Having had enough of literary pastiches, it is time to try something more straightforward. Since I’m on holiday in Hungary this next couple of weeks, I will try to keep a Hungarian diary (hence the title). It may not be possible to keep this up unfailingly, because the next stage of this vacation is a family reunion where plenty of drinking will need to be done to avoid undue offence.
We had a surprisingly pleasant flight to Sármellék, given that we were being taken there by Ryanair. We 
stepped off the plane and straight to Prof’s aunt’s house in Keszthely for a hearty lunch of lecsó and beer. Movement seemed impossible, but heroic people do heroic things, so we ambled through a park (with an inexplicably fallen tree, which attracted some comment) down to a beach on Lake Balaton. Surprisingly to me, given that I live in a nanny state where everything is free including health care (end provocative rant), we had to pay to get onto the municipally owned beach.
This, of course, did nothing to dull my childlike enjoyment. We got changed into our swimsuits and proceeded down to the water sporting an impressive parade of potbellys and Speedos. Of course, coming from a country where open water is rarely cooler than 2 degrees above body temperature, I started to feel a little chilly, so elected to stay behind to watch the younger kids while the rest swam out to deeper water. Which choice did little to keep my upper body warm because one of them immediately splashed me. There followed a prolonged offensive, the attacks ranging from chasing, grappling, toppling, splashing, mud-smearing, seaweed-tickling and biting. I survived through wiliness and the ability to run away very quickly. The return of the adults saw me heading out to deeper water pretty damn sharpish.
The rest of the day was calmer, with the walk back, dinner with lots of cured meat and paprikás, a night time walk through the middle of town, 
and a quiet session writing this post for you, dear reader. With that, I will take myself now to bed and wonder what tomorrow will bring.
August 23, 2008 at 12:20 pm |
Have a wonderful holiday! Eating and frolicking in water, what could be better? I have never visited Hungary, but would love to do so. My parents still speak of a visit to Budapest over twenty years ago.
August 23, 2008 at 7:16 pm |
Ah… a holiday. What’s that like? Been ages since I went on one… even in the same state. Enjoy, savor and yes, for God sake eat well. Clad you’re back to putting it down here for all to read.
Cheers!
August 26, 2008 at 8:24 am |
Happy holiday!