The hundred and fiftythird week of the pandemic

The past 8 days have been quite eventful, some good way, some not so. Last Thursday was our last day in the village before coming into town. I have discovered Amanda and Alan's Italian Job on BBC and watched the entire 1st series in one go. I was fun. Alan Carr is a tad too camp for me, but I still enjoyed all episodes. The two flats that they knocked into one and then done up room by room, was fascinating, so were the little excursions out into various bits of Western Sicily.

Amanda Holden and Alan Carr

On Friday we travelled in, so that we can go and do a bit of geocaching on Saturday, the first time in 2023. There was an organised scrub clearance on the Tétényi Plateau on the outskirts of the city. I have discovered that I must have aged quite considerably since I last did one of these, as I could hardly do 3 or 4 loads before I had to have a sit down. Later, the ladies doing the sandwiches invited me to join them, which was a life saver, as I could do that sitting down.

The mulcher in action at the scrub clearance

Roy came with me, but decided to sit it out in the car. It was quite cold and he didn't feel like freezing his bits that early in the morning. Once we finished that, logged the GCCITO moving cache, that visits sites that need either picking up rubbish or clearing, we went on our way to do a bit more geocaching together. I looked on the map and discovered that there were 3 new(ish) caches in the area that I haven't yet found, so that seemed a good plan for the rest of the day.

The Fruit and Ornamental Plants' Research Institute

 

We first went to a rose garden, which was in the grounds of the Fruit and Ornamental Plants' Research Institute. Being February, obviously there were no blooms, but the site was impressive all the same. The cache was fairly easy to find, which I did alone, as Roy was minding the car in the multi-storey car park. I am sure I'll be back in June to see all the roses in bloom. I did see their little name plates, and read many, many names of roses that I have never heard of before.

The abandoned limestone quarry

The next cache was in an abandoned quarry, which apparently provided all the stone for the Hungarian Houses of Parliament over a 100 years ago. Limestone is quite pretty and this quarry was still full of it. Interesting angles for photography were very enjoyable, although the light was not always optimal. Roy waited for me by the road, where he parked, and I came back very quickly, as we were both hungry by then.

Interior of the Rókusfalvy Inn

The garden at the Rókusfalvy Inn

The Rókusfalvy Fogadó is an absolutely brilliant restaurant, which we visit on average once or maximum twice a year, so eating there is still very much a treat. It is quite a drive outside the city in the commuting village of Etyek, but the main attrection is their chef. He produces superb gourmet cuisine, which is not cheap, but it is worth every penny, it's that good. The Rókusfalvy family first had vineyards all round Etyek, with the corresponding cellars. Then they bought two old long houses and renovated them. The restaurant and B&B is in those houses, but as we left I saw some building works next to them in progress, so perhaps they are extending their operations.

Roy's duck breast at the Rókusfalvy Inn

My fogash at the Rókusfalvy Inn

 

That was a lovely lunch, after which we went for the last cache in a vineyard few hundred yards from the road. The cache was near a sculpture made of metal, consisting two figures and called LOVE. A bit on the weird side, but interesting with it. The cache was in a scrappy bit of forest, quite a way from the sculpture, which I didn't like. I agree with several of my moderator friends, who believe that the actual box should be near or at least within sight of the object you want people to see. Still, it was all OK, and we pootled home slowly but surely through the city in Saturday rush hour.

LOVE around the vineyard

On Sunday we drove to the People's Park in the Southern part of Pest. The cache had 6 parts and the whole thing added up to a gentle walk of 2 and half kilometres in a lovely old park. The weather was lovely and sunny, although later on it got a bit cold, once the clouds arrived. By Sunday evening the enjoyable part of our week was pretty much over and the not so enjoyable one started.

The old water tower in the People's Park

Trees in the People's Park

 

Monday I had to have a mammogram taken, which is always a bit uncomfortable, but thankfully is quickly over. The doctor had a good look and told me that while there are some irregularities in both of my tits, they do not point to anything malignant. I must admit, they do sometimes feel a bit sore, but as long as nothing is too frightening, I'm sure I'll cope. Once at home I started watching TV online, starting with ITV's Vera and finishing with BBC's Call the Midwife. In the evening I had my last meal before starving for nearly 48 hours, as the gastroscopy/colonoscopy need to be done on a completely empty stomach and bowels. Brrrrrr!!

Call the Midwife cast in 2023

Tuesday I had an appointment with my family doctor in the city, who is a delightful lady, long may she last!!! She is working three days a week, as she has retired some time ago. She is an excellent doctor, as well as a friendly, chatty, very experienced and knowleadable person who even speaks good English. She acknowledged that by now we ought to do something about my water retaining lower legs, so I am now on yet another set of pills, hopefully able to fix the problem soon.

Dr Dános, my favourite doctor

I watched another couple of CBS procedurals, which are getting so all the samey that I might not carry on with them. Still, for a bit of mindless switching off, they serve me extremely well. This was the first day of starving myself, and to avoid another disaster, like last time, I was drinking like there was no tomorrow and managed to vary what liquid I was taking in. Along with the usual water and tea, I had sweet, home made lemonade, clear soup and bought and sucked several grape sugar tablets. Apparently, those help considerably with keeping up your blood sugar levels.

NCIS caste of 2023

At 6 pm I took the first dose of the laxative and I'm happy to report, things went much better than last time and I even managed a bit of sleep, which was great. And then, finally, the dreaded Wednesday came around. I was feeling fine, so I talked Roy into not coming. There is no point of him sitting around on his own in a hospital for hours, unable to talk to anyone, possibly catching something etc., etc. and he finally gave in. I went by public transport and was there quite early. Which was good, because they had you filling out a thousand forms, most of which is so annoying, for the simple reason that whatever data you have to fill out time and time again, is totally on record in their computer system.

NCIS Hawai'i in 2023

I am also glad to report that that procedure went absolutely fine, nothing hurt, before, during or after, and Dr. Demeter told me that practically nothing changed since 2 and half years ago, if anything the inside of my stomach looked even better than then. Unfortunately, I am a silly idiot and forgot to go down to the basement for the CD of my innards, so I will have to go back when we next in BP and pick it up. I caught a taxi home and got one of those really nice, chatty, but still pleasant drivers, who cheer you up. Roy awaited me with a prawn stir fry, which went down without touching the sides, considering it was the first meal I had in very close to 48 hours. 

Glorious prawns frying in a wok

And then, en route home today, we went to Tesco and Lidl to do a week's food shopping, followed by cooking ourselves a pasta dish, which was an innovation necessitated by not having a bottle of pesto at home. We could have bought some in Lidl, but never thought of it at the time.

 

As the dish required pesto, we improvised our own. The recipe goes like this:

1 small tin of polpo di pomidoro

Small bunch of chopped basil

4 cloves of garlic chopped small

10 olives chopped small

1 table spoon of olive oil

50 g Grana padano or similar hard cheese finely grated

All of the above was mixed together and used as a topping for our pasta. Any pasta will do, as long as the topping, once mixed in, manages to stick to it.

It was gorgeous. I don't think I'll buy any more pesto in future. My own tasted gorgeous and there was a lot more in quantity for a lot less in money. Yippeeee!!!!

 

Past with red pesto

 

Professor Gerlinger phoned today with some really good news, namely that the biopsy of the ulcer on my right tonsil has come back negative for anything nasty. However, he wants me to go back in six months to have another go, just to be safe. I like him, and he is a famous, very well thought of ENT consultant, but the suspicion of wanting me back only to keep his work ours up is never far from my mind. I will go, no question, but I am always sceptical about motives.

 

Prof. Imre Gerlinger ENT surgeon

 

This weekend we have a group of friends descending on us to celebrate the 75th birthday of one of them. These are all old friends from my active orienteering days, and Laci, whose birthday it is, is about 6 months older than I am. The last time they celebrated his birthday in Bér was 15 years ago. I think I still have a photo of him with his chocolate birthday cake with a very big 60 on it. In fact, if I recall, it wasn't one cake with a 60 on it, but two cakes, one in the shape of the number 6 and the other the 0. I doubt I can find it, but I'll have a go.

60th birthday cake (not Laci's, I couldn't find it)

 

Currently we are trying to clean and tidy up both houses, as they will stay in the other one from where we live. I put the central heating on in both as soon as we got back. In our building it had to warm up from 10 Celsius, but the other one was set at 5 Celsius. Roy told me when he locked up the other building that it was already on 15 Celsius, so hopefully the first ones, arriving tomorrow midday, should not freeze to death. I am planning to light the pottery stove over in the other building as well, let us hope that one doesn't do a smoking spectacular as our own one did a month or so ago. Next post next week, hopefully on time, (unlike this one), as we are staying for 12 days, before going back to BP next.