Concerts, geocaching, orienteering and a lot of guests

Originally we were planning to stay in town between the two trips, but we had to go down to the village for the two day orienteering event held in nearby forests, because the majority of my clubmates, who were working at the event stayed with us overnight. But that still had given us a full week in town during which we could recuperate, get a few things done and prepare for the next trip.

David Fray

On Friday the 14th I had a concert at the Music  Academy where David Fray (who turned out to be French, not English) was the pianist. I saw Bozsa after a hiatus of several months and the concert itself was first class.

Roadside cross in Alsónémedi

On Saturday I decided to get up in the early hours (after practically no sleep due to jetlag) and catch a bus to a small town just outside BP to fetch two moving caches.  I was lucky, they were both still there and I logged that they will have to stay with me for a week, as I wanted to put them out in our county in the country.

On Saturday evening I went to see Billy Elliot the musical on my own, as this was one of the performances I missed on my subscription ticket earlier due to a clash with something else. I enjoyed it a great deal and thought the staging, direction, orchestra, singers and dancers were all excellent.

Monday I saw Zsófi, my homeopath who prescribed some new teas and vitamins, as my absorption rate is not good. In the late afternoon we had to take the laptop to be looked at, as it was playing silly buggers. Szabolcs suggested that we should have it cleared and started from scratch, which we will do later on in the year once we are home again.

Statue up on Gellert Hill between cache 1&2

Tuesday we spent a very pleasant hour and half with Abe Feinsod and his mother in a cafe. Abe is one of Roy's family history researching friends from the internet whom he had never before met. He was an absolute sweetie straight away, his mother was a bit more reserved, but thawed out once we started reminiscing about the old days when she and I were children. We had an invite to Mexico to go and see them, which we are not very likely to take them up on, but nice all the same.

And then on Wednesday I got fed up with being indoors too much and went geocaching on my own in town, picking up 6 caches plus 1 part of each of two multis. The most interesting and pleasant one was in the recently renovated Youth Park underneath the Royal Castle by the river.  That was very photogenic and I took some lovely photos.  Mind you, the camera is really dying, so it is a total lottery now when it is prepared to work and when it isn't. It's about time I picked up my new camera from Stephen's when we get there tomorrow.

Nikolai Lugansky

Thursday evening was another concert, this time Nikolai Lugansky, who was pretty good again. We have heard him before and he didn't disappoint this time either. He has such a soft, romantic way of playing even Bach, that I was amazed.

Where I placed the Crux Viator cache

And then came Friday, a day which turned out a complete washout in the weather sense, but pretty successful in others.  First of all we were supposed to take the 7am train to the village, but got to the station more than half an hour early, so we took the earlier train. Although I have never had serious problems with this particular line, this time there was delay upon delay, so we were seriously worried that even with the earlier train we would miss the connection with our bus.  As it happened, the driver waited for us, which was fortunate, because if he didn't we would have only missed it by about a couple of minutes, which is seriously aggravating.

Where I placed the GCTO cache

As we got home I got ready for a drive of nearly 100 miles to pick up another two moving caches, which also turned out very successful. On my way home I put out one of the ones from the previous week and one of the ones from that very morning.

In the afternoon two friends from Transylvania arrived for the orienteering, followed by several others from the organising team who have been working all day setting up.  They brought bad news of chaos in the assembly field due to the torrential rain all day and the need to retreat to the tarmac area several kilometres away for parking and assembly.  This, of course, made the walks to both starts and the finish very long indeed.

GCFA was placed at the foot of this beauty

In the evening we went to have dinner at Mill Court, which was delicious, as always, and Anna, the proprietor, had gained a few more admirers. We booked a long table for Saturday night, assuming that nobody would feel like cooking after a gruelling long day at the event.

So on Saturday we got going reasonably early, in order to put the remaining two moving caches out and then get to the Start where were detailed to work. Thankfully, we didn't have to walk all the way, as one of our friends gave us a lift.  The event had glorious sunshine and no rain at all and we all had a good time there. Roy managed to spend all his time there sitting, so that was a blessing. He was in charge of watching the starters dibbing in the start box, as if they forgot, they didn't get a time and would have been disqualified. Just the job for him and he looked very happy.

Roy at the orienteering Start

Once all the people have started we helped dismantle the start and scarpered to get home first. I logged all my cache placings and found that the ones from the day before have already been found and moved on.  In the evening we went to Mill Court again, this time it was 15 of us, and had a really, really good time.  There was even some dancing and we took with us Roy's birthday cake which was sitting in the freezer all the time we were in Toronto and which gave me some worries whether it survived without losing its taste.  Well, I can report that it was as good as on day 1 and everybody had a lovely nosh at the end. Plenty of beer, wine and palinka had gone down people's throats too, so even Roy said that while he is not normally very fond of birthday parties, this was really good.

Dinner at Mill Court

On Sunday we had a rest, then tidied up and cleaned up a bit, packed up and departed for town on the 6.15pm bus, after wrapping up the car in blankets and tarpaulins in the garage. We didn't watch the Austin GP, but apparently Lewis won it and reduced his deficit to Rosberg to 26 points, which means that he has to win the remaining 3 races and hope for some disaster to hit Rosberg at least once, if he wants to retain his title.

Finally, today we did some last minute shopping and started packing, which we will finish tomorrow morning before going to the airport. Wish us luck and I'll be back sometime next week or so with the next post.

Canada - the rest of the fortnight

The ornamental gate of Toronto's Chinatown

On Tuesday, the 4th October Roy and I walked into the centre of Toronto, mostly on Gerrard Street, which we haven't done before. Initially, we walked along Broadview Avenue to the Libary, then turned right by the gate to Chinatown and walked all the way to about level with the Central Business District on Gerrard, turned left and finally found St. Lawrence Market.

St. Lawrence Market

That place is still gorgeous, if not exactly cheap. Trouble with all these lovely old specialist markets, that the prices are aimed at the tourists, not locals.  Or only well off locals, who don't care.  We had lunch there, mine was a tub full (about $10 worth) of pickled things, like artichoke hearts, peppers stuffed with Feta, olives, gherkins, herrings etc., which were delicious, accomanied by freshly baked bread; while Roy had a bag of chips, which, by his own admission, were the best he's ever had.  I suppose, when you pay through the nose, at least you get high quality, but I am not sure if that pricniple always works in Hungary.  We returned home on streetcar no. 504, which took us almost all the way home, giving us a chance to pick up a cup of coffee en route.

My lunch came from here

In the evening we attended Callum's football practice, which turned out a fantastic occasion with Callum scoring the winning goal. He is a thoroughly Canadian little chap, but, thankfully, soccer (as they call it in the US), is still popular in Canada.

Callum in action on the footie pitch

On Wednesday Alex had some time off work and took us in the morning to The Beeches part of Toronto, close to the lake. We walked along its main street, looked in the shops and generally took in its atmosphere.  It is Toronto's Chelsea, with million dollar + houses and swish shops.  But it wouldn't be Canada, if it wasn't mixed with very ordinary things too. I loved it.

Lunch was taken there in a nice little restaurant, where on our table seafood dominated. Prawns for me and muscles for Roy and Alex.  We also had some interesting beers and ciders, mine was called Lost Craft, which was definitely the tastiest lager I have ever had.  Roy liked his cider from the Brickworks too. Before going home I managed to buy some winter leggings, which should come in handy once the weather turns cold. They have fluffy insides, so I can even wear my thin trousers in the winter, provided I wear one of these underneath. Handy!!

Another dish of prawns, this time for me

En route home we popped into Mark's and bought me a lovely light and totally water and windproof jacket, which turned out to be exactly like the one Alex has. I love clothes shopping in Canada, it is quick, cheap and good quality.

Toronto's Chelsea has hip grans too

Our bus was scheduled to leave just before 6pm for St. Catharines, so we went quite early to get a good seat and Meaghan popped over after work to say good bye.  The trip was really easy.  The hardest part was to get out of Toronto in the rush hour (that took nearly an hour!), but afterwards it went swiftly.  We arrived about 8.20pm and Lyle was there to take us home. Callum slept through most of it, which was also handy.

In the jam en route to St. Catharines

The first day in St. Catharines was spent doing very little.  Roy and Lyle managed to erect Heather's teepee and even went to some DIY store, which should have made Roy very happy. Callum and myself just loafed around, playing on the iPad (that's him) and doing stuff on the tablet (that's me). Heather cooked and we had a restful day of acclimatisation.

Heather and Callum in Value Village

Friday was slightly more active, with Heather, Roy, Callum and me visiting Value Village (an enormous second hand store) together, mostly to try and find a Halloween costume for Callum, but eventually Roy found himself a jacket as well. Callum ended up having a werewolf costume and I also bought him a dagger, which cheered him up no end.

My miniature werewolf

In the afternoon Heather, Callum and I went to the swimming pool to have an hour of fun in the kids' pool. The water was nice and warm, which was handy as I still had the cold, and Callum had a marvellous time, playing around and swimming a bit too.  He is an excellent swimmer, which is great. The only trauma we had was one of the fierce jets, that was coming out of the side of the pool, taking my wedding ring.  Fortunately, while I was trying to discuss the matter with one of the lifeguards a young girl appeared with it, having picked it up from the bottom of the pool. I thanked her profusely and left happily thereafter.

The Mad Hatter's teaparty in the Shaw Festival Theatre

Saturday, 8th had the star attraction of the week with a visit to the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara on the Lake, for a performance of the musical Alice in Wonderland.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures of it.  Heather and Lyle have treated Callum, Roy and me to the theatre visit and for the first time in 4 visits (3 for Roy) we also had a time to walk about in Niagara on the Lake. It is a beautifully preserved 18th/19th century town, although most of it is 19th century, on account of the yanks burning down the earlier part in the war. The play was pretty good, the staging, the costumes and the adaptation were first class. We were not that sure about the casting of the actress playing Alice, but the quality of our seats have made up for any shortcomings.

Callum on the climbing frame

After the performance we had a meal locally and it looked as if everybody was enjoying their plateful.  I had pasta with pesto and prawns, which was interesting and while a fraction too heavy on the pesto, delicious all the same. Niagara being a wine region, all the wines, both the reds and the whites were superb.

Hanging about in the park

On Sunday I should have been watching the Japanese Grand Prix, but didn't have the chance to do so. Just as well, because it seems that while Mercedes had secured its third constructors' championship at this race, Lewis Hamilton managed to secure Nico Rosberg's overall individual win for 2016 as well. Whatever happened in Lewis's head since the summer break, has most unfortunately managed to affect him sufficiently to hand the championship on a platter to Rosberg.  I don't like Rosberg, but have to admit, that his driving had been much superior to Lewis's since early September and he deserves to win.

A glorious old tree trunk in the park

I went to the park with Callum on Sunday to get some fresh air and generally supervise him on the climbing frame and other equipment.  I realised that actually he is quite a little loner. He can occupy himself on his own for quite a long time, and while I enjoyed watching him, I also got rather cold in the strong wind. Sniffles were back again, but on the whole I was slowly recovering from my cold.

Thanksgiving dinner 2016

On Sunday evening we had our Thanksgiving dinner of pumpkin soup, turkey with all the trimmings and lovely cake.  I had haddock instead of the turkey and all was great. I also managed to discover, while chewing a rather fiercely al dente sprout, that sprouts must be related to horseradish.  It honestly tasted rather magnificently of horseradish at the back of my mouth.

Pokemon Go instead of a woozle. Fair swap methinks!

We left for Toronto on Monday, via a Mandarin All you can eat Chinese lunch. But first we went on yet another woozle hunt along the river. Callum and Meaghan have even managed to play Pokemon Go at one point, which made Callum very happy.  No woozles were caught yet again, but the sun shone gloriously and we had a good time.

All You Can Eat Chinese!!

I don't think this particular Mandarin had the choice of the one we visited 2 years ago in Toronto, but it was altogether delicious all the same. Roy is soon going to look like a prawn, he put away quite a few of them in a variety of styles, while my absolute favourite this time round was prawns in breadcrumbs. Yum, yum!  I forgot to take pictures of ourselves eating, so the photos are just of the food showing some of the choice.

Rob and Alex in Russ's pub

On Monday evening Alex and I went to Russ's pub to celebrate Russ's birthday and I had a lovely and long chat with Rob Lyon, whom I haven't seen since Bardonecchia last year. We stayed until midnight, which is very rare for me, but I was having such a good time that I completely forgot the time.

Superb graffitti mural en route home

Tuesday the 11th was our last full day in Toronto. Alex took us round a part of the city we have been in before, but this time we could have a better look on foot. Leslieville is South and  East of Riverdale, has an up and coming atmosphere, lots of shops and some interesting places. We saw the old Town Hall, lots of lovey murals, a cemetery behind locked gates and many other places.  Unfortunately I was a bit tired after having got to bed at 1am, but with the occasional rest I managed it.

The Stout on the outside

In the evening we went to an Irish pub, the Stout for a quiz.  This place and its regular quizzes are a weekly haunt of Meaghan and her girlfriends. They tend to do quite well (almost always in the top three), so we had her reputation to maintain, which put us all under some pressure. The questions were quite hard, especially the music ones, where I was totally at sea, having no memory for music, not even classical, which is my favourite, never mind pop music. Meaghan, on the other hand, was brilliant and answered most of them correctly.  I helped with a few, so did Callum, which was lovely. Once we finished and totalled up our neighbours' score we handed them in and would you believe it WE WON! Only by one point, but that's immaterial.

Callum with his banana split in the Stout

And then Wednesday, the day of our departure, arrived. We did some last minute packing and then went with Alex for a nice little walk across the park and to a pub/cafe we have never been in before, called The One Cafe on the Danforth. Apparently, this was Camillo's favourite place and we liked it a lot too. One half is the cafe, the other is the pub and upstairs there is a hostel. The decor is grungy, the beers are many, the pictures on the walls interesting and the service friendly. We had coffees and teas, followed by a short walk back to the All you can eat Sushi place we have been to the previous week for lunch.

The One Cafe with the hostel upstairs

The sushi this time round was just as gorgeous as before.  The only difference was that I stuffed myself even more than before and could hardly move afterwards. Midweek menu doesn't have sashimi on it, so it had to be just sushi, plus my usual miso soup and a few cooked things too, as long as they had seafood not meat in it.  Roy, on the other hand had lots of beef and pork and, of course, a lot more prawns again, so I think he doesn't mind going to a Japanese restaurant any more, as long as it is in Canada. $13 for us oldies and $15 for Alex for all you can eat is excellent value.

Part of my last lunch in Toronto. Yum, yum!!

Alex had taken us to the airport quite early, which was good for Roy's nerves and even good for Alex, as he didn't have to struggle home in the rush hour afterwards. The time hanging around in the airport was partly spent on buying a litre bottle of Caol Ila, so now I have both the lovely malt whiskies that I fell in love with in Scotland back in 2011 while attending the Scottish Six Day of Orienteering event.

A superb, peaty and smoky malt

The flight itself was much more comfortable than the trip over, as the plane was only about one third full, so anybody who wanted to sleep could do so by lying down on three seats at once. Unfortunately, I had a really nasty headache which stopped me sleeping, while Roy never tried it, but it still seemed shorter, quicker and easier than the first leg. I watched a two parter program about Walt Disney's life, which was refreshingly honest, not a complete sychophantic homage, like I was expecting it to be. As these two films were almost 4 hours long, that really helped to pass the time too.

We landed about 25 minutes early, got through the airport reasonably quickly and were indoors by about midday local time.  This was probably the best Canadian visit we have ever done.  And that in spite of my cold, which made me rather tired and have disturbed sleep.  I think the main reason was the delightful little person called Callum.  He is growing up into such a lovely young man, now that he is much more communicative and easy going. He has a tremendous sense of humour, clever, sometimes a bit crotchety and self opinionated, but he wouldn't be a Grant if he wasn't, would he? His latest habit of climbing into bed with us in the morning was fantastic to get to know him and I grew so fond of him over these two weeks that it was hard to say good bye.  Still, hopefully he will come and visit us next summer and we are already planning all sorts of fun things to do with him then.

Canada - the first few days

The flight was uneventful and LONG. All in all about 9 and a half hours, which was too long for me in one go. The cold was bearable, but still with me. We arrived 40 minutes early, an advantage, which was duly cancelled by taking an hour and a half queueing first in immigration and then in the luggage hall. Latter was fortunate, as Alex got held up in traffic and just arrived minutes before we got out of the airport.

Roy and Alex in Woodbine Park

It took about an hour to get home and meet Callum and Meaghan. The rest of the day was uneventful and we fell into bed quite early. On Friday Callum was having a cross country running race in a park down by the lake, so we all went to cheer him on. Unfortunately, there was a brisk wind blowing, so my cold got considerably worse. Callum enjoyed the race and we left him to have a Japanese "All you can eat" lunch.

Callum with his mates after the run

Sushi is always a must on every trip to Canada, so we started as we meant to go on. Even Roy enjoyed his beef and prawns, although he insisted that his greatest enjoyment was watching me loving it.

Roy and Alex round the table laden with sushi etc.

Jetlag has combined with my cold to make adjustment to Canadian time very hard this time. Several nights I had very little and mostly disturbed sleep, which then made me very tired and like a zombie at times. Still, the new custom of Callum climbing into bed with us in the early hours cheered me up and kept me going. He is growing up so fast and is great fun to be with.

My delicious brunch

On Saturday we all went to a lovely pub called House on Parliament to have brunch. Mine had two poached eggs, smoked salmon on a bagel with a lovely salad. We toasted Roy on his 75th birthday (again) with Bucks Fizz, which was delicious.

Gran in the tunnel, surrounded by sealife

Sunday's program started with Callum taking Roy and me to the Aquarium. Amazing place and the third one I visited after Brighton and Barcelona. It is by far the best one of the three. I loved the glass tunnel with all the marine life all around you and the educational hands-on exhibits for Callum. We spent a couple of hours there and then took Callum to a games shop for some Pokemon stuff.

Proud owner of 60 new Pokemon cards

In the afternoon and early evening Alex and I attended a Marxist discussion group on The Communist Manifesto, followed by an IMT branch meeting at Fightback's Toronto Centre. It was nice to see a few of the yougsters from last year's World School in Bardonecchia as well as some new ones.

On Monday I finally managed to post Joseph Zsombor's forgotten T-shirts to him in Quebec, do a bit of food shopping and then go home to veg out. In the afternoon we cooked a chicken paprikash with dumplings and cucumber salad for tea which went down quite well. Straight after tea we went to Callum's Beaver meeting where he was inaugurated into his lodge. He enjoyed running around with his mates and proudly wore his white tail on his Beaver hat.

The anxious Beaver candidate with Mummy

Tonight it is soccer practice, so we'll probably have another outing to that, but before that Roy and I plan to have a slow pootle through the centre of Toronto, retrace our steps from years ago when we were taken to the Distillery District and St. Lawrence Market.