If you stumble across this old blog you’ll find some interesting articles, about travel and the politics of Romania around the year 2014. I’ve deleted the rubbish.
If you’d like to see my new blog you can find it here: Rupert’s Cool New Blog (more…)
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How the Romanian Revolution Changed my Life
In 1989 I taught myself journalism, got a job on a Scottish newspaper and was assigned a subject that was considered marginal: Romania. Nothing was happening there. The date was December 1989. (more…)
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Stephanie Wolfe Murray in 10 Short Sketches
A script/summary of my mother’s life (1941 to 2016). (more…)
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Death and Art
I recently wrote a Tweet — one of those little phrases on Twitter — which I thought was rather clever: “Don’t read a book. Read an author”. Unfortunately I didn’t get a flood of emails congratulating me on my wisdom or asking what I meant. As with most tweets, I got no reaction, which begs the question “What’s Twitter for?”, a question I tried to answer in this article some time ago. (more…)
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Thank You Romania
It’s New Year’s Day in Scotland and, of course, it’s raining. I am waiting for my brother and his friends to turn up and then we’ll eat a lunch of grouse, bread sauce and roast potatoes and then – hopefully – see the old French comedy Les Visiteurs.
I’m rather ashamed of myself for not writing for this blog for so long. I have lots of excuses but I’m not going to bore you with them , instead I will add to my list of New Year’s Resolutions with this one: in 2014 I will write for my blog more. (more…)
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Prince Charles of Romania
Most people — Romanians and Brits — that I have discussed this issue with seem rather suspicious of the fact that Prince (now King) Charles owns property in Romania. Many Brits don’t like Charles as he makes challenging comments about architecture, agriculture and the environment, and is generally considered eccentric. He also owns a lot of land in England and is very rich. (more…)
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A Game of Monopoly
It came in a shiny tin box for Christmas. The Romanian version, with “credit cards” instead of cash.
There were four of us: me and Alina; Lara, who is 9, and Luca who is 6.
We laid the board out on the floor of the kids bedroom, which is a bit cramped. But we were enthusiastic, especially Luca whose only aim in life is to play, and we had the whole weekend ahead.
The game dragged on and on. Hours passed before anyone won a street, without which you can’t sting people for rent. Avoiding bankruptcy was a constant struggle. I became irritable and annoying. (more…)
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Gambling Addiction Kills
Since I’ve been blogging on the Huffington Post I’ve written about cannabis, alcohol and sex. This is what I would like to say about gambling… (more…)
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Should Cannabis be Legalised?
The legalise cannabis lobby should be reeling from recent reports that show the negative impact of cannabis: a group of New Zealanders were studied over 40 years and the results show that the IQ levels of teenagers can be permanently reduced by the drug; and a report from California describes the failed promise of “Medical Marijuana”. (more…)
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Why Not Give Up Alcohol For The New Year?
Why not give up alcohol for the new year? It makes you fat, smells bad to non drinkers (such as children) and ends up costing a fortune. But could survive socially without beer, wine or something stronger? Does it give you confidence? Can a modern adult have fun without booze? (more…)