Leisure.... by William Henry Davies 1911

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Romania is a huge country and one, we have discovered, with a continually changing landscape, wide variety of architecture and house building styles, traditional and modern farming techniques and people from many different backgrounds. We have really tried to ensure we don’t just drive through in a big rush ticking things off the ‘must see list’ but make time to take it all in at a leisurely pace. It has been a real eye-opener for us, a wonderful fascinating country.

It has also been fascinating to see the locals’ reaction to us passing by in our big white campervan with the steering wheel on the ‘wrong’ side. In every village and town we have driven through we have been waved at enthusiastically by youngsters, smiled at by the horse and cart drivers and given thumbs up from passengers in overtaking cars. We have been given the nod from the drinkers in the roadside cafés, the shepherds leaning on the fences and the road construction men. We have also been viewed quizzically by the older folk sat on the specially constructed benches which almost every house lining a road has – some smile, some nod and some just stare!