Concerts, hiking, geocaching, funny turn, sore shoulder and lighting the stove

In the week since I have posted there was a fair amount of activity, even though that we spent most of the time in the village. Last Wednesday and Thursday I was trying to rest, as far as that was possible, so that I could cope with three days back in town with a lot going on.

Jutka among the rocks

Most of my time was spent either reading (more about that later), cooking or on the computer. I prepared the list of caches I was going to go for on the Sunday, I did a transcription for Alex, which I enjoyed a lot as I enjoy hearing him speak, I prepared an enormous cucumber salad out of the 10 cucumbers that Tomi brought me as a present from his own greenhouse the previous weekend and I also put together our Christmas Message and sent it to the usual people.

The view

We went into town on Friday, trying to arrive as the free period of parking started near the flat at 6pm. I had a concert at the Palace of the Arts at 7.30pm and I got there with time to spare. This concert was part of the one with the title "Discoveries". It was the Pannon Philharmonic that delighted us with some lovely music, although both Bozsa and I were pretty tired.

Autumn colours

On Saturday I had another of my funny turns, so had to miss my opera performance in the evening, but at least an opera is going to be on for quite a while, so I can go some other time.  It would have been more upsetting if I had to miss a concert, as those are never repeated.

Graffiti in the abandon Russian missile base

I had some worries whether I should go on the geocaching hike with Jutka on the Sunday, not only because my problem the day before, but because I had to be back early, due to another concert at 6pm this time. As it happens, everything was fine and I was back just a few minutes after 4pm, which left plenty of time to get ready.

Biatorbágy lakes

The Kodály Philharmonic from Debrecen delighted us that day and this time Bozsa brought Árpi as well. They always give me a lift home and anyway, I love Árpi and don't see him that often.

The "Necking rock"

The hike with Jutka was absolutely brilliant. The weather was probably the only aspect that could have been better: overcast, but dry and with a little sunshine now and again in the morning, but drizzle and finally rain in the afternoon.

Top of rock pillar strictly for thin people

The area I planned the hike and geocaching on was near a village where I have been once before, that time with the hash. It had some lovely rock formations, beautiful forests with 4 caches, as well as a couple more in the nearby village. We had quite a lot of climb in mostly two long and steep sections, but the locations we went to were delightful.  Jutka said that she not only has never been there, but didn't even know about it, especially this close to town.

Biatorbágy Calvinist Church

The final total was 5 caches, as we ran out of time for the last one, but it was very interesting all round.  It also included one at an abandoned Russian rocket base, which was now the third one of these I have visited in the last year or so to find its cache.

The PLF biography

The third and final part of the trilogy

And then on Monday we returned to the village, doing some Tesco shopping en route. Hopefully we should be here for a fortnight, with the exception of a quick dash in on Saturday for another opera performance, but I should be back early on Sunday morning.

I mentioned reading and you need to know what I am reading, or more correctly have been reading for quite a while now.  A few years ago I saw on Amazon a few books that took my fancy and then immediately after I bought them, I got so busy with other stuff that I only got to them this year. It actually centres round Patrick Leigh Fermor, some of whose books I got to know around 2008 or 2009.

The old Biatorbágy railway station

After Mike's death I was given the first two volumes of PLF's travel trilogy: A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water.  I read them there and then and was astonished that the author was still alive, aged 93 or 94. He never quite got round to writing the final installment but then died in 2011 and Artemis Cooper with Colin Thubron put an enormous amount of work into collecting the partially written manuscript of the book, plus all the notes, diaries, letters and other papers from which they could make an attempt to bridge the gaps and put the final volume together. It was PLF's perfectionism that stopped him doing it, considering how long ago that was and how dissatisfied he always was with his own writing.

Soviet war cemetery by an old chapel ruin

The Sándor-Metternich Chateau

So about 3 or 4 years ago I bought The Broken Road, as the third volume was called, but then noticed that Artemis Cooper also wrote PLF's biography, plus a guy called Nick Hunt had written a book of his own journey, using only PLF's route for the walk from London to Istanbul. Well, I have finished The Broken Road and the biography and am currently just into the Nick Hunt book. All of it is very fascinating and enjoyable.

Finally, today was the grand firing up of the pottery stove with the new acacia wood and it turned out to be a bit of a disaster.  I don't think we should have tried to do this today, as the conditions outside - total lack of wind and a light drizzle - could not be worse for lighting fires.  It smokes, doesn't want to take and keeps going out. I have as good as given up, although once the grills were shut it just carried on burning very slowly.

I suppose I also ought to tell you that I have a very painful right shoulder, come upper arm, which I have no idea how it came about, but it is jolly bad at the moment. Needless to say that lighting the fire, which is a physical activity requiring the lifting of logs and such, did it no good, but such is life. Let us hope it is only a strain or a bit of arthritis and it goes soon.