Magdalena Williams came to the U.K. from Vienna in 1970 to attend her mother’s wedding and chose to make the U.K. her home. She undertook several career changes until her retirement in 2016 from the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She started as a teacher of Hungarian and German to diplomats and finished in the Nigeria Team which was inter alia looking at how to defeat Boko Haram. Before joining the FCO, she worked as a psychologist in hospitals and ran creative therapy workshops in prisons and clinics. Her interest in writing was first raised when she decided to research her family history and leave a record of how her mother, the daughter of a landed gentry family in Hungary fleeing Communism, first to Vienna then Germany, ended up in rural Kent. Magdalena is an ardent Remain campaigner, a Green Party member and she will proudly be forever European.
After France, Belgium and Holland, the longest part of the journey is on the German Autobahn. That that is not my favourite part of the trip, I must admit. I won’t bore you with what I thought were hair-raising moments when four or five cars driving with next to no distance between them overtook at incredible speeds. I also lost count of how many road works I encountered.
My dog was stolen, recovered miraculously after 18 months, but he went on his final journey last week. Dog owners beware of theft.
The first Covid survivor I met left me in a shock. The horrible illness left lots of marks Peter will carry for the rest of his life.
Shortage of HGV drivers affects Kent particularly due the historic volume of trade that passes between the EU and UK via the port of Dover.
Set off to Orbán’s Hungary to visit parents, siblings and friends. What do people think of government policies. Families are divided.
The German Health System is 77% government-and 23% privately funded by statutory health insurance based on payments into “Krankenkassen”
As Hungarian refugees my family visited Sevenoaks in 1961 straight from a refugee camp in Austria. It was a culture shock.
Our refugee family arrived in a tiny village in Germany where our aunts lived. The country was recovering from the war.
The new PCSC Bill clause 4 amends Part 2 of the Public Order Act 1986, which provided various powers to manage processions and assemblies. The Bill broadens out the range of circumstances in which conditions can be imposed on public assembly including noise generated by persons taking part.
Last year T received his settled status. But to his shock his employer thinks it’s not valid and he might face suspension