idyll in Mojmirovce

Tues-Wed
Swimming at 07.00 in the morning – and cycling around the village is a great luxury. I realised that, starting from the stay in Wezembeek-Oppem, this journey has become quite nostalgic. Time spent in WO and in Mojmiriovce was always quality time – both places treasures in their different ways. Both offer quality living – but the first as an artefact of the 20th century with the emphasis on private wealth; the second is a real society very much centred on the Kastiel and the wider cooperative. Tuesday was the day Slovakia played its first ever game in World Cup Finals – against New Zealand – and, an hour before kick-off, a large TV screen was duly assembled in the Kastiel restaurant as we ate our lunch. Then a reunion with Edith, Tatiana and Theresa who had been so kind to us in 1996 when we rented the house from them. They have fallen on dark times in the last few years – and it was moving to see them all in such good spirits. They have been homeless for the past month or so – and with typical generosity Stefan has put them up at the Kastiel as they manage the Herculean task of making a home from the shell they have bought in the village.
At 14.00 the match started and within hopes were raised when Slovakia scored a goal. I had to leave for a haircut (afternoons only – and only 2 euros!) and my return seemed to bring bad luck as New Zealand equalised in the dying seconds of the match. The Kastiel is so successful that I was unable to prong my stay there (they have 100 beds) and the girls too had to leave – but fixed us all up at a friend’s who has a very large modern house in the village.
Wednesday I had promised to take Edith to the Nitra Hospital for her check-up - but the arrival of missing workmen called her back while we were en route. Later we resumed the journey – by which time steady rain had set in. I wanted to see the antiquarian shops – and duly bought Stefan a Czech ceramic tea set and entertained Edith and Tatiana to lunch with the rain drumming overhead. I had left Stefan with my material on Bulgarian and Belgian art – and presented him with the tea set.