Bucharest

Coming down to the plains for a few days requires a careful choice of books – it was the intriguing John Lane book on art and ecology; David Harvey’s The Enigma of Capital; the Amos Oz Reader; Mazower’s The Balkans; and Pearce’s When the Rivers Run Dry which made it. I have skimmed through the Lane book – which initially charmed me with its attempt to explain cultural activity with reference to the loss of community following on the humanistic spirit of the renaisance, reformation and capitalism. I am always a sucker for overarching theories (except economic!) but was disappointed to find no reference to Art Nouveau, Georg Grosz or Brecht!!
I was then amazed to find a reputable US journal actually arguing that the global financial crisis was not another market blip – but a sign of the Marxist contradiction
A strange posting in Open Democracy put me onto a powerful article by Simon Jenkins a year ago about the Saxon villages of Transylvania.
Initially I was glued to the television - Foyle's War and a black and white with Frank Sinatra and Tony Curtis fighting at the end of the 2nd WW in France. One of the many attractions of the Sirnea house is that it has no TV, fridge or washing machine. I never miss them - but have to admit that it is nice to enjoy the occasional ice cream (particularly sorbet)and access Hallmark, BBC Entertainment, TNT, MGM channels
Today I defrosted the fridge here in Bucharest (we have no washing machine here)