A busy week in both town and country

I think I left the story off about 9 days ago when we were still in town.  We eventually decided to stay an extra two days to nurse my bruised ribs and go down to the village on Friday. On Wednesday I have discovered yet another aspect of life that our beloved government has "improved" again. Renewing our opera subscription tickets had been done on the internet for the last 4 or 5 years.  I ring round to my friends, we decide which one(s) we want, I get on the net and about 10 to 15 minutes later we've got them.  Either the old ones renewed, or new ones or a combination of both. Never any hassle, except having to go to the agency's offices to actually fetch them, but usually Roy does that.  End of story. NOT THIS YEAR! They have improved the procedure. They sacked the agency that had been doing it brilliantly with no hassle for years and took it in house.  I knew there was going to be trouble, but guess what? They lied, they actually gave it to another agency and the two of them together b......d it up royally. First of all, renewal now means just that. You can only get the same one you had last year in the first two weeks of booking tickets. In the past, the fact that you had a subscription ticket meant that you had preference to all those out there who didn't, so you could buy whatever you wanted for a full two weeks ahead of those others, irrespective whether you renewed the old one or bought something else. They were all available to you. Not this year!  However, even if I wanted to renew the old one (which we didn't and COULDN'T, because it wasn't offered this year!!!) I couldn't have done it as the new agency's website collapsed under the onslaught of clients on the first day.  I tried to ring them-no joy! I finally gave up.  I will try again on 1st April (APRIL FOOL ME!!!) when buying subscription tickets online is supposed to become available to anyone and if it doesn't work again I will probably give up. DOESN'T IT MAKE YOU CRY? It did me.

Our block on the corner

Rant over, let's see what has happened since I last posted.  Other than getting very frustrated online and on the phone, my bruised ribs have been slowly getting better.  When I started reducing the painkiller dose it started hurting more again, but I think I am slowly managing on less tablets and hopefully soon on none. I still don't sleep very well, but that is normal nowadays, with or without bruised ribs. Last Thursday there was the annual general meeting of the flat owners in our block, where we voted in a small increase in maintenance charges, decided what to spend our little surplus from last year on (roof repairs, sewer pipe renewal, new iron grill on the front door etc.). All very riveting, but thankfully there is only one of those every year.

Lemon balm coming through

Chives, already cut by Roy for the garlic mayonnaise

Tarragon

Rhubarb

Little strawberry plant getting going

One of the roses growing furiously

And then on Friday we travelled down on the bus and I amazingly survived it, if not totally unscathed, but in reasonable condition. The garden seems to be in good nick, the chives and the lemon balm are already growing and most of the roses and raspberries survived the winter.  The strawberries are looking a bit peaky, but hopefully they should cheer up soon. The rhubarb is in full growth and looks as vigourous as ever. We bought 3 new rose bushes and planted them in the place of missing and/or dead roses in the beds.

Saturday was the start of the 2016 F1 season and qualifying was properly weird.  They cooked up a new system which was supposed to provide more excitement and competition, but all it did was to decide stuff right at the beginning and then most of them sat out the rest of the time in the pits.  Daft, if you ask me, but you don't have to, because by the end of it the rule makers realised the same and decided to switch back to last year's system from now on.  Ahhhhhhhh!!!

Celebrations in the garage afterwards

Lewis was on pole, but on the Sunday he had an awful start, dropped way back and spent most of the race  trying to catch up.  Did finally finish in 2nd, behind Roseberg, so no panic, just a hitch.  He will have to practice his starts a lot, now that they don't have any electronic aids for the second year running, not to be left behind like this again!!! Another new reg is that they banned the pit telling the drivers anything, which I think is also stupid, as taken to extremes, this can endanger their lives. Hopefully that should be scrapped soon as well.

Attila, Noni and Roy at dinner

In the evening Attila and Noni arrived for a few days and we had dinner with them. On Monday they didn't turn up until early afternoon, when we had a little chat and they then went up to the Andesite columns, a hike they really enjoyed.  On Tuesday I went into town as I had a concert in the evening.  Attila and Noni cooked dinner for Roy that evening.  The concert was given by Dezső Ránki who is an excellent pianist and the program was made up of Mozart sonatas and a couple of lesser known pieces, which were also lovely.

Dezső Ránki

On Wednesday I came back with the early bus and had some time with the youngsters before they went for a longer hike, this time to Csobánkapuszta, where they hold an esoteric festival every year and where they have visited before.  They got back just before dark, packed and went home.  I wish they came more often and for longer. If they could spend more time here in the summer, they could do so much more hiking when the days are long.

Ours looks just like this, but in light brown

Today I had yet another frustrating episode, this time on the topic of rubbish bins.  You would have to invent these, if it they weren't already happening. Still, I persevered and finally sorted the problem, caused by people with the irritating and very frustrating habit of being very stupid and full of confidence all at the same time.

Now we have only 2 more days here and then we are off back into town. 4 theatre plays over and after Easter will keep us there until next Friday when we come back with a couple of friends, so that they can go to an O event nearby and stay with us for the weekend. I'll post after that.