Spending time

The last few weeks of term are always mad, but this year seems to just be non stop. When I haven't been wandering around Hungary on different school trips, I have been collapsing in my apartment and trying to catch up on sleep. In between the days away I have been watching season 1 of the Mentalist and getting excited about the Isle of Skye by watching Coast. The rest of the time is a vicious circle of laundry, and nipping to the shop for milk so that I can have a cup of tea.

Today, gloriously, I find that for the first time in 4 weeks I have a day when I didn't need to do anything, so I didn't. Tomorrow is the city horse race on Heroes Square and the much smaller event of Judafest in my own district, and yes, that really is what it is called. I am enjoying the city at the moment, even today with the thunder and grey rain can be special when you are able to stay inside and watch. Finally, the smell of camp fires, unwashed clothes, and damp socks has gone to be replaced by a wave of fabric softener and the promise of the summer holidays in just three short weeks.

Fields of Gold

I had an amazing, exhausting time in the Northern Uplands. Going on a trip with a load of kids is not the most relaxing past time, but it does afford me the opportunity to visit parts of Hungary that I would never have been able to see otherwise. On this visit, I went onto the Blue Roof, the highest point of Hungary and into the Bukk and Matra Hills. It really is the most beautiful part of the country that I have seen.

The last two weeks have been very busy indeed, but it is making the time go fast and I am now looking at only 3 weeks left of school after tomorrows trip to Visegrad for a couple of days is done. I am nearly at the end of my second year in Budapest and will definitely be back for a third. Dreaming of the summer holidays and the Isle of Skye, Paris and the Yorkshire Dales. It will be here soon enough, so much to get through before it does.

The Northern Uplands photos

Lomtalanítás

It was throw-out weekend again yesterday and today and I really enjoyed watching the vans and carts loading up the stuff that some-one else had chucked away. One guy that I saw had bagged the most amazing art deco dining table and chairs that I wondered how anyone who has ever watched the antiques roadshow could possibly not know that it would have been worth a fortune. For myself, I saw a chair that matched the one that I hoiked upstairs after the last throw-out, but this one was too far away from my apartment for me to manage.

Life goes on in Budapest and I spent most of the day wandering back and forth between the WAMP and the shiny new Costa Coffee that has opened on the corner of Andrassy by Deak Ter. It made me highly excited, I have a love of multinational coffee chains that I am aware is not very fashionable at the moment, but I don't care. They make me feel like I am home, and when you live abroad sometimes you just need that.

This is the North, where we do what we want.

I read a review a few weeks ago about a TV adaption of David Peaces 'Red Riding' quadrilogy of books. Set in Yorkshire from 1973 until 1984, they focus on the corruption and lawlessness of the region during the time of the Yorkshire Ripper. Being a dyed in the wool Yorkshire girl, I felt drawn to the series, no matter what they were about, as they were set in my homeland. Even though I spent my formative years in North Yorkshire, I was born in Bradford and this is where all my family orginates.

What followed was four and a half hours of the most gripping, darkest and brilliant film making I have seen in a long time. Homesick for the Yorkshire accents, each character, flawed as they were, meant that I could not tear my eyes away. After watching the first film, 1973, I clicked straight online and bought all 4 books, which arrived today. The whole thing made me proud, ashamed and nostalgic all at the same time. If you can get hold of a copy, watch them. Seriously.

Summer Lovin'

This summer, I have the lovely long holiday that comes with working in a school. This week saw only four days at work, a renewed contract for one more year in Budapest and a tooth extracted at the Dentist. Don't let anyone tell you that my life is not full and fascinating. The next thing to think about is the summer holiday. So far, I have a few days in Istanbul, a couple of weeks at home in Yorkshire and a week on the Isle of Skye.

Yesterday morning I did something that I have been thinking about for a while and booked flights to Paris for a few days in July. It has been 3 years, 10 months almost to the day since I was in the city, and that was the day that I left after living there for only a year. Paris has haunted me ever since, and even I am nervous about returning. So amazing was the city to live in, I wonder if I will be able to tear myself away when I go back. I left originally as I spent the whole year panicking about money and the cost of living there, it doesn't mean that I didn't adore every corner I went into. Hopefully, going back won't be too emotional.

Worse still, I am meeting D and L, so it may even be like I never left. I want to stay near my Jardin du Lxembourg, so I can imagine that everything is like it was. Should be an interesting summer at any rate, Paris and a few weeks in Budapest. I know that I like the Hungarian captial a whole lot better when I actually have the chance to explore it during the holidays. There are still 7 more weeks of school madness to go, including trips to Eger and Visegrad. Should fly by though, this time of year always does.