June & July 2014 - So Busy....

So the saga of the bathroom came to an end at the beginning of June and I was able to have a bath and/or shower, Steve did a very professional and 5 star job despite all the hurdles he faced, and he is justifiably proud of his achievement, considering that he is not a professional bathroom fitter.

Steve is very keen to begin building a garage for the Sexy Beast, as she is brand new and the baking hot sun is not doing her any good! However, we now face the prospect of getting planning permission, although he would have been happy to just build it, considering he is an engineer, and knows these complicated things like snow loading; angles etc. however, it seems Nandi spoke to his Mum who said permission to build it might be needed. The long and short of it is, that an architect now needs to get involved, that's the problem when you get bloody governments involved, so the building has come to a halt!

So Steve's baby has a snug home, albeit a temporary structure until we can sort out the damn beaurocracy!

This is our second month of running the ex-pat club Balatonbrits, I arranged for a picnic at the Lake on the 26th June, and was very pleased that 28 people made the effort, it was a glorious day (they all are!) and a really nice bunch of people had an enjoyable afternoon in the sun.

28 people arrived for a lovely afternoon by the Lake! Success! Gorgeous day, and a really nice bunch.

We decided to take a day off and take our sweet boy for a days fishing. No fish on the hook, but a great BBQ couple of ciders, glorious sunshine and two happy chappies.

We "finally" got delivery of a huge truckload of wood,  so we were not short of things to do.

Our central heating arrived!

There is a hidden third row behind these two!

Each log had to be chain sawed into 3 chunks, and then each chunk had to be moved into the wood store and cleaved into usable logs for our wood burners. What a job! In sometimes 32 degree heat, Steve and our sweet and very hard working helper Papa Lotsci laboured for 3 weeks to clear this pile up! Steve said he was close to firing him for working too hard!

He may look skinny but he works non-stop!

Getting to the end of the pile now.

Six rows deep, two metres high, and five metres long an estimated 20 cubic metres, (we have discovered that measuring wood is a black art!) we figure we have enough wood now for at least two or three winters, depending on their severity. At least we won't have to do this again next year.

The same old fella comes bearing gifts almost everyday, despite the fact that they really do have very little, they work the land extremely well, here is a sample of a daily gift.

And finally!
Our very sexy new addition to the family!

WE ARE VERY PROUD TO PRESENT

RUSTY THE ROOSTER!

He is apparantly still a young lad (7 months old) and is still unsure of the 5 hens around him, but he is a very big boy and I am sure he will be very happy in time. - Welcome Rus......

LEAK WEEK!

Work continues unabated on the bathroom..... 

Every conceivable problem you could dream up has happenned. 

Firstly new water pipes had to be laid from the start, a nifty little machine was bought in which dug a neat trench one metre deep, Steve walked down to the bank to draw money to pay for this machine (GBP70), and on doing so noticed that the fat wad of cash he had just drawn out of the bank was gone!

It was almost certainly Tibor our Gipsy helper who we learnt later stole around 150,000huf around GBP400.00, he had the means, motive and opportunity! He was fired at the end of the day and looked guilty as hell and has not been back! So much for giving people a chance.... 

Pipes were then laid for water and drainage. The plasterer took four days and did a very crap job of leveling the walls!

 Steve spent nearly two days throwing concrete onto the floor and then meticulously laying the floor tiles, he switched the water on for a pressure test, and guess what, water started (we thought) bubbling up from the floor.

I wanted to weep for him, he is working so damn hard and trying against all odds to make this bathroom better than hotel quality. The next day, he found the leak in a wall pipe thank God, which wasn't as dramatic as we thought, "someone" had put a chisel through one of the water pipes! 

This set us back two days, chiselling up a couple of floor and wall tiles, finding and fixing the damn pipe and having another go at moving on!

The walls were not level, so almost every single wall tile, Steve was having to scrape away tonnes of concrete, that we had just paid to have put on the walls, so that he could lay the wall tiles flat and straight, so the tiling took a week, when it should have been only a couple of days.

Then the taps and toilet all began to leak! Not all at once you understand, one at a time, just like water torture treatment.

Fittings, washers, "O" rings, connectors, bends, seals, taps, clips and all other plumbing terms are now forbidden in our house, as is the word plumbing, it has been the absolute bane of Steve's life this last week trying to solve the leaks, driving to the very helpful plumbing shop about 6kms away, sometimes five times in the morning.

But finally the wall tiles were in! The toilet was in! Then came the washing machine, in! And finally the bath.... this posed its own set of problems, leaks from the boiler, leaks from the taps, leaks, leaks, drips, drips urgh!!!!

On the plus side, my plaster cast came off on the 27th May! The leg was horrible and scaly, it was whiffy, my ankle stiff and weak, but my mobility is getting there....

They were fabulous at Marcali hospital.

Also of note was a wonderful evening we spent with good friends! Ian, Jayne, Carol and Jo were over from the UK, and ten of us including our local friends Yvonne & Rich and Carol & Alan had a great night at Gyula Csarda.

It was a wonderful evening with lovely people!

Last but by no means least!

Steve finally managed to move the money from the UK bank (3 weeks) and pay for his baby! We have called her "The Sexy Beast!"

Have a look at the license plate! (Mr Stephen Bailey? Mrs Sharon Bailey? Or My Sexy Beast?)

So May has been a month of ups and downs, but mostly ups, what with a new bathroom going in, a new car and a new (fixed) ankle, life ain't  'alf bad!

May! Patio done and bathroom chaos!

The heading says it all! The final brick was laid on the patio, it is not 100% completed as we would still like to scrub the bricks and coat it with a patio sealer, however, finding the right sealer seems to be a problem in Hungary, also we need the bricks to dry, and for that we need dry weather and some sunshine, speaking of the weather it has started warming up, in the early 20's, but we have had lots of well needed rain, so although the bricks are in, the final touch up will have to wait!

My ankle saga continues and it has been in a fibre glass cast for 3 weeks, with another two very frustrating weeks to go!

However, Steve on the other hand has been working as never before! We have serious bathroom chaos!

Day One! 

Day two, new water pipes laid from outside.

By day two, all the tiles had been removed, the floor ripped up and a new water pipe laid from the main water source and into the bathroom.

Day Four! Water and drainage pipes laid, its a shell!

Luckily the guys felt a little sorry for "Peg leg" and left me a semi working toilet, otherwise it was hobbling down to our outside "long drop".

Day 6, and walls have first coat of plaster on them!

So, thats about where we are, electrics and plumbing are in and the walls have their first layer of plaster. As two of the walls were not brick Csaba (plasterer) had to nail chicken mesh to them, so that it all did not leap away from the walls on the first door slam!
Steve estimates that we should have a working bathroom by this Friday, so another five days, everything is ready and waiting in lounge.

Ready to go in!

So, the house is in chaos, there is dust and dirt everywhere, we are making a complete nuisance of ourselves at friends begging showers, but it will be awesome once its done!

The dreaded "Long Drop"

In three or four days time, is either the long drop or a bucket, eeek! Luckily I am a girl from Africa....

My chickens are very happy and settled in. The rooster, Cocky is a fine fellow....

Cocky the Rooster.

He marshalls the five hens, guards them, finds food for them and they all follow him around like feathery puppies.

Happy, very free range chickens.

All the hens lay eggs in the same nest, this one is sitting on two other eggs and laying a third.

So in closing, its chaos here at Hungarian Haven, but the end is in sight! My paster will be off in 2 weeks and we will have an unbelievable bathroom!

April 2014

I have just read the March post, and sheesh we did get a lot done.

As I write this its the 17th April so we are only half way, but I have quite a bit to put on and lots of piccies.

I am writing this from a wheelchair!

When I got back from SA Steve and I went to the local pub, and I (very stupidly! Hindsight is a wonderful thing!) celebrated a local chaps "Name Day" by drinking too many of the local Hungarian spirit called Palinka with him. I do not recall falling over, but the next morning I was very battered and bruised, and minus my mobile phone. My left ankle was bruised and swollen, and blue. The assumption was a sprain and tearing of tendons and/or ligaments, but five weeks later when the swelling had still not gone down and it began to click, it was time for professional help.

To cut a long and boring story short, I fractured the ankle bone, and the very efficient Doctor at our local hospital has put my leg in a half cast for a week, with strict instructions to keep off the foot in order for the swelling to go down, and then its a full cast for four weeks.

Half cast.

Its really frustrating not to be able to do anything, but hey ho I have learnt my lesson! Bones are getting older, and its no more Palinka for me!

Onto lighter things!

Namely the new additions to the family, our Sussex chickens! We were given two hens and a magnificent cock by our local friend Istvan, in payment for helping him with his English course homework. But after a couple of days we realised that the area we had for them was too big, and they were a little too lonely, so we begged him to sell us a couple more, a week later he delivered (unceremoniously in a sack!) three more scrawny hens of the same type. We have had these now for a week, and already they are flourishing, since they came from a flock of around thirty, and probably had to fight for every morsel of food, this is heaven for them.

They are producing 3-4 eggs per day and considering that the 56kg sack of corn we bought for them, and a 15kg bag of minerals and vitamins came to around 12 quid, we will probably land up getting our money back on the eggs.

Our first 2 eggs! Check out the colour and yolk size!

Lots of grass, fresh water and space!

They are such a pleasure to have! They have their own personalities and are getting quite tame now, and the rooster Cocky is quite a character!

The other big news of April is that we "Finally" had our roof done! It was a cheap quick fix, but it has now sealed the roof, made it rain/snow and wind proof and that was the main thing really. It was done in four days.

Pressure washing the old roof!

Last strips!

This has of course held up everything else, so as you can see, the patio is yet to be completed and the gates are half painted, it was just pointless doing anything with these guys making a huge mess, but its done, yay!

We have also done a bit of socializing in April, Yvonne and Rich who live a couple of villages away are a great couple we met recently, and also Ian and Jayne. Ian's Dad lived in Hungary and recently past away, so he was selling up all his Dad's goods and had a drink in celebration of his Dad Toms life. Here is a group pic of that afternoon, I was (force?) fed 70% vodka it was a great day.

Great people, great day, great weather!

One of the highlights was that we bought Tom's BBQ. Steve is utterly delighted with his purchase and was determined to try it out, undeterred by the rain!

In closing, I report that the spring rains have arrived, but we have sown the new grass, some corn and sunflower seeds so we can sit back and watch them all grow, for myself, its a relief that its raining I don't have to feel too guilty watching Steve work whilst I sit with my foot up letting it heal.

We know summers around the corner and we look forward to it!

March 2014 and Spring has Sprung!

Its been quite a year!

My Dad got rather ill, and Steve decided it was time for me to go and see him so I spent a lovely sunny month in Johannesburg from Feb to beginning of March. The folks and I had a delightful month together, playing golf, swimming, sunning myself, and catching up with family.

Blesbok on my folks lawn.

Party time with Dave Roberts and Sheila Roberts.

March and spring is deffinately in the air with temperatures reaching the early twenties! I mowed the lawn for the first time this year, and Steve has been busy outside almost every day, he has found himself a helper in the form of a Romanian chap Tibor, who works hard for rather small money, and its all go.

They have been clearing out the chicken coop, (below) erecting fencing for said chickens who should be arriving at the beginning of April.

The bottom section of our land has also had fencing put up, so finally both sets of neighbours can stop lusting after our property!

The sweet little house for our chickens.

The guys have also been busy stripping the gates of four layers of paint, repairing it and have begun painting it a warm gold colour. (See photos below)

A lot of effort.

March! And boy have we marched on! Rotavated the vegetable patch and the last area where we want grass, and managed to sow both grass, corn and sunflowers before the rains came.

Vegetable patch.

First mowing of the year.

We have also had the side of the barn cleaned, stripped of old paint and re-plastered.

Barn before.....

Stripped.....

After....

So all in all March 2014 has been extremely productive thanks in no small measure, to the glorious weather this country has, and to Steve's endless intellect, boundless energy and utter devotion in making this our dream home.

Roll on summer................

First Posting Of 2014!

We are incredibly lucky to report that the weather has been exceedingly mild. We saw -4 in early December and that has been the coldest so far this winter. One light flurry of snow that did not stick and thats it!

I suppose I should mention that we had a quiet uneventful Christmas, and actually I completed my first sewing project a large pillow case for the duck down pillows we inherited with the property. I completed this on Christmas day. Since I am totally useless at sewing I am quite proud of my achievement!

Istvan (Hungarian for Stephen) whom I am helping to learn English came bearing gifts.

Homemade biscuits, a candle, wine, Palinka and a crocheted and starched angel. The boxed gift was from our local English friends Pam and Glyn and contained, wine, chocolate and a toy for Mr Roly who was over the moon at 3am!

We missed our families and friends and were really glad when the day was over!

On New Years eve, we were rather excited to look forward to ringing in a few New Years, as we are still operating 2 hours ahead of local time (Bailey Meantime - BMT) and England is 3 hours difference, we figured we could toast BMT new year, then Hungarian New Year and finally the English New Year! We also decided we would support our local eatery Hunters Rest run by Cottie, so we ate a simple breakfast of cornflakes with fresh walnuts and left it at that. We walked down at a 6pm, a few vodka's already under our belts, only to find that Cottie was holding a private party! A recipe for disaster! We then got very very drunk and do not remember a single midnight!!!!  An excellent night by all accounts.............

On Saturday the 4th of Jauary Nandi, a good friend who speaks awesome English, took us to a nature conservation area. He, grew up knowing this place and gave us a full history on it, (which I am sorry to say I don't remember!)
However, he did point out some rather amazing things, like............

These are pictures of the remains of  trenches which were dug by the German soldiers in WW2 to make a stand against the Russian army. The woods are littered with these in this area, along with bomb craters.

Obviously they would have been deeper, but I stood in one of these trenches and looked around me, it must have been just horrible. According to Nandi the Germans were starved and freezing to death as it was towards the end of the war. He says he found a German helmet with a bullet hole through it, which belonged to a 17 year old boy in one of these trenches, and his corpse was dug up along with the remains of 20 other German soldiers.
War is unspeakably horrendous.....

Nandi - Our  savvy guide!

We tramped around the woods for a couple of miles, until Roly and I could go no further! Here are some pic's Steve took.




It was another lovely mild day considering we are well into winter.

The Love Shack!

This little cottage is aptly named the Love Shack and we aim to rent it for a night or two when it gets warmer.
On our way home Nandi stopped to show us this incredible thing...........

Woolly Pigs!

A rare breed of piggy that produces some of the finest ham!
A brilliant day, thanks to Nandi!

In closing, I wish everyone reading this a very prosperous 2014! Come on summer...................