Some Missing Blog pics...

The lost files! Some blog bits and pieces lost in the last month of bad to no internet.

The path is done for a while anyways. It gets pulled up in April when Zoltan puts the cement down along the wall where you can see the unfinished area. Then the bricks will be relaid and it will be nice and tidy for spring, when the fight with weeds begins!  Will gather pics from my other computer over the coming months and do  a blog of some "then and now" shots for the 2 year anniversary in April.

The last coat of whatever on the walls...but we forgot the power points in this back wall...dohh, so after Xmas we'll have to gouge out a channel in the wall for them.

Nearly done...

The long awaited path to the end gate. Have run out of bricks...they are every size imaginable...thin, thick, long, short, wobbly, straight...crazy. Most bricks are around the 100 year old mark. Have to put that extra brick in the daffodil garden area now and this will be nice and tidy for summer.

Zoltan put in the extra concrete around the tap and I got him to try and mark it out like the other slab that was there. He did a pretty good job I think. The bricks at this end here nearest the camera, will lead to a nice summer deck where the tomatoes and cucumbers were last summer. It will be the same level as the existing patio. See the T thing near the tap? That's a thingy to turn to cut off the water when it gets cold and the pipes freeze. It stops the water pipes freezing. Will cut out the scraggly, prickly rose bush  at the left and put in nice soft bushes instead  where the pots are now..

Found this blog I'd started before Xmas when the internet was off for almost a week...then found another entry I'd started on the train...

Here goes...

Writing this on the nice intercity train between Fuszensabony to Budapest at 3.15pm on Wednesday arvo, 16^th Dec...almost a year from when I boarded the same train last year, headed for my 90 days Schengen time out, in Croatia.

You wouldn't believe it but today was the first time in over 10 days that the sun shone-ish. 

It is so weird this strange cloud that hangs about in EU.

I'm positive it has something to do with cloud seeding. They have been doing it for over 40 or more years and still hardly anyone believes it is possible and even if it was, "the govt would never do things like that"! 

Go on and keep living in cloud-land I say to them.

Will arrive Budapest at 4.30pm and of course it will be pitch dark thankfully and all the Xmas lights will be on in full swing.

Will wander around Budapest for 5 hrs or so, watch the lights, have some Xmassy hot spiced gluewein, some other goodies that I can eat, then catch the 10.45pm train to Belgrade, a fast 3hr trip really, but it takes 6-8hrs on the train as they cross the Hungarian/Serbian borders and do the customs thing etc etc and that takes a few hours. (am back from my trip now, but I forgot about the hot wines in Budapest, in my quest to get the Xmas lights pics which you have already seen)

I catch the night trains there and back as it saves precious touring days that you can spend sightseeing, instead of rumbling along all day on a nice train, not to mention saving on accom and time. 

This time will be a short trip as I have not emptied my hot water system incase the weather freezes things etc etc, so here's hoping 4 whole days away and 3 nights will be OK and the place wont get too cold inside.

This will be the first time I've been so far into winter in Tiszaigar, so there's lots to learn about yet.

The train time tables between major cities are mostly geared so that if you leave late...10.45pm and arrive early, 6-7am, so you are not stranded in the middle of the night somewhere looking for your accommodation.

The trains are all very nice and comfy and warm and have security guards on board, so it is very safe travelling. I'm more afraid on a Bris-Caboolture 11pm train than any overnight train here.

Am excited to actually be going on a short trip, not beholden to time quotas.

It feels strange, but after Xmas when my 90 days usual Schengen visa is up, that's when it will really hit me.

OK...will talk more after I leave Budapest tonight....

Am off to Slovakia (Schengen area) in Feb for a week skiing in the high Tatras and if my 1 year staying visa had not come thru on time, I would have stayed in Serbia (non-Schengen) for an extra week to allow for the week back in Slovakia-Schengen Zone.

Hahaha...outsmarted myself…

There will be no ski trip this side of April, as my Schengen visa still applies in all Schengen areas except Hungary..hahaha...!

Forgot about that with all the fun of having my staying visa approved...for Hungary...only!

Slight oversight there, hahaha.

That also means the trip to Hamburg to see Love Never Dies in March is a no go too!

After the 30^th March, my Schengen visa kicks over again for another 180 day period, allowing me 90 days, any which way, in the EU. 

That means I can do all my one and two and 3 week tripping around from then onwards for a year as I'd never be away from home longer than 2-3 weeks at the most from then.

Anyone need expert advice on EU visa info, see me! Joking, but, boy it sure is complex, but understandably so.

Most of this is done via the honour system, by passport checking at countries who border the Schengen zones. Saves a mass of paperwork and a ton of bureaucracy for sure.

OK...back to now...2nd Jan 2016.

Almost all the poles in the main street in Tiszafured had one of these strapped to it...very pretty.

The size of these things! That's my shopping in one of the kettles used for hot wines, soups etc.

These are the big cauldrons, or kettles as they are called here. For hot wine, party goulash, fish stew and more. Complete with copper fire and chimney!

Xmas market stall...really needs a red and green or orange light to make it more inviting and warmer looking.

Cherry Tree avenue in Tiszafured...

Xmas Markets food stall in Tiszafured...

Street lights in Tiszafured

The imaginative hay bale decorations in our village... Now on a calendar...

A load of wood being delivered...

The street where I live at a crisp minus 3 C 2pm afternoon in winter!

This is my own Xmas street decoration...right outside my bedroom window...well, the future lounge room window that is!

Looking out the kitchen door glass pane...Lovely view of the all day frost! Between - 4 and - 9 C today, New Years Day 2016 at 9am in the morning!

I hope the internet connection issues are resolved soon with this company, as it's frustrating trying for hours to load an image, getting up in the middle of the night to try and see if it's on and never remembering where I was up to!

I'm changing service providers anyways when my contract ends soon. I took whatever came first when I connected last year and it has been 90% OK, but when it's lousy weather outside and I want to research holiday destinations and Google info...no service...sad face.

See you soon...hopefully!

xx