Eventually I got around to walking the track which takes me from the house up to the hill opposite where a building is being constructed right on the ridge (shown here) – an encroachment on the landscape which should never be allowed in a civilised country. And outside I discovered a placard with the insignias of the Romanian Government and the EU! It’s one of these dubious investment of bloody SAPARD (The "s"had fallen off so it was announced as APARD). Proudly it told anyone interested that it was being erected in the interests of „rural development”. What a farce - since it will, in the first instance, detract from village life. It will raid an already plenished water supply (in the summer); take money from the pockets of the villagers who offer bed and breakfast; and cause the further deterioration of an already abysmal, pot-holed road which connects the village to the main road.
Of course, some might argue that, in a village of such old people, the arrival of professionals will give the village more political weight than it currently seems to have in its need for basic services. Perhaps indeed it explains why the electricity company has been installing lighting on the track at the bottom of my garden which is used only by the cows! Or perhaps we have literary cows - our friend Florie - Viciu's cow certainly always identifies the blue bag in which I bring her my vegetable scraps and gallops to me. The new lamp now floodlights my front approach (good if you are worried about thieves) but bad if you want to gaze at the stars!
