TRANSCENDENTALS

There was this poor fellow working at our Institute for Psychology Studies that the Transcendentals shut down following the row at?and this fellow was absolutely innocent, a researcher in Biology. So they shut down the Institute and kicked him out of the party, for failing to take attitude against what had happened?They finally gave him a job at the ?Cantacuzino? Institute. Our directors were quite liberal with the jobs so they gave him a job as qualified worker and step by step he became a Biology researcher again. I?m sure he must have done something to deserve it. So the poor fellow never once missed one single Communist Political Thought class. I know that because we were in the same group, and he was so scared. He was so afraid to get in trouble again that he did all the homework, took notes and was always keen on taking the floor to say anything really. Nobody could bloody force you do that; you could just sit there without breathing a bloody word because they didn?t give you marks or anything. But he did it a lot, so nobody could say anymore that he hadn?t had any attitude against ?(I. H., S. R.-B., 15)

TRANSPORTATION MEANS

Can you really imagine that back in the 80?s a bus ticket was only 1.80 lei, and for the longest route imagine, it could go up to 2 lei at the most. But function of how many stops you traveled, you had tickets of 0.40 lei, 0.60 lei, 0.80lei, 1 leu and a couple of dimes.

When they inaugurated the tube, it was only 1 leu?(22)

The traffic in Bucharest was bad because of the state of the streets. That was why, besides cutting down on the use of petrol, drivers took turns at using their cars at the weekend. One weekend only the cars with odd registration numbers were allowed into the streets, the next weekend it was the other way around. (O. U., 136)

The Tribunal was housed by the same building then as it is in 2000. The outside may be slightly more dilapidated, and maybe the risk of unexpected collapse is better signaled in some central parts inside the building. One decade ago it was perhaps gloomier, awfully dusty, paint-work peeling off on large surfaces, with disproportionately tall doors, fitted with knobs that never really worked, and flooring covered by a thick layer of grime. The furniture had had the varnish all polished away by the crowds of people that had to be packed into the halls due to overly busy schedules.