by I remember the powerful British AIDS campaign from when I was little: billboards with Don’t Die of Ignorance in big, unmissable capital letters. Now, thousands of Romanians are doing just that. It’s upsetting to be living in a country that has completely given up on something so fundamental – keeping its citizens alive. Romania was fortunate at the start of the pandemic – being outside Europe’s main traffic routes afforded the country more time, and they used it to good effect. Masks were mandated in shops in late April here in Timișoara, some time before they became law in the UK, schools were closed, and we came out of the first wave in good shape. In autumn 2020 as cases rose again, masks were made mandatory even on the street. In spring 2021, we had another lockdown which kept a lid on things. So far, so good, or at least not absolutely awful.
But since then it’s been a complete disaster zone. The vaccination campaign has been feeble, and the victors have been a lethal cocktail of religion, fake Facebook “news”, and Antena 3 (Romania’s version of Fox News, whose viewership is made up almost entirely of old people who are most at risk of Covid). Right now, two-thirds of Romanians are fully exposed to the Delta variant, and most of them are going about their business as normal. You can hardly blame them for not giving a toss when the government doesn’t either. In last December’s elections, a right-wing anti-vax, anti-everything party gained significant representation. Eighteen months ago we had the police checking every vehicle that drove by, and even an army presence, but now there’s nothing. Restaurants and bars are still open. We have a curfew – you’re not allowed out after 8pm if you’re unvaxed – but is that even enforced anywhere? About 400 people are dying from Covid every day, 90% of whom are unvaxed, and that only counts hospital deaths as far as I’m aware. (A lot of Romanians avoid hospital at all costs, and that’s understandable. I mean, you might burn to death there.)
Of course some people will say that killing a few hundred people every day is worth it if you save the economy. That stopping the spread of the virus (at least within reason) doesn’t actually help the economy in the long run has been the biggest lie of the pandemic, and Romania doesn’t do long-term thinking. The big obsession right now seems to be “Horeca”, which is an acronym of hoteluri, restaurante, cafenele. Gotta keep Horeca moving, no matter what.
The beeping Happy Zoo grab-a-toy machine, which is in the area outside the supermarket where I pack my bags while trying to keep away from everyone, still creeps me out. It’s like something out of a Stephen King novel.
Another creepy thing is this song that my neighbour has been playing, almost on a loop, day and night, for weeks. Thankfully it’s been at low volume, but what is it? DUM-dum-DUM-dum-DUM-dum-dum. Today I managed to get close enough to the wall to Shazam it – I was the eighth person ever to do so. I imagined it was an old song, but it’s a brand new Romanian song called Nu Mai Spune Nimănui, by Pragu’ de Sus. It’s quite a nice song outside the saturation-level rotation that I’m experiencing. (One of my favourite Romanian songs, by Kumm, has an almost identical title, Să Nu Spui Nimănui.)
Tomorrow I’m looking at another flat, but it’s in an ultra-modern area which just isn’t my thing.
