It's been over a week since I last posted, but I have a (or several) good excuse(s). It has been a rather busy week, but practically all of it was brilliant and very enjoyable.
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| Roy with his duck drumsticks in the Rosenstein |
On Monday 4th we celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary, which - of course - means that the Golden one is now only 12 months away. Put early next March into your diaries, as something good is being planned. Assuming, of course, that we are both still around then!!
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| The interior of the Rosenstein |
I have heard a lot about a restaurant called Rosenstein near the Keleti station, so I booked a table and off we went. It is a Jewish Restaurant, but we stuck with dishes that we knew and found it quite nice. Whether it was nice enough for the high prices, that is still debated. The decor was quite industrial come pop art, which is OK with me, but less so with Roy. It was still a very good occasion, especially that we very rarely celebrate anything.
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| David Fray |
In the evening I went to the Music Academy for a recital given by the absoutely brilliant French pianist, David Fray. He played Bach's Goldberg Variations. This was the first time I saw him play anywhere and also the first time I ever heard the entire piece of the Goldberg Variations. I was in a trance, it was that fantastic. Bozsa agreed with me and we both had a marvellous 90 minutes.
On Tuesday Roy and I went home to the village and caught up on stuff that piled up in our absence. The weather was good enough for a bit of gardening, the herb patch got tidied up and Roy started making headway on putting down the edging by the roses in the courtyard. We obviously didn't buy enough, but as we will be installing it bit by bit, I'm sure we can buy more later.
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| Shaun Evans as Endavour |
We both watched some TV, I enjoyed the last episodes of this year's Endavour, both of us adored the last instalment of David Jason's life on the telly. This was the episode that contained some news for us, as we missed some of the programs in the 10 years that he was talking about. Great guy and a brilliant actor. I am still of the firm opinion that comedians are also great actors when they are given the chance to prove it.
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| David Jason |
I also started another tape transcription for my comrades in London, but found that I can't do too much in one go, it is that tiring. Still, I am plodding on with it, hopefully it should be done in a month or so. I was told it is not urgent, I hope that is still the case.
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| Early sping forest with the river in the distance |
On Friday I went off very early in the morning to meet Mariann and Gabi to go for a geocaching hike in the SW corner of Nógrád county by a mountain called Naszály. A few months back the three of us cleared all the caches off the Eastern end and the top of this mountain, on Friday it was the turn of the Western end and a few more around it.
En route to meeting them at Vác railway station I got one, which would have made our hike too long, but was accessible at the cost of a 2km walk from the East, where I was coming from. Basically, I was trying to be careful with the Duster on a very steep bit, to make sure I don't wreck the whole day by getting stuck at the bottom of the incline on my way back from the cache. Had I been a bit more adventurous, I could have got away with a couple of hundred yards' walk only. Still, it was magical in the early morning to walk amongst fields and woods, having them all to myself to admire.
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| The view from the top of Kis Orom towards the river |
The day gave us lots of interesting woods, hills and a study route with forests, suspension bridges, swamps (currently bone dry) and a lot of funny stuff besides. The cache total was 7 for me and 9 for the other two, we also hid a moving cache that Mariann brought and which was a great present for me as I haven't had it before.
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| Forsythia at the study centre |
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| The moving cache was hidden in this rootstock |
The weekend contained a very important event, which even though we intended staying in the country for two weeks, we still hopped on a bus and got into town for. We have a lovely English friend, David, whom I have met years ago on the Hash. Some 5 years back he had an operation and when he got better, he organised a Survival Hash, suggesting that he was not ill any more.
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| Gabi and Mariann on the wobbly suspension bridge |
Well, that was 5 years ago and he is still with us, so he thought to organise another Survival Hash run, followed by dinner, and we couldn't miss that. I knew I was a bit ropey after my Friday hike, which had one very nasty hill in it, where we had to climb 150 metres in as little as 650 metres of distance. So I was a bit concerned whether I will be able to manage the run, but I was OK. Everything was great, David had a good time and the turnout was pretty good too.
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| Starting group photo on Hulk's Survival Hash |
Roy doesn't hash, but he came and joined us at the restaurant. The other great happening was the return of our friend Adrian from a very long way away where he went not of his own volition. We thought that they would have put him away for years for his sins, but the lucky devil had such a good solicitor that laying it on thick about the privations in a Hungarian jail while awaiting extradition worked its magic and they let him go. I like him, even though he is a banker, but he assured me that he has retired now.
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| Peddling Pussy and Bogi, the hash hound |
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| The stragglers |
Finally on Monday we returned to the village where we are now to stay until next Monday or Tuesday, when we depart for town, followed by our adventure into Central America, a part of the world not only we have never been to, but never thought we might end up in at any time, for any reason whatsoever.
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| Hulk, often the Hare and always the gentleman! Cheers!!! |
I'll probably post again before we are off, but after that only after our return.
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