by Cracks had already been showing in the lockdown for some time. It was inevitable really – the warm weather, the light evenings until nine, and the general feeling of lockdown fatigue meant that people were itching to get outside. Then came yesterday, when the state of emergency was officially replaced by a state of alert, and it was like a switch had been flipped. Still fewer people than normal, but a big increase.
So what’s new? If you’re staying within the city, you no longer have to fill in a form to say where you’re going and why. Most shops and fast food kiosks are now open. Restaurants, bars and cafés remain closed (inside and out), as do malls (good!). Services are starting up at the cathedral again, but outside. Schools won’t be going back until September. The Romanian school year ends in June, so unless you reschedule it somehow, there’s no point in going back before the autumn. Although the UK school year finishes in July, it would be best if the Brits called the whole thing off too.
I’m still going up and down the stairs with those ten litres of water on my back. People often ask me, “Isn’t the lift working?” Today I tried counting the steps in Serbian, eight at a time, up to hiljada dvadeset četiri (1024).
This morning they repainted the pedestrian crossing below my apartment, with a twist. People in the UK are told to be alert; in Romania you have to B sharp instead:
When I walked by the Bega this afternoon I saw a hornet’s nest. I hadn’t seen hornets for ages. Maybe they were those killer hornets I’d been warned about. This is what the Bega looked like today:
