Manet's gone, MOT is done, Opera season started and making plum jam

Last Thursday we had a hectic day, as we had to take the car in to Budapest for its MOT and had to be at the garage by 11 am at the latest, if we hoped to get the car back the same day. We got up early and left in time to get there in plenty of time, even though there were horrible traffic jams on the M3. We even did a detour at one place, which was great and got us there with a few minutes to spare.

No. 72 trolleybus near City Park

fter handing over the car we all caught the trolley bus to the flat. Roy had already worked out some activities for the day when Manet suggested that we all have a rest instead. I more than happily agreed, as we had to admit that those three days of painting had exhausted all three of us. I especially needed a rest, as I had to be at the Opera House by 5:30 pm to meet Bozsa.

Roy and Manet having lunch in the Regős

Lunch was taken in the Regős, which we all enjoyed. Then we rested and I went to the Opera House. We had Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro on the prescription ticket that we bought some months before and which cost about 4  times as much as it used to before the renovations. The Opera House was closed for many years, so I have not been there for at least 8 years. They restored and renovated the building beautifully. I do not normally like eclectic buildings, but this one is an exception.

The central staircase at the Opera House

The cast was totally unknown to me. All young and some foreign. My favourites were Andrea Brassói-Jőrös, singing Rosina, the Countess of Almaviva, and Csaba Sándor, in the role of Figaro. It was very good to be back to watching operas this season, especially that with 6 events on the program, we will be coming back on average every 6 or 7 weeks right through to next spring.

Selfie with Bozsa in the Opera House

 

On Friday Manet went out on her own to discover parts of Budapest she had not yet been in and we carried on having a rest. Unfortunately, we had to go to the pharmacy for some of my missing pills, but otherwise than that, the day was uneventful. In the early evening we went for dinner in the Paprika Restaurant, one of our favourite eateries. We had a good time there as well, and we followed it up with a visit to the original ruin pub, the Szimpla. Interesting place, but it being evening, it was too full.

Manet at the Paprika on Friday night

The following morning I felt really unwell, so I couldn’t go out to escort Manet to the airport bus and make sure that she can travel free. Roy had to go and do that and we thus said good bye to our lovely visitor. I rested and got a lot better by the time Valéria came in the afternoon with our bank cards. She stayed for about an hour and a half, during which we had coffee and Vienetta, both of which went down well. We also had our first ever uninterrupted and longish chat with her. She is such a delightful person, Stephen is very lucky to have her.

The old sign at the Szimpla ruin bar

On Sunday we carried on relaxing, but I had my reading group, this time about the first half of the 2025 World Perspectives document. We had such an enjoyable discussion, that I haven’t noticed how fast our hour was up. Next time we will discuss the second half and after that we’ll return to Alan’s Bolshevism book.

Weighing the plums at the orchard

On Monday we had a busy day yet again. We knew that we had to go back to Bér, but didn’t know when? We agreed with the plum guy to ring him first, sometime between 8 am and 9 am to find out. I think I rang him around 8:20 am and he said that while he isn’t there, the gypsies are picking already and we can come straight away. We quickly packed and left soon after. The trolley bus was playing silly buggers, but eventually we left BP around 9 am.

Two rows of the hundreds of plum trees in the orchard

As we haven’t been to the plum orchard for two years, and never before from Budapest, we decided to go on a route which was interesting and fairly new to us. Took the M3, which was thankfully without jams this time and crossing the A3 went through Domony and up on the road to Balassagyarmat. We got there quite quickly and entering the orchard couldn’t see or hear anyone. I rang the owner and he told us in which part of the orchard we will find the pickers. We have never been in that area before and I was glad to see that we will get our 120 kg of plums from the big variety of plums which we had once before and which was very high in sugar.

120 kg of plums in seven hoppers in the boot

We didn’t have to take barrels, as 120 kg will fit into our plastic hoppers, of which we have at least 7 or more. We had to hang around, as the plums were still being picked, rather than already in boxes, like in the past. Finally, it was done and it fitted in the 5 smaller and 2 bigger hoppers with one extra not even needed. Roy and I decided that as we’ll only spend 4 days before we leave Bér again, we will forego the big food shopping and will rely on the freezer and the mobile shop. As it happens, later we found a COOP in Bercel, and did a small shop for bread, milk and a pizza, which came in useful later.

Destoning the plums in the kitchen

In the meantime Roy came up with the idea of having lunch in Bercel, which we did en route home, after a short pop in to the COOP there. At the restaurant Roy had beef pörkölt and dumplings with a lovely sauce, and I had my usual sztrapacska, which is dumplings with sheep’s curds and bacon bits. Both portions were enormous, so we took the leftovers home, as it’s usual around here.

Close up of our lovely plums

On arrival home we removed the plums, which was a bit hard, as even two of us cannot carry 20 kg or 25 kg of fruit, the capacity of the two larger hoppers, too easily. Still it was done and after we put everything away I suggested that I wanted to start on making jam straight away. Roy would have preferred leaving it to the following day, but I was really enthusiastic to get on with it, so even though he looked quite tired he helped me.

Plums for jam are having a bath

I started by choosing all the better plums for the jam, which was less than 20 kg, nearer  15 kg or at the most 16 kg. The rest went straight into two mash barrels to rot in the sunshine. The weather is still quite nice and warm, so it should break down fairly quickly. The first job was squeezing the stones out, which I did. The jam was made in three batches of about 3-3.3 kg. The stones, we believe, take at least 20% of the weight, so after the removal of the stones and sticking to the capacity of the scales we have, we started with the 3-3.3 kg pitted fruit, then mixed it with 1 kg of sugar, 1 and half sachets of pectin and the juice of a small or half of a big lemon. 

2 out of the 3 batches in their jars

We used our biggest pot and all this was worryingly close to the top, but we didn’t want to start using the big bogrács, as that would again raise the problem of our ability to move it about. We are very weak compared to what we were even a couple of years back, so we had to adjust. Roy was in charge of washing and drying the jam pots, and we started with the small ones. Those give you more work as they are fiddly, but it is good to have small jars, as well as a few large ones. The large ones have the danger of going off after opening, so you have to eat it quickly, but that has never been a problem with us. We managed to make two batches on Monday, before we collapsed. Those two batches made 15 small and 6 large bottles. The third batch was made on Tuesday morning, end result of which was 6 large and 1 small jars. I was also picking the odd hard plums out, which I actually ate there and then. This type of plum is a dessert variety, which is really delicious when slightly unripe. Those few that I found were gorgeous, but I was glad that there were not too many of them as I would have had tummy troubles from eating too many. 

DJ, Johan and Roy by the  barn in the back garden

I even remembered to take some photographs, so you can see how busy we were, although on Tuesday morning we hurried so much that I forgot. All the jars, 12 big ones and 15 small ones are currently in boxes, wrapped in blankets, so they cool down slowly, creating the vacuum, which will ensure that none of them go off. Over the many years we have been making jam here, we had very few going off, thanks to this method. We even once discovered some 10 year old jam at the back of some cupboard and it was completely edible, nothing wrong with it. 

Stephen Colbert

 

Other then jam making, we had two more events yesterday. One was a visit from DJ and Johan, our two new Dutchmen, who are over for a fortnight to start their renovation project on the house they recently bought from Heino and Manet. The other was in the news, but it affected me as I like watching the evening, night and late night shows in the US. DJ and Johan are a completely different kettle of fish than all our previous Dutch friends. Unlike Noud, Mieke, Joop, Margreet, Heino and Manet, these guys are working class. They spent 5 hours of drinking, story telling, discussing motor bikes, exchanging constructions ideas, etc., etc. The three of them put away about a half bottle of pálinka, Jägermeister, pizza, coffee and biscuits and a few other things and we all had a hilarious time. The other "event" was yet another example of Trump bullying a television channel to sack somebody for saying nasty things about him. I was most upset when they cancelled Stephen Colbert's Late Night Show a few weeks ago on CBS. Now it was Jimmy Kimmel's turn at ABC to get the sack. The difference between the two was, however, that while Colbert's cancellation didn't raise much echo, Kimmel's fan club is made of different people. Hundreds of thousands cancelled their subscriptions to ABC, and real big names at Disney, owner of ABC, protested along with many many other people. So he got reinstated, which is really a slap in the face of Trump, but it also shows what can be achieved when many protest and show solidarity. So, yesterday was written down as a good day: we had two new friends, with whom we had fun - and saw spontaneous action by many Americans that was successful. Win, win all round.

Jimmy Kimmel

I am really looking forward to what DJ and Johan will end up with after all their repairs, updates, extensions and other great plans that they have for the property. I also liked that they are treating the real culture shock of Hungary with a positive attitude, which is absolutely essential for survival here. Must finish now as several tasks await my attention. Hopefully, the next post will be on time again next Wednesday, after we have returned from the South.

The week of coincidences

In relation to the post title, I must tell you, that this last week turned out to be a classical demonstration of multi tasking. We were not just busy, but totally and insanely full of coincidental activities. We had to be very clever not to overlap the myriad of activities, appointments and other events that clashed this week.

A blue Duster, just like ours

First of all we took the car in for its service and MOT on Wednesday. The car was deposited in the garage forecourt, so that they could start on it first thing Thursday morning. While awaiting the phone call from the garage, I went to the hairdressers and we also went to our favourite Japanese restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon I had an appointment at the hospital, this time with a new gastroenterologist, who turned out very nice. He seemed to think that I ought to stay with Dr. Demeter and found nothing dangerously wrong with me. 

A Bento, which I like but Sushi Wan doesn't have

 

The garage hardly looked at the car on the Thursday morning when they rang up with bad news. The brakes in the back were shot. One came away from its base and it needed to be done at once. The cost, with the MOT and service was going to be around the £345 mark.  We were promised that they would finish it by Friday, so that we can have the car for fetching Manet from the airport and for the trip down to Bér.

Dr. Kósa Imre, the gastroenterologist

 

On Friday I had another appointment at the hospital, this time with my long standing and much loved cardiologist for my yearly check-up. She issued me with a bill of good health, no problems, and, of course, my piece of paper from her to help towards getting my blood thinner at a third of its list price. Nowadays you don't even have to send the document to the surgery, they just look it up in the cloud. We also exchanged £900 to forints, as we were running out of cash. Needless to say, the rate dropped since the day before, but it was still at a reasonable rate. 

Dr. Kollár Ágnes, my cardiologist

 

The next coincidence came from the plum man. The plums were ripe and we could be asked to come and fetch them any time now. I was hoping that I can talk him into a day that would fit in with Manet's visit and 120 kilos of plums. In the meantime it turned out that time had run out on the MOT, as there was no chance to have it done on that Friday. They meant to take the car in for the MOT on Monday, which we said NO to. Finally, we agreed with them that we get the car back on Friday afternoon and will bring it back next Thursday for the MOT.

2ö25 World Perspectives on marxist.com

 

On Friday we did indeed fetch the car around 3 pm in the afternoon, coughed up about  £670 for the service and the brakes repair, then drove to our usual parking place in the 14th district and went home to the flat. On Saturday morning I managed to read the first half of the World Perspective document which we will discuss at our reading group next Sunday. I found it absolutely spot on, not only the analysis, which I agreed with, but the tone too. Alan seemed to have toned down his excessive hatred of the liberals, which emotionally speaking I can understand, but felt earlier that he was a bit overegging the pudding.

Budapest Airport

On Sunday Manet had arrived safely, although we do not know yet, whether we are going to be fined for driving onto the airport forecourt without permission. It has been a very long time since we have taken the car to the airport and they seemed to have changed the pickup system. All sorts of funny little signs are put up about permissions, which you can only see when it is too late to turn back. Typical chaos, or income generation. We'll see.

Typical overcrowded road signs in Hungary

 

En route to Bér we got lost on the M4, missing our exit to the M0. The signage is atrocious, they are written with small letters, too many words, so you have no chance to read them in time. Also, they are too close to the exit, so Roy could not change lanes in time. Thankfully, we only had to drive on for 3 km, so we wasted little extra time and petrol by the 6 km detour. Manet wanted to start the painting straight away on Sunday, but we suggested that we can do some preparation straight away, but leave the painting until Monday morning.

 

Arial view of the Galgaguta plum orchard

Monday was our first full painting day. We first had to clean the dirt, fungus and other imperfections from the wood, and after that the painting could begin. The paint seemed to be OK, even though it is over 5 years ago that it was bought. We divided the areas, Manet started on the railings and posts on the Farmhouse side, Roy was doing the gate and I was in charge of the Bunkhouse side.

Manet looking happy cleaning the railings

 

Painting is very tiring. You are on your feet all the time, often have to either stretch or bend down. You have to be careful not to drop paint onto the tiles and generally stiffness comes to you after a while as well. I invented a way of doing some of it by sitting down on a stool, which helped my lower back, but generally we persevered against all odds and got on with it quite well. On Monday, I also rang the plum guy, and he suggested that I ring again on Wednesday, and if the weather is any good then I can drive over for our 120 kg of fruit with a couple of barrels, which will take it very well. The weather, thankfully, was quite warm and sunny, only a few drops of rain fell on Monday in the late afternoon. On Tuesday, however, the forecast was for rain, but their time scale was off. Quite early in the morning it was raining, so everything got wet. Later it stopped and we got on with it quite well.

Curry for lunch

Cooking was down to both me and Roy on Monday, and the curry we cooked together was absolutely great. Tuesday's lunch was a pork chop each with the leftover vegetable from the curry - a strange mix, but it worked. On both days we stayed up quite late, had really good chats, getting to know each other better and sorting out the problems of the world together. Manet is great company and a super painter. Much better than either Roy or myself, I have to admit.

Our best worker in action

Johan, the new owner of Manet and Heino's house was supposed to come over on Monday midday for a chat, but he didn't turn up. Seems he is a tad different from all our previous Dutch friends, who were always 100% reliable. As it happens, it was actually quite useful that he didn't come over, as all three of us were up to our necks in paint, plus I was just starting to cook lunch at the time.

Roy working on the gate

Today we are quite uncertain how the day is going to proceed. I have to ring the plum man again between 8 am and 9 am. If the lane up to the orchard is drivable and rain is not forecast, I am more than likely to have to drive over for the plums. That will mean that I will miss the painting today in the morning, and Roy will miss it in the afternoon, when attending to the barrels and the mash. Alternatively, if he doesn't want me to go over today, we'll have to completely reschedule our activities for the rest of the week, as tomorrow we have to go back into Budapest, as I have an opera ticket for tonight. Yet another coincidence, trying to test our flexibility and reorganisational skills. The trouble with plums is that they will not wait for you until you have time to pick and take them away. Humans have to fit in with their schedule, no matter how busy they are.

My favourie photo of my Alex

 

Yesterday I also managed to get a 15  minute long chat with Alex, who is so busy nowadays that our normal long chats have been discontinued. Hopefully, only temporarily!! He was taking Callum to his golf tournament en route to his place of work in the morning. We had a little chat, with Callum also involved, but after dropping him, he didn't ring back. I do miss him a lot, he is one of the constants in my life and a sort of emotional support too.

Family photo from Xmas 2013

I almost forgot to mention that the problem last week re: bank cards has been solved. I was told that Valeria, Stephen's girlfriend was travelling to visit him the day after I read about the post at Linda's. I contacted her and she agreed to fetch the cards and bring them with her on her return. I was very happy, but today is Wednesday, and she told me last week that she is due back in BP this Monday. I have not heard from her and she hasn't yet answered my Messenger message. Update: she answered my message and is coming over this Saturday afternoon with the envelope and cards.

Manet on he ladder with brush in hand

 

This was the third and final day of painting and all three of us are looking like we have definitely have had enough of painting. Even Manet looks a bit frayed at the edges, so I am grateful for the opera performance that forced us to paint for only 3 days. No way could we have coped, not even Manet, if we did nothing but this all week. Today's highlight was that Johan, the new Dutch person has finally appeared, as Manet had walked over to his place and at the end they both came back together.

Manet supported by Roy

He seems a lovely bloke, very chatty and full of enthusiasm for his long term project for the house. He apparently plans to retire to Hungary, and he doesn't know how lucky he is that Netherlands is still in the EU. If it wasn't, he could not retire here, as the government had ceased accepting retirees. They can't keep other EU citizens out, that's the law.

Manet on the gate

Finally I walked to the plum man and he said that while it is sunny, they can't start picking until the afternoon. So, we are coming back next Monday, probably going straight to the plum orchard from Budapest, pick up the plums and then come home. Assuming, of course, that it isn't raining like cats and dogs. We should then get back to town quite sharpish, as we are due to leave for the South on Saturday. We are staying for a couple of nights, doing a lot of geocaching and celebrating Roy's 84th birthday in his favourite steak house in Szeged. 

John Bull pub in Szeged

I was so exhausted today that having gone upstairs at 4:30 pm just for a little rest, it was 8 pm when I woke up. I needed this sleep, as I feel a lot better, but I think I will need a few more 3 and half hour naps to completely recover. We are off to Budapest tomorrow morning. We have to be at the garage to hand over the car for the MOT. I have my first opera performance at 6 pm, which I am looking forward to a lot. I have not seen the inside of the Opera House for 8 or 10 years. It will be nice to go to the Opera regularly again, and especially when it means to meet my beloved Bozsa.

One of my climbing roses still in bloom

Next post next Wednesday, when we will most likely be in Bér, having collected the plums, dealing with the pálinka mash. 

 

 

New GCWALK banner, Alex's kayaking, Toronto Hungarian Consulate, shopping in Palotás, a big fire and the Blood Moon

The last week was mostly spent at home, with only one outing and that wasn't too far either. I was busy online, again, occasionally having to alter what I thought I have already finished. On my GCWALK page, having played around with the location of the car park last week, now I had to respond to somebody else's changes on my page. Somewhat irritating, but I suppose the guy must have thought that he was helping, so I let it go.

The final version of the GCWALK banner

This whole thing started from another cacher who also organises GCWALKs, but in good Hungarian fashion, leaves everything to the last minute. Mine is in November, hers is in less than three weeks. But numbering goes based on the date you put it online, so hers ended up being the 40th and mine the 39th. This happened once before, and while it is a bit confusing, nobody complained. This time, for some reason, she arranged something with a guy where she lives and he just unilaterally changed mine to 40th. I was somewhat miffed, but let it go. However, it gave me some extra work, because the number was wrong in a variety of places where the guy could not change it, as only I had access. I did that and moved on to other work.

The blue boat at the front is Alex

Alex didn't ring at the weekend, as he was away at the trailer and having fun on the water, as usual. I do miss his voice when he doesn't ring, but I understand that he must have some time off and fun, considering that he is holding down a full time job, as well as his kayaking business at the weekends. And on the odd occasion he goes out with friends to have a whole day kayaking, he deserves it. While I am writing about him, must mention that on Monday he went to the Hungarian Consulate in Toronto to submit all his paperwork for his new Hungarian passport and the application for registering Callum's Hungarian citizenship, followed by a passport for him later. They said it would take a whole year, and that is spot on. Stephen's took a whole year, and then another month for the passport.

The Hungarian Consulate is here in this block

 

The only day we went out anywhere last week was Thursday, when we had to go out for a variety of reasons. With the tropical downpours a couple of weeks ago, we had some water ingress downstairs in the Library. We worked it out that it must have been through holes in the covering of the patio and in other deteriorated concrete edgings. We also noted that the bottom of one of the pillars holding up the porch at the back has disintegrated and underneath there was a large hole. So, Roy insisted at going to the builders' merchants in Palotás and as we were running out of bread and milk, we then also went to the market there and the Coop. We got the sand and cement, some new brushes for the upcoming painting planned and a few other stuff. The market in Palotás was a shadow of its old self, hardly any stalls selling anything. The Coop is still as useless as ever, but fundamental foods are still available. I was feeling really unwell at the end of the shopping trip, so we got home quickly.

Palotás Market when it was new

Talking about feeling ill, I was wondering a few days later, if we both had Covid lately? I read of a very fast moving, very infectious latest mutation of the Covid virus being rampant in the UK. If it spreads that fast, it must have already arrived in Hungary too. What made me suspect it, was not so much the symptoms, because Covid is famous for changing drastically in terms of symptoms all the time. It was the fact that Roy was unwell too. He was less ill than me, which is normal,  but the symptoms were identical, which doesn't happen very often. I still have some test kits from Canada, but those must be quite out of date by now. Still, if I thought of this earlier, we could have tested ourselves, as even out of date test kits, if they show that you have got it, are correct. They only become unreliable if they show you haven't got it. Still, it is too late now, so we didn't bother, but it might have been Covid, or something similar. Roy seems OK, but I am still hardly sleeping, often weak and shaky, perspiring and get far too tired far too quickly.

The caches around Mórahalom and Szeged

Having long rests hoping to recover, I finally managed to finish the very long cache list for our trip to Szeged at the end of the month. Celebrating Roy's birthday will be done at his favourite steak house in the city, let us hope he'll enjoy it as much as he did last time. Once I finished the list, I realised that we will have to have an overnight stay the night before we get to Szeged, so found a place in Mórahalom, West of Szeged, a place I have been before in my orienteering days. Hopefully, we will not get caught by the border guards, as some of the caches are pretty close to the border with Serbia, a sore point due to the razor wire fencing erected by Orbán's regime.

Denzel Washington in Equalizer 2 

I watched some Netflix this week too, namely two Equalizer films, which I enjoyed, in spite of the violence.  Denzel Washington is always good, whatever he is in. And then came an interesting day in the garden, which was a tad dangerous, but we got away with it. Over the last month we have collected a large amount of fallen tree branches, including those that broke on the plum trees and others that Roy cut off. He collected them over the stump of the gypsy plum tree, which still needs burning, as it sticks up a bit. He might have a go at it with his chain saw, but I always prefer different methods to chain sawing, as I think it is far too dangerous in the hands of someone as untrained and inexperienced in using them as Roy.

The fire only 2 minutes after it was lit

On Saturday morning, which is one of the only two days when you are allowed to burn things in our village, the wind was up. In fact, for a while I insisted that we do not burn anything until it got a bit calmer. About a couple of hours after that we decided to do it. Roy went to connect the hose, in readiness just in case we need it, and I got the fire going. You will not believe it, but the entire enormous pile went up in about 2 minutes in massive flames and smoke. It was so quick, that by the time I thought of photographing it, you could hardly see flames, it was all smoke. In spite of the recent downpours, the wood in the pile was so dry that a job that usually takes a whole day, was done and dusted in an hour.

1905 Russian Revolution poster

On Sunday there were two events, one was great, the other less so. First I had my my reading group, which after a hiatus of more than three weeks was most welcome. We returned to Alan's Bolshevism book and discussed the details of the run up to the 1905 revolution in Russia.  The book is about very good real events in these paragraphs, so it was easy reading and a wide variety of aspects to talk about. I always like to compare some of it with today's current affairs, and you would be surprised how relevant is that bit of history to today's events all over the world.

The glorious Bood Moon somehwere in Asia

The next event that I was equally looking forward to was a let down. Mostly my fault, as I didn't realise that immediately after the end of the reading group I should have been outside watching it. I am talking about the Blood Moon that was supposed to have been visible all over Europe. Well, by the time I remembered to get out, we have just missed it. It was still very slightly red, but slowly returning to normal. Never mind, since then I saw some gorgeous photos done by professionals, so I enclose the one I liked the best.

Hoppers full of plums 2 years ago

A couple of other things come to mind that I also did recently, one was ringing the guy whose plums we usually buy when we don't have enough of our own plums to fill all four of the barrels. This year we need 100 kilos to fill the last barrel and I want about 20 kilos for jam. I told the guy we need a 120 kilos and he said that if I ring next week he should be able to tell me roughly when to go over for it. The good luck this time is that 120 kilos we don't need to take barrels for, but our small hoppers will do and then we will not struggle removing them from the car, as we usually do with barrels.

The cause of my latest problem

And finally, the thing that happened last night: Linda wrote that we had our replacement bank cards in the post, about two months early. In the last 10 or 20 years the postal services of both UK and Hungary had become so dreadful that we never dare to trust them to the post. So, the hunt for a courier is on. I think I found someone, but I'm not sure if she should do it, while another person who travels frequently between the two countries has just recently gone back, so she is out too. Keep your fingers crossed that we can solve it somehow.

Next post on next Wednesday, buy which time we have Manet with us and should the weather oblige, we will be up on ladders painting the woodwork on the outside of the Bunkhouse and on the gate. 

 

Roy's new haircut, waterbills sorted (almost), caching hike organised for November and we made grape jelly

This last week was quite busy, but we stayed at home right through. There is still plenty to do in and around the house, as well as lots of things to write, organise and do online. Roy had a nice and short haircut, which he is enjoying. I set the machine to nine, but because at the back around his neck I usually put it down to 6, I obviously forgot to put it back to 9 for the rest of his head. He really does look like a thug, but thankfully his hair is still growing quite fast, so it shouldn't matter.

He looks happy, doesn't he?

 

The weather was still quite hot, but over the weekend we had a large super cell move over the country and it rained at times, like it does in the tropics. In fact, I had some  experience of the Monsoon in Nepal a couple of decades ago, and the rain that fell on my back garden was just like it. 

A magnificent super cell

The garden got rather green as a result, but the downpour was so ferocious that most of it just ran off the land, rather than soak in. We are still watering our two small trees, which are amazingly well adjusted to the drought, but I want to be on the safe side and give them some water now and again. They are both in their third year. The Japanese ornamental cherry is growing faster than the Canadian copper maple. They are both very beautiful, which is the main thing. 

The little Japanese ornamental cherry tree

I spent a lot of time online and on the telephone this last week. There was still some sorting to be done over the water meter reading in Budapest. I had a strange e-mail from the Water Board to advise me of the time by which I have to give them our water meter reading. Well, I am definitely planning to go over to reading the meter two monthly and let them have it, so that they will not try and produce ridiculous estimated figures, but they seemed to have been a jump ahead of me. I did ring them, just to clear what exactly they want me to do, and the lovely lady at the other end of the line confirmed that at the minute I should do nothing. If I am lucky I will receive an accurate water bill sometime this month, but more likely by the middle of the next month. This should, I think tell me that they owe me money, and once I got that back, I can go over to filing my meter readings to them online every other month.  I cancelled my chair yoga classes, as mentioned last time, and since then I have been bombarded by request from Yoga Go to return. I am quite capable to do some simple and easy yoga exercises without them, and their regular charges are unacceptably high, so even if I couldn't work out for myself, which I can, I would have had to cancel. 

The hike's banner with one of the views from it

The most complicated paperwork of the last few weeks related to a geocaching hike which I am organising for November 8th. It includes writing the online page, detailing the place, time, route etc. of the hike. Then you have to upload lots of photos that illustrate the environment of the geocaches that we will find, then designing a banner, so that my friends who helps me with this, can put it up on the start page of the geocaching website and link it to the page I mentioned above. I had to make sure that there is a parking place for the cachers' cars, preferably not a paying one. A really nice fellow cacher wrote to me to warn me about two things. One was about both parking areas I quoted were quite expensive and also that one of the paths was overgrown and he suggested an alternative route to one of the boxes.

The grrapes in the pot before we boiled it

The one remaining job relating to this is to update the actual event cache's page nearer the time. I have to wait, because there is a young woman, who has taken to organise hikes herself, but always leaves it to the last minute to advertise them. So, if I update that page with the details and links of my hike, and then she advertises another one, which will happen before mine, she'll erase mine  to do hers, and then I need to do it all over again after her hike.

Filling the jam pots

One interesting activity this last week was Roy and I making some grape jelly for the first time ever. I must admit, we haven't pealed and pip them, so it will not be a perfect jelly, but Roy no longer needed the grape juice in the cefre, so we had a go. I tried it yesterday, it set perfectly, and I personally do not mind the pips, as I quite happily scrunch away on them, considering that they are anti-fungal and generally good for you. The skin has disintegrated in the cooking process, so those bottles of rough grape jelly, (my name for it), will be enjoyed. Tasting it yesterday, I must admit, it was delicious and a little bit sharp, as I like my jams and jellies.

11 little pots of grape jelly

As the air conditioning is still going in the bedroom, often I retire to bed, get my laptop on my lap, while sitting up in bed to watch stuff on either Netflix or with my VPN.  The latest great fun was The Thursday Murder Club on Netflix, which was packed full of great British actors and was not only funny, but extremely well done. I do hope they make it a series, as it has the potential to be really successful.

 As I haven't yet seen the last James Bond film, No Time to Die, which was also the last one of Daniel Craig, I watched that as well this week. I absolutely adore Daniel Craig. I have always loved all things to do with him, so I could safely install him among my "Telephone directory" actors. Just in case you do not know what that means, it is a list of those theatrical persona whom even if they just stood up and read the telephone directory, I would sit down too and watch them and listen to them with admiration and great enjoyment. 

On Saturday I had a real treat. Alex phoned, as he seems to do most Saturdays, but this time he was chatty, sounded happy and I didn't have to extract information out of him, like I sometimes have to. He was on a long drive, so this was not only great pleasure for me, but it also helped to pass the time for him, which knowing the distances within Canada, could be beneficial. He is getting ready for his Level 3 kayaking course in October, which will be quite hard. This time he will have to manage on the ocean, rather than rivers and lakes, like until now. Oh, I have just  thought, that he has been kayaking in an ocean in March when we were in Portugal. He loved it, but did say that the wind, rain and height of the waves were exciting, but exhausting.

A mobile shop very similar to our's

Today we were supposed to go shopping, as we have run out of bread, but Roy managed to catch the moving shop, which is quite an exciting happening most of the time. When we had the steps built down to the road from our front gate, that was done, so the mobile shop doesn't leave before we get there. Well, quite often they still do that, steps or n o steps. However, today he caught them, so we don't have to go out. The heat is still pretty uncomfortable, so I voted for not going out. Roy didn't seem to mind.

 

Gyula Michnai'a priaon photo

I gave him a job of writing a family tree for a guy, called  Gyula Michnay, who was the first and only one who successfully escaped from the death camp in Recsk in Hungary in 1951. He was a fanciful character, with a fascinating set of ancestry, spoke lots of languages, was a soldier, as well as lots of other things. He planned and executed the escape in a totalitarian Stalinist country and the only reason why the other seven with him were caught because they didn't keep to the pre-agreed tactics and methods. Roy managed to find out a lot about his family and I discovered that he wrote his autobiography, which was published just over 20 years ago. Now I have a task, which will probably be harder than Roy's was, to try to find a copy of it somewhere to buy.

Must go now as I have to assist with cooking lunch. Next post next Wednesday, but as that day is when we return to BP, perhaps it'll happen a day early or a day late.