Felicia Mirza, resident of Sinaia, has written a short article about a special anniversary for Sinaia and Thame. The town of Thame in England and Sinaia in Romania started to be officially twinned 10 years ago in September 2012.
Thame-Sinaia
10 Years of Friendship
Friendship. A blessing. Memories that last even when you lose contact.
What does Friendship take? Isabel Allende once said that “Friendship resists time, distance and silence.”
And here we are going through the three key words .
Time … Let’s get on the time machine and meet 2012, September the 28th, the day our Mayor, Mr. Vlad Oprea signed the twinning Charta with Mr. Nigel Champken Woods, Mayor of Thame.
A moment in time to always be remembered.
10 years have passed. Time was our friend. It strengthened our friendship and gave us hope for common projects, for a better understanding of our cultures, for a better collaboration and building on our communication.
Distance… 2.553 km Is it a long distance? Well, I would answer” yes” and yet it was not a barrier between our towns. We built a bridge of culture, a bridge of sharing ideas, customs and traditions, we learned about each other.
Distance turned out to be just a number.
Silence… 2019 - 2022 COVID. The unseen visitor, no face, no body, no mercy. Only worry. Years of grief. Years of stress. Years of fright. Mr. Covid started to touch us, one here, one there, then the whole world felt its deadly touch. Words refused to come out. They crawled up, halted on our lips, but refused to turn into sounds. And we kept silent. Lots of Don’ts” And after two years of risk, after two years of feeling less safe, we came back to life, like the Phoenix bird.
Friendship resisted. It resisted time. It resisted distance. It resisted silence.
On September 24th,2022, Mr. and Mrs. David Bretherton from Thame came to Sinaia.
A special day to validate our friendship. Mr. Vlad Oprea, Mayor of Sinaia, Mr. Marian Panait, Sinaia’s City Manager, Mrs. Monica Suvaina, manager of “Carmen Sylva” Cultural Centre organised a cultural event which was to be recorded as a memorable moment.
Speeches, messages from both Mayors, commemorative plaque, the friendship tree planted symbolically in front of “Carmen Sylva” Cultural Centre were the highlights of the day.
The chosen tree, a fir tree , which has deep roots will stand in front of the building and guard our friendship. Fir trees have always been considered old, faithful friends.
To keep the friendship tree growing, both Sinaia and Thame need to nurture it with a little bit of love, a little bit of care, a little bit of understanding and a lot of attention. Just be there for each other when needed.
Speeches and messages
For me, the day was emotional. It was a day to remember best moments:
Our visit, the Sinaians, to Thame. launching “Sinaia ,Land of Elites “ by Dan Manea.
The wonderful journey into history and culture we took in Thame at TAL Festival ,2019, during our presentation of Queen Marie of Romania. The words Mrs .Octavia Floricica started her presentation with will echo for a long time: ”We came to Thame to bring our thanks to the country which gave us Queen Marie….”
The two films, ”Bucegii, the Great Sentinels of Sinaia “ and “Sinaia, Musical Town” brought to the people of Thame a new vision upon Sinaia, not a communist town ,but a royal residence.
The delegations who visited Sinaia, were impressed by the hospitality and friendship they were surrounded with. Mr. and Mrs.Nigel Champken Woods met a prince - Prince Nicolae of Romania - at the reception offered by Vlad Oprea, Mayor of Sinaia.
Each delegation meant a new step forward. A progress in our friendship.
I think that all moments in a friendship should be treasured. And, from time to time, we need to validate our Twinning Charter.
Life is not made up only of minutes, hours, years, but of moments we will always treasure and think about. Those moments that take our breath away. And then, we just whisper:
“Tempus volat, hora fugit” -Time flies, the hour flees. Or “Time speeds while the hour escapes”.
And so, please take a moment and think that there is nothing more beautiful than friendship. Nothing more beautiful than thinking that somewhere, there is someone thinking of you. Someone you call FRIEND.
Well, I will let you think about it. But…not before saying: ”Till we meet again, take care of yourselves”.
