Cav's Place

While there were no events actually organized by the United We Save Community (CUS) this week, some were openly supported or, as the case may be, opposed by known activists. In addition, the tensions between The Romania Initiative (IR) and some of the rest keep worsening as IR continue to meet with state officials, on Monday some of their representatives having an audience with the Minister for Public Consultation and Civic Dialogue. An interview with one who’s apparently one of IR’s leading members made matters worse when it began by saying that so far, besides Nicusor Dan, they consulted with a group of entrepreneurs who seem to have solutions for Bucharest, admitting that the political left isn’t exactly represented among those they work with and therefore only fueling the suspicions that they’re pushing forward a neoliberal agenda despite their claims of transparency and the fact that, at least so far, they do seem to keep focusing on pushing for the same changes to the electoral laws that the rest of us aim for as well.

But to get back to the start of the week, medical students staged a protest at the Cotroceni (Presidential) Palace on Monday, demanding that the President mediate their dispute with the authorities, which he eventually agreed to do. The issue is that, because of how positions are currently allocated, some students who pass their exams are left without one and even directly encouraged to immigrate despite Romania’s huge deficit of medical personnel. Though some questioned the validity of the claim and CUS’ involvement in this, the event was promoted on the group and it would appear that one known activist even helped organize it.

Tuesday came the shepherds’ protest, prompted by a law limiting the number of dogs to one per herd in the plains, two in the hills and three in the mountains and also banning grazing between early December and late April. Interestingly, the number of dogs had been limited since 1993, but so far there were no penalties and therefore the law was not enforced. In addition, while the issue leaves quite a lot of room for debate, as those dogs and the herds can have quite an impact on biodiversity, a major problem is that these changes were introduced at the request of hunters, which include quite a few members of the Parliament.
According to reports, some 4000 people participated in this protest and it quickly escalated when they removed the fences the gendarmes had used to surround the area they were supposed to stay in and pushed through their lines, blocking the road and some even managing to reach the Parliament’s lawn. At that point the gendarmes used tear gas and mounted troops also made an appearance before things calmed down to some extent, a delegation eventually being allowed inside to negotiate. The result, on top of the large fines received by the organizers and some participants, was a promise of changing these laws urgently, and the next day the Government decided to suspend their effects until a long-term solution will be found, next year.
While all of this was taking place, many known activists and protesters expressed their support, some taking the opportunity to say that this is how things get done, with a show of force, and even calling people to join the shepherds. Of course, this would have been a bad idea, as it was a protest about a very specific issue affecting a specific category of people and it’d have been wrong to add anything else to it, so in the end it was only a matter of expressing support, though the more radical elements were definitely unhappy with the decision. A few people did attempt to start a more thoughtful debate about the impact of the dogs and the herds on forests and wildlife, pointing out that some restrictions are definitely necessary from an environmental perspective, though of course under no circumstance for the benefit of hunters, but they were unfortunately drowned out, at least for the moment.

Also on Tuesday, after being added to the day’s list at the last moment, the law banning smoking in closed public spaces was passed, defining such spaces as any that have a roof and at least two walls. It will also apply to spaces meant for children, including outdoor playgrounds, and to any workplace or the interior of any vehicle meant or used for public transportation. There were proposed amendments that would have created exceptions, some of them weakening the law to the point that it’d have become almost entirely optional, but they were rejected. As such, and also since both the Prime Minister and the President expressed their support, there should be no further obstacles and things should change drastically soon enough, even though plenty of people, including some of the known activists, are particularly unhappy with this and keep saying they’re discriminated against if they won’t be allowed to keep forcing others to breathe in their smoke and possibly get sick as a result.

Transporters protested on Thursday, unhappy that mandatory insurance fees are set to skyrocket and also that an additional tax on fuel is to be maintained next year as well, but few activists mentioned this and, though this also includes some public transportation, I’m not keen on paying much attention to the interests of those who burn fossil fuels. So let me quickly move on to the next day, when an NGO that should be part of this group initially formed to take part in the negotiations for the new Electoral Code published a statement against the group’s statement, published on December 10, which said it’s unconstitutional and wrong to keep pushing for changes for next year’s local elections and they’ll only make such demands for 2020, while at the same time throwing accusations at those who choose not to do the same.
The NGO’s statement, which was understandably also published on the page of the United We Achieve Movement (MUR), since the NGO’s president is also one of MUR’s founders, made it clear that, though they’re part of the group, they were not consulted before this ostensibly official position was published, and they firmly disagree with it. A few other activists also discussed the matter once it was posted on CUS’ Facebook group as well, also rejecting such a stance and demanding explanations from those who adopted and published it, as well as reactions from the other organizations that are part of this group. I’m not aware of any replies yet, however, and I’m also wondering whether anyone can say that CUS was consulted either, since our contact with this group is usually Claudiu and he does tend to have some opinions that differ from the rest when it comes to the electoral system.

As for these days, it’s that time of year when there’s a lot of talk of the Revolution and the event that took place today was the yearly Guided Tour of the Revolution, which was promoted by both CUS and the old page. Otherwise, there are plenty of articles and statements on the topic in question, and of course also about how the hopes and dreams of those who fought and died back then were squashed and now we have few choices, and most or all of them rotten and too similar, on election day and the state and the intelligence agencies once again monitor and control more and more. But, of course, that or worse is the situation pretty much anywhere, and just another thing we need to change… Somehow.

I was saying I’m seriously considering more or less ignoring what The Romania Initiative (IR) is doing when it comes to selecting what to follow and add in these posts unless one of their actions grabs my attention otherwise, but they keep being particularly active in a way others aren’t. For that reason, despite my misgivings, let me quickly go through what they announced during the period covered in this post and get it out of the way, starting with launching an application on December 9 that lists politicians who have been found guilty of or are being investigated on criminal charges, those related to corruption in particular. Then, two days later, a few of their representatives met in the morning with a presidential adviser in order to argue in favor of changing the electoral law and also to present their plans to back a team of candidates for the Bucharest local elections, while in the evening there was a meeting between IR and The Group for Social Dialogue (GDS), supposedly also in order to move the above-mentioned plans forward. Finally, over the weekend they seem to have taken a team building trip.

Moving on, the week’s first event which at least should have been backed by the regular activists took place on December 10, though it in fact began when, on the evening of December 6, one activist sent an e-mail to those who had left their contact information during one of the forums that took place either in University Square or in Izvor Park. The message contained the text of the petition which was to be submitted to the Ombudsman, making the case in favor of changing the electoral law and asking him to challenge the current one at the Constitutional Court. Another message, sent by someone else to the entire list three days later, called people to gather in University Square that same evening in order to sign the petition, and since I could see a number of signatures there the next day, I assume that a handful did come in spite of the short notice.
In fact, I may assume that more came then than the next morning, when all of ten of us showed up by noon, when three were allowed inside to file the petition, two remaining for an audience. The event had asked people to gather in front of the Ombudsman’s office starting at 11 AM, but it wasn’t promoted through the usual channels, so doubt that many even knew of it, though it’s also true that, with the exception of those who requested the audience, there was little point in coming there except to add a signature to the list if you hadn’t already and we didn’t stick around until the two who were inside returned. As such, all I know is what was posted later, namely that the Ombudsman said he could add more reasons to challenge the current laws on top of those listed and welcomes additions by e-mail, but while there have been a few recent exceptions, his institution generally doesn’t challenge laws that the parties represented in the Parliament achieved consensus on, so there are no promises that anything will actually happen. The activists who wrote the petition are determined to go to court if nothing does, however.

As for the week’s final event, it took place on December 12, when a small protest was organized at the entrance of Izvor Park across the road from the Chamber of Deputies entrance of the Parliament. The reason was that, after repeated delays, a law banning smoking in public indoor spaces was at risk of being postponed until at least February, the current week being the last during which it could be approved until then. In addition, tobacco industry representatives regularly took part in the discussions and some worrying amendments were included, such as requiring the creation of smoking areas adjacent to the indoor spaces the law will ban smoking in and with too few limits or safeguards to prevent most of the activity taking place in those designated smoking areas.
As far as I know, this wasn’t promoted at all through the usual channels and at least a few known activists are actually against such a law, but some others clicked that they were “interested” or even “going” and a few actually showed up, though none of those who’d necessarily first come to mind when thinking of the United We Save Community were among the 50 or so who were present. A few more may have arrived later if we’d have been able to stay longer, but the gendarmes were there a few minutes after the announced start time, which was at noon, and after negotiations that lasted until close to 12:20 PM we were only given until 12:35 PM at the very most, so a brief speech was followed by a few chants and then we stood in a single line, wearing the surgical masks someone had brought and holding a few signs and the one banner, before scattering.

This period begins with the commemoration of a month since the Colectiv club fire. There was no march or gathering, people simply being asked to go to the club, or more specifically to the now closed gate of the crumbling Communist-era factory where it was located, and pay their respects. Very few were there when I arrived, but I did find a fair number of candles and piles of flowers, though many of these seemed to have been there for a while. A number of signs and banners expressing grief or solidarity or wishing well to the injured could also be seen, alongside flags, icons and a large carved wooden cross. A few posts I saw indicated that, even though the event text asked people to go there between 1 PM and 5 PM, a fair number actually went during the evening, which was to be expected on a weekday.

December 1 is Romania’s National Day and there were various calls for protests or other such events to take place then, and quite a few of announcements that some will. However, it was quite clear that not much was actually going to happen and the only thing actually announced on the group was that those who had been asking people to answer their questionnaire since the start of these protests will be in the University Square fountain area for any who didn’t answer already and wish to do so.
Still, reports say that some 200 people did gather in that area in the evening, shouting and chanting slogans and eventually seeming to want to march to the club, at which point the Gendarmerie allowed them to do so on the street, which was strange considering the low numbers. They didn’t actually reach that place, however, as those at the head of the column changed the route, some wanting to reach the Government or the Parliament, and eventually turned back, stopping in the area between the two lanes.
At that point, according to a detailed report I saw, the gendarmes tried to get them to return to the fountain, though another group that was there at the time was trying to come towards them. When they did walk towards this other group, there was a struggle with the gendarmes, who became aggressive. This obviously infuriated the protesters, and a few attempted to block the road, even though by that point the others weren’t willing to support such an action anymore. It all eventually ended after the gendarmes, who were trying not to do anything that’d make them look bad once television crews arrived, agreed to allow people to return to the area they had first occupied at the end of that earlier march which never reached any destination.

On the evening of December 2, there was a debate about the recent protests and their results, though the actual discussions were preceded by a screening of Everyday Rebellion, meaning that they started later than many thought they would, as even some of the announced participants believed the film to be much shorter. Still, while a few did leave early, plenty did take part in the talks as well, and those went more or less in the expected directions.
Yes, this means quite a long time was wasted on questioning and attacking those who had participated in the consultations with the President. It also means that, once the topic of what can actually be done next was somehow squeezed in, those wishing for and even attempting to create political alternatives were challenged as vehemently as always by those who want to stick only to street protests and similar types of activism, distrusting the political system and politicians as a whole and being convinced that any who’d make such an attempt will soil themselves and quickly become as corrupt as those we’ve been protesting against, or that the very fact that they wish to do so means they already are. The view that the entire concept of representative democracy is in itself unacceptable and the only solution is the complete switch to a direct one was also vocally represented, though the moderator and one of the speakers tried to explain why that’s not a thought that any reasonable person should entertain for long.

The next day began with the news that the Chamber of Deputies voted to send back a law banning cyanide mining, requesting another opinion from the Industry and Services Committee and the Government. The proposal had been put forward all the way back in 2007, when it was rejected by the Senate, then made its way through the various Committees and seemed to pretty much vanish in 2008, before resurfacing this summer and being set to be rejected for good now. However, the result was obviously somewhat different, clearly thanks at least in part to all the messages sent and calls made to representatives, as part of a campaign demanding the law’s approval. Remains to be seen whether it’ll once again get lost now, at least until they’ll think they’ll manage to sneak it in largely unnoticed and reject it with less trouble.

Then, during the evening, another debate, this time about next year’s local elections, took place in the same location as the one from the previous day. It was organized by The Romania Initiative and had to do with the appeal they had sent, outlining a few steps to put together a project and support a team of honest candidates for Bucharest. As the one who so far openly joined their appeal was Nicusor Dan, he was also there and presented as the candidate supported by this platform, though it was repeatedly stated that if any others meeting the criteria will also join the appeal, they will be considered just as well.
Once again, the talks unfortunately went pretty much as expected, with accusations and conspiracy theories flying, some attempts to manipulate the crowd and a number of misguided suggestions, constructive discussions and proposals being rather few and far between. Something of a good news was that, when pressed, Nicusor Dan seemed to announce that he’ll make his team public in January and perhaps even start gathering the rest of the people needed for a successful campaign earlier, even though previous attempts made by some other known activists who are trying to create a political alternative, namely those who are now forming the United We Achieve Movement (MUR), didn’t seem to be able to change his plan of not focusing too much on the issue until March.

And speaking of MUR, their second formal meeting took place on December 6. If a lengthy video of the first one was posted, so anyone could easily see what was discussed, this time they seemed somewhat less open. Anyone who was interested was invited to attend, but those who did not could only see a brief statement mentioning only that the discussions were “much more applied” and a comment by one person who attended saying that the topics were matters of organization, program and strategy. A reply to a comment asking for more details indicated that a summary will be posted, but that didn’t happen.

Initially wanted this post to cover this week as well, and in truth there wouldn’t be that much to add about it, but I’ll stop here for now and hope to get up to date when I’ll write another. Since there is a protest tomorrow which I won’t attend but which has actually been announced on the group and openly supported by some of the known activists, I may want to get more information and add that as well in this next post, so I’m not sure whether I should aim for tomorrow or the day after, but hope it won’t be later than that.
On the other hand, while they seem to be doing some useful and perhaps even necessary things, The Romania Initiative keeps being rather off my radar, and not only because most of the other activists tend to continue to give them a cold shoulder for reasons I won’t get into again. The thing is that, while claiming not to want to become a party, they’re more political and more formal than MUR, which is registering as one, and also simply give me a feeling of coming from a direction I’m rather uncomfortable with. When I do look into their activities, I’m seeing some things I should be supporting and mentioning in such posts and they seem to be doing more towards giving the political alternatives we all need a better chance, but I’m nevertheless having a rather hard time persuading myself to do so enough to continue. Therefore, though I’m aware that, until proven otherwise, it’s unfair and even simply wrong, I’m seriously considering more or less ignoring them and only mentioning what I happen to otherwise somehow become interested in, if anything.

Keep in mind that I’m writing this post after getting little over four hours of sleep in four straight days and while trying to recover from being thoroughly fucked up. Also, after working just fine for over a week after I switched to manual settings, my Internet access had issues again this morning and it is Saturday, so I wrote a paragraph that pretty much said these things right after waking up and scheduled it to be posted at 11:59 PM if the problems will repeat themselves in the evening and I won’t be able to post this in time, seeing as I haven’t posted anything else so far this week.

The lack of sleep had no particular reason Wednesday morning, as I simply found myself waking up multiple times and having a hard time getting back to sleep, eventually getting out of bed at what is a relatively normal time for me but after only getting a total of about five hours of sleep, five and a half at most, and rather bad sleep at that. Then there were protests Thursday and today, with the listed times being 11 AM and 12 PM, respectively, and getting up two hours before that meant getting only about three and, respectively, four hours of sleep, and Thursday evening I was only able to nap for less than an hour. As for yesterday, I wanted to go buy some things and preferred to be there early, so while I didn’t set an alarm I woke up after about four and a half hours of sleep and went out.

The part about being thoroughly fucked up is a different matter and started when, after Thursday’s event, I passed a second time through the University Square Christmas fair and noticed that the guy selling honey at good prices was still there. I only had 35 RON on me and a large jar, containing 800 grams, was between 20 and 30, so stocking up was not an option and I didn’t even look too much, as he was greeting me and asking what I wanted, which made me quickly walk away both times I tried, but I wanted to go back if I could get a large enough sum from my parents. After all, they seem to be using a fair amount, I occasionally use some as well, and it’d be a good idea to get some straight from a local producer and support them this way, especially when the price is also good.
Dad had gotten five kilograms from a beekeeper I think in 2013, though I’m not sure anymore, but those finished earlier this year and since then he started buying the sort of crap that has a label saying “blended honey from within and outside the EU”, or in other words “we don’t know exactly what it is or where it’s from, but we’re selling it to you anyway”. So I’ve been muttering some things about that and eventually bought a jar of honey made in Romania and certified bio (organic), which was quite expensive, and after that he bought two that at least weren’t imported anymore, but they were still more expensive than buying from this guy now.
Either way, after that I stopped by a hypermarket and spent most of what I had on a few things and making a mental note to go back quickly because one thing was significantly cheaper than elsewhere and I was about to finish stocking up. Then, though I had to piss by the time I finished shopping there, I didn’t go to the toilet and walked for another hour in that state, made worse by the fact that I had multiple layers of clothing on me and that actually made the belt feel tight. At one point I actually unbuckled it and for the last few minutes I even partially unbuttoned my pants, since none of that could be seen under the jacket and I needed all the help I could offer myself, but perhaps this need to focus on not pissing myself and the fact that I walked for some 20 more minutes in that state just for this attempt made me manage to go to a confectionery and buy a cake I had been thinking of trying to buy for a while, as the previous attempts failed when I just turned around and left.

Since I had already interacted with someone directly, I was in a rather poor state that evening, when I wrote dad a message, explaining the situation with the honey, plus the other thing I still needed some money for, and also mentioning I may try some other things as well if I’ll have enough, and pretty much asking for as much as he can spare. This message ended up much longer than necessary and quite certainly increasingly twisted and confused as it continued, since the topic of money puts me in an awful state, being something that should exist and that I’m trying to advocate against and therefore creating this mix of terrible embarrassment, raw rage and a fair amount of panic when I have to use them myself in such a deliberate manner, plus that telling people that I’ll try something that scares me, which in this case was interacting with that guy to buy the honey, only adds to the pressure and makes it even worse.
All of this meant I was already falling apart that night, when I took the amount he had left for me and his metro card, since he wasn’t going to use it the next day. It did somewhat help that the amount was less than the minimum I had mentioned in my message, since it still allowed me to buy a decent quantity but perhaps not draw quite so much attention and ruled out going anywhere else after that, except to the hypermarket mentioned above to grab just what I was missing, so the plan for the day got simpler and there was no room left for any questions about attempting other interactions. Not that there was much chance of that anyway…

And this post is also falling apart now that I try to write about it, but let me say that I got there again Friday, looked at the large jars and saw that there was no benefit in terms of price, costing exactly twice as much as the small ones, which contained half the quantity, and then tried to figure out how much to buy. The guy was nice, pointing out that he has some honey in plastic bottles as well, for slightly less, and asking whether I wanted to taste a little, but that meant he was paying attention to me specifically and talking to me, so I was looking anywhere but in his direction and pretending to count my money and search through my pockets for my bag as I was struggling to stop myself from running away long enough for my mind to be able to find enough “processing power” through all the panic to tell me how much I should ask for.
Was already confused when I did ask for three large jars of polyfloral honey and one of acacia honey, as while saying that last part I was pointing towards the linden one and calculating the total based on the price of the one next to it, which was some rarer and more expensive type I can’t remember now. Then that only got worse when the guy suddenly pulled a large plastic bottle from behind the counter and advised me to buy the polyfloral one like that instead, informing me that the bottle contains 2.85 kilograms and costs 65 RON, then giving me a flash test in basic mathematics that was actually rather difficult when my mind was in that state, asking how many large jars that means and how much would those cost if bought separately.
Seeing that I was highly uncertain, he said I’m free to weigh the bottle somewhere if I think he’s trying to trick me, as there were plenty of other people at the fair who had scales, or he can sell me the tree jars I asked for, but I’d be the one losing out, getting them for 60 RON while like this I can get just over three and a half for 65. And he was, of course, right, so I agreed, though it was hours later that I realized I should have perhaps asked for a large bottle of acacia honey instead, since it doesn’t crystallize, if it was an option, and then perhaps add a small jar of polyfloral to that, but at that moment I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and in fact I still thought the acacia one cost 30 RON for a large jar instead of 25, so my calculations were wrong and the option would have seemed unaffordable even if I would have thought of it.
He also said his number is on the label and to call him if I have anything to ask, as he talks to anyone interested in his products, and also that I’ll be able to find him there until the fair ends on the 27th if I want to buy any more, but I just smiled, nodded and fled, shaking and sweating all over despite the cold. Did weigh the bottle before leaving the fair, however, verifying that it actually weighed as much as it said on the label, and then checked at home as well, also when the honey was poured into jars, which makes me feel quite bad, since he was nice and helpful and this shows distrust on my part, but I guess I needed to make sure I didn’t have another reason to feel bad about the whole thing.

After that, I went to the hypermarket and grabbed the one thing I still needed and a few others that were also particularly cheap and I could still afford with the little money I had left, then got back and after a little while ate quite a lot… Which was a bad idea, knowing how my digestive system reacts to panic and also considering the fact that we’re talking about a large salad, a can of fish in tomato sauce and two boiled eggs, and the salad and the tomato sauce obviously only made matters worse, so soon enough I was nauseous and clutching my stomach as cramps kept getting worse. Fortunately, it didn’t last long, as it seemed that my body was happy to just get everything out the other end, partially undigested, so after that happened it was all right, the only issue being that I pretty much ate only to quickly waste a good part of that food in that manner. Probably still less bad than throwing up though.
The state I was in otherwise didn’t go away quite so quickly though. It actually isn’t completely gone even now, but last evening, and also Thursday night, I was thoroughly fucked up, just needing to cry and, of course, not being able to, having a hard time thinking of anything, unable to even tell anyone why, as in unable to write it all out, which I guess only made it worse. Only managed to send a message that I guess was still terribly messed up but nevertheless detailed last night, and now I’m writing this, so I’m calming down significantly, but I’m definitely not doing that again too soon.

Otherwise, I played a little more Tropico 4, but only finished the fifth mission today, so it will take a long time. Also, should be reading another book soon, since I had set a goal of 12 on Goodreads for this year, as in one per month, and I’m at 11. Interestingly, I just won one, this being the second time that happens there, but highly doubt that will arrive in time, so I’ll have to resort to one of the Kindle ones I grabbed when they were free if I’m to make sure I’ll reach that goal… And I’m strongly leaning towards Heiress of Magic, as in the sequel to the first book I won there, though Sonya was saying I’ll probably think it’s worse and, knowing that it’s far more confined and focused on romance, I’d tend to agree, so we’re both somewhat wary of the prospect, knowing I’ll review it once I’m done and hold nothing back.

And this once again ended up being far too long, and probably also included things that shouldn’t have been written, but at least I could write and also post it. So let me end it now by mentioning that I managed to run again this week as well, though the temperature was uncomfortable and I also had to carry my jacket in my hand while running, since I wore it on the way there and back. Still, the time was 21:10, with intermediate times of 4:33, 10:01 and 16:23, respectively, so not too bad. Remains to be seen whether I’ll try again next week or not, though the forecast for Monday may just allow it, in similar conditions.

As I was saying at the end of October, I apparently ended up in a new network, though when dad went to talk to those from the one we were in he was told it was in fact a “partnership” between them and another network from the area, as their technician had left and the manager readily admitted knowing nothing about actually operating such a network, so they found this solution to have “someone who knows better” around. It seems that they’ll keep the location, at least for payments, but otherwise everything seems to have been moved over to the new network, and we were given the contact information of a new person in case there will be problems, dad saying he was told to talk only to him, probably also because the old network’s manager simply doesn’t know anything about the technical side.
For the first few days, the connection did briefly fail several times per day, and when I checked I saw that it either got a DHCP timeout or the DNS was oddly replaced with 192.168.0.1, but we had been told that there will be some problems at first, while they work on changing things, so I didn’t think much of it. Also, after being told that, didn’t think much of the fact that the upload speed I had when testing on servers from abroad was usually double the download speed, said download speed either way being about 20% or 30% faster than what I had in the old network. And, after those first few days passed and the connection became more stable, I didn’t even check anymore.
However, Thursday evening I noticed that I had a connection warning even though I was watching a live stream, so I was obviously still connected. When I checked, I once again saw that strange replacement of the DNS, but renewing the connection information fixed the issue… For a few minutes. Then it happened again, and when it happened the third time, trying to renew resulted in timeouts. Entering all information manually made it work just fine, on the other hand, and bar about ten seconds this evening I didn’t notice any other issues since.
Still, those ten seconds reminded me to check some things again, and I saw that my ISP is now being reported as a firm registered this year that assigns IPs, and also that speed tests now result in download speeds for servers from abroad that are similar to what I had in the old network and upload speeds that are far lower. More exactly, the upload speed on local servers is about half of what I used to have, and on those from abroad it’s about a third. And trying to let it get the connection information automatically first once again resulted in 192.168.0.1 as DNS, then entering the DNS manually resulted in the default gateway being replaced with that instead, which obviously meant that the connection didn’t work anymore, and further attempts to renew only led to timeouts.
So I’m feeling quite insecure with this network, not knowing much of anything about them and seeing these things happening. More interesting, however, is the fact that dad didn’t say anything about having problems himself, and he definitely wouldn’t know how to enter the information manually if he had to, so it seems to only happen on my computer, which in a way worries me even more and makes me wonder what I should do next, other than send an e-mail to the old network’s address, in case somebody still checks it, asking for some information, because I already did that but I don’t exactly have my hopes up. So I’m posting this now just in case there will be serious problems later…