Let's start with where I left it off last time! I decided against trying to fill in the form that I wrote about last week. Main reason being, it is not particularly urgent, but also because over the last couple of months the gateposts have changed so many times, God only knows what, if anything, will the final form and submission method be. So, as his current card is valid until the end of the year, I am not bothering with it whatsoever. Latest news from friend Adrian, was that finally he got an appointment from the office where they will take his biometrics, and it is fairly central, so no great trek to the other end of the city is required. He can fill me in how it went, so I kno what to expect. It is really great using other people's experiences, although with permanent changes all over the place, who knows whether the process will still resemble anything Adrian told me, should we only do it in the autumn or near the end of the year. As the priority for Roy is still the health card and the vaccination, I am not dealing with anything else at the moment, partly to save my sanity, partly to preserve my faculties in neat perfect condition to cope with the whole thing.
 |
| 20 years of searching for caches together |
This last week has quite lot in it again. On Wednesday I had a Zoom meeting for geocaching moderators and the president plus the 4 other executives. This was the first meeting since I have served as moderator, which is nearly 2 and half years now. No particularly contentious issues were raised, so it only took about and hour and a half, and we didn't have any rows. Currently we are having a lot of work moderating 40+ geocache plans, so that is making me quite busy too. Other than the occasional one or two submissions, this time some people organised a campaign to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the introduction of geocaching into Hungary, with 40 new caches. 20 will be on long hikes, the other 20 is for families, with less walking at places more suitable for children.
 |
| Photo from an old hike |
Unfortunately, 20km long hikes are a bit beyond me now, especially if they have a lot of height climb with them as well. I was looking at the ones that have already gone through moderation and some of them I might be able to do in two bits. If there is some access by car, near a road or some other way, roughly at the middle of these circular hikes, then we can drive to the beginning, I do 10km and Roy drives round to the half way point. Next time, I would start from there and get back to the beginning. Those that are totally in inaccessible wilderness, I'm afraid will not be attempted.
 |
| Guardsman at Windsor Castle |
Saturday, 17th April 2021 could have been a very sad day, but I am happy to report that it was most certainly not the case. Two deaths occupied my mind, but I think I managed to get through without much crying. The first was the funeral of Price Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. I am no royalist, quite the opposite. I am a firm republican and would gladly abolish the monarchy, should it be up to me.
 |
| St. George's Chapel with the guard |
However, I watched bits of the funeral procession, mostly for the pagentry. No matter how much wasteful and out of date these celebrations are, you can't deny that there is something historical and impressive about them. I always said, that while I am an irreconcileable atheist, there are aspects of religion that I can relate to. Namely, the architecture and the music. There was plenty of that on show. Windsor Castle, after the 1992 fire and the billions of taxpayers' money that paid for its renovation, looked like a million dollars. I think those renovations cost a lot more than a million dollars, but that is besides the point.
 |
| St. George's Chapel inside |
There was also a human element to the proceedings, and in spite of all that I have written above, and all that I feel about the monarchy as an institution, you would have had to be inhuman not to be touched by the Queen's distress. Losing your partner of 73 years would shake anyone up, even though she has been the champion of the stiff upper lip all her life.
The next event on that Saturday afternoon was more of a trauma for me, I did cry a little bit, but I felt very proud too. A good comrade of mine from Germany had died, suddenly and totally unexpectedly in Covid 19. He was in his mid-sixties, superbly fit, great hiker, and apparently he didn't have it too severely. He was recovering well, until one day he started to feel strange and was dead within an hour.
We had a big Zoom based celebration of his life, attended by nearly 200 friends and comrades from all over the world, and the speakers included some of the leaders of the IMT as well as his daughter and his widow, who are also our comrades as well. I met him many times at conferences, he was a smiling, always positive, extremely enthusiastic and very lovable person. He was interested in everything and everyone, and it was very hard, even for me, who was not particularly close to him, to say good bye. We all agreed that the one thing we mustn't do is mourn. He would not have liked that. We have to carry on our mission to change the world, what he was doing for the last 40+ years and succeed. We'll miss him, that much is sure.
 |
| Lewis Hamilton |
On Sunday, the second F1 race, this time in Imola, Italy provided some brilliant racing and lots of excitement. Lewis was on pole, Max Verstappen, his main rival was 3rd on the grid, but managed to jump him at the second bend and was leading for the rest of the race. It was also very damp and a bit rainy, with the radar forecast not particularly accurate. I knew we were in for a lovely, full of action race.
 |
| Max Verstappen |
Lewis's tyres were not as good as his rival's, so the stability of his car was worse, although his engine was faster than Max Verstappen's. There were a few accidents, but the main excitement started happening after Lewis hit the barriers and was nearly eliminated from the race.
He was awfully lucky, that he only hit the barrier slightly, with only his nose cone getting broken. He mmanaged to get the car out of the gravel and was only dropped to 9th by a big accident happening somewhere else on the circuit and the Safety Car being deployed. When that happens everybody has to keep to their position, there is no overtaking. If this didn't happen, he would have dropped right to the end of the field, a position from which to come back is almost impossible. So the task ahead of Lewis was to get back, if possible, to a podium position from 9th. And the clever, brave and extremely skilled bugger did it. The only one he couldn't touch was Verstappen, so ended up second. He also got the extra point for the fastest lap, so he is still leading the champinship, albeit by a single point. This was very exciting, I am glad I could watch it.
My VPN's are sort of working, using Microsoft Edge, but I am beginning to think that the real reason of the tedious spooling is the slowness of the internet in the village. As I am planning to go into town for a couple of days next week, I'll test this theory. Anyway, if you are very patient, you can watch the occasional program and that is what I did this last week. ITV's Vera was the only thing I couldn't watch, I think ITV itself and their programming is to blame as well. However, BBC's Line of Duty and Call the Midwife were very enjoyable, with the former only having 2 more episodes, but the latter just starting on its 10th season.
 |
| Call the Midwife |
Yesterday, the excitement was partially great and partially not so great. Let's have the bad news first! Back at last weekend, we had a local guy, who we have used before for household or builders/roofers' jobs, arrive to replace a few broken and/or slipped tiles on the Farmhouse roof. I have had my reservations about him for ages, partly because he is an alcoholic, partly because he is difficult to get rid of. This time, even though it was quite early in the morning, he looked drunk, but I thought he might just be unwell. He has had health problems on and off for years.
 |
| Our lane down to the road |
He arrived, didn't pop in to say hello, just climbed up on the roof. We only noticed that he was there by hearing his footsteps and the scraping noise of tiles. We rushed out and I thought instantly that he didn't look well enough to be allowed to get up on the roof. Then he slipped and nearly fell off. I was petrified, begged him to come down, but he ignored me. He took an hour and half to replace about 6 tiles and I was really grateful that after I paid him, he left in one piece.
 |
| Wild cherry tree by the lane |
 |
| Trimmer finally arrived |
Other, and better news were the arrival of two things I ordered on the internet, one I totally forgot about, and the other was quite overdue. The forgotten one was a book about The Civil War in France, which I got at a good discount and ordered it a couple of weeks ago. The overdue one was the hair trimmer, that was supposed to come all the way from China, but it looked as if it only came from the Netherlands.
 |
The first thing I did was to get Roy sitting on a stool in the corridor and I had shorn him like a sheep. The setting was a bit low, so he actually, almost looks like he is bald, but it is at 3 millimetres. He looks really tidy now and he is very happy with his haircut. Which is a lot more than I can say for what he did to me. In fact, the first balls up was done by me, by holding the trimmer the wrong way round and shaving a bit on my right side completely off of any hair. This meant that I couldn't cut my fringe near it, because I need it to cover it up until it grows back. Roy had a go at the back of my head, which is still a bit of a mess, but I am still pleased that it has been cut. I can cover anything up with a beanie hat, baseball cap or a scarf.
 |
| The shorn sheep |
I have had a reminder about by bonus points with the outfit I order my vitamins, probiotics, nuts and dried fruits from, that they will expire on 25th. This is an amazing outfit. They are quick, efficient and their product is first class. You can pay by credit card, so I don't have to go anywhere near the delivery guy, he just puts the box down by the Bunkhouse front patio and I fetch it once he is gone.
 |
The private hospital is still dragging its feet with the yearly card. I am so cross that I didn't buy it earlier, before they decided to redesign its services. I really need to see a doctor fairly soon about a fair number of things that bother me, but it will be seriously annoying to pay for one consultation next week, before I bought the card. The card provides a general practitioner whom you can visit as many times in the year as you like, plus 8 specialists' consultations, some tests and procedures, the rest is extra. Next week's apointment can be cancelled, but I really need to go, so I might just start the process rolling anyway. Considering that the price might have gone up by the time they come out with the new card, plus the services included might have been reduced. In my experience in any sphere of profit oriented service in this country, (private hospitals and clinics included), the tendency is to raise prices and reduce the service provided for the higher price. Let us hope I am wrong, but I don't think so.
 |
| The route of our planned hike |
Finally, the hike with a new friend I mentioned last week, is now definitely on. About two thirds of the way you come to that lovely baroque church on the photo. That is a pilgrimage place right in the middle of the forest. Obviously, we can only go if the weather is decent. I have done the planning, written out the three caches I want to visit, organised the meeting place and now all I need is good weather on Saurday. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
 |
| Szentkút |
No comments:
Post a Comment