A week and a half in town and village

Long time no posting (again), but this autumn seems to be totally hectic. So, to get back to last week, well, to a bit before in fact: Roy's birthday went off without a hitch.  We didn't do anything special, just veging out in Ber, relaxing, tending the garden and hanging out on the computer.

The garden is still producing beautiful blooms, especially the roses, so those are giving us a great deal of pleasure. My two new caches attracted quite a few visits and suggestions on how to describe them better. I did change one description slightly on one, but the comments are overwhelmingly positive. One other development might also come from these two caches and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it comes to pass. On two consecutive days I had a phonecall from somebody who wanted assistance with finding them.  I looked up her personal page and it looks like she is roughly my age (only 4 years younger than me) and is caching on her own.  So finally I suggested that we team up.  She sounded very enthusiastic, so this is only a project in the planning stage, but if it comes off, that would be great. Andor has abandoned me and doesn't seem to want to come anywhere near me or Roy any more and caching on one's own - while I have done it in the past - is not half as much fun as with at least one friend.  So, watch this space, I'll report back should it turn out well.

Now, you might ask what this Google Maps Street View picture of a block of flats is doing here? I might have mentioned a lovely British couple of friends on the blog before whom we know from the hashing crowd I sometimes run with and Roy sometimes drinks and dines with. This particular couple has just exchanged on an apartment in Bp and it is in a really nice downtown location not a million miles from us. It is on the first floor and their two windows are the one to the balcony immediately over the entrance door and the one with the semi/circular top to the right of it. It is 73 square metres with lounge, 2 bedrooms and all the usual other bits. Apparently, it is renovated to a high spec and they didn't think long once they saw it.  Isn't this funny, all good property buys are just like that: you get through the threshold and you immediately know it's for you.  They are currently touring the States, but will be back at the end of the month and then, hopefully I will have a chance to see it on the inside.

While all this was happening in town, Roy and I had a little outing in very good weather to my very first cache.  It needed a bit of maintenance, as a few comments were saying how wet it was inside. We drove to within 500 yards of it and then walked in the sparkling sunshine. As soon as I got there I knew that the main reason why it was wet and full of mildew is because some well meaning twit put the box into a plastic bag.  That is the death of every cache box.  It can still get wet, but can't dry out.  I cleaned and dried it, put a new logbook in, a few more little presents and changed its hiding place.  The co-ordinates stayed the same as it is at the bottom of the same tree, but on the other side, where I hope it will not get wet again. The new place is slightly more exposed and the box could drop out from behind the roots into the nearby path, but hopefully the cachers will put it back carefully and it should stay there for another 2 and half years before I have to go and do some more maintenance.  Before we got there we also went to fetch my next lot of artisan made goat's cheese from my friend who makes heavenly cheeses. This lot should last for a while and I put in an advance order for some more from her last batch, to be made later on in the autumn, after which she'll only start making some more next spring.

On Wednesday we returned to town and to a concert that was way above the average.  A young string quartet was playing with someone much older than themselves and the combination of the Kelemen Quartet and Miklós Perényi was magical. After three Purcell fantasies and Beethoven's "Razumovsky" String Quarter in C major, the highlight of the evening was Schubert's String Quintet also in C major where Miklós Perényi added a second chello and transported us all into heaven.  That quintet is one of my absolute favourite pieces of music, so I definitely was in seventh heaven.

On Thursday morning I went and saw my doctor for the results of my bloodtests and she seemed quite happy.  The only problem was an elevated level of white blood cells, which needs further investigation.  So I had to produce another sample the following morning and take it myself to the lab in the nearby hospital. Results are due next Tuesday.

On Friday we thought of going to the Sausage and Schnapps Festival in the Castle District, but both of us felt a bit lazy, so most of the day was spent at home, on the computer or watching TV. We timed our meals, so that we could go for a late lunch to one of our favourite restaurants and then walk to the Erkel Opera House, where I had an interesting evening ahead of me. The Merry Widow is a world famous Lehár operetta, but this time it was a ballet. Apparently, it was created in Australia and the ballet mistress and other staff of the Australian production assisted with this one.  It was superb, the music was great, the costumes were excellent and the dancing very good indeed. Andor didn't turn up and he never contacted anyone why not, but the rest of us, Klári, Kati and me had a really enjoyable evening.

On Saturday I went to a morning conference organised by the Karl Marx Society, which was a revelation.  I didn't expect the people to be as friendly and welcoming and the short speeches being as interesting and valuable as they were. I made the acquaintance of quite a few people there and joined the society. In the afternoon Roy and I went to see Richard Linklater's "Boyhood", which was an unusual film, in that it was filmed over a span of 12 years. Looking at the life of a boy from the age of 6 to 18 provided many insights into the life of people, of families, human relationships, politics and a whole host of other dynamics.  I loved it and even Roy admitted that it was interesting. Ellar Coltrane is a really good young actor and I'm sure we'll see him in many other films in the future.

Sunday started with the Japanese Grand Prix. I suspected it would be an exciting one due to bad weather and it was.  Originally they thought that the typhoon approaching would necessitate a cancellation, but it eventually went ahead.  With several Safety Car sessions, lots of rain and a few accidents it went as far as Lap 46 and, what's much more important, Lewis Hamilton won.  Unfortunately Jules Bianchi suffered a really nasty injury when he hit the JCB trying to remove the car from an earlier accident by the side of the track. The last I heard he was having brain surgery, let's hope he recovers.

 After the Grand Prix I went hashing, but unfortunately there was only three of us there. So, Stiff Nipples, Paprika Smiley and my good self (Red Haring) went for a walk in the Buda hills. We climbed the Hárshegy and finally ended up at the buffet at  Szépjuhászné, where Roy had joined us later. The sun shone beautifully, we had a good few beers and all had a really good time.

Sunday evening I went to yet another concert, which was also excellent, albeit that had also had a story of an accident about it.  One of the two pianists had slipped and broken his leg in his hotel, but thankfully the other pianist offered to play the other piece too, so they didn't have to cancel it. So, Tamás Vásáry entertained us with a perfect rendering of one of Mozart's piano Concertos as well as playing the one he prepared for after the interval, this time from Chopin. And all that at the age of 81.

And this takes us to today, Monday, when we came back to the village via the organic supermarket and Tesco. Oh, and a quick nip back to the flat, as I left my phones behind.  Oops!!

Joop and Margreet, our Dutch friends, are back, so hopefully we will see them sometime this week. There are no particular plans for this week, but there is some orienteering at the weekend.