Acting responsible - "garbage"

This is me interacting with the Romanian authorities, and it's not the first time I'm doing this...

Before Easter my responsible neighbors cleaned the green area next to our apartment building. After gathering the plastic bottles, pieces of clothing, building material and all the other stuff Romanians love leaving around in nature, they did not call anyone to pick it up and just left it there. In the mean time rats and cockroaches made a living around it...not to mention the flees and ticks that have a blast in the tall grass that grew around the tiny garbage hills.

Pissed by the fact that for the last 21 years nobody ever came to clean this area, I called the Public Domain Authority...and they noted my concern...for three times in the past month and a half. Finally their verdict was that the are is not actually public, it's private. Even though there's no fence around and the land is basically abandoned (typical for Bucharest) they cannot come clean the area. When I asked whether there's a law punishing owners for basically abandoning their land the answer was simple..."No, I don't think so....it's just a matter of morality".

I found out that there is actually a law punishing this, but you have to call the Community Police in your district, they give you the phone number of your area's police. That's where you can make a complaint by phone. They were very kind and explained the whole procedure. Now it's in the hands of the environment section of the police department (I had no idea this existed). They will analyze the situation, discover who the owners are...send them a request to clean the land and if they don't do it....fine them.

My guess...the garbage is going to remain there for a long time, and most likely the hills will become mountains at some point.

ADOPTED Gremlins!

My two fostered gremlins went home. They now have a whole yard and three dogs to play with.

Gil is a 3 months old baby tomcat. He was found together with his brother in the engine of a car.

His brother has been adopted today, so he's now alone. He is extremely playful and brave. He doesn't care in my two older cats try to attack him and make funny sounds to intimidate him...

Zurich

About a month ago I pined another city on my map - Zurich. Switzerland does not sound like a very promising land to me. I see it like a suited up country with a very German life style.

That's why I was not that anxious to be there. I thought it would be just another Germanic style city, with a few things to visit - most of all Protestant churches.

During the conference I didn't have so much time to visit around, except for the night when we had our client event. I have to say that by that time I already concluded that they just became my second favourite country on the food map - delicious dishes. My first glimpse of the city left me with the feeling of being part of a very well done painting. A painting that did not have human life in it - but very good looking buildings. Close to what I was expecting, but once the sunny weekend came, the German like city became very Italian.

Swiss people are a really good mix of hard work and leisure. I am still surprised to say that I enjoyed the city more than I expected. Their suits go off during the weekend and they reveal tattooed bodies, and a mix of personalities. The best frame I captured is that of two young couples in the park. The ones on the right were very romantic - he was playing the guitar for her and the one on the left were very though - he was doing push ups next to her.

Not to mention the beauty of the city....it definitely went between my top cities to live in...