Lights Out in Romania

Every morning we awaken to the lovely chorus of jackhammers outside our window. Except, for some reason, this morning. This morning it is eerily quiet out there.

Last night, there was an explosion in the shed in what I am going to optimistically call the courtyard. Then the lights dimmed. Then the lights went out, and there was a lot of discussion in Romanian in the courtyard in a tone that meant this sort of thing doesn't usually happen on a Thursday evening.

I said, “Since the lights are out, would you like a glass of wine?”

I knew something was due to go out, but I thought it might be the Internet. For some reason I am much more annoyed when the Internet goes out with the power still on. Maybe because the Madnet guys told us the Internet is on 99 percent of the time. Of course, I never took Romanian math, so he could have been telling the absolute truth.

Numbers all seem to have different meanings here. Like 24-7, which is on a lot of the stores. It seems to have the same meaning as “Non-Stop,” in that they're open until about 10 p.m., most of the days of the week.

About an hour and a half after the lights went out, they came back on just as mysteriously. We didn't ask questions. Except, maybe, “Since the lights are back on, would you like a glass of wine?”

One should never drink for the wrong reasons.