Wednesday Briefing

Wednesday Briefing I.

(For those who wish an audio version of this blog, please accept this attempt at a shorter to-the-point piece. )

Summary

• The purpose of this briefing is to provide a succinct account of my weekend stay-cation in Budapest, Hungary.

• The weekend consisted of cleaning, writing and researching the MRP, meeting some new people, and discovering a new and fabulous coffee shop.

• Options for renewal are discussed

Background

• The past two weekends have been filled with travel to new and foreign lands, leaving this not-so-lone traveler slightly tired and in need of a little rest.

• After being away for two years, the owner of the not-so-lone traveler’s flat arrived at the slightly dirty, junk riddled, flat for the weekend.

• The owner brought along a friend, and together they spent the weekend touring the city. This not-so-lone traveler, currently, rooted in Budapest, joined in on the festivities to a limited extent, as a looming MRP deadlines draw closer and closer.

• The weather in Budapest was fantastic, making MRP writing hard, but allowing for the traveler to relish the sun from the seat adjacent to a window, and provide an excuse to enjoy one point five gombóc’s of home made ice cream at the Basilica, presented in the shape of a rose ( Flavours chosen (Lemon-basilikom and az Orange, vanília és karamell). Both delightful and refreshing.

• While Budapest is riddled with Coffee Shops, the hunt was on for finding that perfect, not exactly canadian but not closer to it than hungarian, cup coffee.

Analysis

• The slower weekend was a very good remedy for the tired and wiry. The stay-cation was perfect. And work on the MRP, while slow, made some progress. The wheels are churning through the muck (not turning, we aren’t there just yet).

• The owner of the Budapest apartment did a fantastic job in reverting once dirty flat to a clean flat. The owner also highlighted the important aspects of apartment cleanliness, including washing floor mats, floor tiles and ‘throwing out junk’. The not-so-lone traveler noted these comments, and was pleased to hear that she had been granted permission to throw away all broken items found the apartment, and, well, all the junk.

• The company of visitors to the city was warmly received, and the not-so-lone traveler was pleased to become an impromptu travel guide for several hours on Saturday night, and enjoyed Lunch Company on Sunday whilst thinking about her dad.

• Beautiful weather need no analysis beyond Sun = Happy.

• The coffee shop that was discovered had the perfect coffee for the not-so-lone travellor, offering the proper 'espresso' to 'milk' ratio to satisfy my desire for home-tasting coffee. This shop also offered the conveniences of English language services, menus and patrons, but also, had wifi and clean bathrooms. A downside, however, is that smoking is permitted in this establishment. This created some irritation for the not-so-lone traveller as cigarette smoke was annoying while attempting to understand what a conditional logistic regression was….

Policy Options

1) The not-so-lone traveler should continue to stay in Budapest for weekends, and enjoy the city’s weekend life and retain adequate levels of cleanliness in living quarters (carpets washed once a month so the red colored carpet does not become two toned once again), continue to enjoy the sun and her coffee adventures.

2) The not-so-lone traveler should ensure that adequate weekends in Budapest are planned, leaving wiggle room for travel to foreign lands, and retain adequate levels of cleanliness in living quarters (carpets washed once a month so the red colored carpet does not become two toned once again), enjoy the sun, and attempt a take away coffee to avoid smokey coffee shops.

Signed,

The not-so-lone traveler
June 23, 2010
Budapest.

Action:

Policy Option 2 has been chosen.

Signed, the not-so-lone travellor.
June 23, 2010
Budapest.