August & September 2014 - Rain, rain Go Away!!!

AUGUST 2014

Another record seems to have been broken here in Hungary - the wettest August in a 100 years! 

It seems that the climate has indeed changed! If you remember, we arrived to the coldest winter, last year, then the hottest and driest summer last year, then the mildest winter during 2013/2014 and now the wettest August came around just when we didn't need it. The rain came in such violent outbursts that our huge culverts outside in the street could not take the volume of water rushing down the hill, these overflowed into the street making it one huge brown river!

Not to say that it rained every day in August though, I did spend two occasions with my buddies at the Marcali Thermal baths having a nice day out, sunning ourselves and having girlie talk.

Carol, Sue, Von & I.

The local baths are really amazing,there are a number of pools of varying depths and temperatures, the one we frequented which was as far away from the kids pools as we could get, is a hot and fairly shallow pool, with seating areas inside, lots of bubbles and sprays that pummel various parts of the body, and have some added minerals in the water that makes your skin feel amazingly soft and satiny. 

Two really great days out!

Steve and I also made two batches of sausages, pork bangers, and also South African borewors, in preparation for my guests!

August was mainly getting the house ready for my dearest beloved parents, who arrived on Saturday 30th August.

Steve got up early to collect them from Budapest airport, they were due in at 8.30a.m so an early start for him, 

When they had not come through by 9.30a.m. he began to worry, and called me at home. They had missed their connection in Frankfurt and had been put onto a later flight, so only arrived in Hungary at 2pm, but better late then never!!!!

SEPTEMBER 2014

Unfortunately the rain did not go away, and the first two weeks of my parents visit, we were basically house bound except for short dry spells, luckily the folks are not into suntanning, long walks, or any strenuous outdoor activities.

Our Street becomes a raging river!

We went out for a few meals, and saw the lake when the weather abated briefly.

Dear Mum & Dad at Lake Balaton.

 We had some people around for coffee and cake, but not much was done during the damn rain, which was at times torrential, on one day we 76mm (3 inches) in around 6 hours, so we all did a lot of reading, and computer games, and tutorials.

On Monday the 15th September after looking at the weather reports we decided to take a trip to Croatia, Nandi our Hungarian friend, moved into our house to look after the pooch and chickens, and the four of us packed up and headed South.

As it was basically end of tourist season, we managed to secure a gorgeous two bedroomed self-contained flat for Euro 50 per night. This was fully equipped with a balcony and absolutely stunning views of the ocean.

Stunning view from our flat in Croatia.

The weather was glorious (finally!) and the four of us spent three wonderful nights taking in the sights of Croatia and eating and drinking too much.

Croatian Sunset.

On Friday 19th September my brother Dave and His wife Margaret arrived, and it was all go! 

The Balaton Britons Summer Dance that I had been organisng for the last 3 months was on Saturday 20th September, with the help of my family we arranged the hall, made the snacks, and had a fabulous night drinking too much (again!) and dancing so that we were stiff and not able to do much  the next day.

I launched a website for this group, if you are interested have a look at:-

http://www.balatonbritons.hu/

The folks and Dave and Margaret went off to Austria for two nights,  during which time Steve and Papa worked on the damn garage, this is the progress so far.

On their return, we took them to the woods where the Germans had dug the trenches during WW2 to face the Russians, with our intrepid guide Nandi.

An interesting and sombre day.

The relatives visit ended all too soon.... 

It was just dreadful for me to have to say goodbye and I cried all day!!!

Now, its all about gearing up for winter.. what kind of winter we will have is anyones guess, luckily we have a barn full of wood, two log burners and each other, along with Roly, who is still going strong.