Monday July28 Day 13:

The morning was cloudy and it had rained a little during the night. It was coolish but warmed up to the mid 20's by noon.

Breakfast was the usual large one but with a new bread spread called “padizsankrem zoldsegkrem”; it is a plant cream and tastes very good on toast or bread. Palinka came after. Tamas is feeling better, so he says and he is off to work without a breakfast, Gyongyi tells me he will be back before I leave.

I pack my bags and the big one seems like a ton.

Tamas is back and has a small gift and a heavy one from Laci... a large bottle of his honey. The other gift turns out to be my swimming trunks. I knew they would turn up. We took some farewell photos before leaving Garabonc.

Ebed or lunch is a nice tyuk soup with noodles and carrots and burgers which are made from pork instead of beef. There is also fried potatoes. I am served a large beer and it eventually gets drunk.

We go to the bus stop which turns out to be different from where I got let off. However, it is correct. Tamas wanted it confirmed and telephoned the company earlier. However, the bus stops at the same stop where I was let off. I guess people want to get a better seat by getting on earlier.

The bus is about 10 minutes late and by the time it leaves Zalakaros, it is 20 minutes late. I had a reserved seat and it was marked reserved so I took it. The young man beside me left at the first stop past Zalakaros he was replaced by a young lady with a laptop. I began to type notes and continued until the rest stop. The driver said “ot perc” - 5 minutes, so everyone scrambled for the rest rooms.

When I got back on the bus, I asked the young lady beside me if she spoke English... she did. So it worked out that I had someone to talk with for the rest of the trip...about an hour. She worded as an HR manager (Human Resource) for a Swedish hardware company in Budapest. I believe her name was Kira (unusual). She got off at a stop before the terminal.

I telephoned Gyorgyi and Jancsi just before I got to the terminal. They were already there waiting. The usual warm greetings followed by a quick trip to the car. On the way to their house all hell broke out.. rain. It was over before we got to their place.

Over a couple of drinks we had a small supper which got bigger with time. We started off with cold cuts, cheese, olives, some canned oysters and progressed to the lecso and rice. Part way through, I knocked my wine glass off the table. However, with my quick reflexes I was able to catch the wine glass. The wine was all over the floor and some on my leg... not harm done.

We go for a “short” walk which seems very long. Gyorgyi's ankle must be up to it.

We watched a little TV which turned out to be an hour of the Canadian series “wind at my Back” circa 1997. They have been following the series with interest. The end credits name Bowmanville as the place it was filmed. I told them that it was near Oshawa. This was never a series I watch and it is interesting to see that Hungarians find it very interesting. It is set in the 1920's or 30's in Canada. The characters words have been translated into Hungarian.

Off to bed. Interestingly, it is very dark by 9:20; darkness seems to fall quickly.