Seventeenth week of quarantine

Times passes so fast, that I realised it is time to write my next blog post. I canot understand people who are bored during the lockdown. I have so much to do, I can never get bored.

Early bunches of grapes on the vine at the back of the Bunkhouse

This last week was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Roy got to the stage when he is almost back to normal. He can walk unaided, climb stairs, even do some mowing, so it seems like it is all done and dusted. And then he gets tetchy, which is a surefire sign of tiredness or tension, occasionally he suddenly gets very tired, he can't stand around for too long, etc., etc. No matter how impatient he is, a man of his age cannot rush the recovery. As at the beginning he never believed that he would ever get better, (and then he did, he is now hopefully a bit more optimistic, if impatient, to believe he should get as near as damn it to how he was originally.

Zoli and Gyuri by the cement mixer

Nobody believes me that he is 79 in September. That makes a hell of a difference to strength, stamina and lots of other aspects, that he can't hurry nature with his healing. Funnily enough, in spite the fact that I am over the moon how much better he is, and physically it's a relief to me that I no longer have to do everything he did, as he is slowly returning to cooking and other household chores. What I miss, is the closeness I had with him during nursing him. He is not a lovey-dovey type, but this time he was just so nice that I'll miss that. Everything is back to normal in activity pattern: he's the foreman and sometimes not a very nice one at that. I am the minion who can be bossed about a lot. I know he doesn't mean it, but the contrast with the last 6/7 weeks got to me a bit in terms of mood.

Roy posing proudly by his new back gate

This last week we opened some jam jars to see how the jam turned out. The news are both disastrous and happy. The last few, which got a bit burnt and was overboiled, ended up like concrete. It tastes lovely, just it is not jam. I am sure I will find a use for it sometime in the future. We also opened one of the others, and this one is very nice. Obviously, as it had added sugar and it was boiled twice, it looks nothing like our Morello cherry jam used to look. This one is sweeter, darker and denser, but lovely all the same.

The last batch of Morello jam

The other big event this last week was the back gate. After Gyula dug the holes, and nobody came to actually install the gate, finally I lost my patience and rang Feri. He assured me that somebody will come that very day. And they did, two lovely blokes, Zoli and Gyuri, who seemed very nice to talk to, whose opinions about the whole outfit they are working for totally coincided with mine and while we watched them work, we could tell that they were good at what they did. Attention to detail, precision and good team work are not particularly common place over here, so we were really pleased to see that they practiced all three.

My breakfast of cornflakes with our own cherries and nuts

As it was Friday when they came, they have gone off for the weekend and returned on Monday to take away their gear that was holding the gate up while the concrete set and touched up a few spots where the painting wasn't perfect. Since then, of course, we have discovered a few places where the rust was showing and should have been touched up with paint, as well as we now have the problem of attaching the old fence wire to the new gate. I rang Feri yesterday and he promised to send someone to deal with those problems. All in all the gate looks great, it is rock solid and should keep the burglars out, if we are lucky.

The last lot of fresh cherries, to be eaten with cornflakes

Today we have written the Tesco list between us, as we have now decided that we'll go shopping next Monday. It opens at 6 am, so we will leave just after 5 am to hope for a not too full supermarket. We will also have to buy some petrol for the tractor and the mower, visit Lidl also for some stuff only they have and if we have the energy, look out for a new mower, scanner and a few other things besides. I am not too happy having to go out of the house, as we haven't been anywhere for nearly 4 months, but such is life. You have to grab the bull by the horns, when needs must. Next Monday is also my 72nd birthday, so it should give me courage that I am still here, alive and kicking. Let us hope the virus doesn't think otherwise! :)

Brad and Barney Walsh in racing drivers' gear

Talking about grabbing the bull by the horns, I have discovered a really lovely series Breaking Dad, on ITV in which Bradley and Barney Walsh go travelling in the States, doing crazy things. The chemistry between father and son is so delightfully close, but mad, that it makes for a fun program. One of the activities was riding a bull, which nearly killed Brad and he ended up with three broken splinters at the lower end of his back, although it didn't seem to stop him much for the rest of the series.

Charles I of England x 3

Alan Woods' lectures on the English Revolution are still ongoing and now are into the actual events that led up to the king losing his head. I think the next episode is the start of the Civil War. I am really enjoying these, as not only I am learning a lot of history through them, but that the outlook on this great historical event is very different in Alan's interpretation from the traditional shallow recounting of Cavaliers and Roundheads. Especially, that all other interpretations are on the side of the reactionary bastards, represented by the Cavaliers, when the real heroes were the common people, who did most of the fighting and the vast majority of the dying. With the happy exception of the king, who deserved his fate ten times over.

My friend Feri

I still get my regular phonecalls from my good friends Feri (this is another one) and the occasional call from Gyuri. Both these guys are friends through geocaching, Feri is a closer one than Gyuri, but I like talking to both of them. Feri's wife, Brigi, was ill, so I was awaiting his call quite anxiously to know how it went at the doctor's. Apparently, they are as stumped as everybody else, but it's still good to know that there is no sign of anything too drastic.

A few apples in the process of growing

Another great effort that needs mentioning is another big mowing day. Unfortunately, I am not strong enough to do everything in one day. So mowing is a movable feast, taking 2 or sometimes 3 days, with lots of resting in between. The grass was too wet, so I had to do the bits in the shade twice: once on 2.5 cm high, and then again at 1.5 cm. It looks really lovely now, and Roy's anxiety over the lenth of the grass under the plum trees is now solved. He thinks the plums will start getting ripe soon and will start dropping on the ground, where we need short grass, so we can pick them up. Fair enough, but I don't think they are going to get ripe any time soon, even though it is wet, as well as hot at the moment. Still, he might be right, so I did that as well.

Roy resting in the shade by the barn

Roy and I are still doing the physio exercises, but we went down to 3 times a week now. I will find some harder exercises soon, because he can do them now. They are very useful, even after recovery, as they help maintain the new found strength, as well as have proper posture.

My favourite plum tree

That's it for this week. Take care of yourselves and each other!<3 br="">