Don't let the age fool you
A few weeks ago my sister and I travelled OS together. This is something that we had never done before, so it was the beginning of a lot of 'first's.' First to spend more than eight hours together, first to face tragedy together (another story to tell) and a first for me to show her the Budapest I love so so much. One of the 'first's' was a visit to the thermal baths, one of the most famous in the city, The 'Szecsenyi Furdo.' The thermal healing waters of the baths were discovered in the 1880s and although now popular with tourists, the ritual of bathing in these baths has long been engrained in the culture of the Hungarian people. When I was a child only the mamas and the papas used to religiously frequent the 28 degree waters and I would complain how boring it was because I wasnt allowed in to 'bomb' and splash around. According to my great aunt Rose, the etiquette of relaxing in the soothing waters did not permit Sylvia aged 12 and her famous double barrel spike dive.Fast forward a couple of decades later, here I am back at the baths with my sister, relaxing in the soothing waters sans dive. And so too are the usual suspects, the mamas and the papas. What I did observe was that whilst the individuals did fall into a generalised age bracket, this gentleman in particular really surprised me. Not long after I finished, showered and changed, he shuffled out after me - slippers and all. He gave me a nod and a smile, checked that his belongings were neatly folded in his plastic bag and stood for a while. I began to imagine who he may have been once as he mumbled to himself, probably going over that nights dinner ingredients, when his mobile phone rang, which caught me by surprise.And the dialogue that flowed freely from his lips, I can't translate here. Gone were my romantic notions of a stereotypical gentleman! I've never seen a boney hand swipe an iphone faster than Trump sending a tweet. Who ever was at the end of that conversation had better high tail it to collect him pronto! I don't deny that I laughed out loud, he naturally assumed I was a tourist, but I gather my laugh gave me away.
5 extra observations of the 'older' kind
Never underestimate that the mind is still stronger than the body
If you listen closely, you'll hear the humour
The older they are, the tougher they become
Age really is a mindset. There were people in the baths who defied what it meant to be older
Enjoy your 'first's.' Whilst my sister was busy filling her soul with her wonderful pictures, I got to show her a 'first.'
#szecsenyifurdo #budapest #thermalbaths #observations
