Summer Times is the Journal of the Old Scarborians Association

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The guide was a very good looking young woman, with perfect, accentless English. When asked where she had learned the language she said “at school”, obviously thinking it a strange question. It became clear she had never been out of Romania and never expected to be allowed out. This was about 8.00pm Thursday evening, and as we drove through the outskirts of Bucharest the chatter gradually subsided as everyone realised there was no one on the streets. There were no pedestrians and virtually no cars. Street lights were dim and all curtains were drawn. We alighted at the hotel in the centre of the city and entered a huge, chandeliered mau‐ soleum. It was vast, but we seemed to be the only visitors. However the rooms were com‐ fortable and we soon trooped down for a meal. We then discovered one of the features of the trip. There seemed to be a waiter for just about every guest and it started to dawn on us how there was zero unemployment in the country. They just created jobs. Any sort of a job. As we were driven around the country we saw gangs of women weeding the roundabouts, on hands and knees. There was a street cleaner every few metres. Back to the meal. The food was good, but every few moments a waiter would sidle up and ask, in a furtive whisper if we wanted any local money. We had bought Lei, the national currency, at the airport, but not much, since we had been warned we would not be allowed to take any out of the country. The exchange rate was 15 to the £. The waiters were offering 120, 130, 150 to the pound. They would give anything for hard currency. Next morning we were due for a sightseeing trip around Bucharest. Our guide chattered happily away about the monuments to our glorious socialist freedom fighters, and the statues to our heroes of the revolution. Eventu‐ ally we had to seriously disconcert her when we said we didn’t want to see any more monu‐ ments, thanks, we wanted to go to the pub. To 51 give her credit she found an inn and we all ordered beer. Well, it wasn’t very good, but what can you expect at £2 for ten pints? It was evident that the route was carefully chosen so that we would not see the markets or the food queues, but they could not avoid them altogether. The guide was very evasive when asked questions, and stuck determinedly to the party line about how good things were under Leader Ceausescu. Someone asked her who was the most well‐known Romanian outside the country. “Of course it is our Leader”, she said. “Oh no, it’s not”, we replied, “its Nadia Comaneci”. Suddenly the coach stopped in a narrow street. There were cars parked all down one side, but someone had parked on the other side, blocking the way. The driver settled down resignedly to wait. After a few minutes we decided the best thing was to move the car, so we piled out of the coach and bounced the car to the other side of the street. The locals clearly thought the Mar‐ tians had landed and the guide got us out of there, PDQ. Next day we travelled through Transylvania, en route to Dracula’s castle. The countryside was very pretty and eventually we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in a small town. As we sat eating we enjoyed another, now familiar feature, a twelve‐piece orchestra and choir playing and singing traditional songs. This happened at almost every meal, and it was quite touching. Another, comical feature of these trips was that every time we climbed on board the coach a guy in sunglasses would be ostentatiously looking the other way, but obvi‐ ously counting us on. Then when we pulled up, another guy, also in sunglasses would watch us get off. In some of the rural places we visited they stuck out like jock straps in a nun‐ nery, and eventually we would seriously em‐ barrass them by offering to shake hands. When we got to Dracula’s castle it looked im‐ pressive from a distance but was shut! The doors were locked and windows boarded up
Page 1 and 2: Summer Times Summer Times is the Jo
Page 3 and 4: 1 PRESIDENT’S APPEAL Gentlemen Yo
Page 5 and 6: 26. Lyndon Wainwright ’s Appeal 2
Page 7 and 8: A Home from Home with Qualified Nur
Page 9 and 10: MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY I took over as
Page 11 and 12: age group teams, mainly as a left a
Page 13 and 14: had tried to persuade me, as he had
Page 15 and 16: to tick off my last weeks on the Ca
Page 17 and 18: Imperial College, BSc. 1972‐73 Pe
Page 19 and 20: mentioned the OSA . He said he woul
Page 21 and 22: David McLintock (1939-46) By Michae
Page 23 and 24: early 1930s, Journey in Eng‐ land
Page 25 and 26: as a communications tech., with act
Page 27 and 28: shire Evening News and the Sheffiel
Page 29 and 30: In due course due to personal circu
Page 31 and 32: The ‘Bright Bowl’ team: Back ro
Page 33 and 34: played for an Oxford University tea
Page 35 and 36: mate and had all the neatness, styl
Page 37 and 38: years, acting as a father figure to
Page 39 and 40: who were my cricket companions. But
Page 41 and 42: ers from all parts of the world. On
Page 43 and 44: the case for the defence in fine st
Page 45 and 46: line, which was a long white tape l
Page 47 and 48: after experiencing the rigid defenc
Page 49 and 50: CROSSWORD SOLUTION Number 4—Novem
Page 51: Battalion were sick at both ends. T
Page 55 and 56: Cush Turnbull used the incentive of
Page 57 and 58: 55 2004 MAJOR FIXTURES 8th & 9th JU
Page 59 and 60: ABOVE: Outside the Ramoz Hut. L to
Page 61 and 62: 59 COLT’s XV 1943-44 Back: Cox; A
Page 64: Published by The Old Scarborians As

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