Post # 11: Bucharest and England

Been in England for a few days now, Bucharest was pretty interesting, but was the least lively leg of my trip. So, Bucharest….another booming city. Taxi cab drivers complain of all the foreign dollars coming in as investments in the city. I assume they prefer to go back to the old days when nobody was investing/building, and thus, not taking cabs anywhere. In their defense, there is a lot of construction and street renovations are everywhere. Hotels, casinos, office buildings, you name it. Again, mostly foreign banking and service related industries coming here to eastern Europe to take advantage of the cheap labor market. The younger generation is clearly having a field day with all the opportunity, not so for their parents’ generation. The 50-70 year olds are the getting left behind due to no English language knowledge….not just in Bucharest but all over Eastern Europe. Quick thought: biggest thieves you will encounter in any of the countries I have visited are the cab drivers. Not once was I in imminent danger of being robbed or accosted in any way, at least that I’m aware of….but the cab drivers will take every last penny off you if given the opportunity.

I've written and rewritten this post 5 times and can't seem to come up with anything too interesting to say. Right about the time I was planning where I should go next, I received notice from back home that there are some things cooking on the business front that need my attention. After roughly 40 days of conversations in broken English as well as many other languages, I decided that it was best to head to bloody old England and refamiliarize myself with the Queen’s English before heading home. I have a friend there, in Colchester actually, and I reached out so I could share some of this damn happiness I’m experiencing. I started out with a day in London, took a Thames River tour and have photos to load later, then to Nottingham with my friend, then back to Colchester where I am now.

These Brits are a very cool bunch, significantly cooler than us Americans. They use words like opulent, brilliant, and sterling in every day conversations. Some of my British favs: cheers (thanks), way out (exit), wanker, cheeky fellow, bugger off, piss off, fuck off, and my all time favorite, blowy. “Let me know if it’s too blowy back there”. Now, THERE’S a sentence I haven’t heard nearly enough in my life….only it would have been better served if it didn’t come from my cab driver.

I am booked on a flight back to NY this Monday, and will be staying in a hotel for a few weeks until my sublet is up. Kind of a pain, but I did rent my apartment out to my neighbor and his wife while their unit is being renovated. I’m trying to swing the use of his Shelter Island house for July weekends so we’ll see what happens.

There is someone I would really like to see in Estonia but I don’t know if I have time to get there and back in time. I may try to fit in a quick bullet train to Paris or Brussels before I return home, but outside of that, my Euro 2008 is coming to an end.

I really appreciate the emails from everyone and I will try to post again either before I leave or once I am back home. See you all very soon...