The season's first bad lurgy and Roy's 75th birthday

I was thinking back on this year and I must admit, it has been amazingly free of colds and flu. I did have two bad accidents, one in Slovenia in early spring and the other in the SW in August (both orienteering related), but no lurgies.  Well, this one I have now is definitely trying to make up for it. Digestion troubles, tummy ache, sore throat, headaches, sneezes and bad, bad coughing, which aggravates the already seriously painful throat. Plus it makes me feel I am choking. Obviously, as it starts loosening up, the pain will subside, but I am prone to post viral fatique, so I will not be out of these woods for ages yet.  The really bad luck, of course, is that we are off to Toronto on Thursday, so whatever happens, I will not quite be up to most of the fun and games being planned. Drat!!

Callum the 7year old big boy

Way back last Thursday, when I went to the doctors for my regular prescriptions, I already had a sore throat, but it was not particularly bad and as she is not exactly nice to be with, I just got my repeat prescriptions and quickly scarpered. By the time we got into town on Friday I was feeling dreadful. This, unfortunately, put paid to practically everything we were planning to do over the weekend and beyond.

First of these would have been putting out Sunday's Hash route and then attend the Hash on Sunday. I had to call it off, while I wheezed away in bed feeling wretched. There were other surreptitious plans afoot, like having a surprise birthday dinner for Roy on Monday evening at the Zila, including fancy birthday cake, but that had to be cancelled as well. At least both my not haring on Sunday and not having the dinner party in the Zila enabled Ian to attend some fancy Sunday brunch in the Corinthia Hotel which we fortunately weren't invited to, or I would have had to cry off that too. Also, as soon as it became clear that Monday evening was off and with Ros having arrived on Sunday evening, Ian quickly got a couple of tickets for the BFO concert which, they told us later, was very good indeed.

Las Sunday's hash circle

My medicines had to be got and, of course, the cake had to be fetched.  The former was done by the ever attentive Roy, while Ian volunteered to go out and fetch the cake and deliver it on Tuesday. They appeared today, brought a card and a couple of books as a present, while the cake was unveiled much to Roy's surprise. We decided that with only a couple of days before we leave and due to my delicate condition I couldn't  eat much of it, that we should freeze the cake and have it at a party to be arranged for sometime in November when Ros and Ian are back.

The Birthday Cake

I presented Ros and Ian with a jar of jam, the making of which they have assisted us in in the summer and a box of truffels and petit fours that I have made last week. I also managed to get them a couple of tickets to the Opera, which were spare anyway (us being away in Canada and Bozsa having the same program twice on two different subscription tickets). I hope they enjoy it.

Ian, Roy and Ros with the cake

I am now back in bed, trying to nurse this bloody cold to make it disappear.  It is not getting better at all, wich was to be expected. I wonder if I'll manage to catch a secondary infection on the aeroplane, which is quite common due to recyled air? I hope not. I am really looking forward to seeing Alex, Meaghan and Callum, as well as Heather and Lyle. I don't see them too often, once a year max, so it is really miserable to get ill for the rare occasion a Canadian visit comes round.

Little trains, hikes, caches and the Hash

It is less than a week since I last posted, but a lot happened, so before we depart from the village I thought I would report back on the happenings of the last short week.

Our first little locomotive with one carriage

On Saturday we opened our eyes and it was raining. I don't frighten too easy, especially not by rain, so we got up, had breakfast and were almost ready to go when Zsuzsi phoned that the forecast is so dire for the very hills where we were going that they are not coming.  To be honest I wasn't surprised.  She was always a fair weather outdoor enthusiast, so that left Ian, Roy and me.

Roy looking happy

We got our backpacks, raincoats, brollies and left to pick up Ian on time.  He was waiting for us at the agreed corner, so we were off up the M2 to the Börzsöny. It was quite heavily raining en route, so I said to the boys that I am still keen to do the train trip, but will decide on the basis of the actual weather at the top, if I want to go for the moving cache about 5km from the station and then meet them at the bottom on the other side of the hills, where the last leg of the train journey would take them without getting wet and muddy.

Ian looking deadly serious

We arrived at Szob quite early, so it looked as if the trains were not running.  No sign of any little train and or passengers waiting. I did ring the phone number on the information board just to make sure they are running and a friendly male voice at the other end assured me that they would be with us in a few minutes.  That was about 20 minutes, but by then there were others waiting too and in due time a cute little engine arrived quietly puffing. It is no longer a steam engine, but a Diesel one, but it was cute all the same.

The modern new wagon/engine

The carriage had windows and a woodburning stove inside, so I knew we would not be cold, even though a fire wasn't lit in it. We were only going 7km up as far as Márianosztra, which has a perfectly good tarmac road to it, so later Roy and I agreed that perhaps next time we'll start from there. Márianosztra is famous for its old gaol and a few other places, moreover it has a few geocaches in and around it, so I am sure I will visit it in the future.

The second leg of the journey was the one that enabled you to travel right across the hills from its SW edge by the river to its very middle at the top of a valley a lot further North. EU money and a lot of enthusiasm enabled the engineering work to lay the track, build the station at the top and provide a very clever Diesel  driven carriage with inbuilt engine to take you quite high up.

The start of the hike on the cycle lane

You have to pay three times and change twice on this trip, but nobody minded, it was such fun. When we got to Nagyirtás, the end of the second leg, I happily noted that the rain had stopped and it didn't look too gloomy to risk my hike. However, by this time not only Roy, but Ian also chickened out, so I had to do my perambulations on my own. What is more, looking at the state of the hiking path my eyes were drawn to the tarmac forestry road, which has now been marked up for use by cyclists and I decided to pretend to be a cyclist on foot. This decision was to save me from getting muddy to my nose, sliding about and perhaps having another accident, but it also added a minimum of 4 or 5km to the distance.

The hills are steaming

Never mind, I thought, now that I am on my own and not having to fit in with anybody else, I can dictate myself a pretty fast speed and hopefully get  to meet up with the boys with enough time to have lunch somewhere (although I did have some sandwiches just in case) and catch the train back.

Forest flora

The cycle track sign said 11km to Nagybörzsöny, but I also had to backtrack with my moving cache (assuming I was going to find it) so it was going to be somewhere between 12 and 13km long. I was motoring at such an amazing pace that I had to take both my fleece and raincoat off, I was getting so hot.  The forest was magical.  Total silence, not even bird song disturbed my hike.  I didn't meet a single soul, bar a small deer by the side of the road, but by the time I got the camera out she was gone. It was really fantastic to have the entire forest to myself, I was really enjoying it.

Pretty balcony in Nagybörzsöny

Soon I found the cache, which has been there for about a month, so it was rather muddy and dirty, rubbing it off on me as I was desperately trying to keep it away from me.  I walked back about 750m until I found a suitable hiding place for it. I bagged yet another moving cache and with that one I now have found at least once about half of them out there. About a km after I got back from my detour of placing the cache the tarmac ran out and the road started climbing.  Until then there was very little climb, it was mostly level or downhill.

Ian with next door's pussycat

This new bit was muddier than the tarmac, but it was metalled, so I could concentrate on walking on the stones and was still reasonably clean when I arrived in Nagybörzsöny. Sweet little mountain village with lots of pretty houses, but some dereliction too. I asked someone where the restaurant I agreed to meet the boys was and they sent me directly for it.  As I turned the corner Roy and Ian were obviously waiting for me by sitting outside on the terrace and waved as soon as they spotted me.

The intrepid lads getting ready for their return journey

They have apparently just ordered themselves some food, so I quickly decided what I wanted and ordered too. Ian had hunter's stew, while Roy and I had sztrapacska, a Slovak speciality of small dumplings with sheep's curds, sour cream and crackling. I shouldn't eat most of its ingredients, but I love it and decided that I have deserved a treat after doing 12.5km in 3 hours.

The third leg's engine with the open carriage behind it

After our repast we paid the bill and slowly walked off to the train station, which we didn't have to look for as the boys have come from there in the first place. This was the third leg that I have not yet been on and it had the special treat of the switchback which facilitated its climb out of the valley up the hill to the top. The only downside of this trip was the open carriage with no windows, which made it necessary to put on all our clothes we carried. The weather changed from 36+ Celsius to barely 10 Celsius in just over a week.

A railway sign on the way down

I took lots of photos right along, both on the morning train trip and on the hike, but when we got to the switchback on this leg I changed to the video camera. The best bit was when the engine was pushing, not pulling, the carriage and I could video the climb without anything in my way, except for a few seconds when the railwayman jumped across in readiness to change the points before the next switch.

Márianosztra church

At the end of this leg we got out again where I left the boys all those hours ago in the morning, caught the modern one again and then at Márianosztra waited about 20 minutes for the next and last train. The weather was not particularly nice, but I hardly got wet all day and at the very end even the sun had come out for a short while. My hike was in the dry, except for the last couple of kilometres when there was some thunder and a bit of rain.  But I got to the restaurant before it started raining in earnest and it stopped again for our walk to the station. It was well worth going and I am now in love with the Börzsöny. I'll be back for sure, as those mountains are full of geocaches as well glorious woods, hills and valleys.

Some of the crowd at Batthány Square

I was sore in some places, but slept very well and was ready for the next adventure, the hash. I had to go, as I was delivering Bankrupt's T-shirt which he ordered months ago.  Unfortunately, in spite of promising to be there he wasn't. His accident the previous Sunday had laid him low and he chickened out. Fortunately Baldrick took the shirt from me and even paid me for it with view to getting it back from Bankrupt when he hands the T-shirt over.

Others at the square

As we were waiting for the latecomers I saw a map in Baldrick's hand and some excited conferences took place with Rabies and Tititata. Oh God, I thought, what have I let myself in for? Baldrick is known for his death marches and I'm afraid this Sunday's hash run proved to be yet another one of those.  First we got on the Metro to get to the Southern Railway Station for a 25 minute train journey to Biatorbágy. Then we waited about 15 minutes for the hares (Baldrick and Tititata) to get ahead and then followed.  I foolishly thought that this place had no mountains round it, well I was wrong.  Or perhaps they were only hills, but after Saturday's exertions they felt like mountains.

The first pretty view as we climbed higher

Needless to say I got pretty much left behind by the rest of them, although two of the girls stayed with me, I don't know whether they did that out of solidarity or because they couldn't have gone any faster either.  Probably a bit of both. Initially it was quite boring, running across fields and thick forest, but after a short but cruel climb we found ourselves at the top edge of some cliffs with beautiful views. It was positively lethal to get too close to the edge, but I really enjoyed that bit.

Heading for the rocks

After coming off of there we had still some more distance to cover until we arrived at the restaurant where we held the circle and partook of some beer and food. The final distance was 16.7km, for which we nearly lynched Baldrick, but then we relented, mostly under the influence of a beer called Oktoberfest. It was probably the tastiest lager I have ever had, it was gorgeous and as I forgot to bring any water with me I fell upon the first pint with great enthusiasm.  The circle was really funny, I enjoyed it so much that foolishly I offered to be the hare this coming Sunday, which I have now decided to do in the 14th district of town with a few parks thrown in.  The restaurant I have in mind is our favourite the Regős, which reminds me to give them a ring to book a table.

The rocks

By the time I got home I was as stiff as a board.  Or the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz after being left out in the rain. I think the weekend's combined distance of nearly 30km was pushing it a bit. I hope to take it easy in the next few weeks, although I am sure Callum will have other ideas.

At the restaurant for dinner

Oktoberfest beer! Yum, yum!!

The other event of Sunday was the Singapore Grand Prix, which was won by Rosberg again, with Lewis being third. It is now beginning to look as if Rosberg is heading for his first title, because there is something wrong in Lewis's head.  He lost his va va voom. Currently Rosberg is flying and Lewis is definitely lacklustre.  Unless he snaps out of it soon, he won't catch him. Let us hope I am wrong, but it looks like I am not.

Rosberg happy, Lewis looks just about how I feel about this race

On Monday we came down to the village and after a short shopping trip we both arrived looking a bit done in.  I then proceeded to sleep 4 hours in the afternoon, which showed the extent to which these two hikes took it out of me, but it also buggered up my sleeping pattern, which is only slowly returning as I write this.  As we are going to town tomorrow, I hope I will be on the straight by then.

Interestingly shaped rose

On Tuesday I did some gardening, as the roses needed pruning and tidying and the potted strawberry plants and the cacti needed indoor space somewhere with light, but not much heat. The roses are still blooming beautifully and were tidied quickly, while Roy did some mowing, harvested and stored away the last of the apples and put the swing away for the winter.

Lovely apples from one of the trees

Yesterday then I spent the afternoon making petit fours and truffels not yet for Christmas, just because we had all the ingredients and I felt like it. In total I made 52 petit fours, all with molten chocolate on the top with either walnuts or cherries.  As there was some chocolate and cream left I also made 20 truffels and then put all of them into little boxes which I have been collecting for this very purpose. It is very relaxing to make sweets and they make marvellous presents as well as being delicious to eat yourself.  Not that I am allowed to eat any, you understand, but perhaps I can be naughty a bit this week! :-)

Petit fours with cherries and/or walnuts

And finally, this morning we had a lovely surprise.  Joop, our very good Dutch friend and neighbour, who has a holiday cottage just up the road, turned up. We told him of our strange experience with Noud and Mieke earlier in the summer, when they swore that they rang the bell and we didn't let them in, while we were here and neither of us heard a thing.  Never mind, Joop would never do that, he would come right in and knock on the door.  Which is what he did, much to our delight. We told him that tonight is about the only chance we have to spend some time with them, as we are leaving tomorrow, so he invited us for dinner.  And this is where the petit fours and truffels come in. I have already decided to make up a large(ish) box of the sweets for Ros and Ian for next week, but now I can make up another box for Margreet and Joop to accompany the bottle of red that we are also taking tonight. I am really looking forward to it, as they are such lovely people and such good company.

PS.: We have just got back from Joop and Margreet's where an absolutely delightful meal and good company was had. We had lentils with salad, toast and garlic sour cream, followed by stewed apples with cream. It was delicious and we had a good chinwag all evening. I am now going to bed and finish packing tomorrow morning.

Long gap

Life has been hectic, so there has been a 10 day gap since posting. I think there was something happening on the day of my last post, which didn't make it into that post.  We had an e-mail from Sheila about Pam's latest plans to travel in Europe. While most of these plans have not come to fruition in the last 10 or so years, we decided to forestall anything that might happen, so I rang her.

Pam, Roy and Sheila in February 2013

Considering that we saw her just over 3 years ago at Sheila's 80th, I was hoping that no further urgent plans would form, but you can never tell with her. She told me that she was feeling the need to get the three of them (Sheila, her and Roy) together for one last time before they all start popping their clogs.  I suppose one should have sympathy with her feelings, as none of them is getting any younger and perhaps it is important to get together before one or more of them can't travel any more,  However, listening to Sheila not really cherishing the prospect of travelling with Pam, as well as the total unreliability of her planning, sudden changes and inevitable cancellation at the last minute, somehow none of us felt the feasibility of it being too great. I told her as much and now we await what she decides.  Personally, I am fairly sure nothing will happen, just as nothing happened after a lot of talking time and time again in the last 10 or so years. We'll see!!

Two tone rose from the garden

Last Wednesday we went to  visit a rather sick old friend, whom we didn't know was sick. János Hrncsjár was our painter and decorator since we had the properties in the village and a very good friend to boot. I have noticed that I haven't seen him about for ages, and it was only last month that I asked somebody from the village, only to be told that he had a bad stroke 3 years ago and was almost bedridden. Then at the last dinner at the Mill our waitress told us that she was his daughter and how much the old man would love to see us. So we went.  He was so pleased to see us, we spent over an hour chatting and now we decided that we would go regularly to cheer him up and generally be good Samaritans. He is a lovely old man, even being half paralalyzed and well worth chatting to.

A fancy salmon pink rose

On Thursday we had the map making brigade over for dinner and we had an absolutely delightful time with them.  They brought us over a gallon of home made white wine, which was delicious and really dry, just as I like it. Roy cooked an English roast and it went down extremely well.

The lookout tower in Mátrafüred

On that day we also went out to shop at Tesco's and included a small amount of caching into the bargain. we started with a study route with information boards, which was OK, except there was no visible path to go along, so it was a bit jungle-like. Unfortunately an invisible, buzzing something stung me on my face, which was really painful for a while, so that was not a particularly auspicious beginning. We also looked for one around a tunnel, which was missing, got an easy one in a village near the town where Tesco's is and then got a multi in the town where we went shopping. That was Roy's unofficial limit of 4 caches done, after which we did some food shopping.  Still no microwave, it seems they do not make large ones any more.

The view from the first cache

And then on Friday evening Zsuzsi and Robi arrived.  On Saturday, as neither of us entered the orienteering we went geocaching/hiking in and around Gyöngyös. I planned 7, but finally we only did 6. The late summer/early autumn heatwave was still in evidence, so we got so hot by the middle of the afternoon that we cut it short, but all in all the day added up to about 8km for me, a few interesting caches and a fall down a steep, slippery hill side. The first cache was an easy one. Steep hill on the edge of a village where there used to be an earth fort.  Got that by walking up along a serpentine path along old and new wine cellars. Second one was the one Roy and I couldn't find the previous week for the lack of the TomTom. That was in 3 parts, one in the village and the other two just outside. The next two were supposed to be just one, but there we got lucky.  As the heat was getting unbearable, we scrapped a few I planned first and went for the one where we had to walk to it in a forest.  It hought it might be cooler there and I was right.  We also included a springside picnic place where we had our sandwhiches and drank from the spring, which tasted great. Once we were near the cache by an old lookout tower, it occurred to me that there must be another one nearby which I heard about, but did not look up. Yippeeee! It was 2 minutes away.  So we got that one, as well as the originally planned one by the lookout tower. The extra one commemorated the nearby adventure park, which was built into an abandoned quarry and sported lots of different, exiting things for adults and children alike.

Zsuzsi by the big cross  at the second cache

The last two were rather adventurous and by then my friends were slowly, but surely, breaking down. The penultimate cache was one that I didn't attempt the last time with Roy, because there was no way I was going to scramble down overgrown rocks on my own. This time Robi came with me and it was a lot easier than it looked from above. The last one, however,  was definitely not fancied by either of them, but Robi, a gentleman he is, came with me all the same. That is where I fell down on the way back down, because some of the steps built of earth and logs were missing and then having slipped on a bare bit I fell down and hit my back on one of the still intact logs behind me.  Ouch!!

This incident also gave evidence that today's youngsters can be and are just as nice as we fancy ourselves to have been all those years ago. As I fell down I screamed for Robi to come and help me, but instead about half a dozen complete strangers came running from the other direction. They were young people who were picnicking by a lake just round the corner and having heard my cries came running to offer help.  I was really touched. Never again will I whinge about today's youth!! The total tally for last Saturday was 6 caches and about 8km covered on foot. It would have been a lot more enjoyable without the heatwave, but it was still lovely all the same.

Zsuzsi and Robi admiring the adventure park

On Sunday Zsuzsi and Robi have departed for the orienteering and the mapping crew left about the same time we did. This stint in the village was very productive, busy and enjoyable. We are now in town and will only get back next Monday.  We are also busy with guests, things to do, outing, hikes and geocaching, so we can't complain of boredom at all.  I have never knows what boredom feels like and I don't think I ever will!!

Gun and Janne arrived on Monday and we have been rather busy ever since. we went on a walk in town with them on Monday afternoon, which was lovely, but as I forgot to take my camera, so there aren't any photos of it. Tuesday I went to the hairdresser and then I went with them to the baths, followed by a delicious lunch at the Regős, where Roy joined us. In the afternoon we did a down the river ride on the no. 19 tram on the other side, followed by a walk across Liberty bridge and back home on this side on tram no. 2. It got dark before we got home, but the weather was a balmy 24 degree Celsius even at 9pm.  I forgot the camera yet again, so no photos of this trip either!!

On Wednesday we had dental apointments and I didn't feel particularly bright in the morning, so Roy went with Gun and Janne to the Citadel, while I was trying to catch up with stuff and have a rest. That went pretty well, so did the dentist and in the afternoon Gun and Janne struck out on their own and visited the Memento Park, followed by dinner on their own. This gave us a respite and them some privacy. They loved the old communist era statues, which I expected.

Gun and Janne at the Julianus lookout tower

And then yesterday I went on a long hike with them in the Börzsöny, including 3 geocaches, one of them a moving one.  This time I managed to remember the camera, so most of the photos in this post are from this day. Originally I was going to drive, but we changed the transport arrangements to using the train, and that was fun. It took less than an hour to get out there and the hike took us just under 6 hours, we covered 8km, 400m of height climb and took us to some amazing vantage points where photography was amazing in terms of views. We took sandwhiches and ate them at one picnic spot and had fun with the caches too.

The first one was yet another moving one, which wasn't easy to find.  I was under the impression that it was in a usual little kitchen plastic box, but it turned out to be just in a tatty carrier bag. Somebody must have nicked it, but at least he/she left the contents of the box, so we could take that on about a km away and placed it again. In the meantime I found another one in a thorny thicket. What I thought about the guy who placed it cannot be repeated here for fear of offending my more sensitive readers!!

One of the many views from the tower

The last one was near a lovely old lookout tower from 1939, where 360 degree views were vowing everyone. We could photograph a complete 180 degree bend in the river with a medieaval castle on the other side and many fascinating details besides.  While the route up to it was horrendously steep, everybody agreed that the climb was well worth it.

We got back into the village below in time to buy a large bottle of water which was all quaffed down furiously and then caught the train home soon after. We were home well before 6pm, hot, sticky and knackered, but very happy.  In the early evening Gun and Janne took us out to the Regős for a farewell dinner, which was delicious again and this time they could meet the owner of the restaurant, who is a delightul man.

4 of us at the Regős

This morning they are catching a taxi to the airport and we are taking Ian out for a lunch at the Zila. Tomorrow we are off to the Börzsöny again for a narrow gauge train trip with a hike in the middle and on Sunday hopefully I can attend the Hash. On Monday we are off back to the village for a bit of a rest and then getting ready for Canada. Hopefully I'll post before we go, but if I run out of time, only from there.

A month on from the accident

A good week, both busy and relaxing. For Tuesday last week, as intimated at the end of my last post, we were planning an outing. It basically came about by the microwave blowing up. We thought we might go into the nearest biggish town to see what we can replace it with and once we were out of the house, I might get a few caches in as well.

My route to the moving cache

The microwave was a non-starter, so that's left to when we are next in the city, but the caching was pretty good, if not totally successful. The main target was a moving cache, which is called "Cycling mover". I usually ignore these, as I don't have a bike and anyway, my back would not take the stress of mountain biking. However, when I read the cache page, it transpired that this one can be moved on foot as well, if somebody hasn't got a bike.  So I qualified.  It was in the next range of hills and about 2km down from the nearest road.  Roy stayed in the car, I trotted off and, it being a weekday, I had the forest all to myself.  It was heavenly. The weather looked a bit iffy, but it only started raining, and even then not much, as I got back to the car. All in all I did about 4km and nothing hurt. The knee held up beautifully and coped with the downhill adequately.  Downhill is always harder on knees than uphill, but there was no pain, no weekness and no swelling.  So far so good!

The next cache was near a lookout tower, so there was not much walking involved, but that was replaced by some serious rock scrambling.  With my knee being still on the vaguely dodgy side, I had to be very careful indeed.  But I managed it, so that was good too.

The lookout tower

The next one was called "Wine and Cheese in Réde". Cute village with a lovely row of wine cellars and an even nicer goat farm.  The lady in the farm was really lovely and we bought some goat cheese in return.

Our problems started in the next village. We did notice quite early on that I forgot to bring the TomTom, so the rough navigation had to be done by map and guesswork.  I still had the hand held Garmin GPS for fine navigation, but getting roughly into the right area was now unassisted.  The first three were easy, but in the next village we got completely lost and were going round and round.  In the mantime the weather got hot again, so we abandoned it in favour of getting home. Still, for my first proper caching outing this was great and as the area was not that far from home, we could always get back there any time in the future.

Brow alpine goats that give a lot of rich milk

The farmhouse veranda in the goat farm

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent mostly on the  computer, occasionally insterspersed with watching TV and reading a book. The weather stayed nice, so I was trying to do as much reading and computer work outside, either in the pavilion or on the swing. One afternoon, I even managed to drop off for a nap on the swing.

I have a large pile of books that I have been buying over the last couple of years, but not all of which I have had time to read yet. This time I started reading a thriller, which was the fourth book by the same author in a kind of series of stories. The first one about 4 or 5 years ago I really loved, then the second was OK, but less sensational, while the third one I didn't enjoy nearly as much as the earlier ones.  When this one came out I hesitated whether to bother, but I am glad I did, because it is fascinating. Thrillers have always been my weakness and this one is truly thrilling.

On the TV I started watching DCI Banks, Poldark and Ripper Street again. All are very enjoyable, well written and acted, so they are good for relaxation.

DCI Banks

Aidan Turner in Poldark

Ripper Street

On Sunday there were two events that I was looking forward to: the Italian Grand Prix from Monza and going out to the Mill for lunch again. The first has never happened, because I accidentally found out the result after coming back from the Mill and as it was not a pleasing one from my point of view I threw a wobbler and refused to see it. I am usually able to cope with being angry with bad luck, or the team or the rules etc., etc., but when Lewis is the stupid one, that is very annoying.  He apparently spun his wheels at the start, lost pole and never managed to catch Rosberg.  He deserved to be second, but I was in too much of a huff to want to see it. Perhaps, when I calm down I might watch it on the net, but I doubt it, as I have enough to do this week not to have the time.

The other plan, however, came to pass and we had a really nice lunch again at the Mill. This time I had a large Sotanghon soup and a chocolate brownie, while Roy had a Phillipino chicken dish which he said was good too. The house wine is still beautifully dry and cooled just to the temperature I like it. So we still like going there to eat!

The Restaurant photographed from the upper millpond

The other main event of the week was the final touches applied to the new shower. Roy put three layers of yacht varnish on the wooden bit and then did the caulking on the inside. That had to harden for 24 hours, after which he ceremoniously had a shower in it.  All went well, until the last few minutes when a small puddle formed on the bathroom floor. We identified where the water was coming from, then had to dry it and he had since redone the caulking in that corner. It is drying out today, but this time I will test it and hope for no more puddles anywhere. It really looks lovely and I think that was a good effort by both of us.

During the week Roy also did some good work on researching the family of the 18th century miller, Adamus Barsuta, who probably was the first to work the mill at Mill Court.  It was an unusual name, so we hoped for an easy time tracking him and his family down.  That was not the case.  We did find some of them later in nearby villages, but ours had no more of them.  While going back in time, the only place we found some was in present day Slovakia, which was part of the Hapsburg Empire in those days. We can't prove any of it, but our provisional conclusions are that the landowner, who had the mill built, brought him and his family in to start up and operate the mill.  Later, as his family grew and anyway he must have been ambitious to get on, he moved onto villages where there were more and bigger mills. I hope Feri and Anna will be pleased with the research and make something of it to enhance the history of Mill Court.

The stone nameplate on the mill

Yesterday, our mapping crew had arrived and installed themselves in the Kottage. Janó, Marci and Gabi make an excellent team of orienteering mappers and they are working in our hills to revise the old map and produce an extension Eastwards. They are staying for a week, as the event is getting quite close, it's on at the third weekend of October. I might have a go at an easy, short course then, but I don't want to endanger the recovery of my knee, so I might not.  We'll see!

Yesterday I also realised that I invited friends for this coming weekend, when I had an Opera ticket in town for Saturday night.  Oops! It is entirely my mistake. I usually put all performances I have tickets for in my diary, but for some reason or other, this year I have not put in any of the Opera/musical dates on my 3 subscription tickets. I have put down everything else, concerts, theatre etc., but not the ones in the Opera.  Drat!, So, yesterday I spent some time finding somebody to give it to, so it isn't wasted.  My friend, Kati, who sits next to me in that musical theatre, said she would bring her daughter, so that was taken care of.  As the musical on was Billy Elliot I thought they might not have it on all season, so I quickly bought a ticket for myself for an October date just to be on the safe side. That was the real punishment for my forgetfulness, as it cost more than double than it did as part of the subscription ticket. The job of writing down all the performances in my diary still awaits.

One set of kids in Billy Elliot in the Erkel Theatre

And finally, the only event worth a mention from today is the fact that I treated myself to a new camera and bought one on Amazon this morning. My old camera is unfortunately given to hissy fits and has some dirt in the lens, which needs clearing out.  The service centre is so far on the other side of the river that I haven't had the time to get there and anyway, if they want too much for it I won't bother.  That is a shame, because that camera still takes lovely pictures and is less than two years old.  However, the new one does something that the old one doesn't and that helped to make up my mind.

I have a friend, called Andor, who is a superb photographer and he takes all his pictures in RAW and then manipulates them with a piece of photoediting software. This is rather time consuming and I will never spend a tenth of time he does on them, but I really fancy having a go and perhaps improving the look of some of mine like that.  He has been nagging me to do the same as he does, but until now I didn't have a camera that would have the facility. So, watch this space, I'll report back once I have taken possession of it, how this RAW lark works.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ70EB-K Compact Digital Camera - Black

We are off to town on Sunday afternoon, after our guests for this weekend have departed. We'll be there for about a week or longer if we need to. Talking of friends, we are having Gun and Janne arriving next Monday and staying for 5 days. We are also preparing for our trip to Canada, which is not that far away now. I'll post next week if I manage to find an empty hour or so while our guests are asleep or out.