scrubbedexpat142

Fair enough - just my opinion based on my personal experiences, which admittedly are 5 years ago (& longer). Last time I was there, in Toulouse this subject came up with some French colleagues who commented that the French can be very difficult - again, just their opinion.

Tweedpipe

Sure, totally agree that the French can be very difficult. Still married to one......

scrubbedexpat142

duztee

For myself, purely economical because I am one of those filthy smokers, and yes I am addicted and No I am not giving up!
So living on a pension Hungary or anywhere else where I can indulge my disgusting habit cheaper is fine.

As for socialising I don't and never have, this forum is about my limit, I am really happy and content in my own quiet world and can go weeks without speaking to a soul. It took my neighbours a while to work this out but they are finally trained to just give a friendly wave and leave it at that, took slightly longer to break them of the habit of wanting to shake hands all the time.

But the OP asked why Hungary, especially considering the politics of the country, Answer, I am old!
I really don't bother about the political situation here or in the UK, and global warming/climate change probably isn't going to be my cause of death, even if it is a serious issue.
I travelled a lot in my youth, flying all over the world and it was fun, now airports and aircraft and public travel is so anti smoker (rightly so) the only way for me to travel and smoke is to do so alone by car, also at my age long haul travel is not so enjoyable as it was, so living in Hungary is slightly more central for warm European destinations than always starting from 'Up North'.
I lived a few years in Spain until costs started to spiral, France never ever! The capital is Paris that's with an IS how can it be ParEE? and don't get me started on why they need Bord(eaux) just to say 'o'
If I was moving now I would probably choose Croatia, but then I wouldn't be able to go there for superb holidays.
So I guess it is a case of choosing your country and making it work for you, accepting the things that are not perfect and balancing them against the good points.

Tweedpipe

duztee
Your comment about the French pronunciation of ParEE made me smile. A few years ago we were living in Chantilly, north of Paris.
We'd invited a work colleague to an evening meal at home. He was a bachelor, and notorious for being a loner and extremely cantankerous.
During the main course, we asked him if he'd done anything interesting that day. To which he replied, "I took a drive out to Senlis to see the gothic cathedral" (pronouncing Senlis as one would assume the French would, 'SenlEE'). My wife politely corrected him, "No, Paul, the correct pronunciation is SenlEES".
"No it's not!" he shouted loudly, "It's SenlEE and always will be SenlEE!!"
My wife calmly said to him, "Unlike ParEE, I'm afraid it's one of the exceptions to the rule. It really is known everywhere as SenlEES.
"Impossibe!!" he snorted. And hardly said another word all evening.
Of course my wife was right. But regarding French pronunciations, go figure........

enter

FenTiger

I'm yet to move to Hungary and my reasons for wanting to move there are: Pension will go further than UK, Outdoor life, Wife's family live in Hungary (mine are all dead or got nothing in common), want to buy a bit more land than I could afford in UK and live in the area of our choice, palinka (costs far too much to buy in UK), Soproni Fekete (Guinness is like drinking watered down beer), plenty of lakes where you can go for a free drip in the water, access to TV sports in Hungary alot cheaper or free than in UK. I guess there's more but ...... I could go on forever.

scrubbedexpat142

Are you going to make it over before October 31?

scot47

I have had an interest in Hungary since the events in Budapest in 1956. Was offered a job there in 1990 but did not take it up. Too late now to think of hearing there !

scot47

typo - "hearing" should be "moving"

FenTiger

My wife is Hungarian so nothing beyond that will stop me moving to Hungary. I could move over before October as I'm retiring August. I'm praying for a good deal. We need one in UK as we employ alot of Europeans in NHS.

scrubbedexpat142

Of course! I forgot! Hope all goes well!

duztee

Yes I forgot this one Fen, I have been a life long F1 fan, even if it is now a mere shadow of it's former self it is still nice to have all the races and qualifying live on free to air.
I usually watch the race live on Hungarian T.V. with the sound off and listen to the BBC Five live commentary, which is usually 3 or 4 seconds behind so the cars are already at the second corner when the commentator shouts 'Lights out, their off!' But that is a lot better than the delay of many hours before Channel 4 get around to showing the race. and a lot cheaper than paying Sky!
That said Hungarian T.V. does tend to show a lot of mind numbingly boring sports as well.

scrubbedexpat142

I do leave the Hungarian commentary on (in the hope of improving my Hungarian!) but refer to the BBC text commentary for clarification.

FenTiger

England football matches no longer on BBC or the other terrestrial TV channels. Had to watch England v. Holland via BT Sport via Internet. Total crap with the footballers leaving vapour trails behind them but free as a gesture from BT Sport. I can't imagine this happening anywhere else in the world.