The hundred and fiftysecond week of the pandemic

This time round I will have quite a job trying to put together a blog entry, when the last week was so eventless, that honestly, not one thing that is worthy of a mention in a blog post happened. Thankfully, the weather was nice and sunny on most days, but always under, sometimes way under, 0 Celsius, so neither of us felt like going too much outdoors. I am still really cheesed off at the pottery stove giving up the ghost, just as the real cold spell arrived and when gas prices have more than doubled. We put the heat to 17 Celsius indoors, so we are not exactly warm, but managing.

Main characters in NCIS Hawai'i

So, my time was mostly spent with reading, (including reading in bed for warmth), TV watching, (this can also be done in bed, sitting up with the laptop on a low table), being online, doing administrative chores, including translating the Postás Kupa invitation into English for online publication. However, one day did have some action in it, but that turned out to be a disaster all over again. Well, I might have exaggerated a bit there, but it was on the whole a pointless exercise.

Buda Health Centre

With the postponed gastroscopy/colonoscopy needing another set of blood tests no more than a week/10 days before the procedures, I had to go into town on my own on Sunday afternoon, as I had to be in the hospital by 8am on Monday. I duly did that, and when I got in to the room where they take your blood, the really nice lady behind the desk said: "Why did you come for this? You had one just over 3 weeks ago, that is perfectly adequate." I nearly hit the ceiling, I was that furious. Driving about 100 miles, being away from home, and for what?

Funnily enough, even without any medical training, I did find strange when the lady on the phone, who was giving me the new date for the procedure, mentioned the bloodtest as well. I did point out to her that I have a recent one, but she insisted that I need to have a new one. This hospital I only attend because of my gastroenterologist, who works there, not because I trust the actual hospital. They have done various cockups over the years, which is why I now go the the Duna Medical Centre instead. But dr. Demeter is not available anywhere else but at that dreadful place, so I go there once every 2 or 3 years for this procedure. 

Dr. Paul Demeter

There is a saying, that one of the most dangerous combination of character traits are that of ignorance AND arrogance. Well, if you want a beautiful demonstration of how much harm that can do, try the Buda Health Centre! I know that there is a shortage of skilled labour everywhere in the world today, but when it comes to medical matters, they could spend some time to train those despatchers who apparently think they know everything, including total bollocks, that I have suffered from recently.

Xander's football shorts

 

Rant over, I have to admit that there were a few good aspects of going into town as well. I managed to pick up Xander's green football shorts and managed to buy some of my favourite bread at "Doctor and Baker". I also did some more food shopping en route home at Tesco, which enabled me to cash some of the vouchers I forgot the last time.

Dr. Baker's gorgeous sourdough bread

With some of the recent purchases, combined with some earlier ones, Roy and I spent some time to cook some lovely meals. He managed to have some gammon and pineapple, which was made of stuff that is not like it is done authentically, but it was still delicious. We finally got some Grana Padano, so we had some lovely Italian dishes that require a bit of grated cheese. These hard cheeses, matured over months are OK for me to eat. God knows why, but I can actually digest the lactose in those, that is assuming that the process of maturing hasn't got rid of it. Whichever way it goes I love them.

Italian cheeses

Since then I found a lovely map of Italian cheeses on FB. You can see how many are there and when I Googled most of them, I learnt a great deal. Grana Padano is a poor man's parmesan, but it is harder, so easier to grate it, cheaper and lasts longer. This week we had two Italian food days: first it was spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, chili and a bit of cheese. The next one was a lusher version, which I am sure the Italians don't eat, but I love it: tagliatelle with pesto, grated Grana Padano, black pepper, olive oil, ham (Roy) or smoked salmon (me) and peas. Yum, yum!

Gammon and pineapple with chips and mushrooms

Today we had curry, which nowadays gets made with a bottled Tesco curry sauce, not because we are lazy, but because we have run out of quality curry powder and cannot source it over here. Buying it online, which we have tried in the past, is now a no-no, on account customs duty, VAT and a handling charge. Also, when we once did it, the cost was 3 times as much as we used to get it in Brighton, and it had half the strength. Needless to say that at most times I forget to photograph my food, as I am falling on it starving. A few got made though this week, namely the gammon and pineapple and the curry.

Chicken curry, rice, pappadoms, chutney and dhal

On Monday we had Sheila's 90th birthday. She rang on Messenger and got me just as I put away my shopping in Tesco's car park. Good job I was there, either before, inside the shop or after on the motorway I could not have answered it. She looked absolutely brilliant. As the years go she looks younger and younger. She had many presents: she got ours, which was 10 bars of hand-made artisanal chocolate from the factory about 2 miles down the road from her house.  We did this once before and I seemed to recall she liked them.

Kernow Confectionary Ltd. products

 

The family got her an iPad and a new air fryer. The problem with the telephone line not accepting calls from here is still there. Apparently Carmella called from France and Pam from Canada, and they got through. I will have to try again and work out if I am doing something wrong. Who knows?

Xander and Elian last summer in BP Zoo

Today I got an e-mail from Lucy, attaching two sound recordings of the parent's evening Lucy went to see Elian and Xander's teachers. I am glowing with extreme pride, at what those teachers said about them. Like Xander is so popular in his class that every kid wants to be on his table, that he is an extremely brilliant and loveable child and a joy to teach. Then the other teacher said about Elian that he "shot himself in the foot" with getting 100% on his maths test, as you cannot improve from that. I loved it. 

Sally Wainwright and Sarah Lancashire

Happy Valley came to an end, and I absolutely loved it. Sally Wainwright is a genius and Sarah Lancashire a superb actor. I can't wait for the next thing they produce with these mind-blowing two women. Whatever the setting, the story, the characters or period, if it was written by one of them and acted as the central character by the other one, it'll be brilliant.

Considering that not much happened this week, I still managed to write a lot. I am a graphomaniac according to my sister, which is probably true. Next post next week, by which time we should be back in town, more doctors, plus the ominous procedure, which I would like to see the back of by now. Taraaaa!!!