Payback the Chickens

It really is hot here now

Remember a picture of our front
garden in Winter all covered with snow
and bare.  Now its all covered in green
stuff.  Nice.

After a few (quite a few) false starts it really is nice and hot here now.  By nice and hot I mean about 25 C every day.  People are starting to get brave and wear tee shirts in the street (more about tee shirts in the hospital later).  Although we are told that it is still Spring and that Summer will be a lot hotter.  Brilliant.

However, at the moment there is always the danger of a thunderstorm or two.  They seems to start from the hills and creep up on us quite quickly.  They are very short lived and not really a problem.

These simply appeared in the garden
one day.  I really wasn't sure what they
were at all, but looked them up on google.
Apparantly they are "flowers" - interesting.

Club updates

I would love to be able to fill this bit with some potographs of patients.  Because the weather has been so nice we have held a number of club sessions outside.  There are a couple of spots in the hospital grounds which are quite pleasant with benches.  There is a shop just across the road (past the locked gates and spiked fences) which does wonderful and cheap ice creams.  Any form of iced lolly covered in chocolate has gone down very well.  We have also picked out a spot under some trees where we intend to do picnics once we can be confident that we won't get 'stormed on'.

Tee Shirts

We started to notice today that there were a number of rather 'interesting' tee shirts being worn by some of the patients, male and female.  As the morning went on, the percentage wearing them increased to at least 3/4 (sorry, that's 75% in new money).  The first ones we saw were Arctic Monkey ones (see picture).

Small Sheffield band makes
it big in Romanian
psychiatric hospital.

We then started to see some Dolly Parton tee shirts.   One of the female patients proudly pointed at her tee shirt and said, "Maddona!" - I didn't have the heart to say anything.  Some of the patients quite liked their tee shirts, others were not so sure.  One female could understand a bit of English, but not make sense of her tee shirt, "The Bees - Payback the Chicken - 2005 tour".  Well, its like this...there is a small town in the Isle of Wight called Ventnor where a band called 'The Bees' come from, although of course in the USA they are known as 'A Band of Bees'...  Indie Rock, you know? No, you don't?  Oh well, at least its washed and its new.

Another female was concerned at who 'Cory Haim' was (as "Whatever happend to Cory Haim" was written on her tee shirt).  Much easier.  He was a Canadian Actor who died a sad and lonely death in 2010 after an accidental overdose which included Valium, Vicodin, Soma and Halperidol (an anti-psychotic drug).  Is it just me that thinks there is more than a hint of innapropriate irony in several patients sporting "Whatever happened to Cory Haim" tee shirts in such an institution as this?

Out and About

I did my first real trip out on the bike on Sunday.  Not too far, just a two and a half hour round trip to visit Bagaciu (there should be a smile above the first 'a', but I can't remember how to do it).  Bagaciu is the nearest Saxon town to us with a walled church.

South to Bortoca where you take a
left.  Through Deleni and on to Bagaciu

I actually thought that this would be a very quick 'find my bearings' trip.  I hadn't counted on the hills.  Wow, there are some steep hills round here.  I am ashamed to say that I popped down to 1st (known to Mountain Bike folk as the 'granny ring') quite a number of times; and even resorted to pushing once.

Deleni - suggled in against the hills

It was worth it, both Deleni and Bagaciu are lovely, as is the surrounding countryside.  Just before Deleni I spotted a lovely off-road road that seemed to run right along the ridge of a set of hills and lead back to Tarnaveni.  I will try it soon.

The walled church in Bagaciu.  Very
little imagination is needed to picture
what this was like in the middle ages.

I did, again, try and take some video of some of the biking.  This time I mounted the video camera on my crash helmet thinking that there would be less vibration than through the handlebars.  Wrong - totally unplayable.  I wanted to include the bit where a youth on a motorcycle (small two stroke trailie) overtook me going downhill, only for me to catch up with him just a few moments later when he started braking (brakes are for emergencies only remember!).  I think I may give up on the videoing.

Not only does this look stupid.
It doesn't work!

BBQ Weather

People talk about BBQ weather.  Well it is!  Previous volunteers (I assume) have left a small BBQ, and some coals, in the garage.  I always have problems lighting BBQs- hence turning to gas a few years back.  This one lit with no problems.  Just some old newspapers under the coals.  I supplied the sausages, Kiki the burgers, Corina the wine - and, instant banquet, Lovely.

10 seconds to light - wonderful.

Burger Banquet fit for a King?

Oliver

I left this bit until last, because (lets be honest) if I'd have put it first you wouldn't have read the rest.  He is doing very well.  The hernia seems to be getting a lot smaller and 'fixing itself'.  Also, his rear right leg is gaining some strength.  It is still very bent and he falls over to one side when he walks, but it is getting stronger.  We have also got a decent lead on getting him a new home in Romania. - Watch this space.

These guys know a thing or
two about real customer
service.  Thanks Royal Canin!

I need to do some product placement here.  It was proving very difficult to get substitute cat mother's milk.  I tried all the big places that were recommended in Tirga Mures.  Then I emailed Royal Canin in the UK.  They have a product called 'Babycat Milk'.  I asked if they knew where I might be able to get some in Romania.  They immediatly got on to their Romanian distributor who arranged for a can to be delivered to a vet shop in Tarnaveni.  The first I knew was when I got an email from Royal Canin telling me where and when to pick up some 'Babycat Milk'. I am very impressed with them. - And Oliver loves it!

In fact, I gave Oliver a feed in the middle of doing this blog.  I then did a short video of him playing, biting my thumb and shadow boxing (slightly strange) - which I will attach below.  Oliver is now on my floor attacking my toes.

That's it for this week

Pe Curand

Paul