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A week ago I was gobsmacked when a deaf friend asked me how I could afford to buy a house in the UK. He asked if I had won the lottery. The answer to that is No. I had saved enough for a deposit and got a mortgage for my first property, a two bedroomed flat. The area was gentrified and value of property went through the roof! That gave me enough to buy a second property.
Try explaining that to a Hungarian in my village they'd never understand.
I felt really offended because the deaf friend house was bought with the proceeds from a property bought with lottery money! Only the other day he'd said he had worked hard all his life .... but come on ..... was it from his earnings to buy his house .... nope! 100% lottery funded!
I've also been quizzed on how much I have in the bank after buying our house, home improvements, and buying a new car! My response ....... a blank face.

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In addition to the above before I ordered my Skoda Kodiaq I was thinking of buying a Honda CR-V. Deaf friends son accompanied me at the car showroom. Later I got wind of a "joke" between him and his parents I'd sell that Honda CR-V after three years to them at a generous discount!
I didn't find it very funny!
Suffice to say I've made it clear my Skoda Kodiaq will be my last car before hanging up my driving gloves.
If I sell it it will be at Hungarian used car sale prices based on kilométeres.

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Speaking of transportation issues , I sold my 5 series BMW last year and since then both of my good neighbours whom used to on occasion drive me around before I had the car have now had accidents with their vehicles and commented they wish I still had mine so I could loan it to them or drive them around. I was barely driving the thing and it need some expensive repairs that I did not want to spend money on so I sold it at a loss to get rid of the vehicle insurance and MOT that were soon coming due. Lettting a vehicle sit is never a good idea.

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The accidents your neighbours have had I think it was a very good decision to get rid of your car. I wouldn't be happy if neighbours crashed my car!

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I must say both of these neighbours are great neighbours and I am happy to help them as much as I can. However, I cannot see owning and maintaining a vehicle that at the end I was driving less than 100 km per month after Tesco started offering hom delivery in my area my reason for purchasing it originally went away. Now I understand InterSpar in my area is also offering home delivery. I did have a look at their website but since my Hungarian is very limited I never could figure out how to make an account. They do not have an English version of their online shop. If I can get signed up I could use it though. I will have to get one of the 2 neighbours with no drivable vehicles to come help me make an account and tell me anything I need to know about their delivery and policies. Too bad they do not have an English or German version of the site I can manage most German language websites.

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I get around the problem of Hungarian only websites by using Google Chrome on my desktop Mac ... open the website, right click anywhere on the page and a dropdown box gives the option of translating into English ... very useful ...

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My mobile automatically translates Hungarian to English. On my lap top I just need to click translate and it does the business.

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I do not have a mobile phone or an lap top with a translate feauture.. I tried Google translate but the InterSpar website could not have the dialogue box test work with cut and paste. That was where I got lost. No matter I will get a native to help me and I should be good to go.

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You need to open your browser, go to google.com and punch in the search term or name of the website you want to visit. Google will normally offer the option of translating the site for you, especially if you are visiting a .hu site and have English as your laptop settings.

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You are right, normally but for some reason it does not work on the InterSpar.hu website. I have just monkied around and even tried using a different compiuter. All my computers are Lenovo or Dell desktops. I do not know if that makes any difference, they all were sourced from back home in the UK. Thanks for your reply.

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I just gave it a try out of curiosity using the right click - translate to English ... left that site but then went back to the site and it automatically translated it without me doing anything. Not saying it will work on your set up but it might ...

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...499d0ce174.png

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I guess the fact I am using W7 could also be a factor? I hated W10 when I tried it and I am sure W11 will not change my mind.

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Possibly as Windows 7 no longer gets any updates so it could be that feature isn't available. I have a laptop running Windows 10 but only as an emergency back up and I've rarely used it so I don't know if it translates but I would be surprised if it doesn't.

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You could look closer at your Google Account settings or try installing Google Chrome or Firefox. The browser shown above is Safari most likely on an Apple computer.

Windows 7 was always great, but with such an old system you may be missing out on some helpful modern features.
Please ensure you have an up to date antivirus programme or internet security installed while you continue to use W7.

Tip: Lenovo makes nice Chromebooks which are not so expensive.

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As per a previous post. it is indeed a Mac but the browser is Chrome, not Safari, just to clarify !

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Lenovo (which btw took over the IBM pc business many years ago ...) also makes nice laptops for Windows 11. Earlier this year I bougt one in Germany and after a little discount the price was just 280€.including W11.
Not bad.

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I have owned 3 laptops over the years and I never had good luck with them so I use Desktops because they seem to be more robust. I have (2 Dell and 1 Lenovo with W7) and (1) Dell running XP. I use the Lenovo Think Centre as my primary computer and the other 3 seldom go online allthough they are still connected and capable. I use one for a media computer for watching movies and videos. It has a 2GB HDMI video card, one of the others has photographs on it and the other one has videos about DIY projects. I should get a more up to date computer but until I have no choice I will use my current fleet. Certainly updates seldom happen from MS but I still get updates from other software from time to time. My neighbour said she would help me with setting up InterSpar for me so I should be set by the weekend.

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Agreed, desktops seem to have more longevity than laptops do ! I was quite happy with XP and 7 but the 10 just doesn't feel right, a laptop trying to replicate a mobile 'phone without the calling feature ! I can't imagine going back to Windows after using Mac for so long, they just quietly do what they are supposed to do but I guess it's what you are used to. The Mac desktop I use now has been going well since I bought it new in 2012 but I've upgraded the OS as far as it can go so that will be it now until it dies on me ... can't say that I'm looking forward to shelling out over 2k sterling to replace it though !

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My first desktop was a Dell. The stupid delivery driver carried all three boxes in his arms. He dropped the biggest box, desktop, just as I opened the front door. Immediately I complained to Dell who agreed to exchange the desktop dropped but I had to fork out the cost for that before getting a refund on the dropped desktop!
I agree desktops are more robust but as the one mentioned above was on it's way out got a Dell 15". It was more practical because the desktop was in the 3rd bedroom upstairs. We had no room downstairs to put it. As my wife moved in before we married and was using it most of the time I bought myself a Dell 13" and additional monitor. At work we were all given Dell 14" laptops with WiFi and mobile broadband so we could use them off site, I.e. at other sites where we attended meetings. The laptops were also loaded with Lync, the business version of Skype. Jeez, no one thought how heavy the laptops would be. Some colleagues were given a second laptop to use when working from home so they didn't have to lump it around commuting to work and home. The laptop bag wasn't fit for purpose so I bought something more suitable. A wise choice because a colleague cycling along the road had it ripped off her.
At one time NHS was in partnership with Microsoft offering NHS employees the lastest Windows for just £18.
My latest Dell 13" laptop has Windows 10. Seems I cannot update it to Windows 11 because it's not compatible. Strange! Atleast I have Microsoft Office which I used extensively for our move here in Hungary.
Working for NHS using the Dell 14" laptop I had two additional 21" monitors all plugged in so I could jump between laptop monitor and the other two.

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I didn't know Lenovo took over IBM. The first desktop I used at work in 1983/4 was an Apple with Visicalc software! A year later that was switched for an IBM with Lotus 123. I was pretty good with both and ended up training my department's colleagues and others within the financial services side of the company I was working for. I got two very nice pay rises one year apart for that work. But I was gutted not to be sent to Paris and Toronto to install our IBM and Lotus 123 software. I left after year 3 but it was another three years before the skills above were used again because desktops and software at the charity where I went to work were about 20 years behind! It was impossible to get anyone to consider using Lotus 123! Then working for NHS they used Microsoft Excel.

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Since we're here in the fond memories thread I have to describe one of my favourite projects:
Many, many years ago in the mid 80s the IT boss of one of my customers told me that he and his assistants would travel to the USA to look at the IT development there. Over two weeks they would visit IBM and othere computer companies from NYC to Silicon Valley, several large banks from San Francisco to Atlanta and the World Bank in Washington DC.
Wow I said and the he asked me:
Would you like to come with us?
Sorry, but that trip would be beyond my monetary limit ...
No, no! It would be a paid business trip for you - we need a guy with us who speaks really good English and me and my assistants are not that good as you in English and IT - we know you!
That journey gave the company a lot of valuable info - so it was repeated twice over the next years.
On the last trip we even visited Boca Raton ...

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I worker for IBM for 25 years starting in 1968................And then became a farmer - Nuf said !

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What a small world!
My ex husband worked for IBM from 1963 until his death in 1983. He was top world salesman twice, the first time in 1964 having sold an enormous number of IBM dictating machines to the monitoring station at Bracknell. We were then transferred to South Africa where he organised the launch of the IBM systems 32 in 1976. He made top world salesman for the second time if I remember rightly in 1978.

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:thumbup:

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Reading the above about your careers I'm quite envious I didn't get the same opportunities. For a start I'm profoundly deaf so had to go away to a deaf boarding school to get a decent education. At boarding school the deputy headmaster was the history teacher and for fifth & sixth formers careers advisor. As the deputy he was constantly called away from history class to deal with emergencies! As to careers I don't recall sitting down for a serious chat with the careers advisors. As to my parents looking back I think they could have got some of my Uncles and cousins to talk to me about that. I didn't do very well to get my place at the sixth form college but I was admitted. I pulled out because I had no confidence in one person on the interview panel. I had passed more GCEs and CSEs than the others in my class! Most of them went into a trade having had help from their parents, social workers, etc. It took me six months to find my first job, one that didn't require GCEs or CSEs! It was obvious every boy in my class had a much better paid job than myself. We all wrote letters to keep in touch back then!
But atleast I'm very content with my life now. One of my classmates has MS and is confined to a wheelchair, one is going blind, one has serious mental health issues, one has a long list of medical conditions (half of which I think are fake to get maximum PIP for motability car). I retired in a a job at a much higher level than any of them and learnt skills to be almost 100% independent. There's a few occasions when we need help from someone to make telephone calls here in Hungary. We didn't need that in UK. Thankfully, alot of banks, service providers, DWP, etc. have a sign language interpreter service!