First blog of the new year and that is the only calendar reference. Two things have recently happened which still highlight how english I am and how that after 6 years living in Hungary, I still can't get my head round how things work here

1. Glasses - I bought a pair of glasses from a well know UK/Hu supermarket which cost the earth and then after 3 months decided to break. Due to my incompetence, I lost the receipt and needed to get them repaired. The first repair was a laser-assisted welding of the Titanium frames which lasted about 2 weeks of normal use. We returned to the supermarket and spoke to the head optician. The lenses were fine but my english brain said "why don't we just buy a new pair of identical frames and try again?". The hungarian solution involved a friend of the optician in Budapest (where else?). He took the functional lenses, reground them and then put them in new frames, (half open frames, which I was always told was not possible with my prescription) within a week. The cost ~6500 HUF ~ 20 quid.
2. Guitar - The demise of my Yahama was chronicled here and I finally got it to a guitar repairer via a shop. I didn't hold out much hope for the in-body electronics as they are now obsolete so I was bracing for an expensive extraction and rebuild. The week before Christmas, I received a call that my guitar was fixed! The issue was the battery mount for the electronics inside the guitar was broken, the repair guru removed the whole compartment, embedded a fishman replacement part and the guitar works perfectly. This cost a stunning 15000 HUF ~ 50 quid at the exchange prices at the time and I've the best solution possible. Also, I've found an awesome shop thanks to Kyle Eckhart. The owner was a bit grumpy to start with but has a wicked sense of humour and is really welcoming.

My issue is that as an englishman, I want to throw away and replace - any thing else is too expensive and not worth doing. Here in Hungary, Communism taught the value of stuff (due to scarcity) and everything can be repaired, renewed and restored.