Busy(ish) week, although nothing too exciting happened. Last Thursday I went to shop for food on my own, as I don't want Roy to get about too much in the current dangerous third wave of the pandemic. Hungary had the highest death rate per 100,000 population anywhere in the world. Still no sign of him getting his vaccination, so I ordered him to stay put. Thankfully, he is quite happy on his computer, watching a bit of TV, having the odd nap and occasionaly out in the garden, now that the weather is getting better.
 |
| The CO-OP and the market street on the right |
I was only away for about an hour and a half, during which I drove to and from Bér and Palotás, shopped at the household goods store, followed by the fruit and veg. market and finishing off at the CO-OP. As I went a lot earlier than Roy likes to go, there were more people than usually, but to compensate for that, the choice was better. I managed to get my favourite kefir and tried an unknown brand of butter, which since then turned out as good as my usual one from Lidl.
The market had more stalls, bought all the usual stuff (onions, eggs, pears, bananas, fresh sprouts, radishes, lettuce, oranges, satsumas, spring onions, tomatoes, etc., etc. The household shop ordered us some Nestles Cornflakes, (they do some food there too), plus I managed to remember to get another bottle of Mr. Muscle, as I used up the whole litre of it on the bathroom basin.
 |
| Covid19 deaths per million people |
As the third wave is pretty frightening, we had to cancel our appointments, yet again in BP, so we still have not got the new cable box for the internet, TV and telephone in the flat, as well as I have not yet been to Zsófi, my homeopath. God knows when any of this is going to end, as this new variant is really lethal; it spreads like wild fire and attacks young people as well as children more than before. School children have been catching it, as well as young people in their 20's and 30's dying from it.
 |
| Sorrel coming through |
The internet is full of speculation on why Eastern Europe is so bad. Not only Hungary, but Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czechia and Poland are very similar, although the first place belongs proudly to Hungary. I never read the Hungarian newspapers or websites, but some German commentators on the net have come up with some likely reasons. Like guest workers popping home as and when they fancy, and the lax, ignorant and negligent border controls, which should be supposedly in place, but not really, that never stop them. This way many of the variants have invaded Eastern Europe.
 |
| Oregano |
Another aspect is the ill discipline, especially amongst the young people, who are also the vast majority of the asymptomatic infectious element, just simply not taking any notice of mask wearing or social distancing rules. Obivously the total lack of closure of non-essential industry, which has never happened and is not happening now, coupld with practically no safety measures on the shop floor, feed the pandemic while getting no notice in the press whatsoever. The people do not trust the government, (quite rightly), but unfortunately that also fuels the non-compliance. So, all in all, this has been a dark time, not just for those who are ill or the families of the deceased, but psychologically on many of us, who watching the infection and death figures feel that this will never end.
 |
| Violets in the grass |
 |
| Plump buds on the Germersdorfer cherry tree |
My friends who have been already to the relevant department for the change of ID card told us, that they were very lucky and only had to show the first 3. Let us hope that by the time the third wave is abating, or even over, they will not have changed the goal posts. As changing the goal posts is a dreadful Hungarian habit, we wanted to go right at the beginning, but the third wave intervened. Let us hope it will be still straightforward and easy, as promised by both the Hungarian authorities and the British Ambassador, by the time we can go.
 |
| Lewis Hamilton with his trophy at Bahrein |
One great event of this last week has been the start of the F1 Grand Prix season. They started in Bahrein this year and it was an absolutely brilliant, teetering on the edge of your chair, affair. The Red Bulls are back nearly on par with the Mercedes cars, so the big fight was between the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. The last 20 laps were nerve wracking. Fearing an undercut about 30 laps from the finish, Hamilton had to go in for new tyres and then Red Bull left Verstappen out for another 10 laps, so he had much better tyres on his car at the end. Lewis battled on like the true warrior he is, and this time, for a change, luck was a bit on his side too. His tyres lasted and his skill kept Verstappen behind him right to the end. Apparently, this is the first season opener that he won for many a year. I hope that is not a bad omen, as before, every time he didn't win the first one, he won the year overall.
 |
Book and TV-wise, things are ticking over nicely. I have finished Michael Caine and I am now onto David Niven. On Netflix I found an interesting Italian cop show, which I am still watching, called Carlo and Malik. The latter is a seriously dishy black guy, ostensibly from Nigeria, who has been paired with an older Italian cop, his boss. There's some racial tension, as well as boss/underling conflicts, plus a bit of love and sex as well, so it is quite watchable.
 |
| Carlo and Malik main cast |
Yesterday I also had a go at my VPN help desk again, and this time got a lovely girl from the British Virgin Islands trying to help me with my errant channels. She was really lovely, and things got temporarily OK, but it is not stable, and I am now absolutely sure that I will not renew any of them when they come up for renewal. While I still have the subscription, I will try to watch a few in the middle of the night, when I am awake anyway quite often, just in case it is not only the VPN, but the Internet provider, coupled with not enough bandwidth, that is affecting it.
 |
| Roy and the mower |
Yesterday we had a lovely sunny day and we decided to try to do some mowing again. This time with the ordinary lawnmower, which has a motor, so we don't actually have to push it, just direct it and walk with it. The back garden is looking great, the grass is short, the herb garden tidied up, the fruit trees full of buds and the barn reasonably tidy. Even the wild garlic is showing itself in the little forest at the top of the garden. Starting the lawn mower was a bit of a hassle, as it didn't want to fire up. We have tried to start it back in February, when we had a mild week, but it didn't take then either. Finally, after trying at least 10 to 15 times, got going. It looks as if there is no choke available, or just we can't find it.
 |
| The assistant lawnmower |
This coming Thursday there is going to be a full day powercut, so we will probably go out. Assuming the weather is decent we might go geocaching, although there is nothing in less than an hour's or 75 minutes' drive from here, which is a bit tiring for Roy. There is also another cache which needs replacing, as it got nicked as well. If the weather is bad, then we stay at home, but other than my telephone we will have no internet and indoors the light is never good enough for reading, so we will have to sit out on the corridor or in the gazebo, if we want to read.
 |
| The chives, that are always the first to start in the spring |
Must go now. It is getting close to tea time. I will see if I can find something in the fridge to eat. I'm not hungry yet, but I am sure something might tickle my fancy in the fridge. 😋
 |
| The Germersdorfer cherry tree |
No comments:
Post a Comment