May morning again. I remember last year, in Cluj, the trees in leaf, the sun and the breeze, running through the centuries-old university at dawn, the city largely deserted, as everyone was at their second homes in the country. (For all the talk of being economically retrograde, a surprisingly large number of people have second homes in the country, and eat very well and clothe themselves rather nicely. GDP doesn't touch all aspects of life.)
Here, trapped for the nonce in the gulag panopticon of the city of the power of evil. Mass homily brought to mind the line from Beyond the Fringe about America having such a strong sense of faith and national religion -- anticommunism. Not exactly climbing up to the roof to sing out an exaultant Te Deum.
I'm certainly on the right side of things locally, conceptually speaking -- but it's a bit like being on the side of friend who, having won a long and bitter argument, now believes himself to have always been right about absolutely everything.
Many mansions.