Trying to buy the School (part 3)

The yellow border marks the boundary

I drove down to Stanstead the morning of my flight and made it with plenty of time to spare despite several accidents on the M6. The flight was simple and I made it to E's place in time for a beer and chat before hitting the sack with much excitement about the next day.

That night I lay listening to the crickets making a racket in the garden and was unable to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time; I kept waking up feeling so nervous and excited. Finally it was time to get out of bed and I sat outside drinking my brew in the sun and the peace and quiet and the reality of what I was about to do hit home.

In less than three hours, all things going well, I would be the owner of the School. There was no going back, no changing minds or backing out; this thing was really happening.

What an exciting thought.

The view from the balcony of the School

We went down to the local town and met up with Georgi and his wife, and his little daughter, at a cafe just down the road from the council buildings. I had a Tree-Etno (three in one coffee thing from Nescafe, and teh only non alcoholic drink I have worked out I like over here....) while waiting for the time to roll around and then it was upon us.

Georgi had previously said that E would not be allowed to join me in the auction as they limited the numbers but we made an executive decision that she should come with and if she wasn't allowed into the room then fine, but we would make them make that clear rather than not even trying.

The building the auction took place in

First we went to the first floor and there myself and E sat on the sofa while Georgi stalked about looking in control and talking to people to find out where the auction was at. I, meanwhile, had shut my emotions down; I was too tense and just wanted to try and pay attention to everything which happened without being too uptight and excited.

At some unseen signal we moved up to the second floor and once again were sat on the sofa there waiting. Another chap came up the stairs; was he going to be bidding against us? Georgi went after him to find out and no, he was there for another purpose. Then, in a rush, a harassed looking woman appeared and hustled us down a corridor and into a room, appearing to be suggesting that we had kept them waiting.

The room was set up as a normal office; a desk down the middle with chairs both sides and computers at each end; we were told to sit on the right hand side and E was allowed in with out a question. After a couple of minutes of waiting a few more people from the council arrived and they all gathered on the other side of the desk; there were about five of them, and finally another man came in and sat on OUR side of the desk. Oh no, was this man going to bid against us?

Georgi the agent on the stairs at the School

With no ceremony one of the council representatives started reading aloud from a document and I caught enough words to know he was reading a description of my school. Georgi turned to me and smiled and said "this is it". The reading of the deeds was finished and the man picked up an envelope and, with a little pause and smile at me, opened it, read it, and said (in Bulgarian) "Chestito".

It took both Georgi and E telling me "he just said Congratulations so it is yours" before I fully realised what was going on; all that remained was Georgi signing a few bits of paperwork, them looking at my passport to confirm that I was the person detailed on the bid documentation, and it was done.

I had won the School!

In less than five minutes the other bidder had also had his envelope opened and accepted for a different property and we were walking out of the front door. He came after us and, in very good English, congratulated us on the purchase. It turned out he had been thinking of buying it, but had decided to go for a different place. What good luck as a counter bid would have caused the price to go up by 10% each time and my contract with Georgi was only for the initial bid amount.

Georgi then drove us up to the school to have a look around at what was now mine. It was a dramatic feeling to walk around the land talking on the phone to my dad telling him what had happened. Helpfully we also made contact with both neighbours and were able to explain to them that they had to remove the hay which was stored inside the school by March next year (not going to happen I don't think) and the other neighbour could have use of the long green wooden building until March also, in exchange for them keeping an eye on the place for me.

Hay piled up in one of the rooms at the School

My head was a little bit of a mess (to say the least) but I managed to make a couple of quick phone calls to loved ones to give them the news, sent a couple of tweets, and then get lost twice going for lunch at a lovely spot on the way back to E's.

A lovely lunch, and a couple of beers, later we headed on back to hers where I sat on the veranda on my own, drinking more beer, and finally allowed the enormity of the occurrence to sink in. I had done it and could look forward with concrete excitement to sitting on my own veranda (a balcony over the flat roof part of the school) within a year of now. I had a few tears in my eyes and shivers were running up and down my back.

That night I barely slept; I had a really long day planned the next day which involved getting back to England, picking my best mate up and driving all the way to Oldham without a break then, after a few hours of sleep, onwards up to the Islay ferry. Thinking this I actually went to bed at about 9pm but I woke at 3am and could not drop back off, even though I felt tired and my mind wasn't racing that much. I think it was just the adrenalin. And who could blame me.

I had achieved the first step of many. My very own Bulgarian Retreat.