The eightyfifth and sixth weeks of the pandemic

As you can see from the title of this post, I have some catching up to do. Normally, I post on Wednesday, but in the recent period I got a bit out of sync with the dates. We have been hellishly busy with Roy's eye operation and the visit of the grandchildren, so now I am reasonably close to being back on schedule.

Xander in filmstar pose

The main event since I posted is obviously the 4 whirlwind-like days that Stephen, Elian and Xander were with us. I think we managed to squeeze 14 days' worth of stuff into these 4, which of course, included travel at either end. After arriving on Monday afternoon, we went to eat a giant Schnitzel at the Regős, followed by some leisure fun at the local playground.

Elian on the climbing frame

On Tuesday we went to Superfly, a brilliant trampoline venue, where Elian and Xander have had 90 minutes' worth of tremendous fun. Unfortunately, my photos and videos didn't come out OK, so I can't enclose any, but when I can get some decent photos and/or videos from Stephen, I might enhance this post later. Other bits of fun included travel on a tram, climbing into Gran's and Daddy's Daddy's bed and eating lángos.

Fun with the 48 year old kid

 

Wednesday was the day calculated to kill off the grandparents. Still, we risked the program, which was absolutely amazing. We started with the Children's' Railway, which included other public transport experiences, including a bus, trolleybus and Metro. We got off after 4 stops on the Children's Railway, did a little hike in the forest and then arrived at the chair lift. Elian and his grandparents didn't go on that, but Stephen and Xander did. They loved it. 

With Daddy on the chair lift

Afterwards we all had burgers and chips, followed by a walk back to the Children's Railway. We caught a bus, then the Metro, followed by funnel cake. Apologies for no photos, but we were too busy eating at the time. In the afternoon Gran and Daddy's Daddy took Elian and Xander to the best playground you have ever seen in your life. Obviously that was a lot of fun as well, although poor Xander could not try the climbing wall, so he will have to come back to try that next time. :)

2 broken down trolleybuses + 1 squeezing by

Thursday was not even a half day, but we still had some fun. While Stephen was packing, the three of us went shopping and spent a bit of time at the local playground. The trolleybus photo shows a bit of a disaster right in front of our block of flats, where one broke down, although we were very lucky getting one that managed to go round the broken down one, on our way to the bus no. 100E which goes straight to the airport. After saying good bye and returning home, there was another broken down trolleybus in the same place and a third one managing to going round them inch by inch.

Vera and Gábor at the Stadt Restaurant

We have not met with our friends, Vera and Gábor, for close on two years. Finally we remedied the situation on Friday, by accepting their kind lunch invitation to a restaurant in Budakeszi. The restaurant was a revelation, the environment and service was very pleasant, but the real star was the food. Vera and Gábor had Wiener Schnitzel and fillet of pork medallions wrapped in bacon, Roy and I had pink duck breast and pike perch in breadcrumbs, respectively. Afterwards we went back to Vera's for coffee and cakes, the latter being strudel with various fillings, like cottage cheese, Morello cherry with poppy seed and apple, which along with the chat was absolutely delightful. We invited them back to Bér, which they have accepted, so all we have to do now is to find a mutually convenient date.

Gorgeous autumn colours while caching

On Saturday Roy and I went to the 41st Geocaching Festival and Competition in the Vértes Mountains. As usual, I didn't compete, but it is always worth showing up, see old friends you haven't seen for months or even years, and, of course, pick up the event cache. This year people were very generous by bringing moving caches to the event, and I managed to log 2 out of the 4 that were around. The other two were too far and we didn't have time for them.

The cache was behind the church in the woods

Previous to calling in on the event, Roy and I went to visit, find and log another 3 caches nearby. Although, Roy would argue that the first two  being 44km from the event, could not be called "nearby". Still, one of these two had been in my sight for years, so I had to go and get it. This was a fairly new moving cache that travels along the route of a long distance hiking trail in Mid-Transdanubia. I only had to walk about a mile to get it, then take it on by a kilometre, followed by walking back to Roy in the car. It was lovely, with interesting views, although photography conditions were not too good, due to high humidity and the resulting haze.

Some more autumn colours

The sun still shone on Sunday, like it was still summer, so we went geocaching again, this time around the Danube Bend. Glorious countryside, the big river below, woods and mountains above and cute little towns and villages with castles, churches etc. in between. We had two multi-caches, which meant that we had to go to more than one place to get the entire cache. I added it up, we had to go to 9 places for 4 caches. Two of them were hiking caches, one entirely, the other one in parts. We also had one down by the river, showing off an ancient big barrier wall, the other one was placed very high above the river on what is called the “high bank”. All in all it was an excellent day!

The Danube Bend at Verőce

And then, on Monday we travelled home, but couldn't shop for food, as we usually do, as All Saints' Day is a public holiday, so everything was closed. However, there was no problem, as sometime the previous week I booked myself an appointment to see someone about a new ID card, as my current one expires on 14th November. This office is in Pásztó, which is our district's central town, so we decided to shop there after the appointment. In fact, we also did quite a few little visits to places in Pásztó prior to my appointment as well.

Roy by the big wall on the riverbank

Tuesday was a cold and rainy day, but the rain only started in the afternoon and in the morning Roy and I managed to sort a lot of things that were outstanding. We started with a visit to our favourite fruit and veg shop, where we spent about £30 on fruit and veg. Then we moved the car to the central car park and carried on on foot. First visit was to a white goods store where we looked at cookers and fridge freezers. Both these appliances at home are giving up the ghost, and we tried to look around. I have seen a few of both that I fancy, so we will now have to measure the space for them, to make sure we don't buy something that won't fit.

Up the steps to the calvary chapel

Then we went to the stationery shop for a 2022 diary and highlighter pen, followed by the pharmacy. In the latter we had to get some eye drops for both Roy and myself, and some more surgical adhesive tape, for fixing his eye patch at night. Our next stop was at a hardware store, where I recognised one of the staff from many years ago, when we used to shop in Pásztó more often than we do now. Here we had to stock up on mousetraps and batteries for my thermometer and the alarms in the Bunkhouse.

Autumn forest above Nagymaros

By now it was time to go to our appointment at the council, where I had to have a new identity card, as the old one was due to expire soon. I had an appointment that I made last week online, but I thought, as we finished our other chores more quickly than expected, we might as well go and see if we could be seen early. I took a number and it was called in about 5 minutes. The lady behind the window was very efficient and I was out of there in 10 minutes flat. The new card is expected to arrive by post in about a week.

Looking towards the Visegrá hills

The really annoying thing was that we could have dealt with two other matters, but I didn't think that I could do them there, so I didn't bring the relevant papers. Firstly, Roy needs a vaccination certificate, which doesn't neccessarily have to be obtained where his address is registered, then secondly, I believe he could also have his new ID card here, that he should apply for, now that he has his settlement card. Never mind, we will have a go at all this next time, as during this visit we have rediscovered our fondness for Pásztó, where people are laid back, polite, friendly and helpful, where most shops are not full to the brim, queues are short and everybody is willing to give you assistance.

Mafioso with Chinese sunglasses

 After the council we popped in to a Chinese shop and bought Roy a pair of sunglasses, that make him look like the local Godfather. His eyes need some sheltering from strong light, although just as he got them, the sun went and later it started to rain. But not until we have done the food shopping in SPAR, and drove home carefully in the pouring rain to a delicious pasta lunch of fusilli, pesto, chopped green olives, crushed garlic, olive oil and Grana Padano cheese. Roy's had added gammon as well, which wasn't particularly Italian, but he assures me, was delicious all the same.

Marzipan petit fours with dark chocolate

After lunch I quickly made  some marzipan sweets with walnuts and dark chocolate, put it into an old chocolate box and presented my sister with it on the occasion of her 90th birthday. She is pretty indestructable, as I have always said. She slowed down a bit, but still active, which she proved when I called. She happened to be pumping out her cesspit, as you do at the age of 90. She did ring me later saying that the sweets were very nice. I know she has a sweet tooth, so I don't think they will last long.

Today's lunch: salmon supds, mushrooms with veg.

In the rest of the afternoon we settled down to our computers, mostly to catch up with stuff that we ignored while in town. The afternoon also became a phoning time. Irénke rang to remind me to go and fetch my parcel that she took in while we were away, and I did. Then my friend Feri called while walking his dog and we discussed lots of things. The next caller was Petya, my good friend, who is now back in England, but still not a very happy bunny, and then the last caller was Gyuri, my moderator friend, who wanted to talk business. No chance to have a nap, obviously, but I think I will have one after tea. I have to stay up until 10 or 11pm to administer Roy's eye drops, so I need 40 winks to keep me going.

Roy's lunch: like mine but with gammon

If you have read this far, I'm sure you got the message that these last few weeks have really been exhausting.  Now we have no plans to leave Bér for weeks, so that we can have a rest. Fat chance, I hear you say, and I fear that you would be right. Somehow we can never sit still on our butts, but that's another story. :)