My father (Radu Petrescu) died in 82 and died because the ambulance came after one hour, although they had been informed it was a heart attack. They did not have a stretcher, only the doctor came up. They took him down the stairs into the car. At the hospital he had to go up the stairs by himself. They did not do anything and when they saw him die, they gave him a perfusion and told us he had died in the ambulance. The janitor told us he had died at 3 in the morning, anyway, a difference of many hours. From 11 evening till 3 in the morning, they didn?t do anything for him. There were good doctors, too. My grandmother had been hospitalized there as well, but they saved her. It all depended on the people and the ambulance always came too late. There were hopeless cases. ? (C. M., 52)

I was operated of hernia at Vitan hospital. It was clean, but the bed was rigid, the mattress was thin. I felt the grill behind it. I was lucky I did not have to stay in bed long. I was lucky I haven?t had to stay in hospital since then. I hate to stay and do nothing.

I gave the doctor some pork joints, from the legs behind. My mother had given it to me, my mother-in-law was raising my children and I couldn?t ask her. I think he was content, it was hard to find meat then. (E. I. A., 116)

HOUSE OF RECIPROCAL HELP (?C.A.R.?)

It was more convenient than the installments, because it would not require an endorser. One could do anything with the money from the house of reciprocal help. Some even bought houses and cars with it. One would buy furniture, carpets, anything. One would go on vacation, on trips abroad. It was very convenient, especially since you paid at work, and one could often put off the payment. The salary was enough, if you were not a big-time wastrel. With each salary, I could afford to buy something important like clothes or shoes, so, the house of reciprocal help was not a burden, and it was even of help. Being divorced, I had to pay monthly alimony and I would still have money for trips and holidays. I would go to the seaside two or three times in one summer. Today I cannot even go once in a couple of years. And everybody could afford it just the same: either managers or workers. We ha the same cars, the same houses, we were just as elegantly dressed. (C. S., 20)

HOME

In an open world, favoring competition, time is mostly spent outside one?s home. The home only becomes central to one?s lifestyle when one has grown older. That?s when the home becomes an extension of the person, a sort of alveola within which one begins spending more and more time.