Making myself at home

As we are in Romania for 6 months, I am making myself at home by moving things around including furniture. This is not as hazardous as it sounds as it is mostly made of bamboo or rattan. The bedside tables have lift off trays which are very useful for weekend coffee in bed. I have also put the  citrus orange/yellow throws from the beds upstairs onto the settees in the living room which have brightened it up considerably as the lounge is all grey & white. All the beds now have cream throws which I have washed and dried between 2 trees. We have a cream hammock to try out yet, but our last attempt in Miami resulted in ia quick downward exit onto the sand.!

Shopping is quite a challenge as everything is written in Romanian, obviously, and we need a bit of everything except tea, coffee and cereals which we brought with us. Without a car the first week, we had to go shopping regularly to get the basics and carry them home. E.g. bottles of oil and water as well as ingredients for meals. We were advized by the owner to not only drink bottled water,  but to cook in it but Rich has asked work colleagues and they say it is fine to cook veg and pasta in the water but that it tastes of chlorine(?) if you drink it.

Bringing shopping home can be hazardous because of the state of the pavements especially after the rain, but Rich told me that he chose Breaza as a place to live cos it HAS pavements, as many places do not e.g. Cornu. A torch is useful at night as the street lights are few and far between and if you haven't memorized the dips and holes beneath you, you could be in trouble. I'll be lucky to get home without broken bones/or memorize the holes in the pavement; one or the other.

Richard worked up a thirst shopping, and tried to buy some bottles of beer but was not allowed to! Imagine that, Richard a connoisseur of ale being denied his favourite drink! And for no good reason! Obviously this had to be addressed. I can now tell you that to buy a 50 ml bottle of beer you have to take an empty bottle to the shop before they will sell you another. But how do you get your first one ? Watch this space. Reminds me of the olden days, taking bottles of pop back to the shop for a penny each!

The fruit and veg in the local supermarket is poor and seasonal, but you can buy religious votive glass candle holders in the hardware aisle. However washing up brushes are impossible to find. It's strange what you get used to. I can remember a time before washing up brushes and we were all happy then. I think that the local market will have better fruit and veg but I have yet to find out.

Pa pa (bye bye) for now