Paul’s blog

Woke up on the Sunday to the noise, of what we thought was thunder. Two hours later when we finally left the comfort of our bed I found out what we heard just past Six was the Buncefield oil depot explosion. As we left the house to travel to Wolverhampton we could see the dark clouds formed by the smoke. Travelling down the M40 we encountered several pockets of fog/smog ranging from black to pink in colour.

We got to Park Hall hotel by 1030, as the Hungarian dancing at the hotel was due to start in less than an hour we decided to go for a quick walk. 1130 came and passed, but no one from the hotel had gotten the room ready where the dancing was to be held save a couple of token gestures. In the end I helped clear the room and put out the seats with a member of staff and one of the Hungarian dancers. The dancing finally began at 1200, but at least I gave us front row seats The dancing was excellent and afterwards they gave me their card so I could send on the photos I took. Unfortunatley I realized when I got back to High Wycombe I still had the ISO set at 1600 in RAW mode from a previous shot. Cursed myself many, many times! Also the strong light from the back windows did not help. Luckly a very kind soul pointed me in the right direction to clean up the noise in the photographs.

After lunch at the hotel, we booking in then travelled into town to explore the stalls. I enjoyed trying my limited Hungarian and my wife was able to have a few conversations with the stall-holders. We also had some Goulash soup which was nice, but quite expensive. We bought a few items too and had a look around Wolverhampton. In the evening Évi and I had an Indian meal at a restaurant which was part of the hotel.

The next day we decided to return to High Wycombe, but visit a couple of places en-route. First we stopped at Warwick to look around the town, then we ventured down the road stopping at Oxford. We hopped to visit the city museum but it is closed on Monday. After a quick look around we ended up in the cinema to watch the latest Harry Potter movie, thereafter completing our journey home.

Today is International Women’s day. To those of you who are blissfully unaware of this event, like me before I met Éva, it is a day to celebrate our womanfolk. It is always celebrated on March 8th, and the giving of flowers is customary (especially in Hungary).

The official line:

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women

Source:internationalwomensday.com

If you want to find out more then check out the following links:
About Ladies day
wiki definition

Now I would like to take this opportunity to wish all ladies, especially my dear wife, a Happy International Women’s day

Yes I know I have not written in a while. I have been busy learning PHP thanks to ‘PHP for the World Wide Web’ by Larry Ullman (Peachpit Press). I am slowly following the examples in the book and seem to be actually learning something . However I still am not sure what an array is :confused:,

I have been toying with the idea of upgrading my blogging software. Everyother application seems to have more bells and whistles, and I want to play with these bells and whistles.

Things I have been doing behind the scene is playing with some of the sites code to try to gain a more fluid feel. I have also updated the Hungarian restaurant page, adding two restaurants in London. On the 7th (Évi’s and my wedding anniversary) we may visit the one in Hampstead. It seems it is not to far from Baker Street. I have also added a page for Hungarian shops within England.

One thing I have been very impressed with is Firefox. It is now my default browser, and I feel exposed when I use IE now. IE seems to have so many security flaws that certain people want to exploit. Also on Firefox I added the web developer tools which are fantastic. I can edit my CSS on the fly and all sorts. Simply brilliant. Another add-on I have installed is IE view, now if I encounter a site which does not render according to valid code I can right click, select IE view, and IE will spring into action with the URL at the ready. This is also useful for design purposes.

Anyway, I better get back to it. Signing off now…

:O Well would you adam and eve it! Évi and I venture down to the amicable town of Princes Risborough to test the waters in the local swimming pool were we espy a vehicle from Évi’s home country. There it was parked as bold as brass in the car park just sitting there! what a cheek! Unfortunately there was no sight of the owners.

Good news!
A new series of ‘The Simpsons’ hits Channel 4 tonight. I cannot wait.

Tomorrow we are going to see the fireworks at Naphill weather permitting. It’s one thing Évi and I try to do annually - a bit of a tradition you could say.

Still no news of Mr Large, his Medina wine is looking tempting. Best he get in touch soon!

Bye for now.

Its been a long time, too long some might say, but at long last I will post something on my blog. What have I been up to since the last entry I hear you ask…
I passed my FT 2, which was at RAF Boulmer, after much effort. It was quite demanding but worth the effort as this was a precursor to my recent promotion. The day I finished my FT I travelled down to High Wycombe and unpacked then repacked and, with my darling wife in tow, started the long drive to Hungary. We travelled via the EuroTunnel and eventually arriving in Szolnok over 24 hours later. Yes it was a very tiring drive. In Hungary we celebrated my wife’s Grandmothers 80th birthday, which was also my birthday too! A couple of days later we travelled to Visegrad, and also onto Esztergom. Photos are available for viewing in the Family area of this site.
After a week in Hungary, Évi and I travelled to France. We took the decision to stay overnight in Austria en-route, and this proved to be a blessing as we arrived in the Jura region quite fresh. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast owned by an English couple Nick and Cheryl Beare, who happened to be from the High Wycombe area. Jura is known as France’s lake district and there was plenty for my wife and I to do. For an account of our stay, again see the family area.
When I got back to the UK, and back to work, I found out that I had been promoted a fortnight ago and should be at another RAF station. Somehow my paperwork had got lost , thank god that my new unit is only 11 miles down the road!
I have now settled in at my new post, although I am learning all the time.