*Disclaimer: the post is illustrated with unrelated (or is it?!) photos that I've taken while breaking the rules a few weeks ago, in the middle of the mountains somewhere.
Well, tomorrow announces to be the first fucking normal day since February. Though we are going to have some (shaky!) rules to obey, we can move wherever we want here in Romania.
In the head of the list of rules is:
Rule no.1: "Don't take the bug!"
This one is pretty self-explanatory if you are talking about your health and your overall well-being. But here in Romania, there are some cherries added on top of the actual contact with the bug because if you are going dark and you need some medical attention and they find the bug upon you, then you are in real trouble, my friend. It may be that the bug will only give you some mild fever episodes or some couching but as long as you have the bug, you have to stay in one of the Romanian State Hospitals. And believe me, they didn't prepare the best ones for the COVID support.
A few days ago a good client enters my office, we shake hands (I don't even know why I did it but I think it was something related to the other one thinking I am a crazy son of a bitch if I refuse) and while talking he reveals that his wife (that was waiting for him in the car) is working in one of these COVID support hospitals in their town. Imagine my face falling down as I was filtering the info. But anyway, what I could do at that moment?
The thing is that he was telling me the torment some of the patients go through and it's not because of the disease. All 80 something patients in that hospital present 0 symptoms while some on them test positive with the fucking bug for up to 2 months by now. So those poor guys, some of them, young employees of a big electronics factory, have stayed there for 2 months while the only symptoms they have is probably given by the bad food and the poor conditions in the hospital.
So don't take the bug!
Rule no.2: "Stay in your own damn bubble"
"...and mind your fucking business" I might add...
I have to say that I enjoyed this "pandemic season". The fact that there were literally fewer people outside, to me it brought great joy. I don't linger outside, I generally do my things fast and then I either get inside or I just mind my own business inside my yard. The fact that tomorrow they'll open the terraces it's not a real joy for me because I can't stand them anymore. It's either that I'm old or I'm transforming in some kind of communist.
I keep my distances generally. I don't go breathing down people's necks as a rule and I don't like you breathing your germs on my behind while I'm waiting to pay the groceries. I think this "2-meter rule" should be a permanent one. Just keep your distance man. I don't know where you've been. And you don't where I've been either.
A guy at the groceries store, during full pandemic, was literally spitting on my neck while waiting in line. Mask off of course. I just turned to him and asked him if he also wants to spit in my mouth to make sure. He mumbled something and then retreated half a meter back. Young guy...
Rule no.3: "Filter your mist"
That means "wear a damn mask when inside". There are fewer and fewer people obeying this rule when they are not inside big supermarkets. Down in the neighbourhood in the small shops not even the cops wear them when they get in to grab a coffee. What can I say about the ladies selling the shit down there? They spray the big "Wear a mask inside" sign stuck to the door every time they wash the windows but they don't even wear the damn things under the chin. It's like waiting for the flu to strike you during the season with all the people coming in and out. It's not like you could see the diseased carrying the stuff towards you. He may be feeling like a million sunshines while passing it to you and you may get to couch up your damn lungs in 2 weeks.
Now they're opening the beaches. With distanced sunbeds and only with table service on the beach. It's like they're inventing rules that make no sense. You're on the beach anyway, everybody will rumble to them (including me!) and that nice mist that the sea is rising in the air due to the constant waving of the water will most probably be a nice way to share our germs.
Rule no.4: "The cops are there to get you"
Don't let anyone tell you anything different. Back in Bucharest, all are total incompetent on this Urgency State and Alert State that we've been through and the quality of the laws they've put out during these times is the same with the scribbling of a 5-year-old. Every time they were announcing changes during the quarantine times, they would do it in the middle of the night, 3 minutes before the last one would get out of its validity.
Of course, the cops will try to use that, in many cases, to pass on more fines. I really see cops these days like salesmen running back and forth in order to reach their quota. And a piece of paper, that famous "Declaration..." that they have been asking during the quarantine and which some still do take with them when getting out, is not gonna save you from the overzealous cop of the day. Nope! if his set to get you, oh, you're gonna get that sweet fine, my friend.
I have a much easier way to avoid being fined. I avoid cops. I never travel without the "WAZE" app open. Sometimes I even imagine I'm playing GTA and I can see them on the radar map. Even during the shutdown, that damn app pinpointed the filter pretty accurate so I'm dependent on it in my endeavour to avoid the cops.