|
Hi everyone,
From a very quiet Siminoc. I think everyone is just waiting for the snow to hit us. The weather has been beautiful this week with clear blue skies, but this means cloudless night skies, which means cold nights, but luckily be haven't been below zero for about a week. As soon as the sun sets you can feel the temperature drop. The piglets have all got through another week, it is said that you should expect to lose one, but each day they grow stronger and more independent and we are hopeful that they will all survive. They are all putting on weight nicely and Spot is a very good mum. Sometimes when we look in on them the two big pigs are lying back to back and the little ones are lying on their backs. There is one that keeps nibbling his mum's ear and running away, she doesn't seem to mind. The piglets are having fun using their snots to dig and they look up at you with dirty little faces. But on with the diary ...
Monday and after feeding it is in to town to stock up again, in case we have the snow which is forcast for Wednesday night. I think the rest of Constanta had the same idea, the meat department was very low, in fact they only had pork which of course I don't need. But the shop had everything else I needed. We got back with just enough time to have a coffee before we fed.
Tuesday and out came the washing machine to try and remove the mountain of washing that has built up over the past week. While it was heating up I brought straw down from the stack for the pig run. Not much time for anything else, I washed through till about eight. John has decided not to take the driving job he had been offered last week because he would need to catch three buses. He should start work at 7.30 in the morning, he would need to catch the 6.00 bus, if that was full (which it often is by the time it gets to the village) he would be late. The bus fares would take two and a half million lei (£50.00) of the five million lei (£100.00) he would earn a month.
Wednesday and I put the washing machine on as I take the dogs for a walk, the water should be hot by the time I get back. I start picking up some odd bits for the fire half way round, I have a bag full of maize husks and sunflower stalks before I get home. While we having coffee at lunch time Lume arrived with two ladies, one of them is our new postlady. Our old postman had not been delivering the mail and had been given the sack, we have not received a large amount of mail but we put it down to the system not our local postman. Our new postlady brings the first of the weekly women's magazines that my mum is going to send me each week. It is a double issue Christmas one with short stories, a serial, recipes, a knitting pattern and readers letters. I am hoping that not too many of the recipes are fancy ones, fancy ingredients are impossible to get here. This evening I take John into Constanta for another interview, but when he has finished he says he does not think he will take the job because they are paying 6 million lei (£120.00) a month, but, apart from the bus fare consideration, one and a half million lei (£30.00) is paid in food vouchers. These come in vouchers of the value 61,000 lei (just over a pound) and you can only buy food with them and you cannot have change. John's dad has these vouchers, so his mum would not be able to use another one and a half million in vouchers, most of what they eat is home produced. We have a beautiful sunset this evening with a glowing red sky, 'Red sky at night, shepherds delight', should be nice again tomorrow. I don't think we are going to get the snow they forcast for us. I check the temperature at ten o'clock, it is +4C, the temperature will have to drop before we have snow.
Thursday and after I had fed I took the dogs out for their walk, Sian usually does this but she hasn't been up to it the past few days. On our way round I didn't hurry, but strolled enjoying the peace and quiet, the clear blue sky, the planes leaving their trails through the sky, the patchwork quilt lying over the fields and the dogs chasing each other enjoying the freedom. We meet John half way round the walk, he had been to look at their wheat. We discussed what else they would plant, John thinks peas and maize. Their wheat was planted on the same day as ours and we discuss how it is growing, I am a little disappointed with the growth of ours, our next door neighbour's wheat is up more than ours, it went in earlier. But John says if you look closer our wheat is green right through, theirs has brown sections at root level and on the tips because of lack of rain after it had been planted. Then there is other wheat that is only a couple of centimetres up, John says this will not stand up to the snow when it comes which he says will be about the 15th or 16th. He also tells me to watch the crows, they are coming into the village to roost, which John says is a sign that bad weather is on the way. We all know it has to come but the question is when? He comes in for coffee and Lew and he talk cars, I switch on the washing machine again. Lew goes off to get the pig food, the two brothers where we buy the feed are pleased with the news of the new piglets and show Lew a new feed mix they have formulated specifically for piglets being weaned, we will buy some in about a months time. The washing dries a treat in the warmth of the sun. Sian and John, Stelica and Anisoara go to Ovidu to Little John's for the evening.
Friday and it is more straw down for the pigs and the chickens, this takes most of the day and I have to rush to get ready to go out for dinner. Today is an important day for everyone called John, it is St. John's Day, and everyone called John celebrates this day as a second birthday. We are invited down to John's for dinner, we have thin pork slices and chips with pickled gerkins followed by a Romanian bread which has chocolate swirls in it, we then nibble toasted sunflower seeds while we watched the television. On the news there was a big party on the top of one of the blocks of apartments, all the Johns from the block were the guests, there were about twenty of them.Then the news showed another party where they were Romanian dancing. The local news showed about five different parties.
Saturday and after feeding more of yesterdays washing goes on the line before I take the dogs out and collect the firewood. I took the afternoon off and watched a film on the television, my mum rang to say she had been helping with a fund raising coffee morning for Mel, she had been making Bacon Sandwiches all morning, I told her she was not to mention 'bacon', we can't get bacon here and I do miss my bacon sandwiches. Then back to the work of the day and I feed watching another lovely sunset.
Sunday, Lew and John are off early this morning, they are going to look at the car market, it is a bit like a car boot sale only they sell the cars. Lew says the car parking charge in Constanta has gone up from 10.000 lei (20p) to 20.000 lei (40p). We found last year that between Christmas and the New Year a great many things went up in price, this year is no different; petrol prices have increased, I haven't heard about the bus fares yet. By the time they are back I am ready to take the dogs out for their walk, Felix and Mac decided they are coming with us, they trot along with us Felix talking to me every now and then, needing reassurance I think. Nobody was about, everyone seems to be inside which is a shame because it is a beautiful day, to nice to been stuck inside. I had forgotten to pick up the firewood bag but came back with pea sticks instead. I'm not sure why but there were bits of bush all over the track in one place, just right for pea sticks and last year I struggled to find sticks for my peas, this year I'll be prepared. Then I took the camera up the field to take the pictures for you. Us, as we are now, I wonder what we will look like this time next year. Then some shots of the village for you. Then back to feed, one of the little pigs was running around in the chicken run, but when I went to get him he beat a hasty retreat back into the pig run and into the sty. Lew has cooked as usual and I enjoy dinner before sitting down to write to you.
Sian has just come in and said that the news on the telly are giving a weather warning that at the end of the month the temperature will be going down to -20C with heavy snow. Sian says it is cold out this evening, she has got back from a fish and wine evening with her friends. The news reported that the government are worried about the effects on livestock and agriculture, the wheat we plant is supposed to over-winter and withstand the cold and snow, but I do not know how low the temperature can go and the wheat still survive. If the temperature is going to go that low we are going to have to reassess the insulation on the housing for all the animals. They didn't say how long it is expected to last. I think we need to have a real good stock up with food for us and feed for the animals this week. I will also have to get in a stock of firewood so if necessary we can keep the fire going 24 hours a day. Lew says we must store some water in the building just in case the pipes freeze, I think I will put more straw round the pipes outside. Sian says she wants all her clothes clean, she is going to wear them all at once to keep warm. My slow pace of life has just ended, we need to get ready to batten down the hatches. This lovely weather we have been having might be the 'lull before the storm'. Also, the news says there is a query on how long the new President will stay in office, he has already upset people and the news says he might be ousted.
What's been happening in the village this week? The children are getting ready to go back to school on Monday. I wonder how long they will be at school, before the snow makes it impossible for their teachers to get to the village. Like I said earlier the village has been very quiet this week. The sheep have been out once and I have noticed the cows have been out grazing.
But, I think that's all the news from Siminoc this week ...
So I'll say cheerio for now ...
|
|
