The Barbie

The Barbie, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

Today was the long awaited barbie at Helmut's in the nearby village, Csákánydoroszló . Its about 6Km away so easy biking distance (so I thought).

I had arranged to see Steve at about 12 so off I went to see him at the appointed time. He was running late and said he'd be about 15-20 minutes and he'd call on the way. So I went back to my place and had a quick peek at my German books to see what 'Welsh' was in German. Looks like 'Welsh', which kinda figures.

Five minutes later I heard a screech of brakes and here was Hobo. He said that Steve would be about 10-15 minutes and we were to meet him in a pub before going on to Helmut's place.

Ten minutes after that I caught sight of Steve, out of the window, coming down the street but when I got out the house he'd sailed past! I hurriedly got on my bike and pedalled after him. He'd just gone around the bend (!) when I got on to the road and I wasn't able to catch up with him, even on the long straight boring bit to the next village.

I lost sight of him at the bridge to Csákánydoroszló so I then went looking for Hobos pub. There were two crossroads on this road, which eventually joins up with the main road into Kormend.Hmm, all the shops he mentioned were closed, as in shut up and gone away rather than because it was Sunday, so his directions to the pub weren't any use. When I ran out of village I turned back and went to the 2nd crossroads and spotted a likely looking pub.

I checked the bike stands but couldn't see Hobo's bike so I carried on. From the map I knew this road would eventually join the road with Helmut's house. On the way I saw 3 Storks wandering about. Never realised just how big they were.

I found Helmut's place by the rather clever device of checking the number plates for an 'A' rather than an 'H'! Saw Helmut and parked up the bike and made my way to the balcony around the back.

Found Steve and apparently he told Hobo to tell me he'd be about 15 to 20 minutes and to go with Hobo! Well, no wonder. (Hobo was AWOL for another 2 or so hours!)

There was plenty of beer and food. The Porkolt, Austrian style, was interesting. Tasted exactly like the casseroles my mother makes.

Around about 4 Steve went off to feed his goats and, as Hobo said he'd go soon, I hung on waiting for Hobo. Several hours later, after sunset it was time to go. It was dark, no lights on the bike, no street lighting between the villages, a full load of beer on board and a 2L glass jar of stew. The journey home had lots of comedic potential and I wasn't disappointed!

I only fell off the once and, later on, I had to get off and walk for a few hundred metres to get my breath back. At the time I thought I was only halfway back to Halogy so when I forced myself to get on the bike, by which time the seat had inexplicably turned into razor blades and shards of glass, and pedal a bit more I was pleasantly surprised to turn the corner and find myself only 100m away from my house!

Rain

Rained all day today so time for house jobs as I can't get any gardening done.


I lit the fire and then went through a cycle of chopping wood, washing dishes and filling the stockpot with water. It was a bit of a losing battle so in the afternoon I just chopped wood so the next session I can just concentrate on the dishes and not having to relight the fire after running out of wood!

I also checked on the pear tree. Yesterday, or the day before, I harvested as many pears as I felt it safe to do. The ground was covered in pulpy pears and the pears were covered in drunk, aggressive wasps. The was even some wasp that looked at least an inch long. (Hornet maybe) Anyway, I thought it best to get the rest when its raining on the off chance there'd be less wasps.

A terrible crop to be honest. Before the rain started the other week, the pears were quite tart and small. By the time we had decent weather I just seem to have about an inch of pulpy pear mush around the tree. Next year I'll have to note the blogs so I got get the pears in regardless of the weather.

Effectively this is my 1st year with the pears as nothing at all grew last year.

I had a word with Steve about his wine press. This year I have what I consider industrial quantities of apples so I need a different approach to extracting juice.

Good Weather

Finally stopped raining today so I had a go at the lawn. The grass grows so quickly that I'd expect to flush out new tribes of pygmies or Japanese soldiers who think the war's still on. (The last would be pushing it a bit now as he'd probably be in hid eighties!)

I had an unexpected call from Steve to say his flight had been delayed (by a day or two!) and to let Hobo know. Using my psychic powers, I found him in the pub and let him know.

Eventually made my way home and started making Lecso (pronounced letch-o). I'd bought the paprika in the shop in the morning and let slip I was going to make lecso. All the locals seemed pleased that I was attempting it and wanted to make sure I had all the right ingredients. ( You've got onions? How about tomatoes?)!

Monday

After short commons on the weekend I caught the half eight bus into Körmend to get some cash. I also needed some things in the shops that can't easily be got in the village such as pepper. (On a side-note, the Hungarian for "pepper" is paprika but this refers to what we'd call in the UK either 'bell pepper' or 'chili pepper', but what we refer to as 'pepper', the stuff in condiments, is called 'fekete bors', which as near as I can tell is 'black powder')

Met one of the villagers and explained I had no money was was here to get some. Did my shopping and decided to go to a local bar for a drink while waiting. Its friendly in that the bloke behind the bar greets you as you come in and seems pleased to serve you, whereas the other pubs seem to act as if they're doing you a favour by letting you come in.

I had just calculated that I'd be able to have 3 quiet drinks before the bus came so had bought my 3rd when the village guy came in and bought me a drink! Well that was the evening cancelled, when I got back I just sawed some firewood for a bit!

Rain

Its been raining the past few days so I thought I'd tackle the ironing and washing up. I had a simple plan to tackle it. Rather than do it all in one heroicpush, I thought I'd just do some washing up until I got bored, then tackle the ironing and then swap back. So, that's 1 cup and 3 spoons and a pair of socks done.

More Hay

Spent most of the day loading up hay in a handcart and taking it around to Steve's place. We cleared the lot with four trips.

...While the Sun Shines

...While the Sun Shines, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

I heard a noise at the gate about lunchtime. When I got to the door, I spotted a bike but couldn't see anyone. Looking up the garden, I could just see Hobo and Steve disappearing behind my Walnut tree. They'd come to turn the hay over in next door's garden.

Hay

Tuesday night, Hobo had suggested that we collect the hay for Steve sometime early in the morning as it was too hot by 10am. Sure enough, he turns up at 10:40! We loaded up the hand cart and took around to Steve and then Hobo suggested that we have a beer break at the shop. (The shop keeping a supply in the fridge)

There was an interesting bit of street theatre with the woman in the shop as she wanted to catch the post van. So she quickly shut the shop (we hadn't paid yet). She went to the Posta van and some people turned up and waited. No problem but coming up to closing time she'd just locked he shop when two people turned up desperately needing something or other. She'd wanted to catch the ice-cream van now and looked down the street to see if she had enough time to open the shop and serve them. Of course it came past while she was in there but Hobo flagged it down.
After the beer break it was back to storing the hay.

I seem to have mastered the art of unloading the cart as it only takes me 2 or 3 forkfuls to clear it but it takes Hobo much longer to put it in the hay room. (To be fair, it does need a bit of fiddling with.) There were another to loads to get from the garden so of we went again. While stacking the handcart up I managed to knock the head off the fork! Looks like the nail had worked loose. So bit of a QUAD repair and by this time, black clouds had come rolling in. The temperature had dropped noticeably, thank goodness, and it was starting to spit. Hobo said this would be the last load today because of the rain and off we went. It was starting to rain properly while we unloaded and Hobo wanted to get the cart back to the owner before it really opened up.

So, there's me and Hobo running up the street towing the hand cart and as well as the rain, it starts raining hailstones! big ones too, like broad bean sized! (Nice and cool though). After dropping it off we quickly made our way to the pub absolutely drenched. The locals inside waited 10 mins and never got a drop on them.

Oh, and Steve's new kid arrived. Lots of talk on the lines of "THIS time don't sell him but keep him to make sausages with".

Food

A bit of a milestone tonight, apart from the meat and spices, all the ingredients for my evening meal came from the garden.

Onions

Harvested the onions today. Very disappointing. I had planted more than last year but seem to have only a fifth of the crop. Very roughly about 3 weeks worth. On the other hand I have a lot of onion seeds so may next year will be better.
The tomato plants are doing well. i planted them in a new plot so hopefully they won't get blight this year. The biggest is starting to fruit and if they grow as big as last year I'll have tomatoes for months!

Pickles

I spent the morning getting hay in for Steve's goats. Steve gave me a half litre of home made cider vinegar.

In the evening, I used the vinegar to make a pickling brew for some of the walnuts, for the rest I used plain white vinegar. I dated one of the jars and gave it to Hobo in the evening. The Hungarians don't really have a word for pickle and the closest, "pácle" can also mean a walnut coloured paint which led to an amusing conversation in the pub!

Pickling

Well, according to my favourite weather site, it was going to rain at two this afternoon so I decided to fire up the wood-stove to do some washing up and to prepare the green walnuts for pickling.

June, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

I haven't checked to see if I've written about this before but the process involves pricking the green walnuts and then soaking then in brine for about two weeks (changing the water at least once). Walnut juice stains just about everything it touches, including plastic so I wore gloves. Took about 2 hours, including coffee breaks, to do them all. It'll be worth it though, I thoroughly enjoyed last years which is why I picked so many this year.

2pm came and went with no rain and the forecast changed to the evening. Typical.

Strimming

Did some strimming today. I noticed that the Walnut tree's fruit were a lot bigger than last time I looked, in fact they looked a bit bigger than the lot I harvested last year for pickling. When the strimmer ran out of petrol I took the opportunity of harvesting the walnuts. I got about 8L (last year I had 3 half-litre jars of pickled walnuts so this is a big increase). I just got all the ones in easy reach thinking that I can get the rest as walnuts when they fall off later in the year.

I then went back to strimming after mixing up a fresh batch of 2 stroke fuel and oil.


It was only after I finished that I realised that today was Friday and not Thursday so I wouldn't be going to Körmend tomorrow after all. Bugger! Means I'll have to pedal there Sunday to get some cash.

I got a nice collection of bites and nettle stings, hard to tell which is which to be honest.

Painting Finished

After_1, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

After_2, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

Much Better!

During

During, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

Hobo hard at work

Rhubarb Wine

Rained today for the 1st time in weeks but only in the morning and fairly lightly. I did some weeding and the ground was bone-dry underneath.

Picked some more rhubarb with the intention of making rhubarb wine. From the recipes it seems I don't have enough to make a 1 gallon batch so I scaled back to about a third. Next year when I have 2 plants to harvest, I should be able to make up a proper batch.

I looked at my Quince trees on the way up. A couple of weeks ago the one tree was in bloom and I could see tiny fruit develop. Now, nothing. Like they all fell off or something.

On the other hand all the apple trees are bearing fruit and so is my pear tree. It didn't blossom last year so looking forward to fresh pears. The walnut tree is fruiting too so I have to remember when to harvest them for pickled walnuts. Best thing I made last years so I'll have the lot pickled this year!

Before

Before, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

test

Körmend

Met up with Hobo in the pub about 8am. Its a bit early for beer, even for me, so I had a coffee. Two reasons to go to Körmend this week.

1. Need some money for the week
2. To get the paint for the fence. 

I mentioned to Hobo that I wanted the fence done and he worked out the quantities we needed. The bridge is still out so the 1st stop in town is just outside the local school whereas normally this is the second stop (which I've never used). I went to the nearest ATM which surprisingly, wasn't where hobo thought it was. I went to get the cash while Hobo went off to get the beers in!

Met Hobo in a bar I'd never been in. i was quite pleased to have understood enough Hungarian to follow his instructions! He said that about 9am the people from the shop come in for a beer and we'd go over when they went back.

It was a different story from the last time I was in the shop looking for tile grout. This time no looking up stuff in the dictionary.

We got all the paint and Hobo said he'd arrange to have it picked up. i was relieved at that as the one can was bigger that the one we got in Budapest.

Went off to do some shopping while Hobo said he'd meet up in the bar in an hour.

Two hours later and its getting time to get the bus so I left the bar and went to the bus stop. Met a load of locals from the village who asked what I was doing. 'Waiting for Hobo' I said, at which point they all laughed so him not turning up would be the norm rather than the exception! (Reminds me of someone back home who swears blind he'll meet you somewhere and not turn up)

Rhubarb

I gave Steve the first harvest of Rhubarb so the 2nd was for me. I made some rhubarb crumble and cooked it using the wood stove. Quite successful, apart from the recipe, far too much sugar for my taste. The next one will have the amount halved.

The wood stove is, quite frankly, the best bit of kit I've bought in some time. A lot of problems I had are now resources. For example, the large pile of rotten wood in the barn is no longer a disposal problem but a valuable resource. (ie it saves me the money it costs to buy firewood.). Similarly, the cardboard boxes are now kindling rather than rubbish to be thrown away.

As a side effect, the wood ash produced is a useful produc all in itself. I can use it on the garden as a fertiliser (well I use it as a substitute for lime where limes recommended in the gardening books) or I can use it to make lye. A project I want to do some time this year is to make soap which needs lye and fat.

Budapest

I had to go to Budapest for a couple of days to get my bank card.They still have my UK address and wont post overseas. I think you can change the address on the internet but I also locked myself out of that! One problem at a time.


Got the direct train to Budapest from Kormend so there was no faffing about changing trains anywhere (as I well remember from  my trip to the UK by train). I got to the hotel a bit earlier than checking in time but the bloke manning the desk told me I could leave my stuff in the luggage room. He also wanted to give me a map and a list of sights to visit. I told him I've been before and then went off to get something to eat.

Its a bit of a tradition to eat something in the Caladonia, run by a bloke who used to drink in my local back home! Had a nice meal and a British beer and went back to the hotel.

I went to the bank fairly early. As this was Budapest I asked the teller if she could speak English. Since she said only a little I went on to describe my problems in Hungarian. I was quite pleased with this and managed to get my new card and new address sorted. I got let down by the internet problem as I needed a magic telephone PIN and the only way was via an automatic call centre. The Hungarian was way beyond mine so the girl went off to find some to translate the phone message to me!

Got there in the end. Celebrated my new card by spending some money on Guiness.

New Cooker

My parents have gone back so a quick summary of what's been done:

• Got a new wood-burning stove/cooker. There are several benefits for this
• Wood is much cheaper than gas so the cooker shold repay itself within the year.
• All the flyers can now be used as kindling, so it will cut down on waste.
• Its MUCH warmer than the gas central heating I got.
• The ash can be used as a fertiliser. (From my reading I can use it as a substitute for lime). Also I'm going to have a go at making soap at some point. Should be interesting!
• Did some digging. Well, did a lot of digging actually. I've only opened up small plots up until now so I joined several of them together to make larger plots. I also opened a much larger area adding about 25% to the area I can now grow stuff in. I'm guessing I've about half a standard allotment in area now.
• I've planted all my spuds, all the garlic and half the onions. I've also started off my "3 sisters" experiment. Seems more suitable to a much larger area but its an experiment. I've started off my tomatoes but I think 18 plants was a bit optimistic!
• My rhubarb plant (the one I grew from seed) seems to have survived transplanting to its new home and seems to be thriving. Its about 18 months old so it'll be a while yet before I get rhubarb off it. Next year maybe?

Wood delivery

Wood delivery 1
Originally uploaded by A John Walters
The wood shortly after it was delivered. The pallets were carefully removed from the lorry by judicious use of a long metal pole!

Back

Back in Hungary and back blogging (I hope)

I had made it a new year resolution to start blogging again but since I was going to the UK shortly I decided to leave it until I came back.

Since the last entry, I dug up all the spuds, lost half to rats (or maybe mice) and winter pruned the apple trees. As for the rats, I decided that there are worse things than cats in the loft so I unplugged all the gaps I blocked to stop cats getting in. Now there's no rats.

I had a minor mouse problem but setting down traps sorted that out. I only caught the one but there has been no more weird scrabbling noises waking me in the night so it must have been just the one.

I had to go to the UK to get a new passport (although, to be fair, I found out I could have gone to the British Consul to get it renewed) and decided to go by train. After working it out, it was cheaper than a budget airline from Graz or Budapest. Also, I've never travelled across Europe by train so that settled it.

Lots of cross referencing different timetables by different train companies to make sure I had enough time to get the next rain even if the one I was on got delayed. The worst was booking the Eurostar as I constantly re-checked it to make sure I had the right day! Seemed the best way of doing it was to work backwards from my destination.

While I was in the UK waiting for my passport, I met up with several old friends. Hi to Al, Katy et al.

Sorted out my bank account which I forgot to change addresses before I left! I'll be able to close it in a month or so and get a simpler account which doesn't charge me every month.

I also took the opportunity of getting my eyes tested as my eyesight was noticeably worse than when I came here.