Absolutely Anything Else

fluffy2560 wrote:

Cynic wrote:

LOL

Judith Durham - that was back in the days when to travel from Oz to the UK, ocean liner was the way to do it.  A few years older than that is this Springfields; shame I don't have the vocal range anymore.

Yes, my parents were out that way and liked the Australian sound so we'd have the Seekers on for a singalong.  I always thought Judith Durham looked like a kind of pixie in that video.  I like pixies.  That bloke on the bass looks like Hank Marvin.

Cynic wrote:

Bus Stop - Graham Nash, went on to help create probably my 2nd favourite band of all times, CSN; this link takes you to a cover version of their greatest ever song, dunno why I prefer the cover to the original.  Maybe because it was made in a strip-joint.

And of course CSN became CSNY.  Neil Young is just such a great guitarist.  An extension of his body really.  I cannot say I like all his stuff but some of it is real class.

Cynic wrote:

Cream - technically brilliant; never a fan of Clapton's vocals

I totally agree.  Very slick performance considering Cream were a three piece.   The only other band I've seen as a three piece that blew me away was The Jam in their early days.

And yes, Clapton should keep his gob shut and stick to being an axe man.  I have a couple of his albums but the original "I shot the sheriff" is so much better by Bob Marley.   Why mess with it when it's not broken?  Clapton tried it again with Cocaine.  Why bother Eric baby? J J Cale did it perfectly the first time.
Technically Eric is great on the guitar but I just don't think he's a show man.  It's just not enough for me.

Cynic wrote:

Hendrix - not seen that version of Voodoo Child before

Anyone wanting to play rock guitar (like me) will stare at Hendrix's performances in awe.  It's required viewing for any guitar aspirant.  He plays the right hand guitar left handed and one handed "hammering on" with his right hand.  It's like the hand of God.  Our No 1 Hungarian sprog is aspiring on the electric guitar and Jimi is homework.  Hendrix makes it look effortless. 

Cynic wrote:

Eagles - One of my all time favourites (but which one); I think I'm a massive Eagles/Jackson Browne/Don Henley fan because their biggest songs were of my time and I could do a passible cover of most of them - although some of them depress my wife.

I used to like the Eagles but I've gone right off them for some reason and never bother listening to them now.  In fact I've gone off a lot of music. Very rare for me to bother now except for golden oldies. Shame really.

Would never call myself a guitarist; I had a mate who could play who taught me how to strum along so we didn't look totally stupid when singing for our beer in the German pubs and restaurants we frequented as we worked our way around southern Germany.  I played trumpet and percussion and was a much better singist until my voice gave up the ghost when I got COPD.

Cynic wrote:

....
Would never call myself a guitarist; I had a mate who could play who taught me how to strum along so we didn't look totally stupid when singing for our beer in the German pubs and restaurants we frequented as we worked our way around southern Germany.  I played trumpet and percussion and was a much better singist until my voice gave up the ghost when I got COPD.

Me also not that good.  Never good enough to be paid.  Maybe paid to get off.

I had a really nice electric guitar up until I was about in my mid-30s. 

When I left Germany to come here to Hungary, my guitar was stolen by the movers (scumbags left it off the inventory, I didn't notice and they nicked it) and I never got another one.   That was 25 years ago.  Still got the amp and microphone though so the kids are using them.  I also had another guitar I'd had since I was 16 but it seems to have disappeared as well at least 20 years ago.   Not sure where that one went.

However, I do remember some guitary things and I'm trying to help No. 1 HU Fluffyette get going.    I don't have the persistence to keep slogging away practising.  Don't think the fingers can do it any more. 

But being an aspiring grumpy old git maybe I can live vicariously via my kids. 

Becoming the story of my life!

fluffy2560 wrote:

Cynic wrote:

....
Would never call myself a guitarist; I had a mate who could play who taught me how to strum along so we didn't look totally stupid when singing for our beer in the German pubs and restaurants we frequented as we worked our way around southern Germany.  I played trumpet and percussion and was a much better singist until my voice gave up the ghost when I got COPD.

Me also not that good.  Never good enough to be paid.  Maybe paid to get off.

I had a really nice electric guitar up until I was about in my mid-30s. 

When I left Germany to come here to Hungary, my guitar was stolen by the movers (scumbags left it off the inventory, I didn't notice and they nicked it) and I never got another one.   That was 25 years ago.  Still got the amp and microphone though so the kids are using them.  I also had another guitar I'd had since I was 16 but it seems to have disappeared as well at least 20 years ago.   Not sure where that one went.

However, I do remember some guitary things and I'm trying to help No. 1 HU Fluffyette get going.    I don't have the persistence to keep slogging away practising.  Don't think the fingers can do it any more. 

But being an aspiring grumpy old git maybe I can live vicariously via my kids. 

Becoming the story of my life!

My lad can sing and play well, but he's not interested any more which is a shame.  All I have left now at home is a trombone which I rather foolishly thought I could play just like my trumpet and would be something to do in retirement, that was a bit of an eye opener.  Still, it looks kind of cool hanging on the coat rack by the back door.  Kind of weird the effect of all the kids leaving home has on your house, suddenly having space to hang things.  Probably means we'll downsize at some stage, we don't need a massive house for just the 2 of us.

Music, perhaps even more in these times is an important item, over the years I have learnt to appreciate classical music and concerts, still if in a melancholic mood I like to listen to Uriah Heep (please watch on YouTube 30 years Uriah Heep), Deep Purple, Renessaince, Pavlovs Dog, Led Zeppelin, ..

cdw057 wrote:

Music, perhaps even more in these times is an important item, over the years I have learnt to appreciate classical music and concerts, still if in a melancholic mood I like to listen to Uriah Heep (please watch on YouTube 30 years Uriah Heep), Deep Purple, Renessaince, Pavlovs Dog, Led Zeppelin, ..

Zeppelin were a great band but personally I didn't actually like Robert Plant and Co as people.  I saw them being interviewed once and I thought they weren't very friendly.  Music was great though.

Now Deep Purple - another rite of passage tune for budding guitarists - Smoke on the Water...Dah-Dah-Daaaa-Dah-Daah-Dah-Der--....and so on.

Classics wise I learnt mainly to appreciate from my parents who went lite with Vivaldi and operatic tunes like Carmen.   Even went to see Carmen at the Opera here.  It was in the afternoon and it cost about 1500 HUF or something.  Dirt cheap and no dressing up.  We didn't bother going again once we'd heard the main tunes.

Cynic wrote:

.... Kind of weird the effect of all the kids leaving home has on your house, suddenly having space to hang things.  Probably means we'll downsize at some stage, we don't need a massive house for just the 2 of us.

Ah but where are the kids going to store their stuff?   

I've still got stuff at my Dad's place and he's 96 and I'm 60!  He does remind me sometimes.  I'd have to drive there with the car.  But no chance with UK lockdown.

We've still got some way to go before our local two here depart the nest.   At least another 7 or 8 years for the youngest one but perhaps that one won't go anyway as far too comfy and pampered. 

The other one will be off like a shot - wants to go and study in Spain.  Very keen on Spanish things.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Cynic wrote:

.... Kind of weird the effect of all the kids leaving home has on your house, suddenly having space to hang things.  Probably means we'll downsize at some stage, we don't need a massive house for just the 2 of us.

Ah but where are the kids going to store their stuff?   

I've still got stuff at my Dad's place and he's 96 and I'm 60!  He does remind me sometimes.  I'd have to drive there with the car.  But no chance with UK lockdown.

We've still got some way to go before our local two here depart the nest.   At least another 7 or 8 years for the youngest one but perhaps that one won't go anyway as far too comfy and pampered. 

The other one will be off like a shot - wants to go and study in Spain.  Very keen on Spanish things.

We'd already had that conversation; anything that was still here after 12 months was taken to the tip.

I think all I had left was 3 PC's that I recycled into 1 during the past Xmas holidays; updated the BIOS, put an SSD boot disk in there and the other 3 storage drives and the RAM.  I use it now as my daily online computer, so I have 2 tower carcasses left for the next trip to the tip.  Only thing I've invested in was a B/T dongle, a webcam and a fan to dissipate the heat from one of the monitors; so I spent about £40 and got a rather good multimedia toy that boots instantly, no lag, no RAM issues - just what I always wanted.

Our eldest has told us she wants to move back from Holland - I can't believe how much she is going (hoping) to make on selling her house; house prices there are insane.

Cynic wrote:

...
We'd already had that conversation; anything that was still here after 12 months was taken to the tip.

I think all I had left was 3 PC's that I recycled into 1 during the past Xmas holidays; updated the BIOS, put an SSD boot disk in there and the other 3 storage drives and the RAM.  I use it now as my daily online computer, so I have 2 tower carcasses left for the next trip to the tip.  Only thing I've invested in was a B/T dongle, a webcam and a fan to dissipate the heat from one of the monitors; so I spent about £40 and got a rather good multimedia toy that boots instantly, no lag, no RAM issues - just what I always wanted.

Our eldest has told us she wants to move back from Holland - I can't believe how much she is going (hoping) to make on selling her house; house prices there are insane.

Haha, that's telling them.  I'm too much of a softie to take some worthwhile action and easily persuaded where the kids are concerned.   

We are very heavy IT users here.  Our kids are really into it big time but I think they spend too much time on their phones and laptops.   

I've got a cellar full of old PCs and laptops some of which belong to the kids. Useless things.  I've taken all I can out of them and I've started dismantling them for recycling but keeping some potentially useful spare parts like a couple of PSUs and fans I could utilise.  The original disk drives are now uselessly small but I need to check them to see if there's anything I want on them.   After I've checked them, I'm  planning to cut them up using a cut off saw.   No coming back from that. 

Anything less than about 512GB is potential junk otherwise could be a backup device.  I  However, considering I can get 2TB on Dropbox with complete resilience for like £100 p.a., why bother?  I can just compress the files and upload them and then they are accessible anywhere.   I do encrypt stuff heavily. I don't trust the providers not to try and raid the files for info to shove advertising in your face.   Google does that on my e-mails.

I no longer have any desktops apart from a Raspberry Pi 4 -not really a desktop. Everything is on laptops.  SSDs are the way to go.  I also upgraded to 16GB on my laptop so covered the bases (it's an i7 so quite fast anyway as most laptops are i5s).   I've kept it on Windows 7.  I really do not like Windows 10 at all and I fear some of my older hardware might not work with W10.  I will have to change eventually.  Won't be a choice.

Recycling is a problem here.  There are places to take stuff but it's quite difficult.  Things like engine oil or old polluted car parts are quite hard work to dispose of.  Once a year you can dump them for free at a collection point.  The PCs they recycle for metals and particularly gold (off the circuit boards).   We know a company that will take those things for free.  We don't have municipal dumps here which is very annoying.

When I lived in NL, I was too poor (aka junior) to own a place so I rented a house from a foundation which was effectively run by my employer. It was kind of subsidised housing.  I didn't like that situation at all.  Too much to be involved with the employer who owns your housing.  Too many strings.

Not many musicians in our family but lots of dancers.
Had a first cousin who was half Mohawk and half Hungarian who had her own dance studio. She would compete in ballroom dancing.
My younger sister and I both were lucky enough to get some dance lessons in a community center in our home town for free from Patrick Swayze's mother. She was a wanta be ballet dancer but at 5'8" tall she was too big so did modern dance and ballroom.
Super nice lady. Our classes were 100% free with the Simi Parks and held 2 times a week.They were nearly 3 hours long with the first 90 mins. devoted to barre and floor work. I have 2 left feet but loved doing the barre work. I'd ride my bike to the park, about 6 miles each direction and then do those long classes. Strangely enough only a dozen or so people would show up for class.
Wish  I had half that energy now.
I was in the Girl Scouts with Patrick's younger half sister, didn't know it at the time that he would become so  famous.She had a different surname then her half bro.
She has passed now and well as Patrick.
Shannon was her name, I now feel a bit bad how we tricked her in girl scout camp. We were mad at her, all of us being 11 to 12 years old. She was cute but decided to stuff her bra with TP.
We couldn't figure out why she was doing that so when she took a shower, which was just a make shift hose hanging from a tree with a tarp cover, we pulled the tarp down and there she was standing naked for all to see.  That was really the only time I took part in being a bully and sorry for it. We were sorry the min. it happened really she was screaming and ran off into the woods naked. One of the mom's had to go after her.
Not sure, maybe we had to take a 10 mile hike as punishment? We did get a talking to I remember that much.
It's strange how small the world is.
In beauty college my instructor, used her maiden name, that's common in beauty school.Miss this and Mr. that. Only first names used or last but always with the prefix or Miss or Mr.
Well, she was Miss Gay, turns out her brother dropped the bomb on Japan while flying the Enola Gay, named his plane after their mother.
She was a super nice lady but her brother? Who knows. he had some karma coming his way for sure.

Hmm.went to the Great Market Hall today after my visit to the eye clinic.
Saw mushrooms for sale at over 5,000 F per kilo.
I had to ask if they were magic!
WTH?
Saw some nice T-bone steaks for around 8,000 per kilo.
Cheaper  then what I saw for sale in the US at  the grocery shops 2 years back but DANG! What is that? $16.00 per pound? So for 2 normal eating adults it would be a min. of $32. to get meat to cook at home.
OK not the end of the world but adding the cost of side dishes, washing up power and gas or eletric to cook... I'm ready for an all you can eat Vegas buffet.
Makes me think of my childhood  when my parents had T-bone steaks and we 4 rug rats had hot dogs.
I wonder how many locals are buying steaks for 8,000 forints per kilo? Maybe I lost something in the translation?
My husband said tons of people in local gov. buy these pieces of meat but I did not notice a long long waiting to buy.

Maintenance operation on February 24th, 2021

I watched the 1st episode of Superman & Lois this morning.

Clark Kent (Superman) and Lois, get married and they have twins. The story starts when the twins (Boys) are teenagers......

Oh dear, why do they have to change things up?

SimCityAT wrote:

I watched the 1st episode of Superman & Lois this morning.

Clark Kent (Superman) and Lois, get married and they have twins. The story starts when the twins (Boys) are teenagers......

Oh dear, why do they have to change things up?

I had a report this morning from LA that it wasn't such a good show.   I suppose it's a re-imagining of all the other shows.   

It'll be Hollywood routine,  teenager pangs of inadequacy and finding your way to adulthood and redemption in a background of superheroes.  Eventually they will become "super" at some point and they realise who they are.  Perhaps it would be interesting if one was super and the other not.  Or one becomes evil and the other not.  Cain and Abel, good vs evil and so on.   

Moving on, one would have to wonder about interspecies compatibility.  Despite the outward humanoid appearance of Superman, is that genetically enough?   Like sheep and goats. Horses and donkeys. I suppose it could be that the twins were carried by surrogates or they were adopted. 

If Lois had three kids and Hungarian, she'd get a minivan.

In fairness, it wasn't too bad. The family moves back to the farm where Clark grew up after the death of his mother. One of his sons falls for a local girl and he discovers he has powers.

You can see how this is going to pan out.

SimCityAT wrote:

In fairness, it wasn't too bad. The family moves back to the farm where Clark grew up after the death of his mother. One of his sons falls for a local girl and he discovers he has powers.

You can see how this is going to pan out.

I'll watch it eventually but I'm not expecting anything to brain taxing.  Unlikely to be John Le Carre or Shakespeare.   

Superpowers are fickle things.  Why not something really useful?  People don't really need infra-red eyes.

How about Biscuit Man and Curry Woman?  Able to magic up chocolate digestives in a single bound and produce a vindaloo with just a flick of the wrist.  Maybe Vaccine Woman?  Has invincible immunity, catches any disease and can produce a vaccine ray which immunises all living things in its path.

As you might have guessed, it's a bit of a slow day.

I only watch this kind of stuff early in the morning because the misses is awake at 4am or I would have not noticed it.

SimCityAT wrote:

I only watch this kind of stuff early in the morning because the misses is awake at 4am or I would have not noticed it.

Tell me about it.

I was watching Star Trek: TNG at 0700h this morning on Netflix.  Last night I watched Snowpiercer. Few things on there might be worth a look - Homeland and one or two movies.  Quality content is slow to arrive.  In a lockdown world, stuff has to be produced faster.

I finished Tribes of Europa on Monday as only 6 episodes.  Needs higher production values and the dual language came over as a bit clunky.   

One interesting thing is one of the faction's military bases is an abandoned Yugoslavian war memorial tower south of Zagreb.  Thought I might go and look at it if I was ever driving through Croatia. 

I feel a dog walking effort coming on as the weather is so nice. It's showing 20 C on the FWS (Fluffy Weather Station).  Very nice and sunny Springy.  We were gardening this morning and as usual I pay in pain for my gardening efforts.  My back might not be up to walking so far.  Maybe once I get going it'll be fine.

I don't go 100% brain dead with tv shows until I'm done for the day with any household or mental activities.
Could be as late as 6pm in the winter and after 8 pm in the summer.
Between my normal daily routine of brain deadness the tele is the final nail in my coffin.
I sometimes long for the days when I didn't even have an e-mail address and never checked out my mail online.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I don't go 100% brain dead with tv shows until I'm done for the day with any household or mental activities.
Could be as late as 6pm in the winter and after 8 pm in the summer.
Between my normal daily routine of brain deadness the tele is the final nail in my coffin.
I sometimes long for the days when I didn't even have an e-mail address and never checked out my mail online.

Amazing really how much the Internet and stuff has infiltrated our lives.  Can't get away from it and cannot live without it. 

I did see an article this morning on the BBC talking about how Facebook could be broken up.  They cited three events which showed how much Facebook was in control of things and able to influence world events  - News ban in Australia, Riots in Washington and the Myanmar coup.  10 years ago, even David Bowie predicted the Internet was a force for good and evil.

BTW, I saw Superman and Lois episode 1 and it wasn't bad if a little predictable.  I will watch episode 2.

Diverted from https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 66&p=2

cdw wrote:

....sell my house for that price, I would be suspicious though and would not contact this person. He really should contact for example DH

Marilyn wrote:

My mom's old house is worth more then 200 million now and it isn't worth a fraction of the amount in reality.
It's crazy how prices vary upon location.
Really though he should have no problem being contacted by sellers at that insane price.
I see a scam coming.
Years back we almost bought land on Maui, upcountry with all utilities already to go for $10,000.What was wrong with us? We waited too long as usual.

Speaking about Hungary, I think living here has changed me in many ways.
This morning I saw a post on FB from my deceased friend's brother.
It was a photo of their 93 year old father on his birthday.
He looks fit and is still living on his own in his own home in Ca.
He used to build sets for movies and tv shows.
Well, I looked at the comments from people who were wishing him a Happy BD.
One said, "well, you've outlived them all". What? Maybe that is funny in America?
Not to me, not at all, I knew his wife, his MIL his son and of course my friend who passed just 15 months ago on my BD.
Another comment said he was "still a stud".
I can't even imagine giving an elderly man a message like that here in Hungary. Wouldn't even dream of doing anything so brash.
I don't think I'd fit in society in the US any longer.. as if I ever did!

My Dad is 97 and I don't think he'd want to be referred to as a stud.  It's a ridiculous statement to apply to someone in their twilight years.  All I can say is respect.

My Dad is still doing his own thing but might not last for much more time.  Just a matter of biology and the laws of averages.  Most people don't live that long.  The average I read the other day was something like 78.7 years.  That's up on about 10 years ago when I read it was 77 years.

When I first came here, there was a larger sized plot of land in District III which Miss Fluffy (then) said I should buy.  Price?  20K USD.  I thought I'd only be here a year.  I should have listened.

One of my colleagues from Germany told me (20+ years ago) I was unemployable in the West.  And 20+ years later, here I am, still here .....and employed.

BTW, there is a scam where someone promises to buy your house and persuades you to move out on the promise of money.  Then they move in, live in it and trash it, then move on suddenly. 

Obviously here, it's not very easy to try and gain ownership via some strange means. To get ownership means the taxes etc must be paid and there's no way a con artist is going to risk money like that.

I believe this scam works in the USA and some other countries but it's impossible to pull off here.  We had someone try to pull this on us on our empty house in Austria.  They wanted to pay cash.  Great! I just said, if you've got cash, come to our lawyer's place and we can sort the paper work out immediately after the lawyer has deposited the money in practice client account.  Or we'll give you the account details and you can go to a bank to transfer it over.  Never heard from them again.

Sometimes we see nice, really nice apts. for sale for really cheap. Then you notice the catch.
The person wants say only 20 million for a place well worth over 50 million  but you have t hand over the money and wait until they croak before taking possession of the property.
We knew a couple who were allowed to move in with some old women and legally would get her apt. upon her death.
It was a living hell for them and they couldn't take her demands any longer and moved out. The deal was to care fr her until her death, cook, clean basically be her servants. They moved out,a couple days later they heard she died. They high tailed it back to the apt. before anyone knew they had broken the deal.
I'm not handing over any keys to anyone until I see the zeros in my bank account first. No credit and no payment later on. Full amount or no deal.
It was super easy when we sold our home in Ca. they had dates in which all things had to be settled and a date and time we had to leave the property.Sad , I took one last swim in the evening before saying bye to my house...

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....keys to anyone until I see the zeros in my bank account first. No credit and no payment later on. Full amount or no deal.
It was super easy when we sold our home in Ca. they had dates in which all things had to be settled and a date and time we had to leave the property.Sad , I took one last swim in the evening before saying bye to my house...

I feel the same.  Show me the money honey.   That's why we have lawyers to handle the deal and take on the liability of things going wrong in the process.

But I am wondering if I have an emotional attachment to my own house or if I will be sad to leave it when the time comes.  I think probably not. I won't perhaps care. 

I wasn't sad to leave my houses in Austria or the UK. I was glad to see them go!

I think the kids will feel something about it as they will have been brought up in this house.  We've no intention of even thinking of leaving until a few years they've left the nest  and we've gone for other adventures overseas. But even then, we'd probably never sell the place as it'd be our ark.

My MIL has a substantial house with quite a bit of land.     She could go into a care home as she's got a bit of confusion after she had a minor stroke (it was TIA, but we thought it was dementia back then).   

We are not sure how the house and land could be divided up.   The house could be renovated or modernised.  We've thought about it becoming a house with two or maybe even three and at a extreme push four rather small apartments so it generates some income for Mrs Fluffy and siblings. 

It's currently very awkwardly laid out and modifications would be substantial but there's more than enough room for parking and shared garden areas.   I thought it would be better to knock it down and build 3 or 4 row houses.  But that's mega bucks.   

Interesting thing is Mrs Fluffy and her siblings have no emotional attachment to the place - they really say they don't care.  And they were brought up there.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....keys to anyone until I see the zeros in my bank account first. No credit and no payment later on. Full amount or no deal.
It was super easy when we sold our home in Ca. they had dates in which all things had to be settled and a date and time we had to leave the property.Sad , I took one last swim in the evening before saying bye to my house...

I feel the same.  Show me the money honey.   That's why we have lawyers to handle the deal and take on the liability of things going wrong in the process.

But I am wondering if I have an emotional attachment to my own house or if I will be sad to leave it when the time comes.  I think probably not. I won't perhaps care. 

I wasn't sad to leave my houses in Austria or the UK. I was glad to see them go!

I think the kids will feel something about it as they will have been brought up in this house.  We've no intention of even thinking of leaving until a few years they've left the nest  and we've gone for other adventures overseas. But even then, we'd probably never sell the place as it'd be our ark.

My MIL has a substantial house with quite a bit of land.     She could go into a care home as she's got a bit of confusion after she had a minor stroke (it was TIA, but we thought it was dementia back then).   

We are not sure how the house and land could be divided up.   The house could be renovated or modernised.  We've thought about it becoming a house with two or maybe even three and at a extreme push four rather small apartments so it generates some income for Mrs Fluffy and siblings. 

It's currently very awkwardly laid out and modifications would be substantial but there's more than enough room for parking and shared garden areas.   I thought it would be better to knock it down and build 3 or 4 row houses.  But that's mega bucks.   

Interesting thing is Mrs Fluffy and her siblings have no emotional attachment to the place - they really say they don't care.  And they were brought up there.

I was emotionally upset when we sold our Ca. house. I loved it and didn't think anyone would buy it so fast. I knew every flower and blade of grass.
Was on the market for only 2 weeks. We sold it ourselves with a small co. that had all the legal documents and contacts to make it easy, Think the package to get their advice and help to sell by owner was $3,000. A realtor would of taken a huge % of the sale if we used one.
Our neighbor bought the house, I was a bit pissed with him for jumping in so fast but in reality it was time to hit the road.
Was sad when my mom sold her house, she had to sell because she wanted to save us the hassle since her time was about up and she knew it.
I am sure I'll miss the flat if we ever leave here. It is a run down old place but we have had some good times here and are used to the place. It is in the central location in Budapest s that is a plus if anything.
Can walk just about anywhere from this location .
I love walking the city except for the warmer months. I "don't do summer". Swimming is my only temptation in hot weather to ever leave home.

Had my PCR test early this morning, hardly anyone in the medical clinic.
Looks like I'm on for my next eye surgery this week! Sort of excited about it now. It is well worth getting done.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

...

I was emotionally upset when we sold our Ca. house. I loved it and didn't think anyone would buy it so fast. I knew every flower and blade of grass.
Was on the market for only 2 weeks. We sold it ourselves with a small co. that had all the legal documents and contacts to make it easy, Think the package to get their advice and help to sell by owner was $3,000. A realtor would of taken a huge % of the sale if we used one.
Our neighbor bought the house, I was a bit pissed with him for jumping in so fast but in reality it was time to hit the road.
Was sad when my mom sold her house, she had to sell because she wanted to save us the hassle since her time was about up and she knew it.
I am sure I'll miss the flat if we ever leave here. It is a run down old place but we have had some good times here and are used to the place. It is in the central location in Budapest s that is a plus if anything.
Can walk just about anywhere from this location .
I love walking the city except for the warmer months. I "don't do summer". Swimming is my only temptation in hot weather to ever leave home.

Had my PCR test early this morning, hardly anyone in the medical clinic.
Looks like I'm on for my next eye surgery this week! Sort of excited about it now. It is well worth getting done.

I suppose your neighbour got what he wanted and so did you. 

I covet my old neighbours garden, at least parts of it. I've offered to buy some of it from them to make our garden bigger but the neighbours aren't playing ball  just now.  I thought I'd be helping them out as  they'd hardly notice. But the owner is an old codger who has lived there forever and seems to be indestructible.  He would refuse even Jesus if he wanted to buy it in the second coming. 

You are lucky to get any attention from medical personnel these days.  I'm hoping for a non-Chinese vaccination but we've been told on the sly that I'm not able to claim any priority because I'm  now a non-EU foreigner even though I have some risk conditions.   That has stunned me.  Truly 2nd class citizen post-Brexit.

My MIL will get the vaccination this afternoon.  She's 74 and with numerous conditions.  Talk about slow roll out.   Apparently they don't have enough vaccine even with the Chinese one.  Compare that with the UK 40% of all adults vaccinated now and 22 million in total done by the weekend.   Now moving at 300-400K per day.  Here, just a few thousand per day.

Hope your MIL is fine after her jab. My sister was sore and felt a bit off for a day or two after her shots.
Yes, looking forward to getting my eye done, getting a bit nervous now for no reason. My doctor is good, nice and I've already done one eye and know what to expect, not a big deal.
Guess we are "programmed" to feel nervous under certain situations. Silly.
Of course no  one wishes to have their eye poked at.
You are not a second class citizen, maybe you should look into getting a HU resident card if you don't already have one?
So far even if I've not been happy with my medical care here for different reasons, they have always pretty much treated me like any other Hungarian. Some even over do it with being nice.
I am always polite and say thanks you but everyone does that.
Some of the orderlies in hospitals are a bit rough, all strange men who love telling you to get dressed, get undressed and hurry it up. Not exactly gents but they are doing their jobs as fast as possible. No one here or really even in the US has time to hold hands and listen to concerns from the public. They are just doing their  jobs and that's it.
I read on an ex-pat site about a couple of women here, ex-pats who had cancer and felt so alone and so upset that the world didn't stop and no one took the time to comfort them in hospital.
It sounded sad but that's what family is for or a priest. I told my husband about how sad and lonely these women felt in hospital here and in typical fashion he said they have a mental ward as well.
Funny but cold. Then again he was in hospital in the US with a broken arm waiting for surgery for 2 full weeks, no one seemed to care all that much,just wait your turn was his only answer to when he would be operated on. No place is perfect.
My mom had her breast removed and nearly died on the table, n ne went too far out of their way to comfort her, Some women's cancer group had a volunteer come into her room post surgery and tell her where to buy special clothing and undergarments. That was about it. She just got on with life and never looked back.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

...
You are not a second class citizen, maybe you should look into getting a HU resident card if you don't already have one?

Pre-2021 Brexit people never needed a residence permit since as EU citizens, we automatically had the right to be here.  All we needed was a registration card.  This was always automatically issued along with the address card.  And this was all that was required fundamentally.   I've always had all the paperwork of course including a tax number and all that.   

Brexit changed things and now I don't fit in the categories the UK-EU Withdrawal agreement and particular the social security reciprocal arrangements.  It's all details.  Government here has some gross and wrong assumptions about people's circumstances.

And to make it more interesting,  Immigration has informed me my registration card is going to expire at the end of the year and has to be changed to a residence permit.   This really confirms I have no work or residence rights outside of Hungary.   It's really painful to realise rights have been removed.  Boris missed a biggie there.  He should have said, anyone resident in an EU country should get an EU residence card, not just local one.  What an idiot.

Anyway, Mrs Fluffy is on the job with the locals and she's pretty good with these types of people.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

...
....
I read on an ex-pat site about a couple of women here, ex-pats who had cancer and felt so alone and so upset that the world didn't stop and no one took the time to comfort them in hospital.
It sounded sad but that's what family is for or a priest. I told my husband about how sad and lonely these women felt in hospital here and in typical fashion he said they have a mental ward as well.
Funny but cold. Then again he was in hospital in the US with a broken arm waiting for surgery for 2 full weeks, no one seemed to care all that much,just wait your turn was his only answer to when he would be operated on. No place is perfect.
My mom had her breast removed and nearly died on the table, n ne went too far out of their way to comfort her, Some women's cancer group had a volunteer come into her room post surgery and tell her where to buy special clothing and undergarments. That was about it. She just got on with life and never looked back.

I think just letting people struggle through is the old way. 

It's not just STFU and get on with it. It's all trauma and should be recognised.  People hardly knew about PTSD way back in the day.   

In WW1, it was called shell shock and they even executed soldiers for suffering from it calling it cowardice and so forth.  Absolutely brutal behaviour from uncaring superiors.

In the UK, we have hospital visitors who are volunteers who will just simply come and chat to patients about anything.

I also saw a movement in the UK where people sit on park benches with signs "Willing to Chat" so that people can just stop by and talk about something or anything. 

Not counselling but simply contact with other people.  I even thought about doing it myself there if I found myself there and at a loose end.  Seems such a good idea for those alone.

fluffy2560 wrote:

.... In the UK, we have hospital visitors who are volunteers who will just simply come and chat to patients about anything.

I also saw a movement in the UK where people sit on park benches with signs "Willing to Chat" so that people can just stop by and talk about something or anything. 

Not counselling but simply contact with other people.  I even thought about doing it myself there if I found myself there and at a loose end.  Seems such a good idea for those alone.

Hospital visitors are no longer; they've been chased off by the companies that had won the franchises to provide the newspaper kiosk, the flower stall, the cafeterias, the used-book stall.  My wife had to have stents installed 5 years ago - her night in Pinderfields Hospital was the last night of the volunteers; they went around with the hospital padre, singing goodbye to all the in-patients and the next morning ...... nothing, all gone, nobody cared any more.  Nowadays - pretty much gone everywhere.

Reminded me of a time in Belfast in the 70's; even though we were up to our knees in mud and bullets, the NAAFI insisted on exerting its rights to provide a service to the troops.  I don't know where they thought we were living, but I guess it must have been a shock to the system for some poor civvy reservist from Tesco (Walmart) who got "volunteered" when his number was drawn out of the barrel.  Still, no problem said our boss, as long as they do it to the standard we were getting from the Chogi-wallah who had mysteriously appeared when the troubles started.  So the Chogi vanished as mysteriously as he'd appeared and some NAAFI signs appeared, but no people.  We gave them 24 hours, then our Sergeant Major called the Chogi and asked him if he was still around.  2 hours later he, his wife and daughter was back behind their old counter, selling egg banjos and hot tea to the patrols as they came in at all hours around the clock.  We wrote NAAFI a nice letter advising them that the premises they had been eyeing up had now been returned to its rightful owner, so was no longer available.

Cynic wrote:

Hospital visitors are no longer; they've been chased off by the companies that had won the franchises to provide the newspaper kiosk, the flower stall, the cafeterias, the used-book stall.  My wife had to have stents installed 5 years ago - her night in Pinderfields Hospital was the last night of the volunteers; they went around with the hospital padre, singing goodbye to all the in-patients and the next morning ...... nothing, all gone, nobody cared any more.  Nowadays - pretty much gone everywhere.

I never knew that.  But then again I've never actually been in hospital overnight.  I thought they still did it.  I'm living in different universe.

Cynic wrote:

Reminded me of a time in Belfast in the 70's; even though we were up to our knees in mud and bullets, the NAAFI insisted on exerting its rights to provide a service to the troops.  I don't know where they thought we were living, but I guess it must have been a shock to the system for some poor civvy reservist from Tesco (Walmart) who got "volunteered" when his number was drawn out of the barrel.  Still, no problem said our boss, as long as they do it to the standard we were getting from the Chogi-wallah who had mysteriously appeared when the troubles started.  So the Chogi vanished as mysteriously as he'd appeared and some NAAFI signs appeared, but no people.  We gave them 24 hours, then our Sergeant Major called the Chogi and asked him if he was still around.  2 hours later he, his wife and daughter was back behind their old counter, selling egg banjos and hot tea to the patrols as they came in at all hours around the clock.  We wrote NAAFI a nice letter advising them that the premises they had been eyeing up had now been returned to its rightful owner, so was no longer available.

We used to have the US National Guard flying in sometimes and they did the cooking.  It was absolutely the bees knees.  They had everything you wanted.  Steaks, chips, everything was flown in.  When they went home, we'd be back to the usual stuff.  Still, I quite liked that British stodge.  Well I did then when I was burning like gadzillion calories a day running about and humping gear.

It went wrong when we came back after a weekend away once - might have been Catterick. I was feeling totally yuck.  And they gave me some corn beef hash.  That went in and came out in seconds.  Not sure the  NAAFI was responsible but took me a couple of days to recover.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Cynic wrote:

Hospital visitors are no longer; they've been chased off by the companies that had won the franchises to provide the newspaper kiosk, the flower stall, the cafeterias, the used-book stall.  My wife had to have stents installed 5 years ago - her night in Pinderfields Hospital was the last night of the volunteers; they went around with the hospital padre, singing goodbye to all the in-patients and the next morning ...... nothing, all gone, nobody cared any more.  Nowadays - pretty much gone everywhere.

I never knew that.  But then again I've never actually been in hospital overnight.  I thought they still did it.  I'm living in different universe.

Cynic wrote:

Reminded me of a time in Belfast in the 70's; even though we were up to our knees in mud and bullets, the NAAFI insisted on exerting its rights to provide a service to the troops.  I don't know where they thought we were living, but I guess it must have been a shock to the system for some poor civvy reservist from Tesco (Walmart) who got "volunteered" when his number was drawn out of the barrel.  Still, no problem said our boss, as long as they do it to the standard we were getting from the Chogi-wallah who had mysteriously appeared when the troubles started.  So the Chogi vanished as mysteriously as he'd appeared and some NAAFI signs appeared, but no people.  We gave them 24 hours, then our Sergeant Major called the Chogi and asked him if he was still around.  2 hours later he, his wife and daughter was back behind their old counter, selling egg banjos and hot tea to the patrols as they came in at all hours around the clock.  We wrote NAAFI a nice letter advising them that the premises they had been eyeing up had now been returned to its rightful owner, so was no longer available.

We used to have the US National Guard flying in sometimes and they did the cooking.  It was absolutely the bees knees.  They had everything you wanted.  Steaks, chips, everything was flown in.  When they went home, we'd be back to the usual stuff.  Still, I quite liked that British stodge.  Well I did then when I was burning like gadzillion calories a day running about and humping gear.

It went wrong when we came back after a weekend away once - might have been Catterick. I was feeling totally yuck.  And they gave me some corn beef hash.  That went in and came out in seconds.  Not sure the  NAAFI was responsible but took me a couple of days to recover.

One day I'll tell you about the AAFES fridge container we found on a beach in Thessaloniki; it was still running, but not a US serviceman within miles.  One of our Sergeants told us a story about how the GI's called us the Borrowers; so we er "borrowed" it.  Full of chocolate milk; we sold it on the beach and turned the cash into Ouzo ...... Hah, Borrowers indeed.

Cynic wrote:

....One day I'll tell you about the AAFES fridge container we found on a beach in Thessaloniki; it was still running, but not a US serviceman within miles.  One of our Sergeants told us a story about how the GI's called us the Borrowers; so we er "borrowed" it.  Full of chocolate milk; we sold it on the beach and turned the cash into Ouzo ...... Hah, Borrowers indeed.

I should fill in the holes around this story.  It was a NATO exercise, it was a bit weird because in between us taking off from Brize Norton and landing in Greece there was a military coup.  So we sat at the airport for about 12 hours while the clever guys decided what to do; the exercise was reduced to 7 days basically, get them the hell away from public gaze; do something to consume the vast amount of combat supplies had been shipped in and be back at the airport a week on Tuesday to fly home.  Week passed sun-bathing, swimming and because of the shortage of military transport, we started moving closer to Thessaloniki so as to be handy if they wanted rid of us, which they did pretty much, there was about 5 of us left at the end.  Monday night came and went, nothing heard; the only wheels we had left was an air portable 1/2 ton land rover and trailer that had been prepped to be flown back in a C-130.  Tuesday morning came, nothing.  Wednesday morning, we discovered the AAFES container parked in a car-park by the beach café, that's how we got the Ouzo.  Thursday - nothing.  Friday morning the US Defence attaché from their embassy came looking for their container and found us and some empty Ouzo crates.   We hitched a ride back to Mildenhall 2 days later.

Cynic wrote:

Cynic wrote:

....One day I'll tell you about the AAFES fridge container we found on a beach in Thessaloniki; it was still running, but not a US serviceman within miles.  One of our Sergeants told us a story about how the GI's called us the Borrowers; so we er "borrowed" it.  Full of chocolate milk; we sold it on the beach and turned the cash into Ouzo ...... Hah, Borrowers indeed.

I should fill in the holes around this story.  It was a NATO exercise, it was a bit weird because in between us taking off from Brize Norton and landing in Greece there was a military coup.  So we sat at the airport for about 12 hours while the clever guys decided what to do; the exercise was reduced to 7 days basically, get them the hell away from public gaze; do something to consume the vast amount of combat supplies had been shipped in and be back at the airport a week on Tuesday to fly home.  Week passed sun-bathing, swimming and because of the shortage of military transport, we started moving closer to Thessaloniki so as to be handy if they wanted rid of us, which they did pretty much, there was about 5 of us left at the end.  Monday night came and went, nothing heard; the only wheels we had left was an air portable 1/2 ton land rover and trailer that had been prepped to be flown back in a C-130.  Tuesday morning came, nothing.  Wednesday morning, we discovered the AAFES container parked in a car-park by the beach café, that's how we got the Ouzo.  Thursday - nothing.  Friday morning the US Defence attaché from their embassy came looking for their container and found us and some empty Ouzo crates.   We hitched a ride back to Mildenhall 2 days later.

Many more interesting adventures than me. 

But thank god the compressor was still running.

If it wasn't, you'd have a mess of one huge chocolate fondue all over a Greek beach.  A chocolate milk slick perhaps.

But perhaps chocolate with ouzo would make some nice chocolate liqueurs!  Yum!

fluffy2560 wrote:

Cynic wrote:

Cynic wrote:

....One day I'll tell you about the AAFES fridge container we found on a beach in Thessaloniki; it was still running, but not a US serviceman within miles.  One of our Sergeants told us a story about how the GI's called us the Borrowers; so we er "borrowed" it.  Full of chocolate milk; we sold it on the beach and turned the cash into Ouzo ...... Hah, Borrowers indeed.

I should fill in the holes around this story.  It was a NATO exercise, it was a bit weird because in between us taking off from Brize Norton and landing in Greece there was a military coup.  So we sat at the airport for about 12 hours while the clever guys decided what to do; the exercise was reduced to 7 days basically, get them the hell away from public gaze; do something to consume the vast amount of combat supplies had been shipped in and be back at the airport a week on Tuesday to fly home.  Week passed sun-bathing, swimming and because of the shortage of military transport, we started moving closer to Thessaloniki so as to be handy if they wanted rid of us, which they did pretty much, there was about 5 of us left at the end.  Monday night came and went, nothing heard; the only wheels we had left was an air portable 1/2 ton land rover and trailer that had been prepped to be flown back in a C-130.  Tuesday morning came, nothing.  Wednesday morning, we discovered the AAFES container parked in a car-park by the beach café, that's how we got the Ouzo.  Thursday - nothing.  Friday morning the US Defence attaché from their embassy came looking for their container and found us and some empty Ouzo crates.   We hitched a ride back to Mildenhall 2 days later.

Many more interesting adventures than me. 

But thank god the compressor was still running.

If it wasn't, you'd have a mess of one huge chocolate fondue all over a Greek beach.  A chocolate milk slick perhaps.

But perhaps chocolate with ouzo would make some nice chocolate liqueurs!  Yum!

We figured that the container was a casualty of the exercise being massively shortened by the coup and a lot of stuff was still in transit; that was the US way of doing stuff, they pre-positioned stocks in specific areas for troops to move into, just they never got there and we stumbled across it and some of our old sweats recognised it for what it was.  When we opened it, wheelie pallets of AAFES chocolate milk - nothing else.

Cynic wrote:

...
We figured that the container was a casualty of the exercise being massively shortened by the coup and a lot of stuff was still in transit; that was the US way of doing stuff, they pre-positioned stocks in specific areas for troops to move into, just they never got there and we stumbled across it and some of our old sweats recognised it for what it was.  When we opened it, wheelie pallets of AAFES chocolate milk - nothing else.

My Dad (age 96 nearly 97) told me he liberated a motorcycle during his path across Europe.  I think he said it was a Harley Davidson. 

When he found it, it wasn't working and they (the Americans) had abandoned it I assume.  Being in the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) he had no problems getting it going. 

He said it was really useful to have as they moved forward across Europe.  Shame he didn't keep it!  Be worth a quite a bit now.

I think he also had a dog which attached itself to his unit and went with them for some months as the battle progressed further on from his position. Unfortunately I don't remember what happened to it but  I'm going to find out!

Today was a bust.
Gotto hospital early, 7 am t be told they have put off operations.
Said they tried to call me, hard to believe since we are home most of the day. Got that PCR test on Monday, was told they should of informed me before doing the test.
Well, I had a feeling we should of double checked the the doctor last week.
I have a 6th sense about everything but never use it for anything .
Maybe someday the lotto numbers will come to me if I just allow them to?
On the bright side, the city is nice for walking in the early morning. I usually don't run around town at 7 am.
I'm sure my surgery will be as soon as this virus isn't so bad.

PTSD is real. My father and step-father both had it from being in wars.
My father was in the front lines as a Army medic in the S. Pacific and my step-dad was also there but also a 2 times POW. He was called back fr Korea because of his medical training and I guess his young age.
He was only 17 during his first stint in WW11 and around 26 for Korea.

Who watched the Harry & Megan interview? Someone was making some money there. ITV in the UK paid 1 million quid for rights to show it. ORF showed in Austria, no idea how much they paid, but other countries like Australia, Germany, New Zealand all showed it, I am guessing many others do too.

Well, Piers Morgan got into trouble for opening his mouth as a result of him quitting GMB. But I still think he was told go or you will be sacked. I wonder what he will do now? Bugger Off back to America?

Interesting report on Hungary Daily (which I believe is government sponsored)
https://dailynewshungary.com/the-toughe … n-hungary/

I personally had my cataract operation under Taj a few years ago which was fine, but I heard from a number of people that "normal or maintenance" operations are almost out of the question in these times. Even being considered would be a big plus.
Very sad stories from our neighbourhood (some dying (likely Corona)).

I know that things happen for a reason but I'm still a bit mad that I wasn't told my surgery was off until I arrived to get it done.
Plus taking that useless PCR test to get surgery. Waste of money for the test and waste f eveyone's time.
Oh well, till next time.
I heard that Megan is Harry's 17th cousin twice removed or something like that.
All in the same club.
My friend in N. Ca. told me once that her husband was number 110 in line to the throne of Iran. Maybe he has been knocked down a few pegs or moved up the ranks now days?
I'm sure for most of us our family tree might have a bank robber or a few poachers in it but royalty, probably not.
Dang, even I have a close family member who robbed a potato chip factory!

My friend in Hilo had lupus and seemed to be doing very good for these last few years.
She is a wonderful, loving Hippie.
She wrote me today that she had stage 3 kidney disease.
She is not overweight, teaches yoga, is active and eats organic foods.
I'm a bit at a loss about what to say to her.
Think she is 59 or 60 years old.
Her son is a doctor and he wants to visit her and speak one on one with her about her case.
Always something out of the blue.
My friend in N. Ca. has gone silent for nearly a year. She had her neck and entire spine rebuilt and her daughter said she wasn't feeling well at all. I know she gets by on edibles for pain.
Well, her BD was a few days ago.Wished her well and her girl posted a photo of herself.
Very pretty lady in her late 40's. Thing is she shaved off all her beautiful thick hair and is 100% bald!  I'm also afraid to ask her what's up, don't think she has gone punk.

SimCityAT wrote:

Who watched the Harry & Megan interview? Someone was making some money there. ITV in the UK paid 1 million quid for rights to show it. ORF showed in Austria, no idea how much they paid, but other countries like Australia, Germany, New Zealand all showed it, I am guessing many others do too.

Well, Piers Morgan got into trouble for opening his mouth as a result of him quitting GMB. But I still think he was told go or you will be sacked. I wonder what he will do now? Bugger Off back to America?

I didn't watch it; I knew where it was heading and from the aftermath I wasn't disappointed.  As for Morgan, the press here are saying he was told to apologise and withdraw his comments, or he'd be dismissed, so we know how that ended.  He's not a US citizen and judging from the mess he left behind him at CNN is unlikely to ever get an offer with anyone else over there.  But he's fallen on his feet as it looks like Andrew Neil's new TV news station "GB News" is going to hire him.  Only problem is that unlike the US, the UK press and news are still regulated by the Government OFCOM.

Personally, I wouldn't p1ss on Morgan if he was on fire.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say I didn't watch it either. I was sick and tired of hearing about it in the news.

SimCityAT wrote:

Who watched the Harry & Megan interview? Someone was making some money there. ITV in the UK paid 1 million quid for rights to show it. ORF showed in Austria, no idea how much they paid, but other countries like Australia, Germany, New Zealand all showed it, I am guessing many others do too.

Well, Piers Morgan got into trouble for opening his mouth as a result of him quitting GMB. But I still think he was told go or you will be sacked. I wonder what he will do now? Bugger Off back to America?

I like the cut of Meghan Sparkle's jib but overall I couldn't care less about them in total.  Never saw the interview.  I'm too busy watching Alaska gold mining reality shows.

Harry could have done it so much easier.  He could have just gradually faded himself out of public view over a period until he was in the US more than elsewhere. 

As for TV spots, I was kind of hoping that Harry starts channelling David Attenborough by going on TV wildlife adventures.  David Attenborough needs a protege.   It'd be totally non-controversial dealing with furry animals than the two legged paparazzi. 

Harry's got a bit of an edge on derring-do type character jobs so seeing him fighting with crocs or going head to head with a python would work for me. 

Piers Morgan is just a nobody.  Does anyone really care what he thinks.    Soon he disappears from public view, the better we all with be.  That kind of nonsensical proselytising is so old hat. Total turn off.    I wouldn't waste good p1ss on him.