contrasts

So hot in Bucharest on Tuesday (at least 35) that the petrol vapourised and the engine came to a halt just 200 metres short of the flat. Fortunately the next day was wet and we managed the run to the mountain house with no difficulty – despite a surprising traffic jam (for a Wednesday) at the 10 kilometres’ bottleneck at the Sinaia-Busteni stretch. And today we have high wind, rain and 8 degrees – the precise measurement thanks to the small (birthday) barometer I have just erected on the balcony. Ideal weather for the usual house clean-up – and dipping into the dozen or so books waiting for me. These include Colin Crouch’s The Strange Non-Death of NeoLiberalism ; and Fukuyama’s new opus The Origins of Political Order