Cav's Place

First things first: Something strange happened and the “emergency” post I initially wrote nearly a year ago and which has since been set to post at 11:59 PM on Sunday, the date being changed after writing each week’s second post, showed up this last Sunday. I’m absolutely certain I moved it then as well, but perhaps I forgot to click “Update”, because there it was and I only noticed it four hours and 20 minutes later, during which time the server logs show five hits, three of them quite obviously bots, one coming from RSS and another that didn’t obviously reveal itself as a bot. So, just in case somebody did see it, sorry about that, what it says must probably have happened in order for it to appear is not the case.

Moving on, yesterday the plan was to first see what that registered letter was about and then buy some things, not planning to go out again this week, unless perhaps there will be another march I’ll agree with Sunday, but uncertain even of that. Unfortunately, the registered letter in question complicated matters a bit, because it was a notification, with my correct Personal Numeric Code (CNP) and address and first and last name but a wrong middle name, that due to not paying the fine from 2013, as in the one that was annulled in court, the verdict also being upheld after the Gendarmerie’s appeal, they’ll hold current and future money from an account at BRD which I don’t have, until said fine will be paid in full. The person who handed me the notification when I went to pick it up said that it sadly happened before, asking whether I had proof of the verdict and, after I said yes, that I should call the number listed in order to have it sorted out. And that was after first, due to the issue with the name, asking me whether I wanted to take it in the first place and agreeing to open it there in order to check whether it was actually for me or not.
Didn’t come right back after picking it up though, instead going to the hypermarket I go to most often to pick up a few things, then checking the schedule of the local branch of the local tax office on my way back and finding that I could just barely make it. So I ran to quickly grab my copy of the final verdict, after the appeal, not wasting time to find the initial one as well, and rushed right there with moments to spare, the guard being about to lock the door and someone from the staff already on her way out. But it wasn’t quite the end of the schedule yet, so after wandering around in confusion for a bit, the guard asked me what I wanted, I told him, he got a ticket for me from the machine and told me where I should go, and I ended up the last person left, making the poor employee who had to handle such matters stay after all others had left. At first one other staff member stayed with her to look through the decision while she also corrected my name in their records and also filled in my phone number, but then she was left alone, saying it had been a crazy day with this sort of things, so I guess somebody went crazy trying to squeeze every possible penny out of everyone and made a lot of messes that some other poor soul like her had to fix.
Either way, in the end it was sorted out, or at least I hope it was, because she also took some more time to go upstairs to make a copy of the decision for their records and, after initially saying she can’t stamp it because everyone else left and I’ll have to come back the next day to pick up something to give to the bank, she said they’ll also send that notification to the bank at the end of the week, since if I say I don’t have an account there it’s not urgent to lift the block on whatever may have been blocked. Still wondering what that’s about though, and not sure I trust them to handle the matter, but she offered to do that and I just agreed, and as far as I can tell it’s not like it will affect me even if it does get messed up again, so let’s see.

The thing is that I could just direct anger well enough to manage to get that done then, and later also went back out to drop off the recyclables and then get to two other hypermarkets, for a few more things, but it was getting harder and harder to hold it together as time passed and today it really hit me. So here I am, blinds staying drawn and wanting to just sort of curl up in a ball, at least mentally. But at least I played some more Disciples and seem to have turned the situation in that scenario around in my favor for good. Did experience the first crash though, just before I meant to quit anyway, but since it saves automatically at the end of each turn it wasn’t a problem, and then I did get back to it to do the thing which had triggered the crash again and the issue didn’t repeat itself.

But before ending this, let me also get back to Sunday, when I meant to go to the march and then also to Bucur Square, as in the one in front of the Communist-era factory where the Colectiv club used to be, assuming I’ll get back late even if the march somehow won’t take place, and well after midnight, likely even after 1 AM, if it will. The reason for this second destination was that one of those injured in the Colectiv club fire, and whose girlfriend had died in that same fire, had killed himself the day before, and July 30 also marked a year and nine months since the fire, so a commemorative event taking place in Bucur Square and lasting through the night, between 8 PM and 8 AM, was announced.
Getting back to the march, with people being asked to gather starting at 7:30 PM but the start time being announced as 8:30 PM, I walked there and didn’t leave too early, only making my way into the area after 8 PM, when only some 50 others were there. Shortly after that, one of the organizers asked whether we should just give up on the march, which was supposed to target the headquarters of the two parties that form the ruling coalition, PSD and ALDE, as well as that of PNL, which is supposed to be the main opposition party but in practice hardly does anything in the Parliament and in local councils even allies with PSD and ALDE at times, and head to Colectiv directly, joining those already there. Most, or at least most of those who said anything, seemed to agree, and I definitely agreed and said so, but the other organizers didn’t, wanting to stick to the original plan in order to maintain their serious image, and a few other participants suggested either simply staying there or that, if we were to go to Colectiv, we should take the metro or buses and use the opportunity to deliver the message to the people we’ll find around us on the way.
After discussions which didn’t last that long but during which a few people seemed to have already left, the peak of 80 or so being reached before they ended, all organizers grudgingly agreed to go to Colectiv and around 8:40 PM we were moving, though at first it was just four of us, the one who had initially announced this change of plans saying he had already told everyone, using the loudspeaker, that we were leaving and won’t sit there and beg those who won’t move. He did wait a bit longer though, so I also waited a little farther away, and in the end a handful of others also came, but we were only about 20 or so, or maybe 30 if you add those who decided to drive or use public transportation. And then even that group also split, those at the front deciding to go on Victoriei for some reason, which was a route that didn’t make much sense and a few chose not to follow.
I did go with them at first, but they were walking very slowly and I just got bored of waiting, so soon enough I just went ahead on my own, finally reaching Bucur Square around 9:50 PM, obviously finding some of those who had chosen faster means of transportation already there, and spending some 20 minutes there, also taking some pictures, as I had also done in Victory Square. Also “managed” to burn my right thumb when placing my candle among the others, which in a way seems oddly fitting, considering… Quite a blister formed in that place and then it broke when I put on my shoes to go out the second time yesterday.
One last thing to mention is that I first meant to go to a hypermarket that’s in the Unirii Square area on my way back, knowing that it had a nonstop schedule and meaning to spare myself a trip the next day. But I ended up there and saw the doors closed and an announcement that, apparently due to some work being done, the schedule had to be restricted, so it closed at 10 PM and it was already 10:25 PM when I got there. But I guess it worked out for the best, because one of the things I had initially meant to get from there was cheaper and better in another place the next day, and I probably would have still made that second trip and checked both places anyway.