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!