February Blues in Sofia

It’s been a rough winter week here. No new snow, just temperatures that are consistently well below the freezing point. Nothing that compares to New England of course, but still…

I was surprised that Monday, Jan. 24 was reported in the press as the annual “Blue Monday.” For me it was a Manic Monday. But this week has been depressing, not least because of several different scams that ‘izpluvaha’ (floated up) to the forefront of my consciousness.

The scamorama began on Wednesday, when I drove to an afternoon quartet rehearsal at our regular performance venue in the center of Sofia. I had planned to stop long enough at the Bulgaria Hall performers’ entrance to get my cello safely out of the cold before parking as close to the hall as possible. This changed when I spotted a free parking space on Aksakov Street, a short half-block from the entrance. I could not however determine whether or not this was a “Sinya zona,” the Blue parking zone where you need a parking voucher or to send a text message to pay for your parking space. The signage was not helpful (see photos below), but the fact that other cars were parked along the left curb seemed reassuring. But as I later learned, the most likely reason that the space I found was empty was that the previous car to occupy it had just been towed away. Because that’s also what happened to my car while I was rehearsing. Later, when I went to pick up my car from the towed-away lot (and pay the "relocation fee" and fine), the police officer cited the law that makes it illegal to park on the left-hand side of a one-way street and, he said, unnecessary for there to be any kind of no parking signage. I had major two problems with this. First, there had been a no-parking sign there, and there should still be such a sign there (except that "somebody" took it down), because there’s an exception for cars of a certain government ministry, which can park there, thus furthering the false impression that a ‘payak,’ a "spider" tow truck, won’t be along shortly to scoop up your vehicle. This sign, further down on the same pole, is still there, but turned around so you can’t see it. Second, there are many one-way streets in Sofia where the parked cars are always on the left, without any special signage, and no ‘payak’ ever makes off with them, because on most such streets, it’s not a sure thing that the owner is going to notice a missing vehicle on the same day. So to keep the wheels of the parking violation ‘reket’ (racket) turning, they’ve made a little web on Aksakov Street, in the heart of the Blue Zone, where nobody parks for long and most are in a hurry.

Scam No #2: Customs is holding ALL packages from abroad, no matter how small, and requiring their recipients to make a special trip to pay a 20% import tax on the value of the contents. Cello strings are expensive, and yet wear out after a few months of playing on them. According to the unwritten rules of Bulgarian ingenuity, I need to concoct a fake invoice showing a very low value for my strings in order to avoid a large tax. Unless I forgot to tell the sender to not include an invoice in the package – very depressing.

Scam No. #3: Begging in Sofia is a more lucrative profession than most “honest” jobs in these parts. And, according to a bTV investigative journalism program that I tuned into once I got the car back, many Sofia beggars are not desperate, undernourished, and poorly clothed individuals with disabilities, but have been trained by a ring leader to look like they are. At home they walk normally and wear clean, brand-name clothes. But of course the ring leader is taking a large cut of the take, reported to be as much as 100lv (60 USD) a day per beggar. A well-paying job for which a college degree is required is likely to pay less than 1000 lv per month, depending on the sector. Members of the government and parliament are paid much more, whether they “earn” it or not.

Normally I wouldn’t mention such undignified monetary matters. I like to think that I am ‘nad tiya neshta’ (above these things). But this week it's too cold, and I’m depressed...and disgusted.