Not much has happened on the building renovation/adaptation front due to cold weather and snow. Next stage will involve digging another trench for drainpipes and the ground has been frozen until now. However, the last few days have seen a complete turn around in the weather. In early March patches of snow lingered in shaded places, both in my courtyard/garden and on the hills around the village. The last few days though have seen daytime highs of 18-20C and, even with clear skies, the nighttime low has stayed above freezing - just! Hopefully building work should start again soon.
Sunny, warm days have meant that the Sibiu-Agnita Railway restoration group has been able to get some work done on the last two Saturdays and I have spent a few hours on both occasions helping to dismantle the 112 year old timber built goods warehouse at the Sighisoara end of Agnita. When this building is eventually re-erected at the station site at the opposite end of Agnita it will become a workshop allowing carriage restoration to be carried out under cover. Our progress can be seen at
http://www.sibiuagnitarailway.com/friends/actions.php?lang=en
This morning I was videoed by Raoul Pop, a film maker from Medias, who contacted me a few weeks ago after seeing my profile on the expat-blog.com website. The video, once edited, will be posted on Raoul's internet TV website as the third episode of a series entitled "Romania through their eyes". Raoul and his wife Ligia spent about three hours at Casa Cristina Roandola having a look round, chatting to me, then filming and finally taking a few still shots as well. Editing will probably take a few days and I am looking forward to the results. Raoul's website is:
http://raoulpop.com/
I am now playing bass in Mana Church with the two worship groups who play on alternate Sundays! In addition the group led by Ovidiu have been invited to provide the music for worship at a youth conference on Saturday 26 March. At least I will get the following Sunday off as I shall be in the UK again visiting family for a few days. This time I will be flying to Luton using a new service operated by Wizzair direct from Targu Mures. Following the ending of Blue Air's Sibiu to Luton service late last year, I thought I would either have to go all the way to Cluj for a direct flight or start using Wizzair flights from Targu Mures to Budapest and change onto another flight to continue to Luton. However, I received an email from Wizzair around Christmas time announcing a new direct service commencing on Saturday 26 March. I will be on the third TM to Luton flight on Thursday 31 March, returning on Tuesday 5 April. My two offspring, Louise and Robert, will be using Wizzair in the reverse direction to come and spend a few days with me at the end of May. It will be Louise's third trip to Romania and Robert's first. I am really looking forward to a long weekend with just the three of us, no spouses or children (no offence Chris, Ali, Noah, Martha and Daisy!).
