Mr Professor Sir, you are English, aren’t you? But you are also a little bit Romanian!
– No, I am British – I am not English, because I was not born in England and I am naturalised British. What’s all about?
That baffled Vlad, like most Continentals could not make the difference between English and British, so I enquired:
– But why are you asking this all of a sudden?
– Because, Mr Professor Sir, you are also a little Romanian and you criticise too much all these things, the potholes in the road and everything.
Now I got the gist: I offended Vlad’s national pride and he was going to teach me a lesson: he was going to give me a fright by the way of retribution.
Entries Tagged as 'graft'
ETERNAL REST IN BUCHAREST (PART 4 OF 6)
March 26th, 2016 · Comments Off on ETERNAL REST IN BUCHAREST (PART 4 OF 6) · Books, Genealogy, Genealogy, History, PEOPLE, Short Stories & Cameos
Tags:"post-communism"·"The Scream"·Administration·bacshish·Bellu cemetery·Bucharest·Bucharest trafic·car driver·carer·carer skiving·chapel of rest·denture·died of starvation·dollar bribes·dollars·Edvard Munch·funeral reathm the Balkans·graft·gypsies·hot water·Intercontinental hotel·old habits·Orthodox funeral·Professor·rigor mortis·romanian·rush hour·service·wreath
ETERNAL REST IN BUCHAREST (PART FIVE OF SIX)
March 26th, 2016 · Comments Off on ETERNAL REST IN BUCHAREST (PART FIVE OF SIX) · Books, Diary, Diaspora, Genealogy, History, PEOPLE, Short Stories & Cameos
I remember grandfather was telling me that before the war there was a kind of popular bistro across the road from the Bellu Orthodox cemetery whose name was “Better here than Opposite’ (Mai bine aici decat vis-à-vis). This was very handy because the mourners, instead of going all the way to the home of the dearly departed, for the traditional post-funeral meal, they would instead have the drinks across the road from the cemetery, once the funeral was over and the alms given to the poor. And so there was so much merry-making at the bistro, with gypsy brass band and even dancing – all of course in memory of the deceased, that people started complaining for the lack of decorum, especially as the mourners were approaching the cemetery gate with the hearse and all and they were hearing were the fiddles and bassoons playing away drinking songs…
Eventually the police shut the establishment and now it is all history!
Tags:"post-communism"·Angela Lambrino·Aunt Angelica·Bellu cemetery·bribes·Britain·Bucharest·bureaucracy·Ceausescu·chapel of rest·Courts of justice·England·formalities·Funeral·gipsies·gipsy mafia·graft·mafia·Orthodox funeral·Orthodox Priest·Paul Lambrino·reaths·State Funeral·wake
