RADIATOR The central heating was working only two hours in the morning and another few during the night; the radiator became warm, almost at the same temperature as one?s hand. Our cat, a lovely tomcat, reddish and with stripes, and proud as a prince, went up the radiator and he stayed there as long as he could inhale a breath of warmth. The air of the rooms remained cold, inducing an ambiance of a slightly dump dungeon. We gathered in the same room, probably looking for the animal warmth. The rest of the apartment was slowly freezing, while we put on two sweaters, one over the other, thick booties and no hope. It had just been rumored that at poor Ionescu?s apartment, the pipes had broken, a week before. They froze inside his room. What can we expect; it was an apartment on the corner. ?Why didn?t he warm himself at the cooker?? my poor old mother wondered, her soul rest in peace. ?Well, in their block of flats the cooker had had no gas for a whole week?. There was a joke, let us all put our hands on our radiators at the same time, so the pipes wouldn?t freeze. (90) RADIO "You're on Radio Romania?Ceausescu and soy bean?" (51) There were three channels: "Radio Romania Current Events", "Radio Romania Cultural Events" and "Romania Youth Radio". "Radio Romania Current Events" and "Romania Yourh Radio" had the greatest number of listeners. I listened to music. Every day I listened to the broadcast "Melo from three to four". In the morning I listened to a broadcast called "Postbox". People sent letters on different issues on medicine, legislation, pensions, heritage, trials and were answered on the radio. In fact, the answers were closer to advice. I listened to the morning and evening news. I knew they lied a lot, that were not real. Foreign news was selected so that we shouldn't know what happened abroad and that foreigners had a good living standard. Internal news said the output increased more and more and Romanians lead a happy life. No robbery, no infraction was presented. That is why, many Romanians thought that nothing was happening in their the country, that the communist regime took care of them. |