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and for years the country was waiting for the humorous New
            Year's  "country  appraiser"  as  one  person.  On  the  Microscope
            stage,  it  was  legitimate  to  criticize  public  life  in  a  humorous
            way  by  playing  the  brave  outspoken  person  who  could  be
            arrested for it at any time. Humour can kill, but no one was ever
            arrested  by  accident,  because  the  rules  of  the  game  were
            followed by the talented actors and they got rich.
            The seventies and the first half of the eighties pictured a large
            downward curve in the economy. In the meantime, many things
            became  fashionable,  society  began  to  consume,  which,
            however,  had little to  do  with the Western  consumer  society,
            and everything was done with loans taken out by the state on
            the western money market.
            Skiing  and  tennis  also  started  to  become  popular  again  in
            Hungary for wider circles. We learned to ski in Zakopane and
            went  there  every  winter,  even  if  we  did  our  usual  Western
            European trip in the summer. Now it was only possible to go to
            the  West  every  third  year,  and  everyone  who  could  afford  it
            went to marvel at the prosperity of the West and to buy a few
            interesting things, some good LPs. We also took our little son
            with us, and his generation has already grown up in such a way
            that skiing and traveling have become their natural way of life.
            From the beginning of the eighties, we also discovered Slovakia
            as a skiing destination. More and more ski slopes were built in
            North and South Chopok, in the Tatras, Deményfalva and other
            beautiful places.
            The hotels were full of Hungarian words. It was romantically
            beautiful to wake up in the  morning in the  comfortable room
            with my small family, living the shared experience and looking
            out the window to admire the snow that fell during the night, as
            the soft  snow covers the landscape, the branches of the trees,
            and the roofs of the houses. Then, after a pleasant and hearty
            breakfast,  get  on  your  skis  and  race  down  the  mountainside.
            That is, for those who were able to do this, because this was the
            time of the learning for the great majority. My son has already



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