homes here and there

oh we've been looking at apartments, she says... thinking back on the cramped happiness in Highgate...

and last night we found our new home. modern and new and the kitchen *mate don't even get me started on the kitchen*

And with this half-shod promise of certainty, of settling, the pull of that other home is lesser. Not smaller or less significant, but less painful, less urgent. Because time will temper pain, and it will be all the better going home, after feeling at home here as well.

Right now, the builders next door are building with such gusto that my head/brain and the walls of the apartment are literally trembling, and after 6 wee hours' of sleep, I'm not functioning all that well...not to mention the cat in the morning...

today it's signing contracts, and getting ready to make mince pies for the visit to B's parents on the weekend, and planning and dreaming and maybe even buying a wok!

...

dreaming of the solitary...part 1

Arrival in the gray…not quite rain, but nowhere near sunshine. Gizi and the good doctor pick me up, take me to the house, show me around …

And then not too soon after I am on my own. The house is enormous- eight bedrooms at least, huge high ceilinged atrium and a kitchen to die for, if the smell is a little musty.
Menu on the first night: mititei, parsnip chips and a cucumber and spring onion salad accompanied by a smooth glass of Guinness.

I watched Robin Hood, Men in Tights – and enjoyed the sorry Mel Brooks humour, I really did. I couldn’t imagine watching a heavy ‘art’ movie on my own with the forest at my back.

After the movie I began to read the Hungarian history book written by Bryan Cartledge who used to be British Ambassador to Hungary between 1980 and 1983. It’s a readable tale and in fact, quite unputdownable… but I fell asleep. Despite the dark I wasn’t scared, and I slept through till the sunny morning…

After a breakfast of Culinaris bread and special Telemea cheese that Mum brought back from Kolozsvar, (and doing the dishes of course) I headed up into the hills behind the house. The autumn colours were staggering…

I felt on top of the world, despite the fact that the world was very close – the houses were visible for most of my time on the hill. B called as I was scrabbling over some white rocks among dead leaves that still glowed with the colours of summer.

I found a branch of mistletoe (that I eventually lost along the way), and I sat for a time, on a big hill, looking at the clouds blow in.

Menu today: chicken liver cooked with onion, garlic and Guinness, and boiled potatoes with a cream, wasabi and green pepper sauce.

Then I walked down to Gizi’s house and we spent the afternoon walking around town and then I made eggplant dip, and we drank cognac and wine.

Now I’m home, with my shiraz and my goat’s cheese and the Breakfast Club…and I feel pretty good…