what you get here

This is not a blog which opines on current events. It rather uses incidents, books (old and new), links and papers to muse about our social endeavours.
So old posts are as good as new! And lots of useful links!

The Bucegi mountains - the range I see from the front balcony of my mountain house - are almost 120 kms from Bucharest and cannot normally be seen from the capital but some extraordinary weather conditions allowed this pic to be taken from the top of the Intercontinental Hotel in late Feb 2020

Monday, January 24, 2011

A typical old consultant's day


I was in my element in the morning – first a 20 minute stroll to the great little gallery in Stan Stefano ulice on the lovely square in the university area (highlydesirable old residential quarter) where I am known. These guys (along with the Neros Gallery just off Hristo Botev Bvd) have just the paintings I love. This time they introduced me to two new painters – delicate landscapes by Georgy Christov Rubev (trained in Prague in the 1930s) but a bit pricey at 750 euros; and Veselin Tomev (trained in Munich) who had a large coastscape with the most superb sea blue for the same price.
Then InterNos Gallery which I eventually found (with a number 1 trolleybus) at 58b V Levsky Bvd (after a slight incident with a hoodie who refuses to let me out from the seat!). It’s a larger gallery – covering my favourite period of the mid 20th century - but doesn’t quite come up with the goods. They did however have one small Boris Stefchev – for 250 euros – and I am keen to add him to my collection (also Russe Ganchev; Dobre Dobrev).
I had a meeting at 13.00 with my landlord (for him to bring extra chairs; fix wireless internet etc) but had time to visit the Tourist Info Centre cunningly concealed in the underpass opposite the University Entrance – and also the bookshop next to it (for more music).
Connecting to the internet is always a problem when I hit a new country (less so in central asia!) – so don’t talk to me about European Integration! So basic! Why doesn;t a company like Vodaphone (with whom I have a good deal in Romania) offer me a deal in Bulgaria – just next door????? It takes 4 young Bulgarians 90 minutes to set up a wireless system for me. In the meantime I have to find my haggis dealer – his phone number is on my E-mail but Mirela comes to my rescue and I set up a meeting for the transfer!
Then off to my 15.30 meeting with my new BG consultancy company, Dicon – just 10 minutes up the road I am assured. I’ve been told to look for an office next to block 204. The first place I hit (a 2 storey furniture shop) I’m told is number 50 (it’s not marked) and they tell me 200 is far away - so I catch another bus which seems to take me away from civilisation and I hop off at the next stop. There are flurries of snow and my patience is starting to wear thin (why can’t people put themselves in the shoes of visitors????). I phone – and am quickly rescued – to return to the (exact) point from which I started (shades of TS Eliot). Number 50 sits next to another 2 storey building – blue with graffiti – which is the one I was seeking! I tell my contact that in future they should forget about the address – and simply describe the place as the „blue 2 storey building with the graffiti next to the furniture shop"!! They think I'm joking - but I'm deadly serious!
The meetings go well – but not the simple task of printing a few Burns’ poems. It’s a pdf file – and the system can’t cope! But eventually I get the four critical ones (Address to the Haggis; Tae a Louse; Tae a mouse; A man's a man for a' that)
I know Sofia from the 2007 project I led here - when I rented a great flat for 18 months. The project was to develop a capacity to train local officials in the implementation of the famed European Acquis. And, in the initial months when we trapped in a game going on between consultancy companies and a corrupt Ministry of Finance, I had some fun working on the implementation and "compliance" (the key EU word) concepts. I was cheeky enough to use a famous Burns' quote as the lead for the Inception Report -
The best-laid plans o'mice an' men
Ganf aft agley
An' leave us nought but grief an' pain
For promis'd joy
The haggis assignment takes place outside a theatre. I wonder if Andy has ever been accosted for drug dealing?? It’s now 18.30 and I still really don’t have the proper accoutrements for a Burns supper so, after picking up tatties, carrots and (the superb Bulgarian) leaks (but no naps), I phone around and get agreement that Rabbie’s do will be postponed 24 hours!!
The painting is a Petar Velchev I have - up in Sirnea.

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