I’m confused…I though you went back to Texas…is this a retrospective posting?
I never found an Esquire on our last trip…maybe you can post it sometime so all can read?

Hope all is well with you and the lady…Sunatate tie si alor tai!

monsoux, well hello mac user. I saw your mac yumminess on the little web stats report since I’m obsessed with seeing how many readers use OS X or Linux. Yes, you’ll have to energize the GayFest crowd without me this year. The ignorant golani missed their chance to test my fisticuffs last year.

Hempster, I did have a Cobain thing happening back in the early 90s. This is more of a semi-Kurt mostly-Han Solo abomination which is swerving dangerously toward Luke Skywalker. Still, I took comfort in pretending you may be right. ;]

How do you figure the Black Sea will actually be black? Are we expecting a rash of oil spills? Capsized olive ferries? Or perpetual night? Clearly, I missed the memo. (Not the one about coversheets for the TPS reports… I already have that one, thanks.) You may be right about seeking another location (see below). But not even one?

Apu, yikes! I cringe at the thought this was deja vu for you. I really have the sense that Mamaia is on its way to becoming something worth promoting. You did help me see the light on business cases built on native proportionality. I suppose you’re correct in that I set my expectations too high on easily finding a salon along the beach, but not even one? Surely, tourists to resort towns get haircuts. There must be enough traffic for at least one salon somewhere in there.

Eventually, after eating up and down the promenade, I did identify one restaurant that actually had an incredibly restricted (yet nonetheless existant) fresh fish offering. The rest were a rash of scornworth hucksters who should be ashamed.

The silver lining may be to know no one seems to be touting shark fin soup. Deci, your brother-in-law can feel no longer defrauded by false advertising. And I can avoid a long rant (some might claim it more of a wild tirade) regarding the evil of hunting sharks for fins… a side benefit which I’m sure relaxes us all.

Btw, as a kid I used to get the occasional haircut in Neptun. Of course, Constanta is much closer and the ratio of aboriginal to tourist is high enough for salons to thrive. Plus, the local restaurants might actually deliver some fish.
Oh, wait. My brother in law wanted for years now to taste the shark fin soup. It’s advertised in a few places but we were never able to get it. Oh well, etc.

But my take on Mamaia in 10 years, is that the Black Sea will be physically black within 10 years. A haircut will be just among many things lacking there.

Clean water in which to swim, untainted fish to eat, uncorrupted people to deal with, … etc… These are to worry about.

If I were a haircutter, I would seek a “burgeoning resort area” in any place other than this.