Another week in Bér

Last weekend turned out quite different from that expected. The Trotsky film was awful. Not only pathetic in characterisation and historically inaccurate, but as a piece of art it was total rubbish. However, as Roy wanted to go shopping on Monday, at least the trip into BP was not a complete disaster. Apart from stocking up on food, he also bought a lot of timber, screws etc. while I got some lovely rectangular china pots for my hyacinths. The weather was quite mild to start with, but still miserable, however, towards the middle of the week it went cold, but bright. He got on with making bookshelves in the Library, while I set about some gardening chores which should have been done before Christmas. The first picture shows my lovely, newly dug veg patch in the sunshine. I did nearly a third of it before I gave up and paid Marci to finish it for me. For the princely figure of £2 I think I should have given him the job to start with. We have very heavy clay here, so much so, that I reckoned that if I put a shovelful of it straight into an oven, I might have ended up with a pot of some sort. It stuck to my shovel so hard that it would not drop off, not even when the sod (so to speak) weighed at least 10kg. We bought a lot of seeds, so I am now setting about growing them in trays prior to planting them out from March onwards.

The leaks in the Library have temporarily been fixed while we are thinking of long-term solutions. Roy in the picture is sitting and contemplating the layout of the shelves in the Library. I can't wait until they are done and I can start unpacking my books.

The third picture is the Kottage from the back, which looks very lonely now that Roy has abandoned it to finish the Farmhouse Library. I still think that there is something really charming about that small building in preference to the other two. Not quite sure what, but I love it even in its unfinished state.

SkyEurope finally published its summer timetable and I managed to put another little trip together to Amsterdam. As they don't fly from Budapest any more we have to go to Vienna. Roy has opted out this time as museums and galleries (the main targets of this visit) are not his cup of tea, so this'll be a girls' outing. Jutka and Klari are orienteering friends, Kati is one of Jutka's friends plus me. We are off in the early hours of Sunday, 9th March and return late on Tuesday, 11th March.

This Saturday is another training event in the Vertes. I'll be going if my cold does not get a lot worse. It seems as if I have been struggling with this one for the last 2 or 3 months. Roll on spring, I can't wait!