Away again, balcony program

It's been another busy week as I've been away to Belgium for the past week. Angela was here and snapping pics through the week as she also did everything else. I'll go through my trip away then have a look at what they got up to.

Sat on the plane ready to fly

Spraying the anti freeze everywhere

Stunning sunset from the plane

What a great room this was

Pretty good breakfast every day

Nice beer, chips and burgers

This steak was a very VERY nice thing!

A lot of fun bowling

My flight was an evening one which worked a lot better really. I was able to spend time with Angela and Rosie in the morning before heading off. I had a great seat and just caught sight of them spraying the antifreeze onto the wings; that isn't something you see every flight. The view as we headed across Europe of the sun going down was really special as well. I caught three trains across Europe and reached the final station to find no taxis in sight and so I ended up walking twenty minutes to the hotel. It really was a very good hotel, the room was really comfortable and the food there was incredible. I also went out a few times, had some INCREDIBLE steak at a small place in Bruges and also went bowling which was also great.

I got dropped right here by the taxi

The first statue I found

Going for a ride

Another statue I found

Amazing costumes next to the organ grinder

Walking in the dunes

Getting ready for some water sports

My friend with a sandcastle we found

Bruges is a lovely place and I will definitely be trying to go back with the whole family. I had a lovely time walking around taking boring pictures of amazing architecture. I had a lot of trouble getting there, though, as Belgium just doesn't do public transport it seems. There were horse-drawn carts to explore, lots of statues and also a big group of people dressed up as if they were going to a mask-e-rade.  It was great. I then met up with an old friend and we went to Zeebrugge, walked on the beach in a gale, drank some very nice beer and whisky and then I was back to the airport for a very delayed flight home and finally a loooong drive back which got me home at 5am.

A cold frame that was a pain to assemble

Getting the toilet pumps reassembled

Breakfast time for Rosie

A petchka in Grandma's room

Working on the plaster board in the balcony

Now we have two heaters per side

Grandma is collected, time for lunch

So back to what was happening at home. Actually, just before I left Angela and I put together a cold frame for the garden. But NOW what happened while I was away. First of all the men fitted the new bellows pumps to the toilet pumps and then tried to get the upstairs toilet working however it's been a bit dodgy and today stopped working again; these toilets are so unreliable. The rest of the week was a lot of effort on Angela and Rosie's part to get the house ready for Grandma arriving while the men, with the toilet finally fixed, focused on the balcony. They were fitting the second two heaters and then continuing with the rest of the plaster-boarding. Finally on Saturday it was time to collect Grandma from the airport, and to stop for food at the good Italian restaurant.

Fitting the spot lights

Wiring up the switch

Taking dirt out of the chimney

Xena watches Bekir up the ladder

Getting the petchka fully cleaned

The lights now work

Putting up insulation

I was too tired yesterday to do the update however there really hasn't been much to take pictures of in the current tasks. Yesterday morning they got stuck straight in to fitting the lights in the corridor and then after lunch spent some time cleaning the chimney and fixing the pipes for the kitchen petchka which has been smoking badly. This morning they finished the job with a full pipe clean before going back into the roof to finish the lights (they are all done now). They also took down the old ventilation pipe from the humanure collection point as the wind has been making the metal spinner make really loud noises at night. The final task was to keep going on the insulation task in the roof. There's no sign of the window people coming back to fit the doors yet though.

So there it is; caught up and back to daily updates again. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

A's Holiday

*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 10^th 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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

Friends

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.

Goodbye Dover

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.

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