This last week was pretty hectic, again, but we did survive it, only just. Last Wednesday, after I posted, I had a rearranged discussion group with Levi and Márkó. It went great and we agreed when and what will be the topic next time. Márkó suggested an article about the Solidarnosc movement in Poland many years ago, so we settled on that, and the next date is 18th December.
 |
| Mass emeeting in Gdansk in 1980 |
Solidarność 1980-1981 – a working class revolution
 |
| My lovely new cycle helmet |
Thursday was spent in the name of having a bit of fun, but also preparing for a variety of festive activities. We did need a few gadgets and bits for the Christmas presents to Márti, Laci, Bozsa and Árpi. We visited a fantastic kitchen shop for a pastry filler needle and some little paper cups for petit fours and truffles. Must remember this kitchen shop as it has an incredible stock of anything to do with kitchens, that no other has in the country. We also had to go out to fetch my hiking poles from the car for my weekend away in the Mecsek. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to Decathlon for my cycling helmet and a pump, after which we went and had fish and chips in Becketts. Friday was spent packing my gear for my weekend away, preparing a replacement box for a cache, which eventually was not used, due to a change in our route.
 |
| Muggins with Peter, Józsi and Henriett |
The trip to the Mecsek was a group affair: Peter was driving, as we were in his car, the rest of them were Henriett and her boyfriend Szabolcs, Józsi and me. They were great company, especially Henriett, who is my new friend. The seat at the back was not quite wide enough for three of us, so physically the trip was a tad uncomfortable. We started Friday afternoon and even managed to get two caches in pitch dark, before arriving at the rented cottage.
 |
| Our little cottage in Orfű |
The cottage was really nice and definitely cheap at £135 for 5 people for 2 nights. Szabolcs was our chef, always coming up with some nice thing to eat. I ended up sleeping in the same narrow double bed with Henriett, but amazingly, managed to have a really good sleep on both nights. The small and lethal looking spiral staircase was about as lethal as it looked. Still, we were all very careful and there were no accidents.
 |
| The start photo on Saturday morning |
Saturday there was a Saint Nicholas Day's organised geocaching hike, which proved a tad hard. The main reason being, the large amount of rain that fell during the days before Saturday. On the day it cleared up by midday and stayed pretty mild and occasionally even sunny, but the mud created by several days' rain was a nightmare, especially towards the end of the hike, where forestry trucks made several big paths impassable.
 |
| Niki's doggie in Xmas mood |
Henriett and I cut the hike slightly short, as we were pretty much tired from fighting the sliding about all day. It still felt like I went through a shredder by the end of the day. The number of caches gathered that day was 14 for me, with 8 on the hike route, 1 event cache and 5 moving caches that several people brought in.
 |
| Our chauffeur, Peter |
On Sunday we started caching again in quite a nice almost sunny weather and managed to gather another 9 caches. At one point Szabolcs left us to go to work by train, so it started getting much more comfortable in the back of the car. The trip home was fast and pleasant and I was indoors by 7:30 pm.
 |
| Muggins looking at the map online |
Monday we both needed some rest but the shopping raised its ugly head, not only for the presents, but for ingredients for the lunch with Robert on Wednesday. Who would have thought that a fairly expensive cut of pork would suddenly become difficult to get. We got one pork fillet in SPAR and then had to go to several places before we found another SPAR, which had plenty. Methinks, we 'll have to start using this other SPAR, as it is enormous and seems to have everything you can need.
 |
| Anima Musicae orchestra |
On Tuesday we ran around for a few more things for both the presents and the lunch with Robert, after which I had a concert in the Music Academy with Bozsa. This one was quite a strange one, but I loved it tremendously. Anima Musicae is a very talented bunch of mostly young people and they had two new additions for this particular night, which was true entertainment. Zoltán Erdő on tárogató and Jenő Lisztes on cimbalom. The first instrument is a traditional Hungarian one, although the modern one that was designed in the 1890's is somewhat different from the original folk instrument, and the second one is a Hungarian percussion instrument, similar to a piano in tune. Apparently the translation of cimbalom is dulcimer, if that makes sense to anyone.
 |
| Zoltán Erdő on tárogató and Jenő Lisztes on cimbalom |
They played some Hungarian and German composers, none of which are generally known outside of Hungary. The quality of the sound, the perfection of interpretation were superb, but that is not surprising from Anima Musicae. For me the actually fairly unknown music was a revelation, as I loved it right through.
 |
| Robert last year when we saw him last |
And finally, Robert arrived bang on 12 o'clock today and we had a fantastic 3 hours chatting, catching up, eating and drinking with him and with Fanny, his whippet. The menu was a strange creation, but we put something together that was delicious. We started with Roy's famous creamed vegetable soup with chili and parsley, followed by pork fillet wrapped in bacon with boiled potatoes and sprouts. Desert was a strange concoction invented by me: a butter croissant filled with whipped cream and home made chocolate sauce.
 |
| Fanny the whippet |
Those 3 hours went past in what seemed like minutes and now I am writing this blog post just to keep up. By next week, hopefully, we should be back in Bér for Christmas, followed by a return to BP for New Year's Eve. In the meantime, we have another weekend away, this time together in Csobánka with Márti and Laci, which should also be fun. Next post hopefully on Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment