After my last post we had our second branch meeting at the flat, this time Lori leading off about inflation. He works for the National Bank of Hungary, so he was pretty good on his topic and we learnt quite a lot. We were told that our first printed paper, called Fáklya, was due to be printed later that week and that we will have it in our hands by the next branch meeting.
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| Front page of Fákly no.1 |
The following day we went out to shop for a football for the kids at Christmas. Stephen told us that we will have to make sure that we have lots to occupy them, especially if it is too cold or rainy outside and we will be stuck indoors. So we bought a real, quality football, which we hope they will be able to use all week. We were told to make sure that we also take some board games, a chess set and a couple of packs of cards too.
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| Elian and Xander's football |
Another interesting development involved Ros and Ian, whom we haven't seen since last year. I usually answered Ros fairly soon after she wrote, but this year we had a 3 months gap, which was rather telling. It was caused by a previous letter from her, asking if she upset us in any way. Well, I answered honestly, that while we are not upset, we have noted that in the last few years we were rather ignored by them in preference to some other expat friends.
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| Roy, Ian and Ros in the Rizmajer |
Eventually the answer came after three months, and in return I made sure that I took 3 months to answer too. Eventually, we had an answer to that almost immediately, suggesting that we get together that week, as they were in BP. So we did. We had a good chat and a couple of drinks in the Rizmajer, but it eventually was reduced to about an hour and a quarter, as they had to rush off to fetch some friends with whom they were going to the Music Academy for a concert.
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| Roy enjoying himself in the Rizmajer |
We have accepted by now that they do not want us as friends any more. They are very polite and nice people, so feeling a bit guilty put this drink together, but its manner and duration had told us that nothing had changed and we are happy to leave it at that.
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| Bratislava Castle |
Finally, I managed to catch up with our insurance agent through whom we bought insurance for the Christmas trip to Bratislava. Hungarian insurance companies do not include cancellation insurance, like they do in the UK, and buying it as an extra was not particularly cheap. Final sum was £300 for the lot for the two of us for a week, which by Hungarian standards is dreadfully expensive, but by UK ones, nothing special. Especially, that I am over 70 and Roy is over 80.
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| The new Soul Dental surgery |
On Thursday, we also had a trip to Betti, our dental hygienist, who had a jolly good go at both of us, so our toothipegs are nice and clean again. It was an interesting bit of travel, as they have moved and are now further up the posh hills of Buda, than before. I have also done some of Alex's paperwork, which was not easy, but I think the list of people who have shown interest in his kayaking courses for next summer is now complete. The other things I still have to do is financial stuff, but that is not urgent, because he can't take fees or deposits yet, as it would endanger his unemployment benefit, which lasts until April. Unfortunately, I couldn't find his one and only booking so far, which he was so proud of, but I took his word for it.
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| Spot the gorgeous smile of a happy Alex |
This last week also included his 49th birthday, which I hope he spent very happily on the water. Talking of which, he posted a short video showing that for the first time he managed to do full 360 degree rolls with his kayak, and he was very proud of that. This kayaking lark is an absolute godsend. Not only that it will hopefully provide him with some income while he is looking for a reasonable job, but also that with a real challenge, lots of new friends and a healthy sport in nature, he can keep his fitness and physical, as well as his mental health up. He still has the odd bad day, but that is not surprising, as dealing with what had happened to him will take years in my opinion.
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| My Passport, the new external SSD |
We also went out and bought an external drive, so that I can free the memory on all our desktop computers. It was a bit of a mistery how it worked, but I managed to get some real useful help from Feri over the internet. Now I have cleared my BP desktop of all but a few photos, and all of them are now in the external SSD, which has 2 terabyte memory, which I hope we will not exhaust soon. The urgent need to sort this was presented, when recently all the desktops have refused to have any more photos uploaded, as Dropbox refused to cynchronise between our machines for lack of disk space. Let us hope we are now OK, and I will not have to muck about with it for a while!
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| A view of the Mátra North side |
On Saturday, I was supposed to go geocaching in the Mátra with Viktor, but I had to call it off. Primarily it was because the weather forecast was quite dodgy. Not so much on the day, but the 24 hours before, which was supposed to be torrential rain. Our trip was supposed to go down and back up the Northern face of the mountain, which is very steep and rocky, and I didn't fancy breaking my kneck or any other part on the muddy, slippery path doing that. The other reason was that we got stuck in BP for a variety reasons, and my boots were back in Bér. Viktor wasn't happy, but eventually turned out that he became quite unwell on Saturday morning and couldn't have gone anyway.
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| Rear page of Fáklya no.1 |
On Monday I was told by the comrades that we will have a launch event for the first edition of Fáklya magazine next week, and I looked around for articles about the role of the paper in a revolutionary organisation. I found one by, of all people, the Canadians. Told Levi that I could speak on that at the launch meeting, based on that article, and he agreed. Monday was the day that I adapted the article to Hungarian conditions, translated it, printed it and I think I am ready to lead off on it.
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| My new 2024 diary |
On Tuesday we managed to get a 2024 diary for me, which had an extra advantage, compared with previous ones, it was, and still is, smaller. And then we had an online executive meeting, which was extremely useful and informative, which I approve of. Some awkward topics were discussed and I felt that my opinion wasn't just listened to, but approved of as well. Nice feeling becoming really a part of the group. Wednesday we had the branch at our place again and the main event was the arrival of the papers. It looks great, it reads great and for a first effort it is absolutely brilliant. I will be selling it with pride and the launch meeting is tomorrow week at the large hall at Aurora, where we hold our fortnightly reading group meetings in one of their smaller rooms.
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| The Bunkhouse, where the guests stay |
And finally, we came home to Bér this morning. Did a small(ish) food shopping in Lidl, as we are due back in BP by next Tuesday, and arrived in a house thankfully with electricity, unlike when we left. I was actually quite worried that it didn't come back on properly and the stuff in the fridge would have to be thrown out. But no, all was well and we are now getting ready for the guests we are having from Daniel and Lily's Teahouse in the village over the weekend. We are not making much money on this, we're just trying to be neighbourly and helpful.
Next instalment next Wednesday, if all goes well. In the meantime we are invited to Zsófi's 30th birthday do, including dressing up to look a bit frightening, so I have my work cut out between now and then. 😉
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