Back in the village, cleaning, cooking and making beds, Ági and David for the weekend, caching hike and the "Witch's Rock"

Last Wednesday we got back to Bér and work was jumped into instantly. I got on the tractor and did most of the area the tractor can be used on. Roy was simultaneously using the petrol mower with the self propelled movement on the bits close to the house and a few other places. We got very tired very quickly, plus the oldest mower broke down, so some of it was not done, but still, the whole of the back garden looked really lovely. We noticed how much the roses grown since we left over two weeks ago and enjoyed their beauty and scent.

My most beautiful rose that is also my favourite

I made up the Ági and David's bed, we cleaned the house, did a load of washing, so you can imagine how knackered we both got before Ági and David arrived, somewhat late due to Friday afternoon traffic, around quarter to 7. We fell on the dinner pretty sharpish as the menu, while awfully posh, was very quick and easy to prepare. Roy and I were using Ági and David as guinea pigs for trying out surf and turf, which we have been planning to have for ages, but now the opportunity came.

Roy, Ági and David round the table

 

I can say with some certainty that it went down a treat. Fillet steak and prawns do go down well most of the time, but as it was the first time we made it, we were very pleased to see how quickly it disappeared. The evening was spent by chatting, drinking and generally catching up on things. For someone who came out of hospital not so long ago, David looked quite well. I proposed that we should pick up a geocache in Slovakia, as part of our outing on Saturday, and this plan was accepted.

Fillet steak, prawns, rice and salad - yum, yum!!

After a nice big breakfast we all piled into David's car, which actually seats 7 and drove to the other side of the border into Slovakia, just North of Somoskőújfalu. The cache was in a magical little valley, which led us to an impressive rock wall, with a waterfall in the middle. Unfortunately, due to severe drought over the last 3 or 4 years, it was not running, but the place was still most impressive. I found the cache quickly, hidden in a very crafty way, but with some experience in finding caches, it took me about 10 seconds.

Ági and David where the waterfall should be

 

Roy stayed behind at the rest place at the beginning of the valley and looked quite nicely rested when we returned. At this point we decided that we would drop in to the inn near the border for something to drink and then drive up to the Witch's Rock, which is not far from the car park, but still provides a little scrambling and a magnificent panorama. Roy stayed behind to look after the car and we walked the 700 metres to the rock. Ági was a tad out of her comfort zone, but that shows an even more honourable achievement when she found herself on the ridge of the big rock.

On the ridge

Us girls have stayed on the ridge, but David went and conquered the top of the Witch's Rock and looked like a real climber. After all this excitement and adventure we drove back home where Roy attacked the giant piece of pork that Ági and David brought. All of us seemed a bit tired, David not surprisingly, so soon after his hospital stay, but the rest of us also desired our beds a lot sooner than normal. This made me have a long sleep, albeit with some interruptions due to indigestion, which was not surprising, as I ate and drank just in two days, about the quantity I normally consume in a whole week.

David and I with the drone

Sunday nobody felt like going out, so we stayed in and tried to make my little drone, that I had as a present from Stephen some time ago, work. David is a real wizard in working out how impossible, daft and not very well put together gadgets work. We finally managed to activate the drone from his iPhone, as the damned thing would not connect to my Android phone at all. Once it seemed to work, we went out into the garden to play with it. It made us half a dozen short little videos, while displaying all the formations it can do.

Yippeee, it flies!

There were  6 buttons to push, but according to David the last one has to be individually programmed by the owner, so we stayed with the 5 pre-programmed ones. They are: 1. it follows you; 2. it goes round you; 3. you go round it; 4. it goes away from you for a few metres and then comes back; 5. it goes straight up above your head about 4 metres, but we all thought it went up a lot further than that, and then comes back. Once all these little videos were made, we came back to my laptop to see if we could save and play them. Needless to say it wasn't particularly easy to sort the formats and other painful problems, but David, with his patience and positive attitude, managed to fix it. The only thing that has not been achieved is the connection to my Android phone. It really didn't want to know. But still, I was over the Moon and am now planning to use it as soon as I can. I think I will take it with me when I go geocaching and hiking with Csilla this weekend. We'll see whether I understand and remember what to do. If not, I'll pack it back into its little box, which thankfully does not weigh much.

Ági and David left us around 4:30 on Sunday afternoon and since then we have been getting over the tiredness that all those activities, no matter how much we enjoyed them, caused. Danny Glover's "I'm too old for this shit!" slogan did pop into my mind several times during the weekend. Still, if possible, I'd do in all over again in a jiffy, as Ági and David's company is so nice and they are such lovely people, that it is joy to be near them under all circumstances.

Tracker's Justin Hartley

As a form of recovery, on Monday I caught up with all my outstanding US procedurals and enjoyed a whole bunch of brilliant final episodes for this season. Final episodes can have various format and tricks up their sleeves, but the 8 hours' worth of stuff that I watched over Monday and Tuesday had come up with practically all of them. Their were cliff hangers, there were big bangs, there were unexpected sudden crises, while one or two just finished without any fuss. They were all very enjoyable and I will be back in the autumn to watch them all over again.

The five Marshals

On the medical side, I had the results for the abdominal MRI and have no idea what exactly it means, so I will have to make another appointment with dr. Peter Endre to have the conclusions out of the plenty of Latin and other jargon that I have currently got. The cervical smear results have still not come. Apparently, they have just got it and it has to be shown to a consultant for the conclusions and recommendations, before it is sent to me.

Otherwise now I am trying to have a rest, so that I am in good condition for the hike on Saturday. I have written the cache list, arranged the transport and am looking forward to it quite a lot. Next post next Wednesday, as usual. By then we should be back in BP. 

Some more doctors, blood tests, mammogram, MRI and a return to the village

Last Wednesday I went to see my ENT surgeon who was a disappointment this time. First of all, she was 20 minutes late and then the guy that came after us, but obviously had the first appointment, was in for 35 minutes. A consultation is usually 30 minutes, so she was running 25 minutes late. I am sorry to have to write this, but she tried to make her lateness made up by having me for only about 15 to20 minutes. She advised that I have a hearing test, but did not address my main concern, which was a set of very disturbing and loud scratching noises in my right ear. She also completely ignored my throat, which should have also been looked at. Great shame, but I will have to look for a new ENT surgeon if the noise in my ear gets a lot worse.

The food shopping that was put off the day before, had to be done on Wednesday. We went to Lidl on King Street and managed to get home with very little walking, which considering the weight we were carrying was very good. The first trolley bus, the no. 70 came straight outside Lidl, and the next one, the no. 76 came in about 4 or 5 minutes. The longest walk was from the theatre to our flat, but even that was not more than about 200 yards. 

Thursday started quite early and without  breakfast. I had a blood test at 8:40 am, to which you always have to turn up on an empty stomach. Once the medical vampires finished, I had a very nice and large Pink Lady apple and a croissant, that Roy brought with him to stop my blood sugar levels collapsing. From the hospital we headed to the next appointment in an establishment I haven't been in before. It is called the Wáberer Medical Center. the owner is one of the most famous (or infamous) entrepreneurs in Hungary. He has been into transport, construction and now medical clinics,  but dr. Gerő, my gynaecologist, recommended them to me, so off we went. I had that long overdue mammogram, that dr. Gerő was upset about and I went for the comprehensive test with ultrasound and immediate results. She showed me the cysts that the mammogram showed on the screen, but the ultrasound confirmed to be benign. I hope she is right, but I had to promise her that I will go back yearly, just to be on the safe side. At £150 a go, it's not exactly cheap, but health comes first, as I always say.

The "Crazy Market" building

After we have finished at Wáberer's, we headed to what we call the crazy market, due to its weird building. It is the best market to get fillet steak and we ended up buying about a £50 worth of half fillet. We are having David and Ági for the weekend and Roy is planning to cook a surf and turf. With reference to the latter, en route to Lidl on the day before, we popped in to our favourite Asian food shop and bought two enormous bags of king prawns. This meal should be a great treat, I hope our guests will enjoy it too.

And it was in the late afternoon/early evening when suddenly I started getting chest pains, followed by nausea, extended puffed up stomach and pains everywhere eventually. I really didn't know what to do, but at one point I was so sure that I was having a heart attack that nearly called an ambulance. I put it off, hoping that it'll pass, and while it did that very slowly, my all round cure of drinking lots of sparkling water seemed to ease it a bit. About 11 pm it got good enough that I managed to go to sleep, but I have already decided that who knows what the hell is wrong with me, so I had to cry off my three days of geocaching at the Spring Geocaching Festival and Competition in the South, with Heni, Józsi and Szabolcs. The main problem was that I was supposed to take the Duster and now they have not only lost their driver, but the car too.

Heni at the last weekend's event

I wrote to Heni and she was really nice and just wished me a quick recovery and assured me that they will solve the problem themselves. They promised to keep in touch, to enquire after how I am and probably send some photos from the countryside they would be visiting and the event in Almamellék. I was most upset, not only missing my caching, but causing such problems to Heni and the others. As it happens, they took their own car, which in spite of being about 20 years old, was still going. Later on Friday I received the first set of photos, but I was quietly having the odd cry, I was so upset not being with them. Amazingly, after a good night's sleep I was getting a great deal better and faster than last night's feeling sick made me think I might.

Old choo choo train outside Kaposvár railway station

I had breakfast and lunch, both of which stayed down and my mood improved too. Roy came up with the idea, that if I feel better by Saturday morning, I could catch a train down quite early, and perhaps the three of them could come and fetch me from the station. I am happy to report that that is exactly what happened.  I caught the Kresz Géza Intercity train at 6:50 am and was in Kaposvár by 9:20 am. After leaving the station, we went to find a two-parter multi-cache, which was about the railway and old engines. Both parts were easy to find and then we carried on caching. 

Putting out a moving cache in the rain

 

The one downside of this particular Saturday was the weather. In the weeks immediately before and since last Saturday the weather was and is absolutely perfect. Sunshine, warmth, a slight breeze and a perfect chance to enjoy yourself in the great outdoors. Saturday was the only day when it was dark, cold and pouring with rain. Having written that, I must admit we didn't let all that spoil our fun, and we just went out in it to do our planned caching regardless. I must admit, I had to keep moving, because by the early afternoon I was soaked through and through, and sitting down made me feel very cold.

Enormous beech tree

So after a few caches between the station and the event centre, we arrived in a place I have already cached twice, but there were still lots of caches to find, especially the 8 moving caches that other cachers brought either straight to the forest school, which was the event centre, or fairly nearby. The hills and forests were rather muddy, so after a while everybody was covered in mud, so we didn't care any more. These events are also good for meeting other cachers who you haven't seen for a while. I had some good chats with many people and we kept discovering the moving caches all the time. I also managed to find my 5th big tree in an ancient beech forest quite close to the event centre.

An emu in the little zoo around our B&B

Once we have finished at the event, we went and found some more caches and finally we ended up at our accommodation. This was an interesting place, I think it was converted from an old hunting lodge and is now a popular B&B with a restaurant and a cute little zoo around it. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed, as the system here was that you had to request dinner in the morning, and we have only just arrived. Thankfully, I have brought a lot of food with me, so I wasn't hungry. The room was quite nice, the bed very comfortable, and my only grouse was that the gutters had leaks and the loud dripping of rain water onto the patio occasionally woke me up. I still had a good sleep and got up quite early. Heni was awake too, so we had a really good chinwag in the morning, which I enjoyed.

Lama, pretty well shorn

Before leaving the B&B I went and looked at a few of the animals in the zoo, we saw saw muflon, deer, goat, emu, lama and pigs. This was Sunday, the third day to the three of them and only the second day for me. Yesterday, due to a few good caches that we all enjoyed finding, plus the event cache, the big tree cache and the 8 multi-caches, I actually ended up with a good few finds. It was about time, as 2026 has so far been very poor from the point of view of geocaching for me. On Sunday, however, we went to a lot of multies that were having at least two points impossible to find. Thankfully, we did have help from people who have found them in the past, so eventually we could log those as well.

Józsi's pretty little railway museum

The highlight of Sunday happened in Pusztaszabolcs, where Józsi lives. He has a cute little railway museum of his own, in his garden and in the little forest behind his house. In it he has on display every single memorabilia that he had gathered during decades of working for the Hungarian State Railway as an engine driver. He even has a narrow gauge railway, which wasn't operating yet, but I will be back with Roy in the summer to have a ride. He also has a geocache in a railway storage box, right next to the rails, which  I could find. He was very happy that we came and that he had a lift all the way to his house. I am already looking forward to see him and his little railway sometime in the summer with Roy.

Monday was the day of my last visit to a doctor, at least for now. As the rheumatologist recommended a lumbar MRI, I had that done back at the DMC. The results came very quickly, but it is so full of jargon that I will have to get back to him for an answer to many a question that had been unanswered over far too many years. Further news on this, hopefully, within the next few weeks. All the other results, bar that of the cervical smear, are also in. The mammogram was OK, the blood works were also OK and now I am only awaiting the results of the smear. The final sum of fees was well over £1000, but considering that it included some big name consultants, a very comprehensive blood test and a mammogram with ultrasound, as well as a lumbar MRI, it's not as expensive as you think. 

The caches with names are our targets

Returning to the village was scheduled for yesterday, but both Roy and I had so much computer work and other stuff to consider that we postponed it to Wednesday. I was working on two geocaching outings that are coming up soon: the first will be, weather and other commitments permitting, next Saturday and another one in early June. The one next Saturday, 30th May, will be happening in a nearby mountain range, the Mátra, with my good friend Csilla. There are still a few caches I have never managed to get to, so we will have a go at a few of those. The travelling logistics are pretty horrendous, but I think I have sorted it now. The one in June will be just Roy and I, but at the same part of the country and at the same time as Heni and Szabolcs go away for 6 days. We'll join them for 5 and it will include at least one day of cycling. I will have a chance of trying out my e-bike, which should be fun.

Ági and David at his 70th birthday last year

Here, I will have to have a go at tractor mowing the back garden again, plus we will have to tidy and clean the house for the arrival of Ági and David on Friday afternoon. I will have to do some washing too and make the beds etc., etc. Then the cooking and other preparing, so we will be busy for the next two days. Next week's post is due on Wednesday, let's hope I'll be on time with it.

 

The week of a thousand doctors, another ancient tree, a good geocaching outing with Heni and István and Stephen and Alex with good/bad news.

We are still in town and the last week was full of activity, as planned. The majority of activities were my visits to doctors, as I have doctors mostly in BP, rather than in the country. Some of these check-ups were pretty overdue, so I decided to squeeze as many of them into a couple of weeks, as I could, so we don't have to travel up and down from village to town and back a lot.

Dr. András Lakos the Lyme expert

 

Swan Lake

The first visit was to dr. Lakos, the world famous Lyme's disease expert. He took blood, analysed it in his own laboratory and announced that I am free of Lyme's disease after 9 months. That was a positive outcome and worth every penny of the £120 fee he charges. As I was out of the flat in the early afternoon, followed by a ballet in the Opera House in the evening, I asked Bozsa if she was free in the period between these two and she said yes. So, instead of going home between the two, she and I spent a good couple of hours in the Callas Cafe, right next to the Opera House, eating, drinking and chatting. We had a lot to catch up on and she was the absolute darling as she always is.

My souffle in the Callas Café

The ballet on the program, which was the last performance of our subscription ticket, was Swan Lake. It was superb in all aspects. The music, we all know and love, but the choreography, the ballet dancers, the conductor, the scenery, the costumes - in other words the whole performance was absolutely brilliant. I forgot how delightful ballet is. it's been so long since I have seen one. Unfortunately, we missed the chance to buy a subscription ticket, so in the next season, we are just going to attend a few random performances of operas and/or ballets as any of them take our fancy.

Bozsa and I in a selfie

Other prescription tickets that we have, have thankfully been extended, so we should be OK for next season. I am thinking of reviving some of the theatre tickets we used to get in the past, as I have not been to the theatre for many a year. I think we stopped going, for some reason, even before the pandemic struck, so it is time to look around the theatres for tickets soon.

ArtDent team of dentists, hygienists and assistants

On Thursday, Roy and I started the day with appointments at the dentist. We have been quite naughty in the last year or two, by not going regularly for check-ups and to the hygienist. We got fed up with our old dentist for a variety of reasons, and it took this long to find another one. In fact, this dentist was not entirely new, as I have been there one before, trying to follow Vivienne, my favourite dentist, after she returned from Italy. I have been receiving e-mails from this dental surgery ever since and as they had a special offer for ultrasonic plaque removal, we had a go. Initially, we didn't have a very good impression of their conditions in writing, but once there, we both felt that the hygienist was lovely and the young dentist was knowledgeable and very friendly. We are giving them a go, so we will get back to our usual 6 monthly check-ups with the hygienist and general dental care with the young female dentist we met. Let us hope Roy's teeth last a bit longer, as she did say that taking the old ones off and putting in a total new set would be quite traumatic, as well as expensive. 

Dr. Pálma Silló, my dermatologist

The same day I started my consultant visits, first of all to my dermatologist. I was a bit afraid she might find another melanoma, but she did say that after 5 years I seem to be free of them, which was another bit of good news. She is an excellent dermatologist and I trust her. She did tell me off for not going every year for check-ups, so I promised to be regular from now on.

The 200 year old plane tree on Margaret Island

 

As relaxation after such traumatic medical appointments, we went to Margaret Island together to find another of the ancient trees, which would have been the third one after the ones in Nógrád and Pest counties. This one was a glorious plane tree, supposedly over 200 years old, although that date is not entirely confirmed. The way the cache was hidden was also very clever. It was inside a bust, which sat on a plinth narrower than its width. I found it straight away, and the walk was really pleasant in the glorious spring sunshine. 

Dr. Jánvári Máté, radiologist

Friday saw me at an early visit to the Jewish Hospital, where my favourite radiologist is working. I met him at the private hospital years ago, but he did tell me that I can see him at his own place or work, if I prefer. I did prefer, partly because it is equally nice to see him there, but mostly, because the same procedures cost less there than at the private hospital. He also had good news for me, which was great and hopefully follow up investigations will be negative too. He confirmed that the cysts have not grown and he was seeing nothing different from last year.

Hungarian forints as they look now

 

We have also got some basic shopping and other tasks done on Friday, like changing some pound sterling to Hungarian forints, doing some food shopping as well as buying Roy some new sandals. Unfortunately, the forint had strengthened after the defeat of the old maffia government and that meant that we got about 10% less for our money than we would have got before the elections. Still, if that is the price of the maffiosi disappearing, I didn't mind. However, as I read online and in other publications, the old gangsters are very good at metamorphosing into Tisza devotees and are creeping back into at least the peripheries of power. We are all wondering if Magyar will have to guts and backbone to refuse them and, if we are lucky, prosecuting most of them. We'll see!! (said the blind man).

Glorious skies en route to the railway cache

Saturday's event was attending the Annual General Meeting of the geocaching club, followed by going geocaching with Heni. The AGM was pretty boring, as usual, but at least I managed to meet some good old friends I have not seen in ages, as well as make some new ones. The guy I thought was totally unsuitable for the executive got elected, and I am wondering how long it will be before the rest of the committee realise that he is a lazy, loudmouth, nothing else.

A fair size tree trunk by a cache

On the other hand, the actual geocaching after the AGM was brilliant. Heni and I scarpered quick at the end of the meeting and as soon as we go to the first cache we ran into another cacher. A nice bloke called István Mák, whom I have heard about, but not yet met. He was caching by public transport and on foot, and we offered him a chance to spend the day with us by car. He took us up on it and the day now had a team of three to have fun together.

An old villa, belonging to some famous actors in the past

We finished both multi caches not too far from where the AGM was, and then hit the M0 to go over to the West side of BP and about an hour away to an area where we all three had some caches we haven't got yet. The first one was called "The trainspotting place in Szár".  Szár is a village where the main railway line to Vienna goes near. In the old days it went around the hills, but the modern fast line goes in a deep cutting a bit East from the old line. The cache had two parts, the first one on top of the hill closest to the current railway line and from there I even managed to photograph a passing train way below us. The other point was en route to the first one, hidden in the wall of a tunnel that went under the old railway line for people and livestock to get to the other side.

The lovely silver grass en route to the railway cache

Both points were about a kilometre from where we parked the car and with the slight breeze and lovely sunshine we had a lovely little hike there and back. I found the one in the wall of the tunnel, and the other two went for the main box at the top of the hill while I had a little rest. The panorama was breathtaking and extremely photogenic. On our return to the car, we journeyed on to the next cache, which was another giant ancient tree, this time a willow, also the fourth one for me.

Heni and István by the giant willow

That big tree was in a location I knew well from a geocaching hike I have organised there about 4 or 5 years ago. We could have taken the car literally within metres from the tree, but we didn't want to add to the erosion cars cause, so we parked by the side of the approach road about half a mile back. We all three went to the big tree, which was quite impressive, after which, the other two went to a set of old ruins, where there was another cache, but I had a rest then, as I have already found that one years ago.

The street party celebrating the new government

After all this, we drove back to BP, I dropped the two of them where István could catch a tram to the car of his mate who was taking him back South to his home where he gave him a lift from in the morning, while Heni was also quite close to her bus that she could catch back to her flat in South Pest. She told me that she was planning to get back later on in the evening to the party by the Parliament building, where thousands of Budapesters were expected to celebrate the swearing in of the new government and MP's after Peter Magyar's victory in the elections a couple of weeks back.

Alex's 50km route round Stoney Lake

On Sunday Alex called and we had a lovely chat. On Saturday, when he usually calls, he was also out and about, like me. His trip was to paddle his kayak all the way round the perimeter of Stoney Lake, near his own summer abode near Lovesick Lake. This was almost 50 km and it took him 10 hours, but as it is his beloved pastime, he must have enjoyed it. Apparently, this length of kayaking, which was the longest he had ever done, was about the same as the width of Lake Ontario. I know why he is mentioning this, as he had his eye on doing kayaking across of Lake Ontario for a good while now. I am not sure whether to be pleased or not about that, as the great lakes of North America are notorious for sudden changes in the weather and lots of other hazards, so that would require thorough organisation, the use of a satellite phone, or at least a big boat that would follow him for safety reasons, all of which is deadly expensive. 

Alex in kayaking gear

 

I also had been reminded by Roy that I must have forgotten to do Alex's accounts in the last couple of months, so I got on with that too. The following day, Alex did ring me as I had some questions about the accounts, and explained the changes he made. I hope I understood it all and the spreadsheet is now correct. As it happens, the call on Monday was a bit of a surprise, as I knew that he was starting his new job on that day. Still, I always forget about the 6 hour difference, so he called me just before he went to work. I hope his first day went well and he seems to be in the right place finally. He is also doing his Level 2 instructor's course next week, so his life is pretty hectic at the moment, too.

Dr. Éva Dános

Dr. György Gerő, my gynaecologist

Monday had two more doctors' appointments in it, namely 1) my beloved dr. Dános, whom I have lost when the new Turkish owners sacked her, but when I went for the ultrasound to dr. Jánvári, he told me that she was back now, after the owner of the private hospital got rid of the much hated Turks. 2) the other one was dr. Gerő, who is also an absolute darling. He is my gynaecologist and he did all his usual stuff: examination and smear. I await the results next week. Both dr. Dános and Gerő were very nice to chat to. Dr. Dános sorted my niggles, recommended some medication that I could take as and when needed and also suggested full blood works, which I am having tomorrow morning. We have decided to get to the bottom of the swelling legs, let us hope we'll end up with some solution this time. Dr. Gerő told me off for not having had a mammogram done in more than three years, so I booked one of those for tomorrow, after the lab visit in the morning.

Roy in the Japanese restaurant

En route home from the hospital we decided to go and have a Japanese meal prior to doing some food shopping. I love Sushi Wan and we were not only lucky with good food, but we had a really nice friendly and chatty waitress as well. Roy had his usual meal, but this time with beef instead of prawn, while I had some spring rolls and sushi. After lunch we were so tired that we decided to postpone the food shopping to another day.

Iona in a fjord on Stephen's cruise

In the meantime Stephen rang and we chatted about some family problems. Lucy, Xander and Elian's mother wants to take Xander with her to Spain next winter. This is a delicate decision, so he has a lot on his mind, on top of working all hours God sends to keep up with all his expenses.

The first 4 days on Iona going to the fjords

Some nicer topics in our conversation were about his upcoming cruise with Ruth in July, which is work as well, but hopefully they would get a nice rest and some fun out of it too. He asked me to have a look at the available information about the cruise online and make comments, clarifications and recommendations, as we count as experts on cruising. I did read all that was available and summarised it for him. It is Iona, one of the flagships of P&O and sister ship of Arvia, that we crossed the Atlantic on in March, so I hope I was useful in what I put together for him. I sent it a few days ago, but not heard from him since.

Dr. Endre Péter, rheumatologist

Yesterday's  doctor's visit was to a guy I have never been to before. I had one consultation with a rheumatologist in the private hospital some 4 years ago, but I didn't like the bloke and didn't go back. It looks like this time I picked one that is a great deal better and I intent to stick with him. He was chatty, friendly and pretty knowledgable. He treated me like I was important, but also he communicated well and his manner implied that I was equal to his status. Most doctors, even some of the really good ones, can't help themselves to act superior, which usually puts me off. This one was a good find and I took his advice on having a MRI done of my lower back, after which I will go back to him for the evaluation. He also recommended a good manual therapy place called SmileyMed., so after I saw him again I'll decide what to do about that. It is not cheap,but what is nowadays?

Marshals collage with the main characters

This afternoon I am seeing my ENT surgeon, this time in her own private clinic, not in the private hospital. I am hoping that her fee will be less than the standard 37,000 forints (£90) in the DMC. The only other thing I forgot to mention is that my favourite US procedurals are coming to their end of season, so final episodes are coming up this month for all of them. Thankfully, none of my favourites had got cancelled, se I can look forward to watching them next season again.

The NCIS Sydney crew, I really like them

Must go now, as Roy seems to be busy downstairs and I'd better go and help. Lots of washing, cleaning, making beds etc. is on at the moment and I don't want to be accused to being slovenly again. Next post, hopefully, on next Wednesday, when we should be back to Bér. 

Boilers OK, US procedurals, multi-cache published, testing the e-bike, the giant trees and my sister's good bye

A rather busy week followed the previous busy week. Honestly, are there weeks that are relaxing or with no hassle? Not for us at the moment, that's for sure. So, to go in chronological order, let's start with the good news about the boiler repair bloke! He did turn up last Wednesday and turned out to be an absolutely gem of a find. Originally, it looked like a hopeless project to try to find a plumbing engineer/boiler expert, but he fulfilled our highest hopes for a reliable and skilful guy in the world of central heating boilers.

Boiler engineer's details online

He travelled an hour to get to us and spent a good hour on both the boilers, but they seem like new, judging by the amount of gas they use now, plus hardly any noise and production of heat in the radiators. Unfortunately, he observed that the boiler in the Farmhouse has a very well worn heat exchanger, which is likely to give up the ghost soon, so we commissioned him to find either a reasonably priced new one or a reconditioned one before the winter. He promised he would have a go at it. The cost of his visit was 105,000 forints, (35,000 for travel and 35,000 for each of the boilers' servicing), which is approximately £250. Dirt cheap by UK standards, but a fair amount of money in these parts.

Luke Grimes, star of Marshals

I wake pretty early, so I normally spend those hours catching up with my US procedurals. I am getting rather fond of both Tracker and Marshals. I have loved Tracker right from the beginning, but Marshals had taken a bit of getting used to. I have never seen or had any inclination to see the Dutton clan's various series, but this one is full of interesting characters, well written and acted. I gave up Elsbeth and Matlock, they started to bore me seriously. I didn't care for either the stories or the characters any more, and, obviously, when that feeling arrives, there is no longer any point watching them. The others, NCIS in all its variants, FBI, CIA, Fire Country, Sheriff County and Boston Blue are I am sticking with. 

My pretty sky blue e-bike

On Thursday Roy got my e-bike out and I had a little go with it within the village. It is still in tip top condition, the battery is fully charged, all I need now is a bit of time to Google its users guidebook to make sure I am not doing anything silly with the buttons. There are 5 levels of battery usage, depending how much help I need from the engine while cycling, as well as a 4-gear controller on the other side of the handlebars. I suspect, the logic of using those two together is the same as in cars. Lower gear at harder conditions, with more assistance and slower speed, while higher gear on flat terrain with lower assistance. However, I want to be sure, so I'll have to read up on that. As I bought the bike secondhand, I didn't get the paperwork with it, but I'm sure I can work it out for myself.

The final route with the 5 points on the map

In the meantime my cycle tour/geocaching multi cache had gone through the moderation,which was great. I then had to do all the last minute adjustments, and I published it late on Thursday evening. Since then 8 people have actually logged, although not all of them had found all the points by cycling round. That is no problem, you can walk round or cycle round, as long as you find all the points and log the password to prove that you did. I have permission from the moderators to keep it after the event cache status expires, so then it will become a normal multi to be completed by cycling or walking. I love the Medves-plateau and I hope many others will visit it in the future.

The giant oak tree near Buják

May 1st is a public holiday in Hungary, so we had a 3-day weekend, that has just gone. The weather was absolutely fantastic, although the nights and early morning are still a bit cold. However, it got so nice, that I was getting quite keen to go and start looking for the 25 jubilee old trees that form the event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the geocaching club. Hungary has 19 counties, plus the capital, but as that is only 20, this time we had to find 5 more ancient and/or special trees in neighbouring counties. So, now there is 1 in each country, plus 1 in Budapest, followed by 1 in Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania. This should be fun. As of today, I have gone to the one in our own county, Nógrád and the one in a neighbouring country, Pest. There is only 23 more to go and I have about a year to finish the series.

The beautiful old maple in Pest county

Both our outings to those first two trees were done in fantastic weather, not too hot, not too cold and mostly bright sunshine. The one close to our village was about a mile walking from where Roy parked and had a nap, while I got the cache. It was a familiar place, as I have done this walk about a couple of years ago when I placed a moving cache quite close to where this lovely giant tree was. Unfortunately, like all trees around 300 to 350 of age, it has already started shedding its branches. However, it is still alive and looks magnificent. This was was an oak tree, which I was glad about, as oaks are my special favourites when it comes to old trees. The majesty is undeniable with all of them and I also made a friend, round the tree, with a complete stranger who also came to see it.

One of the views en route to the maple

Yesterday, we went to the second tree, while going into Budapest for a couple of weeks. I knew the approach dirt lanes from 8 years ago, when I went there for another cache. Unfortunately, the countryside had changed in those 8 years, so I could hardly recognise it. Still, we managed to get by car to the edge of the forest, and I did the rest of the 2.5 km on foot. The meadows, bit of open areas, the forests, the hills and the whole area was really beautiful. So was the giant maple tree at the end of my wanderings. Very nice walk, unfortunately made a bit painful with my lower back and knees complaining. Still, it was worth it and I am looking forward to the next 23 of them over the next year.

Close up of the old maple

A couple of more interesting events include: 1. I went to visit Lili and the baby in their Teahouse, and had a lovely hour with the two of them. The baby is nearly a year old and was very sweet, if somewhat clingy. As mummy works from home, she definitely got used to permanent attention, which is good and bad at the same time. Hopefully, when she is more mobile, she'll switch to independent activities of her own. 2. This was only a phone call, as the person called did not invite me to visit. You may recall that the Mill at the Northern end of the village was sold last year. I have a geocache up there, so I have been trying to reach the new owner for a discussion about the cache and the cachers that might want to get to the cache. She had never been at home when I tried to see her, but after the visit to Lili, when she gave me her phone number, I had a go.

A  hunter's tower in the forest

Well, she is called Rita and she is an absolute headcase. I could not get a straight answer out of her, having tried for about 10 minutes on the telephone. She was permanently haranguing me about a guy who came into her courtyard and was rude to her. (How does she know he was a cacher?) She sounded hysterical, contradicted herself permanently in practically every sentence, so when I had enough I suggested that I will pick up the box and cancel the cache. At this point she got even more hysterical about it all, said she didn't want to lose the cache, but she needs to see it etc.,etc. I offered to come over and show her everything, at which point she told me that it was not convenient. I have had enough of this world full of lunatics. I am leaning towards cancelling, as that would fix the problem of having to have anything to do with her in the future. On the other hand, I love that cache and so did many cachers who have found it in the last 10 years. I agreed with her on the phone and in subsequent SMS's that once we are back in the village, I will ring her again. 

The giant trees banner on the internet

While all this was on, I managed to fix up 4 doctor's appointments and 2 dentist's appointments; the first ones just for me, the last two for Roy and me. That is the main reason we came into Budapest yesterday, but there are other things happening this week too. One of them is the AGM of the geocaching club, which I have not attended in at least a couple of years, or possibly more. There is an election to the Executive, as one of them gave up the job this year. Originally, it was suggested that 'buksika', one of my favourite young geocacher mates should stand and she did, but I have just an hour ago heard from her that she changed her mind, as she is too busy. I am still going to meeting, which is on Saturday.

The 50th Festival and Competition's banner

The next event will be during the weekend of 15th-16th-17th of May, when we are having the spring festival and competition, which is a regular feature of the geocaching calendar. This time it is in the South, and I'm going with Heni, Szabolcs and Józsi, in the Duster for three days. That should be quite interesting too, so we are in BP for a fortnight, after which we are due back in the country.

My sister, Nelly, on the right at Alex's wedding

 

And, finally, for the main news of the last week: my sister, Nelly, died yesterday, so my nephew told me in a very short and curt telephone call, bordering on the unfriendly. I have no idea what was wrong with her, but I suppose being 94 and half years old is a likely reason behind it. Apparently, she was taken by ambulance to Salgótarján hospital yesterday morning and died there in the afternoon. My nephew told me that there will not be a funeral, so that's that. I must admit, I felt that there was something going on, because I saw no life around the house for a while, but I wrote it down to her being poorly and indoors mostly. We have been estranged for years, so I would not have got an invite to the funeral, had there been one.

I hope she is at rest now, she was never a very happy type of person, at least I have never seen her like that. Complaining, criticising and moaning was her forte, and, to be honest, in my dotage I prefer to be with happy people. Wouldn't you? Next post, hopefully, next Wednesday, let's hope I am still alive then.