Hungarian Army Marks Reveille

This morning I was woken by the Hungarian Army accompanied by a 25-piece military band.

Yes, all 60 Magyar soldiers turned up in full dress khaki for a marching display around the parade ground. (Forgive the unavoidable sizeist joke – I don't forget their other deployments on active service in Afghanistan.)

But what, I'm sure, you all actually want to know is: do Hungarian soldiers goose-step?

Well, in fact they do – a little. But only in short steps. And only briefly to show they can do it. The rest of the time they march normally, though with a high swing of the arm like beating the chest – which, incidentally, looks good with smart white gloves.

The occasion, it seems, was simply to present themselves to the Minister of Defence – or perhaps it was the other way round. Anyway, this short round-faced man, in a suit that was unfortunately too large, received the display gracefully, but without any comment.

After the trouble of arranging this parade, it was then deemed sensible to allow the soldiers a little further exercise. Filing out into the street, executing a smart U-turn, marching back through the parade ground and out the other end, they disappeared for twenty minutes, presumably for a march about town and a display for the wider citizenry.

On reflection, it's possible this was all a good excuse for practising manoeuvres for a more significant event later in the week, involving the world's most powerful nation. More on that later...