by Well, the snooker’s over. Seventeen days of blissful escape, and now I’m back down to earth with a bump, or rather a beep – I’m getting regular phone alerts to tell me the latest terrifying developments in Romanian politics.
Mark Williams’ run to the final had been mad, uplifting, at times exhilarating, and I’d have loved him to have won his fourth world title, but alas it didn’t happen. Zhao Xintong, who became China’s first world champion (surely the first of many), could pot anything from anywhere, as he had all tournament. Williams wasn’t a patch on the player who had beaten Judd Trump in such gutsy fashion. He looked weather-beaten after four close matches, the balls didn’t exactly run his way either (he would pot great long reds but could never get on a colour), and he ended the first session 7-1 down. He shaded the second session 5-4 to give him a faint glimmer. Maybe, just maybe, the dream is still alive. I didn’t see the third session, apart from one frame in which Zhao fluked both the green and the blue. It didn’t go well. Williams only just took the match into the final evening session; he (quite preposterously) needed all ten frames while Zhao wanted just the one. Then came a glorious cameo, four frames of Williams brilliance. His break of 73 in the fourth frame – jam-packed with very difficult shots – was superb. With the pressure off, he was having fun out there. Then Zhao won the following frame to complete the victory that he richly deserved. Coming from the qualifiers, he’d had to win nine straight matches. He’s 28, but looks much younger. An immense talent, he displayed an almost Williams-like attitude to playing the game. He seemed a thoroughly nice guy too.
George Simion got 41% in the first round of the election. Nicușor Dan, mayor of Bucharest, squeaked into the second round on 21%, just ahead of Crin Antonescu. Dan, who is also an accomplished mathematician, would have been my pick, but I can’t see how he wins the run-off. The government has also collapsed. The parties who could have united to oppose Simion and his mob are instead fighting each other. The leu has dropped to less than a fifth of a euro. Most people I’ve spoken to in the last couple of days – people who have brains – think this is all very bad news. Romania has made very real progress in the time I’ve been here, but now runs the risk of throwing that all away – and more – in the blink of an eye. So sad, and in the long term who knows what it will mean for me.
This morning I took Dorothy to Buzad. No car issues. She gave me some elderflower and herbs from her garden to take back, while I gave her some pizza that I’d made. On the way, there were an impressive number of storks up lamp-posts, and not all nesting.
Mum and Dad’s arrival is just a day and a half away. They’re flying from Christchurch to Singapore, then to Munich, and finally a short hop to Timișoara. I can’t wait. I wonder what they’ll think of Kitty.
