Day 1 proper (Wed 10 Aug)

Our hospital beds proved relatively comfortable, Laura & boys sharing the bedroom whilst I slept in the living area. We have use of a small flat above what used to be the hospital laundry, but that has been cleared out and now itself houses some 10 or so psychiatric patients - the lowest risk more dependable ones.

Out of date Frosties and uht milk for breakfast doesn't sound particularly appertising but was the culinary highlight thus far given the awfulness of my luncheon attempt - I doubt man has ever created a worse tuna, sweetcorn pasta bake.

We have been shopping for essentials - there is now a Lidl in the nearest town. Bought pop and biscuits to give to patients, and (I realise not strictly speaking essential), a bottle of beer - 2 litres at about 60p!

Chucking it down with rain which has hampered our activities somewhat. Istvan arrived soon after 10am with his 9 year old daughter, Karina. Istvan then went into the hospital with Laura to meet the head nurse who gave her blessing on us working with patients over the next few days. There are 145 patients at the moment with a spectrum of psychological problems. Nina is a great friend of the charity and lives in the village. She came to see us soon after 11, and has three times today helped Laura with the patients. Firstly they did some crafts with playdough Laura  made this morning. Since lunch they have also been and distributed pop and biscuits within the hospital - going into most wards, but 12 litres of drink and 2kg of biscuits didn't prove sufficient - must buy more for tomorrow. One of the wards had a dead patient in bed covered with a sheet. Some of the patients on the ward told Laura and Nina not to bother giving her anything - seemingly not at all perturbed by their deceased fellow.

We have been into Codlea to buy some footballs - not as good value as the beer, synthetic balls costing £5 each - but this has meant we can have a kick around in front of the hospital with some of the more able patients, all of us joining in for a spell.

Accepting an invitation to Istvan's flat in Brasov tonight, the six of us who have been together today having tea with his wife and younger daughter. Thus being in Brasov will give me a chance to post this and correct the many errors I found in yesterday's post.

In summary, all going well, shame about the weather, a positive first day, but oh, the smell......I'd forgotten that in the intervening 15 years!

d-minus 0, we've landed!

What a day. Up at 4:30 UK time, left home 5:20 (after I finished packing) at Luton, parked up, busses to departures and formed the queue at 7:15. You will note we didn't join the queue we formed it - check-in hadn't started, we were therefore given row 1 - which results in amongst the three finest words in the English language (if you're 6ft 4+) "EXTRA LEG ROOM"!

Kicked our heels, paid a ridiculous amount for some food - over £30 for one full b'fast one b,e&s cob and two lots of beans, egg on toast. Watched pictures of rioting as we ate.

Boarded plane on time, only for boys and Laura to be told they couldn't sit on row 1 due to it's emergency status - blow me the boys must have shrunk since check in!

Landed Bucharest to 34deg heat. Friendly face of Istvan (long standing helper, translator and general good-egg for the charity) to greet us a happy sight - it's 15 years since we saw one another - neither of us changed a bit (I hope we can agree to lie)!

Three hour road trip saw torrential rain en-route and only the single stop to drink from the spring before Sinaia but we finally arrived in Brasov @ 19:30 and are now fed up literally in the Ceasul Rau (translation the clock which is not working) - fine hostel even though going 10 hours between meals reduces my pickyness!

Now off to the village, 21:00 local time, but signing off whilst WiFi available.

Day nought a good one, we're here (almost).

SG

d-minus 1 (Mon 8 Aug)

Early(ish) start this morning to attend a meeting with a marketing company in Barford, Warwickshire. Really interesting and encouraging that all is in hand an on track. A colleague was delayed after her sat nav sent her up the M40 in error, and sods law, it was one of those long stretches between junctions!

In my technological preparation for the trip, I tried to download a sat nav map of Romania last night, only to find that forking out £40 for the Eastern Europe file would only give me around 13% of Romanian roads. What are the chances of us getting lost on the other 87%? Looks like back to basics and a good old fashioned road map (with a printed route plan for comfort!)

The boys are climbing the walls with excitement now we are less than 24 hours from departure (or one sleep if you are under 8), their first time in an aeroplane and on foreign soil (unless Wales counts?). So my tech prep has concentrated on downloading music files, putting them on an SD card for their DS. Sounds simple - in fairness it was once I discovered what to convert them to (*.m4a seems to have done the trick if you are interested!). Hopefully having the ability to plug them in and make them listen to what passes for music with pre-teens will be of benefit over the coming week - I might even put a bit of Roy Bailey on there and educate them!

So, I can't put off packing my suitcase any longer. T-shirts, shorts, underwear, 3, 2, 1 of in that order ought to do it! If this is the last post until we return then we have either failed to get connected or something has gone terribly wrong, but here's hoping it won't.

People I have met recently through work and socially have seemed generally interested in what we are doing, and it makes a difference to us going that we have a fair amount of good will behind us. I guess if you are reading this, that includes you, so thanks for that!

La revedere.

d-minus 2 (Sun 7 Aug)

North West Leicestershire about 18 deg C

Back to training today as Cropston under-8's return to prepare for the new season after having August off. Good weather and a good turnout for u-8, u-9, adults and even a small nursery group of younger siblings unable to play for a team for another year or so, but with varying degrees of concentration, willing to train for a while. As is customary practice ended with a short match during which one or two tempers flared which is a shame - even at this age they seldom buy into it being the taking part that matters - but actually, they are having exercise, wanting to win and showing Passion, so good for them - if the alternative involves a games console then I'd take this every day.

Post football, a really tender slow roasted beef joint with home grown veg, mash, puds etc.. (I mention this as from memory, cuisine is not particularly polished in Romania.)

After lunch, more football - back garden code this time, and after racing into a 7-2 lead we (Chesterfield) were pegged back and ended up with an honourable 9-all draw against Spanish giants Barcelona.

Since then we have been inside sheltering from quite heavy rain. The garden needs it and the grass will benefit from us being away for a week.

d-minus 3 (Sat 6 Aug)

North West Leicestershire c.20degC (fair, with two sharp very heavy showers)

Had a great time this afternoon taking the boys to "Romans at the Palace" in Ibstock - result on a few fronts:-

1) all free, bouncy castle, merry-go-round-thingy and massive sand pit

2) friends (and their kids) there to catch up and play with respectively

3) me being out for a few hours gave Laura time to pack bags for her and the boys. Truly grateful that every holiday she does this, the only way I guess, I mean where would I even start - mine will wait a while.

Also took the boys to the library to complete stage 2 of the summer project they are running for kids. One of the great underused resources the library.