Fourteenth week of quarantine

All our weeks are busy, but this was definitely hectic.On the day of my last post I suddenly had a phone call from Kati, my friend in the village. She had to dash to Hatvan for something and thougth she might as well shop for us at Tesco. That was brilliant, and it put off the day we might have to go shopping in Hatvan off by at least a week, if not more.

My two-tone beauty

The second half of last week was thankfully warm and dry, so I managed to do the bulk of the outstanding mowing. Did some at the lower half of the back garden, where the tractor can't get to. Then on another day I did the courtyard and in front of the house. I couldn't do Nelly's bit, as Andris's car was on it. I did that later in the week when I spotted her struggling with her pathetic little mower and did it in a few minutes. The last bit that was left, was the Kotege and round the fruit trees.

Cherries on my Germersdorfer cherry tree

Talking of fruit trees, this year's crop, if not outstanding, should be pretty good. Three trees (apricot, early cherry and the new pear) suffered from a late frost in April, and have nothing or very little, but the others are OK. Currently we are eating the Germersdorfer cherries, usually with breakfast and are trying to beat the birds to them. Tomorrow I will need the ladder as the lower ones left are still unripe, but there are plenty of ripe ones high up.

Green plums

The back gate has taken a holiday, as Gyula put his back out and we are awaiting his recovery, so he can do the welding, being the only welder on the team. I gave him a ring, which he was most touched at and he sounded like he was in pain.

Morello cherries getting ripe

On Saturday I watched Stephen's new gig, which was absolutely brilliant and sent £20 again, as it was worth it. And one has to show willing to support the struggling comedy club and stand-up industry. Another brilliant performance was from Alan Woods, in his 8th instalment of the History of the English Revolution. I love listening to that man, whatever he is talking about. Some thought that he has an academic style, but I think that he has a delivery that is just right: mixture of fascinating facts, excellent analysis and fair amount of humour too.

One of my apples growing nicely

Talking of Alan, I have come across some further entertainment, totally by accident, but enjoyed it tremendously. I have read on FB that the Palace of the Arts is repeating online a series of Wagner operas from 2015. Knowing that Alan is very fond of Wagner, I sent a Messenger message to Ana, his wife, with the link and she wrote back, thanking me and then inviting me to a Zoom meeting of the British section of the IMT, which is a celebration of them reaching 500 comrades in the UK. And, you have guessed it, one of the principal speakers was Alan, which gave me some more enjoyment.

Alan lecturing from his own study

Returning to the topic of mowing, I am very sad to report, that unless Roy manages to mend it, the larger of the two petrol mowers is kaput. The drive packed up and on a fairly steep hill that we have, it makes it unusable. It still mows, but it needs pushing and uphill in our garden that is way beyond my strength. Unfortunately, with all the rain we have had this last week, the grass is growing really fast again, so I will have to improvise and try to use the smaller one in the back garden too, but that will only wreck that as well, if I know my luck.

Roy repairing the Hoover

Have you noticed that in the lockdown, more than normal number of things break down, go wrong, break, get stuck etc.? Just a few examples from our household: dead car battery, Hoover, Petrol mower, the burners on the cooker hob and my bedside lamp. Most can be mended, but not all. And then in addition, while trying to fiddle with the mower on the Kotege patio, we noticed lots of broken and slipped tiles on the back of the Farmhouse.

Csaba on the roof

Thankfully, Csaba, a local was available on Sunday to come and replace them. We are lucky that we always overbuy things like tiles, so we still have a couple of packs of them, but sooner or later the complete replacement of the tiles on the Farmhouse is going to be necessary. They have been up for 21 years, I was hoping that they last a bit longer than that.

On the shopping front, other than Kati doing a bit of shopping for us in Hatvan Tesco and the mobile grocer calling right though the week, I have discovered a greengrocer, who comes on Mondays and Fridays. We have had bad experiences with mobile greengrocers, the last one sold Roy such a dud bag of potatoes, that more than half of it went in the bin. However, this guy is good, has high quality stuff, (albeit at rather high prices) and a good, wideranging choice. Currently we are having strawberries on our conflakes and, of course, our own cherries as well.

Today Germersdorfer cherry crop

On the food front, we are still loaded up with lots of food and Roy can have anything he wants, as I like to feed him well, so that he can recover well. One big boo boo I made during the last week, was to set the fridge in the Bunkhouse to 5 and some vegetables that have been stored there froze. Unfortunately the courgettes suffered and we had to throw away about three quarters of them. On the other hand, my three large red Californian peppers, while rock hard, after thowing out roasted to perfection for Sunday lunch. I think I discovered something that I might carry on with.

Roy's favourite tarja with pineapple and mushrooms

Roy is still very fond of his tarja with pineapple, which is pretty close to his favourite: gammon and pineapple. I am carrying on with making my tea from fresh mint and lemon balm, and am enjoying it very much.

The new, harder, exercises finally arrived and we started on them yesterday. Roy is finding them quite a lot harder, but is persevering, while I watch him not to overdo it. The last couple of days both of us had something wrong, we started sneezing and Roy complained of being tired. It's possible that he found the new exercises extra hard, because he was a bit out of sorts. Today, I am glad to say we have almost ceased sneezing and had a better night too.

My beloved Kristóf with friends that got cancelled

I have also put on a fight this week for getting our money back that we are entitled to, but both outfits are dragging their feet over. The first was the Music Academy, which posted on its website that the audience of all cancelled concerts will have the cost of their tickets automatically refunded. I was patient, but after about a couple of months I started chasing them. Apparently, they have notified the bank to make the refund, but there are so many, that the bank is overwhelmed.  Likely bloody story! Although knowing the banks in these parts (inefficient, discourteous and hellishly expensive with it), I am not surprised.

Rhapsody of the Seas that we won't be going on

The other outfit was Royal Caribbean, the cruise company, that have taken our deposits for our August cruise with Alex, Meaghan and Callum, and unlike the vast majority of the industry, refuses to cancel the trip that they know full well that they will have to. I have finally managed to get hold of our agent and she assures me that the option of losing the deposit is not on the table. We can have our booking shifted to the same cruise next year, or transferred to another cruise with the same company or another one I can't now remember, but if we wait it out and should the company cancel, then we can have the money back. Even if by then decide to have any of the earlier options, we can. She will ring again next week and we will see what happens.

Afternoon nap in the rearranged lounge

And then I left the main event of the last seven days to last. Roy had been very comfortable on the settee ever since his accident, but lately started complaining that it is too narrow. He wants to move his legs and can't for lack of space. So, muggin's ended up carrying his entire bedframe, complete with headboard, a large and heavy mattress and the slats all the way round the house, (through the patio door into the back garden, then down the andesite steps and in through the front door downstairs) into the lounge downstairs. We found a brilliant place for it and now we are really comfortably ensconced there for the duration.

The rearranged lounge

Upcoming excitments next week will include the Wagner series of operas free online, starting tomorrow with the Rheingold, and Elian's birthday next Wednesday. Poor poppet can't have a party and the present he really wants is not yet available. Both Elian and Xander are mad about Brighton and Hove Albion and we have already bought them a summer kit when we saw them in February. Now they want the new kit, but it might not be out for another week. Still, Elian is a sensible little chap and accepted the fact, that if he wants that kit, he'll have to wait. I have booked a Messenger slot on his birthday and am looking forward to it.

Das Rheingold at the Palace of the Arts

The other bit of news re: grandsons, is that Xander was observed by some big wig in football while playing and he was amazed at his skill level. As it happens, I wasn't surprised, because in the last set of little videos that Lucy sent, there was a long line of ball control from him, including getting round a defender and never losing control of the ball, that was masterly. I said to Roy then, that he must be years ahead with those tricks, and now a pofessional says the same. Genius kid, and in many aspects of his little life.  Ahhhhhh!!

Xander and Elian in the park

Roy is having his afternoon nap and I am off to read Bryson's Made in America. Taraaa!!