Thursday, November 13, 2008

Wow, can't believe it's so long since I last posted.
So much has gone gone on since the beginning of August.....Whilst Erika was away on her training course one of her cats (the oldest) went missing. It was a horrendous time but she returned after 6 days, looking fit and well so we can only presume she went looking for Erika.
Karl, my youngest son came out to visit us for about 10 days which was great.
Erika started her new job teaching small children which was very traumatic, tiring and time consuming for the first few weeks but now she really enjoys it.
I started teaching , but just 1 lesson a week :o(
My mother and her boyfriend came out to see us for a week in September, again great as we celebrated her 60th birthday!!
We've had so many more problems with our car...overheating, anti roll bar bushes, now the front shock absorbers have gone. It's been a nightmare and very expensive. We should have returned to England by now to visit family and friends but can't until the car's sorted.
We bought some outdoor furniture from the local bar that's being refurbished and set into our garden and I installed lots of outdoor lighting which has transformed the garden here.
We've done a little work on our house in Sirok so we can move in any time but really want to get the living room floor tiled before we do so. The temperature's been great up until a few days ago when it dropped noticeably. We're still around 8-10*c but it's due to drop to well below 0*c in the next couple of weeks so we'll have to move to Sirok regardless of whether the floor's tiled or not soon.
I've started teaching in a kindergarten this week and start teaching adults tomorrow so things are moving on and picking up.
Hopefully my next post will be from Sirok.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Last week I managed to electrocute myself on our outside fridge....amusing to look back back on but I screamed like a girl at the time lol.
I dropped Erika off in Budapest on Sunday teatime, managing to get stuck in F1 traffic in the process. She likes the hotel but hates the course as it's so disorganised and everyone on it is getting very little sleep due to the amount of preparation work needed for the following days.
I got stuck on the mountain yesterday when the battery went flat on our car. after several hours and several miles walking I managed to find some young Hungarians who helped me out and ran me to the nearest Tesco to buy a new battery and saved the day. so a BIG thankyou goes out to them.
I got up early this morning to see Erika on her course in Budapest but was denied access due to confidentiallity reasons (?!) so ended up coming back home this afternoon and doing some more tiling on the terrace in Almar. Not been to Sirok yet but should hopefully get there tomorrow.
Left a note under the wipers of an English registered car in OBI car park a couple of days ago and received a call from a couple from Preston who've bought a house a few miles from us so should be meeting them on Monday before we go to pick Karl up from Budapest airport.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Well we're now into August, Erika's getting very nervous as she has to attend a training course in Budapest for 5 days from Monday so we've tried to have a couple of relaxing days.
I've built another wardrobe in our bedroom and started building some storage. The weather's been ridiculously hot over the last few days but we're getting ther (slowly). The electrician's finished at our house in Sirok so while Erika's away I'll try and crack on with tiling and finishing the walls etc.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Well it's been a while since I last wrote anything but so much has gone on.
We're finally here in Hungary :o)
I sold my Lada Niva and bought a Ducati 900ss to take to Hungary.
We moved out of our house in Rossendale on May 30th, put the cats into a cattery and ourselves at my Mother's and Erika's mother's. Things dragged on a little longer than we expected due to getting totally ripped off with a people carrier that we bought... a £2,000 repair bill later and we were ready to go on May 30th. Thankyou to all those who helped in any way they could. It's been really hard to leave everyone behind and we're missing people very much.
We set off at 4.15am and headed for the 12 o'clock sailing from Dover to Dunkerque. Just before we boarded the ferry a warning light came on but I ignored it and it bother us again until we reached Brussels and the most horrendous traffic jam when the light re-appeared. To cut a long story short, we spent 2 hours on the hard shoulder waiting for everything to cool down and find out what the warning light was. It turned out to probably be the oil thinning due to excessive strain on the engine.
Instead of reaching Wurzburg for an overnight stay on the 1st night we only made it as far as a motel near Aachen. This was the 1st taste of freedom for the cats who'd been stuck in a large cage in the back of the car for over 20 hours.
The next morning I checked the oil level and realised that I'd slightly overfilled it the day before so we drove a few miles up the motorway then pulled in at a service stop. My intention was to slacken the drain bolt in the sump and let a small amount of oil out. Unfortunately the oil wouldn't drip out and before I knew what was happenining the bolt had come out completely and my hand was being covered in extremely hot oil so I had to watch 5 litres of oil pour all over the floor. After asking a few people for help with no success, I came across a friendly German who didn't speak English but understood that I needed to get some oil and he drove me to the next town then returned me to the layby. I filled the sump and we were off once again.
Later that day I contacted my insurance company to confirm some details with them only to find that they'd cancelled my insurance earlier that day due to a minor technicality. They said there was nothing they could do but I could re-instate it via the internet!!! Great when you're in a lay-by in Germany. Anyway I phoned the AA and sorted insurance out with them (I'm dreading my mobile phone bill).
We stopped that night at a motel near Linz in Austria having travelled the length of Germany and part of Austria that day. The next day there were no problems and we reached Erika's cousin's house in Maklar near Eger at around 4pm. We left the trailer there and headed home to our little house in Almar.
The following day we collected the trailer and drove it to Sirok to unload it. I managed to bend the towbar on the car as I reversed the trailer and it got stuck! Then rode the bike back to Maklar where it's stayed so far.
Since arriving we've arranged a plumber to finish off the work that Joe and I started last August so we now have flushing toilets and running water. We've also got an electrician to re-wire part of the house to suit our needs and he should be finished in the next couple of days. Joe, Anne and family have been over for a week and it was great to see them and drive around looking for a house for them. We've been introduced to the owner of a school teaching English to children and Erika starts her training in August ready to start work in September. Hopefully I'll also be able to get some work there.
The Hungarian Bike Week started In Sirok yesterday and w ewere due to go down today and pitch our tent but the weather's turned cold and very wet so we may not go, which is a shame as we were looking forward to it. Hopefully it'll pick up by the weekend as up to now we've had some ridiculously hot days.
Anyway that's enough for now. I'll try not to leave it so long next time.

Saturday, May 17, 2008





Things have really moved on for us this year since returning from Hungary.



We finished decorating our house and put it on the market. We had a buyer for it in 3 weeks and are now looking at moving out by the end of May. We'll live with family for a couple of weeks before moving to Hungary in the middle of June.



I handed my notice in at work and finished at the end of April without returning. Erika is also off work sick and is unlikely to return before we move although she's applied for a career break which leaves her options open.



We got married on April 26th and barring a few minor incidents the day went really well. Erika had put in so much hard work prior to the event and it really paid off, she looked stunning. We then went away for a few days, spending 4 days in the Lake District in a small cottage in a quiet valley on the edge of the Grizedale forest, followed by 2 days in Leicester with Joe and family.


We now need to get cracking, sorting out our finances, packing, giving and selling our belongings and generally getting ready to move as I'm sure the next 4 weeks will fly by.






Tuesday, January 15, 2008





With us planning on moving to Hungary later this year we decided to drive over at the end of December 2007 and spend New Year tucked away in our little house in Almar. By driving we could take a trailer and transport many of the items that were already boxed up therefore leaving less to take when we move for good.

Getting ready for the trip was a nightmare with having to make a solid lid for my trailer, then I couldn't get hold of a spare wheel for it or any European breakdown cover for the trip. I also ended up without any van insurance for the whole trip but didn't realise this until I returned home!!

We set off for Dover on December 27th and sailed to Dunkerque at 12 lunchtime. The journey was straightforeward and we stopped in a layby off the motorway at 11.30pm somewhere beyond Frankfurt, having covered around 750 miles. Our intention was to sleep in the back of the van to save money. We overslept and awoke at around 8.15am but the battery was totally flat (I'd inadvertantly flicked the spotlight switch when climbing into the back of the van the previous night, thus flattening the battery). Many thanks to the kind German who jump started the van.

On through Germany, Austria and in to Hungary by mid evening, arriving at our destination at midnight. Due to the extreme low temperature (-8*c) the road surfaces were very slippery and the windscreen kept freezing up so we stopped at a relative's house on the 1st night.

We got up the following morning and drove to Sirok where we unloaded the van and trailer and headed back to Eger to stock up on food and drink for a few days. How fantastic it was to finally arrive at our house on the mountain.

The temperature for the next few days only fluctuated between -8*c and -6*c but we wrapped up well and locked ourselves away from the outside world. It started snowing on New Year's Eve and we celebrated on the terrace watching the fireworks and celebrations in Eger in the distance.

Overnight we had about 10cm of snow which brought some problems getting up and down the mountain, even with snow chains. The scenery, however, was absolutely stunning. We went for a couple of long walks through the forests on a couple of days.

Over the next couple of days we visited family and did a little more shopping, visited our Sirok house again and ate out on a few occasions. Unfortunately I couldn't dig the trailer out of the snow so had to leave it behind our house in Sirok. Hopefully it will still be there when we next go over.

We were up early on the morning of January 4th, loaded the van and left Eger at 7.30am with ta temperature of -10*c. Once again there were no problems until we hit the cobbled streets of Budapest where a suspension bush collapsed on the van. I had a look and decided that we should be ok to continue on. Across the border into Austria then on through Germany, only stopping for fuel and food. We finally bedded down near Aachen, only a short distance from the Belgian border at 10.30pm, having travelled around 850 miles.

The following morning we'd arranged to have a coffee with some friends in Tongeren (Hi Didier & Edith) then hit the motorway again towards Dunkerque, arriving at the port with an hour to spare before our ferry left. That night we were kindly invited to stay with Erika's brother and his wife in Leicester which broke the journey up nicely.

Now we're back home we need to crack on and finish the last few jobs on our house here so that we can get it up for sale.