Four days in which a lot happened

I'm trying to get back to normal schedule, so here comes a post quite soon after the previous one. No shortage of things to write about, so here goes.

Two barrels full of plums

On Monday, at the end of my last post, I mentioned that I would ring the guy with the plum orchard to ask if we could come and get about 180 kg of plums. Amazingly, he did say on the phone that if we want to come at once, that would be OK. So we quickly stopped what we were doing and went. The price went up to 250 Ft per kilo, which is a 25% hike against last year's price, but it wasn't surprising, as most other things went up by that much since then.

Three buckets full of plums

We shoved 2 barrels 2/3rd full into the boot and another 3 green plastic bucketful of plums on the back seat. It just about took the 180 kilos and Roy was insanely happy that we didn't have to bring the trailer.

A shot from the front with all the plums in

Once at home, we managed to empty the big barrels into the buckets and with the last vestiges of our physical power maneuvre them up the yard. Now we have 3 100-litre barrels full to the top, and another 2 barrels about 60% full. Those that recently arrived will need at least a couple of months to rot down, as the weather is getting cold and that slows it down. Never mind, I hope that the still will not want it until December, by which time hopefully the cefre will be ready to go.

Alex in his kayak on Lovesick lake last October

In the meantime, I have had a new job created for me and I started to learn how to do it. Alex is getting ready for setting up a business, where he will advertise and, if there are takers, hold, Level 1 Paddle Canada courses in kayaking. He has recently taken to kayaking in a big way and it is now his number one hobby. He loves it and he is exceptionally good at it. Apprently, the guy that taught him after he passed not only his Level 1, but Level 2 within a short period of time, said that he had never seen anyone who took to it and got this good at it in this short amount of time. Good on him, all I can say!!

Could you resist that smile? I never could.

 

Well, my job is now to be his book keeper. He will not really get going with anything until next May or June, but before that there are many new things that will have to be prepared, which will take time. The guy who trained him advised him, that should he fancy setting up a kayak training business, two things he mustn't forget about: 1. business insurance; 2. a book keeper. Well, they don't come much cheaper that me, so I accepted the offer. The learning curve will probably be quite steep, not only for him, but for me too. Still, it is so lovely to feel that I can help, that my motivation is sky high.

We are on the last  4 chapters of this

This week I had two meetings in BP, so we went in on Tuesday and came back today on Thursday. On Tuesday, it was time for the next session of our Marxist reading and discussion group. We tried a new venue, also in the 8th district of Budapest, and it was fine. The clientele was great, some people turned up, having red our advert on FB. Many people took part, lots of interesting and intelligent questions were asked, and I for one, enjoyed myself. As our reading group moderator is not exactly on top of her job, I, sort of, took over, helped by Dani, Levi and Zsófi, and a good time was had by all.

Roy in the pub of the Aurora, where we have the reading group

We stayed downstairs in the bar afterwards, which was probably not as good an idea as having the meeting there. The community centre we went to and which offered us a free rental for the room, if we advertise our meeting for anyone, is also full of quite strange and weird people, and one of them attached themselves to us, which was a bit tiresome. I think we will go to another bar after the next meeting just in case.

IMT banner

Fáklya banner

On Wednesday we had our regular weekly branch meeting, which this time had to be at Zsófi's, as we are currently without a meeting place. Some people were worried about the 8 cats in the tiny flat, (2 adults and 6 kittens), due to allergy to cat fur. Finally, it turned out that the mother cat had a giardia infection and the whole place was under disinfection, trying to avoid catching the infection ourselves. Personally, I would have asked someone else to take the meeting, but I suppose Zsófi didn't want to inconvenience the members with a last minute change. The thing is, we live only a 10 minutes' walk from her, so it could have been done. Let us hope nobody caught anything.

Márkó with the kittens yesterday

Other than the above, it was a fantastic meeting. Almost everybody was there, they were all on time and it was an excellent meeting. I have a feeling the youngsters are currently at a point where it is dawning on them what it is that they are building. And they are seeming to start to take everything seriously, and are growing up to the challenges that are coming. I am really looking forward to them coming out to us in Bér, it should be a good weekend.

Our "Estate" from the back garden

On Wednesday we also visited dr. Dános at the Duna Medical Centre, as finally Roy was prepared to show his itchy ear and his conjested chest to someone medical. Dr. Dános is an absolute darling and an excellent doctor to boot. She has an interesting theory about why Roy is coughing, so she prescribed some medicines and I will have to write her an e-mail how Roy is in about 10 days' time, so that she can decide what, if anything, is next.

Dr. Dános, the nicest and best doctor I know

And after all that we came back to Bér, via Aszód Lidl, and now we are trying to catch up with things that we left to be undone when we went away. My most important job now is to finish reading the article about the origins of class society, take good notes, cut it down to half an hour and prepare it for delivery next Wednesday.

This is the topic I am to speak on next week

 

Next post is next Thursday probably, although we will be busy with getting ready for the weekend, but I'll do my best. 💓