More sickness, Cats and lots of culture

This is going to be a short post prior to departing for the village.  I will have a lot to do while there and thought of getting this out of the way now. Starting with the Bogányi concert last Thursday, one needs to admit that the guy is pretty good. He, unfortunately, is too close to the current regime, and that detracts from his talent, but this time he didn't bring his fancy new piano the regime had paid for, so I was happy.

Bogányi Gergely

Friday brought the highlight of the week when we went to see the touring company of Cats which sat up home in an ugly, enormous sportshall, which was not exactly suitable accoustically. We sat way up and a very long way away from the stage, which wouldn't have mattered, had not the staging included hardly any lighting.  Admittedly, cats catterwaul in badly lit alleyways overnight on the whole, but most of us, Roy especially, came for the costumes and makeup, which was pretty invisible thus.  The sound was a bit suspect as well, but in spite of all this, the musical brought back so many memories, that we both enjoyed ourselves.

Victoria/The White Cat

As if it was not over 30 years ago, all tunes and words came back to me at once and I was singing along with the artists. I especially liked the tapdance sequence, which I don't recall from the past and the Rum Tum Tugger depicted as a rasta who came out rapping. That was hilarious and very well done.

One other aspect of the night was somewhat irritating, namely the fact that we could have bought tickets for less than half price, had we left purchasing them to the last minute, but who was to know that all those months ago? I think the prices were a bit rich for folks around here, that's why they were desperate flogging them with large discounts jus days before the shows went on.

Saturday was spent in bed, trying to get rid of the cold that had returned with a vengence.  It was definitely a bad idea going geocaching on Tuesday, I am sure that was the beginning of the relapse. Going out most days in the damp, cold evening since didn't help either.

The Belgrade Philharmonic on tour

The Hash on Sunday was totally out of the question, partly because there was a guest hare and I didn't want to risk a long run, plus I had to preserve my energies for the concert in the evening. This concert was not to be missed, so off I went to the Palace of the Arts to hear the Belgrade Philharmonic with Ian, who got Bozsa's ticket, as she managed to talk Árpi into coming, so they sat together and away from us, with Ian sitting next to me in Bozsa's original seat. The soloist was Kristóf Baráti, who was superb, as usual and we all had a very good time.

Upon arriving back home after 10pm, I had a quick last look at e-mails before going to bed and guess what did I discover? My DNA profile had arrived from ancestry.com. It didn't contain any great surprises, as the run down was more or less as expected, with 55% European Jewish being the most dominant. However, 7% British DNA was a bit puzzling, but it also thrown up Renee, as a likely second cousin, which proved that the whole thing is genuine, not a hoax.

The DNA profile

Yesterday was spent in bed yet again, even though it seems not to make any difference to how I feel. My nose is still blocked and no amount of blowing does any good. I seem to live in a haze, with a headache and on Sunday morning I also had a horrendous vertigo attack, which frightened me. I have not had the walls going round at this speed since I got very drunk on port and Bombay mix about 25 years ago. Thankfully the dizziness eventually settled down, but it left me very weak and wobbly. I am convinced that full blown post-viral fatique is setting in, which is not good news.  That, usually, lays me low for weeks, if not months.  Not a pleasant prospect.

Anyway, so I spent Monday in bed again and then went to the Music Academy in the evening for yet another concert with Bozsa and Árpi. We were sitting where normally the choir stands, right behind the orchestra, and it was Bozsa's first experience of it.  I love sitting there, you get such a close, intimate insight into the orchestra from there and the view of the whole concert hall from there is magnificent.

Gergely Dubóczky, the young conductor

It was an event definitely worth going to. The Budapest Festival Orchestra had started a series of introducing new, young conductors and this one was the first one. Gergely Dubóczky was brilliant, which was not surprising, as Iván Fischer alwyas finds the best ones. Berlioz, Hindemith and Beethoven was on the program and while Hindemith is definitely not my cup of tea, this was a very special evening yet again. I will keep an eye on this young man, he is destined for great things, I think.

Today, we are off to the village via the supermarket and the DIY store. I feel faint and weak, but the peace and quiet in Bér should do me good.  Unfortunately I have to go out to place the moving caches, but hopefully both should be hidden in or close to Bér, so that should no exhaust me.  On top of that I need to do the annual tax return this week as well, so I'd better get on with that, as we are back in town in 5 days.