Cav's Place

Just like I wrote the previous personal post Thursday because I was going to be out Friday and Saturday, leaving little time to write and adding more things to write about, making it quite impossible to fit in one post, I’m now writing this Wednesday because I’ll be out tomorrow and possibly also Friday and there will be more things to write about after that, making it quite impossible to fit in one post. The difference is that now I would at least have Saturday available for a very late first post of the week while last week that wasn’t an option, but I sure don’t want to wait and then need to fit even more things in it on the last possible day.

To start with Friday, I was going to buy some things again, going on what’s starting to be my usual route now, including that farmers’ market, hoping to find that person with the apples there again. Unfortunately, however, I didn’t, nor did I find anyone else with Romanian apples, so I just got a few apricots from there and a few oranges from a hypermarket, plus a few peaches from the same hypermarket for my mother. I was charged for the peaches as if they were the cheaper imported kind, but if they insist on having employees weigh and label fruit and vegetables instead of letting the customers do it, as some others do, I’m not going to correct them when they make mistakes in my favor.
Also got quite a lot of green onions and some smoked kashkaval from the market, but no tomatoes, since I went around a few times, trying to decide whether to buy any and, if so, where from and being unable to make up my mind until picking up a tomato to look at it prompted the woman selling them to call after me that she doesn’t know what she’ll do to me if I touch the tomatoes again, commenting to someone else after I walked away that it was the third time I did that. And she may have been right, definitely was at least the second one, but I still don’t see what her problem was.
Either way, that prompted a mixed fight and flight response in me, being confronted that way, so on the one hand I wanted to just get the fuck away from there while on the other I pretty much “saw red” and meant to turn around, slam my hands in all her tomatoes and shout in her face. But I just got out of there, giving up on the idea of tomatoes, whether from there or from anywhere else, and got back to drop off what I had already purchased even though the original plan was to make a detour and get other stuff as well, only dropping them all off after that, before going back out for only a second trip. But I had enough time for three trips, having started early enough, so I got everything else I wanted and there were no other incidents. And I also picked up 0.66 RON in found coins, though that included I believe 21 0.01 RON ones and it may be a bit awkward to make use of them now. Had spotted a few more of those on the floor at the end, but left them there for that reason.

Moving on to Saturday, I went to that “fair” for NGOs again, still just out of curiosity, and walked all the way there and back, despite the distance. However, I arrived pretty much at the same time as the storm and got caught in it, so there was nothing to see because the strong wind that came before the heavy rain knocked tents over and blew away whatever it could, so everybody was busy recovering what they could, gathering their things and preventing more damage, after which they started to leave. After posting nothing since the start of the storm, the organizers eventually announced during the evening that, due to the bad weather and the damage caused by the storm, the event, which was to continue Sunday as well, was canceled.
The weather during my walk there, with clouds and some wind, was pretty much just right to make it all right for such a long walk on a summer day, but as soon as I entered the park I saw a huge dark cloud right ahead. Nothing to do but head straight for it though, so I walked past the stage, reached those first tents which I guess were for organizers and maybe also sponsors, decided on the side to start from and went to the first tent there. That was supposedly the “customs tent” and I saw people picking up something with “Pass” written on it from there, so I wondered what that was all about, but there were too many people there and I thought I’ll get back to it later, moving on to the second.
Well, I didn’t actually get to that second tent, because a powerful gust of wind hit just as I turned and, after all sorts of things started flying, I found the tent coming towards me instead. Was just reacting to the situation, so I’m not sure whether it tipped over right away and I pulled back enough for it to fall in front of me, then grabbed it when it was picked back up, or I had to grab on to it right away, but I know that I firmly planted my feet, aimed for one of the bars of the support structure and grabbed on to it as it was coming towards me, using my other hand to keep the other parts from slamming into me. Then, once I felt that the tent itself was no longer the immediate threat, I turned my head around to make sure I won’t get pushed into the stand selling various things that was right behind me and that no things falling or flying from it will hit me. When it was clear that the people working there had also reacted quickly and were holding things in place, I could start looking around, noticing that the girls who used to be in the tent I was holding were picking themselves up after having it first on and then going over them, starting to rush to gather what they could as the wind was blowing their things away. Also noticed that one or maybe two other guys had appeared to hold on to the same tent I was holding and one of them said we should try to put it down, which we managed, so it didn’t act so much like a sail or a kite anymore.
With that initial moment over, I started helping the girls gather their materials, though I was just picking up whatever I could and dumping the things wherever I could while they and the others who were in a similar situation were trying to see what was theirs and what wasn’t. Problem was that they were placing the stuff back on their tables, which was pointless because the wind just scattered everything again right away, so when I noticed the boxes which used to have been either at the back of the tent or perhaps even behind it I grabbed one, meaning to place it on the stuff on the table. Not sure if I actually did though, as one of the girls saw what I was doing and said we should indeed put things in boxes, to which I replied that we can just put the boxes on the things, which she agreed was also a way to do it, and after that I’m not sure whether she placed one box on the table and I placed the other or she actually took both, possibly after I dropped the one I was holding. Either way, stuff wasn’t flying around anymore, at least.
As the area was starting to be cleared of papers, one of them looked at what I was bringing and said she didn’t think those things were theirs and that she believes they were “ours”, obviously having assumed that I was part of the team working the “customs tent”. When I said there’s no “us” because I just happened to get caught in it when it started and was trying to help and then sort of wandered away, somebody who actually had been working in that “customs tent” said that, in that case, maybe I could help those trying to gather their tent, as that was also knocked over and somewhere on the alley by that point. Had no idea what to do though, so I went to them and probably just got in the way for a little while, before having another look around and going to help a guy gather the structure of another tent which he had already taken apart. After that, or at least I think it was after that, the first guy who had joined me in holding on to the tent that came towards me said we should at least pick up the tents still on the alley and move them off it, next to some trees, so they won’t be in the way anymore.
After the two of us and one other guy did that, I heard some volunteers, or at least I think they were volunteers, saying they should go to the debate area because there’s a complete mess there. So I started heading that way as well, but slowly, taking my time to have a look at the tents that were on one of the alleys. Some were already closed though, so I couldn’t even see what NGOs should have been using them, while in the others people were busy gathering their things. Being connected to each other, the tents themselves hadn’t been blown away though, only the last one, which was completely empty and abandoned by the time I reached it, leaning rather heavily, while in the one next to it a pretty short and thin girl was holding on to the support structure as hard as she could, to prevent it from being dragged down by the leaning one, while the others were rushing to gather everything up.
When I reached the debate area, I saw the tents upside down on the alley and two guys trying to gather them but not seeming to manage anything, yet no sign of the volunteers. But before heading that way I had noticed how others had taught a guard to help them with the feet of another tent, so I did just that and found that it worked, one segment sliding into another step by step. When the other guys noticed, one told me to tell them how to gather the tents as well, if I knew, but I said I just saw how to do what I was doing with the feet, so we just did that for all of them, then sort of scratched our heads a little, tried to push on the other parts for a bit, then the other guy said we’d better just leave them as they are, because he already broke one trying to help, though we could perhaps turn them so they won’t be upside down anymore. So we remove the canvas, turn the structure, and eventually move them off the alley as well, placing them between the trees. Then I also stack two chairs which hadn’t already been stacked, the others move some other things as well, eventually one of them takes the canvas from the tents and starts piling it over some other stuff and I help with that as well, then wander away, because it had started pouring.
As I made my way back on the alley, I found some activists I know still in their tent, though they had gathered their things otherwise, and greeted them, pointing out that they were among the last ones still there when they said they were just taking shelter, which prompted one of them to look around, seeming quite surprised to notice that it was true. Didn’t stick around there though, looking for shelter first under trees, then under tall bushes as well, then back under a large tree while also placing its trunk between myself and the direction the wind was coming from. Three cyclists were on the other side of that tree at first, a few steps away, but some worrying sounds started coming and they first carefully moved towards them and then left, so I moved next to the group of volunteers, who were making makeshift raincoats out of garbage bags. Spotting the girl who was the source of those sounds, they meant to see what was happening, but I commented that it may be a bad idea for everyone to go, and I think one of them may have said the same thing, so just a few went, coming back a few moments later to tell the rest that a girl was having a seizure, but she was with her mother who said she didn’t need help, claiming it was epilepsy. Didn’t seem like it and nobody was convinced, a few other possible explanations being passed around, but doubt anybody knew enough to feel confident in contradicting the claim, so I guess they decided to just ignore the issue.
Eventually I took a few more steps and got under a large umbrella that was next to a nearby stand, since it was firmly fixed, provided better shelter and just a few other people were under it… And simply stood there until the rain stopped, though the others had left after it had stopped pouring quite so badly the first time and I was left sharing it with only a sweeper, who also left its shelter a couple of times, returning quickly as the rain got heavier again. But I have no problem being patient and saw that huge dark cloud slowly moving past the park, so I just waited until the rain stopped for good, though I wasn’t confident enough that it won’t start again to stick around any longer after that, more clouds still being above and the wind direction seeming to start to vary. About one hour and a quarter passed between that first powerful gust and the moment I left, making my way behind the cloud. Ended up walking back into the rain shortly before changing direction, but once I did that the cloud could get far enough ahead before I had to head right its way again, so it was all right, albeit a bit chilly. And can’t say the day wasn’t interesting…

Moving on, I had somehow counted the days wrong all along, so it’s a good thing I didn’t skip reading on any more days last week, because I was just on pace to finish The Hero of Ages Sunday, which I did, posting the quick review then as well. And then I started Quiet, or more exactly the Romanian edition of it, that same evening, and I’m hoping the quick review for it will be this week’s second post. Pretty sure I didn’t mess up again, so I should finish Saturday, or at least Sunday if I won’t read at all tomorrow or read too little both tomorrow and Friday.

As for this week’s run, that was Tuesday and the time was 49:50, with sector times of 4:29, 5:12, 6:02, 4:32, 5:14, 6:09, 4:43, 5:19, 6:21 and 1:49, making for lap times of 15:43, 15:55 and 16:23. So, despite the route being clear enough, I only just managed to match the time I managed two weeks ago, when the park was crowded, these being the worst regular run times after the half marathon. And that last lap was the worst one in even longer, things actually getting difficult from the second lap’s second sector, so it’s a bit embarrassing. At the same time, it’s interesting that I consider it embarrassing even though the reported temperature was around 30°C, I didn’t even drink anything before leaving, as in not even the bit of tea I usually take from the bottle in my room before going for a run, and my right hip is still not happy about something, yet I still managed to stay under 50 minutes, which until some ten and a half months ago seemed too insane a goal to even consider, and which I only first managed seven months ago.