This week ... in your letters

“I hope that all of you are handling the snow and cold temperatures well.  Here in New York we've had a really strange winter. We had a substantial snowstorm and cold snap about two weeks before Christmas, but the weekend before Christmas it got quite warm and all the snow melted. Since then we've had two or three more cold snaps with some snow, but in between rainstorms that melted all the snow.  And when I say cold, I mean unseasonably cold by the standards of this part of New York, with days getting little above -10C, and one night that went down to -20C. I think the normal high temperature for this time of year ought to be around 0. On the bright side, living where I do next to several hundred hectares of state forest is quite peaceful in the winter. A few weeks back I was looking out my bedroom window around sunset and there was a small herd of four deer just behind the house.  Unfortunately, the two that were outside the bedroom window came out rather blurry, but I was able to get some nice pictures of a third.”

Ted Schuerzinger, United States

“I thought I would drop you a short letter to thank you for your shortwave broadcasts during the past year, 2013. Don’t believe all the hype that surrounds modern media such as Internet and satellite broadcasting – not everybody wants to use those methods, there is still an active shortwave audience. Make sure that you tell your paymasters that there are still people like me listening in to your broadcasts! As a keen shortwave radio listener for over 40 years I continue to listen to my radio every day. It is a great pleasure to listen to broadcasts from stations and countries that are very rarely mentioned in our domestic press. Through this hobby I have learnt a great deal about far away countries and in many cases it has encouraged me to visit those countries on holiday. Part of the enjoyment of being a listener is to have a dialogue with the station – I have written to you many times over the past few years and I will continue to do so. Keep broadcasting programmes about your art, music, politics and history – they are fascinating to someone like myself that admires other countries’ culture.”

Richard King, United Kingdom

“Thank you so much for still broadcasting on short waves. So many radio stations have closed down, relying instead on the Internet (which not all people of the world can access, and in some places their access may be monitored by a government opposed to European values). There is also far more romance to listening to a fading short wave signal than to the clinical perfection of the net!”

Jamie Davies, United Kingdom

“I must say I really like your programs. They are distinct and interesting. You always have a very good flow in your programs. Keep going!”

Carl Eric Lindeborg, Sweden

“The reason I listen to Radio Romania International is that I find your radio station one of the best on the air. You have found the perfect balance of being informative, interesting, entertaining and friendly. It is and always has been a pleasure to listen to your radio station”.

Grant Skinner, United Kingdom

“Dear friends on RRI. My name is Kelley Sprout. I’m from Asheville, North Carolina. This year will be our 75th year for the little league world series baseball games in Williamsport. This year it has brought people to watch kids play other teams around the world. The games are played in late august. I don’t know if Romania has little league baseball teams, but it’s fun watching teams around the world play against other teams. Also I don’t know if your country has guide schools. Are there laws about people having guide dogs, for instance are they allowed to use public transportation such as buses, taxis or cabs? Are they allowed in public places such as stores, restaurants, public school s and churches?”

Kelley Sprout, United States