The Forgotten Barrio

We returned to Budapest today for the first time in nine years after spending exactly three and half years here from 2006 to 2009, the longest single posting we have had in any one country. We started blipping just a year later so you just missed out on what would have been our combined 2600 takes on this city. You'd also have seen Oeilduchat appear in it several times, including a memorable night at the Opera House.

We left hurriedly with hardly a goodbye, given Dd’s dad had just been taken into hospital with a very likely, and very quickly confirmed, diagnosis of motor neurone disease, which probably accounts for our absence for such a long time as it was a very emotional time. It was also when I left my company after fifteen memorable years. Another reason has been our love-hate relationship with the country and its people - the casual visitor, understandably bowled over by the beauty of the place, cannot begin to get the reality of the underlying culture.

I have to say our feelings on reacquaintance were very warm, far more so than we had expected. It has felt like a homecoming and a too long overdue one. We went around the block and reconnected with familiar faces, some of whom had received our Christmas Letter during the intervening years. However, many grim, unsmiling and uninterested faces, often in a service-provision context, have brought home to us again what a struggle it is to be truly uplifted by this place. I put it down to the decades of oppressive regimes the people have endured, and are experiencing again. I should mention the thousands of good-minded, good-spirited people who marched down Andrassy Utca today, protesting against the right-wing, authoritarian-leaning government re-elected last Sunday.

Overall, it has been lovely to be hugged by many old friends and we are very happy to reacquaint ourselves with our barrio here. It truly is our forgotten one - shame on us for letting it fall into this state.

Some relevant extras also uploaded!