Did everyone see this last night on Pro TV news? The appearance of all sorts of wildlife in the middle of the city, on a huge, abandoned piece of land known as Lacul Vacaresti:

Very much a case of Bucharest doing everything right by doing absolutely nothing.

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Given that last week’s post featuring a 1962 guide to Bucharest was the most popular we’d written in ages, here’s more of the same, only from another book published more than two decades later, in 1985.

Unirea, 1985

Bulevardul Magheru 1985

Not a guide per se, but in fact a monograf outlining the state of the city’s infrastructure at the time, the book is packed with graphics of the socialist kind which highlight the achievements of the regime. Such as the number of apartments built since Nicolae Ceausescu took over from Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in 1965:

Priorities...

There is also ample space dedicated to leisure facilities in Bucharest, all meant to convince readers (we assume people from the provinces) of how fantastic life was in the city at the time.

Caldura mare

The Hotel Flora: today the Crowne Plaza

The lobby of the Hotel Bucuresti. Today it is the Radisson, and unrecognisable

Those of you (or is it just us?) fascinated by all things Bucharest Metro will be fascinated to know that the book contains a map of how the metro was at that stage projected to take shape.

The line we have (badly) highlighted in red is the 'Magistrala inelara.' Only some of the northern part, from Gara de Nord to Muncii, was built

A Bucharest metro train at Eroilor station in 1985. Two things to note: the shorter trains (made up of just two carriages, to save on electricity) and the fact there are three people in the driver's cab

As anyone who has lost the will to live and therefore visits these pages regularly will know, we are reasonably big fans of Bucharest’s Village Museum. One of city’s best run attractions, we call it ‘outstanding’ in the write-up we give it over at Bucharest In Your Pocket.

This weekend the museum celebrates its birthday (its 76th, to be precise), and is therefore hosting a bit of a party.

Beginning today, Thursday March 17th, the celebrations last four days and include everything from children’s theatre to film screenings, short plays and zillions of dancing peasants (especially on Saturday, from 12pm, when there are four dancing troupes on stage, including a group of Turkish-Tatar dancers from Medgidia, and the Aromanian dancers above, pictured at a similar event in 2009).

There will also be a craft and goodies market on each of the four days where you can fill your boots with sweets and treats. Look out for Branza de burduf, smoked trout and the obligatory Kürtőskalács.

The full programme of the four days is here.

Those lovely people at Enel, supplier (sometimes) of electricity to Bucharest, yesterday gave us an invaluable glimpse at what life might be like were a Green Party ever to win an election, form a government, and impose on us their rather frightening policy of energy rationing.

Without power from 8am until gone 6pm, we learnt valuable lessons about the futility of solar power (it only works when the sun shines) as well as finishing a cracking book on the crusades. We also got a hair cut, went swimming, did a spot of shopping and made some chicken soup. It wasn’t a totally wasted day, but given that we have a shed load of work to do, it certainly felt like it.

Anyway, you can now disregard our post about not voting for anyone in the Sector 3 election.

After yesterday’s epic power cut we are now prepared to back any candidate who can bring us a reliable supply of the modern miracle that is electricity.

This is not, after all, the first time we have had to cope with power cuts in our part of Bucharest. (Although yesterday was by far the worst). The electricity supply in our in-laws’ remote village is better. Much better.

Who ever thought reliable electricity would become an election issue in a European capital in the 21st century?

Last Thursday the phoney war came to an end and the 2012 Romanian local election campaign began in earnest. (Voting takes place on June 10th).

In our part of the country, Bucharest’s Sector 3 (in fact the largest administrative area in Romania), that means it’s time for the two main candidates, Liviu Negoita and Robert Negoita, to ditch the subterfuge and come out loud and proud in their efforts to try and convince us that we should vote for them.

Loud and proud however does not appear to be Liviu Negoita’s approach. The huge posters which appeared last week in Piata Unirii are conspicuous for the fact that the badge of Negoita’s party, the PDL, is tiny, barely visible in the bottom left hand corner:

Spot the PDL

Clearly seeing the PDL as toxic, Negoita is trying to come across as very much his own man, and certainly not one who belongs to the deeply unpopular PDL. We have noticed that the PDL’s candidate for the overall Bucharest mayor’s office, Silviu Prigoana, is trying the same trick.

Alas for them both, it does not appear to be working. The first opinion poll of the campaign appeared yesterday, showing him leading his USL namesake by just three points. While opinion polls are notoriously fickle and often unreliable in any election campaign – particularly in Romania – the simple fact the election is clearly competitive is a major surprise.

Remember, Liviu Negoita took almost 80 per cent of the vote in 2008. To lose this election would be one of the biggest shocks in post-1989 Romanian electoral history, and shows how toxic the PDL brand has become. Liviu Negoita is right to minimalise it.

He is wrong, however, to resort to the kind of gutter tactic that should be below any politician. This is what we were handed by his people earlier today, outside the Bucharest Mall:

The headline, in case you need a translation, is ‘High-class whoremonger Robert Negoita wants to be mayor of Sector 3.‘

Yet as we suggested a week or so ago, we are not particularly keen on the alternative, the (alleged) high-class whoremonger Robert Negoita. Traditionally PNL supporters, that party’s fusion with the PSD to create the USL has meant that in some places there is no PNL candidate to vote for. Robert Negoita for example is a member of the PSD. We do not like the PSD. We will therefore not be voting for him.

So who else is there?

Well, there are in fact a total of 19 candidates. Besides Negoita and Negoita we can choose from:

Catalin Zamfira (PP-DD), Iulian Popescu (UNPR), Gheorghe Ovidiu Emil Stoenescu (PP-PS), Florian Cristache (Partidul Totul pentru tara), Ilie Pepenel (Forţa Civica), Cristiana Matei (Partidul National Democrat Crestin), Tudor Florian Ivan (Partidul Social Democrat al Muncitorilor), Cornelia Lalu (Partidul Verde), Cristian Ciocea (Partidul Poporului), Ion Uta (Uniunea Populara Social Crestina), Ruxandra-Georgeta Lungu (PRM), Marton Illyes (UDMR), Gheorghe Mazilu (Partidul Socialist Roman), Mihael Zorzini (Partidul Alianta Socialista), Gasca Dragos Eugen (Partidul Uniunea Ecologistă din Romania), Parpală Gabi (Partidul Noua Generatie Crestin Democrat) and Dumitrescu Danut Octavian (Partidul Ecologist Roman).

Maybe we will vote UDMR. Or for Dan Diaconescu’s candidate. Or we might just not bother.