Cav's Place

The previous personal post ended before another hospital visit, but I’ll obviously never catch up in this manner and the half marathon is approaching and Friday I walked the route, so I want to include that in this post. But, speaking of the half marathon, it’s a good thing it didn’t take place today, seeing as, after getting in bed at 5:20 AM, it wasn’t even 11:30 AM when I was woken up by a series of nearby lightning strikes. Stayed up, so I know the storm didn’t last long, but it would have nevertheless been quite an issue. Now it remains to be seen how it’ll be next Sunday morning.

Before getting to that walk, I’ll mention that Thursday I finished Fantasy General, meaning the add-on as well, after having finished the original campaign on August 20. I know there are also some individual scenarios, but I feel that this is quite enough to consider it finished, so I’m leaving those and thinking of writing the review, since oddly enough even the original game only has one on Mobygames, and this package has none, since I just recently added it. No idea when that will happen though, seeing as I have something entirely different to focus on next week and I should also rest as much as possible, plus that Tuesday I finally started one of those nonfiction books I purchased back in May, so I’ll also need to finish that and post the quick review for it, and I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of personal updates… And then, after the half marathon, I’m seriously considering trying to have those investigations done, to see whether they’ll figure out just what’s wrong and what to do about it, though I have absolutely no idea how I could possibly manage to stay in hospital for what I was told may well be about a week, plus that we’re currently clearly in wave four and hospitals are starting to get overwhelmed again.

But that’s another matter, so now let me get to Friday’s walk, when I left at 12:35 PM. The first thing I made a mental note of was how exposed this nearby section is, the butchered trees no longer offering shade, so if it’ll be sunny it may be an issue. Or maybe not, since the forecast currently lists a high around 25°C that day and the run is in the morning, a much bigger problem being that it currently seems that it’ll be windy, in which case a lot will depend on the direction of the wind and the shelter offered by buildings. But I guess, with this morning fresh in my mind, I should say that the most important thing would be to not have another storm, or even “just” rain, just then.
But I should return to the walk and mention that I decided to quickly pass through that small farmers’ market that’s on Unirii when I got there, just glancing at a few things from a distance since I didn’t put my mask on. I was feeling sleepy, however, after just getting a few hours again, kept losing focus, and I wasn’t even a third of the way in, likely a fair bit less, when the right foot felt swollen even though I was walking, those two smallest toes that feel the worst being the biggest issue. Either way, I peed when I got to Izvor Park, using one of the simple toilets, since the more proper one was occupied and it seemed to be taking a while, and then briefly washing my hands in the drinking fountain. Then I kept going, but my right hand was feeling swollen as well and, when I was on Berzei, I started flexing my fingers and hands, which seemed to eventually help, and I also stopped feeling sleepy. But that Berzei-Buzesti part still is so unpleasant, and there’s that serious climb, towards Stirbei Voda, and also the smaller one at the end, before reaching Victory Square, so I’ll need to be careful, since they come very early and I’ll need to avoid exhausting myself on them.
While on that section, I passed the zero waste store I was curious about, but decided against going in for a look, even if it’d have been a good opportunity and I likely won’t get there again for a long time. And later, even though I haven’t bought anything from there since 2012, I took a few steps away from the route to glance at that independent English bookstore, but also didn’t go in, just checking that it was still there and open. The much more notable detour, however, came after returning to Victory Square, when I went to a pizza place where I could use some of the amount won after filling a survey back in December of 2019. That was supposed to be valid for one year but required the use of that group’s app, so when it was close to expiring I decided to try to see whether they’d be willing to put it on the physical loyalty card dad has, which they eventually did, and the fact that the amount was only actually added at that point also meant that the deadline is one year from then and not from the moment when I won it. So I mean to use part of it to get something after the half marathon, but first wanted to see how it works… Only to find that place under renovation. They were open for takeaway and deliveries, however, and a guy was there to pick up an order just then, so I walked around a bit, then stepped up and asked whether I could get something and for the vegetarian pizza I had decided on after checking the site. But there was no menu around, so when I asked about the price the employee said he’ll return with one, was gone for quite a while and then just came back with the menu open on his tablet. Then he took that card, leaving again and returning a bit later, saying that my pizza will be ready in ten to 15 minutes, then leaving again and only getting back, with my pizza, 20 minutes later.
An issue was that I was there for just over 30 minutes and didn’t even wash my hands, since I had expected to be able to use the toilet while waiting but that was obviously not an option, and being told that it could be as little as ten minutes made me decide against going all around the Square to see whether that public toilet worked. So, after returning to the route, I wasn’t looking just for a park where I could eat the pizza, but one where I could also wash my hands first, so I kept going until I saw one of those more proper toilets close to the Palace Hall, just going in to wash, since I was holding the pizza, with the box placed in a bag, and trying to also pee would have been rather tricky. Then I went to that park, walking towards the church until I found a large bench with nobody around, those closer to the entrance being occupied. So I settled down there quite nicely and ate, having taken a fork and knives with me, just having to swat away a fly now and then. Unfortunately it seems that a mosquito, or some other bug or bugs, was also there and I didn’t notice until I left, when I felt a couple of itches and realized I had been bitten my something on my neck, and possibly on my left leg as well, in which case it means something crawled its way up to get there.
Either way, since I also took the time to tear away the dirty bits of the box, to throw those in a trash can and then hold on to the rest until I finally walked by a recycling bin, I was there for almost an hour. Then, shortly after resuming the walk, I reached that short but particularly steep slope that’s a serious problem with this route, and I guess that was the last relevant mental note I made, and even that was about something I already knew. So I’ll just skip ahead to the next detour, made when I reached the Old City, though I entered it too early and had a bit to walk to get to another restaurant from that group. And that proved pointless, as it was almost certain to be, since I wanted to see whether I could spot someone eating the one thing I had considered ordering from there instead of the pizza, which would have required quite a lot of luck, which I didn’t have. So I then actually walked right back to where I had entered the Old City, stopped there to take the iron supplement prescribed to me when I went to the hospital that second time, since I had also taken those and tea with me, and then returned to walking the route.
Didn’t do that for long, however, making another detour at Unirii, first to use the toilet in that shopping center, since I still hadn’t peed again, and then to go to Carrefour, just getting some supposedly spoiling peppers, though most are fine and I only had to remove a little from the others, and a handful of onions, so I yet again couldn’t use that 10 RON code I have. Saw that the bread that I used to get from there was discounted, but all of it was sliced, and also looked for the chicken breast that was on sale, but it was only in packs of four pieces, which was too much. On the other hand, I was again charged for the bag those peppers were in, and when I pointed out that I don’t want to use it the cashier said they can’t avoid using it for those discounted products. Well, if the whole point of the charge is to reduce the use of plastic bags, if the store forces the customers to use them, the store should pay the fee, not the customer! Then again, I did find that amount on the floor even before leaving the checkout area, one coin right away and another as I was leaving, after spending a pretty long time figuring out how to stuff the purchases in my backpack… And then, on the way out, I also saw a cart with the 0.50 RON coin still in it, and it was next to another, so I just joined them and retrieved the coin.
Since it was just after 8 PM when I walked out of there, the rest of the walk was less relevant, since it was after sunset. But it just meant returning on the same route, just on the other side of the road, so it didn’t matter too much. And I quickly checked a raw vegan confectionery, rather recoiling at the high prices and small sizes, then very briefly went into another little store I happened to spot, the name misleading me into thinking it was something I’d be interested in, and then also checked a Mega Image, not getting anything from there either, nor from this one that’s across the road from here, since I decided to quickly check it as well when I got here.
I was back here just before 9:15 PM and stayed in the kitchen until after midnight, but I mostly did other things, just having watermelon and a piece of cozonac, with added jam. Then, after showering, I was initially back there at 1:15 AM, but soon returned to my room for a bit and was only really back at 1:40 AM, started eating dinner at 3:30 AM and got in bed at 5:35 AM. As for how I felt, after leaving Carrefour and for the rest of that evening and night, I felt surprisingly fine, not even tired anymore, and my feet also seemed almost fine, but at least during the first part of yesterday, on top of being really tired, my feet rather felt like they were burning again, the feeling going up my legs as well, and my eyes were also rather swollen.