Bucharest In Your Pocket issue 75 is done and dusted and at the printer. Here is the cover:

Features this issue include a look back at the Bucharest earthquake of 1977, books about Romania in English (including some reviews first published here, as well as a cracking new sketch of Paul D. Quinlan’s Carol: The Playboy King by Chris Lawson) and Bucharest’s tallest buildings.

New venues to look out for include Mircea Dinescu‘s restaurant Lacrimi si Sfinti, on Strada Sepcari, and what is perhaps our new favourite bar, Laboratorul de Cocktailuri.

We would also like to point out that the guide includes a listing for Malagamba, which is very much open! It was closed for a few days in January following an overzealous visit from the financial guard, but has since reopened and is as good as ever. Alas it seems news of the reopening has not spread as quickly as the news of the closure did.

Here’s a problem we have never faced before: What does a responsible city guide do about these protests (a couple of which have ended violently) currently taking place every evening in Bucharest?

We have a deadline approaching ahead of the publication of the February – March issue of Bucharest In Your Pocket, and are in something of a quandary as to whether we should say anything about the protests or not.

We this morning placed this short text on our website, which we hope avoids hyperbole and conveys the right mix of common sense and reality:

Are we going to ignore the elephant in the room? No, we are not, for there is no getting away from the fact that these are troubled times for Romania and for Bucharest in particular.

As we write, protests against the Romanian government are being held nightly in Piata Universitatii. Though small and generally good natured, the protests have – a couple of times – ended in violence between protestors and Romania’s notoriously brutal paramilitary jendarmes.

However: you must not let the protests put you off visiting the city or the Piata Universitatii area (indeed, judging by the number of people posting photos to Facebook and Twitter – including the now famous photo above – they have become sonethng of an attraction for visitors). Just keep your wits about you, apply common sense and make sure you have some ID on you: the police will almost certainly detain you if you cannot produce ID when asked.

Remember: Bucharest remains one of the safest cities in Europe; the protests have not changed that.

Fair and balanced?

Thoughts welcome.

As for the print guide we think we will play it by ear. If the protests come to an abrupt halt we will mention them in the past tense, in the Foreword. If they go on, however, the above text might well get another outing.

Romania’s National School of Administration and Political Science (SNSPA) last year carried out an in-depth study to find out what the people of Bucharest thought about the place in which they live. While the study was published in May last year, its existence – and its findings – have only just become made known to us. We apologise for being a bit late.

Nothing in the report – which you can read here – can really be said to come as a major surprise. The people of Bucharest identified the city’s biggest problems as:

State of the roads 18 per cent
Lack of cleanliness 14 per cent
State of hospitals and clinics 11 per cent
Traffic 9 per cent
Crime 8 per cent

The only surprise is probably the lack of stray dogs from the list of problems, as well as crime’s place at fifth. We have said before that we do not think crime is a major problem in Bucharest, but then we do not live in what could be called the worst area of the city. Indeed, looking at the breakdown of the city’s problems by area, you get very different results. In Berceni, lack of cleanliness and stray dogs occupy the top two places. In the wealthy north, crime is top. (In the central districts, parking is the major problem).

Best area of the city? The North, apparently, according to 24 per cent of the population, slightly ahead of the city centre with 20 per cent.

Meantime a whopping 79 per cent think that Rahova/Ferentari is the worst area of the capital. Are they all wrong?

There was a mini-riot in Bucharest last night. A lot of fuss over nothing. You can read a BBC news report of the events here, and there is video from Reuters here.

Anyway, two quick points.

1. If you are not happy with a government, you can choose not to re-elect it at the next election. In Romania’s case that will be this year. That is kind of how a democracy works.

2. The Romanian jendarmes are brutish shits, made up – it would appear – primarily of gorillas who were not clever enough to make the regular police force or the army. Saturday night’s violence was a direct result of them over-reacting.

Who knew?

It turns out that every Wednesday there’s an offer at Bucharest’s cinemas: two tickets for the price of one for Orange customers.

We only found out when we turned up earlier today at the Hollywood Multiplex having promised the kids they could see Happy Feet 2.

Too late.

The place was full of teenagers sporting the kind of haircut that makes you feel like asking them ‘What happened?’

They then talk through the entire film, loudly repeating bits so that everyone knows they understood the jokes.

And the film?

The usual stop global warming, animals good/people bad brainwashing-fest that passes as kids’ entertainment these days.

Some good tunes though.

But then we got home to find out that Romania’s enlightened Constitutional Court has ruled the killing of stray dogs ‘unconstitutional.’

Animals 2 People 0.