Geocache placements, a concert and an opera

Last weekend the weather really cheered up and I was dying to get out. So, finally on Easter Monday we jumped into the car and went out. Needless to say that the outing had something to do with geocaching.  As I had started a series of caches consisting of 11 springs and so far had only done one (mostly because the dreadful late winter weather, then illness, then Roy's operation), it was about time to get out and do some more.

Hikers' road signs near the first spring

I picked two in the Cserhát hills on either side of a disused quarry which basically had eaten up half a mountain.  I drove, as Roy was still not really up to it, he stayed in the car and I went to place the box, take the GPS co-ordinates, do the paperwork in both places.

Where the water comes out of the first spring

The first one was near the end of an old disused road that went to the now closed quarry. We parked in a nice sunny clearing, Roy had a nice snooze and I found the spring. It is not one of the prettier ones, but the forest was nice and so were the views. Its name referred to tanks and there was a tank carved into the old spring housing, so it might have had something to do with the military in the past.

The old housing with the tank is and where the spring had dried up

Afterwards I drove around the mountain and parked up North of it in a village, where Roy had another snooze. There the walk was longer than at the first one, so I had to climb up about a mile and another back. That spring was quite interesting: it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and apparently it has pilgrims at times.

The view from the car park

En route home we were looking out for an inn where we could have had lunch, but nothing appealed and we had lunch at home.  We were both very tired at the end and had an early night. The following day I downloaded the photos, wrote the cache pages and submitted the cache plans for moderation.  Needless to say that one moderator started whingeing about the first one being ugly, then another said they were too close to each other and I should combine them into one etc., etc.  I was all sweetness and light when responding to all this, as I have learnt by now how to handle all this fussing.

The Virgin Mary shrine at the second spring

There are 12 moderators, only 10 offered comments and voted one way or another on my two submissions.  Eventally the Virgin Mary one went through with 10 yes and the tatty one with 8 yes and 2 no votes. I can't publish them yet, because these series usually appear all at the same time, so I have another 8 to do before I can publish all of them at once. I promised the moderators that I will finish them by the end of June, so let's hope nothing too drastic happens to us in the meantime.

An old wooden cross  at the shrine

On Wednesday we came into town as I had a concert in the Music Academy where Vadym Kholodenko delighted us with Chopin and Prokofiev. It was brilliant and while I was a bit tired, I loved every minute of it. Kholodenko has been unknown to me until now, but I am sure I'll see him again sometime.  He is Ukranian, not Russian, but he is as good as most of the also brilliant Russian pianists.

The spring in action

On Thursday  I went to see my doctor at the usual private clinic and she thinks I need some more investigations, so that looms over me at the moment. I forgot to take my diary, so I will have to go back sometime to fix some appointments in a couple of weeks' time.

Vadym Kholodenko

On Thursday I attended the AGM of the house committee of flat owners, which went off without too much hassle. Unfortunately the legal framework for getting maintenance money out of flat owners who don't pay is still a complete chambles, so we have lots owning us money and therefore some of the repairs or developments will have to wait until next year. Still, a part of the roof will be renewed and a metal grill in front of the main front door should be fitted sometime this year too.  The charge per square meter of flat floor has not gone up this year, which was good news. The only slightly bad news for us was that we will have to have a new water meter, as they are only calibrated for 8 years and ours is up.

The view en route back to the car from the Virgin Mary spring

Yesterday we went out to do some market shopping, which then got us very tired as we bought too much fruit and veg, which weighs a lot.  We should have taken the trolly, but we made it home finally. We also went out for lunch to one of our favourite little restaurants, which was nice.  The weather is still nice, so perhaps spring has finally definitely arrived.

The Magic Flute

Tonight I am going to the opera, Mozart's Magic Flute is on, which is one of my alltime favourites, so I should be happy. The Erkel Theatre where all the performances are this year, due to the Opera House being renovated, is walking distance from the flat, so I have to leave by 6.30pm and should be back just after 10pm. We are off to the village first thing tomorrow morning, as I want to vote in the parliamentary elections, which are a real crucial one this time round. I have not made any mention of politics in this blog for ages now, but you might get a report next time.