Monday January 31 2012 - Vanity
Only downer is that I'm not allowed to drink wine for a week.
Friday January 27 2012 - M is missing...
Little m got her Playmobil house that we "won" at Ebay last week. 5 storeys high, and fully equipped. Pure fun for m, Not THAT much fun for me, as I have to be her play mate, and talk with squeeky voice while handeling a bunch of small plastic characters.
Friday January 20 2012 - last week it was uhh...? But next week it will be Friday again!!
Another week has passed without me even noticing... According to my calender I went to Sweden on Monday, and was back in BP Wednesday again.
My superduper weather station tells me that it has been a bit rainy and windy, but not very cold.
Big M tells me I've been snoring, and little m said we had a good time.
Who needs a memory those days :-)))
What I know is that we're soon heading T&G for the Friday T-bone. Tomorrow it might be forgotten.
Do I suffer from a light version of Alzheimer? I do not think so, or at least I do not hope so. I guess the reason is that the future is more important and interesting than the past...
By the way, now we have a real "Hard Rock Cafe" in Budapest. Not only the t-shirts anymore :-)
New picture, same old statue...
Friday Januari 13 2012 - reflections...
As most of the world is aware of by now, the Government with >75% of the seats in the parliament can change the constitution in any way it suits them. Most of the new "laws" are totally agains fundamental EU values and regulations.
Our Dear Mr Orban are holding long speeches in national media (the one he has not yet forbidden) that Hungarians are proud people with their own brains, and refuse to get ruled by Brussels.
Hungary actually has a lot to teach the rest of Europe how a country should be led.
Big words from a guy who desperately needs 20 billions not to bankrupcy this proud nation.
Which IMF/EMF of course denies, as long EU regulations are wildly abused.
Hear it from the Hungarian side and you get the impression that the main differences between Budapest and the European Union/ International Monetary Fund are the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding. A bit of talking, a policy tweak here and there – and all will be well.
Haha!!
Otherwise? Weather is springlike with a warming sun, 10 degrees one day and hail the next. But definately spring is on its way.
T&G tonight, so the world is still in order after all :-)
Thursday January 12 2012
New Years Eve 2011 - Lets turn page (as the Swedish king would have said)
We're back from our tour on snow. Ischgl was sunny and nice. You can check some of the pictures at Facebook.
Tonight we'll go to Trattoria Toscana, the three of us, then home to check the fireworks from the top of the roof.
With other words; it won't be a very wild celebration... :-)
From tomorrow there will be the next 365 new days to fill with meaningful content. Will be an exciting challange :-)
I will keep you posted...
M&m on snow;
Friday December 23 2011, tomorrow will be a great day
Can you think of a better way to spend a christmas eve? :-)
We will stay at "Lindas" Solaria. There is loads of powder on Idalp and the weather forecast has promised cold and sunny winterweather. :-))
I will think of all poor suckers who still has to celebrate x-mas... :-))))))))
As you know we already have this nice celebration behind us, and once is enough :-)
One of many x-mas markets in Budapest
Sunday December 18 2011 - X-mas is over :-)
X-mas tree is long gone, and next christmas will be only in a year or so. Yeahhh :-)
Tomorrow we leave for Budapest. Early morning 24th, we'll be off for skiing :-))
Family :-)
Monday December 12 2011 - beautiful V district
In a country with big state financial deficites, he's done a great job!! :-) Of course most of the marble is financed by Brussels, and in the very end by European tax payers. Thank you all (north) Europeans. Very nice of you. You should come and visit one day to see how nicely your money is spent. Especially after learning how well the hired entrepreneurs were paid.
Now the bureaucrates in Brussels are asking questions how it could be so expensive. Especially in a low cost country as Hungary, and why there were only one bidder of the most of the projects, and why this only bidder was a close friend to dear Mr Rogan... I hope he will manage to finish the new local parking space for tenants in our street before he'll be put into jail.
His fellow (ex) mayor István Verök in neighbouring district 6 is right now in trial for corruption and fraud.
Even if this supposed to be the Eastern part of Europe, it's very much like the "Wild West".
It's a very interesting country to live in I must say.
One of many nice Rogan quotes;
Whichever one of our enthusiastic staff did this committed a serious mistake, but the world will not come to an end.”
Otherwise? We´re off for Sweden this week. Will celebrate early X-mas with all the kids.
This is one of the highlights of the year. We have at least 100 of them. Not kids, but highlights during the year... :-)))
Today we got our yearly flu shots.
Any reader who will have one???
This is our golden boy:-)
Sunday December 4th 2011 - Life is good
Made M crazy as I finished two books in record time (night reading...)
My new favourite author is Jussi Adler-Olsen. Sounds a bit on the Finnish side, but the guy is absolutely Danish. At least he thinks and writes like a Dane!! :-) If you like crime stories and colorful characters, I can definitely recommend his books. And read them in order!!!
Otherwise life is good as always. m got star of the week with following motivation; "For your beautiful smile and delightful sense of humor. For being an excellent role model of your class mates in all areas of learning". Even I got a tear (very small one) in my eye, when Mr Baines (the headmaster) gave her the award.
Tomorrow evening I will leave for Sweden. Back on Wednesday again. Just a quicky for a customer meeting.
Trying to find a nice hotel in Ischgl for X-mas. No luck so far, but I'll find one. Be sure!!!
Weather is damp and foggy. No snow. - Not that we need any... :-)
Some things they haven't manage to "computerize" yet...
Saturday November 26 2011 - skeletons
As my memory is very selective and erases old happenings to give place for new ones, I'm very grateful for the morning eggs that give me the flash-backs :-))
Grandma before she got wrinkled, or maybe after she left the wrinkles behind her...
Little m got herself a new winterjacket the other day
Tuesday November 15 2011 - Autumn
I also woke up one Saturday morning in Båstad, sun was shining and I knew there was a half marathon run in some hours. I went to the race office to sign up. No one told me that 15 of the 21 kilometers to run was constant uphill... Now it's done, and I feel good about it :-) In my absence M&m enjoyed Budapest life together with Grandma. I guess they had a good time.
Weather here is cold as in Sweden right now. Hard to believe that it was only one month since we had 31 degrees...
the 8,7kg Parma ham that we fed our visitors at the fair with
Recepy for playdoo
Budapest autumn
Who are those???
Saturday October 29 2011 - travelling weeks
Saturday, and we have been one hour late the whole day thanks to me, who thought I should change the clocks already this morning...
M was very annoyed that all the clocks in the city were one hour ahead. But now she knows why :-)))
Little m had her half term break last week, and off we went to London. Her favourite city besides Budapest.
Of course we went shopping. Among other things M found a nice jacket and matching boots. They looked very expensive, so I tried, without success, to find the price tag. The shop assistant saw me looking and assured me it was cheap. A bargain I thought, until I had to pay. It was then I realised that she probably said it was sheep...
Well, well, it looks good at least... :-)
As it was little m's holiday, she decided what to do;
- feed the ducks in Hyde Park
- shop at Hamleys
- see a musical
- take a tour with the London Eye.
We also ate good, at least two of the evenings. The third evening we decided to give Jamie's Italian another shot (we were pretty disappointed the last time we went, - last spring)
No improvements :-) still lousy waiters, food was good but absolutely not fantastic. The place held about 15 degrees or so, making all guests eat quick as hell, and then run somwhere else for a good cup of warming tea. As there always is a constant queue outside, i'm sure the concept is a goldmine, and if there actually would be some real gold to dig, I'm also sure that all the guests would volunteer for some hard labour to keep warm...
Our favourite restaurant is called "Loch Fyne", a fishy warm place with superb food.
As we stayed at Lancaster Gate, opposite to Hyde Park, we saw plenty of joggers. Sporty people those Londoners. Maybe they don't even freeze in cold restaurants, as most of them ran more or less naked in the rain and cold wind.
Otherwise??? hmmmm... H&M had to overtrump us, so they went off for a week in New York, and tomorrow I will leave Budapest for a looong trip to Munich and Sweden. We have a fair in Jönköping next week.
Ozzzzzzzz...
At freezing Jamies
Hamleys sure can make a little girl very happy :-)
The city in evening light
Fisherman's plate at Loch Fyne
postcards had to be sent....
little m's treasures
Among others, the not so cheap sheep
Sunday October 23 2011 - Half term
A rainy Sunday. Even if the weather has been a little autumnish lately, today was the first day I actually had the right feeling of autumn. Maybe because it's raining a bit. And that we watched the first downhill ski race of the season from TV.
Half term has started. Last school day was yesterday. Tomorrow we are off to London.
In all we have a nice and slow life here. Maybe we're getting old? At least I had this feeling the other day when talking to one of m's classmates mother in school the other day. Can't even mention the topic in this forum :-) And today I read a Facebook entry from one of the other classmate mothers, that she lost her top in a bar yesterday.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm very happy and do not miss late nights in suspicious bars, even if it sounds like loads of fun :-))
In London we will see a musical. The Wizard of Oz and/or maybe Mamma Mia.
Little m had had loads of playmates over lately, almost every afternoon is booked. Hungarians, Brits, Serbs, French among a dozen other nationalities.
m is by the way switching over more and more to english at home. Let's see where that will end...
m and Anja googleing something interesting...
Saturday October 8, 2011 - who waits for a big steak, sometimes wait to long....
Went to Sweden last Wednesday evening, and was supposed to be back in time for T&G promptly at 20,00 yesterday. It was Friday and all... However the flight was delayed a bit, so I had to spend the evening at Sturup (Malmö Airport) instead of cozy T&G. Was home only 03.30 this morning.
Can't actually blame poor old Wizz, as they had a technical problem with the plane which was supposed to take us.
15 years ago (if they would have existed so long time ago, which they actually haven't) they would surely have done as the Russians do today; they fly anyway. A vodka or two, and up they go, and sometimes they hit ground faster than planned.
A younger version of me would have chosen the Russian way, but as I slowly get mature, I think it's better to play it safe, even if it sounds a little boring, and not that exciting...
I think LKVHMM&m would have killed me if I would have died in a polish corn field.
So here I am. Tired but alive :-)
Autumn has hit Hungary, so little m had to swap the summer clothes for something rain proof.
Another autum sign is the "Lomtalanítás", on a specific day you throw out whatever you want to get rid of, placing the stuff on the pavement outside the house, and 1000 garbage trucks will clean up during the night. Very practical and loud.
I was a little worried though to find my car in the middle of a huge pile of unwanted items.
Hope it will still be there after the cleaning up...
Monday September 19, 2011 - chop, chop
Little m is well again after the last week in fever, right now having her ballet class.
Got the report this morning that Maja has broken her little toe last night when doing some acrobatics. I saw i photo of the mess. Poor girl...
Well, well. I'm off. Tjoff Tjoff :-)))
Friday September 16, 2011 - Weeeekend :-)
Yesterday we went to Sand, where the waiter tried to rip me off. Sweden is expensive enough also without the extra food and drink he had charged our table.
After changing underwear, I will go back North on Monday again. Just 3 days this time.
Before that I will enjoy this part of the world, T&G tonight :-)
Ahh, little m got a fever last weekend, and has been in bed most of the week. Fever with 38-39 degrees. She's now on antibiotics and since this morning back in school :-)
Marleen with her two new teachers; Miss Anikó and Miss Andrea
Sunday September 4, 2011 - Over and done
Now I'm sitting in the shadow at our roof, sipping water and just enjoy the beautiful day. Later the water will be swapped to wine, and the grill will be fired up. It's a wonderful day, and I feel sooooo good :-))
The Liberty Bridge, km 9
21,1 km, tired but happy :-))
Wednesday August 31, 2011 - 112
I don't remember (and I'm too lazy to check...) if I already have mentioned that I have signed up for the Budapest Half Marathon. Anyway I did a month ago or so, and the coming Sunday will be the big day. I've been running a lot lately, as always, so I hope I'm prepared. I'll let you know if it was a success, if it's not mentioned later on, it was a disaster. Well, well, let's see.
The other day M found a crying Japanese girl in our elevator. The cage was stuck between second and third floor. M told me to handle it as she was heading 2hrs on the treadmill. I had some Hungarian lady to call the emergency number and they promised to show up within short. In the mean time i was entertaining the girl. She told me she was visiting her uncle who lives below us, and it was her first day in Hungary and Europe. She was heading an English language school when the elevator suddenly stopped. Great start for her exciting European experience, poor girl... Two hours and 5 telephone calls later (the emergency guy kept assuring us that he was on his way), a lady on the third floor who´s been constantly peering out of her door had enough of the poor girls crying. She called 112. And less than 5 minutes later 9 (NINE!!!) young muscular fully equipped fire fighters were jogging up the stairs ready for some serious action, you could see the disappointment written all over their faces when they found out the reason... the girl was released within 1 minute. A sweaty emergency guy with a tool box arrived an hour or so later and asked why had we called. The elevator is empty he claimed.
Hungary is not boring, it's just different... :-)
Saturday August 20, 2011 - St Stephens Day
I was out running this morning (together with my brand new Nike+ GPS Sportswatch) but it was so crowdy on the banks of Danube that it was almost impossible to get any good pace :-( Tonight there will be more than 1 million noisy celebrating Hungarians along the river to see the big firework. On a day like this we rather stay at home and grill on the terrace :-)
Yesterday I sent home H&M after their one week visit. Felt a little sad...
Anyway we had a nice week. Last weekend in Budapest, then we went to Munich for serious shopping on Monday, just to find out that the Bavarians had some kind of holiday. Everything was closed... We still had a nice time together with Linda and Flöring, strolling the city. I love Munich!!! Tuesday the stores finally were open again, and the eyes of H&M were sparkling. Girls love shopping :-)
Tuesday late afternoon we left our dear Linda for sister Tut in Tannheimertal, Austria. From buzzling city to quiet countryside. Our 36-hour Tannheim visit had a quite sizzling programme:
* Real Austrian breakfast
* Horseback riding
* "Alpine Walking", (invented by sis) up a mountain as fast as possible. Took us 1hr38 seconds - target was 56 min... Next time will be faster!!!
* A ride on the tractor trailer to Vilsalpsee
* Rowing with one hand on the mentioned lake (ice-cream on the other hand)
* Eaten by sheeps (I rather eat them grilled myself, than get eaten by them...)
* Badminton
* Trying to get the airgun working - no success...
* Motorcycling, - well, it was actually just a "moped"...
* Wine drinking
* Dinner for 8 hungry humans and 3 barking dogs
* Watching "Solsidan" - we brought them the DVD, season 1
Busy, busy, but still relaxing in a beautiful environment with people I love :-)
On the way home we stopped at a huuuuge outlet outside Vienna, for the girls to spend some more (of my)money :-)
Only Kajsa and Victor missing....
Linda and Flöring birthday kiss...
Wild horses....
H&M @Neunerköpfle
I think that this little beauty would fit on my grill... (the dark one!!)
The green/blue is melted ice and snow
For those, I will need a BIGGER grill...
Schmieden 11 in Tannheimer Tal :-)
