Residency

Today has been epically busy but not in a "lots of different stuff" sense but in a "lots of progress made" sense. I'm really late starting typing this as I haven't really been around at all today so you may get treated to a relatively short blog. You lucky people you.

Glorious golden sunset

The blog starts last night however as I had published so long before sunset I didn't feel like adding an "edit" to show this picture as it was so beautiful. I am so blessed every day with the sights and sounds of this house that I love sharing it with you all. I did have another thing I was going to add which is a bit of a funny story about my generator which myself and T got sparked up and pulled an extension to Room 13 to plug the fridge/freezer and router into and then realised I don't have the right plug adaptor to put a two pin into a three pin. Foiled by a simple stupid. Oh well.

Sleeping Rambo

My evening was lovely as ever, with a pizza, some beer and a brilliant conversation and then, relatively early again, I headed out to Julian to read for a bit while gym-ing was going on and as usual Rambo was laying on the earth waiting for me and followed me back to his cage nuzzling my hand the whole way. Earlier in the evening I had been to the toilet and spotted him laying down in a really funny position with his entire body on the porch and his head hanging off over the edge. This was the best picture I could get sadly and when I opened the door to try and take a clearer one he woke up and moved.

When I was walking to Julian I noticed immediately that the fireflies have appeared on my land; there were loads of them, some sitting, some flying past but all pulsing with ghostly light. I put Rambo away, dumped my stuff in Julian, and then came out to shoot a video. It isn't the best but you can see a few fireflies, one sitting on the roof of the green building and another flies past. While I was out there I could also see the strange flashes coming from over the horizon. I'm pretty sure these are lightening however it has just occurred to me that the military jet sounds have been coming from the same direction.

High cloud and hazy, cooler, sun for starters

I slept the sleep of the just and woke up at 6am very briefly followed by 6.20, 6.45 and then 7. I was very aware of not wanting to sleep in past 7 like I have the past few days, so I can get my morning started in the way I like. That morning dawned with lots of high cloud and the sun not really burning through very much until much later in the morning than when there is low fog. It was still a gorgeous start to the day, however, and I snapped this picture from the balcony after I had done my rounds. The mains was still running very slowly, and the free water was off, so I actually used one of the 11L bottles that had been left filled from the previous day by T to do my rounds and I only just had enough; I could have done with maybe 15L so that is an interesting bit of knowledge as to how much water I'm actually using for these few plants.

A bit of really good news is that Sassy seems to be much better indeed. Today she banged for her food again and when I went to put the water down she bashed it out of my hand and then drank it from the pool it made on the top. I obviously refilled the water bowl and put the food in and she has eaten it all and thrown the bowl downstairs so I think we can safely say she is better. I may have to feed her a bit more for a few days to get her weight back up, and hopefully stop the baldness from getting worse.

T with Rambo in attendance with his stone

As you can see from the previous picture T was up and at it early this morning as per usual and I snapped this shot just after I had eaten a fantastic breakfast of the last egg from my Little Lady and bacon on bread. The white thing in Rambo's mouth is a rock that I watched him carry as he followed T along, taking a path that took him directly through the mock orange tree (which smells absolutely amazing). Rambo obviously has not yet grown out of his rock obsession.

Flame just taking hold

My main task of the day was getting into the immigration office in town to meet a translator there at 10.30 but before this I decided to burn all the rubbish which has been piling up for a few days, including more bottles of beer than I want to admit having drunk. Some of them are from when The Electrician was still here to be honest.... please believe me. I have lots of pictures of the fire (as per) but I love this one as you can see the beer bottle starting to drip in the heat and the drip is itself on fire. I like things like that.

It caught really quickly and I was also able to burn the ten or so empty cement bags so they aren't cluttering the place any more. Now I just need to empty the two full buckets of humanure and I'm up to date with my irregular chores. I've not done this as the water had been off and I need to wash the buckets. Honest. I'm not being lazy at all.

Anyway, after the fire was lit I returned to Room 13 to chatter and then heard a beeping which I thought at first was the mobile shop but it turned out to by my friend trying to encourage the sheep to get out of the way as they had settled in their customary shady tree which actually involves blocking the track. She was here to come with me to town, with a few chores of her own, and we were just about to head off when my phone rang and it was the kmet. He seemed to be asking me to go to the obshtina locally so I said I was off to town, he went then I walked outside and there he was, with three people from the obshtina including the lady from planning and another lady who had been at the auction, and they were waving at me over the fence.

I'm still not totally sure what they came up to look around for as they only walked along the front and up to the big pile of spoil from digging the parking out, commenting on how much work it'll be but how lovely it'll be, and then they said goodbye and left. T suggested maybe they had been looking at the progress of the road and the kmet decided to show off what his anglachenin was up to. Either way the brevity of their visit didn't delay us too much and I made it to the steps in front of the immigration about two minutes before the agreed upon meeting time. Two minutes later the translator showed up and she was a bit surprised I was on my own.

We headed into the office and after a short wait were in front of the same grumpy woman who had been so spectacularly unhelpful the previous visit. This time, with a Bulgarian translator who knew her, she even cracked a smile or two and we made progress, eventually heading off to the office of the translator so she could do her thing with my EHIC (which is enough to get residency) and photocopy a few things as well. I filled a form out there with a bit of prompting from her and then we were back down the road (this time with my friend who had returned from her chores) to the immigration to hand it all over.

As the lady (a slightly younger, more pleasant, one) was stapling the file together I realised that they wanted to keep all the documents and I had turned up with the original of my Notorelien. This it the main bit of paper that proves that I actually own the school, think of the deeds in the UK, and seeing them disappear into a filing system was not on my plans. I shouted and they were duly unstapled and passed to me whereon I had to run back up the road to the office to get copies made. When I returned I was ushered to have my photograph taken (and I was called handsome too! *blushes*) and then I was told to return tomorrow after 3pm to collect my finished 5 year residency card.

I should detail that normally it takes a month to receive this but I had said I was in a hurry (I need to sort both cars out with Lucy needing registering in my name post purchase, and Thomas rapidly running out of insurance cover from the UK) so they said "pay double the normal and we will do it quicker". You have to love a bureaucracy.

I got me some brand new shoes!

And so we left, grabbed a quick kebob (sorry) and then did a few little chores in town, getting some stuff for A for her garden, and picking up some new sandals for me. Here they are, modeled by my own feet and having been worn pretty much ever since. They are quite comfortable but having cost less than a fiver I don't know how long they will last. They certainly look like they are made of leather so maybe they'll be OK. Watch this space.

After this I decided to go and look at the prices for beds as I have been getting warmer and warmer in Julian at night and it isn't even really summer yet. This viewing trip ended up with me driving away with a huge mattress with a solid base strapped to the top of Thomas. All other aspects of the trip were then thrown out of the window and we just headed back home to unload it. T helped and then there was a short bit of chit chat and my friend left to do more chores while I went upstairs to get ready to scythe.

This did not happen - I suddenly felt completely wiped out and after sitting on the internet for a bit I decided I wanted to read and then, having sat and read on the balcony for a few minutes I decided I wanted to lie down and so I was laying on the airbed, with pillows, and the reading turned to dozing and while I didn't actually sleep I didn't read much either. I'm not sure why I was so exhausted but I just couldn't get any energy up at all. I only got off the airbed because it started to spit with rain so I moved everything inside and then, at exactly that time, I had a lovely phone call.

It was after this that the second best news of the week arrived. It has been Feis Ile week on Islay (which I went to the week after winning the auction for the school last year) and I have been sore at missing it, though obviously still really pleased to be here. Today was Kilchoman day and this is the distillery I have a particular interest in collecting. My mate had said he'd try and get me a bottle but normally it is very limited in release and he had also said publicly that he wasn't going to be able to get any bottles for anyone.

Anyway, I saw that I had received a notification on Facebook and it was my mate, sat with the two other good friends we made last year, holding a bottle and smiling at the camera. Then I was tagged "this is yours". I almost fell off my chair. Wow. I was chuffed to bits and almost immediately started feeling a little more alert as my blood started pumping with excitement. I know this seems like a small thing and in once sense it is, but I am so bloody touched that my mate would do that for me. What a guy. I can't wait to pay him back some day, and also to see them all next year as I will be going for sure to Feis Ile 2015. Maybe now I'll not moan and whinge so much about not being there this year.

I was cheered up even more by the fact that the water has returned and I can put the washing on tonight, and have a proper shower in the morning. Things are all coming together, huh.

After this my evening trek began with taking Thomas to the garage (with T driving Lucy in front) so he can get new tyres on the front, and also have his headlights swapped for driving on the wrong side of the road. I was assisted by a friendly chap who was having his car cleaned by Lyubo and once again I commented to T about how in England you would be frustrated at waiting but over here it's just chilled and you don't feel bad at all. He said it may be done by tomorrow or maybe Monday which is fine, and I am waiting for a call. After this and a brief stop for eggs and fresh bread at the shop, we went over to my friends as we had her chair in Lucy, and I was taking Bekir home. We sat and had a coffee while the workmen finished their tasks.

Not great camouflage for this one

While we were sat there admiring some of the plants I spotted a smaller version of the huge grasshopper from yesterday sat on one of them. I was asked to flick it off so I did but not before snapping a picture. I can't help it.

And the one tonight

T drove on to his and then I took over and drove back here, tired and hungry as it was past 7pm by then. I had taken some pork belly out to defrost earlier and so I set about making my amazing pork and mushroom pasta dish, while starting this blog, and I have eaten the lot (like a fatty) while typing. It seemed right to bookend this blog post with pictures of sunsets so here is the one from tonight; a totally different shade with lots of lovely pale yellows and golds shading to blues and black.

Today has been the last day of any workmen for a week, with T spending time with family and Bekir having requested a couple of weeks off after finishing for my friend to do stuff at his house. I have hopefully arranged to meet him this saturday to get some chickens though so that could be good. I'm gonna sign this off now and look forward to a quiet day tomorrow.