Since we have been home, there has definitely been no rest for the wicked. First we had to mow the grass, with me on the tractor and Roy on the push me pull you machine. Then I had to deadhead the roses and do some weeding. Then finishing adding the full text and photos to the logged geocaches took me best part of the week to do. Actually, there was so much physical work to do, that sitting by the computer and doing admin was a useful rest.
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Muggins on the tractor
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With the garden in the background
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Roy is already furiously picking up plums and is putting them into the 5th barrel we've got. Pali apparently is putting this year's plums in with last year's mash, which is silly, but that is his business. Pali has enquired from the guy about his still and had no joy. We are hoping he is just very busy with family troubles and when the usual distilling season starts in the autumn he'll do our mash. Alternatively, we will have to make a choice whose still to go to, and unfortunately Pali is quite scathing about all of them.
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My tea one evening
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Stephen, in his usual manner, is leaving everything to the last minute, so this week so far there had been no day without a panicked phone or Messenger call, asking questions, asking for favours, asking for money etc., etc., etc. from Stephen. At least and at last, he had popped in at Linda's and picked up our post. Let us hope they arrive safely and do not bring UK lurgies with them.
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One of my yellow beauties
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Another project that we have been planning was to have several problems fixed by employing someone to deal with it. It has not been easy since the introduction of workfare, because most of those we could have are now on that. Still, we were told about a guy and finally we made contact and he has started to come and do some work on Monday. He brought a younger man with him, probably his son or his nephew, (I didn't ask), and they started on the cracked corner of the Bunkhouse They seem to be OK and they will work until Friday, when we depart for BP for a fortnight.
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Chapel no.1
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Chapel no.2
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On Sunday I went into BP by bus on my own. There was an old arrangement with Viktor to go caching while he and his family are on holiday round the Balaton. Originally it was two days, but we couldn't find enough caches that neither of us had, so we stuck to just Monday. This was an amazing caching day, one of those when everything goes both right and wrong.
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Panorama view no.1
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Vineyards everywhere
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The right was that another cacher, namely KP1965 has just prior to our day managed to put out 3 or 4 moving caches, of which Viktor is a great fan. I don't mind them, but I am not as manic about them as Viktor. Even before I arrived, he already found one of them, then on the day we found 2 together and after I left on the train to get back to BP, he found another. We also added one ordinary cache to our list, as it was quite near one of the moving caches.
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Almost ripe bunches of grapes
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Welcoming elephant in the Krishna Valley
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The weather was a bit less hot than last week, but it was also high humidity, due to the cloud cover. I was quite energetic all day, and then just as we were going to do the last mutual cache, I went on strike. It was a tatty old cache, in the middle of nowhere, with vegetation up to your nose and high heat. Viktor did not look pleased, but when I said that I would stay to look after the car, while he goes and gets it, he gave it up as well. Overall I had 10 finds and he had 13 finds for the day.
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Picturesque ruin in the puszta
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The Széchenyi crypt under the chapel
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Thankfully, not all of them were hopeless like the last one. There were some interesting places to visit and photograph. There were a few neglected chateaux, some cute and pretty little churches and chapels, some beautiful views, a Buddhist estate, a beautiful old church ruin in the middle of the puszta, a memorial to Koppány, the last pagan chief of Hungary, fighting his brother, who had taken up the Christian faith and wanted to be king more than he did. We had a good time, and I have even had a good train journey both down and back up.
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The front of the Széchenyi chapel
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| The Széchenyi chateau |
The only thing that was wrong about Monday was that Viktor's Google navigation went barmy in places. The area we were in was full of forests and hills. The road structure was scant in places, although the locals used dirt lanes a lot, his car was not too happy on them. So, unfortunately, we actually wasted quite a lot of time being sent to silly places by Google and then had to retrace our steps back onto tarmac roads. This annoyed poor old Viktor so much that he wasn't much fun after that.
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Viktor leading the way
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A beautiful old tree trunk
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Then yesterday I came back to Bér. Now we are preparing for the family's visit at the end of the week for a fortnight, while looking after two builders doing remedial work. I hope I can get some sleep sometime, as my yawns are ready to swallow half the house. Next post at any time I might just have a few minutes to write it. With the tribe around, it might not happen for a while.
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Another old tree in another chateau park
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Close up
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