In The Summer Time

Living in Romania was, to me like being in the forty's and fifty's in Britain. A slower pace, not as much stress and as you see many still using horse and cart. Some of my memories of my childhood in Hyde were of going out with the local farmer on his horse and cart delivering the milk. The milk was in churns and we ladled out a gill of milk and poured it into jugs that customers left on their doorsteps.

I did go quite often to visit poor villages with Kathy to see what we could help with, we took food and clothes and of course our love., for , "There , but for the grace of God go I ". I always used to help two old lady's in town who begged every day to make their meagre pensions spin out, they were very grateful and it was nice to be nice.

The country side was beautiful with fields and fields of sunflowers, lots of lovely wild flowers. We took some of the street children for picnics they thought it was great fun and enjoyed the food and juice, we played ball and other games. It was great to see them smiling and having fun.

The Long Hot Summer

We got back from the wedding and summer began,long hot and bright days. It was a time to stroll down the Boulevard and smell the blossom trees. ( when my sister came to visit she said one of her memories of Arad would be the smell of Anais Anais perfume) and that is just how it was.We went for walks along the river and visited the Thermal pools were we lounged in the hot natural mineral water. It was wonderful , very therapeutic and in lovely settings. One of my favourite pastimes was to sit outside at one of the street cafes watching the world go by. The temperatures were high some days 100 deg and always sunny, very little rainfall, the locals prayed for rain as they depend on the food they grow in their gardens.When it does rain , it rains and fantastic thunder storms that light up the sky.

I found I was feeling much better in the warm air than at home and my arthritis did not pain me as much.I also did more walking than I used to and all in all felt better. In the markets the fruit and veg were wonderful, a sight to be seen and tasted very good too. Good to be alive and there was much more hopefully to come.