A day of pottering around

Last night I left my parents and drove towards home, disturbing a group of goats on the track as I went down the hill from theirs, and I am sure I saw an owl flying away from me as I approached through my village. You just have to love the fauna and flora in this area; there is so much of it.

 

The moon rising over the hills

The moon had been looking amazing last night and I was going to jump on the balcony and take some photographs however it had clouded over a bit so I was glad my dad took some at my friends house. It was a lovely sight and another reminder of how beautiful this country is.

 

Here is my alarm clock

I slept well and was woken up by the dog next door which barked, constantly, for about two hours. I think it is asking for its breakfast however they ignore the poor thing. There are three of them and they are chained up right next to their kennels and as far as I can tell are never let off. They must be really bored. It is only the one dog which barks, though. Strange. I was getting very annoyed as I was trying to have a lay in and there was just no way. I suppose I could have put an earplug in but in the end I just got out of bed. It helped me to remember that it is me who has moved into their village, not the other way around, and I need to fit in with their habits. I can put up with the barking (he does it on and off throughout the day) except when it wakes me up. Oh well, such is life.

The first task of the day, as soon as I got out of bed, was to start cleaning Julian out; he was a total pigsty with mess from Sassy, and other bits that I just hadn’t bothered to remove when we unloaded him, and it was starting to get on me. It didn’t take long but now I am really happy to go in there and don’t feel ashamed any more. I also cleaned out Sassy’s cage and put all the mess into one of my humanure buckets for disposal later. The finishing touch to this spring clean was later when my friend arrived and encouraged me to open all the windows. Now he is lovely and fresh smelling and I am sure I will sleep well tonight.

 

My lovely posh toilet area

I was emptying the roof box on Thomas and just getting ready to take it off when suddenly I was caught short needing a “number two” and I started towards the long drop but then thought “no! I brought my toilet, I’m gonna use it”. I pulled everything together, including the aforementioned bucket with Sassy’s use sawdust, and took the humanure toilet to one of the small rooms on the corridor. There a brain wave happened and I made use of one of the dangerous sticky-out metal bars as a toilet roll holder; who says I’m uncouth! I won’t go into details but suffice to say my first use went smoothly and now we have all used it. I really do need to locate an external collection point now, and a source of sawdust, quite urgently.

 

The narrow "Most"

Once I had removed the roof box I moved a couple of things around like the generator and petrol cans into what will be the garage and then it was time to go and collect the parents. There are two ways to get to the local town; one of them is to go round by the new road and then across the main road bridge and back and the other is across a really narrow bridge; so narrow that at one point you have to pull the wing mirrors in on your car. It had been questioned whether I would manage to get over this in Thomas and he does fit so I have been taking this route every time.

 

Fishing in the morning sun

I decided to stop and take some snapshots of the river on my way over as it was looking gorgeous and glistening in the sun. There are so many beautiful sights around this area and this is one I can enjoy easily every day. There was a chap fishing in the centre and the a few more at the edges; maybe a sport I can get into one day.

I got to the hotel, did a bit of admin online and then we headed back down and across town to drop into my builders merchant. My plan was to buy some PVA or something equivalent to put down in Room 13 to keep the dust down, and then to get a rug or something to make it look a bit nicer. Once we arrived we had a lot of fun, me at first trying to explain to the lady there what I want and then eventually my Dad talking German to one of the men who was eventually able to point us to the correct item to seal an old floor. He was very concerned to tell us that we’d need to put screed down after if we wanted the floor to remain stable but that isn’t an issue for me as this is only a temporary measure while the part of the building I ultimately want to live in is done.

 

Sheep blocking the bridge

Thus we headed back to the school however as we came to cross the bridge there was a crowd of sheep at the far end. We paused for a bit wondering what to do and then I managed to translate the man’s gestures as “come over” not “turn around” so I went for it. He waved as we drove past, keeping his flock out the way, and then we noticed my friend bombing it up the dirt track to the school so hastened after her.

A cup of tea, some nattering, and it was away to the main local town to look for a washing machine and a fridge for me, have chicken and chips (peela kartofi) and a wander around the town. It took ages at the white goods store, at first because I couldn’t decide which washing machine to go for (I narrowed it down to three and then struggled) and then because the purchase process was complicated. I had to fill in (or rather, the helpful sales assistant filled in) a load of forms and then I had to pay and THEN I had to go and have the extended warranty done. At the end of this I was starving but happy; they will deliver the goods tomorrow afternoon and I will be able to start washing my clothes once I’ve plumbed it in. Win.

We had a lovely lunch at the little shack in the town centre and then set of walking around; I looked at some rugs but decided to wait, and then we went into the “ leva” shop and I bought a load of stuff like a draining tray and some gardening shears and a washing line and clips and then it was back to the car and home for another cuppa and then my friend left us.

 

We emptied Room 13 again. Hopefully for the last time

And thus the relaxing part of the day ended. First of all we emptied Room 13 which was OK apart from having to move the desk as it was (there was no way I was taking it apart again) but the three of us huffed and puffed and moved it without too much trouble.

 

My dad hard at work scraping the loose stuff

Then I split the three of us into separate tasks. Dad I had with the scraper taking the loose plaster and paint off the final walls in Room 13 so that we would reduce the mess that could accumulate while I’m using the room. He also swept and collected and cleared out the detritus after. A sterling job indeed.

 

Mum sweeping prior to moving

Mum I set to moving the gardening stuff from the initial store room into what will become the garage however first she grabbed a broom and swept a load of stuff up. The pile of bits in the store room is steadily reducing which is good.

 

Before any soil had been moved

Proof of me with a shovel in my hand

The hole I dug, showing the pipes

For myself I picked the hardest task. I want a standpipe off the man hole cover which was dug last year by Bekir and Sally so I had to uncover the pipes and work out what was happening with them. I started digging and pretty soon found my first pipe, and then the other two however it appears that they have connected the “bes pare” (free) water supply to a pipe going into the house! This is a bit naughty so don’t tell anyone. This meant that I had to extend my hole to track the pipes a bit so I could work out a plan for how to connect the free water to the stand pipe. I have achieved this so I’m happy however I think I may leave it for the men to do if and when they come over later in the week.

I am going to sign this off now as I am ready for going back home to have a quick bite to eat and sprinkle water over the dusty floor in Room 13. Fingers crossed I can get my internet into the school at least begun to be installed tomorrow; this is a struggle to have to delay the parents in the evening to write this.