Page 49 - Microsoft Word - 01_A MÁSIK OLDAL English.doc

I could just walk in to the Tower of London, and I was
practically the only tourist around. But all this was denied from
me in 1969, let alone settling down in England. I was planning
not to come home, no matter what. But my guardian angel acted
differently yet again. Kate and I travelled to Italy and France in
1971, we bought a ring in Venice and got engaged, but while
we were crossing Switzerland, I declared that we are not going
to return to communist Hungary. She brought me back
eventually, saying that there are friends and family at home. I
am coming home then, said I, but only if the Russians shove
off. What a joke it was. This sentence became a subject of
laughter. I laughed too. Nobody believed that they would ever
leave, not in our lifetime at least. A number of friends left and
settled in abroad later; even the closest ones. The country lost a
handful of great minds, whose knowledge to create values was
utilized by other nations. I lost contact with my penfriend, the
girl living in Totnes, England. Having had a pen-pal for ten
years was a good language practice and a great pleasure for me
to get to know people outside the communist world.

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