May 2009

Romania? It’s toilet.

by Craig Turp May 19, 2009 Bucharest

 Loved this story which popped up on Mediafax earlier: the biggest complaint foreign tourists have when visiting Romania is the lack of (or the state of) public toilets. Here’s one particular toilet nugget: One Saturday, four coachloads of American tourists visited, en bloc, Casa Poporului (which is, of course, the most visited and best known [...]

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When good taxis go bad

by Craig Turp May 19, 2009 Bucharest

 We got an email at Bucharest In Your Pocket this morning from the Finnish Embassy, claiming that drivers at one of the capital’s (until now) more trusted taxi companies, Leone, have begun employing some underhand tactics. Here’s the mail: “I would like to inform you about taxis of Bucharest. Your list of trusted taxi companies [...]

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Dogs: Why only a zero tolerance policy is now acceptable

by Craig Turp May 18, 2009 Bucharest

 Took the kids to Titan yesterday, to the big park. It’s nice, very nice. A park that would be considered a nice place in any city in the world. Terraces have been built into the banks that lead down towards the artificial lake, and fine wooden benches, flower beds and lawns added. The large and [...]

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Desperate search for ‘Why Romania failed (again) at Eurovision’ scapegoat continues

by Craig Turp May 17, 2009 Media

 Romania came a crushingly bad 19th in last night’s Eurovision Song Contest; crushing because in these parts they really, really care. The event was won, by quite some distance, by Norway. With just hours now to go before the first editions of Monday’s Romanian newspapers go to print, we have decided to have a little [...]

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Bucharest needs Harry Beck

by Craig Turp May 11, 2009 Bucharest

 First off, have you ever noticed how small Bucharest is? You can go from one side of the city to the other – or from one end to the other – in just a few minutes (if travelling at three in the morning, or by metro of course). For a city of almost three million [...]

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Red Leicester

by Craig Turp May 6, 2009 Media

 First off, we intended this post to be about local licensees of international magazines, and how they should be a bit more careful when it comes to translating generic content without also adapting it. Flicking through April’s Romanian edition of the BBC Good Homes Magazine (the local licensee of which is the Voiculescu clan) we [...]

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I’m shopping. Now leave me alone

by Craig Turp May 4, 2009 Bucharest

 Want to feel like a convicted thief without actually doing anything? Walk into a shop in Bucharest. Sunday morning, there we were harmlessly looking for knick knacks in a branch of Bamboo, a shop staffed, by and large, by pretty young things who should know better. They do not. The minute you walk in, they [...]

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