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!
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