The hundred and nineteenth week of the pandemic

The main event of the last week in BP was Stephen's visit, which definitely went past in a blur. His plane was absolutely on time, so there was no need to drive like Hamilton to get to the venue for his corporate gig. We did our usual hanging around in Tesco's car park, until he phoned or messaged that he landed. Amazingly, he got through the passport non-queue and the entire airport in about 15 minutes, so as soon as we heard, we drove and found him lurking outside the terminal.

A happy Stephen on stage somewhere

He was in a very good mood and chatted away non-stop while we took him to his venue. I mucked up the car park entry, so we went round twice on and below the motorway, but eventually we found it, he jumped out and we were going home. As it happens, the gig started late anyway, so he had quite a lot of time to kill before the start.

A brand new building where his gig was

 

We also had to sort a daft thing with a visit to Vodafone, so that was done as well. The problem was that I managed to pay the phone/internet/TV bill twice in May. Then I got another bill in June, which I wasn't going to pay, but found no reference on the bill to the fact that I was in credit. Trying to either message or phone them was hopeless, so reverting to medieaval methodology I went to visit their showroom. I got a non-communicative, expressionless, quietly speaking, 100% bored looking young man, who did not look as if he was going to sort anything. Thank goodness he surprised me as he did and very efficiently too. Staring into his monitor, he quietly murmured the fact that I shouldn't worry, I don't have to pay again. I asked how he knew and he said that on his screen my balance was zero. I will find out what really happened when I get the next bill, and I hope it will only ask me for one month. I'll let you know if not.

Stephen told us that he managed to book another gig, in the Down Under Bar, where he had a gig last time he came. Thankfully, he managed to get his transfer from the corporate to there himself, so the next time we saw him was late in the evening. We had a good chat and went to bed late. The following morning he slept until 8am, followed by a run, followed by breakfast. Soon after all this his whirwind visit came to an end and we went with him to the airport bus stop just to be with him a bit longer. Unfortunately, the chaos in travelling by air to and from the UK caught him up and this time his plane was 4 hours late to take off. But at least it didn't get cancelled, so that was counted as a win.

On Friday morning we returned to the country via Lidl in Aszód. As we received an invitation from our friends, Laci and Márti to spend the following weekend with them, we only bought food for a week, but even so, we got carried away again, as usual. Currently we are having too much food, as we don't want to take it back into town, especially that we will go straight to Csobánka on Friday, and the food in the car might not last until we can put it in the fridge there. The plan is to geocache en route to them, unless the weather turns too bad.

Morellos on top, ordinary cherries at the bottom

In the village we found to our great relief that due to the drought the grass hardly grew and there was no need to do any mowing. The roses are lovely, but unfortunately not a patch on previous years. This is mostly due to global warming, which caused a drought in Hungary for the last 3-4 years. The thinning ozone layer doesn’t help either, so my roses come out late, then bloom and are dead in a few days. Sometimes with burnt petals on the edges. 

The one apple tree with fruit on it

The drought has caused other problems, not only in the garden, but in the house too. We had several ant invasions due to the poor mites being parched. Our cherries have practically been eradicated by ants climbing several metres up the trees for sustenance. The crop is low, due to the drought, but additionally, the little bit that is there is eaten by the ants and to some extent the birds.

Cracks in the garden due to the drought

 

On top of all this there are various other pests and diseases too, so even the plum harvest, which looked very good earlier on, is likely to be poor, as the bulk of the crop will drop due to disease. If this is the new normal, we will have to revise our organic practice and start using at least some pesticides. 

Walnuts

 

To make sure this isn’t a completely miserable report, it looks as if we will have walnuts again after 3 empty years and my Germersdorfer cherry tree produced more than just a few, which is good news. The fact that most of it was nibbled by ants, is another matter. The Morello cherry trees are also having a better harvest than in the last few years, because they tolerate the drought better than the other cherries, plus the ants do not like them, as they are quite sharp. Most of them are very small and still unripe, but after getting back from visiting friends this weekend, we will harvest them and make a few little jars of jam out of them.

 

On the entertainment front, I am still binge watching Madame Secretary and I have been known to be rather amazed at how the topics they are covering have all come to pass since the series was cancelled. Like the likelyhood of a pandemic, and the likelyhood of a European war, loads of natural disasters etc., etc. I know this program is a propaganda exersize on behalf of NATO and the interests of Western imperialism, but I still like it. I think Téa Leoni is an excellent actress, so is her real life boyfriend, Tim Daly, brother of Tyne Daly.

Tim Daly and Téa Leoni

I finished the Elizabeth George book 'With no one as witness'. I have seen all the Inspector Lynley Mysteries all those years ago, but this was the first of her books I read. It was well written, but a bit too complicated for my poor old brain to keep up to date with every fascet and story line, so I don't think I will be reading any more Elizabeth George books. I started Anne Edwards' biography of Vivien Leigh, that I read so long ago that it feels like a new book to me. I'm enjoying it.

Now I have to go and see what Roy is up to in the garden. It turned out that he wanted to cut down the recently expired ancient pear tree. I inspected it for any signs of life and had to admit that there weren't any. Still, I went up the ladder and Roy was securing it at the bottom. Well, the whole affair has turned out a bit traumatic, with me nearly falling off the tree. I cut one dead branch off and when it came to the next one I had trouble. The branch was thicker than the previous one and it was longer and had more side branches. I knew I was nearly through and it didn't want to drop. And then, it suddenly went, partially fell on Roy, who jumped and the rest of the branch pushed him off the ladder which went left and I went right. Instinctively I  grabbed the main trunk and slowly but surely slid down it.

The guilty pear tree

I didn't fall out of the tree, but that slow slide had left some nasty scratches. I am currently walking like a toddler with a large nappy on. The scratches are smarting a bit, but otherwise I am OK. There are plenty more dead branches to deal with, so I will have to make sure that branches which are that large are chopped up first, so by the time I am on top of the ladder they have fewer or preferably no more side branches. I suppose, if we had a third person, that one would be standing on the opposite side of the branch from the ladder, with a strong rope, pulling the branch away from me.

Muggins with the miniture  chainsaw

 

For the first time this summer, and before all this drama, we had lunch outside in the pavilion. The maximum temperature was forecast for today at 24 degrees Celsius, which was no doubt due to the lovely breeze that was keeping us cool today. Lunch was one of our favourites: a warm salad of fusilli, cocktail tomatoes, feta cheese, olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice with fresh basil leaves. We washed it down with a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon (Roy) and a dry white from Tokaj.

Lunch in the pavilion

 

Next post sometime next week, although I am not sure when. At the beginning of next week, both Roy and I are going to the doctor's again. Me to my GP, he to an ENT specialist. With a bit of luck they'll be happy with us and we won't have to stay in town for further tests.