[EN] Political promises / [RO] Promisiuni politice

[EN] Two pics from clean cities like Edinburgh and London. [RO] Două poze din oraşe curate precum Edinburgh şi Londra.

[EN] Is there anyone as naive as to disagree with the words added to the images? [RO] Există cineva atât de naiv, încât să nu fie de acord cu vorbele adăugate pe imagini?

[EN] Is there anything that could change our opinion? [RO] Există ceva care ne-ar schimba părerea?

[EN] I don’t believe in revolutions making politicians swallow their words. [RO] Nu cred în revoluţii care să-i facă pe politicieni să-şi înghită cuvintele.

[EN] Nor do I advise trusting any political saviour.  What did Obamania achieve? [RO] Nici nu sfătuiesc a crede în vreun mântuitor politic. Ce a realizat Obamania?

[EN] I just want to say that, though painful, nothing is as liberating as telling the truth. [RO] Vreau doar să zic că, deşi dureros, nimic nu este mai eliberator decât a spune adevărul.

[EN] To the secular, I give a quote attibuted to George Orwell: [RO] Celor seculari, le dau un citat atribuit lui George Orwell:

[EN] “In times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” [RO] “În vremuri de amăgire universală a spune adevărul devine un act revoluționar”  

[EN] To the believers, I remind Lord Jesus Christ’s words: [EN] Celor credincioşi le reamintesc cuvintele Domnului Iisus Hristos:

[EN] “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” [EN] “Veţi cunoaşte adevărul, iar adevărul vă va face liberi”

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

Yearning for a return to Holy Mount Athos [Dor de o întoarcere în Sfântul Munte Athos]

Billions of people living on earth may have never heard of this place, although they may owe their lives to the prayers rising without cease to the Lord from there.

Out of the much fewer people who are aware of Holy Mount Athos’ existence, many may have diverging opinions. They are far from understanding what it is.

At best, some found it fit to give it as an example of an unique cultural heritage of humanity and make it a topic of an international conference reaching its third edition in 2013.

Some see it merely as a historic relic, a monastic republic with a special autonomous status within Greece, which shouldn’t burden the country’s budget anymore.

Others see it as an outpost of gender segregation, as women have not been officially allowed on the peninsula since 1060. Actually, the ban was a few centuries old by then.

Anyway, not a human law, but the Most Holy Mother of God (Theotokos) was the one who forbade the entry of women in this spiritual oasis reserved to men.

Beyond truncated perspectives like the above, Holy Mount Athos is incomprehensibly more than just a physical place, it’s a trancendental reality, a gateway to the Kingdom of God.

Every day, and especially every night, mankind (not just the Orthodox believers) is kept alive by the prayers of the fewer than 2,000 monks living on this Holy Mountain.

It’s not the sort of comforting prayer for those who have already been striken by misfortunes, but the kind of prayer preventing bad things to happen to our gone mad world.

To our secular contemporaries this makes no sense. How could prayers – seen as nothing more than meaningless words sent to a hypotethical God – actually work, they ask?

For me, all three things that I had been told about the Holy Mountain before visiting it appear to have already come true or are in the process of turning into reality…

First: one visit is not enough to understand such a realm where the earth briges the sky; no matter how much you discovered, you’d still feel that there’s so much more to find out.

Second: equally true was the warning that, after having set foot there once, you’d be yearning for another visit. And another, and another, and another…

Third: implacably, as soon as you get there, you’re off for a life-changing experience. Although this change may not happen instantaneously, it will certainly come.

Even if it were to take years before fully sprouting in your heart – assuming you’re not totally heartless – you can’t avoid the feeling that change (hopefully for the better) is on the way…

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

[EN] Grave and unpleasant readings / [RO] Lecturi grave şi neplăcute (11)

[EN] “Hey, man, where did you buy that child from?” In regard to these pics taken a few days ago in Bucharest, it’s but an imaginary question, of course…

[RO] “Hei, omule, de unde ai cumpărat acel copil?” În ce priveşte aceste imagini făcute acum câteva zile în Bucureşti, este doar o întrebare imaginară, desigur...

[EN] However, many treat children (either born or unborn) as… sale and shopping items. Sad stories from contemporary Romania: here, here and here.

[RO] Totuşi, mulţi tratează copiii (fie născuţi sau nenăscuţi) drept… articole de vândut şi cumpărat. Poveşti triste din România contemporană: aici, aici şi aici.

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

Bucureşti, carte poştală... [Bucharest, postcard…]

…de MunteanUK – când se joacă de-a fotograful, deşi rămâne (veşnic sau doar până la un moment dat?!) un amator, un biet fotoholic fără pretenţii de artist.

Imagine surprinsă la apus, într-o seară de ianuarie din foarte blânda cu bucureştenii iarnă (în ciuda răbufnirii din aceste zile de sfârşit de martie) a anului 2013. 

[Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la/For all the posts on this blog go to: Contents/Cuprins]

[EN] A few wonders from the UK / [RO] Câteva minunăţii din UK (31)

[EN] Anyone (more or less desperately) longing for the summer? I bet I’m not the only one…

[RO] Îi este dor (mai must sau mai puţin disperat) cuiva de vară? Pun pariu că nu-s singurul...

[EN] None of us can bring summer quicker just by wishing this :-(

[RO] Niciunul dintre noi nu poate aduce vara mai repede doar dorindu-şi :-(

[EN] What I can do is share these pictures of Ely, situated some 23 km NE of Cambridge Cambridgeshire.

[RO] Tot ce pot este să împărtăşesc aceste poze din Ely, situat la vreo 23 km NE faţă de Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire.

[EN] Taken by my reader C.L. in the summer of 2011.

[RO] Făcute de cititoarea mea C.L. în vara lui 2011.

[EN] Just as I was preparing this post, the sun came out over Bucharest for a short while :-)

[RO] Pe când pregăteam această postare, soarele s-a ivit peste Bucureşti pentru scurt timp :-)

[EN] Who else but God knows all our thoughts?

[RO] Cine altcineva decât Dumnezeu ne ştie toate gândurile?

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

Cinci ani de blogging [Five years of blogging]

Astăzi împlinesc cinci ani de MunteanUK, un amalgam de vorbe şi imagini, adesea bizar şi în răspăr cu ce este la modă.

S-a dovedit a fi în mare parte (dar nu exclusiv) o colecţie de opinii ilustrate despre Marea Britanie.

Chiar dacă încă mi-e drag şi nu aş renunţa complet la el, pare-se că am obosit întrucâtva de acest proiect.

Se vede acest lucru prin faptul că am rărit postările şi, mai ales… cuvintele – care curgeau-fluviu odinioară.

Se practică în lumea bloggeristică, dar eu nu găsesc relevant (ori n-am chef?!) să fac bilanţuri de aniversare.

Nu pot decât să apelez tot la poze – cu străzi nespectaculoase, dar atât de relaxante.

Aşadar, la ceas aniversar, postez cinci imagini – pe cât de simple, pe atât de drăguţe (zic eu :-)

Captate în cinci metropole vizitate în ultimii cinci ani, pe unde a dat Domnul să las în urmă paşi şi să adun amintiri.

O mai fi vreun cititor căruia să îi pară la fel de interesante precum fotoholicului de mine?

Dar cineva care ar putea să ghicească de unde sunt? Sau altcineva pe care, văzând străduţele, să-l apuce dor de colindat lumea?

[Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la/For all the posts on this blog go to: Contents/Cuprins]

[EN] No comment / [RO] Fără comentarii (40) – A mild winter / O iarnă blândă

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[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

A man and his shadow [Un om şi umbra lui]

A typical posture for an old man in Romania: a shepherd, peasant (or even any ‘retiree’) – often portrayed as such in literary works, paintings and films.

Either pictured today, a hundred or a thousand years ago, there’s something eternally Romanian about this man.

Thoughtful, humble, tired. Even without being aware of it, he looks like standing at the gates of afterlife, after too many burdensome years of life.

The picture was taken on an autumn afternoon, somewhere in Braşov county (BV), at the foothills of Făgăraş Mountains.

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

[EN] St. Andrew’s Cross / [RO] Crucea Sf. Andrei

[EN] Many happy returns of this day for Romania, Scotland, Georgia, Greece, Russia, Ukraine and even… Barbados – where St. Andrew is regarded as a spiritual patron! [RO] La mulţi ani pentru România, Scoţia, Georgia, Grecia, Rusia, Ucraina şi chiar... Barbados – unde Sf. Andrei este privit ca patron spiritual!

[EN] If only these nations would retain – in this Godless world – a bit of the faith of the humble fisherman who turned into a brave apostle of Christ! [RO] Măcar de ar păstra aceste naţiuni – în această lume fără de Dumnezeu – o părticică din credinţa acestui umil pescar devenit un brav apostol al lui Hristos!

[EN] The pic was taken over Bucharest (Sept 2012). The ‘arms’ are airplane condensation trails. But what if they mean more than science can explain? [RO] Poza a fost făcută deasupra Bucureştilor (sept 2012). ‘Braţele’sunt trene de condensare de la avioane. Dar dacă înseamnă mai mult decât poate explica ştiinţa?

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

Ciudăţenie de toamnă (3) – dezamăgirea [Autumn oddity (3) – the disappointment]

După câteva săptămâni în care toată lumea rămânea uimită de neobişnuita culoare, ardeiul iute violet a devenit… galben.

Poate că a simţit că toamna este pe ducă şi, asemenea frunzelor de pe mica lui tulpină, şi-a schimbat veşmântul.

Frăţiorul său mai pirpiriu a rămas tot de culoarea unei vinete şi nu dă semne că ar mai creşte, dar nici că şi-ar schimba nuanţa.

[Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la/For all the posts on this blog go to: Contents/Cuprins]

Colourless sea [Mare fără culoare]

In winter, the English Channel can be drearily colourless.

Whether it’s looked at from England (pics 2, 4, 6, 8).

Or from the opposite direction – France (pics 1, 3, 5, 7). 

That is from East Sussex or Brittany (La Bretagne).

The pics weren’t meant to be black & white or sepia.

This is how my Panasonic Lumix took them.

They are as colourless as a world without God.

As if we were Darwin’s species, born from a sea of nothingness. 

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]