Day 12...Friday, 25th April, 2014
Just thought I’d better put a date in there so I’d know where I’m up to!
Off to town with Ferenc to-day, dunny shopping. It’s raining gently, but is still warm-ish. It’s been a constant 15C inside for a week now, thankfully, as I have no heating yet. Outside it’s hot, warm, cool...depending if the sun is out or not.
It’s very nice being here...my older friends would have a wonderful memory jolt, I can tell you now!
I sliced my left middle finger right to the joint to-day, after coming home with a nice new knife and raced over to the neighbour, streaming blood stopped by hard pressure as I ran, plus I elevated my left hand too. She looked at it, got a bandaid and some starch powder (we used to use that in hospital, when nursing, to dry out wounds etc), so I knew what was going on. I held the pressure on my finger and she applied the bandaid.
Job done! I wrapped my finger firmly in a paper towel and put my little pink glove on, strapped my ring finger to it as a splint and popped both fingers into one finger in the glove. Presto...a cartoon character with 4 fingers! No bleeding so far and I haven’t taken the original bandaid off yet either. Washing is OK, I pop on a big set of rubber gloves I’d just bought too, so I should be OK...But who would have thought the sharp side would be the wrong way up? Dohhh...
I had to paint the blunt side with bright red nail polish, to differentiate the sharp side from the other. It’s very confusing to have the straight edge, the sharp edge...Even the switches are upside down, cars drive on the wrong side of the road and some keys open the opposite way to what you’d think over here.
Just thought I’d better put a date in there so I’d know where I’m up to!
Off to town with Ferenc to-day, dunny shopping. It’s raining gently, but is still warm-ish. It’s been a constant 15C inside for a week now, thankfully, as I have no heating yet. Outside it’s hot, warm, cool...depending if the sun is out or not.
It’s very nice being here...my older friends would have a wonderful memory jolt, I can tell you now!
I sliced my left middle finger right to the joint to-day, after coming home with a nice new knife and raced over to the neighbour, streaming blood stopped by hard pressure as I ran, plus I elevated my left hand too. She looked at it, got a bandaid and some starch powder (we used to use that in hospital, when nursing, to dry out wounds etc), so I knew what was going on. I held the pressure on my finger and she applied the bandaid.
Job done! I wrapped my finger firmly in a paper towel and put my little pink glove on, strapped my ring finger to it as a splint and popped both fingers into one finger in the glove. Presto...a cartoon character with 4 fingers! No bleeding so far and I haven’t taken the original bandaid off yet either. Washing is OK, I pop on a big set of rubber gloves I’d just bought too, so I should be OK...But who would have thought the sharp side would be the wrong way up? Dohhh...
I had to paint the blunt side with bright red nail polish, to differentiate the sharp side from the other. It’s very confusing to have the straight edge, the sharp edge...Even the switches are upside down, cars drive on the wrong side of the road and some keys open the opposite way to what you’d think over here.
The dunny is sorted out...thankfully. I have to get a temporary wooden shed, 58,000 ft with delivery...about $300. That was OK...but then I found out I can’t use the old dunny pit, as it’s full (I hadn’t looked yet) and therefore a new hole has to be dug and the top lined with bricks, so the side walls of the hole don’t collapse! Trusty Tibi to the rescue...He’s coming on Sat, May 3rd and will sort all that out for me too.
Little by little things are being sorted out. Ferenc and I went to a restaurant this morning, (after dunny shopping, checking out bathroom supplies, tiles, baths, showers etc) for a coffee and for me to use their wifi. While there he organised the internet connection for the lodge for me and they said about 2 weeks time and to have 6,000 ft on me($30)... yahhy!
In the meantime I have to get wifi on a pre-paid plan...that’s only 3GB, which will last about 3 days with all the catching up I’m fretting over, but will have to buy data @ $20 for 3GB as necessary over the next 2 weeks. I got some of my online work done, for the price of a kettle of goulash soup (1,000 ft...$5.00), how good was that too.
Had an email from my second son to-day who takes care of my mail and with all the foreign exchange withdrawals of the past few months, with the Lodge and with the ladies on tour etc etc, my a/c overdrew by $12. My son saw that and topped up my account with $50 for me. How good are those boys! I have 3 amazing boys and one brilliant daughter.
Went shopping at Tesco for my first real supply of food, whilst up that end of town, caught a cab back into the centre of town (500ft...$2.50) caught the bus home...and yup, forgot the wifi...which was right near the bus stop too! Decided to go in to-morrow, Sat morning and get it, so wasn’t too worried about no wifi... still.
I bought so much stuff like olive oil...really xxxy here, 500gms strawbs, 1kg bag of onions; 3kg bag oranges, 1kg apples, 4 bananas, 1kg of frozen fish fillets,(1/2 price special), 1kg rice, a couple pkts Maggi seasonings, a round of those happy cow type cheeses, a litre of multi-vitamin juice, a large bottle fab softener, 1kg frozen peas, ½ kg lamb, 6 chicken legs, a big chunk of ginger, pkt trail mix(dried fruit and nut mix), 2 x 500gm yoghurts, a 1 kg plastic bag of cooked beetroot, some paper towels, 1 x ½ litre can beer(49cents), 2 pkts berry tea, a pkt green tea, those 6 killer upside down vegetable knives, a big red capsicum, 6 shallots-spring onions, a thing/bulb of that weird celery they have here, 1kg red kidney beans, jar really HOT horseradish, bag lettuce mix and that was about it.
That all came to 11,000ft...(about $55.00). More expensive than Prague! Hungary is so different to Czech Republic. Tiszafured is 100 miles from Budapest, where stuff is about the same price in the Spar, Tesco, Lidl supermarkets in Budapest anyways, but the food is so packaged, it's really awful for me!
I generally buy some feta cheese, some spicy olives, sundried tomato, smoked salmon as my treat for the week, but none of those exist here. If they do, I haven't seen them yet...and as far as fruit variety goes, it's abysmal. Maybe as summer cranks up, the fruit trees everywhere will produce and lots of stone fruits will abound.
Early to bed...when the sun sets, which is about 8pm...ish!
Little by little things are being sorted out. Ferenc and I went to a restaurant this morning, (after dunny shopping, checking out bathroom supplies, tiles, baths, showers etc) for a coffee and for me to use their wifi. While there he organised the internet connection for the lodge for me and they said about 2 weeks time and to have 6,000 ft on me($30)... yahhy!
In the meantime I have to get wifi on a pre-paid plan...that’s only 3GB, which will last about 3 days with all the catching up I’m fretting over, but will have to buy data @ $20 for 3GB as necessary over the next 2 weeks. I got some of my online work done, for the price of a kettle of goulash soup (1,000 ft...$5.00), how good was that too.
Had an email from my second son to-day who takes care of my mail and with all the foreign exchange withdrawals of the past few months, with the Lodge and with the ladies on tour etc etc, my a/c overdrew by $12. My son saw that and topped up my account with $50 for me. How good are those boys! I have 3 amazing boys and one brilliant daughter.
Went shopping at Tesco for my first real supply of food, whilst up that end of town, caught a cab back into the centre of town (500ft...$2.50) caught the bus home...and yup, forgot the wifi...which was right near the bus stop too! Decided to go in to-morrow, Sat morning and get it, so wasn’t too worried about no wifi... still.
I bought so much stuff like olive oil...really xxxy here, 500gms strawbs, 1kg bag of onions; 3kg bag oranges, 1kg apples, 4 bananas, 1kg of frozen fish fillets,(1/2 price special), 1kg rice, a couple pkts Maggi seasonings, a round of those happy cow type cheeses, a litre of multi-vitamin juice, a large bottle fab softener, 1kg frozen peas, ½ kg lamb, 6 chicken legs, a big chunk of ginger, pkt trail mix(dried fruit and nut mix), 2 x 500gm yoghurts, a 1 kg plastic bag of cooked beetroot, some paper towels, 1 x ½ litre can beer(49cents), 2 pkts berry tea, a pkt green tea, those 6 killer upside down vegetable knives, a big red capsicum, 6 shallots-spring onions, a thing/bulb of that weird celery they have here, 1kg red kidney beans, jar really HOT horseradish, bag lettuce mix and that was about it.
That all came to 11,000ft...(about $55.00). More expensive than Prague! Hungary is so different to Czech Republic. Tiszafured is 100 miles from Budapest, where stuff is about the same price in the Spar, Tesco, Lidl supermarkets in Budapest anyways, but the food is so packaged, it's really awful for me!
I generally buy some feta cheese, some spicy olives, sundried tomato, smoked salmon as my treat for the week, but none of those exist here. If they do, I haven't seen them yet...and as far as fruit variety goes, it's abysmal. Maybe as summer cranks up, the fruit trees everywhere will produce and lots of stone fruits will abound.
Early to bed...when the sun sets, which is about 8pm...ish!
Day 13...Saturday, 26th April.
Surprise...Temporarily forgot about Jonas and Felix coming to slash the paddock at 8am today, as they didn’t turn up on Thursday, but they called in yesterday afternoon to say(I pointed to a day and got them to write in my diary) they’d be here at 8am Saturday..
The sun gets up here about 5.30am and I was getting ready to go get my wifi in Tiszafured, when I remembered. It began raining anyways and I shrugged away catching up on my work on the internet for the weekend and went with the fun of watching in awe, 3 men scythe the paddocks for the next 4 hours!
Wow, we found another door in a shed wall and found a bike in there...plus, I stood on a stool and squeezed my head in thru the little window in the summer kitchen and looked further inside. Imagine my surprise at finding another attic in there! The surprises just keep on going on...and on.
Work must begin ASAP on this little shed, as it is about to lose one side to the elements, causing the sinking on the left side in the pics and any more loss of mud walls could quickly cause it to collapse too.
After they finished scything the field, the locals took the remaining, unusable rubbish further down the paddock for me, without asking and set up a big bon fire for later on. They also took any wood and bramble scraps that they found, home with them. I love how everything is valued here.
Surprise...Temporarily forgot about Jonas and Felix coming to slash the paddock at 8am today, as they didn’t turn up on Thursday, but they called in yesterday afternoon to say(I pointed to a day and got them to write in my diary) they’d be here at 8am Saturday..
The sun gets up here about 5.30am and I was getting ready to go get my wifi in Tiszafured, when I remembered. It began raining anyways and I shrugged away catching up on my work on the internet for the weekend and went with the fun of watching in awe, 3 men scythe the paddocks for the next 4 hours!
Wow, we found another door in a shed wall and found a bike in there...plus, I stood on a stool and squeezed my head in thru the little window in the summer kitchen and looked further inside. Imagine my surprise at finding another attic in there! The surprises just keep on going on...and on.
Work must begin ASAP on this little shed, as it is about to lose one side to the elements, causing the sinking on the left side in the pics and any more loss of mud walls could quickly cause it to collapse too.
After they finished scything the field, the locals took the remaining, unusable rubbish further down the paddock for me, without asking and set up a big bon fire for later on. They also took any wood and bramble scraps that they found, home with them. I love how everything is valued here.
The place looks a tad better...even tho they slashed in the rain; it lowered my “hidden from the road” status somewhat! The week after next, I’ll get up in the attic again and wander around myself and ponder if the attic conversion can become a reality. Learning how the mud walls are made and how they are repaired is necessary for the walls to bear the added weight of the future attic conversions plus furniture.
My Irish friend, Elaine, suggested I keep the property as authentic as possible, as coming from over that way for holidays in Hungary, which the UK does; they’d want it as close to possible to true style. Still mussing over the style, but will be leaving the walls as they are and won’t put gyprock over them as I’d thought originally. That then leads to the next stage of planning...ceilings. They will remain as are...painted white bendy beams! That’s 2 of 2197 decisions made.
My Irish friend, Elaine, suggested I keep the property as authentic as possible, as coming from over that way for holidays in Hungary, which the UK does; they’d want it as close to possible to true style. Still mussing over the style, but will be leaving the walls as they are and won’t put gyprock over them as I’d thought originally. That then leads to the next stage of planning...ceilings. They will remain as are...painted white bendy beams! That’s 2 of 2197 decisions made.
I think I’ll close in one pier on the verandah too and make a nice glassy entrance into the attic, directly where it is now, as it’s nice and sunny all day there and in winter it will be great to capture that available warmth and light and bounce it upstairs.
Had Tibi over yesterday to “discuss” the new dunny, the bathroom, a bath instead of shower (temporary only, until a real bathroom can be sealed, tiled etc) cutting holes in the walls for windows and a door thru to the bathroom area. I marked out on the walls and floor, with chalk I found here,(how convenient) where the windows and door holes might go and already I can see it!
At the tile/bathroom shop yesterday, I found some great ideas on how to use the existing bread ovens, cum old fire holes that are in the area I’ll use for a kitchen and am very thrilled that a lovely big glass hot plate set up will go nicely in chimney hole #1 and a wall oven will fit snugly into the smaller one. How lucky am I to have 2 real chimneys for exhaust fans, huh?
Had a look up both chimneys too and can see the sky from both, as no use for 5yrs has allowed the rain and snow to clean them out really well! Yes, I did eventually get game enough to open the smaller fireplace doors to-day too, expecting to be drowned in soot, but was pleasantly surprised that only a shovel full of soot fell out!
Had Tibi over yesterday to “discuss” the new dunny, the bathroom, a bath instead of shower (temporary only, until a real bathroom can be sealed, tiled etc) cutting holes in the walls for windows and a door thru to the bathroom area. I marked out on the walls and floor, with chalk I found here,(how convenient) where the windows and door holes might go and already I can see it!
At the tile/bathroom shop yesterday, I found some great ideas on how to use the existing bread ovens, cum old fire holes that are in the area I’ll use for a kitchen and am very thrilled that a lovely big glass hot plate set up will go nicely in chimney hole #1 and a wall oven will fit snugly into the smaller one. How lucky am I to have 2 real chimneys for exhaust fans, huh?
Had a look up both chimneys too and can see the sky from both, as no use for 5yrs has allowed the rain and snow to clean them out really well! Yes, I did eventually get game enough to open the smaller fireplace doors to-day too, expecting to be drowned in soot, but was pleasantly surprised that only a shovel full of soot fell out!
Am looking forwards to getting the toilet (temporary as it will be) working and a bath of sorts happening, so I can get some worker/volunteers in to help. I’m very glad I’ve had these few weeks alone to suss the place out and enjoy being back in my childhood again.
I’ve pretended I’ve been bush camping, with just a big roof over me instead of a tent, but everything else is almost the same as camping in the bush, including digging a hole each time you grab the roll of toilet paper! I’m so glad I went climbing the Himalayas, as over there they dug a hole, put a plastic screen around it, put a stool with a hole in the seat over the hole and you took a huge roll of bright pink toilet paper and a small shovel with you. If you’re gonna go...go in style!
The time is coming soon, to get to work on the place, while the weather is good and stuff can dry out. I’ll just put a bath in the area for the future bathroom and add a long drainage hose out into the paddock for waste water. Boil the jug, just as we did as kids and at least be able to lie down and get some warm water on my back, as that’s the only part I can’t wash properly with this gloved cut finger, which has been fine thus far. That’s the only thing missing with sitting in the basin on the floor...you can’t lay down in it to soak yr back.
Sat up until 4am this morning, doing plans and drawings in my note book and even cooked a couple of chicken legs at 3am, but decided I really didn’t want to eat in the middle of the night. I just couldn’t get to sleep. Then realized it was the coffee I’d been drinking all day.
I’d made my first entertaining pot of coffee this morning and served the guys a “kaffe” in those tiny little shot glasses they all use over here. Only one guy took sugar and luckily, I had one sugar sachet from the plane with me here, as I don’t take sugar myself. There was some coffee left over and I kept watering it down and drinking it thru-out the afternoon myself, not thinking it might keep me awake, as coffee never had done so before. Hahaha...stroooong brew here.
I’ve pretended I’ve been bush camping, with just a big roof over me instead of a tent, but everything else is almost the same as camping in the bush, including digging a hole each time you grab the roll of toilet paper! I’m so glad I went climbing the Himalayas, as over there they dug a hole, put a plastic screen around it, put a stool with a hole in the seat over the hole and you took a huge roll of bright pink toilet paper and a small shovel with you. If you’re gonna go...go in style!
The time is coming soon, to get to work on the place, while the weather is good and stuff can dry out. I’ll just put a bath in the area for the future bathroom and add a long drainage hose out into the paddock for waste water. Boil the jug, just as we did as kids and at least be able to lie down and get some warm water on my back, as that’s the only part I can’t wash properly with this gloved cut finger, which has been fine thus far. That’s the only thing missing with sitting in the basin on the floor...you can’t lay down in it to soak yr back.
Sat up until 4am this morning, doing plans and drawings in my note book and even cooked a couple of chicken legs at 3am, but decided I really didn’t want to eat in the middle of the night. I just couldn’t get to sleep. Then realized it was the coffee I’d been drinking all day.
I’d made my first entertaining pot of coffee this morning and served the guys a “kaffe” in those tiny little shot glasses they all use over here. Only one guy took sugar and luckily, I had one sugar sachet from the plane with me here, as I don’t take sugar myself. There was some coffee left over and I kept watering it down and drinking it thru-out the afternoon myself, not thinking it might keep me awake, as coffee never had done so before. Hahaha...stroooong brew here.
Day 14...Sunday, 27th April.
Woke at 7am after about 2-3 hrs sleep. That was one lesson quickly learned. No coffee after my one cup at breakfast time! It was a lovely sunny to quite hot day and I was almost going to jump on a plane and head for Iceland at one stage, as it became so hot- 27C... Oh, no she cries!!!
But I quickly found a solution...go inside where the 18inch (I thought the walls were only 15 inches thick)walls keep the interior a constant 1 jumper only cool/warm at 15-17 C. Sitting in the morning sun on the step, I had yoghurt, strawberries and banana for breakfast, a nice salad for lunch and for tea; some rice and those chicken legs I’d cooked in the early hours this morning!
Lazed around all day, listening to the church bells chime, families laughing and chatting while out pushing prams and riding bikes, bumble bees buzzing, those blessed big March flies buzzing in and out of the rooms, chooks clucking their good egg news to the world, blue wrens and kingfisher types of birds twittering away in the wild rambling-rose bushes next to me and the nesting storks “katutt-tutt-tutting”away. The whole style and feel of this area is so like Australia country was back in the 50’s.
All up, a very pleasant way to get in touch with ones senses again.
Went to bed at 8pm, the sun was just setting, but as I had no TV, internet, music, Phantom of The Opera or anything, I just went to bed and I don’t think I moved all night and slept like a log! Most nights, before going to bed, for a few hours I have been writing this blog in Word on the computer, as you don’t need internet to use Word and write documents. Then when I’ve had internet access, I’d cut and paste the pertinent day into my Weebly blog. A good use of time, but I was too lazy to-night and skipped it!
Woke at 7am after about 2-3 hrs sleep. That was one lesson quickly learned. No coffee after my one cup at breakfast time! It was a lovely sunny to quite hot day and I was almost going to jump on a plane and head for Iceland at one stage, as it became so hot- 27C... Oh, no she cries!!!
But I quickly found a solution...go inside where the 18inch (I thought the walls were only 15 inches thick)walls keep the interior a constant 1 jumper only cool/warm at 15-17 C. Sitting in the morning sun on the step, I had yoghurt, strawberries and banana for breakfast, a nice salad for lunch and for tea; some rice and those chicken legs I’d cooked in the early hours this morning!
Lazed around all day, listening to the church bells chime, families laughing and chatting while out pushing prams and riding bikes, bumble bees buzzing, those blessed big March flies buzzing in and out of the rooms, chooks clucking their good egg news to the world, blue wrens and kingfisher types of birds twittering away in the wild rambling-rose bushes next to me and the nesting storks “katutt-tutt-tutting”away. The whole style and feel of this area is so like Australia country was back in the 50’s.
All up, a very pleasant way to get in touch with ones senses again.
Went to bed at 8pm, the sun was just setting, but as I had no TV, internet, music, Phantom of The Opera or anything, I just went to bed and I don’t think I moved all night and slept like a log! Most nights, before going to bed, for a few hours I have been writing this blog in Word on the computer, as you don’t need internet to use Word and write documents. Then when I’ve had internet access, I’d cut and paste the pertinent day into my Weebly blog. A good use of time, but I was too lazy to-night and skipped it!
Taken from down the paddock after the slashers did their slashing in the rain. It was really a shoddy cut, but twice they came to do it and it began raining, so to-day they just did it! It's better up near the house as up there it's mostly wheat, of all things and slashed easily. You can see the shed is collapsing more each time it rains.