As things progress, we're seeing the effects of the war and also the fear people are experiencing. Even though we're not in war yet and Russians are busy trying to conquer at least one important city, there's panic everywhere.
There's waiting list of two months at the passport office already, people are stocking up on food and fuel, which drives prices up like crazy. There's a huge demand for euro in cash as well, at some exchanges there are waiting lists already. Banks are limiting the amount you can exchange to 1000€ and 5 transactions per month. Once there's demand and fear, there's speculation as well, unfortunately not everyone understands how things work, which leads to people getting hurt.
Two years ago this time the same scenario was in place, only for a different reason. People were afraid of the effect of corona virus. Now it's the war.
I took this photo a month ago, on the 10th of February, when I visited the city center of Targu Mures. It is a mall very close to the city center.
When I saw the mall, I thought this is a luxurious paradise, full of good products.
This was what I saw when the sliding doors opened. So far nothing suspicious, if you don't count the lack of buyers/visitors.
Douglas was open and was waiting for customers with a wide range of products.
There was a very tempting smell coming out of Pizza Hut, literally trying to seduce buyers but there was no one inside. After I took two steps I saw some people I would never eat in the same location but I don't think they were spending enough for Pizza Hut to make a considerable profit though.
When I saw this image I started to realize something is going on here and it's not good. It did not look like a busy shopping mall at all, so asking a shopkeeper what is going on seemed a good idea. There was a shoe shop near me, so I asked the woman what's going on. She said the next two levels are empty, except the Chinese fast food restaurant at the top.
So this was a month ago, when there was no word about the war, many had no idea there's a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, so no one can say economical reasons have led to this.
There are two other shopping malls in the city, way bigger than this, so the logical explanation would be that people prefer to go to a bigger one, that offers more options, to save time and implicitly money as time is money.
Now that people are panic buying, stocking up on almost everything, spending will be limited in the near future. No one has unlimited funds, so shopping malls are going to suffer even more. This one most likely will be closed as there will be no reason to keep it open.
This was just one example and more will follow. The saddest thing is people have been waiting for the pandemic to end, so life can get back to normal. Many had plans to travel, catch up with the world, compensate somehow for the time lost. Now travel is still on the table, but it may be for a very different reason.
This panic buying is like a double edged sword. Stocking up on supplies may look like a good idea now but the whole thing can turn against you and there's a risk you pay more than you should.
This madness has to stop. This is not healthy. I truly hope the two parties can reach an agreement (who am I kidding, with a lunatic like Vladimir) and life has to go back to normal. But what is normal? How will the new normal look like? Especially in Ukraine, after everything has bee destroyed? How long will it take to rebuild the country?
By the way, wearing a mask is not mandatory in Romania as of today, it is just recommended and covid will be treated like a simple cold from now on. So I can use my lipstick again and don't have to go blind on the street because my glasses go fuggy all the time.
