Life Is A Beach. Life is a beach?... or, Life is a b...

I think my passion for the sea is well known, perhaps exaggerated or perhaps overstated. Either way, that's the way it is and it can't be changed. On a recent walk through the biggest park in Bucharest, I saw an advertisement for a lakeside terrace.

Is life a beach? I don't know, but I'm thinking that this post can be a beach too, a beach where diversity reigns, different people doing different things, apart from the one thing we all do, which is sunbathing(writing).

Another Friday is about to end and the post for #marketfriday doesn't want to be born yet. The lack of inspiration is chronic already, I have prepared a batch of photos, they are from different places and have a connection to the subject, and almost everything has to do with the sale-buy relationship around us.

I can't overcome this dilemma, so I'll take the photos at random and draw a (true) story with them.

Ilinca likes ice cream!

No, she still won't eat ice cream, Ilinca is very suspicious of food and won't taste anything she doesn't like the way it looks. So she hasn't tasted ice cream yet and I'm glad she hasn't, so we avoid the sore throat for now.

Ilinca likes ice cream... but does not eat it. She likes to buy ice cream.

She loves to shop, she knows this ice cream is her grandmother's favorite and she chooses it every time we get to the store.

A new market is born near us.

The park is near the house, and is the place for all walks, with or without Ilinca. A few days ago I was surprised to see a change.

Food, street food, clothes, and toys. Lots of stalls or small tents with good quality goods.

Everything was well laid out and well received but unfortunately, it's not permanent, even on weekends. It was just a trial run that was not successful. My neighborhood is less populated, it would seem there are not enough customers to justify another market.

A bigger park, the biggest!

The park next to the house is very beautiful but also quite small, yet enough to awaken in us the desire to walk. For the walk to be complete, it must be continued in Herastrau Park. That's how we found out that... "life is a beach". The park is set around a lake and my greatest pleasure is to take a full tour of this lake. That's how I know I walked 4 km. The park is located in the northern part of Bucharest, in the most prosperous part of the city (I live in the northern part too but that didn't help me to be rich) and because of that, there are many expensive terraces and bars. A place where a lot of money is spent. A lot of money earned not in the fairest way.

For me and my wife walking is important, as it is for this gentleman with the dog...

... only in our case, the leash is in the wife's hand!

In the city center, the new malcontents want a revolution!

It happens sometimes that I move a lot and in different parts, walks in parks are not enough, and sometimes the energy flows out of my body. This energy that had to be consumed took me to the center of Bucharest, to University Square. One of the most famous squares of the city, it is the place where the first people died in the Revolution of December 1989, the year Romania changed from communism to capitalism. The year when the Romanians started their journey towards the so-called consumer society because we are talking about consumption here, aren't we?

I arrived in University Square without knowing that there was going to be a big demonstration against the government and the state authority, a demonstration of those unhappy, both with the old pandemic they didn't believe in and unhappy with inflation, prices, and corruption. A demonstration of "patriots"!

Patriotism, traditionalism, old values, isolationism, glorious past, and conservatism are the inspiration and philosophy of these deeply manipulated people. The legitimate grievances of the population for the way the country is run are cleverly used by the new far-right and left politicians to gather followers and voters. This is happening all over Europe and most people still don't know what they are heading for, they want to ruin something but they certainly don't yet understand what will be put in place.

The ultranationalist parties are always based on historical figures of past heroes, such as the one on this flag, namely Avram Iancu. A great Romanian patriot from Transylvania who fought for the union of Transylvania with the Romanian lands. The leaders of these parties want to idealize themselves with the figures of these legendary heroes but they are nothing but charlatans who want to take advantage of this moment of discontent of the population. I disapprove of such movements that only the blind can't see that they are made to seize power...

I don't need to exchange some corrupt and incompetent politicians for others even more corrupt but even more incompetent! There would be nothing to gain from that.

Well, you're probably wondering why I wrote about politics. Because #marketfriday is all about money and the use of money, and in politics that happens all the time.

My favorite building in University Square.

Since I arrived in University Square and had the displeasure of encountering that demonstration in preparation, I walked a little to the side to look at my favorite building in the place. A building built in the 1970s.

The building of the National Theatre in Bucharest, the most important theatre in Romania. The architecture is inspired by the architecture of peasant houses and because it was built during communism, it was modified following the wishes of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, a man without the most elementary knowledge of art and architecture.

After the fall of communism, this building was rebuilt according to the original plans of the architects, and the changes made by the communist leader were removed. I like the view of the National Theatre at the end of the street. This little street is between the University (right) and Architecture (left), two of the most appreciated faculties in Romania.

I ended up with this view of the theatre because I was looking for a little flower shop that I like and don't like.

I love it for the quality of the flowers and flower arrangements, I dislike it because the prices are overpriced. I like this photo because it looks like a collage but the whole effect is given by the reflections in the florist's window.

Life Is A Beach. Life is a beach?... or, Life is a bitch!

I'm a bad English speaker. I learned English in high school for five years, but that was over fifty years ago. I didn't converse, I was content to listen to English from movies, I also read, superficially, various magazines and books. This didn't help my vocabulary, which is very poor, and because of this, I put my little knowledge with translators and grammar checkers. I am also afraid to think about what comes out of it, although some benevolent colleagues encourage me with praise. Where am I going with these confessions?

I mean that I was fascinated by the fact that in English there are so many words and expressions that look the same but have different meanings, which you have to decipher from the context. Words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same... beach, bitch, for example! Hence the pun in the title, which is unfortunately not gratuitous.

This photo is related to what I said above but I don't want to say more. On the way home from this monstrous walk I met Ilinca in the nearby park. I started this story with Ilinca and I want it to end with her!

There is only one more step to end this posting. That step is, in fact, a flower. This is the habit of those who post regularly in this community.
Let there always be a flower, #alwaysaflower, and also a suggestion from Denise, aka @dswigle!

My little Crepe Myrtle was brought from Balchik. My most recent acquisition for my yard. I hope it will like our place and make it through the winter as well as we hope to.

For #MarketFriday by @dswigle!