own. There is still no sign of Sunny Puss and we are growing more concerned, is she shut in somewhere or has she been knocked by a car or ... what?
Tuesday and the snow has stopped and people are talking about clearing snow again. Sian and I went to see Anisoara about making some crocheted flowers for us to put onto cards. We spent a couple of hours looking at designs and talking her through what we want and what she can expect from us. John started clearing the snow coming up from his road till it was too dark to see what he was doing. All the animals stayed in their houses only coming out when they smelt their warm food arriving. Still no sign of Sunny Puss. The bus is again only coming as far as Basarabi, then taking the long way round to Medgidia.
Wednesday John, his dad Stellica, and Chip finished clearing our road and then went off to clear other roads in the village. I did wonder what the Premier's men were doing, the twenty that are taken on to clear the roads in the village of snow every year. The young kids at the school were clearing the snow from the school grounds. The main road has been cleared by a machine hired by the bus company because they could not get their buses through. Some of the villagers tell me that because the village as a whole did not vote for the Premier he won't do anything for the village. Because the snow has piled up against the fences in the yard the pigs can now walk over the fence with no problem which means that we now regularly have the pigs in the awning especially when they can smell their food cooking. Still it gives them a bit of exercise.
Thursday John and Sian go into Basarabi to check the roads and pick up coffee, we were running out, a disaster as far as Lew was concerned. I can buy coffee in the village but we usually have 'decaf' which I can only buy in Basarabi. Plus both Lew and Sian's mobile phones were running out of credit. The snow is beginning to melt, the temperature went up to 22C out on the patio this afternoon. But in the awning the temperature didn't get above freezing. I had to do some washing today I couldn't put it off any longer. It isn't easy washing with a coat on, plus scarf and hat. I know it won't dry today but in three or four days it might. Lew's trousers freeze as I put them on the make-shift line Lew has put up in the awning, my usual line has a large snow drift under it. John's mum is one of the lucky ladies in the village last year they bought an automatic washing machine on credit. I have a separate washing machine and spin dryer which was the best for us when we bought them. A great many of the ladies in the village still wash by hand, rinsing in the ice cold water from the tap. But the washing has to be done.
Friday and John and Sian travel into Constanta to collect logs, Sian says the road isn't too bad but it is only one lane each way. Then I join them and we go to Pestera, we had been told that the road was now clear but John was driving on roads which were covered with compacted snow. A roadway had been cut through the snow drifts which in some places was only just wide enough for the car to get through and I was very glad I wasn't driving. Mel needs to go and collect his glasses, but when we arrive Mel is already wearing his glasses, his class teacher picked them up for him, she lives in town and took them into school with her. He was proudly showing them off, they do look smart. We will get you a picture next week.
We talk about the operation on Mel's eye, he will need to go to Bucharest for tests before they will commit to saying what is exactly needed. Gela gives us the name and address of the hospital for us to ring and get more details, Lew will do this on Monday. We sit and talk for a while catching up with all the news. I had picked up two of the jumpers that had come out with my mum last year, most had gone to Constanta feeding stations to be given out where they were needed but about six had been missed because they had come over in a different suitcase, and I had been looking for someone the right size for them. But I had not judged the size right, the one I thought would fit Mel was too short in the arms and the one I thought would fit Gelu fitted Mel. Sian decided I would have to make Gelu one and asked him what colour he would like. He wanted a royal blue one, so I am going to be busy for the next couple of weeks. Cristina, the goat, is thought to be pregnant, Sian has a feel and thinks she is carrying two. We drop off the logs we had brought over and arrange to meet them next week. On the way back we get a text from Lew, SUNNY IS HOME. Lew said she was very hungry and cold, but she was home safe.
Saturday and Tica wants to borrow the car and John, he wants to get two loads of logs from Constanta and hasn't the time to make the two journeys. When John gets back, he drives back into Constanta with Sian so they can go shopping for among other things the wool for Gelu's jumper. I want to make some marmalade and my juicer is broken so I walk through to the village to the shop. I pass a group of people clearing another road, say 'Buna ziua' and fall flat on my back, the pathways that have been used through the snow have become very slippery. I manage to go the rest of the way without another fall. Unfortunately I had a wasted journey, none of the shops had a juicer. While Sian and John are in town Sian organises a surprise for Lew and I, she has booked us into a hotel for Valentine's night, we can book in lunch time Monday.
Sunday and we had a quiet day. I make home-made baked beans today ready for school tomorrow. Do you remember I told you Lew had found Heinz baked beans, well we haven't found them again, but I have a recipe and tried it today. Then it was time to write to you.
What's been happening in the village this week? Well apart from snow clearing, nothing much.
School was closed at the beginning of the week again. When it isn't closed they are fitting in extra lesson for the oldest because they have their exams soon which will determine which high school they are sent to.
Well I think that's all the news from Siminoc this week ...
So I'll say cheerio for now ...
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