Gosh, Budapest is a beautiful city, very impressive. Tony has said that he would like to visit there and having seen your blog, I think he could be not wrong! How doyou like Prague? A few years ago we went there for the DAY. Flew from Leeds/Bradford airport. It was all quite surreal! We promised ourselves that we would go back for a long weekend but never have of course. You will be able to do a degree in European geography after this journey. Do the pages of your atlas all slip neatly into the correct order now that you have been there? Does the politics of all these places make more sense when you have a better understanding of the geography? Sorry, am I being too serious now? Life back in the real world will seem very mundane after all these travels! Or perhaps it will just be nice to be in your own bed! xx
Nic
Hello,
Firstly, dad stop making rude innuendos about my friends.
Daphne, unfortunately we didnt see many churches in Budapest but we did see the hotel you mentioned which had a lovely fountain outside that we washed our feet in!!! I hope you think my birthday money was well spent on the camera, thank you very much! It has bought us a lot of fun and enjoyment using it.
Not sticky cards, just bent and worn out!
Anyway, off to spend our last afternoon in Prague now.
Love to everyone xxxxxx
Daddy
LOU .. i agree with nannydaff.. you in team yet ??
ps have good information that she is often on her knees !!!
Nannydaff
Don't believe a word your father says! I brought all the corks home as I have a sideline making Ozzie hats for export to Australia!
Lou - you can do better than 3 words! The last time (I think) I saw you you were on your knees cleaning my bathroom.
What have YOU been up to?
Daddy
ps.. nannydaff could have had a hang-over today..! She was in Anstey all afternoon yesterdayand I did find lots of corks hidden under the sofa today xx pps.. must wear dlasses when typing xxx
Daddy
Are either of you complainibg of sticky cards ??? .... remember who always did ? xxx
Nannydaff
I am pee-d off! I have just typed you a long message and it disappeared so I have got to start again. I shall try to remember what I told you last time.
First of all I said you were very lucky that you were only l4 hours late getting into Budapest (prounounced "Budapesht" by the way). When I made some investigations there had been a major incident on the rail network - a train had plunged into a ravine killing 44 people. Two top officials had resigned and it was said that the Serbian network was one of the most under-funded in Europe.
I wasn't too worried about you both however as the route the ill-fated train had taken was not yours although your delay may have been a "knock-on" effect in some way.
Did you like Budapest? I was there - staying at the Gellert hotel - for Ian's wedding in l990 to his Hungarian bride. The Gellert is famed for its thermal baths and was the favourite haunt of the Hapsbourg dynasty.
Strictly segregated little old ladies chatted away totally nude in the women's side just as if they were at a coffee morning. It was a bit disconcerting at times because sometimes you found you were looking straight up someone's bottom when they suddenly decided to touch their toes a couple of feet in front of you!
Did you get to the Matthias Church? That was where Ian was married. He "converted" to Catholicism before the marriage and when I attended one of his last indoctrination classes with him the priest asked him if I was his "Mother from England" and if so he would give me good exchange rate for sterling!
Went to you Dad's yesterday and had a succulent lamb chop for dinner (note: not a "nice" lamb chop.) Mind you, I earned it, I picked up half a hundredweight of dog poo from the lawn!
Dog-Izzy is having her operation today and may be coming to me to convalesce. She is not supposed to jump about for a bit afterwards - impossible to manage with the two pups.
All for now. Look forward to the Budapest photos to recall the l990 memories.
Love to you both.
Janet
Well done Scotty. I know that you are a well brought up young man really! We are so enjoying the whole communicating thing, who said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks!
Looking forward to the next instalment. Much love. Janet xx
Lou
miss you x
Nic
We will laugh at it eventually daddy but I can tell you there wasn't much laughter happening during those 24 hours. Scott and I are becoming very good at Gin rummy and will need a new pack of cards for the Asia trip!!!
xxxxxx
Scott
Thank you Janet for the advice. I admit my personal hygiene standards have slipped slightly but you will be happy to know that I do have a clean pair of shorts and t shirt on today.xxx
Janet
Perhaps it was the general lack of anything exciting happening in Sofia that drew my attention to your clothing Scott. I had the thought that you had perhaps been wearing that particular outfit for the whole of the adventure. Then I read your message board and realized that perhaps I wasn't quite so wrong! Come on Scott, you can do better than that.We have just returned from a couple of days in Brighton. I admit that there wasn't a lot of excitement there either, but I did change my clothes!
Hope you had a happy birthday Nic. The 22nd was my sisters birthday too.
Looking forward to the next installment. Perhaps there will be a photo of Scott entering a laundrette. Who knows. Love to you both. Janet xx