*drumroll*
Coming at you live from The Old School in Bulgaria, it is A!
I know, I know, what an entrance. I am back, as you can
probably tell. Three weeks (almost) away from home and all the animals (not
forgetting the work) and I have had this week off in terms of much to do and
paid work so that I could recover from the epic, if not troublesome, journey.
This is what happened in the first couple of weeks. The journey itself is going to be a separate post due to time constraints here.
Ireland
The main purpose of this trip was to get back for the birth
of my nephew (or niece, as I didn’t know at the point of booking). I left the
Old School on Wednesday 10th afternoon with SandS, who kindly gave
me a lift to the bus station. The bus
(minibus) arrived on time and I was very disappointed to note that it had no air
conditioning, given it was around 35-37 degrees, but I made it to the town
beside the airport in plenty of time and in fact, 40 minutes earlier than
scheduled. The drivers here are crazy! I stopped for a beer to kill a little
time before getting to the small airport in Plovdiv.
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| On my way |
The flight was an easy one and I arrived at Stansted around
10.30 and quickly made my way to my hotel. I had the first flight out to
Belfast the following morning and was hoping for a good night’s sleep. I
obviously stopped for a beer before I went up and was horrified at both the
(small) size of the bottle (we get 500ml ones here, not 330ml) and the price!
So horrified and finding myself still wired that I had a second. I was on
holiday and decided not to set a beer budget. :D
You will be glad to hear that I did not have only beer the whole
time I was away, I actually had very little in fact and often had a sensible
breakfast, even at the airport!
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| Sensible breakfast |
The trip was a complete success in that Baby Jack was born
on Tuesday and Mum was being released (sorry) on Thursday afternoon, the very
day I arrived, so it was perfect timing. He is a gorgeous wee thing, obviously
as he has good strong beautiful genes from his favourite auntie and he is very
content on the whole. I have some photos, but due to parent preferences, they have been omitted.
In between baby coo-ing and visiting relatives I was doing
another bit of sorting out for the journey ahead and was dashing between
relatives and car garages and quite frankly, by the time my week was over, I
was shattered and I felt it was much too soon to be leaving. Maybe next time I
will split my trip more appropriately.So there you have it. The newest member of the family. He
must take after me already as he has some fist clench going on there.
Next stop, England.
Taking Pat from her first home to Bulgaria and the ferry
journey began at 10.30am. I hadn’t
thought it through properly when I booked it. There were screaming kids, live
music and just a lot of noise with nowhere really comfortable to sit, for EIGHT
hours. I decided I would get a cabin. Best idea ever!
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| Best £30 ever spent |
I managed to get some sleep and my first stop in England was
with the Beard’s best friend and his family. They had a baby last year who I
have not met yet and they had invited me to stay with them whilst I was over.
What an absolutely lovely child he is as well. They had moved house and it had
all changed, so it was great to catch up with them again. Little H is a star
and painted the Beard and I a picture for our fridge. I have a photo of the
artist at work, but I will not add it here without their permission. Here is
the final masterpiece, taking its rightful place on our fridge at the Old
School.
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| I think it is a cockerel |
Next on the agenda, The Out-Laws! The Beard had been buying
some things (I know, it is so unlike him) and there was a stash of “bits and
bobs” to be collected from his parents on my way down to London, as well as his
haul from the whisky festival. So off I went on Saturday to meet up with them
and try to battle the roof bar and rack system before heading out with his Nan
for tea. It was a mission, but between his Dad and I, we managed just in time
to attach said system before rushing off to pick Nana up for dinner. A
wonderful meal and I regret to say I have no photographs as I had left the
camera in the car whilst trying to get us all inside. Sorry Beard x.
It was early to bed and up to pack the car at 7.30am. It was
actually really not a hard job. I packed everything and slotted it all in first
time without the need to use the roof bar system at all! Result. And all before
his parents left, so the additional bonus of not having to use the alarm system
and lock up. Phew! I was off to London just before 9am and I took my time,
stopping for a coffee on the way.
I arrived at my friend’s house earlier than expected, her
son let me in and she had gone out to see her daughter. I made myself very much
at home and rested until she got back. Long story short, there was Chinese,
wine, chatter and bed and the same again the following night. On the Tuesday
night we were all out meeting various friends from work, facebook, twitter and
real life at London Bridge and I have to say that I was very touched by the
turnout. Especially my good friend who had just had both big toes broken and
who travelled the whole way from Brighton to buy me lunch and join my in a few
bevvies. What a star!
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| Friends |
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| And more |
I had to behave myself that night as I was due to drive the
next day to Belgium to see the Beard for my birthday. I left bang on time and
the traffic was flowing very well indeed on the way to Dover when I noticed a
missed call and text from my friend saying I had left my camera at hers! Only
it wasn’t MY camera, it was HIS. I tried not to panic, thinking we would get it
somehow sent over to him, me or we would get it collected by someone. It was a
mistake and not the end of the world. I wasn’t going to let it spoil my
excitement for the next couple of days. So a big thank you to Dee who arranged
the packing and postage for me x.
Belgium
I made the ferry I needed to be on in order to make it to
his cottage in Zemsk for dinner, what a relief! Soon after, I tucked into a
curry to keep me going until that evening and it wasn’t actually too bad at
all.
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| Goodbye Dover |
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| Curry lunch |
I arrived dead on time at 6pm to himself sitting enjoying a
brew in the sunshine, waving like a loon when he saw me. It has been tough
being apart like this and I suppose it will be again after his visit home this
weekend, but the end is now in sight.
We had a lovely relaxing evening and he cooked a fabulous
Irish steak each with his spicy potato wedges. It was a lovely dinner and I of
course got to open my birthday presents. I will take some pics of those for the
next update. The next morning he had to
work and I dropped him into town with the plan to relax at the cottage until he
was finishing around 4pm when we would take a walk around what can only be
described as a beautiful town with some absolutely stunning architecture. We
had dinner at his favourite gourmet burger joint and enjoyed a beer or two
along the river. Another perfect evening.
I was sure this was too big for my mouth. It wasn’t in the
end.
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| Too big for my mouth |
That is all I shall tell you about tonight. The journey
through Europe will follow tomorrow hopefully as this has been quite a long
update (for me) so far.
It’s good to be home.
Leka nosht xxx
A
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