We are still in Bér and life is mostly concentrated round country type activities. Amazingly, not only the Germersdorfer cherry tree is producing a good crop, but the Morello cherries also came to life. When we bought the house with the big garden, we inherited half a dozen old Morello trees, which have been known to give us a fair crop on and off over the last 20 years. However, the last 6 or 7 years have been bare. And then, when I was doing my regular tractor mowing in the back garden, I noticed that there are a lot of ripe Morellos too. The best was, of course, the one we planted, but the oldies were quite good too.
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| Just a few little jars of cherry jam |
So, in the last week, we picked them 3 times and made jam with them twice. We picked all those branches that we could reach, then I climbed as far up as I dared on the ladder. The rest of it, where I couldn't reach was left to the birds. Jam making this year had been a bit of hit and miss affair. As usual, we never have enough and of the right type of the pectin that you need for the jam to set. Several batches were spot on, some others were a bit soft and the last one had too much of the stuff in it. Still, cherries are a delight, and I'm sure we'll love those little bottles full of lovely jam in the winter.
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| A few of our targets |
I have planned another geocaching trip, this time as a birthday present to myself. We should be going East and a little bit into Romania as well. We'll have two nights in a hotel in Debrecen and one night in Gyula. The main targets are the ancient old tree caches as well as a few of the cycling multies. Plus, of course, some other caches and I hope we'll be able to take my bike, provided we manage to buy and fit the bike rack for the back of the car.
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| First version of the route in November |
I am also having an idea about the next, and last, GCWALK. My first GCWALK was in November 2017, so the 9th anniversary is coming up this year. It would be nice to actually do another year for the full 10 years, but my physical state is no longer suitable for leading long hikes. So, I think I will go back to the Medves Plateau, where it started and do a farewell GCWALK, which will mark my retirement from organising. That doesn't mean that I can't join, just part, or all of, another one organised by someone else, but will not do one of my own after that. We'll see how that goes.
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| István Mák, my new friend |
I have an adopted cache in the Mátra and apparently the first part has disappeared. I should have gone ages ago to replace it, but didn't feel like it. And then, just recently I gained a really nice new friend, István Mák, and he went and replaced it for me. I am so pleased, he is such a nice chap and I must organise some mutual caching with him soon.
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Last Friday I had some hassle with O2 again. That website of theirs is a nightmare. Every month is getting harder and harder to log on and this time I got stuck. All security efforts warn people not to click on links in e-mails. So what they invent for logging on, yes, you've got it, sending an e-mail with a link in it to click on. I was petrified clicking on it, so I was stuck. Thankfully, there was an option to get on some other way, and eventually I had to use the recovery code to get in. After that I didn't log out, hoping that I wouldn't have to go through this again. That didn't work, because after 24 hours it chucked me out. Eventually, I gathered enough courage to actually click on that link and it worked. It is now fine, and as summer is coming up when I am busy and often forget stuff, I put on a fair sum, so I do not have to pay until the autumn, hopefully.
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The punchline, however, is still to come. After having received the usual confirmation SMS that the money I paid arrived and stating the balance I now have, two days later I also received an SMS telling me that my plan has now finished and I should pay £10 if I don't want to lose my minutes and internet. How on Earth does a firm this chaotic carry on being successful, I will never know.
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| An excellent history and philosophy book |
Last Friday I also had a session with the boys on Alan's Bolshevism book. We are in the middle of the years of reaction in the first decade of the 20th century. It was a bit depressing, but it is still very interesting, and especially when I read stuff I either have forgotten, or never knew in the first place. Next time we will be discussing an article from marxist.com, and the connected podcast that I noticed and suggested. That should be interesting.
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| Alex at the World Cup |
On Sunday, finally Alex rang and we had a short chat, while he was driving to the place where he was running a kayaking course. I haven't had a chance to chat with him for about 3 weeks. With June, we have been away too, as well his kayaking season having started, we never manage to match our free weekends. He told me that the visit by Stephen and Xander was a great success. They had lots of fun and Xander was OK too. They only stayed for 4 days, but that was long enough to upset their routine, considering that both of them work from home. Still, this does not happen often, so they enjoyed it too.
Finally, I prepared a list of people whom I have not heard from for month and in one case for more than a year. I thought I should contact them to see if they were OK and I am glad to say that so far the vast majority had returned my enquiries with good news. They are OK, just have no time for correspondence. I still have 4 people to write to, but I am hopeful about them too.
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| He looks fine here xx |
And finally, finally, I have a worrying problem with Roy at the moment. His skin in places seems to chafe too easily and recently he showed me one of them, which frightened me. Hopefully it is nothing to worry about, but I hope I will be able to talk him into going and seeing a doctor with it. At his age these things can escalate into serious stuff, so keep your fingers crossed that he is OK soon.
Next post next Wednesday, by which time we should be back in town.
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