It’s easy to forget how good the weather is here compare to Scotland. But the last few weeks have been fairly dismal grey and cold, today the sun shone and we went on to a trip to Dunaföldvár. The walk around the castle ruins, views over the Duna and drive through the country made the grey go away.

A quick round up of last year. I spent too much time away from my family due to the move to Hungary, not a mistake I’ll make again. The summer here was long and hot, the kids loved the weather the lake and the strange new country. Work has been challenging but not in the ways I expected, more challenges next year I guess.

Books for 2008 were

Blood River by Tim Butcher

A great book, depressing but really worth reading. A clock or calendar does not measure progress. time may pass and our world can slip back into chaos.

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein

I like her central idea and there are some background stories that makes this required reading for anyone who thinks that the free market is our friend but I’m not quite sure I buy everything in this book.

The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins

I’ve read a lot on Permaculture and followed the transition movement quite actively so there wasn’t much new in the book but it’s worth having and I’ll work my way through it again next year.

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Black Swan in the title gets too much attetnion, this book is really about so much more than just how we deal with the happenings which change the world as we have so far experience it. I’ve always been convinced luck / chance plays a bigger part in life than we like to admit and that we make stories to explain just how smart we are, or bad someone else is after the fact. It’s a vital read as we see the media and “experts” explain away the current global financial problems and predict the turn around even as each turn around falls apart.

No resolutions as such for next year. I have some specific topics to read up on and a few new skills to work on and a little more Hungarian to learn.

Generally I don’t join but there are one or two exceptions and The open rights groups is one.

Last Saturday we spent some time down at the beach side next to Balaton. It’s cool now and almost empty although the Siofok Marathon had attracted more visitors than we normally seem to see this time of year.

The morning and evening temperatures are in the minus now but most days the sun still shines and the dry cold here is really quite nice.

Cool and quiet. Like tystie.com, well at least the quiet bit.

No updates for some time as the post from Flickr is currently broken and has to be tweaked manually!

Yesterday I was off work to enjoy my daughters fifth birthday. We ran out of presents too quickly for her then after a quick scoot around the garden on her new bike we headed off to for her chosen day out to Ikea.

Last bike trip for a week. Tomorrow we head off to Nudipest for a wee break. I’ll be glad to get away from the madness that is work at the moment. Clear my mind and maybe I’ll be able to focus when I get back. Pictures will follow.

A visit to a supplier in Hungary brings unexpected gifts.

Rowan is impressed by the Church in Siofok. So am I but it’s generaly less obvious with 40 year olds.