Winter

Kaposvár Black Friday Nov 25 Drop-dead gorgeous winter day Hi: 10°/50° Lo: -1°/30°

Spent the afternoon on a walk-about town, soaking in the sunshine. Everyone I saw seemed to be in a good mood, after a week or so of cold, windy, overcast days; I do not remember it being this foggy around here. It is forecast to get much colder in the days to come, which isn't surprising, as it's almost December. The Hungarian Weather Bureau has even projected snow for late December. How can they know this? Seems to me they are simply setting everyone up for disappointment. I'll have an update before Christmas. [Alexandra has bemoaned the 'new reality' of 'snow-less' holidays.]

Before I forget: I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day, surrounded by family & food, but not too much!

Kaposvár is the government seat of Somogy county, a farming community. There's something like 70,000 residents, but it seems to me much bigger than that; everywhere I go, there are people on the street and lots of activity. While on my walk today, I passed in front of the bus station, which was rebuilt a few years ago, being re-positioned next to the train station. [A very pragmatic move by the authorities; why can't America be as level-headed with infra-structure?]

Anyway, I wanted to mention how busy the bus station was on a Friday afternoon: it seems people were converging on it from all directions, many with luggage. This is something I've commented on before, and it has to do with how the communities here handle educating their children. Much as in the U.S., there are plenty of elementary schools in each borough, as it's no doubt important that the kids have good instruction close to home and family. But for high school, instead of each small town in the county having their own brick & mortar building, the teens are housed in 'dorms' here in Kaposvár, they attend the high schools during the week, and then go home for the weekend. To paraphrase Harry Potter: brilliant.

David
Kaposvár