Kocsis Irma: A tour of our Locals. (A very quick one) - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)

dren living in the neighbourhood come here for their lunch. Everyone knows everyone, it is not a place where one strays in by chance. Mo one chances by here. Unless it’s recently been changed, one of the neon lights in the garden is green. When only this green light is switched on, it’s like a trip to Mars. On the other side of the street, trains sometimes rattle past on the embankment. The railway station of Zugló is not far. (The men’s lavatories are a mecca for Budapest graffiti.)

Egressyúti 1496 os No. 1496, Egressyút

XIV. Egressy út 18/A

A wine-cellar. They have put three or four galvanized iron tables out in the street. At first 1 thought the waitress popped out of the bush growing by the wall of the house, but then found it was just that the vegetation had overgrown the stairway. I must try it out. 1 elbow my way into the bush and go down the stairs, and find myself face to face with the lady cashier, who is male.

Izsáki Borozó Izsáki Wine-Tavern

XIV. Nagy Lajos király út 166

One among the many Izsákis. A place where weakness of mind is treated with indulgence. Monday: 8 am-8 pm, Tuesday: 8 am-8 pm, Wednesday: 8 am-8 pm, Thursday: 8 am-8 pm, Friday: 8 am-8 pm, Saturday: 8 am-8 pm, Sunday: 8 am-8 pm, no off days. Behind the barmaid, an inscription burned into plywood says in flaky brown letters:

I cadged and begged for hours on end Had no luck and found no friend I’m stony broke, account’s all debit And all Lad says is sorry no credit.

Mária, a little old lady in a blue nylon coat, says “There used to be a pub here on the corner of Hungária körút, the Shit-around... Mo, not the delivery horses, that’s old news. The customers.”

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