Yea, Well...I Didn't Quite Expect THAT!

One should be very careful when desiring a trip or a visit... that is to make sure every step is well planned out and the objective is clear!

I forgot to mention that when I tripped over the board I put across the door to stop Bear coming in... a few weeks ago now...I also knocked myself out for a moment...when my head hit the ground on my famous belly flop of the century!

It must have been a decent knock, as a filling fell out in one of my favourite chewing teeth, so yes, a visit was in store...to the blessed dentist!

My first thought was to go to Serbia where I have had very successful root canal and subsequent crowns applied and that was obviously my first thoughts. But I didn't want to be away for 3 days, just for a trip to the dentist!

Anyways after a few failed attempts to find a dentist locally...one dentist does not take on new clients....the other is a Govt hospital/clinic affair and that was out of the question.

My friend offered a dentist friend of his, 20 miles away and I was ready to go there, when another friend suggested a good looking, hunky type dentist in Tiszafured. That sounded like a good trade off in my mind.

So, I innocently went in on Monday morning...it WAS the Govt clinic, but as I was there anyways and I urgently did need the filling before the tooth wore away! I ran all over the place inside...no front counter or no signs anywhere, so I went upstairs and looked on all the doors...no signs that looked like a dentist...so I asked a waiting patient...by charade like gestures and they pointed me to an end door on the long corridor.

I knocked on the door and a lady said yes, it was indeed the dentist. In I went and the sweetest little whisper of a girl introduced herself...She spoke perfect English! She was a Dr. of Dentistry..Sarah. She said they just had a cancellation and 20 mins later I walked out, filling and all!

$25 for a really big filling, no paperwork etc. She asked the correct questions re allergies, health issues and so on and booked me in for a check on the procedure in 2 weeks time.

Their so called Govt Clinic works a bit differently to those in OZ I guess, as my friend in OZ had to wait years to get a dental check-up. When she came over here and whilst in Belgrade, I took her to see my dentist  down there and she put her straight in the chair, had a really thorough look and she was out of there in 10 mins. Free of charge. She is one of the top periodontist /dentists in Serbia too.

Crowns at this local clinic, are only 20,000 ft...$97 AUSD, $30 less than in Serbia, so I might get my next crown here and see how it goes!
In Australia, the price range for a single crown is generally $1100-$2000. Dental crowns are expensive which ever way you look at it. Fillings are $150 in Qld...these figures were in 2015! OMGoodness! (I just looked this up online)

All from my garden, all grown without one bit of help from me this year...all except the little crab apples, which grow in abundance all around my jogging track. The yellow pear shaped things are pear tomatoes, which I planted last year, but they grew this year by themselves as did the bazillion other tomato plants!

This is a type of gauze door they use over here! It is magnetised and claps back together after walking through it. This is where Bear gets in under it when it is too hot outside for the poor little fellow.

Next thing on the list is to get Bear, the dog, a home by end of Sept, then I'm sorted out. It took a lot longer than anticipated, but things are coming together OK now.

Imre has completed the exterior house cement rendering repairs and renos, now he just has to complete a little ceiling repair on the verandah, which is a 2 hr task,complete the verandah arched window and apply the timber decorations to the front of the house.

Then next week, we start painting the exterior of the place...

WOO-WOO!

The trim colour will be something like this colour above.
I found that colour was used on trims originally, when we pulled down some old timber work earlier on.

Wild flowers from around my jogging track and some pretty candle thingies they use over here for special holidays. The little glass containers, complete with a 9 hr candle were 30 cents Aussie each and the big red one, complete with a 20 hr candle, was  a massive $1.30cents OZ!

The other guy, who comes in 2 days a week now, for 5 hrs a day, is painting the windows and getting things done...wow, am I glad I handed that job over!!!
I had a go, Erik had a go, another volunteer had a go and Imre tried too!..But it was too fiddly for us all and we made far too much mess on the rubber seals, which are so vital in winter over here..

The size of the fruit in the shops is enormous! Check out this yellow clingstone peach and massive nectarine along side one of my peaches, a crab apple and plums!

He has completed 3 windows, inside and out, which really is 5 sep window fittings and he is very good. He cleaned up all the mess we made on the rubber seals(oops), cleaned down everything and taped then painted.

It looks so nice, even the back fence neighbour commented how nice it looks now.

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Honeymoon Cottage Update... 
Zoltan and 2 other guys came through the week and finally poured the cement beams around the entire building up top of the brickwork in order to support the roof rafters and mez floor.

I'm going to get Imre and Dirk to complete the build on it now, as they are here when I need them and can get the job done before winter sets in. So, as soon as Imre completes painting the exterior of  the house and Dirk completes the windows, it will be all systems go.
We need a roof on the cottage and the floor cemented, underpinning of the original walls done and pipes laid for loo and water .

Zoltan and his guys can only work for me when they don't have work on their real jobs, so as it has to be completed to roof on by end Oct, I have to move fast now.

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This is how you pour concrete in Hungary when you are 8-10 feet up in the air!

A nice cool start to the big day. They'll pour the concrete all around the top form work of the walls. One guy mixes the cement, one wheels it in, and fills a bucket then passes it up to Zoltan on the scaffolding...

These are the foot long, J anchor bolts being placed in the concrete beam above...

Half way around the top of the walls for the concrete beam,

Measuring the distance between anchor bolts, being embedded in the newly poured concrete

Leveling out the cement and placing another anchoring J bolt in it...

No, it isn't a hurricane pic from Florida! From the tool shed, looking to the Honeymoon cottage side wall. Zoltan has his head in the bathroom window!

This is how you fix big bulges in the mud brick and cement covered pillars!

The house rendering is getting close to completion now and ready to paint next week!

On the last two strips of gauze and goop. An overcast day, good for this work.

Looking back at the place as I go into town, walking 200 mtrs to the bus stop...Imre has completed it all, except for the wooden trims on the front & a small repair to the ceiling on the verandah. A nice day of drizzley sprinlkes...thank the Lord!

On the way to the bus stop...I like this idea of flowers around the base of the weeping mulberries...

The completed little water feature is a Memorial for the 1956 Hungarian Revolution...up near the local bus stop.

Ever blooming marigolds...but mine didn't grow at all this year!

Part of the walkway to the local bus stop...200 mtrs from my place...

A lovely walk to the bus stop...

They sell home brew gear in all the stores!

Now, this is a very resourceful substitute for scaffolds to paint the exterior on...They had taken the walking planks off when I arrived back...but what an easy fix!

The big city clock in Tiszafured, was bonging away... for 5pm prayers I guess!

I keep forgetting to collect the zucchini and they grow to monstrous sizes...like in 3 days!

Peaches keep falling on my path...in amongst roses, morning glory and rogue tomato plants.All grew themselves, from last year's plantings.

Now to sort these peaches out...

An entire hedge of rose hips...

Very colourful rose hips. Will learn what to do with them next year!

OK...time to get this form work off and get things moving...This will be the inside back wall of the dining area!

Imre couldn't complete the trims to the front of the house as the other guys used every stick of timber we had set aside for it, they used it for the form work on the top here...

Houston...we have a problem with the amazing window I found over at the neighbour's place, which fitted perfectly in the old cellar room door way hole. One piece of the double glazed window pane is broken. Just clean it up and stick another piece of glass on the outside ...so I thought!!! Not so Mary... you have to take the other piece out too and make a new airtight compartment out of 2 pieces of glass, special pieces of metal, rubber sealer stuff , silicone and a ton off skill!

Preparing the two pieces of glass and materials needed....

Setting the 2 pieces of glass into the edging stuff they use...to make an airtight glass box, so to speak.

So this is how they do it...they use a special piece of metal and rubber that separates the two pieces of pristine clean glass...

...and presto...a new double glazed window pane ready to do its job!

Peaches, just popped in hot water so the skins come off easily and the stones pop out too! Now to work out if I'll stew them or jam them or what to do...still heaps more yet to do...

You can still see the swelling on my shin bone, but it is getting better fast now...

Tried to take a selfie where I'm not wearing a wall plate as a hat! hahaha...It took 3 tries...

 The peaches are getting ripe and I don't know what to do with them all! They are falling everywhere. Every few hours I go out and collect containers full of peaches, so many, so much abundance.

I honestly don't have room in my mind to learn how to preserve them this year, so as my freezer is full...I'll stew some, make some real jam and let mother mature take back the rest, as everyone here has the same abundance of fruit this year. Half the peaches have some grey powder like stuff on them, so I'll toss them and just use the rest.

Will chop out that tree to as it it very old and past its use by date, as are the plum and apple trees, so will get all new trees next month and plant in more suitable places, before giving the chop to any existing fruit trees.

Imre odd jobbing it this week...repairing the original wood shed door so it closes properly, fixing the hinges, then he'll fix up around the architraves and tidy up the look a tad, then Dirk will paint the repaired areas around the door. Not sure if I'll paint the door or leave it natural. We'll put a lock on the door too, as wood is a scarce commodity in winter here and I aim to keep mine for heating my own house!

He's doing another batch of odd jobs this week before painting the house next week. Repaired the cellar area double glazed window pane, the tool-shed door, fixed the mower...again, plus the handle this time too. Took down the timber form work from the cottage, yanked out over 200 nails, so he can use the timber for the decorative panels on the front, sanded the cellar door. I want to use it as an "authentic shutter!"

Plus he's repairing the verandah ceiling and generally fixing lots of tiddly bits of stuff so the painter can paint it. He's also making some nice fly screens for the 3 front room windows and a gauze fly door...that will be something to behold!

Plus a bunch of other jobs today, and tomorrow he'll help the other guy bring over the beds from the tool shed...THEN I can finally tidy up the tool shed!

My leg is slowly getting better and the injury scab is now only the size of a 10 cent coin. It's looking good actually. I applied nothing to it, except to dab a used green tea bag occasionally and some massage around the edges at times. It still has a massive lump on the shin bone, but that will go over time, so all is good indeed.

Hahaha...it never ends...I just noticed the chimney needs repairing too. Last year a brick blew off, as you can notice, and it broke a few roof tiles. I keep forgetting to get Imre to fix that too!

You may wonder why I go into so much detail on some things. The reason is to show you that it is not that difficult if you have been thinking about a move to a foreign speaking country and get stuff done.
I also like to let my family know that all is fine and I am able to live well over here, go where needed and let everyone see, that even though it may seem a poor country, it is indeed very rich in all that is necessary to have more than a wonderful life experience.

So, if you think you'd love to live overseas for a year or two, I'll show you how.
Come stay with me a few weeks and we'll go find you a place to base yourself out of.

My friend has a huge double story place...5 bedrooms 2 or 3? bathrooms and the rent on that is $200 a MONTH!!! $50 a week, Aussies!
So, come over, stay here a while, get your bearings and go rent a place for a year or so and experience the joyous wonders of the greatest place on all of earth...Europe and all its historical splendor, architecture and stunning beauty.

Well that's about it for this week,
Cheers and love to all,
M
xxxxx