Múlt hét - Last week 1 - Poppy day and Christmas opening

(Ez most hosszú lesz :) ) (Loong post :) )

It was so busy (erm... at least for my standards) that i couldn't pull my thoughts together.

First, we had Poppy day, i mean Armstice day or Remembrance day, on the 11th of November. At 11 o'clock the whole factory stopped for two minutes. I don't remember if we observed it in the recent years, but maybe just i was away, i usually visit home in november.
So we just had the machine broken and i asked the setter to help, when he said with an oddly solemn face, in a low voice, that we will have to wait. I asked, and he explained - i already knew about this day, i saw it on the high street a few years back when it was on a saturday, and also read about it. The natives know about it too, but we foreigners were quite unaware of it, so i had to explain it about 5 times...
After we went back to work, we had a conversation whit the setter, i asked a few things, told him a few things that were different at home in Hungary and we agreed about the stupidity of the loss of so many lives even today. I mean all the time.
I was relived too, when he said that this is for both sides, for all sides to be exact, so not just the heroic british dead, but for anyone, anywhere. I told him that this was always a strange thing for me, being here and knowing that my country was on the other side, but this will not bother me anymore.



After this, on saturday (the 14th), i went shopping, and saw a small but fabulous parade on the High street. Literally fabulous. At first i thought it was a belated Poppy-day parade because of the brass band leading the procession.

There were all kind of cartoon and fairy tale figures following (and i had a very stupid angle to make pictures),some imperial stormtroopers (very impressively patrolling),a big and funny deer,

Santa's Grotto with real deers!

... small deers too :)
Cinderella's carriage drawn by two big and beautiful horses, the big bodied type whit the hippie legs - they were very agitated by all the drumming and music and crowds, the coachman could barely hold them back - but soooo beautiful... i just llllove these kind of horses :)

and a few more drummers


Actually the White Witch was there too with Ginarrbik but i messed up that pic.
They where advertising mostly, i think, one of the big shopping centres and at least two stage plays (Cinderella and Narnia) but it had a very "Official Start of the Christmas Season" - feeling for me :)
Especially as in the same week, all the blue-and-silver decorations wnt up - blue and silver, as the city's colours are blue and white. I still prefer the grees-red-gold combination, but this year the decor is pretty, unlike last year when it was simply colt and ugly. We have sparkles now, and it helps a lot :)
Plus the german christmas market came back again with the little wooden shops, oversized pans whit every kind of sausage, and half a dosen different kind of sweets booths. And of course the glühwein stand, whom sell Jägermeister as well. All set for Christmas :)