BULGARIANS have the very disconcerting custom of nodding their heads for `no' and shaking them for `yes'. In the current political crisis they have gone a step farther.
If you give a thumbs-up sign to the protest marchers it means you oppose them; if you make a V sign you are a supporter.
The latest opinion poll in the daily newspaper Trud (Labour) shows that 72 per cent give the marchers the V sign, 25 per cent give the thumbs-up, and the remaining three per cent keep their hands in their pockets.
The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the former communists, notched up just eight per cent support in another opinion poll yesterday. Four leading members of its reformist wing handed in their party cards in desperation at the lack of foresight of the leadership.
At a news conference in Sofia a spokesman for the four, Mr Dimitar Ionchev, said he had hoped that the party would restructure itself, but no move had taken place from post-communism to social democracy.
"The people in the streets are right to protest because the BSP made too many errors. Immediate elections are the best option," he said.
Immediate elections are what the protesters want. The indications yesterday were that they are prepared to go to great lengths to get their way.
One-hour strikes took place across the country and a nationwide general strike is likely to begin on Sunday.
The BSP, on the other hand, has offered a national poll at the end of the year while the opposition wants the vote in May at the latest.
The leaders of both sides have moved very slowly towards dialogue. In the meantime, demonstrations and strike threats continue.
The complaints of the people are basic. Life is grim.
At first sight Sofia looks prosperous by east European standards. The shops have far more to offer than those in Moscow and at much cheaper prices.
But the main headline in the popular newspaper 24 Hours yesterday gave away that this is a society in crisis. "400 Leva for daily bread," it screamed (400 Leva is 40p).
Bread at 40p, a litre of cooking oil at 20p, a choice of five types of first-rate coffee beans at £3 per kilo and a bottle of Merlot Reserve for SOP may sound exceptionally cheap to westerners.
But in a country in which the average industrial wage is less than £15 per month, most things are out of the reach of most people.
Among the demonstrators outside St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral yesterday was Lyubomila Krasteva (75), a retired agricultural biologist who is struggling to survive on a pension equivalent to £9 per month.
"I live alone and all my effort, everything I do, is geared towards mere survival. That is bad enough - but it is terrible to see Bulgaria going bankrupt, to see that there is no future for our young people."
Evstati Zlatarev (59), who took early retirement a year ago, is better off. His pension is only £8.75 per month but his wife works as a librarian for £10.50 per month and his 35-year-old son runs a small double-glazing business.
"Only for our son's contributions we would be sunk," he said.
Of the demonstrators to whom I spoke the worst off was Anna Maria Krasteva (25), all of whose time is taken up by looking after her 11-month-old daughter, Theodora. She gets £6 per month in state benefits and occasionally some money comes through from her husband, who is in the United States.
The front of Theodora's pram carried a poster bearing the exhortation: "Bulgaria wake up!"
That appears to be precisely what is happening.
