February 2nd

It is increasingly difficult to restrain myself from mentioning politics or being political in this blog in Szeged. I may have mentioned before about the set up of the city hall where the majority of the councillors are from the governing party but the major is from another, the biggest opposition party (in parliament) so all that happens in the city council is these two pissing each other off for the sake of it. It has affected Lili’s school for instance by not being able to make deals with the council about building and upgrading the building – which we rent from the city and as the owner the city’s permission is needed for changing it. Or more recently the Hungarian government’s début in the European Parliament. And of course now there is Norht Africa, the middle East and Egypt in the middle of it all that I find increasingly difficult to let pass without a comment especially so that we talk about it a lot.

Well, for those who can’t see how this is all –
- Yes and there is the recent pitch, combined direct opposition to the London Govmnt by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irelander govermnts. Vow.
So if you think this may result into too much politics in an apolitical blog I – and another funny bit, we had some guests today, my mother and her friends and while their were here we haven’t discussed recent happenings in the political spheres of hungary , although I have been talking about it with Jen while preparing tea for our guests in the kitchen - so yes I recommend and finally actually do, this oldish awareness video from Scotland, my second, or maybe third home - depends on how one is sequencing and prioritising. Haven’t quite finalised it myself.

Liliom had a ballet presentation today. They were quite nice. I mean the children. Working really hard and all that. Ernest slept through most of it and I forgot to take off my jumper before settling so I nearly died in the heat but hey, is there anything you wouldn’t do for your children? I still wonder, if a boy these days dared to join the ballet class, what colour would he wear? The bright pink maybe would be pushing a step too far wouldn’t it? After all just because someone wants to dance doesn’t automatically mean that he wants to become the girliest girly princessy vuagh! But what colour would match pink? Black? Not sure. Of course these days in after school or extracurricular sporty activities the ones with balls play with balls therefore the outfit for ballet is not a concern.

Now that I am finally starting to feel better and a bit more up to doing, hm, living life it is Jen’s turn to start falling ill. This is the game (if one dares calling it as susch ) we have been playing since the end of September. Someone in the house would always feel physically rubbish. This puts some marks on our stay here.
Yesterday my head was full of wonderful ideas. In the evening we cleaned the house and ever since I feel empty inside. I never imagined that a tidy and clean house can put a strain on creative energy in such a nasty manner. Quite said.

Ernest has fallen into some destructive behaviour pattern recently. Yesterday we realised that it can be cured by taking him out on to the walking street. Let him stroll around, wave to his admirers, check out shops and places... puts him in a good mood. He tides up and only occasionally attacks Lili. Of course we could be wrong and he is in a better mood because for a change his growing teeth have stopped growing and bothering him. He can realise that life actually is fun

January 18th

So last night lengthily on the phone we discussed amongst other things the issue of developing gender apartheid. Have I ever said this is an apolitical blog? I started with mentioning the Guardian article which with Jen we were really happy to read. Finding out that stuff that we always been saying, knowing and finding bluntly obvious is also for others. We are not alone! Anyways he was shocked to hear how far a new genderistion has gone these last few years but of course I run into trouble here and there.

An interesting idea came to my mind though. We do have a perception of prehistoric life. A certain way of labour division, man – hunt, woman –gather which makes humans hunter-gatherers.

But we actually don’t have much records from that era? What if it wasn’t like that at all, what if the genderisation of society became an increasing reality in urbanised civilisations? After all how prehistoric life is being interpreted is rather telling. The findings are put together and guessed, speculated into a system to make sense but this system isn’t created by the prehistoric persons (as they are long gone) but some scientist in an incredibly fragmented, sexist and violent society. Naturally his interpretation will be seriously biased by his socio-cultural context.

I took Ernest to the dermatologist today. I probably should do this every other week. His skin has not been so pretty and healthy for a long, long time. The curse of Eczema and long waiting list I guess. So the doctor said that he just has some really beautiful but also very delicate skin which we need to take care of. Oh, really? But she didn’t really have much time for us, people are waiting outside! So doctor meeting a new patient for the first time ever about an incredibly complex skin condition judged a 3 minutes encounter is more than appropriate. I have no luck with doctors in Szeged. I bit my tongue. I may have mentioned before or maybe we were talking about it with Jen that Eczema is one of those condition that doesn’t really count as a ‘real’ medical condition. You kind of try to act and live as it didn’t even exist, just some minor thingy on the side, nothing important yet it requires constant everyday attention.

Newest development in our otherwise calm homelife is little inconsiderate hands grabbing after cups full of warm tea or coffee. I hope it soon will become boring.