Snow and Christmas Markets

Christmas in Romania is usually "white" and last year the Sibiu and Sighisoara webcams showed snow most of the time, at least on the rooftops. This year however, the forecast, for the next two weeks anyway, is mostly mild with a mix of sunny days and rain showers. Any snow showers in the forecast are at night and will probably turn to rain by morning. From the BBC weather forecasts I have seen over the last couple of days it looks like most parts of the UK will have snow this year before Romania. Nevertheless I bought a set of snow chains for my car today as they are compulsory for driving in heavy snow and the police can prevent you going any further if you do not have them. Also purchased today was the snow clearing device shown in the photo. Both will be in the car when I drive to the UK in just over three weeks time as it looks like I might need them to get from the Eurotunnel terminal to Hindhead, Newbury and Grove to visit family and friends!

Last year I watched the Christmas Markets in Sibiu and Sighisoara on live streaming webcams. This year I shall actually be visiting both of them! Sibiu's Market is a huge event, open daily 10am to 9pm from this coming Saturday (27th) through to Sunday 2nd January 2011. It has only been going since 2007 and the first one was held in Piata Mica (The Small Square) with 38 stalls but it proved such a success with public and traders alike that from 2008 it has been held in Piata Mare (The Large Square). This year there will be 65 stalls, an ice rink and a funfair, catering mainly for children who are very much the centre of Romanian family life. The stalls will offer, according to the website, such things as traditional sweets, hot tea, mulled wine, handmade Christmas decorations, candles, toys, clothing and much more. I'm hoping to find some Christmas presents for family and friends in the UK. I will be going to the market with some friends who live in Sibiu and one of them has kindly offered me a bed for the night. Apart from not having to drive home in the dark, it also means I can sample the mulled wine! Romanian drink/drive law has a "zero alcohol" limit and the police operate random traffic stops (I've been pulled over twice in six months) to check vehicle and identity documents so it's soft drinks only when I'm driving anywhere.

The Christmas Market in Sighisoara's Piata Cetatii is a smaller affair with around 20 stalls and to date I haven't been able to find out when it starts! All I know is that as yet there are no signs of the stalls being brought into the square. Last year the first indication was some blocks of polystyrene foam appearing outside the antiques shop opposite the webcam location. The blocks lay on the ground for two or three days and were then assembled into a five metre high snowman so I'm checking the webcam daily and hoping the same happens this year.

The most important news since my last post is completion of the registration process for my company, Casa Cristina Roandola S.R.L. Hooray! As well as the colourful Registration Certificate for the primary activity of providing rooms for guests, I have a closely typed three page document listing all the secondary activities I am allowed to carry on. My lawyer, Ramona, spent quite a long time going through the list with me a few months ago and we ticked anything and everything relating to living in a rural environment and running a B&B so I can keep animals, grow vegetables, make furniture, do metalwork, repair cars, use my car to transport guests, hire out mountain bikes etc etc. There were very few boxes we didn't tick such as dealing in arms and ammunition, processing chemicals and refining petroleum products! However, I can repair aircraft and spacecraft - yes, really! I will probably never do 75% of the activities but it was easier to be registered now rather than go through another lengthy registration procedure if I suddenly decided to weave my own cloth or keep buffalo and produce mozarella cheese!

Is it summer, autumn or winter?

Yes, that's right 34C in the direct sun (21C in the shade) at end of garden today - 15th November! I've been told that it's the warmest November since the early 1970's but how much longer will it last? Next two weeks looking fairly mild according to Accuweather and mainly sunny with the odd shower, generally at night. However, I am preparing for winter with a second load of wood which was delivered by horse and cart. Some local men were recruited to carry the wood up the garden as my caravan prevented the horse and cart getting beyond the end of the courtyard. There was a bonus "delivery" left by the horse! I have also been informed that Romania is expecting the coldest winter for nearly 50 years so the extra wood may well have been a good decision. I thought I probably had enough wood already but when a local Roma came knocking on the door offering a cartload for 70 lei, 30 lei less than I paid for each of the first two cartloads, I said "Yes please". After all, if I don't use it this winter, it will be there for the next. Incidentally, I heard again yesterday that we can expect a very cold winter. It had somehow become the coldest in 1000 years but I don't think records go back that far!

Last week I painted the ceiling and upper walls of the en-suite and fitted the glass into the door so it is definitely finished now (see video). Cole has also constructed a new partition wall between the entrance steps and the kitchen which will go a long way to keeping the warmth in. The kitchen is the only unheated area in the house, unless the gas cooker is in use, and the main entrance is a pair of glazed double doors with a large fanlight above which resulted in rapid heat loss once the sun had gone down. Although the temperature in the kitchen area has, so far, not gone below 11C it always feels colder in the morning when I come out of my bedroom which is heated in the evening by one of three wood-fired stoves. Even though the house is 90 years old, the Saxon German builders knew a thing or two about thermal insulation and built the house with 500mm thick exterior walls, 300mm interior walls, wood floors, double (inner and outer) windows and ceilings consisting of 20-25mm of lime plaster, reinforced with reeds, applied to 25mm thick boards. It doesn't end there either - the roof space floor is more 25mm boards covered with a 25mm thick layer of lime mortar! Once the sun has gone down it gets cold very quickly outside and most mornings there has been a light to moderate frost on my car. If I light the tiled stoves in the evening and fill them up so they will keep burning for an hour or so after I've gone to bed, the room temperature by late evening is usually 21-23C. Because the tiled stoves act like night storage heaters and continue to give off heat long after the fire has gone out, the rooms will still be at least 17C next morning, even with night time temperatures falling to minus 8C as they did a couple of weeks ago. When this incredibly warm spell has ended no doubt the stoves may have to be kept "ticking over" all day and room temperatures built up to 25 or 26C in the evening but with my winter fuel stock now nearly 50% more than it was last week, I am confident that my 270 lei (£55) worth will keep me warm!



P.S. How do I get rid of the unwanted "suggestions" at the end of the Youtube video?