Yo, what do you know! June 1st is here, Kids' Day, and everyone's posting cool messages: "Childhood is the age when the deepest joy can be a pure smile" and all that jazz. Nice, I'm not saying it's not, but let's be real, in Romania of 2026, with inflation and 21% VAT, our kids get more smiles than gifts. Mioara looked at me this morning: "What are you buying Ioana? I saw some dolls for 200 lei." 200 lei, bro! Can you believe it? Good thing at least the weather is nice in Bucharest, as the National Weather Administration says - variable clouds, wind, but at least it's not raining. Maybe we'll go out on the grass, have a barbecue in front of the building, if the neighbors let us.
But check out what a study by the CFA Romania Association, with support from UniCredit Bank, says: only 12% of Romanians buy more stuff on June 1st. That's exactly jack squat, bro! The rest are all saving money. I'm not surprised: with the BMW installments, the bills, better I buy Ioana an ice cream and that's it. That's life, those days when I was throwing money around are gone. And you sit and watch all the wishes on Facebook: "Happy birthday, beautiful child!" - nice, but empty words. Good thing at least Brian, my boy, quit TikTok for an hour and came with me to Mega to get a chocolate. That's how it is, our kids deserve the best, but the money's just not there anymore. Alright, I'm off to see if I can grab a spot at Fane's terrace - that's where the real childhood is celebrated, with a beer and football on TV.
