Bit of a do

There was a bit of a do in the pub last night. a load of youngsters having some sort of meal and skittles. At the end they did a chant. (Hardly call it singing) No idea what it was, although as I didn't recognise them i suspect it was on the lines of "our village is better than yours"

As a result the pub stayed open longer than normal so my careful plan of coming out early so as to get the full 4 bottles of beer in got greatly overtaken.

This morning was cancelled, which was a shame as this was the last chance to get some beer in for the new years festivities for tonight.

This years was, for me, even quieter that last year, which I spent in a hotel room in Romania because everywhere was shut and the hotel had closed the bar. At least it had a mini bar whereas today I have nothing even mildly alcoholic, apart from aftershave.

Winter

Of course, it being Winter there's nothing to do in the garden so you pretty much have to keep yourself amused. Luckily, or otherwise, I have a language to learn so that keeps me out of mischief.

Today, though, I put some potting compost in a seed tray and planted my rhubarb seeds. There were 25 of them and as they're notoriously hard to grow from seeds I'll be pleased if I can put 10% in the garden come March/April.

Two years from now, with a bit of luck, I should be able to make some Rhubarb wine. Funny how mosty of the stuff I'm growing ends up as booze of one description or another!

Wot, no Bus?

Went for the bus at the usual time, about quarter to one and..., nothing. Looks like this week the buses are Saturday Service only. There goes my idea for a contribution to the Silvester celebrations. As far as I can gather, its a sort of bring your own feast. Looks like I'll have to skip it this year but next year I'lll be better prepared.

Boxing Day

Started my Christmas dinner! Had a lovely chicken dinner with real gravy. I was quite chuffed but the washing up I'll do another day.

Christmas Dinner

When I went to put some rubbish in the bin, i noticed a rabbit leg joint on the front door. Funny I didn't hear him knock. Last time I saw the leg it was still attached to the owner, hopping about in a box. I put the joint straight in the freezer as I don't have the right veggies to make a Welsh Rabbit stew. I'll get them Monday.

As I finished off the chilli yesterday I spent most of the day cooking Xmas dinner. Admittedly it was just a chicken dinner but I thoroughly enjoyed it, IO even managed to make the gravy properly this time. Potatoes, roasties, peas and chicken.

I was stuffed afterwards. I didn't go to the pub as it was Steves name-day today and he and Hobo were arranging a session last night!

Christmas day

Well, as its traditional to watch a film on Xmas day I bought one or 2 Harry Potter films to watch from iTunes. Due to my duff graphics card i had to watch them greatly reduced. The effect is the same as that you'd get by putting your tv about 10 ft away from your front door and then watch it through the letter box.

Christmas chilli for tea

Christmas Eve

Not an awful lot this evening but as i forgot to pull the chicken out yesterday I had chilli for tea.

In the pub, Hobo said he saw me on telly near the Keleti Station! I'm not sure what I was more surprised at, the fact I was on telly or I understood him without saying pardon or looking askance at Steve.

Oops Wrong Train

Today I had to catch the 8:30 train from Deli station which is the other side of town from the hotel. By half past seven I'd bathed, breakfasted and checked out and was heading towards the underground.

I spotted one enterprising driver going the wrong way up a one way street. The oncoming traffic was not amused!

I got to the station by 8:00 and a quick glance at the departure board told me the train was on platform 5. I did notice that the stickers on the door were to somewhere else but dismissed it, thinking they hadn't changed them yet. This started to worry me a bit so by the time the train pulled off I'd convinced myself I was on the wrong train.

When the conductor eventually turned up he explained that I was just in the wrong carriage! I had to move all my stuff to a carriage 2 further along. After that and with the worry of being on the wrong train lifted I dozed off. I should have realised that was the explanation of the different destinations as the last train I caught from Budapest to Szombathely had different destinations on the last 2 carriages compared with the 1st 2.

Got to Szombathely about 15 mins late which meant I missed the connection to Körmend. Having an hour to kill meant I had enough time to check out the bus station to see if there was a bus to Körmend and have a kebab while I was waiting.

A train came from Körmend. There was a bit of a palaver as the train was run to the other end of the carriages so it could go back to Körmend. 30 minuted later I was getting off the train and back in Körmend! All that was left was to check the buses to see if they were running and if not walk home.

Instead of the usual stop, I went to the bus station as I had plenty of time to look around and see if I could spot my bus. It was actually the first one I checked. I had another 20 minutes to wait. I had a quick look around to see if there were any timetables I could pick up when I spotted one of the regular drivers to Halogy. He gave me a wave before pulling off. Gosh I've been recognised outside my village!

I got on the bus and 30 minutes later I was standing inside my house turning the heating up! (I'd left it on 8C so I wouldn't come home to burst and frozen pipes.)

Photos

budapest_01
Originally uploaded by A John Walters

Today, I decide to go up the castle district as this would be the ideal setting for doing photographs in the snow. This photo I'm waiting for a gust of wind to blow snow into the light. Phot was not as impressive as being there.

Here's a shot towards Margit Sziged:

Problems with Booking

The morning was spent recovering but I did go down to reception to ask about the problem with my booking.

Last night I had a phone call in my room from reception saying that there was a problem with my booking. When I went down the bloke explained that in spite of my booking voucher I had in fact only booked 4 nights not 5! He also said that I should have waited for the confirmation from the hotel. I pointed out that the piece of paper in his hand, with 5 days on it, WAS the confirmation from the hotel as I had booked it from them directly. He said he'd look into and confirm with me later. I said "fine, tomorrow" and went back to my room.

When I went down, it turns out that there was nothing wrong with my booking but someone else with my surname had booked in too but for 4 days. Since I had already explained that when I checked in it would seem that although the receptionist spoke English, he was listening in Braille.

Midday I went back down to pick up my British foods delivery. A company has opened in Budapest to serve UK ex-pats with food and stuff from home. I spotted some bloke with a bag looking about and shouted to him and we quickly checked the bill and the stuff. I'd ordered several British beers in cans and i had no intention of taking them home! :D

(Guinness, Boddingtons and Caffreys, if you're interested)

Holiday!

I haven't blogged recently as I don't like putting stuff like "I'm off on holidays spare key under the mat, burgle as much as you like." Kinda thing.

Today was travelling day so I caught the 7am bus to Körmend and then got a ticket. I'm not sure of the pronunciation of the words to ask for a ticket,t so I'd taken the precaution of writing them down on a card so I simply should the woman selling the tickets.

Only had to wait 10 minutes before he train pulled in and then 4 hours until Budapest.

I think I slept most of the way 'cos I don't remember a conductor coming around and the ticket was in the same pristine unpunched condition as when I bought it.

Once I got out the train, at Keleti station, there where the usual taxi drivers touting for business. I hardly need a taxi when I can see the flipping hotel from where I'm standing. Plus, I know the transport system in Budapest sufficiently well that I wouldn't use a taxi anyway.

I got to the hotel to book in and told the receptionist that I didn't have a passport and he said that my ID card would be OK. As I'd never used them before I had to ask him which one was the ID one. He picked up the one and said "this one" and then his eyes came out on stalks as he said, "You LIVE in Hungary!?"

I got to my room and had a quick shower before going to Deák Tér to get a burger. There's no point in even trying Hungarian in this place as they all speak English and they simply want to get you served and out the way as fast as possible.

Afterwards went back to my hotel and crashed out. I reckon i was dehydrated as the train was boiling, the sort of temperature cats and women like ie far too hot.

In the evening went to the bar but 3 bottles later the fun had gone out of it as I worked out how much beer back home I could by for the same price. Went and got a few cans from a corner shop and returned to my room.

Monday

The weather forecasts fort he past week have all been a bit cool but this week was predicted to sub zero even in the day. When i looked out the door it was snowing. small powdery stuff, not like the big wet flakes we get in Britain but the small stuff we get when it means business!

I've managed to finish copying my CDs onto the pc. Theres a few miassing but I will doubtless find them when I'm sorting them out. Managed to put the in piles by letter before I went to Kormend so nearly do on that score. I've now cleared a way to my other front door.

Since I was going to Kormend to get some supplies in I decided that thermals would be the in thing. It was worrying as the snow rapidly built up to a thickness that would stop public transport in its tracks, about 3mm. Didn't seem to bother the Hungarians much.

I passed the Christmas market in Kormend again. I would have taken a photo but only 2 of the stalls were open. (One of them a jewellery store selling "silber". That would have been an interesting one as I don't speak German!)

Had a pizza for tea and went to the pub. Oops! I broke my key in the front door lock! I shut it carefully and then went to the pub. I explained what happened and in short order found myself back at my house with a bloke with some toolas and a couple of cylinders. After a fair amount of fiddling, he got the old cylinder out and put the new one in! Great new front door lock!

The weekend

Pretty much nothing happening this time of year. Cleaning cooking and washing up then catch up with the news on the internet.

I did go to the pub early on Sunday to grab a cup of coffee and a few cans before todddling off back home.

Today cleared most of the inside jobs but I still need to copy all my CDs onto my PC. When thats done I can put all the cds away and open up a load of room in the back bedroom.

Went to the pub early expecting another early finish but there was some sort of party going on and in the end weaved my way home at about 10. Tomorrow is gonna be cancelled I can tell.

Rearranging the Furniture

Today I decided to empty the Wardrobe in the back room. All went well until I went to pick up books and I stumbled forward and slipped...

When I came to it was snowing and I saw a light in the distance. As I walked towards it I saw that it was a gas lamp but out here in the middle of a forest. "Bugger" I thought, "I'm in Narnia. Where's the exit?"

Anyway, I moved the wardrobe although it was touch and go for a while. I was a lot heavier than I expected and I thought if this topples over on me I'll never get out from under it. I managed to drag it into my bedroom and then transfer all the stuff back into it.

The I had a fun 3 hours of rebuilding my Hi Fi system. The big problem was me not being able to remember how I'd wired it up before. This was made all the more complicated by the stand having a hidden cable channel which basically meant I had to unplug elements and remove shelves more than once as I had to add/remove wires.

Still, at the end, when I powered on it worked! Even the plumbing from the PC.

All thats left is the heart-breakingly monotonous job of copying all my CDs onto the PC and then sorting my CDs and putting them away. That'll take a few days but the reward will be I can finally access the other door outside.

Körmend

Went to Körmend today. Accidentally gave the driver a 2 Ft coin which hasn't been legal tender since I came here! Got some butter and other hard to get stuff from Tescos.

I've discovered why the drivers keep asking me to repeat myself when I ask to go to "Halogy". Its because the way I say it it sound very much like "Nádasd". I'll have to be more careful next time.

New Orchard

I got some bread at half past ridiculous in the morning, as you do as the shop runs out at about 8am!

I had breakfast and too a few photos of the garden. This was for a before and after shot but the mist did give it a ghostly look sort of "Spectral Morning".


Before

This is after I spaced out the tree positions using garden tools and string for measuring.

Well 10am came and went but at 11, just as I was starting on some work in a back room, I faintly heard a knock at the door. Sure enough there was Hobo with Steve to act as translator.

4 trees as expected but fitted them in a sort of L shaped around the 2 existing trees giving me 6 trees in a formation like the 6 dots on a die. (a single dice to those not in the know)



Eventually I'm hoping to finishing pigs on the windfalls and use chickens to help keep pests down under the trees. Plus I can make lots of cider.

I offered both a cup of coffee seeing how it was pretty cold.

Friday

I heard a knock on the door after 12pm today. there was Hobo (aka Steve's Helper). He had some cards in his hand he picked up from the mailbox. He was asking (again) if I was sure it was all right to come over at 10am tomorrow to plant some apple trees. "Fine" I says, "No problem". (He did seem a bit worse for wear tbh)

In the evening, I went to the pub and Hobo is looking a lot worse for wear tbh. I'd be very surprised if he made 10 tomorrow!

Its quite likely that no matter how many trees I ask for, I'm gonna end up with one more so best bear that in mind. I want 3 to balance what I already have but 4 can be fitted in to the pattern with no trouble.

Apple Trees, or not

Still no sign of the apple trees (fák alma) but its a very Hungarian thing to give a time and not stick to it!

Spend some time in the garden raking up leaves. I may give the area under the trees a quick whack with a strimmer/scythe tomorrow. Basically to stop slugs having a comfy place to hibernate.

Having Pumpkin Soup for tea as its gonna be very cold out tonight. -3C during the night.

Summary

Had several cancelled days due to Palinka and not much in the garden because of rainy days but in summary:

• Got some genuine Palinka from one of the villagers


• Steve came around with some grape cuttings and some berry canes


• Had a surprise cheese delivery so had cheese on toast for my mid day snack for a couple of days


• Went to pub last night and ordered some apple trees. Not sure how many!


• Steve gave me some carrots and some sausages to keep in freezer. To my untutored eye they seem to be a species of blood sausage or black pudding.

Today it rained heavily in the morning. I'd just decided to go dig some holes for the trees when I realised i didn't know how big they'd grow ie what the rootstock is. I'll just have to ask and space then accordingly.