Last week

This should be a shorter than normal post as very little happened in the last week.  And that in spite of the fact that it contained Christmas.  This year the plan was to have a  rest, be away from people and no fuss. By and by the plan worked. While we had company the weekend before, Christmas Day itself was very peaceful and quiet.

Cheers!

We had some really nice food and drink, and even managed a candle on the table. Roy had his usual fillet steak (the first two slices of this year's whole fillet), and I had king prawns. Roy even had a couple of my prawns to make it a 'surf and turf' meal for him. For drinks we had a bottle of dry BB champagne plus fruit salad, like last Saturday with Laci and Márti, for dessert. Drinks carried on to port and pálinka, so we were very merry indeed.

Gran and Grandad's presents

Strange colour, but what do I know?

The family was good to us and we had phone calls from both Hassocks and Toronto. It was delightful to see Heather, looking good after her operation. Callum showed us what we got him for Christmas and so did Elian and Xander later on in the afternoon.

The title on the post I got this photo from said: Merry Xmas you bunch of weirdos! No comment!!!

Unfortunately the weather got rather slushy in the meantime, so even if my cold was better (which it wasn't and still isn't!), we would not have gone out at all. That was a shame, because interspersed with miserably dark days, there were a few really nice sunny ones as well. Never mind, I'm sure I'll get better one of these days!

Elian, Stephen and Xander

Unfortunately our little birdies, whose food we went to get risking our necks last week, have practically disappeared overnight as soon as the thaw arrived.  As I wrote before, they only come non-stop when it is very cold.  With the milder temperatures they were not much in evidence.

After Christmas, due to not much to watch on terrestrial TV, I took to Netflix. I discovered Designated Survivor, which was originally an ABC series, but has now become a Netflix Original.  ABC cancelled it after 2 seasons, but season 3 will come out later next year, commissioned by Netflix. Netflix is a real success story, proving that if you have an idea which nobody else had thought of (or if they had, they didn't have the capital to develop) you can make billions.

Binge watching is a North American concept which I could take to easily.  I was practically out of commission for 4 days, watching 43 episodes back to back. The only pain that it cost me was in my bum, as I hardly got off the chair. I haven't seen Kiefer Sutherland since he played Jack Bauer in 24 and I still think he is a good actor. The series is full of reasonably big names, but the stories are hilarious, if you understand how US imperialism works. Any work day for the president having only 12 disasters was getting boring, they got you used to at least that many in every episode. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the patriotic pathos that really sticks in your throat, but for a mindless switch off, it was perfect.

Kiefer Sutherland

The other vaguely exciting thing was (and still is) the election of next year's moderators for the geocaching club. The leadership, realising that the moderator body has hardly had a change in 15 years, tried to introduce earlier in the year a compulsory 1 year off for every moderator after 4 years service. This caused an absolute revolt by 5 moderators who threw their toys out the pram and resigned en masse. Now if I was the president, I would have said: "So what?" Not that lot. On the whole nice blokes (yes, no women anywhere!!!) but with a slightly less than sterling backbone, they instantly caved in and withdrew the proposal. Following which, the 5 instantly unresigned!!!??? ONLY IN HUNGARY - I can tell you!

Hungarian Geocaching Club banner

Anyway, come the end of the year, they had another go at it, namely extending the voting from full members to include supporting members as well. This increased the electorate from 98 to 319, which, I suppose is a step in the right direction and fortunately this rule change was not followed by a revolt by a truculent hard core, like last time.  The results are due out tomorrow morning, I am looking forward to them with great excitement. Reason 1: because I would really love to know whether this measure would help new blood into the body, like it was intended and 2: because I threw my hat in the ring and put my name forward for moderator too.

10 of my spring caches in 2018

To be honest, I have been thinking of going for it for a couple of years now, but under the old system there was no point. With a small insider clique nominating each  other and then voting for each other, the chance of getting in was infinitessimal. However, this time, with 170 already having voted out of 319, those are not bad odds and as this is the first time, the result is anybody's guess. I'll let you know when I know what has happened. Personally, I am absolutely 50/50. I would like to get elected and try out what it is like, but don't really fancy the usual infighting, bitchiness and the hitting below the belt, which has so far been the hallmark of this august body. It is also a lot of work if you want to do it properly and I'm afraid I am organically incapable doing anything at half measures.  All in or all out, that's me. So, whatever happens, I'll be happy.

The route of the rival hike in the Bükk Mountains

Another quick job I had this last week was writing the web  page for yet another geocaching hike my friend Feri and I are planning for April 13th 2019 in the Velence Mountains. We have decided on the location (his idea) and the date (by mutual agreement) ages ago, but didn't want to start advertising it as it seemed such a long way off. So guess what? Somebody else decided to advertise one for just 2 weeks before it. I told Feri I am not changing it, as I am running out of dates that both he and I can do and as far as I am concerned this is not a competition to see who can have the largest numbers, but just a pleasant hike with friends, no matter how many of them. Since then I had a chat with the other chap and he mentioned that he might move it to an earlier date to avoid them being too close to each other.  I don't care, I'll be happy with half a dozen turning up and as it is located a long way from the other one, it should be a lot more than that even if the other one stays where it is now. Another annoying thing is that the date the rival hike is planned for is one I cannot make as I'll be in Mexico then, if all goes well!! (knock, knock!!)

The two little villains at Christmas

Xander and Elian with Father Christmas

Food-wise we are still doing OK, even though we have been here for nearly 2 weeks. The only thing we had to buy since we arrived was bread from the mobile baker. All other things are still OK in the fridge and freezer. We were also lucky, because Laci and Márti have brought a large bag of fruits of all sorts as a present and we have been munching away on those. Additionally, before we came I stocked up on nuts and dried fruits, so recently I revived an old habit I haven't practiced for years: The Christmas mixed fruit and nut bowl. I vary what I put in it, but today's bowlful has: dried apricots, figs, prunes, satsumas, apples, tiny pieces of dark chocolate, almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts in it. Lovely grazing food, which I avoid normally, but it is definitely one of the treats of Christmas.

Great aerial photo of the Mill complex

Lunch will be taken in the Mill up the hill today, partly because we haven't seen them for ages, partly because it's Feri's birthday, but mostly because we are expecting guests from the Mill for New Year's Eve and I need to know the arrival times and the numbers.  The Bunkhouse has been cleaned and the beds made by a couple of village ladies on Thursday and the heating has been on since then. I hope we will have some nice people again this year, as last year's lot were really delightful.

Happy New Year to everybody out there who happens to read this and the next post is now only due next year!! 💓