Hard work

It's been hard work today getting anyone to talk of anything other than the crucial Romania -Holland match tonight, along-side the equally critical Italy-France.
Romanians, perhaps for the first time ever, are united in their support for something.
They are not confident, but they are determined they will all be watching and shrieking at the top of their voices. There are lots of different parties on the go, and I've been invited to the one at the "Rustic" ( pronounced "roostick") in Sighisoara. It's where I eat the schnitzel & farmer's potatotes, absolutely delicious.
This being Romania, you can't get into any of these parties unless you have a connection. Mine is with the owner of the main hotel here who stood for Mayor of Sighisoara recently, and came last. You might think that isn't too impressive, until you know that this is very much a "pay your dues" society. There were six candidates. The incumbent mayor won in the second round for his second term. Next time, he will have to stand down to let the runner-up this time win. So in 8 years time, my friend will be the runner up and 4 years after that he will get to be mayor and recoup all the money it will have cost him. You might wonder about the arithmetic of this, but believe me, this is what is going to happen. Anyway Adi also owns the Rustic, and has closed it for his friends tonight.
Why am I not with the Mayor of Mosna, I hear you ask.
Yesterday was the LAG meeting, followed by the official Mayoral inauguration dinner.
I think the best thing is to pull a veil over it. The City Hall this morning was shut, and, although I saw the Mayor, he assured me he had eaten a bad sarmale and was going home.
What of the potential results tonight?
The lady who sells me the morning Fornetti ( sort of mini sausage-rolls, but with cheese in them) has had hundreds of people telling her the results. So she has taken the average.
Holand 3 Romania 1. Italy 2 France 1.
You heard it here first.