Ben Fogle Return To The Wild - Hungary

Yes that does interest me.  Thanks for sharing.  However, the link posted does not actually lead directly to a playable MKV file.

Anyone with a VPN to the UK can also watch it directly on a Channel 5 web site here:

Ben Fogle - Return to the Wild - Hungary

I just watched this TV show with Mrs Fluffy and it's really a national embarrassment to both the Hungarians and the British. 

The British are clearly a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic and ripped off all the time.  The locals see them as an easy touch and the locals clearly aspire to more than living in a dump in the countryside. 

Some of the TV tricks are pretty laughable - the presenter is shown driving down a gravel road to the "farm" as though it's in the countryside but actually there's a perfectly good tarmac road outside.  Moreover, the presenter searches for the couple in the village but its clear that the couple's British van is parked opposite their place - we can see the number plates both on their van and a trailer parked in the street.  Easy to find.  A rewind shows the presenter must be blind not to have noticed.

The British wife clearly comes from a well to do family and can always fall back on Mum (actually from South Africa) if it all goes wrong.  If she has any kids, she'd be out of that hovel in a flash.  No place for a baby at all.

We were laughing that the neighbour was apparently called Yusuf but Mrs Fluffy says they misheard and he was Joszef.  I mean, come on people, get a grip. It's hardly likely the neighbour is called Yusuf.

Worth a look as curiosity value but not much else.

This kind of programs are always hyped up, but to move over without ever being in the country or seeing the property for 3,000 GBP is brave.

fluffy2560 wrote:

However, the link posted does not actually lead directly to a playable MKV file.

Ah. Good to know. Kept me from downloading it and wasting my time.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

However, the link posted does not actually lead directly to a playable MKV file.

Ah. Good to know. Kept me from downloading it and wasting my time.

Not sure why downloading, you just press the Play button and it works.

fluffy2560 wrote:

The British are clearly a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic and ripped off all the time.  The locals see them as an easy touch and the locals clearly aspire to more than living in a dump in the countryside.

Living in the countryside, from experience, this certainly is not entirely inaccurate in describing some of each.

However, such "shows" are designed to highlight the worst and the most ridiculous. That is how they are designed. That is what "sells".

P.S. Since I have not watched the video, but saw some of the photos at the link provided, Is Gareth the one with the hair that looks like it has not been washed or combed for a few weeks?

SimCityAT wrote:

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

However, the link posted does not actually lead directly to a playable MKV file.

Ah. Good to know. Kept me from downloading it and wasting my time.

Not sure why downloading, you just press the Play button and it works.

Conflicting info then here. One may be able to download, but is the file then playable? What player are you using?

klsallee wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Ah. Good to know. Kept me from downloading it and wasting my time.

Not sure why downloading, you just press the Play button and it works.

Conflicting info then here. One may be able to download, but is the file then playable? What player are you using?

I don't download it and stream it from the site.

klsallee wrote:

P.S. Since I have not watched the video, but saw some of the photos at the link provided, Is Gareth the one with the hair that looks like it has not been washed or combed for a few weeks?

Yes

SimCityAT wrote:

I don't download it and stream it from the site.

Streaming did not work for me.

SimCityAT wrote:

klsallee wrote:

P.S. Since I have not watched the video, but saw some of the photos at the link provided, Is Gareth the one with the hair that looks like it has not been washed or combed for a few weeks?

Yes

Oh dear.

I actually know a UK couple with a real farm nearby (not just a typical village house with some land), and started with a broken down farm house. They raise beef cattle. I guess they would be too "normal" for such a show.

klsallee wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Ah. Good to know. Kept me from downloading it and wasting my time.

Not sure why downloading, you just press the Play button and it works.

Conflicting info then here. One may be able to download, but is the file then playable? What player are you using?

VLC is my player of choice.  I looked at the file extension and assumed it was actually a downloadable file rather than something to stream.  On Youtube, there's site with the same programme but wants a subscription.  I'd never heard of the Open Stream (or whatever it's called) so declined to check it any further because I can simply VPN to the UK and look directly.

klsallee wrote:

....P.S. Since I have not watched the video, but saw some of the photos at the link provided, Is Gareth the one with the hair that looks like it has not been washed or combed for a few weeks?

Yup, that's the guy. 

Mrs Fluffy was quite surprised the wife was a hairdresser back in the UK. I suppose you have to practice to be able to sort out your own and your spouse's hair.  And you need a mirror.

I think there's some element of  a rather chaotic life  - she packed in Uni, became a hairdresser and came to the UK from South Africa or something like that.  She has a disease called Hypermobility which is a degenerative disease (of the muscles).  He was a cobbler which could in fact mean anything at all.

Wow, have you guys really not got anything better to do than criticize and pick apart other people lives? You come up with all your assumptions on who we are yet don't even bother to watch it, just assume that because gareths hair is unbrushed that he doesn't wash it and i am a rubbish hairdresser....get a grip, these things don't actually make you who you are (and i will have you know I was a Vidal Sassoon senior stylist for many years before I HAD to quit due to health problems.

Mr fluffy, you need to get your facts straight before you slag someone off.
A. My disease is nothing to do with muscles.
B. My mother may be wealthy but I don't fall back on her. And just so you know, our house is perfectly child friendly now, we are expecting our first child in a few months and you dont see us running from this "hovel"
C. The tv channel made an error with our friends name, what, have you never made a mistake?!
D. How dare you call us a national embarrassment! You don't know us, or what we have achieved in our lives.
I would love to say more to you but don't want to get thrown off this forum before i have even begun. But can i just ask, next time you want to be troll, think how it would feel if it was you on the other side of the screen.....

Thank you!

Hungarynuts wrote:

D. How dare you call us a national embarrassment! You don't know us, or what we have achieved in our lives.

I Think he Fluffy was calling it an Embarrassment to the British (Fluffy is) and Hungarians which his wife is, so ie entitled to say such a remark.

Hungarynuts wrote:

Wow, have you guys really not got anything better to do than criticize and pick apart other people lives?.

I reserve every alternate Monday, between 12 and 2 PM to do that. Since it is now past that time, I have to stop now for two weeks.

Hungarynuts wrote:

You come up with all your assumptions on who we are yet don't even bother to watch it

Um.... I did try to watch. So now who is criticizing "unjustly"?

Hungarynuts wrote:

just assume that because gareths hair is unbrushed that he doesn't wash it and i am a rubbish

Maybe so. But looks matter. And people will extrapolate and draw conclusions (even if they are erroneous). And one does not get a second chance to get a first impression. Didn't you know the video crew was coming? Did not appearance matter? If not. Great! That is fine. More power to you for your independence and "stick it to the man" attitude! Who cares what others think, right? (I have to be positive and say that now, since it is after 2:00 PM). However..... then you should not be bothered then by comments here who might.... well.... see it differently than you do

Hungarynuts wrote:

Wow, have you guys really not got anything better to do than criticize and pick apart other people lives? You come up with all your assumptions on who we are yet don't even bother to watch it, just assume that because gareths hair is unbrushed that he doesn't wash it and i am a rubbish hairdresser....get a grip, these things don't actually make you who you are (and i will have you know I was a Vidal Sassoon senior stylist for many years before I HAD to quit due to health problems.

Mr fluffy, you need to get your facts straight before you slag someone off.
A. My disease is nothing to do with muscles.
B. My mother may be wealthy but I don't fall back on her. And just so you know, our house is perfectly child friendly now, we are expecting our first child in a few months and you dont see us running from this "hovel"
C. The tv channel made an error with our friends name, what, have you never made a mistake?!
D. How dare you call us a national embarrassment! You don't know us, or what we have achieved in our lives.
I would love to say more to you but don't want to get thrown off this forum before i have even begun. But can i just ask, next time you want to be troll, think how it would feel if it was you on the other side of the screen.....

Welcome to this forum.

No, I don't actually have anything else to do just now and how I spend my time is entirely up to me.

I watched it out of interest having been here for rather a long time and I am very invested here with Mrs Fluffy and kids being Hungarians. How Hungary is perceived outside the country is very interesting for foreigners who are long term residents of the country.  We get all sorts here with people wanting to come to Hungary for all sorts of vague reasons without knowing anything about this place or what it is like in reality.  We care very much about how the country is perceived.

So I didn't mean to upset you (or anyone else) but I'm only going to say sorry, but only a very tiny bit  sorry,  just a tad if you were offended. On the other hand, why do you actually care what I say? 

Don't take it as trolling.  I feel justification for writing a commentary akin to a review of a TV show. I thought the TV show might have some depth to it but it was wrong on so many levels. Anyone who appears on a reality TV show makes themselves fair game. There are plenty of us who live here and have lived here very normally for years and years without the need or the desire to appear on TV. 

Ben Fogle's TV show gave a very bad impression of both you two and his own ignorance of the daily struggles in the countryside.  Maybe a complaint to him would be worthwhile. I like him myself but he needs more help to get it right.

The national embarrassment was a general comment on both sides - the Hungarians look like they are all living in abject poverty in total dumps. The TV show gave us the idea you two looked like folks who'd live in a Teepee on a New Age campsite.  Neither may be true of course down there in Gadacs. Blame the TV show for it. We can imagine people in the UK all saying what a dump it is in Hungary.  Totally untrue of course.

People don't live as you do in Hungary - it's a sophisticated and happening place in Budapest, down in Balaton and other places. And there's a great deal of culture around which Fogle could have emphasised and there are people living here in palaces.  But of course Ben Fogle is looking for sensationalism and eccentricity which was provided in bucketfuls. Where was the balance and positives?

One thing people need to remember (anywhere) is that most foreigners are richer and can actually leave if they wanted and do it at relatively short notice.  Hungarians can leave as well of course but they've got a lot more to lose and they will always be tied to this place, nor do they have some sponsor to rescue them if absolutely necessary.

As for Joszef, Ben Fogle's ears need syringing or he needs to get himself an proper interpreter.  People may have thought Joszef was possibly Yusuf and therefore maybe a Muslim.  Being an Islamic person in Hungary is not impossible but the current political climate hereabouts would make for a very negative view - the government here is to the right of Trump.

As for the other bits and bobs, the disease I checked on before I posted and it involves ligaments and tendons which are attached to your bones and muscles and in between. To save time, I simply reduced Ehlers-Danlos as affecting muscles (no idea on your subtype) as I noted you appeared to have some difficulties in holding the scissors.   Not a criticism, just a reality.  Sorry you have that.

And congrats on expecting your first child.  Please do something about your heating and build a porch with two doors on it to buffer yourself against the weather when exiting/entering.  Worst I've seen here is below -20 C and ice storms. It's really dire then.  Even your chickens will struggle at -20C.  We insulate our chicken house during the winter and block up some of the ventilation holes to stop the wind getting to them.

As a American citizen married for over 40 years to a born Hungarian and having lived shortly in the 70's with his "real" Hungarian hard working honest reliable parents, I must say I have seen many of these sorts of TV reality shows which take a negative view of the locals, like they are all clowns, low lifes and low achievers,..
The "great white hunter syndrome" I say!
Most of the average Hungarians honestly could run mental circles around your average Brit or American. Even farm hands in Hungary know all about opera, books and facts about other cultures.
I live now in Hungary and yes, they , the average Hungarians to some degree may come off as slightly a nerd but really they are some of the warmest most real people one could ever hope to find.
You can always teach someone how to dress or be "cool" but you can never teach a person who is already mentally messed up by their superior "culture"
I'm about ready to head for the hills at this point, people are getting to be a real waste of time.
I do take a bit of offense about westerners coming here, buying "cheap" and then having a laugh about the locals.
If they were all that "high and mighty" back home I am 100% sure they never would of bothered to leave at all.
That's my 2 cents for whatever it's worth.

Since there was some ambiguity regarding downloading the video, I went ahead and did it and blew part of my limited monthly allowed limit. Actually, it played just fine once downloaded.

Agree with fluffy, if you put yourself online, you are fair game to critique. But, I will try to make this an unbiased review, and not intended to be "critical" perse, even if some comments are not "glowing" (Since I can't cruelly devastate, till a week from next Monday):

Agree with fluffy, Ben Fogle is just chasing sensationalism and eccentricity. For example he keeps calling this property (18,000 sq ft / 1600 sq m) a farm. It is not really a farm. It is a normal village house with an attached kitchen garden, like I am sure is like pretty much all the other houses in the village. Of course, using that land is how village people fed themselves historically, but it is still not arguably a farm. But I assume that is just Fogle's misinterpretation.

Disagree with fluffy: there are actually a lot of Hungarians living like you are. Plenty in my own village. But not many (any other?) "expats" do it.

Quick comments after the first year: The couple's Hungarian has improved greatly over the year. Well done. Interior renovation over the year is actually not bad.

But.... The prior year:

Calling Hungary like a "Steven King movie when the weather is bad.". Oh, come on... You can not deny that was insulting. Like something out of Van Helsing.

Buying chickens: In Hungarian, "csirke" is chicken. "Csaj" is chick. Csók (what it sounds like they were saying) is a "kiss". No wonder the guy selling chickens had a smile on his face. In short, even if you do not have access to Google Translate (which provides audio pronunciations), a Hungarian English dictionary is available at any bookstore and should have been carried at all times. Just write the Hungarian word down for "chicken" on a piece of paper. Don't allow some fool to stand there flapping his arms. Or telling people you want to kiss them. Rookie mistake that Fogle seems to over emphasis.

1st year ago -- cooking on a campfire -- Why? No electricity for a hot plate? If so why not buy a cheap camp stove? Or simple table top gas stove and one of the ubiquitous canisters of LPG gas available in Hungary for cooking? Or even a Hungarian tripod and cooking pot? Saving time to cook your meals in the long term is saving money. Again rookie mistakes over emphasized by Fogle.

Other side notes:

FWIIW: Garden looks at bit water needy. Garden ground looks like it could use quite a bit of compost. Maybe a lot of compost. Overall, looks like lousy soil. I suggest for your edification:

https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/

Counting in Hungarian.... "one" in Hungarian (egy) is not pronounced as the English would pronounce "edge". The Hungarian "gy" is a bit shorter and harder than the "ge" in English. That is why the guest seemed clueless when asked to count. Again, translate.google.com can help by providing audio examples. It is all very subtle but incredible important. There really is only one way to pronounce Hungarian -- and accents are lost on the locals (trust me, nobody here understands my "California" accent).

Sell goats? Selling hand made goods? What business type? Original producer? Single operator? BT? Just curious. One can't sell anything outside the black market, even online, in Hungary without a declared producer or business and reporting all transactions to NAV (the Hungarian tax authority). Just saying.

Not a farm, but would be called a small holding in the UK, I am surprised Ben did not refer it to that name.

klsallee wrote:

....

Disagree with fluffy: there are actually a lot of Hungarians living like you are. Plenty in my own village. But not many (any other?) "expats" do it.

....

Yes, I will say that's true to a degree but would you say it's that common now? 

Lots of those kinds of places along the "Fo utcas" are standing empty or uninhabitable. People do not want to live like that because of some misplaced idealism or romanticism and the younger ones clear off to the towns where life is better.  It's the Nagymamas stuck there still.

Mrs Fluffy lived way down near the Romanian border in a one-horse village years ago and she says even 40 years ago people were not living like that - they had inside plumbing, central heating, electricity, TVs,  cars and phones.

OK, so maybe it's cheaper not to have those "luxury" things but the Hungarians would not aspire to such basic living, they'd rather have their comforts just like everyone else.

The only place I've seen that kind of style of living fairly recently is in Romania way way out in the sticks.

Csok-csok....

SimCityAT wrote:

Not a farm, but would be called a small holding in the UK, I am surprised Ben did not refer it to that name.

I'm not even sure it's a smallholding.  It's too small really.  More like a garden as was said.

I reckon it'd need to be at least 3 x the size to be a small holding.

fluffy2560 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

Not a farm, but would be called a small holding in the UK, I am surprised Ben did not refer it to that name.

I'm not even sure it's a smallholding.  It's too small really.  More like a garden as was said.

I reckon it'd need to be at least 3 x the size to be a small holding.

A small holding would be better wording than a farm But it depends on who are viewers are aimed that. They might not understand.

i.e Animals + bit of land = farm

SimCityAT wrote:

i.e Animals + bit of land = farm

Actually, a farm is "mostly" defined as an economic unit where the production from the land is sold, usually as a major or sole source of income for the land holder. Else it is a garden. And it need not need animals. A "truck farm", for example, is just to grow and sell vegetables for market.

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

....

Disagree with fluffy: there are actually a lot of Hungarians living like you are. Plenty in my own village. But not many (any other?) "expats" do it.

....

Yes, I will say that's true to a degree but would you say it's that common now?

More common than most think. Poverty in Hungary is downplayed by the government (not good for elections). But, it is still a very real issue that affects many.

Do also remember, my wife was mayor in our village for 4 years, and she knows how many of the village inhabitants needed government funding to survive. It was not a trivial amount. Their houses may look as neat as a pin (or not -- it varies), but they are still desperately poor (can not even afford to heat their homes -- ergo local government wood give-aways -- which is never enough to meet demand). The people in this "report" are a bit more "messy" but they have only been at it less than year. So I will cut them so slack on that (heck, even I still have some junk in my yard from my renovations -- it is pretty messy looking (as my wife keeps reminding me))

I know personally quite a few who fit in this lack of income range. Yes, they even raise chickens, geese, and rabbits to feed themselves. Some are neighbors (we have 4 local properties, so have a few more "neighbors" than most). And as you said, some here also live in palaces (we have some of those as neighbors as well). What an eclectic mess it is indeed.

Of course, a lot of these poor people are older, and elderly. they have no option to leave. Fixed incomes. No place to go. Most of the youth, they are gone the moment they can. Either to Budapest or abroad (brain and body drain). But not all. Some stick around.

But like I said, I know of no other expat in Hungary who choose this life aside from the UK couple that bought the cattle farm I mentioned earlier (but that couple are quite a bit better organized, and I of course do not know expat in Hungary). I guess that is more the "homesteader" type I only see on youtube. A different breed, and not one unique to Hungary (it really is an American thing mostly)

klsallee wrote:

.....

Do also remember, my wife was mayor in our village for 4 years, and she knows how many of the village inhabitants needed government funding to survive. It was not a trivial amount. Their houses may look as neat as a pin (or not -- it varies), but they are still desperately poor (can not even afford to heat their homes -- ergo local government wood give-aways -- which is never enough to meet demand). The people in this "report" are a bit more "messy" but they have only been at it less than year. So I will cut them so slack on that (heck, even I still have some junk in my yard from my renovations -- it is pretty messy looking (as my wife keeps reminding me))

I know personally quite a few who fit in this lack of income range. Yes, they even raise chickens, geese, and rabbits to feed themselves. .....

Of course, a lot of these poor people are older, and elderly. they have no option to leave. Fixed incomes. No place to go. Most of the youth, they are gone the moment they can. Either to Budapest or abroad (brain and body drain). But not all. Some stick around.

But like I said, I know of no other expat in Hungary who choose this life aside from the UK couple that bought the cattle farm I mentioned earlier (but that couple are quite a bit better organized, and I of course do not know expat in Hungary). I guess that is more the "homesteader" type I only see on youtube. A different breed, and not one unique to Hungary (it really is an American thing mostly)

Mrs Fluffy and I were discussing the programme again and our eldest decided to see it as well.  She found it highly entertaining (apart from dispatching the chicken and the bunny wabbit). She's now a fan of Julia and Gareth.  But she's easily bought with the idea of a nice goat, chicken or a dog or in fact any other cute animal.  She found the guy with the bees very amusing - apparently he explained about the bees in a subtle and jokey but not unfriendly manner. 

I think while the locals may be poor, the younger ones can still migrate to the towns to look for work and send money back for the old folks.  Plenty of people do that all over the world.  Many of the people in the film were older, especially down at the market.  I didn't really see any younger people - just the kid on the toy tractor or the neighbour's daughter.

On other matters, I've still got a pile of rubbish as well in my garden too left over from construction. Unfortunately we cannot get a truck in with a "kontener" without chewing up the place. The ground is too soft. We'll shift it when it's less muddy and we've accumulated some more.  Nothing much wrong with piles of stuff in your garden - there's the scrap metal pile, the wood pile, the old planks pile and the outbuilding with old screws in jars.  All useful materials for making stuff come summer. 

As effectively a town dweller, and a liberal at that,  my cynical immediate thought is that any current government subsidy - especially in the current climate - is going to be manipulated.  I can see how for the poor, voting the right way is a small thing if there are free potatoes and wood. Oh and now there's absolution against previous or ongoing sins.

BTW, I also don't know any expats in Hungary - apart from virtual people here.

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, I also don't know any expats in Hungary - apart from virtual people here.

Hm. And what if I am really just an AI Russian bot? 

fluffy2560 wrote:

On other matters, I've still got a pile of rubbish as well in my garden too left over from construction.

I could invoke a pile size comparison challenge. But I won't. Because I am afraid I might win.....

fluffy2560 wrote:

Mrs Fluffy and I were discussing the programme again and our eldest decided to see it as well.  She found it highly entertaining (apart from dispatching the chicken and the bunny wabbit). She's now a fan of Julia and Gareth.  But she's easily bought with the idea of a nice goat, chicken or a dog or in fact any other cute animal.

Well there you go then.

Good for Julia and Gareth.

Just don't tell the eldest many or most of those cute critters will be dispatched for food at some point in time.

Completely anecdotal: When we bought our house, it came with a rather large rabbit hutch. The individual cages for each rabbit were really tiny (and rather filthy). The animals therein were just seen as food. No luxuries or love was given to food in those cages.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, I also don't know any expats in Hungary - apart from virtual people here.

Hm. And what if I am really just an AI Russian bot? 

Jeez, you too Tovarich? 

I thought I was the only Russian bot here serving my master VI (but the Putin version not  the Lenin one).

But never mind, maybe one of us bots will be elected as US President one day.

Spasiba!

What an interesting discussion.
Good luck to anybody who wants to settle in the Hungarian countryside. I'm not interested in fly on the wall TV. It is bound to show the worst side of life and mock people who choose an alternative lifestyle. IGNORE, IGNORE, IGNORE.
In my country District/ forest area there are one Italian family, four Dutch families,  a few single English and one Scottish guy. Oh and 650 Hungarians.

My Tanya, smallholding,  is in the forest between two villages and sad but true there is a lot of poverty in both villages. When I bought it I thought I would use it for more than a holiday home but as an incomer I like to spend more time in Budapest and elsewhere. Basic country life is too hard for many people especially over the winter when you have to keep fires burning. However it is lovely from the spring onwards when I can garden.
I have no interest in keeping animals because I'm vegetarian and like to move around and not be tied.

It is sad to see but many of the younger people do move on and one of the villages does have a regular and direct train to Budapest. This train takes just over an hour and it is always fairly full during commuting hours.

The working young men that live near me get picked up at the beginning of the week to work on decorating jobs in Slovakia and elsewhere. There is very little work locally.

Most of the remaining  villagers are families, elderly, disabled and involved in "scratch farming". For instance just a few chickens ducks and animals being fed for the cooking pot.
My language skills are poor but apart from saying hi and doing a bit of local shopping most people are just getting on with their own lives, and currently keeping the wood pile high.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

On other matters, I've still got a pile of rubbish as well in my garden too left over from construction.

I could invoke a pile size comparison challenge. But I won't. Because I am afraid I might win.....

Hmmm....you might but I'm still working on mine so there's time for me to catch up. 

In about 2 months (or whenever it's finally stopped being winter), I will personally - or with proxies - produce a large amount of rubble and crud from my garden from landscaping and outbuilding refurb.  Then we'll see which who has the biggest.

BTW, when we reconstructed this house, I reckon we used about 8 x 8m3 and 2 x 6m3 and maybe 1 or 2 x 4m3 "konteners" (UK: skip).  Amazing really how much stuff is generated from doing that work.

8m3 costs about 30K HUF each so pricey business.

anns wrote:

.....

It is sad to see but many of the younger people do move on and one of the villages does have a regular and direct train to Budapest. This train takes just over an hour and it is always fairly full during commuting hours.

The working young men that live near me get picked up at the beginning of the week to work on decorating jobs in Slovakia and elsewhere. There is very little work locally.

Most of the remaining  villagers are families, elderly, disabled and involved in "scratch farming". For instance just a few chickens ducks and animals being fed for the cooking pot.
My language skills are poor but apart from saying hi and doing a bit of local shopping most people are just getting on with their own lives, and currently keeping the wood pile high.

I live in commuter land myself.  The local bus is full up most of the time in the morning with people going into Budapest. I think we have pretty much full employment and in some nearby areas, even a labour shortage. I am surprised Slovakia is offering more work then here.  From what I've seen there's a real shortage of  skilled and competent tradespeople like carpenters, electricians etc. I believe most have left for more cash elsewhere and that's part of the general population decline in Hungary.

I've been trying to get someone to fix my dryer for several weeks but nope, no-one wants to do it.  I thought it'd be a quick few quid for someone but the way it's going,  even though I'm rather busy, I'll just have to do it myself.

Still getting my head round to them paying HUF 1,061,471 a year ago for it.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I've been trying to get someone to fix my dryer for several weeks but nope, no-one wants to do it.  I thought it'd be a quick few quid for someone but the way it's going,  even though I'm rather busy, I'll just have to do it myself.

Because no one can make a living earning just a few quid on repairing anything in Hungary. Taxes, taxes, taxes, and more taxes. That is the current life of the small business in Hungary. Not worth it. Especially for handyman work. Not small business friendly.

We had our washer repaired a couple of years ago. Cost half the price of a new washer. And all it needed was a new mounting rubber part.

SimCityAT wrote:

Still getting my head round to them paying HUF 1,061,471 a year ago for it.

That is about the price for these BFN village houses (to foreigners -- nobody else buys them).

I once offered 400,000 HUF for a really tiny (about 10 sq m in size (you could haul away the building on a trailer)) "house" (no outgoing "facilities" at all) in our village. The property it sat on was about the size of a postage stamp (so no chance to enlarge the building). But, thinking outside the box, I thought it would be a good office space for me or my wife to work, and it was walk in client accessible as it had a very good location for that, and if properly renovated. It really was of no use for anything else. Too small to live in. It was owned by the government at the time. It was instead sold to "a friend of the mayor" for 250,000 HUF by local government decision (so much for that "government suppose to take the high bid so called rule"). I offered to buy it from that person a year later... he wanted 3,000,000 HUF. I laughed at him. It still sits empty to this day. 8 years later. People are weird here about property.


P.S. I case anyone asks, what does "BFN" stand for, I am feeling generous today, so you can take your pick :

https://www.abbreviations.com/BFN

mmm I looked at the BFN list and just couldn't decide. Quite near to my tanya you can buy really run down places for less than 2000€.
Not much garden of course.
Sometimes the land around the building has already been sold.
However such an interesting dicussion because you could just buy one to use for
(1) storage and it could work out much cheaper than renting a storage facility.
Any more ideas?
(2) Near the bar so you never have to walk home.
(3) Overstaying friends or relatives.

(4) The film crew.