For Lord Berners, composer, writer and artist, life at Faringdon was never without incident, much of it derived from the highly imaginative, if not at times wild, mind of the youthful Robert Heber-Percy.
 |
| Lord Berners at work at his easel |
Sadly, as yet, we have no such 'Mad Boy' to amuse, delight and entertain us as we alternate between our Brighton 'rooms' and the fin de siecle apartment which is our home in Budapest.
 |
| Robert Heber-Percy as painted by Lord Berners |
Yesterday, at the hairdresser, András V was sporting a Michael Jackson tee shirt in shades of purple, red and grey. Not a happy combination, or so it seemed to us, but then any absence of sartorial elegance is more than made up for by a lively intelligence matched with a great sense of fun. Ever an optimist, he is in search of the perfect partner with whom to share his carefree life. That the criteria by which he judges potential 'candidates' is beyond all human endeavour is something of which neither of us makes mention. Whatever, he will come to supper on Wednesday of next week.
On the way home we spotted Vilmos K, the younger son of our dentist neighbour. Since his return from America [doing what?] he appears more Goth-like than before. Dressed from head to foot in sombre, no funereal, black but without the flashes of silver associated with much body piercing, he cuts a somewhat startling figure. Something of a contrast to his pleasant, bourgeois parents.
Regrettably, neither András nor Vilmos owns a horse so each must, therefore, be disqualified as a potential 'Mad Boy'. The search continues....
Congratulations on your new blog, I'm intrigued by what you might post. Glad to be friends in the blogosphere.
ReplyDeletewww.houseofhemingway.blogspot.com
House of Hemingway:
ReplyDeleteHow thrilling to receive our first comment from you. Thank you! We hope that you will find things of interest in what we write.
Congratulations on your new blog. I am already interested, an curious too, about all that coffee house's exploring around Europe. Budapest, I haven't been there, yet, but Brighton I like it very much. I lived in London some years ago and I used to go a lot to Brighton to visit friends.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for joining my blog too.
Pet:
ReplyDeleteWe are more than excited to welcome you as our first Follower. Thank you!
We spend far too much time in coffee houses of which there are plenty in Budapest. It is a city well worth a visit.
Many thanks for your visit to my blog! A very interesting first post, so of course I cannot wait to see more!
ReplyDeleteDavid Toms:
ReplyDeleteHow generous! We look forward to continuing the dialogue. Thank you so much for Following.
Dear Jane and Lance, your neighbourhood sounds as colourful and Bohemian as Lord Berners' autobiography, First Childhood. Thank you so much for your lovely comment on my blog. I shall look forward to reading your next post. Have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteA Super Dilettante
Super Dilettante:
ReplyDeleteMost of the English who venture abroad to live find themselves in France or Spain. Life in Hungary is definitely different but much more suited, we feel, to our interests and ways of life.
Thank you for your kind words about my blog and for the follow. I have reciprocated!
ReplyDeleteHaving visited both Budapest and Brighton and having good memories of both, I am delighted to learn more about both places through your blog.
Nicholas V:
ReplyDeleteHow delighted we are to have you as a Follower and to learn that you know both Budapest and Brighton. We shall look forward to future dialogue.
Well done! Looking forward for your next posts guys.. greetings from NY.
ReplyDeleteNick D:
ReplyDeleteReally delighted to have you as a Follower - thank you. We too are looking forward to your future postings.
Felicitations on your new blog you both. The Budapest/Brighton axis looks fascinating.
ReplyDeleteRose C'est La Vie:
ReplyDeleteHow very kind of you. Your good wishes are much appreciated.
Dear Jane and Lance, thank you for your fantastic comments. Lovely to have found you. Great post! My best friend at school's mother used to ride her horse straight into their drawing room in Somerset and sit there having a chat with us!
ReplyDeleteYour places in Brighton and Budapest look wonderful. I hope you're enjoying the weather at one of them xx
Christina@Fashion's Most Wanted:
ReplyDeleteYour best friend's mother sounds to have been great fun. Perhaps she knows a 'Mad Boy' or two? Whatever, it must have made Afternoon Tea a not-to-be-missed occasion!
How wonderful that you have signed up as a Follower, we much look forward to keeping in touch.
Congratulations on the debut of your most promising blog.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with inspiration, and may you never be bothered by glitches as you attach pictures, save documents, and edit.
Kind regards,
Square
Square With Flair:
ReplyDeleteYour kind wishes are much appreciated.There does seem to be so much to learn but it is such fun!
Divine Blog. I've bookmarked you hopfully. How will you live up to it in further posts?
ReplyDeleteWe try to do blog but achieve only spasmodic entries when I remember to find time.
Os deseamos muchisima suerte.
Sam
Serrano:
ReplyDeleteWe really appreciate your kind words. And, trust that you have now had chance to look at our further posts.
We hope to welcome you back soon!
Jane & Lance:
ReplyDeleteThis comes rather late in the game for this post, however: Is this a new format/blog for you - did you have an old blog?
Have been enjoying a few of your posts - Savoy, Montaigne - Russian friends - looking forward to more.
Goose Vintage:
ReplyDeleteWe are delighted that you have enjoyed some of the posts and are so pleased to welcome you as Followers.
To answer your question, this is our first blog, and no this is not a new format. We just thought to have a go!
Welcome to Blogland, not that I'm on the official welcome wagon, I just love the world of blogging and am always happy to find "new to me" bloggers. I also wanted to thank you for visiting my corner via Emily (Emily who?) You certainly do live intriguing lives and "esoteric" is an excellent word to describe your blog. All the best!
ReplyDeleteVee:
ReplyDeleteHow really kind of you to give us such a warm welcome. In a very short space of time we have had huge fun and have 'met' so many wonderful people, such as yourself, and have read so much of interest which is new to us.
Emily is of The French Hut, another very enjoyable blog.
Thank you for your comment and we shall very much hope to see you here again. Have a lovely weekend.
Made me look. ☺ Off to see if I can remember Emily...
ReplyDeleteVee:
ReplyDeleteSorry, French Hutch, not 'hut'. May your search be fruitful!
' ... any absence of sartorial elegance is more than made up for by a lively intelligence matched with a great sense of fun.'
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Mostly because I am dispossessed of any sartorial elegance but hope to make up for it with, at the very least, a great sense of fun.
It quite sounds to me like the two of you should have liked a son as much as me.
With love and care,
Your friend, Suze.
Suze:
ReplyDeleteForget the sartorial elegance as your rapier wit, honed intelligence and huge sense of fun more than compensate. And, just think what a party it could be should we all have the great fortune ever to be in a room together!
Oh, frabjous day!
ReplyDeleteSuze [again]:
ReplyDeleteWe must, we shall, we WILL!!
Ah, so it is true, you do indeed have a dentist as a neighbour!
ReplyDeleteMay I be as bold to enquire as to whether you had an old blog?
You are a curious couple, I am intrigued.
Sx
Miss Scarlet:
ReplyDeleteYes, of course, we have a dentist as a neighbour -quite de rigeur in Budapest!!
This is our first go at a blog which we began in April of this year and have enjoyed 'meeting' so many varied and interesting people along the way. Including, of course, yourself!
We are thrilled to welcome you as a Follower and look forward to an on-going dialogue.
Lord Berners had his priorities just right!
ReplyDeletewilliam martin:
ReplyDeleteWe think so too!! But sadly C21 Mad Boys are somewhat elusive! Thank you so much for your comment.
Late to the party as usual, I am going to take a leisurely stroll through your posts. I am quite fascinated by the fact you live in Budapest one of my favourite European cities. My paternal grandfather was Hungarian, and immigrated from the area which is now the western part of Romania, in 1902. Excuse me now whilst I go through my map collection for a street map of Budapest to see where C19 is :)
ReplyDeleteDolly:
ReplyDeleteHow delightful to welcome you to our very first post and how very sweet and kind of you to show such interest. It is much appreciated.
And how really fascinating that your grandfather should have been Hungarian and to have come from that part which, under the Trianon Treaty of 1919/1920 was annexed to Romania.
We love living in Budapest and very much regard Hungary as our adopted country.
Yes, the story of the grandfather I never knew and who's surname I still have, fascinates me. I still have relatives there, and with the help of my friend JD (Romanian born Hungarian) we are trying to trace my family!
ReplyDeleteDolly[again]:
ReplyDeleteSuch a fun idea to trace your family ancestry and good that you have help to do so. Trying to find one's way through the labyrinth of Hungarian archives must be very difficult and time consuming. But, we are sure that it will all be there.....somewhere in a dusty ledger!!!
Starting way back here at the beginning, I'm so looking forward to following the two of you. I've always been charmed by your gracious responses at our mutual friend, Rachel's Lawn Tea and somehow had it in my head that you had suspended your blog. Glad to see that that is not true and that I have this to look forward to. Having been raised by an English stepdad, I am a completely Anglophile American. My husband and I made our first trip to England last May and I STILL haven't finished reporting on it on my blog. I'm charmed by all I've seen about Hungary also, so I've lots to look forward to here!
ReplyDeleteWelcome. And thank you so much for signing as our latest Follower. It is much appreciated. Thank you too for such very kind and generous words. We too much enjoy 'Lawn Tea' which is one of our favourite blogs. For ourselves we usually post about once a week, but sometimes the gaps are slightly longer!!
DeleteHow wonderful that you are an Anglophile and have recently visited England which, we hope, you enjoyed. Our great wish is to visit the United States. We only defer it at the thought of the long flight.