British expat Mike Ormsby’s Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania,
copyrighted 2015 (though apparently first published in Bucharest in 2008 and
with an acknowledgements page dated 2012, so who knows), consists of a series
of vignettes exploring facets of Romanian life.
As a journalist he knows how to get those he meets to open up, and he is
always amiable and interested. A lot of
his material results from conversations with cabbies (the taxi being his
preferred mode of transport), and his wily self-serving building manager in
Bucharest is also a good source of anecdotes.
Ormsby comes across many kind and
warm-hearted people and has close friendships, but while he has huge affection
for the country he is conscious of its flaws.
He wryly recounts the petty annoyances he experiences every day, finding
that often personal respect, and respect for social and legal institutions, are
in short supply. There is selfishness
and philistinism, toleration of squalor and discomfort, and a relaxed attitude
to animal welfare standards. Naturally
there are plenty of brushes with bureaucracy, shamelessly exhibiting corruption
and inefficiency. Instances of terrible driving crop up regularly. Ordinary Romanians are fully aware of the
defects but cannot see a way to change the situation, so shrug and get on with
life as best they can.
On the other hand, Ormsby finds
much to admire about the country. In
particular he shows the Carpathians to be breathtakingly beautiful. He has travelled widely, including stints in
Africa, so he does not view Romania from a narrow perspective but rather with a
cosmopolitan eye. Despite his
criticisms, it says something for his love of the place that he has stayed on,
though he moved from Bucharest to Transylvania where he lives with his Romanian
wife.
The tone remains light even when
he is clearly exasperated by what he encounters every day, but you sense frustration
life is not better this long after 1989.
These snapshots suggest that at least at the time of writing the old mindset
still lingered, and while there are hints in the book that things are
improving, it is a slow process.
Hopefully in the not too distant future Ormsby’s dispassionate snapshots
will read like an historical depiction of a vanished past.
