Man, you gotta see what day I got in the calendar today! On July 5, 2026, we're celebrating Saint Athanasius the Athonite - the guy who set up communal life on Mount Athos, with discipline, obedience, and work, not like in our block where neighbor Gheorghe drills holes in the wall on Sunday morning. He founded the Great Lavra with help from Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas. The feast day has a red cross, but it doesn't stop you from anything, just don't start a fight with Mioara over the stuffed cabbage rolls.
The weather is showing off like a beach babe - sunny all over the country, with temps up to 31°C in Oltenia and Banat. In Bucharest, where I live in Berceni, it's 29°C, and at the seaside 27-28°C. So Mioara already thought we'd hit the beach, but I have payments on the BMW and Brian's PlayStation broke, so we'll probably just hang out in front of the block with a beer and a grill. Passing showers only in the mountain areas and Maramureș, and the wind blows harder in the southwest and on the ridges - gusts up to 60 km/h. Don't worry, nothing's flying out of the yard.
What you didn't know, listen up now: July 5 is packed with historical events that would make a Bulă joke. In 328, the Sucidava Bridge was inaugurated, the longest ancient bridge over a river, built by Constantine the Great. Then, in 1865, the English imposed the first speed limit in history: 2 mph in town and 4 mph in the countryside. Can you imagine, bro, driving on the highway at 3 km/h? Come on, me and my BMW would blow that limit to bits. Also on July 5, in 1941, Romanian troops liberated Chernivtsi, and in 1946 the bikini swimsuit was launched by a French engineer, Louis Réard. Mioara bought a bikini last month at the market, but I beg her not to go out on the stairs in it, because neighbor Gheorghe makes faces. In 1989, the first Seinfeld aired, and in 1996, Dolly the sheep was born, the first cloned mammal. What times!
Today is also the birthday of Constantin Tănase, the great revue actor, born in 1885, who created the character of the common citizen and founded the "Cărăbuș" troupe. He died in 1945, killed, they say, by Red Army soldiers for a satire against them. That's how it was back then: don't make jokes about power, because... well, let's not go there. If he were alive today, what jokes would he make about the tax agency and our loan payments!
On "Martorii" (The Witnesses) on Gândul, at 7 PM, they have as guest retired colonel Diana Sarca - the first woman in the Capital Police who worked in the Homicide Department. She'll talk about famous cases, including "the grenadier from Jean Monnet," i.e., Dragoș Ciupercescu, who detonated a grenade in front of the high school in 2002, targeting the children of former Prime Minister Adrian Năstase. I remember the case, I almost jumped off the couch when I saw it on the news.
Horoscope of the day: some zodiac signs have the chance to break with the past - I'd break off the payment to brother Relu. For others, moments of balance and strong intuition. For me and Brian - to catch a deal on FIFA, so he stops crying about sneakers. And you, how did you find July 5? I'm going to ask Fane if we can find a free terrace to celebrate Saint Athanasius with a beer and a small sausage.
