Happy New Year!

The Regős restaurant in festive mode

We had probably the best New Year's Eve in years last night and this morning. About a week or two ago, while having lunch at the Regős restaurant, one of our local favourites, the governor, whom we like a lot, mentioned that he is planning to be open all New Year's Eve and would we like to come over for dinner. He promised that there were no special set dinners with high prices and all we have to do just book our seats and eat a la carte. I decided to opt for that instead of the usual staying at home and doing nothing special. So, we did it last night and had a really good time. Roy had a blue steak, which even he said should have stayed on the grill a bit longer, and I had an enormous trout. The atmosphere was buzzing, with guests from all corners of the globe.  We could hear German and Russian near us, with other nationalities, no doubt, also around.

Our New Year's Eve repast in the Regős

Once we finished dinner, which was around 10.20pm, we moved on, which is not something we have ever done before.  This was due to me spotting a very late ad hoc invitation on Facebook from some good friends of ours we have not seen for a while. It suggested that if anyone was in the vicinity of their flat around midnight, or even earlier, to drop in to see the New Year in.  So we did that. They only had a couple of friends there, so with us there was a happy band of 6 of us eating, drinking, chatting and toasting the New Year at midnight. Around 1am we made our way home which was quite nicely facilitated by the 4 and 6 trams running all night. The temperature was 5 or 6 below zero, so we were very grateful for not having to walk home.

A happy ending for Edith and Marigold

A production shot from the kitchen

We were very lucky to be in town which enabled us to take advantage of that last minute invitation and it turned out that this year's split between town and country worked very well. We had a good time in the village before Christmas with Nelly and on our own and on Christmas Day and had a good rest. There was a lot of TV watching on Christmas Day, including the last ever Downton Abbey and the return of Call the Midwife. I enjoyed both, although I must admit, Downton was pushing its luck with all that syrupy wrap up story.  Lots of peopl e said since that the storyline was pushing the limits of credibility, but my objection was only to the ludicrous extent to which the scriprwriters managed to pair up absolutely everyone with someone, except poor Barrow who is still single, presumably as a punishment for being gay. However, one still had to suspend disbelief when faced with the once evil Barrow becoming this simpering, pitiful and very nice character, the way they turned him out. As for Call the Midwife, I am sure the family of the original diarist is still totally cheesed off with the series carrying on, but I like the nuns and the occasional pro-NHS propaganda in this series, so I am happy with them too.

Three of the current crop of angels

It was on Boxing Day that finally we came into town, which was mostly because I wanted to attend the Hash on Sunday as well as go to the theatre on the 29th.  In the meantime some other activities cropped up too.  The hash was not particularly well attended as the final count was 4.  Still, we managed to get out of the thick fog at river level and once in the forests and hills, the sun shone brightly. Unfortunately, the trail dropped sufficiently to get back into the mysterious murk, but at the end we were back into the sunshine.  Lunch was taken in the Trombitás again, and even with Roy we were only 3 there as the other 2 had to tear home for guests and such.

Rabies, Nata, Hulk and Red Haring

Monday's highlight was Star Wars 7, which delivered everything it promised. I think Daisy Ridley and John Boyega (both British actors by the way!!) are excellent finds, the story, J. J. Abrams' direction, as well as the real (or realistic) models, as against awful CGI, were pretty good and generally I had a good time.  Even Roy agreed with me, which is something. Since then I have read some criticism (including George Lucas) that it was a bit too retro, which is absolutely true, but even that didn't bother me much.  Yes, the storyline was more and more familiar the movie went on, more than a little reminding you of previous storylines, but as I was seriously fond of the 1970's and 1980's films, that was a positive feature for me anyway. And as for the bloody trolls taking the piss out of Carrie Fisher for her (lack of) looks - they can go and take a running jump, preferably over a tall cliff!! Her response on Twitter was superb, just as one would expect from someone like her and was enjoyed by feminists and others worldwide. I can't wait for the next instalment: it is apparently due out in May 2017. Yippeeee!!!

Daisy Ridley and John Boyega

The final episode of Homeland was not bad either, although I have no idea whether they have written Quinn out or not.  Probably, I should think, which would definitely be a shame, as him and Carrie are made for each other. I think probably the one strength of this show is the fact that it can reinvent itself every time without it seeming too artificial to do so. There is a feasibility to Carrie moving countries, the one constant, however, is that she can never shake her past and will always be in trouble. The next series is due to premiere on 6th October 2016.

Lear and his court around the big round table

On Tuesday I went to the theatre to see King Lear in an amazing modern interpretation. It was so good that it proved, that once the concept, direction, acting and staging is of high quality, it really doesn't matter what they wear or what century the scenery represents. Shakespear's thought provoking emotions and universal truths about the human condition, character and dynamic are so relevant and timeless, regardless of setting, that you just sit there spellbound, having an excellent night out and being entertained as well as enriched.  At least that is how I felt.

Three of us in front of the lookout tower

On Wednesday I went geocaching with Zsuzsi, who has been asking to come with me for a while now, and with Jutka, who joined us at the last minute. As I wanted to go and see if I could hide one of my own existing boxes in a different place from where it is now, but in the same village, we went there and after I recced the area we went for several shortish hikes to various caches from there. The new hiding place is possible near the old villa of the guy the cache is about, but I am now not sure if the whole idea is OK on account of the villa looking abandoned, uninhabited and almost derelict. I'll think about it in the next few weeks and decide later.

The first cache we went for was a fairly new lookout tower on top of the mountain right behind the village. I managed to drive straight past the street from which the path went up and parked a bit further out. We did find a perfectly good path from there as well, but as I suspected it didn't lead to the tower.  We met a couple who explained that we are quite near the tower, no more than 600 metres, but with over 100 metres of climb up a very steep, rocky and slippery forested mountainside. Thankfully none of us was afraid of a bit of a climb, but on account of my dicky ticker I was seriously slow.  Still, finally we made it and the views were magnificent from the top. We did take the route down on the path we should have been on in the first place, and once we were back in the village I realised why I drove past the start of it.  With no signs to it, no obvious location and slightly to the North of where the map showed it, no wonder I missed it.

En route to the spring in the depth of the forest

The second cache was a lot further South, so we got in the car and drove to the Southern end of the village. From there it wasn't too far and thankfully we reached it with a lot less climb than the previous one. The spring that it was near was pretty much invisible.  Obviously the summer drought is still having its effect, even though the recent rains should have replenished some of the underground water levels, there was still no water coming out of it.

Once we got back to the car we drove about 10 miles to a nearby village where there were 4 caches. The one that was a few miles outside of the village got left, as the other three were on one mountain, fairly close to each other and by the time we finished those it was almost dark.  Still, the climb up onto that mountain, then walking its ridge and then the hair raising decent off it was fun. The first one commemorated a poet who was local to the place, the second one was on the op of it at the pinnacle of a sheer cliff face which looked awfully intimidating from the bottom, but walking up to it from the side only took us 25 minutes.

Cross, flag and info board at the top

Finally we walked the ridge with some fantastic trees and rocks on, as well as gorgeous views, with the third cache hidden in a very tricky way in the forest.

One of the old trees on the ridge

I have seen hides like that before, so it didn't take me long to find it.  The one on the top was hidden in a rock crevasse, but the last one was a great trick, much enjoyed by all of us. The guy who hid it hinted at the nature of the hide, so I worked it out quickly what was the likely method and I was right.  He chose a tree with two trunks and space for an extra, phony cut off trunk, in the middle. He actually prepared a short bit of a tree trunk about the same width as the other two, looking like it was naturally there, but chopped off at about a foot off he ground.  In reality, he cut the top of it off, gouged out the middle of what remained in order to hide the cache in it and then reattached the top with a hinge, so you could just flick it open to find the cache.  Brilliant idea and excellent DIY skills for the execution. Very little chance of accidental finds, but seasoned old geocaching pros like me, saw it first off. The girls were so pleased with our day that we decided there and then to go out again on Saturday, provided the weather didn't turn too bad in the meantime.

Beautiful limestone pavement everywhere

The sun setting behind the forest

A Dachstein limestone outcrop with the village below

Dry oak leaves left on a little tree

Alex and Meaghan above Bogota

The only other news of the week were the appearance of some delightfully happy, colourful and interesting photos from Alex, Meaghan, Callum, Heather, Lyle, Nancy and Delaney in Bogota. After that dreadful beginning of a 36 hour delay to their trip, since then they seem to be having a whale of a time.  Their stay so far included trips out to markets with produce, both ethnic as well as culinary, some horseriding in interesting countryside and in temperatures about 20 to 30 degrees Celsius above what's ambient currently in Toronto. I am so glad to see them happy, relaxed and enjoying themselves, they definitely deserve it!!

The Magnificent Seven in Colombia