2024-12-25 Merry Christmas

Well, a whole year after last year's jaunt to Bratislava, we are spending this Christmas in Bér, awaiting the arrival of Stephen and his girlfriend Valéria. Stephen has not been to Bér for 16 years, I wonder if he remembers any of it now? I hope his plane is on time today, as dinner will be very late if it, and therefore they, are late.

The front of the "Crazy Market"

We came home to the village on Sunday via Lidl and Tesco, but before that let's see what was happening in the last few days in BP? On Friday we started the Christmas shopping in earnest in the Lehel Market, which we call "the crazy market", due to its weird architecture. That place was my mother's favourite market for decades, but then it was a simple, old fashioned open market with stalls and very few proper shops.

The fishmonger's stall at the market

We went very early, as later the queues would have been horrendous. It was quite busy already at 7am, but we, thankfully, didn't have too much to buy there. We started with Roy's fillet steak, which has not gone up in price by too much, so we bought a large one for about £35. Then we quite accidentally found a woman selling marzipan sweets and bought four. More about these later.

One of the bars of marzipan

 

We walked along the veg section, buying nothing, as we have good veg near home and didn't fancy carrying it all the way back to the flat. The next job was to find the same place as last year for the turkey and while I am not sure, but I think that one wasn't there any more. Still, we did find one that was selling very large turkey breasts and bought one weighing about 3 kilos. That was about a tenner, not bad, considering the food price inflation since last year. That is the advantage of shopping in a large and very busy market. It keeps the price down, and is always fresh, due to the fast turnover.

David at Gaby's

Roy with his giant burger at Gaby's

Next stop was at the fish stall, and I got my usual large piece of salmon. A large bunch of dill was also purchased, to go with the fish and/or anything else that might need it.  The next stop en route back to the flat was the Doctor and Baker bread shop where we bought 3 loaves of his glorious sourdough bread and two bars of walnut beigli, the traditional Christmas cake in Hungary. The rucksack on Roy's back started to get really heavy, so we hightailed it home.

A heaving fridge with all the provisions

 The meat got cut up and some of it went into the freezer - the same idea as last year, when a whole turkey breast travelled in the car with Stephen and Elian, slowly thawing out and not going off. Half of the turkey breast stayed in BP, the other half came with us to Bér.

David and Ági at Gaby's

Saturday was the highlight of the week when we went to have lunch with Ági and David in Gaby's, but before that we finished and wrapped their present, the home made or home produced food and drink basket that we put together. The box of truffles, that were made before ,sat comfortably with the compote, jam, pálinka and oranges. All wrapped up in cellophane and with a pretty red bow on top.

My prawn and avocado salad at Gaby's

The food at Gaby's was exquisite again, and the company fantastic. Ági and David are such joy to be with, and they seemed very happy chatting, eating and drinking with us. I do hope we can see them more often, as since we stopped getting invited to David's place by the Balaton, we have really missed them.

Winter wonderland by the front lane

And then Sunday we packed up and drove home via Lidl and Tesco. We started with Lidl, as their veg is superior to Tesco's and a few other things are really good there too. There was something really interesting happening, which was most surprising, but most welcome too. The norm at pre-Christmas time, as it is more or less all the time in Hungary, that the stress of the whole thing causes people to be impatient, rude, pushy and pretty unfriendly while shopping. Well, I don't not who it was and what it was that possibly drugged the populace, but in Lidl and in Tesco, everybody - repeat everybody - was smiley, patient, kind, courteous, shoppers and staff alike. It was delightful, and made the shopping a joy, rather than a chore.

The Bunkhouse and gate under snow

After Lidl we went to Tesco, starting with buying the tree. I fell in love with a cute little tree right at the beginning, so that was quick. It is a very long time since we bought a real Christmas tree, so the price of £16 for a 1 meter tree, which I am told is very reasonable, felt really expensive.  The food shopping in Tesco, again was laid back, friendly and smiley, all and sundry wishing you Merry Christmas and not jumping ahead of you in the queue. We got basically everything we needed, packed it into the car and went home.

A rip-roaring fire in the stove

 

The unpacking is now such a military operation without noise, questions or instructions, that it was done in no time at all. Once everything was put away we sat down to cook ourselves a lunch, followed by a little rest. On Monday the real work had started. We had to have a quick tidy up and clean up of the house, which is always quite a job in the heating season, as keeping the stove going with big dirty chunks of firewood, as well as the occasional smoke coming out of the stove, always make the lounge quite mucky. The stove is now operating at its maximum capacity, producing so much beautiful heat that one morning I managed to restart the fire without paper, just with kindling on the remaining hot embers.

Our pretty little Christmas tree

 We first erected the tree, decorated it and put it in one of the windows in the lounge. Then we wrapped all our presents and put them under the tree. We made Stephen and Valeria's bed and cleaned their room. Finally, I made 29 pieces of marzipan sweets and 7 truffles rolled in chopped almonds. They are now keeping cool in between the inner and outer door in the kitchen, although we did raid it a bit on the day. On Monday morning we had a lovey surprise: about 3 inches of snow fell overnight, making the village and our garden look like a Christmas wonderland. Took lots of lovely photos to illustrate my FB posts and this blog.

The back of the cottage and its garden

We also settled with Dani, what time he is coming to fetch lunch for one of the old ladies in the village on the 27th,  the day we have taken on providing her with food, sweets and a little present. He is coming for them on Friday at midday and I hope she will like our turkey meal and the sweets. She is a nice old lady, who has no family and is very poor, so when the communal kitchens close - like they do for Christmas - she eats only canned food. It was Dani who suggested on the I 💖Bér FB group that we tall ake on feeding her over the holidays, and there were plenty of takers, which I was very glad to see.

Front lane with well

Since then we have been carrying on with the tidying and cleaning and yesterday I made the provisional geocache page for my good friend griffs, but couldn't send it as apparently he has two of his own caches out of action, and in these situations the programming stops you sending anything until after they sorted the problem. I hope he does, as this cache page is needed to be done and gone through moderation, which takes two days, before 4th January, when he is running an "icy bike outing", during which he was to put the box out with the participants and get the cache published. I hope he sorts this, as I like him a lot and those that brave winter snow and ice, while on a bike tour, deserve another new cache to find.

The back garden with the pavilion under snow

Finally, yesterday I managed to get out of Stephen the information of how much money I have to send him for the Christmas presents for him, Valéria, Elian and Xander, so that they will have some nice pressies from us under their tree. And then, today we are finishing the tidying and cleaning, then putting the turnkey in the oven, and await the arrival of our guests for Christmas. I must admit, I am not one for celebrations of any kind, but I hope that this year's Christmas goes off without any family discord. I have a feeling Valéria will make sure that it will. 💖💖💖💖

End of Santa Claus cache, the funeral, Gaby's, doctors and a 1956 Revolution memorial walk.

Well, what I suspected about our Santa Claus cache, unfortunately proved to be true by ours registering no finds at all. For some unfathomable reason the County of Nógrád is not particularly popular with geocachers. To be correct, the mountains of the Mátra and Börzsöny are partially in Nógrád, that skews the statistics and hides the fact that all the rest have miserable levels of finds, including most of mine. So, I have already told Marcsi, the organiser, that I am not going to do an Easter Bunny cache, or next year's Santa Claus cache. She was very understanding and wished us a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Austin Stowell - the young Gibbs

The rest of the week until Sunday, when we came into BP, was spent with the usual household chores, Roy finishing the kitchen tops, me firing up the stove every day and occasionally watching my US procedurals online. I also have finally put in my application for moderator, the job I have been doing in geocaching.hu for the last 6 years. I am always 50/50 about it, as I definitely would like to carry on, but if others get more votes, that's also OK with me. One of my young friend, Soma, has also thrown his hat into the arena, and as I really like the guy, I hope he gets in. Nominations close this weekend and results are announced the following weekend.

Red sky over the M3, while heading for BP

We travelled in to BP on the Sunday, as Roy didn't fancy the rushed travel one can expect on a Monday morning, especially when there is a deadline pressing on you. The funeral was very touching and I felt quite sad and teary. I didn't know the old man we were saying good bye to, but I know and love my friend Ági, and supporting her I was prepared to go through this bit of discomfort. In fact, the double agony was caused by: 1. a freezing basement where the service was; 2. the tedious religious service that I am getting more and more allergic of in my old age. The place has just changed the rules and no longer can anyone have a non-religious service. Ági said how good it was that her father didn't know about this, or he would have been livid. He was a communist and hated priests.

Ági's Dad and the flowers at the funeral

To cheer ourselves up, we went to have lunch at Gaby's, which is a lovely place. The owner, Brian, is a Yank, the chef is Argentinian and the chatty and delightful waitress Chilean. Roy had  an enormous, beautifully rare burger and I had a couple of prawn pitas. For afters we had one chocolate brownie between us, and all of it was superb. We are going back with Ági and David, so that I can thank them for being such lovely and good friends. After lunch we went to put out a new virtual PW tablet at one of my caches in BP and all of it was done in beautiful sunshine.

Roy and his giant burger

Tuesday's main event was going to see my doctor, Eva Dános. I was told, while trying to book an appointment on the phone, that she had left the hospital where I have seen her for several years now. Funnily enough, I had a feeling that would happen and it did about 2 months ago. The place had changed owners about 18 months ago, and when I saw her 10 months ago I had a feeling that she didn't like the new management. I Googled her, and found her in another clinic near the Parliament. 

The glorious brownie with ice cream

She and I had a good chinwag and decided on some course of action in terms of booking some specialist appointments and full blood works. All of it is only due to happen next year, as the holidays are pretty close now and everything closes down for those. She was very nice, as usual, and told me that she is only temporarily at this clinic and will contact me when she moved to her permanent place in January.

Grana Padano, my favourite cheese

En route home I did some shopping, first at our stationers, who unbeknown to me were closing down until 2nd January the day I went. I managed to get everything I wanted, like wrapping paper,  cards, cellophane and a few other things. I also visited SPAR and id a bit of food shopping, after which Roy awaited me at home with my favourite pasta dish: spaghetti with pesto, garlic, chopped olives, olive oil and grated Grana Padano cheese. I put away a large plateful and put my feet up after that much effort.

Old drawing of Don Pasquale in London

In the evening I went to see Donizetti's Don Pasquale with my friend Klári whom I have not seen for nearly 5 years. We have kept in touch via Messenger, but this was the first in person meeting since before the pandemic. These were free tickets, the getting of which Klári is a first class expert. I think she got the tickets from one of the singers she knows well. The performance was pretty good and I enjoyed it.

A bowl of gorgeous chocolate truffles

 

And finally, today I started the day with making the Christmas present for Ági and David. I had an idea, that we need to make up a basket, filled with stuff that we ourselves made. So when we came into town, we brought the basket in with a large bottle of apple compote, a smaller bottle of cherry jam, a medium jar of peach jam and a small bottle of  Roy's precious pálinka. This morning, however, I made truffles, some plain and a few rolled in chopped almonds, put them into a nice box with a lid and will decorate the basket on Saturday morning, before we are having lunch with them, with cellophane and ribbons.

Remember the living monument

 

After lunch we went to get the last geocache in BP that I still haven't got, so once I did, I would have a 100% status in my BP finds. This cache was a three-parter in Pesterzsébet in South Pest, commemorating the heroes of the 1956 revolution who fought the Russians valiantly, before became overrun by them. I always do those caches that have anything to do with the Revolution of 1956. Their heroism has never had the recognition it deserved. Roy came with me and enjoyed it too. The afternoon was rounded out by a trip to our favourite pub when we were served by Roy's favourite barmaid, Vivi.

1956 memorial

Next Wednesday, Christmas Day, we will be back in Bér, awaiting the arrival of Stephen and Valéria. Next post sometime after that.

Coughs and sneezes are still around, a morning in Pásztó and the new kitchen tops

Still in Bér in increasingly wintry weather, which definitely didn't help with my coughs and sneezes. They do not seem to want to disappear, if anything, they are getting worse. We are also minding the Santa Claus geocache. I am sorry to say, that having been out there for 6 days, we had nobody come and help themselves to sweets and gifts from it, therefore, nobody has popped in for a little chat with us. as they have been invited to do. Funnily enough, this is no surprise to me and, if I am honest, I have only taken it on this year, so next year I can decline doing it again, quoting the sorry experience of 2024, when it didn't have a single taker. I suppose I shouldn't jump to conclusions, as it'll be out there until the weekend, but I  would be very surprised if anyone came to it between now and then. I have no idea why, but Nógrád seems to be the Cinderella of all the counties when it comes to geocaching. And that, in spite of the fact, that some of its caches are in the much frequented Mátra and Börzsöny mountains.

Santa Clause boxinside

Last Thursday, the day after I last posted, we went into Pásztó for a spot of shopping. The fridge was getting quite empty, and the mobile grocery van has taken to come whenever it fancied and failed to let us know when that was. We chose Pásztó, as Roy also had a few other commissions in the town. I absolutely love Pásztó. It is a pleasant little town, close to the Mátra Mountains, full of useful shops, not far from home, with an excellent weekly market, although we missed it this week as it is held every Wednesday. Still, the main attraction in my book is the population. They are laid back, friendly, polite and ready to help anyone at a moment’s notice. Over the last 20 years I have not met any, even just slightly grumpy person there, never mind a really unpleasant one.

Pásztó church and medieval ruins

They didn’t disappoint this time either. We started with the farmers’ shop, where we bought a 35 kg bag of sunflower seeds. Just in case you are wondering if we have invited the Orbán family for the weekend, these are for our darling little tits and finches. They eat sunflower seeds at the speed of light, it is cold enough and there is, thankfully, still enough of them for the feeders emptying at a high rate. This place sells them at a reasonable rate, the owner is a chatty, friendly fella and he always puts the bag into the car, as we can’t lift it.

 

Our favourite farmers' shop

 

The next stop was Gigabyte, our favourite electronics shop, which is owned by an untypical Hungarian, who is not very chatty, but is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. We bought a new Bluetooth dongle and headphones, so that we can have one each in both the village and BP.

 

Way in to Gigabyte

 

Vodafone was next, where we had to wait a bit, but only because they dealt with a nice old lady without hurry and with the patience that required. Once we got attended to, it took 5 whole minutes to get our TV remote replaced, as it was going a bit wonky. The helpful young man even told us how to commission it, although it did turn out later that the new types do not need commissioning, but I suppose Vodafone failed to train him to know that, so it is not his fault.

 

Vodafone in the High  Street

 

Our next visit was to a timber and kitchen worktop shop. Roy got it into his head that he wants to renew all the work surfaces in our kitchen, and I had to admit, it was about time to do that. We decided the colour and pattern from the samples, paid for it and then drove the car round to the back to have it cut to size and have it put into the car. This took very little time indeed and Roy looked very happy at the end. The salesman was, again, very knowledgeable and helpful, so we also bought some aluminium edging and silicone for fixing it to the worktop. The total length of 410 cm was cut into 3 parts, so Roy didn’t have to muck about with his saw and it was also easier to manoeuvre the pieces into and out of the car.

 

The wizard of a machine cutting worktops

The two chaps carrying the stuff to the car

 

 

And finally, the main target of SPAR was reached, where we got almost everything on the shopping list, bar two, which is not bad going for a smallish country town supermarket. The special event came at the checkout, when I got a bit dizzy and pale, so the lovely lady behind the cash desk came out, asked if I was OK, and when I told her that this must be a sudden crash of my blood sugars, fed me with chocolate to get better. On our departure she wished us Merry Christmas, so you can see why I love Pásztó.

 

Before and after photos of the unit by the window

And the end result

 

 

Roy’s kitchen project has come about due to his admission that he is never bored as he always has a bit of DIY or gardening job on the go. I disagreed, I think it is the other way around, when he gets bored, he invents a project to keep him busy. Sometimes his ideas are a bit crazy or impractical, but this one was very good and I agreed for him to go ahead. He is difficult to live with unless he has something to fiddle with, so this project was most welcome by me, not to mention the amount of money we save when he fixes it, instead of an expensive professional.

 

The unit by the arch with its new top

The master perusing his creation

The extra bit of fun came when we went to fetch the stuff from the workshop where they cut it. It did say on the door “Entry forbidden!” but I walked in and nobody told me off. Fascinating massive machine did the cutting in a few seconds, that in the past would have taken ages. Technology, when used sensibly, is a real liberation. This place also confirmed my belief about Pásztó, as all the guys were friendly and helpful. So, after we have done everything we wanted, we went home, had lunch and needless to say, Roy started on his little project straight away. For several days the kitchen looked like a hurricane hit it, but it didn't last long and as long as he is happy, and busy, I am happy too. 

 

The finished unit by the window

The finished unit by the arch

 

 

The process was a lot faster than I expected. With the occasional bit of help from me, including carrying the massive over 6 foot long, extremely heavy worktop in from the corridor, he finished the whole thing in a few days. Of course, he has a treasure trove of bits and bobs in his workshop, so not only the two massive worktops got fitted, but the finishing touches were added and the kitchen now really looks almost like it was new.

 

The chicken thighs in special sauce

The rest of the week was less eventful, but some of it included a bit of interesting cooking, which always lights up the day. I made that online recipe with chicken thighs again, which was gorgeous, but we did realise, that all of it has to be eaten hot as leftovers, which are cold, are not nearly so nice. The sweetness seems to dominate, which is not good. I bought myself a chunk of tuna, which was absolutely delicious, we somehow managed to cook it just right: nicely seared on the outside while crumbling and underdone in the middle. 

 

 

Devrim Lingnau and Philip Froissant in The Empress

When household chores were not relentless, I managed to catch up with my TV online, including an interesting Netflix series about the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. I will have to check if some of the story line is true or not, but even if it isn't, it is well within the atmosphere and general nature of life in the Hapsburg court in the 19th century. I haven't finished all the episodes yet, but am enjoying the acting and the, by me, totally unknown cast.

 

The Grant fridge magnet on the fridge

All the magnets of the fridge

Another long awaited event has also arrived, namely an envelope with a nice little fridge magnet in it. You may recall that a few weeks ago I managed to finish my search for geocaches associated with narrow gauge railways. Apparently, there is a present that is due for all that found all 26, and that has finally arrived in the post. It is now up on the fridge/freezer's door, along with the grandsons, travel locations and a few ladybirds. 

 

 

The little train fridge magnet present

 

By next Wednesday we will be back in BP, and with a bit of luck, after the double trauma of a funeral and a doctor's visit. Details are, hopefully, in the next post.

The stove on full power, lots of concerts, the full bird feeders and St. Nicholas

We are still in the village, making up for all that time we have been away recently. Also, to have a good rest to get over our flu and in my case, the right knee problem. As for the latter, it seems quite good now, but there is still a certain amount of weakness present. The flu has left, at least me, with all sorts of niggles, like bunged noses, occasional sneezes and aching joints. To be honest, I think I am back to the time when winter is a time to be ill, so I decided that I must go and see dr. Dános and see what she thinks. When trying to make an appointment I discovered that she has left the Duna Medical Center 2 months ago. A quick search on Google, revealed her new place, so I am going to see her there in a couple of weeks.

Roaring fire in the stove

The two outstanding tasks from last week's post have been done. The washing was no probs, and neither was the firing up of the stove. This was the time when we packed the stove pretty full, to see how much heat it can produce. Well, it got so hot, that you would burn your fingers if you touched the tiles, but it doesn't keep it as long as the other one used to. Still, we have so much wood that we are not complaining. We still have some old stuff and then our 2 cubic metres of acacia, which we bought 3 years ago to burn. As it has been going for over a week now it has got the walls hot and no matter how early we stop putting wood into it in the evening, it is still warm in the morning, so lighting it up again is ever easier. The feel of the scent of the wood and the warmth has bought back the old comfy feeling into the lounge.

 

Kristóf Baráti my favourite violinist

Júlia Pusker an up and coming violin talent

One of the most exciting development this week was buying lots of concert tickets, all for January and February. Bozsa, my best friend, who has very kindly included me in her subscription ticket, where we have three or more concerts during the season and where her husband comes as well, is unfortunately nowadays so busy with the family at weekends, that can only come midweek, if we want to go just the two of us.

Gáspár Kelemen, young star of the violin

István Várdai, one of Hungary's best cellists

On the other hand, my very good friends Ági and David, are also into classical music, and I spotted an advert for a 3-day festival of the violin at the Music Academy and jumped on it. Lately we have been starved of he violin, with most concerts just having piano music. Bozsa and I are going on Friday evening, and over the whole weekend Ági and David, plus a few other mutual friends will attend 2, 3 or in some cases more concerts per day. I have got tickets to 3 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday and my favourite violinist, Kristóf Baráti, is playing or conducting on both days. 

Kristóf Baráti, handsome as ever in this old photo

After all that Ági rang to ask if I saw the ad for a Händel Marathon in the Palace of the Arts and if I wanted tickets she could get them. I said yes and as that is on 2nd February, I now have tickets to 11 concerts within the next two months. Marathons have been going for years in BP, but never before with the music of a baroque composer. I love baroque music, so I am happy. Needless to say, that when the system is like a marathon or a festival, the concerts are only an hour long, so you can include several a day.

Some blurred tits on the feeder

I wonder what he has seen over there?

 

Another lovely aspect of the winter is the return of our wild birds to the feeders. When we bought the house all those years ago, we discovered some old wooden bowls, hoppers, basins, and other rustic implements, and after a while we decided that all the wooden bowls would become bird feeders and hung them up on chains all along the corridor. Over the years we had coal tits, blue tits, great tits, gold finches, haw finches, green finches, woodpeckers, tree creepers, hoopoes, jays and a few others on the feeders, but nowadays I think all we have is great tits and the occasional finch. It is delightful to see them and I usually take some good photos of them through the window, but the fact that there is bright sky behind them make those photos a bit dark.

The writers' coffee places

The writers' eating places

Being in the country, we can do some outside activities when the sun shines, but most of the time I am engaged indoors with a variety of typically winter activities: getting ready for St. Nicholas' Day, making Christmas food shopping lists, buying present online, watching TV on my laptop, lighting the fire every morning and reading. Talking of reading, I bought two books from a Hungarian writer who likes combining interesting pastimes/activities of famous people with their habits. Like the love life of 19th century painters, or the coffee drinking habits of 20th century writers and a few other combinations. These last two books are about the eating habits and cafe visiting habits of writers, which is actually quite interesting. It tells you stuff about the people and about the places, both being quite historically interesting.

2024's family photos

2024's geocaching photos

Another fun activity for me to pass the time this week, was the putting together of collages from 2024 photos. I went for four themes: geocaching, family, friends and the village. Having to scroll through all my photos of 2024 four times, made me relive the year so far. It was fun and I hope I haven't left anyone out I should have included. I suppose, I was led by the photos that were there, but scrolling fast occasionally make you miss some.

 

Another interesting event was spotting that Pam, Roy's sister, who is 90 next year, actually clicked Like on one of my photos on FB. It reminded me that finally she managed to master her iPad and we should have contacted each other on Messenger this year. I looked it up and she last wrote in March, so I have sent her a copy of our Christmas Newsletter via Messenger, let us hope that she responds. Talking of responses, they are getting less and less every year. This year's newsletter went out over a week ago, and I had 3 messages back. 

2024's friends' photos

2024's Bér photos

 

I must go now, as the very last touches need to be done to Father Christmas's sack that will go out in the form of a geocache onto our front porch, where we hope lots of cachers, including their children, will come between 6th and 16th December to log the cache and take the sweets and little presents from within.

Lili and Dani, our best friends in the village

We wish you a happy St. Nicholas/Father Christmas Day with lots of chocolates and other presents!

Happy St. Nicholas' Day