The hundred and fiftyfirst week of the pandemic

As I typed the title above I thought of the US's decision of cancelling the state of emergency caused by the pandemic in May this year. On the other hand, I also read somewhere that they are proposing introducing a yearly booster for Covid that anybody that wishes can have, although they have not stated the start date. Considering that Pfizer has already produced a vaccine that is supposed to safeguard you from all the recent Omicron variants, perhaps this is a good idea. What is the motivation by the US state, you may ask? The cynics will say that they want to provide their donors with steady income from this vaccine forever, but I would like to think it is a tad more humanitarian than that. To be honest, if I lived in the States and it was available, I wouldn't care why it is there, I would just have it. Over in Hungary, however, and in spite of an announcement by the chief government spokesperson on television of the purchase of 6.5 million doses of the above mentioned vaccine, there is no mention of it anywhere, least of all on the web page you can register for an appointment to be vaccinated.

I am sorry to start with thoughts on Covid and governments, but recently I have seen so many doctors and the inside of 3 different hospitals, that it is still in my head. The last appointment was with the ENT professor, who was very nice, but ended up taking a chunk out of my right tonsil. So, now I am awaiting the results of two biopsies, which isn't fun, but I am trying to be optimistic. 2 to 3 weeks until the results, first of which should arrive by e-mail, the second one I have to go back and see the prof for in about a couple of weeks.

6 year old photo of top of my garden

We are now in the village for about a fortnight, except next Monday, when I will go, just on my own, into town to have some more blood taken. This is for the procedure that I didn't have when I was unwell and the blood tests that went with that one are now being done again. The weather is unpredictable, but not as cold as it has been in January/February in the past. Just as well, as we had a mishap with the big stove and can't use it at the moment. Roy thinks there is a bloackage somewhere, which causes white smoke pouring into the sitting room, when trying to light it. Typical sod's law, that when it would be vital to do most of our heating effort with the wood fired stove, on account of gas prices only suitable for millionaires, we have to depend on gas entirely.

The poor sick stove when it still worked

This has brought to the fore an uncharacteristic hard streak in both of us, so we now live in 17 degrees Celsius and amazingly are feeling quite OK. Mind you, it has been a long while since I wore that many clothes in bed, but it is still cheaper that turning up the gas. Talking of which, (I might have whinged about this before), I still do not understand how this switching to a higher price is going to work. As no official body in Hungary can be trusted whatsoever, we always like to understand how billing works, so if we feel like it, we can check it. This is going to be pretty impossible with this erratic and incomprehensible system, as it is at the moment. 

One of many of my gas bills

As we only have one reading of gas and electricity meters per year, we normally have an average based on previous usage per month and then a balancing payment at the end of the year. This has worked perfectly until now. We had no notification of how much the monthly figure will be and then, starting about July or August, we started getting pretty high monthly bills, but never the same. I still don't get it how they know what we use if there is nobody coming to read the meter? I think it is somebody in the office making it up, trying to please his boss with due diligence and using people's money as a free loan for the remainder of the year. So, one of my English expat friends rang them and demanded a reimbursement of their ridiculous bills, hoping for some or at least a reform of how they do it, and then had the shock of his life, when every penny of what he had paid since the summer been returned. I am seriously considering doing the same, although I do not fancy a gigantic bill at the end of the year either.

Old paraffin stove, similar to the one we had

I remember when Roy and I were first married and we took on such an enormous mortgage for the house in Osborne Road, that we had hardly any money for anything else, we heated just the ground floor with a paraffin heater, and when watching television we sat on the sofa, wrapped in sleeping bags. Still, we were young, strong and healthy and as we had a future, we were sure it wasn't for long. However, I never thought that our life would do a complete U-turn and in our dotage we might have to sit watching TV wrapped in sleeping bags again. As you may have read the occasional political comment from me in the past, I might risk one here again: What else would one expect in the death agony phase of this rotten bloody system, called capitalism, other then impoverishment? 

Some who understand the need for change

All ages in favour of system change

So, after the ENT appointment on Thursay, we came back to Bér on Friday, via Tesco and Lidl. Amazingly, especially for a Friday, both supermarkets were not at all full. This was good for us, but most likely not welcome by those businesses and if it was because of the hyper-inflation, I feel sorry for those, who are now cutting back on food, as well as heating. At least we are not yet at that stage, although who knows what the future will bring? 

Emilia Fox and David Caves in Silent Witness

Silent Witness is back on BBC, this time it is the 26th series, which makes me feel terribly old. I do remember when it started all those years ago with Amanda Burton in the lead role, but to be honest, I like Emilia Fox even better. With the US procedurals, I realised that I somehow missed some, so I went back and caught up. I really like Fire Country, mostly because it has excellent stories, good scripts and great actors in it. Mind you, Max Thieriot is rather easy on the eye, isn't he? Even for an old girl like me!!

Neve Campbell and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

 

On Netflix I had a really difficult time to find anything I fancied watching this last week. Finally, I settled on The Lincoln Lawyer and binge watched 10 episodes. I didn't think it would keep my interest, but it did. I am quite fond of courtroom drama and while I have not seen the movie from 2011, it seemed worth watching this one. Amazingly, for someone quite devoted to US TV programs, having had a look at the cast, I did not recognise a single name. This did not encourage me much, but finally I got sufficiently into the stories and the characters to last the whole series one. Also, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo was pretty good in the lead role, and I hope the promised second series will materialise sometime this year.

My Sunday lunch main course

As since last Friday, we haven't been out of the house, I have tried not to eat too much, but on Sunday, I couldn't help myself. Roy had thrown together such nice food, that I joined him and made the dessert. He had roast pork with gravy, roast potatoes, steamed sprouts and carrots. I had the same, but roast peppers instead of the pork and the juice out of the peppers instead of the gravy. The star attraction of the lunch, though, was a dessert that I have made, and it turned out even better than last time. In Hungarian it is called Somlói Galuska and I have, sort of, played around with the recipe a bit.

Two portions of Somlói galuska on Sunday

 

It is a lovely sweet, which is vaguely similar to a trifle or tiramisu. The base is sponge, then it has chocolate sauce and whipped cream on top. I thought I would adapt it in the direction of a trifle, by including custard, plus a bit of booze in the sponge, mixed with giant golden sultanas soaked overnight in my favourite port, which was, of course, what I poured onto the sponge too. Finally, I chopped up some pecan nuts and almonds and put some in and the rest on top of it. Final touches were, of course, the whipped cream and the chocolate sauce, which I made myself from a really simple recipe: out of high quality Dutch cocoa powder, sugar, water and vanilla. I drizzled that all over it, especially over the cream and then we wolfed it down like there was no tomorrow. We also opened a bottle of dry BB champagne, which disappeared pretty sharpish. 

Brenda Blethyn as Vera

On Monday I was watching TV again, this time it was VERA on ITV series 12, episode 1, Fire Country, (mentioned above) and the two most recent episodes of Happy Valley. There is just the last one left now, which I am beginning to think will write off Sarah Lancashire's character, which would be a shame, but such is life if they want to write off the leading character. We'll see what happens next week!

The main characters of Fire Country

I also ordered the next lot of Nespresso capsules, this time 220 of them. Interestingly, while I knew that it has been quite a long time since I ordered any, it was a surprise that it has been an entire year that I last did so. Then I ordered 250, but also in 2022 we have slowed down with our coffee drinking. Plus we have been away more from home than before, but I wouldn't have guessed it has been this long. I was also glad to see that their delivery is still as reliable and fast as it used to be. The packet arrived on Tuesday afternoon.

My beloved Nespresso capsules

Must go now, as I hear the patter of big feet coming down the stairs. I wonder what he wants? Probably a cup of coffee and a few biscuits. Next post next week!!