Living

Saturday I ran out of time to write my daily contribution. And I had a very good reason. It was not for laziness or forgetfulness. It was simply because I was busy. Yesterday was the perfect example of apartment living versus living in your own home. 

I live in an apartment building renting a nice comfortable apartment. The building has a live-in superintendent who supposed to be around 24/7. Everything in the apartment with the exceptions of the furniture and our belongings are owned by the landlord. If anything goes bad it is his responsibility to repair it, fix it with no cost to us.

And that was what happened Saturday. Abigail cuts her hair every week and that hair goes into the bathroom sink. By Saturday it got so bad that it was impossible to drain the sink, it was all clogged up. My wife and I both tried to clear it with a plunger, but that didn't work. Then she decided to take the pipes underneath apart. That did not help either. We were forced to go to the last resort, ask the super to come up.

Saturday is his usual day off, so he was not very happy, but since we have a good relationship with him, he did come. He took everything apart and came to the conclusion that the clogging was in the portion of the drainpipe that was in the wall. He had to bring up his electric snake and that eventually did clear up everything. He also confirmed that the culprit was hair (Abigail's).

This work lasted quite some time aside from the mess that it created. His efforts were generously rewarded but it was still cheaper than calling a plumber which would have been the case had this home were owned by us. We told Abigail if this happens again, she will have to pay for the labor. She doesn't believe us.

After years of living in apartments I maintain that the most important person in an apartment building one should be friendly with is the super. He is the one who can fix anything and if one is on good terms he even comes to help fast. This just proves that money is the solution to most problems.

Sunday

 Short and sweet: it is Sunday!

Sorry

 I had a very busy day yesterday and had no chance to write. Sorry!

Scam

Every two weeks or so I get a copy of the AARPBulletin. This is a publication of AARP and usually it contains a lot of interesting and useful information. They usually range from medical to scams. However lately they give an enormously large information about scams that exist and take advantage of the elderly. 

P.T. Barnum supposedly said that ther's a sucker born every minute. Scammers always find their target in the elderly and clueless. It is sad to read the stories where these heartless beings take every penny they can put their hands on. I read these articles and try to be very cautious and watchful about every email and telephone call I get.

But here is something I find peculiar. Today I received an AARP membership renewal letter requesting to renew our expiring membership. The letter was real, not fake. The problem I am having with this that our memberships do not expire until October 2024, six months from now. Why trying to collect money six months early?

I tell you why, because in the next six months there will be several reminders in the mail. AARP is counting on that us, old and forgetful people will not remember if we already paid and will pay again and again. As far as I can see it this is a scam! AARP should be ashamed of themselves.

Medical

Last week I had my annual physical. Abigail and I went together since we are using the same family doctor, a Russian lady. The exams went well. At the end she ordered ECGs for both of us and those were done immediately. Thank God both our results were fine. I looked at my chart and it was beautiful with nice even graphs.

Today Abigail and I went for the requested blood tests. Those were done in the morning on an empty stomach. My technician had a problem finding blood. She said I have "wiggly" veins. She jabbed me but no blood came out. So, she jabbed me again and then it flowed. I was tickled pink being jabbed over and over again. Then at the end she gave me a jar and told me to fill it. Well, to do it on order is not easy. I was really not prepared for such request. But I put my mind to work, and I succeeded! It is a good thing this was not a fertility clinic because I would have been in serious trouble! 

In a day or so the results should be coming in.  This establishment has a patient chart where all results are automatically downloaded to. Sometimes the patient sees the results before the doctors do, so I will probably see them before she will. Actually by 6:45pm my results came in, and they were all disgustingly good for a 87 year old "youngster".

When I know that there will be blood tests involved, I usually ask the doctors to request it before my visit this way the results are already in. At this visit I forget to ask, now I have to draw my own conclusions. I hope if something is that bad, she would ask for a new visit. But I also hope there is nothing bad. I want to be around for a while!

 

Jokes

An elderly couple is sitting at each end of the dining room table, having dinner. The wife says to her husband: "you know Josef, I still feel a warmth in my chest about you". The husband responds: "you know Maria, your left tit is hanging in the bean soup and that's what you are feeling".

Madeline and Charles are two nice elderly couple in their eighties. Both are residents in the same nursing home. As time went by, they developed romantic feeling towards each other. This was resulted in heavy pettings whenever they were alone. Madeline has five children and 12 grandchildren. Charles had four daughters and eight grandchildren. During one of those hot and heavy moments Madeline remarked that Chrles should be very careful because she did not want any more children. "I can not deal with any more babies, I had my share," said she. Charles added that he also had enough and said he couldn't handle any more graduations and weddings!

Dying wife is asking her husband: "darling when I dye will you look for a new woman for yourself?" "It is possible" says the husband. "And is it possible that she will move into this house?" said the wife. "That is also possible" says the husband. "And will she use my pots and pans?" asks the dying wife. "That is also possible" answers the husband. "And will she also use my golf clubs?" asks the wife. "That is impossible, she is lefthanded". 

 

Union

I always loved construction. This is what I learned in school, this is what I was aiming for as a career. My father and his brothers were all engineers rand related to different types of construction. Since this was in my blood, that was what I was aiming for. Coming to this country changed my plans a little bit but after four years of different jobs I did land a job in building construction.

Granted, it was a low level job but still I was able to get my feet wet. I was an assistant to a field engineer, but it gave me a chance to learn the ropes. After this job I moved around to different construction sites gaining more experience. I was brave enough to sell myself as a field engineer and I must say that I was not bad.

But construction had the bad habit that if that particular company did not have a job immediately after yours was finished, they had to let people go. And more than once I fell into that category. Being a field engineer did not provide stellar pay, but it was more than being a dishwasher, which I was at the beginning of my life here.  

Since every larger construction job had at least one field engineer unionization came into the picture. Larger companies signed up, smaller ones did not. Unwillingly I became a member. My salary was increased, I got benefits I did not have before, so things were looking up. But not for long.

I was the engineer on a very nice and interesting job in the 1964-1965 World's Fair in New York. I worked there for almost two years. The company liked me and kept me busy. But this eventually came to an end. Towards the end of the project when the construction was in its last stages and the number of employees were reduced, I was told that I was too expensive to keep.

The union did not help me to get a new job, I had to think for myself, and I did. After a few short term jobs, I found my new home with an engineering company where I stayed for 40 years. This was not the construction I had planned for myself, it was design but eventually I did wind up for many years being involved with construction. As they say, "all's well that ends well".

But this whole thing made me being disenchanted with unions. As far as I am concerned it did not do anything to make my life better to reach the American dream. It forced me to go out on the street looking for work which I did. I did succeed on my own to a point without any of their help. Actually, unions do not want you to advance. That is not their policy. Companies rarely promote members because it upsets the apple cart.

So it is hopefully understood why I am not a big proponent of unions. I am not against them, I would support them but within reason. As far as I am concerned there are work categories that should be unionized but there are some that should not be. I will not go into details now, just wanted to open up about my feelings. It is personal and based on my own experience.

Censorship

I don't know if it is a government censorship or is it self controlled one but I am certain that there is one existing here. I don't want to keep beating on an old subject but it is Ukraine, again. Listening to various American newscast we hear one side of the story, but listening to some other country's comments they are different from ours.

I was listening to another language newscast about Ukraine and that painted a different picture than the ones American news reporters give. That country is not unconditionally friendly, more realistic and thus their news reporting paints a different picture. They also show Russian advancements about which we know nothing. 

They show in detail the brutal way people are being grabbed off the streets and hauled off to be conscripted into the military. They want to conscript people who are cgs wurrently in prison. Men are endangering their lives to escape from the country in order to avoid the draft. 

In another news item people are saying that their government is stealing everything from them. Their lives are difficult and there is hardship everywhere.

Now these things we never hear about. The only thing we hear about that Biden is giving them another $60.8 billion. And at the same time we have homeless people here.

Good country America! 

Sunday

 All day Sunday. I am resting. Boy, I'm lazy!

Columbia

In recent days there were anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University. Young people, the "future of America" were demonstrating on the side of Gaza and the Palestinian people. This demonstration as shown on television really turned my stomach. This garbage that calls themselves educated behaved like a stupid mob.

There was a scene were they were trampling an Israeli flag, wiping their shoes on it. In another a white woman wrapped in that rag they were all wearing was heard screaming that "I am Hamas, long live Hamas". Something like this just make one sick. Ok, the police did arrest over a hundred demonstrators but only because they did not heed to their instructions. Freedom of speech was used liberally and that does not count as breaking the law. 

I don't know how many of these demonstrators were really students of Columbia, but it is sad that with such thinking they get admissions to one of the country's most elite universities. If it were up to me I would kick them out of school and blacklist them so potential employers would know what kind of people they are dealing with.

Unfortunately, whenever there is an anti-Israel demonstration there are also a surfacing of antisemitic feelings. Antisemitic feelings is like the common cold. There is no cure for it. It was there and it will always be there. Except sometimes it is below the surface while at other times it is out in the open.

The way I see it antisemitism is nothing more than jealousy. People are jealous at the Jewish people because of their successes. Israel became a state in 1948, 76 years ago and in that time it created a thriving country without the help of oil money. The Arabs lived in that same area for thousands of years and created nothing, until the arrival of oil money. And even then, it is less than what Israel did. 

Before this current war, every morning thousands of Arabs entered into Israel heading to work in Jewish owned businesses. I wonder how many Israelis went into the opposite direction to work in Arab owned businesses! Doesn't that say something? Naturally, this can create jealousy and thus the antisemitism. But the Jewish people are strong, and they have thousands of years of experience dealing with hate. They will prevail and this Columbia scum can go and stand in the welfare or unemployment line for food stamps.

Just a side note. Ilhan Omar is a Somali born representative from Minnesota in Washington DC. She is Muslim and anti-Israel and antisemitic. Her daughter goes to Columbia and was arrested by police during these demonstrations. Like mother, like daughter! 

  

Sleep

In my younger days and also while I was duly employed and a useful member of society, whenever I had the chance, I was able to sleep really long hours. On weekends if there was nothing pressing to do, sleeping 'till noon was not unusual. The rule used to be, to listen to the 11 o'clock news (half an hour) then go to sleep. When I worked, I used to be up around 6:30am. And I did love to sleep.

Now things are changing. At first we used to stay up until after the 11 o'clock news, then we took Robin for his night walk around the block. By the time we got to bed was usually past midnight. Then up around 7-8 in the morning, depending on Abigail's school schedule. This gave us 6-7-8 hours sleep.

But this is not the current situation. Now, we watch the 10 o'clock news for about 15 minutes, take Robin on his walk and in bed just around 11 o'clock. Still up around 7-8 in the morning. This is not bad but it has its drawbacks. 

For one I am not a long distance sleeper I used to be. Going to sleep early makes me wake up really early. Last night I went to sleep a little after 11 but by 5 in the morning I was wide awake. My wife was still asleep so I just laid there looking at the ceiling and thinking of all kinds of things. While I was already dying for my morning coffee I did not want to disturb her so I just suffered. 

I came to the conclusion that for my advanced years I do not need that much time to sleep as I used to. I don't know if this is a trend, but it certainly is with me. Which is a shame because now I do have the time every single day. Maybe nature tells me or us that our time is limited, don't waste it on sleep!

This is the end of my sleep story. I hope you are still awake.

The Prez

I get a kick out of watching the leader of the free world on the public stage. I have a feeling that every morning when he wakes up he says to himself what now. He is probably asking himself, why can I just not sit on the sofa and watch television all day like many other old people do? Why do I have to play president every day?

It appears everything is a drag for him. He always looks tired and slightly bored. It is interesting to see that on certain events he dresses up in formal attire while during campaigning he wants to show how much he is one with the people, like appearing in open neck shirts. Sorry, but showing up in open neck shirt will not make him one with the people.

Here is another thing. A while ago he described his telephone call with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He wanted sound like they are good buddies thus he was referring to Netanyahu as Bibi, his nickname. Well, they are anything but good buddies. They sorry to say have a very strained relationship. So, to pretend that they are friends is a little too much.

Now that Trump has to sit in a courtroom and listen to another frivolous lawsuit, he is using it to his own advantage and campaigns (in open neck shirt). I just hope that the uncommitted voters see through his charades come November.

Amazon

As it is known I am living in an apartment house. Several months ago, Amazon placed two huge steel cabinets in our lobby. No explanation, nothing they were just suddenly here. Since I am not very well versed on "world affairs" I had no clue what they were for. Until one day I saw something in a movie we were watching. It turned out they are to store packages that are being delivered.

Until now Amazon either brought packages to our doors or just left them in the lobby. This last solution led to several complaints about stolen packages. But now we hit the 21st century.

Upon delivering a package they place it in one of those niches then notify the recipient. We have to stand front of this monster, press a few buttons on the cell phone and one little door will snap open. You can't tell which will open so it is not advisable to stand close because it can hit you in the face. The box sizes are different so even large boxes can be placed inside.

This is a good invention because it supposed to reduce theft. The flip side as I understand it is if a package is not removed in three days, Amazon will take it out and it will go somewhere. What happens if a person travels and can not collect his packages?

Maybe FedEx and UPS will co-work with Amazon and make use of this creation in the future. So far the thieves still have the choice between FedEx and UPS.

The interesting thing is that this is based on the fact that one has a cell phone. What happens if I don't have one? I will not be able to take my packages? I assume there are still people around, maybe real old people, who do not have call phones. Stuck in the 20th century. 

USPS

The United States Postal Service should be renamed USSSPS - United States Snail Space Postal Service - for their lack of speed. I don't know what is wrong with them but for a while now they are more unreliable than ever. 40-50 years ago, I was admiring how reliable they were. Since then, they managed to erode that confidence. 

Now, they are the designated worse than I can imagine. Mail disappears without explanation, it is impossible to contact anybody. Mail arrives in the designated location but instead of being delivered it sits in the post office for days and I am not talking about weekends. When there is a time sensitive piece of mail is in question that kind of handling is not very good.

I did complain and they just found different excuses. But yesterday's mail topped it all. My friend sent a birthday card to my wife and this envelope was stamped on March 30 in Wilmington, Delaware. It got to our mailbox yesterday, April15. 17 days it took to get here from Wilmington, Delaware to our address. It could have been walked in less time.

I think the post office takes it upon itself that what they consider unimportant mail is just not being delivered. Like for years our overseas Christmas cards never get to their destinations. We usually send them to Hungary and to Australia. None of them ever reach there. But all the overwhelming requests for donations (political or others) without fail reach us.

Because that is money mail it seems more important than the regular stamped personal mail!

Good country, America!

Attack

Over the weekend Iran attacked Israel with drones and rockets as a retaliation for Israel's bombing their consulate building in Damascus, Syria. The Iranian reason for this weekend's attack was retaliation. Piss poor excuse if you ask me, but here it was. They attacked but fortunately no lives were lost and all their rockets and drones were shot out of the sky.

Sunday so called anti-war, left-wing activists in Chicago held protest gatherings where they praised Iran for attacking Israel, cheered Iran, chanted "death to Israel" and "death to America". Very brave people doing this here where they know they can get away with such show of discontent.

But I would like to know how they would feel if rockets would fall on their heads and on their homes originating from Iran. Would they still cheer those people if their lives were at stake? According to Fox News the "Death to America" movement is growing. Very interesting. Let's just think about it for a moment.

Let's say America dies as they wish, and a so far unnamed power takes over. Different authority, different rules. Do these people honestly believe that they would be able to chant similar slogans, would they be able to show their discontent as freely as they do it now? No sir, no way!

They would tried and convicted at their first beep. Then they can complain!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Sunday

 Sunday, all day.

Birthday

Today is my wife's birthday. Accordingly, the day is filled with non-stop celebrations. Music, dancing, partying and eating.

Then I woke up and realized that that is not what's happening. It was just wishful thinking. The reality is that Abigail pre-paid a day at a spa for her mom and herself. (I stay home and ugly.) I bought a nice bunch of flowers and a tiramisu cake. And at the end it turned out very nice.

I always hated my wives' birthdays. Never knew what to buy. If they really liked something they never waited until their birthdays but bought it. So, at the end nothing was left for me. Also the most difficult thing is to buy a piece of clothing or jewelry for a woman without consulting with her because by nature they are very opinionated and choosey.

I remember long time ago when I was a young boy, my father bought a pocketbook for my mother for her birthday. It was too fancy for her and she didn't really like it. It wound up on the top of the cabinet. When I asked my mom she told me the same thing. I was very upset that my father bought her such a nice present and she didn't like it. But I learned that this is the way women are and in all the ensuing years I never bought "surprise" presents. And that is the case now.

So, finally I wish a Happy Birthday for my wife, with love! 

Friday

It is Friday evening, and I am very tired. I did some heavy paperwork today and it used up all my mental and physical energy. So I am skipping today. I am the boss (of myself) and I do whatever I want.

War

In my country in the middle ages when there was a threat of war they carried a bloody sword around the country. This served as a notice to the nobles and others that the king requested their help in preparing for war, As time changed and technology came to the forefront there are other ways now to warn the people about an impending war.

First the hype. The media is the leader in building up the hype to a crescendo. They love nothing more than be the leaders in this. The ones who can save their credibility by saying "we told you so".

Then the politicians who don't know what side to take. They rattle the saber, but I am convinced that they are not prepared for the consequences, this country never had a war on its own territory so they are really do not imagine what it would entail if it had one. Using big words and warning others is easy. Putting an entire population in the line of danger is another thing. 

A war now would be totally different from any previous wars. With today's armaments wars could be "fought" in a very short time but create immeasurable damage. There will not be North Korean or Russian troops marching down the streets. There will be ruins and loss of lives. Governments will collapse and either new ones or just plain chaos will emerge.

They can take the president to a bunker for safety but what about the tens of millions of people who will perish or become deadly ill? There will be plainly no winners in such a war. With the technology of today there will only be losers and those will be us, the people. 

I lived through the Holocaust, the Second World War, the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and 9/11. I had enough and I do not wish it on anybody, politics or no politics. The winds of war should be blown out of this world and the danger of such event should not hang over our heads. Looking forward to boring eventless days.

Good country America!

  

Opinion

Today it was in the news that the other day there was an anti-Israel demonstration in the US Senate cafeteria and at the same time somewhere in Michigan (I think) somebody made a speech saying "death to America".

I may not agree with everything this government does but I find this attitude disgusting. In my opinion these people do not realize how lucky they are that they live here. Because here they can say these things, they can burn the flag and get away with it all. If they were living in Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China or any of those and many other countries they would not see the next day after such expression of opinion. 

They would be prosecuted and sentenced at best. But here they can express their hate and their want for a change. I think this country is too soft on certain type of disagreement. Such as these should not be tolerated and furthermore it should be prosecuted. Democracy is nice but not without any restrains. 

Free speech is one thing but "death to America" does not fall into that category, in my opinion.

Good country, America!

P.S: RFK jr is speaking on the channel I am listening to. He is getting on my nerves. He can not speak, his voice is annoying, and he is not saying anything important. The reporter asked him something and he is stuttering.   Will not get my vote, for sure!  

Retribution

MSNBC is news channel owned by NBC. This is the channel that broadcast the Morning Joe commentary every morning. I don't like them and very rarely watch this channel. It is totally anti-Trump and totally biased against him.

Today they came up with an article, God knows what it is based on that Trump and his camp are planning retribution against his detractors once he is in power. In short: I certainly hope so!

Years ago in an interview, before he became president, he said that he never forgets people who wrong him and when he gets the chance he does get even. Well, when he becomes president, I hope he plans to get even with the people who turned against him. 

Even a blind person can see that there is a conspiracy going against him. Him being republican there must be the democrats who want to destroy him. The fact that they are destroying the American values really do not matter to them. They are using the slogan the American people as a blanket for everything they do. The claim they know what the American people want, and everything is for our benefit. 

Pelosi and company were foaming at the mouth when Trump was elected, and they tried everything in their power to destroy him throughout his four years. When that aging clown with that stupid smile on her face ripped up his State of the Union speech it was not any kind of victory but a kick in the balls of the people of this country.

I fervently hope Trump will win and will use every power at his disposal to destroy the people who turned against him. That will be good for the American people!

Eclipse

Monday is the day for this year's solar eclipse. I am writing this before it happens here and the hype on tv is unbelievable. Like if people have nothing else to do but watch the sun being blacked out with the shadow of the moon. If people are employed, how come that 50,000-60,000 people can fill a stadium to watch this event? Ok. this is something interesting. I did see one on 2017 and it was cool. But I couldn't get overly excited about it.

To see the northern lights would be a lot more interesting than this, as far as I am concerned. Maybe I am getting too blaze for my old age but it is getting more and more difficult to find something to get really excited about. They say the next full solar eclipse will be in 20 years in 2044. Now, that is something to look forward. 

That I can really be excited about. To be here and see it 20 years from now! Wow! My wife might not be so overjoyed about the prospects of me sticking around for 20 more years but I think I will be a little selfish about this. I just hope that our world will still be around at the next solar eclipse. Maybe the war in Ukraine will be over by that time and Israel will live in peace and harmony with its neighbors. Want to be here and see it!

P.S: I did go out and see it. I tell you the hype was bigger than what it looked like. First, it was not a complete eclipse here in our area. Second, by the time most of the sun was covered it became cloudy and there was no clear visibility. But I shouldn't complain, it was free. You get what you paid for! Maybe next time it will be better, ha? At least there is something to look forward to.

 

Sunday

 It is Sunday, the day before the rarely seen solar eclipse.

Boring

Whenever I said to my mother that I was bored, her response was that only simple-minded people would find themselves bored. When she said that to me, I decided even if I were bored, never announce it. Abigail likes to keep herself busy. Busy means studying or entertaining herself. If these two situations can not happen, she is bored.

In a few weeks spring break is starting in her school, and she already announced her desired programs for that time. She must be kept entertained because she said that she did not want to be home and be bored. Whenever I hear her saying she is or don't want to be bored I remember what my mother said to me. But I keep my mouth shot because if I say something an argument will break out and that is the last thing I want.

Some of her friends are going away, some will not be available, so she is desperately looking for things to do and people to do it with. The boyfriend is ok, but he will not be available every day besides even though he is the love of her life (she claims) she doesn't want to be with him every day. Some relationship, I say!

We are not available to entertain her on a daily basis. My wife has certain commitments, and I am not a partner in that. She has to figure out what is it that she wants to do so not to be bored and that has to be without involving us. I don't remember if I ever had that kind of problems when I was a young lad at my parents' house. I had my friends and I also read books. There was no tv and no electronic games but still, never bored.

This is the 21st century! Different life.

Weird world

I don't want to blow our good luck but so far, after a few days of problems, Verizon is working fine. There are no issues with it. We are slowly getting used to the channel numbers so there is nothing to complain about. Too bad, because I do like to complain. Comes with being an older person!                                        _____________________________________________________________________________________

On March 26 a bridge in Baltimore collapsed because it was hit by a giant ship. Six people died who were workers. The ship that hit the bridge lost control that was why it ran into the structure. The entire bridge collapsed and fell into the water. This is the short version of what happened.

Today it is April 5, and it took the leader of the free world ten days to go and visit the site. Why? George Bush visited the World Trade Center site many days after it collapsed. What is that these people think is more important than show their faces at the sites of such tragedies? If they care about the country as they claim they do, isn't their responsibility to put everything aside and visit these places? The governor of Maryland was at the site hours after it happened and so should have been the president.

Speaking of the president. He came to New York for a star studded fund raising at the Radio City Music Hall. At that same day was the viewing of the New York City policemen who was shot. He chose not to go to the viewing, rather he went to the fund raising. He could have done both. Trump did visit with the families. Biden sent his sympathies with the mayor who by the way was uninvited by the family.

Weird world we live in! 

 

April 4

In the Soviet ruled years in Hungary, April 4 was a national holiday. According to history, April 4, 1945, was when the last German troops were kicked out of Hungary by the Soviets and the war was over in that area. Always huge celebrations, military parades marked this day. No school, no work. And people liked it, I guess.

When the regime changed in 1989 and it included kicking out the Russians, April 4 was no longer observed. The fact that their kicking out the Germans was not looked at gratefully any longer because with that move they stayed on for many years and also there was always that not so quiet antisemitic feeling prevailing in Hungary.

Anyway, the regime changed, and April 4 became a regular day just like the other six. Except!

I mentioned it earlier that my family and I were in the Budapest ghetto. This place was enclosed with wooden walls all around the area. The few entry/exit placers were guarded by armed Hungarian nazis. One day in middle January we woke to an eerie quiet. Some brave souls went out to look around and came back saying that the guards are gone, the gates were left open.

So, we slowly and very carefully went out to look around to see what was happening. Suddenly out of nowhere a Russian military track showed up fully loaded with bread and the soldiers began to hand those out to us, poor souls. At this time we haven't eaten for a few days so you can imagine how well the breads were received.

Shortly after that episode we decided to leave the ghetto and go home to our own apartment. As we were leaving, we met with a line of soldiers (Russian) standing across the road with knives in their hands. Naturally we got scared not knowing what to expect. What they did was surprising and well received. They cut off the yellow star of David we all had on our clothings. 

These are the two things that stayed in my memory of those days. It is my opinion that if the Red Army didn't come when it did, we would have been all killed. As far as I am concerned April 4 is my liberation day.

    

Rain

Rain, rain, rain. For two days now it has been raining here. Not just raining but really pouring. It supposed to be spring but instead it is chilly and wet. How can one enjoy life in these conditions? It is just depressing. I don't go out if I don't have to. The only reason I go outside is when it is time for Robin. Usually, my wife takes him out but lately I also volunteer. 

These are very short outages. We step outside, he does his thing then he turns around and heads back inside. Robin hates the rain and wind and if there is no reason to go out, he is perfectly happy to stay indoors. So am I! Maybe this year we will not have a spring and just suddenly go into summer. Happened before, won't be the first time.

It is a good thing I am not a politician campaigning because it would be no joy to have a campaign thing outdoors under these conditions. Actually a good politician could make people believe that it is to their advantage to get soaked through.

Politics

Now we have a new player in the presidential race, and he is a Kennedy. RFK jr, the son of Robert Kennedy decided that he wants to be president. A lifelong democrat he very conveniently last year changed his colors to independent and other that is how he wants to run.

The man has absolutely no political background except that as a Kennedy he got politics with mothers milk. That is a political family everybody knows it. So now, he wants to be president. He is an environmental attorney with no political experience at all. But that was the way with Trump when he got elected and then grew into the job.

As I see it this Kennedy has the charm of a doorknob. I do not see anything inviting with him that I should give him my vote. Independent is a nice word but unfortunately in today's politics the independents always vote with the democrats. Meaning an independent president is a democrat president. Then things will not change. 

There is a big possibility that his entrance into the race might upset the applecart. People might get drawn to the Kennedy name and without knowing much, vote for him. If that happens, we will be in deep doodoo. This morning the polls showed that he was in the front, ahead of the other two. I think if he wins, he will be more surprised than anybody else.

This whole presidential trace is becoming more and more interesting as time goes by. 

Time

About a week ago was my father's birthday. In August will be my mother's birthday. Knowing my age one can deduce that neither is alive now. If they were it would be a miracle. My father was born 125 years ago, in 1899. My mother 120 years ago, in 1904.

My father was born not even in the 1900s but in the end of the 1800s. My grandparents were born sometime in the 1860s and I knew them also. Well, I am old, so it is not a miracle that I knew them. But what is interesting is that knowing my parents and grandparents those long gone years do not seem such a long time ago.

I know that the world changed a lot since those times. We had two world wars and an armed revolution to mention something. Technology changed or rather improved a lot. Here is an example. When my mother was born, in 1904 there were no airplanes to speak of. Air travel was unheard of. As time went by the airplane was invented and air travel became a popular way of moving around.

My mother never ever flew but had no reservations about flying. So, in 1962 she came out to New York to visit me, and she flew. The first time in her life she flew on a transatlantic, long flight to New York. She loved it. And after that she flew a few more times. My father never came to the US, but he also flew. 

Budapest where my family is from is an old and developed city. The building where my father was born and grew up still stands. I think when he was born it was already an old building. These old apartment houses are withstanding time and still give homes to many people. Budapest did not change much from those early days. Every time I visited, I never had any problems finding my ways around. Same old streets, same old buildings. It even held up against WWII.  In some older building shrapnel marks from WWII are still visible. 

The only reason I mention this to show how much our world changed or not since we are in it. Not everything is for the better but most of it is. 

Easter Sunday

 Happy Easter to all!