Ski Jump, Matrahaza

Akos the rambler

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We’ve recently decided that, due to extreme boredom with our current roomates, we would take on a new friend to help liven things up a little bit. Our apartment is pretty small - a living/bed room and kitchen, but luckily our buddy doesn’t take up too much space, and its needs are unlikely to cause too much conflict - a shell with bits of leftovers every few days, some sand to dig around in, and a few extra “homes” in case it decides to move. To bone up on his care, we’ve been referencing a great resource on the web. Some straaange people out there. Oh, I didn’t mention that we’re not really sure of its gender, but we’ve taken to calling our roomie “Luci” (Lootsy), which is short for Lucifer. After all, the Devil has no gender (though it might wear Prada). Picture after the break.

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Last week, Hungary celebrated the 159th anniversary of the failed revolution against the Austrian Hapsburg empire. On this date, patriotic Hungarians took to the streets and rioted, although not nearly as energetically as in October of last year, when revelations of the ruling Prime Minister’s tomfoolery were still fresh in mind. Anyway, as the holiday fell on a Thursday, the government did what any sensical vestige of communism would do, and gave everybody the following Friday off too. Isn’t that cool? Hungarians know all about the benefits of the four-day weekend.

The pictures of the trip are HERE.

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“People tend to believe that the cause of all troubles is sin. To them sin means that someone lies, steals, cheats, robs, kills and fornicates. Their ignorance goes so far that they issue immensely grandiloquent laws, in which they even evoke the threat of the gallows. Although these laws are many thousands of years old, until now they have failed to yield any result.”

-Béla Hamvas, The Philosophy of Wine

GreenPeace Hungary made the headlines yesterday as brave activists descended upon the nation’s oldest bridge and most famous landmark the Chain Bridge, flying a large banner and lowering themselves halfway to the icy waters in a peaceful protest action designed to bring attention to the poor air quality in Budapest, as well as the government’s sluggishness in implementing EU directives for addressing environmental protection and climate change.

The protest forced a shutdown of the bridge, a major traffic thoroughfare, causing ripples of angry drivers for kilometers and drawing much attention to the action. One bicyclist was honked at very long and loudly by a BMW driver for simply having a “Stop Szmog!” sticker on his rear mudguard.

Here on brave activist is hauled back up to the roadway, to be arrested by waiting police officers. There is no word yet on the fates of these heroic defenders of our most precious resource.

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