Absolutely Anything Else

Let's be cheerful for once.

One thing I have noticed is how corteous Hungarians tend to be with blind people, at least in Budapest.  They will always help a blind person onto the right bus or tram, tell them when it is safe to cross (very few crossings have those audio things to help the blind), all that kind of thing. Of course blind people can tend to manage but it is still a courtesy that seems to be appreciated.

It must be a rigt pain in the bum being blind, I mean, just the everyday annoyances. How do you use a smartphone or even a desktop computer when everything has a graphics interface? I worked with a blind person many years ago and he had a little kinda braille keyboard that what was on the screen it would raise little pins so that he could feel/read what was said on the screen, but that would be pretty impossible now, that was in the days when we had text-only monitors.

And kinda the half-hearted attempts at improving things, a busy junction near me, it has those things on the pavement the bumps so that blind people can detect where the edge of the street is . All well and good, but then don't have any kinda ausdo signal to say when the light has gone green. It is not even as if it would be a noise nuisance because it is a very noisy road. I imagine that blind people do it by hearing there is no traffic but they are taking their chances and should not have to take their chances.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I was called into the principles office his very first day of kindergarten. He was ,"instigating a break out". Had the other 5 years old trying to climb the fence to freedom!
Honestly I was more proud of him doing that then I dared let on in the office.

Hahaha that is funny. Yes I am sure you tried to keep a straight face with the principal while secretly thinking well done boy.

I was always the good boy in school, our parents expected it, but also gave us a bit of leeway. They expected good behaviour both at home and at school well at all times really but they would occasionally turn a blind eye to allow us to have fun. We had really quite a strict upbringing, looking back, and that has made me the man I am today. Alone on a saturday chatting on the internet.

It is somewhat queer there is something called the "protestant wrork ethic" and even though my missus is not particularly religious she has it. That if you are not working, doing something useful, you are wasting time. She is in mid flight at the moment but she will keep me busy the rest of the weekend I know she will.

ANd I can't put the hoover round because that is her pride and joy I am not allowed to touch the hoover. So instead I went to deliver some ibuprofen to the ex-landlady. These are so cheap in the UK, I think they were 45p for 32 tablets, but cost a fortune here. Got me out of the house, quite a nice walk really, only about half an hour's walk each way.

I suppose very technically she is a protestant because we had to get a special licence to be married by the Church of England because neither of us has been christened. I don't know if there is a God, but if there is, he seems to smile on me. It may not seem so sometimes but I am healthy, able bodied, have a tiny bit of money, food in the fridge and freezer, a wife who loves me.  I am very very lucky even when it does not seem so sometimes. I have had the advantage of free education,  a reasonable amount of intelligence and of course being astonishingly good looking. I have had all the breaks. I have to remember that sometimes.

One of the advantages of being a twin is that literally from the moment you are born you realise that you are not the only person on this planet. You have to share. i have an elder brother so of course we had to share all three of us. Only children, i.e. when parents have only one child, they spoil them like crazy as if they are the centre of the universe. ANd then when they get older they suddenly realise that they are not the centre of the universe, and don't know how to cope with it.

My ex-landlady, her only chid still sleeps in her bed and he is nearly nine years old now. I don't think that is healthy. The father has to sleep on the couch so the child can sleep with anya. He has his own bedroom and everything, I made a load of bookshelves for him that he wanted to put his collection of rocks on. But an eight year old child sleeping with mummy, that is just not right.

They protect him too much. He has a bike, well go out on your bike then. Yes it is a busy street, so what, you have to learn your traffic sense, you are eight years old, you have to learn how to ride safely. Or walk it on the pavement and then ride it on the quiet streets. He had an old scooter, and I resprayed it and made it all nice, I am not sure if scooter carries just those things with two wheels that you step in the middle and push it along with your foot, and I made it all nice new paint and everything, he has never used it, probably mummy and daddy thing the street is too dangerous for him, well then go to the park and let him scoot around the park.

Dropping off these pills, I walked across or rather around four little small parks that are EVERYWHERE in Budapest. in every nook and cranny they put a children's playground, they are everywhere, so walking over four in half hour's walk is by no means unusual, that is the point. Play on the swings, get yourself dirty, if you fall off the swings, so be it, you are going to get far worse in your life than a little graze on your knee.

SimonTrew wrote:

..... So instead I went to deliver some ibuprofen to the ex-landlady. These are so cheap in the UK, I think they were 45p for 32 tablets, but cost a fortune here. .....

I do the same, get them in the UK as you can get 3 x 16 tabs for £1 in Poundland.  45p for 32 tabs is cheap.  Where did you get them there? 

But I've discovered what I think is the problem in HU.

If Mrs Fluffy goes to the pharmacy, they always try and give the named brand, not the equivalent generic and obviously the named brand is about 2-5 x the price.   I've told her to ask specifically for the generic version and as a result, I've seen significant savings. Hungary has a significant and quality generic pharma industry so it's worth asking for generics. It means  researching the alternate names. 

In case anyone asks, there's no difference between the generics and the branded medicines.

For example,  Claritin branded hay fever tabs vs Loratadin generic.  I looked online (at Hazipatika.hu) and branded 20 tab version is about 1400 Ft and the generic 670 Ft.   Significant difference of 2 x price.

One thing here which really annoys me is the use of quack medicines.  Mrs Fluffy is always convinced to buy rubbish supplements which have no effect on anyone but come in a glitzy packet under the guise of supposed medical need.  I've tried to stop her doing it but the local Doc pushes these things. I've told her to double check if this is some stupid quack BS medicine.  I've seen the same BS in Germany so the industry has been imported from there.

I take zero med's, have some for my shoulder pain but hardly ever dip into them.
Try to eat super healthy these last few months, minus of course my wine.That's too much sugar and God knows what they use to make wine, probably not exactly great stuff.
My old friend ( now ex friend) in Vegas drinks only organic wine from one shop in Vegas. Taste is very nice, it's a white wine but costs is over $15. a bottle and she needs at least 2 bottles a day!
She is disabled, in a wheelchair so wonder if she does allot of drinking and rolling.
Not going outside today, went out yesterday and that wind was a killer on the old allergies.
Grew up in Simi , Ca. which translates in native American to," Land of the Winds."
Entire family growing up would pass around the allergy tablets in the mornings.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I've told her to ask specifically for the generic version and as a result, I've seen significant savings.

Our local country side pharmacy often won't even stock generics. I guess they want the higher markup profit they can make on the name brands.

fluffy2560 wrote:

One thing here which really annoys me is the use of quack medicines.  ....  I've seen the same BS in Germany so the industry has been imported from there.

Germany as in Samuel Hahnemann?

The USA is also replete with such quackery. But our own twist is from the promotion of such things by some <cough> dim witted </cough> Hollywood "star".

SimonTrew wrote:

Let's be cheerful for once.

One thing I have noticed is how corteous Hungarians tend to be with blind people, at least in Budapest.  They will always help a blind person onto the right bus or tram, tell them when it is safe to cross (very few crossings have those audio things to help the blind), all that kind of thing. Of course blind people can tend to manage but it is still a courtesy that seems to be appreciated.

It must be a rigt pain in the bum being blind, I mean, just the everyday annoyances. How do you use a smartphone or even a desktop computer when everything has a graphics interface? I worked with a blind person many years ago and he had a little kinda braille keyboard that what was on the screen it would raise little pins so that he could feel/read what was said on the screen, but that would be pretty impossible now, that was in the days when we had text-only monitors.

And kinda the half-hearted attempts at improving things, a busy junction near me, it has those things on the pavement the bumps so that blind people can detect where the edge of the street is . All well and good, but then don't have any kinda ausdo signal to say when the light has gone green. It is not even as if it would be a noise nuisance because it is a very noisy road. I imagine that blind people do it by hearing there is no traffic but they are taking their chances and should not have to take their chances.

Old Girl Scout me, helped a couple of blind people cross the st. here in Budapest in the past.
I have even walked slow next to a elderly person so that traffic will not try to speed up on them.
Real,"Brownie Points"! ha, ha.
My father's mom was disabled, lost one of her arm at age 12.
she had 9 babies and no help, one tough lady.
Heard she liked to have a bit of a nip once in awhile, can't blame her for that.

When my husband was invited to the old school reunion here in Budapest a few years ago he didn't tell me everyone invited had to answer a few questions before getting an invite.
Guess because that gov. official from their class was going.
Seems my husband pasted the test but the guy who told him about the reunion was not invited in the end.
He told me that at the reunion he heard everyone had to talk about themselves for about 3 mins before the party started.
Ok so one guy was the health minister, another some big shot math guy and who knows what they other 5 men did.
Out of over 30 people in the class only 7 went to the reunion.
Since we were in Vegas at the time my husband didn't have to embarrass himself by going or not being invited at the end.
I asked him what would he of opened with if he had gone and gave his short speech about himself.

Since he had been the class clown it would of had to of been funny.
Guess he could of impressed them by saying he had been a surfing Hippie on Maui but don't really think that crowd would of understood the humor.
Husband said they probably had security men for the old minister just in case anyone got too friendly with him.

The Ibuprofen was from Sainsbury's but please don't quote me on price, I think it was 45p for 16 tablets the missus got them the other week,

fluffy2560 wrote:

I really wonder if he believes there's no-one smarter than him.

Smart? Hardly. Even a complete duffus knows not to treat a 92 year old woman like this (regardless of her status as head of state -- which only makes it worse):

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/us/t … abeth.html

fluffy2560 wrote:

But I've discovered what I think is the problem in HU.

If Mrs Fluffy goes to the pharmacy, they always try and give the named brand....

I like Sassy Tassy do not take any pharmaceutical drugs, not even an aspirin. Actually I do, I take loratadrine for  hay fever, but that is it.

You are rightt hat the generics are cheaper, and you are probably right that the pharmacy will push the brand (because the brand pays them to do so), but I don't think you are 100% there with that one. I think essentially that because it is a closed market - you can only get drugs from the pharmacy - they can basically charge whatever they like. It is an oligopoly essentially. In the UK etc where you can pick up a packet of aspirin or paracetomol or ibuprofen or whatever for next door to nothing, because there is free competition and the generics supply the supermarkets of course, usually in the packet it will say it is from Galpharm or whatever, then you can tell how much they really cost.

It is quite right that drugs are expensive at the start. Drug discovery - a business I worked in for many years - is incredibly expensive and your patent starts before you even get it to trial, so you have a very short time, about five years in practice, to recoup your research costs, plus all the ones for drugs that do not work or kill rats instantly. With things that are out of patent, the generics move in of course, and they should be available at next door to no cost.

Bill and Melinda Gates are trying to get rid of malaria in Africa. We have the drugs. We know how to do it. We have the money, they have the money. All it takes is public will. that people on the ground want to. We got rid of smallpox, we got rid of polio. We can do it if we care enough about it. But Africa is A Long Way Away so nobody gives a shit

My humble opinion is that drug companies do more harm then good for most people.
Take one drug to fix a minor aliment and in the end have to take a dozen to counter all the issues caused by the one drug.
Pill pushing pimps, that's what most doctors are. Most do not even know basic nutrition and many look like they need a personal 24 hour on call medical team themselves!
Seeds almost all seeds are good as well as most herbs and berries, whole grains, good fresh water and exercise can add healthy quality years to anyone's life.
Just found out one can even enjoy watermelon seeds after they dry out and you grind them up.
I have been saving apricot and peach seeds forever, also just found out even simple plum seed are great for ones anti-cancer treatments, anything to stay healthy and not have to see a white coated demon who just pushes pills on you.
The drug companies go into the medical schools and push their products to these students and get them to think pushing pills instead of good eating habits is the cure for everything.
My poor mom had breast cancer and was told that it was because she had been taking all sorts of hormones , in the 1960's when the pill first came out she was one of the first guinea pigs for their "experiments".
Her cancer was brought on by taking too many different drugs for every little thing.
Most pills are based in petroleum as their main ingredient . Just so wrong to use the public to try out what works and what doesn't.
Vitamin B-17 can be found in most seeds even apple seeds.This vitamin does actually help kill cancer cells before they even start growing.
I would not be surprised to find out Bill Gates wants to buy Africa, but without any population there!
I am being of good cheer, just seeing reality, no money in having healthy people on the planet and everyone wants to make a buck.

klsallee wrote:

....Our local country side pharmacy often won't even stock generics. I guess they want the higher markup profit they can make on the name brands.

I think for ordinary stuff, mail order might be possible.   If they are selling named brands and not generics, that's almost criminal.

klsallee wrote:

....Germany as in Samuel Hahnemann?

The USA is also replete with such quackery. But our own twist is from the promotion of such things by some <cough> dim witted </cough> Hollywood "star".

Yes, him.  There are some qualified medical doctors who believe in homeopathy - including the one here.  I normally want to know exactly what is being suggested but many HU people follow what the Doc says, even if they are taking stuff which is basically useless. Hence we have piles of useless pills.  Docs should know better.

It's like advertising say, face cream as having Vitamin E in it.  Great! We all need vitamins. Except we usually get enough through other means.  Vitamin E is one of the components of food preservatives - well, so I'm told.

Yes, vitamins in face cream sounds great but it is much better to eat right and let ones body take care of the skin naturally.
I use makeup with sunscreen in it, sort of pricey stuff, found out that sunscreen is another big scam, the sun is god for your production of vitamin D, no one should go out long enough to burn but one hour or so a day is not so harmful after all.
The chems that are in sunscreens are worst then the sun is for the skin.
All products like skin lotion etc. are absorbed into the body.
Using good olive oil is messy but so much better in the long run then even name brand products .
Guess I'll have to invest in the future in organic made beauty products and skip all those "famous" name brand over priced creams and lotions.
When I think about it, I have wasted thousands of dollars over the years.Still had a bit of skin cancer on my nose, forearm and thigh.
Had them cut out, just tiny areas but it's obvious those sunscreens didn't help me at all.
I love the sun and being near the water, just wear a hat and sit in the shade , you still get a tan even if it takes longer then frying out in the rays.
Another interesting fact is sunglasses.
I love them, love the look and sometimes their just great to hide behind.
In reality sunglasses lead to many eye issues later in life, we need the vitamin D going right into our eyes to make them stronger.
Still have my shades but am keeping them in my bag most times, have them just in case... Hard to break habits like wearing sunglasses.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Yes, vitamins in face cream sounds great but it is much better to eat right and let ones body take care of the skin naturally.
I use makeup with sunscreen in it, sort of pricey stuff, found out that sunscreen is another big scam, the sun is god for your production of vitamin D, no one should go out long enough to burn but one hour or so a day is not so harmful after all.
The chems that are in sunscreens are worst then the sun is for the skin.
All products like skin lotion etc. are absorbed into the body.
....

I checked and Vitamin E is not a preservative, it's an antioxidant.  It'll slow the face cream going rancid but it won't stop it.  In Northern Europe they give kids Vitamin D drops during the winter because of the reduced daylight hours. 

I'm OK with sunscreens especially on kids who don't know better and don't notice they are burning.  They have to go brown if they aren't brown already. 

I seem to be very susceptible to sunstroke and I've had it on a few occasions. I now generally avoid the sun. When the sun is really strong, I usually wear a hat and always a T-shirt outside. I stopped sunbathing years ago. 

Recently I've noticed a lot more people now in Balaton wearing anti-UV shirts when they are in the water.  Seems a good idea to me as the sun can be truly brutal down there and especially on the water where it seems cooler but the sun is equally damaging.

There was no sunscreen around when I was a child.
We used to burn like crazy.
My son is very fair and red headed.
Not the best complexion to grow up on Maui.
Sunscreen was a "new thing" when he was an infant.
My husband spent most of everyday out in the sun surfing.
Once we all went to the beach together and I swear our boy was only in the sun for less then 5 mins.
Got home and his poor little face had boils all over.
I never allowed him in the sun after that without sunscreen, hat and a very limited amount of sun time.
Even now as an adult he has to use spray 50 SPF.
I never really took him back to the beach after that terrible burn he received.
My younger bro however is something else.
We are only 1/8th native American but my bro has the complexion of a native.
Our mother used to limit his time in the sun too, he would start to look almost black if he played outdoors too long in the summer sun.
As it was everyone always asked if he was adopted or not.

My mother looked like a Italian women, med. complexion and short and tiny.
she used to take my son with her shopping all over town and out to eat when she babysat him.
People would always comment on his cute face and red hair, proud granny would say he was her grandson and people would just give her a strange look, like yes, in your dreams lady.
Come from a "rainbow" family.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
We used to burn like crazy.
My son is very fair and red headed.
......
People would always comment on his cute face and red hair, proud granny would say he was her grandson and people would just give her a strange look, like yes, in your dreams lady.
Come from a "rainbow" family.

My Dad is relatively fair with freckles and he had bits of ginger here and there (I had some when I was younger but now all that has given way to grey).

After quite some years in the tropics (Pacific) when he was younger (war and post-war), my Dad had to have a lesion from his head removed some years ago.  Not sure if it was malignant but we know of people (here) who have died of skin cancer.  Over exposure to UV is a significant risk factor.  In other words, avoid!

"Rainbow family"?   

I really like that expression as it gives the impression of inclusivity and equality and therefore the whole is greater than the parts.  I am going to start throw that into various conversations and subjects.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
We used to burn like crazy.
My son is very fair and red headed.
......
People would always comment on his cute face and red hair, proud granny would say he was her grandson and people would just give her a strange look, like yes, in your dreams lady.
Come from a "rainbow" family.

My Dad is relatively fair with freckles and he had bits of ginger here and there (I had some when I was younger but now all that has given way to grey).

After quite some years in the tropics (Pacific) when he was younger (war and post-war), my Dad had to have a lesion from his head removed some years ago.  Not sure if it was malignant but we know of people (here) who have died of skin cancer.  Over exposure to UV is a significant risk factor.  In other words, avoid!

"Rainbow family"?   

I really like that expression as it gives the impression of inclusivity and equality and therefore the whole is greater than the parts.  I am going to start throw that into various conversations and subjects.

Glad I could come up with something semi- original.
It's odd sort of , mom had 6 kids one dark, 3 med and 2 super pale red/golden brown ones.
Now I am the only pale face kid left.
In family photos now I stand out as the skinny pale one, everyone else has put on a couple of extra kilos while I have sort of stayed the same size.
I felt sort of odd seeing our last group photo. missed the other pale face.
My father was Ruysn, only about 5'8" tall, I was a bit taller then he was.
He was pale as a ghost but had the blackest hair and dark brown eyes, was very striking  really.
Ruysn people have allot of black haired blue eyed people , I personally find that to be very interesting looking, green eyes or blue with black hair is very rare I think.

My skin cancer scare was caught in time, just a couple of tiny little marks on the skin, looked like a sore that would never heal.
I hears sunscreen can cause skin cancer, I am confused. probably more to do with some chemicals in the lotions of brands.

Husband watching the football game now,I am not really interested in it though.
He told me ages ago and then again just yesterday how his uncle had taken his older brother when his bro was about 7 or 8 years old to go meet the Hungarian Golden Team.
He got everyone on the team to sign a autograph for my BIL.
Not sure if it was a photo or just a plank paper.
Sems they were able to just walk into the locker room because their uncle grew up in Kispest with half the guys on the team. They were just regular friends of his, no big deal.
Wonder if my BIL still has that group autograph?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....

Husband watching the football game now,I am not really interested in it though.
He told me ages ago and then again just yesterday how his uncle had taken his older brother when his bro was about 7 or 8 years old to go meet the Hungarian Golden Team.
He got everyone on the team to sign a autograph for my BIL.
Not sure if it was a photo or just a plank paper.
Sems they were able to just walk into the locker room because their uncle grew up in Kispest with half the guys on the team. They were just regular friends of his, no big deal.
Wonder if my BIL still has that group autograph?

I watched the final.   Some interesting moments but because no England, not a great deal of serious interest really.   At the end, they all got absolutely soaked with a total downpour.   So, French won, and while good for them, but for the Fluffy Family, a bit meh....

How are we all going

hows the weather in Hungary at the moment pretty nice i recon

so medications are hard to get from a doctor and pharmacy

petromaya wrote:

How are we all going

hows the weather in Hungary at the moment pretty nice i recon

so medications are hard to get from a doctor and pharmacy

weather is good, a bit windy.
Off for a swim so it's nice outside for now.
Meds are not exactly hard to get if you have a script.
The weird thing in Hungary and maybe all over the EU is that you can not just walk into a store and buy items like nose spray, aspirin or cough med OTC.
To get these items you must go to the pharmacy and ask for them.
They do cost a bit more then say buying a 100 aspirins at once at Walmart, they sell smaller packets here.
I did experience needing a steroid shot from my ortho doc. Had to take a slip out to a shop, buy the meds, go back and wait my turn to have the doc inject the med into my shoulder.
You would think at a large orthopedic hospital that they might just stock some commonly used medications.
Was given some other shot another visit , they could order it for me but they had another idea.
A man had cancelled his appointment and his meds had arrived, same shot I needed.
They spent about 30 mins trying to locate him over the phone to see if I could buy his shot.
Odd this is a major orthopedic hospital in Budapest and not med in stock?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Meds are not exactly hard to get if you have a script.
The weird thing in Hungary and maybe all over the EU is that you can not just walk into a store and buy items like nose spray, aspirin or cough med OTC.

Yeah unlike other countries you can not pick up painkillers from a supermarket all meds even the simple of simple you have to go to the chemists. The same is over the border in Austria. But on the bright side, your shops open on a Sunday.

That is so cool

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

The chems that are in sunscreens are worst then the sun is for the skin.

What is your source of this comment?

The Canadian Cancer society says something quite different:

http://www.cancer.ca/en/prevention-and- … ?region=on

SimCityAT wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Meds are not exactly hard to get if you have a script.
The weird thing in Hungary and maybe all over the EU is that you can not just walk into a store and buy items like nose spray, aspirin or cough med OTC.

Yeah unlike other countries you can not pick up painkillers from a supermarket all meds even the simple of simple you have to go to the chemists. The same is over the border in Austria. But on the bright side, your shops open on a Sunday.

That's the nanny state for you.

Yes, it's very annoying in HU and many other places that you cannot buy stuff in supermarkets. In the UK, you can just buy painkillers like paracetamol (US: Tylenol?) or stuff like mouthwash OTC.  I believe the law in the UK is the maximum you can buy is 16 tablets at once in supermarket.  Of course, it's utterly dumb as you can just buy more in multiple transactions. 

Some things are getting deregulated in the UK and the HU authorities should take note - anti-malarials you can buy OTC after consulting a pharmacist and you can even get the influenza vaccine administered by the pharmacist (they do get training!).  I have a feeling contraceptive pills are now OTC too after a quick private chat with the pharmacists.  Even here, the hay fever tabs are OTC but only at the pharmacy.   

Personally, I don't see why you cannot administer the flu vaccine yourself or get your partner or someone else to do it.   It's hardly difficult and if they used those injection pens that would be really easy.

Some meds are very difficult to obtain and the regulation ridiculous.  There's a place near Keleti where you can get  "foreign medicines" on special order if you have a prescription.   Due to my work which involves extensive travel, I was asked to make sure my vaccinations were up to date which I mostly do anyway.  But specifically, I was recommended I get the Cholera/E-Coli vaccination.  This is something you drink, not inject.  To get that, it was a major hassle (go to Keleti, provide prescription, wait for order to arrive - days, go back to Keleti, take med in 2 parts etc), had to wait  several weeks in the end and was stupidly expensive.    Yet in Canada, I believe it's an easy to obtain OTC medicine.   Makes no sense.  I've taken to trying to find it in country when I arrive.

BTW, I think the Billa supermarkets are open at Vienna Airport and Westbahnhof on Sundays.  Wow!

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, I think the Billa supermarkets are open at Vienna Airport and Westbahnhof on Sundays.  Wow!

Spar, Billa, Hoffer, Lidl they can all open on a Sunday but only when it is next to a major transport hub. You can, of course, buy at petrol stations but they charge silly prices.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Yes, it's very annoying in HU and many other places that you cannot buy stuff in supermarkets. In the UK, you can just buy painkillers like paracetamol (US: Tylenol?) or stuff like mouthwash OTC.  I believe the law in the UK is the maximum you can buy is 16 tablets at once in a supermarket.  Of course, it's utterly dumb as you can just buy more in multiple transactions.

Why don't they stick a pharmacist in the supermarkets? That would be a start

SimCityAT wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, I think the Billa supermarkets are open at Vienna Airport and Westbahnhof on Sundays.  Wow!

Spar, Billa, Hoffer, Lidl they can all open on a Sunday but only when it is next to a major transport hub. You can, of course, buy at petrol stations but they charge silly prices.

Hofer aka Aldi.....but why?   Aldi-Nord and Aldi-Sud too....very odd...

Bit weird those restrictions.  Like living in the dark ages.  But still, helps folks get by in Sopron etc.  Plenty of AT cars in the car park.

I was in the UK recently down near Brighton and I was quite shocked to be reminded the supermarkets were only 10-16h on Sundays but 24h the rest of the time.  I'd totally forgotten that system.

BTW, we've now started having automated Aldi petrol stations hereabouts.  Cheaper than places like Shell but not as cheap as Auchan.

fluffy2560 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, I think the Billa supermarkets are open at Vienna Airport and Westbahnhof on Sundays.  Wow!

Spar, Billa, Hoffer, Lidl they can all open on a Sunday but only when it is next to a major transport hub. You can, of course, buy at petrol stations but they charge silly prices.

Hofer aka Aldi.....but why?   Aldi-Nord and Aldi-Sud too....very odd...

Bit weird those restrictions.  Like living in the dark ages.  But still, helps folks get by in Sopron etc.  Plenty of AT cars in the car park.

I was in the UK recently down near Brighton and I was quite shocked to be reminded the supermarkets were only 10-16h on Sundays but 24h the rest of the time.  I'd totally forgotten that system.

BTW, we've now started having automated Aldi petrol stations hereabouts.  Cheaper than places like Shell but not as cheap as Auchan.

Each year there is a vote on Sunday shopping and every time its voted against as Sunday and Public Holidays is family time.

Personally, I don't the shops being closed on a Sunday.

We have been having card only Petrol Stations for a while and yes slightly cheaper. Got 2 or 3 by us. One is just outside Aldi and OBI, that proves to be quite useful.

SimCityAT wrote:

....Each year there is a vote on Sunday shopping and every time its voted against as Sunday and Public Holidays is family time.

Personally, I don't the shops being closed on a Sunday.

We have been having card only Petrol Stations for a while and yes slightly cheaper. Got 2 or 3 by us. One is just outside Aldi and OBI, that proves to be quite useful.

Yup, it's a relatively new phenomena here to have card only petrol stations.  Auchan had them for a while before that but I don't recall any of the mainstream "full service" places like Shell or Agip etc having them but I no longer go to those places as they are too pricey. 

Personally I think there's a minority (probably religious groups) who want the shops closed on Sunday.  They are interfering with the majority who want to do the stuff they couldn't do during the week when they were working. 

Many people like students would welcome more diverse employment opportunities - say part time or nights or weekends.  So long as weekend working is voluntary that would be fine. If people don't want to go to the shops on Sunday for their religious beliefs, they don't have to.

I've been working odd hours and I've worked nights too for years and I found it quite OK to work overnight and weekends.  It creates more employment opportunities if it's coupled with say flexible working patterns (flexi-time).

Anyway, they tried that Sunday business here and it was a ludicrous failure and was eventually reversed.  It was thought 30-50,000 jobs were lost during that silly experiment.

klsallee wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

The chems that are in sunscreens are worst then the sun is for the skin.

What is your source of this comment?

The Canadian Cancer society says something quite different:

http://www.cancer.ca/en/prevention-and- … ?region=on

I'll look into it, so far it's been word of mouth from truthers who are against all forms of drugs.
I'll have to do some research to see if any drug co, is willing to explain all the chemicals put into their products, I'm sure that if you can't eat it then you probably shouldn't be putting it into your skin.

So I looked up a couple of my sources for info on sunscreen.
One was  a truther who died under mysterious circumstances, Dr. Andreas Moritz, a German doctor, Dr.Elizabeth Plourde, and another who I often watch on U tube is. Dr. Leonard Coldwell.
I am sure that there might be some good products out there but for sure they would not be main stream brands.
I personally am not a believer in and Cancer Org. They would go out of business if they actually cured cancer.
Their CEO's and others are making a ton of money off the hopes of the general public thinking they are "fighting" cancer.
Guess losing both parents to cancer, my grandmother and auntie makes me wonder if they are fighting that hard they are losing big time.
I know when my step-dad died from painful colon cancer at age 43 he asked everyone to give to the American Cancer Society and not give flowers. Should of bought him a orchard for all the good the cancer org. are doing in the 35 or so years he has been dead.
Cancer is a horrible thing and knowing anyone is making a profit off of it just makes me ill inside.
I'm a bit off the main stream with my way of thinking I suppose.

How was your swimming Marilyn?

SimCityAT wrote:

How was your swimming Marilyn?

Wonderful! Thanks for asking.
The pool is 55 meters long and I did 15 laps back and forth, trap muscle is a bit sore today though, not sure why, 15 laps in not a big deal for me usually. Guess I wasn't warmed up enough before using my overhead stroke.
Terrible to have to think about warming up because as a kid one just jumped in and never thought about warming up.
Got a bit of color and only used some sunscreen on my face and back of my neck.
Wanted to go back swimming later this week but it looks like rain at the end of this week.

klsallee wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

The chems that are in sunscreens are worst then the sun is for the skin.

What is your source of this comment?

The Canadian Cancer society says something quite different:

http://www.cancer.ca/en/prevention-and- … ?region=on

t
More thoughts on this subject.
I admit I am a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to using chemicals.
All this info about natural cures is new to me so i am still learning and trying it out.
I know I would have a hard time giving up my hair dyes and make ups which are chock full of chemicals.
Cosmetologists have a higher then average rate of lung cancer, probably from breathing in all those bleach powders and  smelling all those resins when doing nails.
Casino workers must smell stale A/C air and second hand smoke as well as be around all those negative vibes all day long, hear mind dulling music in the background too.
My step-dad no doubt got cancer from his job as a tool grinder for Lockheed. He always worked in what was called the Grunt Works dept. Or it may of been the Skunk works dept. some odd name they gave themselves. They had to sign and get a security clearance to work in the unit of Lockheed. Some "secret" stuff was being developed there and keeping the "grunt workers" healthy was not a high priority.
Can't prove it but seems more then possible that his job killed him.
Someday maybe I'll grow my hair out grey and stop wearing makeup and eating white flour and sugar as much as I sometimes do. Just waking up from how dangerous some of our food supply really is and feel sometimes like we are all a huge experiment to see how far "they" can push it.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I personally am not a believer in and Cancer Org. They would go out of business if they actually cured cancer..

Interesting view point.

You said you had skin cancer. And it was removed. So you were cured. Did your doctor of Cancer org go out of business?

That is, there is plenty of business and money in curing or fixing things as long as people still have a problem to fix. Be that cancer or your plumbing (no, you can not make the perfect pipe either, because people have an amazing capacity to stuff all the wrong things into a toilet and think it will magically just be taken away without problems).

Now, if you where to say, Cancer org were to find a way to prevent cancer (which is different than curing -- prior is before the fact while latter is after the fact) in all forms 100% of the time without cost to anyone... well, yes then they would be out of business and you would have a point. But that is not going to happen. Mainly because there will alway be some people who like to sun tan, or smoke, or drink too much, which all can lead to cancer (and are probably the same people who mistreat their plumbing).

But even a preventative solution need not put anyone out of business. Feline leukemia can be prevented with a vaccine. That vaccine costs money. There is always a way to make money out of saving lives (cat lives in this case.....).

For what it is worth, some in my family have survived cancer. Others have not. So it varies. Cancer is a complex disease. There is no one solution. Supporting those that want to help people survive, even if that simply means life extension for now, I do support myself. But that is just me, of course.

klsallee wrote:

...Others have not. So it varies. Cancer is a complex disease. There is no one solution. Supporting those that want to help people survive, even if that simply means life extension for now, I do support myself. But that is just me, of course.

Cancer was not very prevalent in my family until my elder bro got a brain tumour and died within 11 months.   Sure, some others had it but they usually died from other things, like heart disease.  So it seems to be genetic.  From what I've read, cancer is very individualised so it's not just one type of cancer in a  diagnosis, it's very much the specific cancer for that individual.  Weird thing is that that some things might lead to cancer - relatively "simple" infections like viruses like the HPV (virus) leads to cervical cancer.  Then years later, the disease appears.  I read that the stem cell, gene therapies and immunology approaches are bringing major successes.

Quackery is a major crime. 

Steve Jobs was (rumour has it) on some kind of special tomato, carrots and nuts diet.  He tried to overcome his cancer that way and rejected treatments that may have  saved his life.  When he finally realised, it was too late. 

I also worked with a guy who insisted on travelling to West Africa to be "cured" - he died in hospital in Australia in the end. 

Worst thing I ever experienced myself in the field was hearing from relatives whose family members who had cancer in an area that was a recent war zone - no treatment, no hospital and no medications.  Nothing anyone could do other than airlift them somewhere else. Just awful.

The big C is nothing to mess with.
My grandmother rumor has it died on the operating table at age 44 or so , one armed mother of 9 children, stomach cancer.
Her youngest daughter, my auntie Jennie had cancer of some sort while being pregnant with her second child, a boy, she died from cancer 10 days after he was born.
Really some sad stuff.Never knew this cousin at all since his father's family took him and raised him.
I have one of my aunties  Jennie's engagement rings, seems before she was married 3 men asked her to marry them.Wild, pretty and fun lady it seems.She seems to have collected rings from her beaus.
She gave my mother one of her rings when my parents were about to get married since my dad couldn't afford to buy my mom one on his own.
I still have that ring somewhere...
After my grandmother passed away my father never set foot in a church the rest of his life, he was so upset that God had let him down.
He was in SE Asia fighting Hitler and Japan when his mom passed on.
I hate cancer because it just chips away at someone and it is slow murder most times.
ATM my first cousin has breast cancer, her mom passed away from that and so did my mother.
I know they only thing that came out of our step-dad having cancer is my older sister had access to all the methadone  she could handle.
Never saw anyone more mad and upset as she when she found out our mother had dumped it all down the WC after my step-dad passed away.
My sister could only talk about the st. value of it and what a waste it was for my mom to flush it down the drain.
Everyone handles stuff differently I suppose.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

..... is my older sister had access to all the methadone  she could handle.
Never saw anyone more mad and upset as she when she found out our mother had dumped it all down the WC after my step-dad passed away. My sister could only talk about the st. value of it and what a waste it was for my mom to flush it down the drain. Everyone handles stuff differently I suppose.

In Europe, methadone is a heroin substitute used for withdrawal in drug addiction.  Did she want to sell it or use it?  Not moralising about it, just interested.  I was having a discussion yesterday with my sister about cannabis products and some other things likely becoming more universally legal in Europe. One of my relatives is suffering from a disease where it might be relevant and how one might even go about obtaining something like cannabis.   Never thought about buying old pharmaceutical grade dope somehow.   As far as I know even owning plants is still illegal here (someone was on the HU news the other day, growing it in their garden as a screen and "didn't know" what it was).

The current scourge I've heard about is zombie inducing Spice which seems to be just bad bad bad.  Not a chance we'd even think about that. 

Maybe  the methadone should have gone back to the pharmacy.  In the UK (at least) you are not supposed to re-use medicines for other people.  Proper disposal is back to the pharmacy.  They will take it away and destroy it.   Bit of a waste.  Could have shipped it to say, Africa, especially if the packets were fully intact and within expiry date etc.

It was liquid methadone in bottles.
Yes, mom probably should of taken it back to the pharmacy but in 1980 not everyone was worried about dumping meds into the water supply.
My sister, not sure , she might of planned on selling it but knowing her she wanted it for personal use.
She told me she had taken some of it home once for fun.
She was wild that's all I can say, being that reckless did catch up to her though.
My step-dad said it didn't feel good to take that methadone, it made him sleep too much and that's the last thing he wanted to do.
He tried to go to school events with his two young kids and have friends and family visiting him as often as possible.
He wanted to enjoy his time, not sleep.
We was a super law abiding sort of person but he once asked us to find him some grass because he heard it killed the pain and wouldn't make him sleep like the methadone did.
Got him some but he didn't like that either.
Sad really sad.

I have a off topic if there is even a topic on this page.
Does anyone know the number or how to contact the Fire Safety Officer for Budapest?
Just wondering because a new neighbor is blocking the common stairway and only fire escape with her parked bicycle.
She has chained it to the railing but on the inside of the stairway.
been doing this now for a good  month and it is really getting on my last nerve.
I am not sure which apt., she lives in, ony noticed her with her bike once and was not able to talk to her as we were busy carrying in a huge load of groceries and it took a moment for me to realize who she was, by then she was gone.
We have a good 8 or 9 bikes parked downstairs in our common area, fine with me since most people have a long chain and park away from the stairs.
She for some reason is "special" and has to block the walkway with her bike.
In the event of a fire it's not going to be great with everyone going down at once and that bike in the way.
Even without a fire it is an eye sore and in the way.
I could write her a note about it I suppose but it would not be anonymous since it would be written in English.
My husband and it seems others in the house are very  relaxed attitude about this.
I can't do much on my own since no one speaks English around here.
This is really the first time in my life I've had an issue with safety in a building and felt the need to speak up about it.
All fun and games until something happens, besides one can easily trip over it.
There is plenty of room , covered area where she could park it.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I have a off topic if there is even a topic on this page.
Does anyone know the number or how to contact the Fire Safety Officer for Budapest?
Just wondering because a new neighbor is blocking the common stairway and only fire escape with her parked bicycle.
She has chained it to the railing but on the inside of the stairway.
been doing this now for a good  month and it is really getting on my last nerve.
I am not sure which apt., she lives in, ony noticed her with her bike once and was not able to talk to her as we were busy carrying in a huge load of groceries and it took a moment for me to realize who she was, by then she was gone.
We have a good 8 or 9 bikes parked downstairs in our common area, fine with me since most people have a long chain and park away from the stairs.
She for some reason is "special" and has to block the walkway with her bike.
In the event of a fire it's not going to be great with everyone going down at once and that bike in the way.
Even without a fire it is an eye sore and in the way.
I could write her a note about it I suppose but it would not be anonymous since it would be written in English.
My husband and it seems others in the house are very  relaxed attitude about this.
I can't do much on my own since no one speaks English around here.
This is really the first time in my life I've had an issue with safety in a building and felt the need to speak up about it.
All fun and games until something happens, besides one can easily trip over it.
There is plenty of room , covered area where she could park it.

I would call your nearest Fire Department,  A list can be found HERE