Eva

Eva was for three and a half years, to the day, our housekeeper in Budapest. We had the great fortune to live in a flat on the first floor of a magnificent villa in Andrassy Ut, the Champs D'Elysses of the East, as it is usually described, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

And, boy, did Eva run the house; from the cleaning, provisioning, clothes mending, and shoe repairing...everything was under her indefatigable control. And how we appreciated the stews and jams she often made for us.

When we left Budapest in the midst of the crisis of ill-health of DD's father, it was Eva who having supervised the packing in Budapest came to Barcelona to manage the unpacking. She took care of everything during the two weeks she was here, while we were in Scotland with Ian, at the start of the seven months we cared for him.

DD didn't have time to say goodbye in 2009 and so it was wonderful to receive Eva into our home again today, with not a few tears and hugs. And could we get her to sit down? No! She has been putting things right all day long, from the arrangement of clothes in the wardrobes, to the emptying of the dirty laundry basket, the ironing of all the stuff worn in Cairo, and the complete rearrangement of the kitchen cupboards which we simply haven't had time to attend to properly... to name but a few things.

Above everything it is just so nice to have a dear friend who has shared so many ups and downs with us, here, mixing in with us as we always, and for us to realise how few words in Hungarian we need to say, 'We love you, Eva!'

And thank you so much for the lovely words yesterday on my 500th! Appreciated...and get cooking!!