This is my blog about emigrating to Bulgaria. It starts with the idea and will take you through all the steps I am taking to create my new life in this wonderful idyllic country. Thank you for reading.
Please make use of the comments box to ask questions or suggest blog subjects too :)
Today was a sad day; a tough day as well. I was unwell pretty much all day and Louise was trying to give birth which was Angela's focus. Unfortunately one pup was still born and when I took Louise to the vet he said that there were no more puppies in her so we lost her one and only pup. Very sad indeed.
Bekir about to fit pipes
Halil plastering the high wall
Skimming the floor
Lou Lou during labour
Stretching for the top
Breaking the old cement off
We did have the workmen in, they were a little late as they went to the shop for some bits. Bekir started off as planned by fitting the pipes along the back wall in the crawl space while Halil got stuck into more plastering. With the electrics done Bekir then applied the final skim to the floor inside that crawl space, which will now be ready for carpet. Louise was try her best, as I've said, but was not finding it easy - the puppy was too big and the sack burst a long time before she could push it free, which actually only happened in the end because Bekir helped. As you can tell, I am very sad about this. The rest of the day for the men was plastering and then getting started clearing old cement off the walls up the stairs.
So there it is; there's no men tomorrow so back on Monday I hope. Thanks for reading.
Unusually today I open with a picture as we have been told that two days ago Gizmo, the really friendly little puppy from the farm, disappeared and hasn't been seen since. We saw him when we arrived back from the airport on Monday so he must have gone shortly after that. I'm really sad, and we haven't told Rosie yet because she loves that little puppy. They really don't care for their dogs so it isn't a surprise in one sense but still it sucks majorly.
Rosie dancing with a cushion
The sun rises over a frosty view
Slotting the final bits in
Halil prepares the floor for cement
Bekir checking out the angles
Trimming a block to size
Walls going up up up
Another little patch of floor
Putting that very sad news behind us and back to before we knew he was gone, this morning Rosie demanded (and got) Christmas songs on the stereo before school and was dancing around the kitchen. She even roped me in for a bit. I had the pleasure of taking her to school today and grabbed a stunning sunrise picture from by the gate as I was leaving. When the men arrived they were up into the roof again to keep working on the block laying. With all the little bits done on the right of the corridor they turned their attention to the left hand side and started building up a cement base to lay the blocks on. They then did begin with the blocks and spent most of the rest of the day cutting and laying blocks. They used up the extra mortar that had been mixed to extend a little more of the floor down the corridor.
So there it is. It is nearly Christmas and the men will probably take a week off so wherever we get to tomorrow will be it until they return. It has been great to get this progress done late in the year, however. I'm loving seeing how it looks. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.
It has been hot hot hot this weekend and today and the forecast is for this to continue at least for the rest of the week. Now I love hot weather but having to work as hard as I am is really starting to drag, and the heat is making it more difficult still. Thank goodness for the pool, frankly.
Teddies tidied at the end of the bed
Playing catch while in the shade
Rosie making her way back with her harvest
The poor little tree frog
Just a quick beer
Saturday is Daddy Day and it started with me helping Rosie to stack all her teddies at the end of her bed (or at least, all the teddies she has in bed over night) after which breakfast and then a game of catch you and catch on the balcony while it was still shaded. She also helped me with the washing, however was distracted by a low hanging plum which she picked which was a shame as it wasn't quite ripe yet. After her nap we went into the pool and sadly found a drowned tree frog. Such a shame! I was then called over to the neighbours for a beer and some BBQ, though I had only one beer and almost no BBQ, before heading home to find terrible news that one of our very good friends had passed away the day before. This then meant neither of us could sleep, which then made Sunday a very difficult day indeed. It was doubly so as the lovely old man from the farm, who had been ill for a fair while, passed away over Saturday night (at 3am while I was up and hobbying I could hear cars coming and going so I knew something was wrong). I was able to go to the wake, though unfortunately it wasn't possible for Angela to come as well because of Rosie, and it was an honour to be able to show respect to the man who made us very welcome. It has been very sad not seeing him around since he had his stroke and now to know he's gone is also sad.
It was a very tough weekend indeed.
Bekir begins grinding
Halil carries the metal (not sure why above his head?)
Welding the frame
The door and the frame, together
Bekir made an awesome handle
And so to today; we both fortunately got far better sleep Sunday night and were a little more with it today. Angela took Rosie to school and the men arrived while she was gone. They were working on the doors for the collection reservoirs today and after a bit of a wobble from me about design they convinced me to stick with the original plan and I'm happy I did so. I think my concerns prompted them to make a small change so they had to pop out to get more metal and when they came back they continued all day grinding and welding and hammering in 40+ degree heat. It was sweltering today. By the end of the day they have pretty much finished two doors set into metal frames with awesome metal handles. I'm so pleased with them! Tomorrow they should fit this, and the hatches, and then they'll be done for this half of the year.
About to get into the pool
After school and work it was pool time, and the neighbours grandson came running over as well. It was much needed after the crazy heat.
And there it is. It is still 35 degrees in here on the balcony and due to be hot again tomorrow. See you tomorrow.
I am sat here months after my last attempt to write an update on this blog and I don't know how I'll compress and express everything that has happened since the last time I posted, January 1st at the beginning of this 2019.
I'll not be putting my pictures, I just need to get this blog back on track and moving again, and maybe this will be part of my healing process.
To put it mildly 2019 has been a remarkably difficult year.
Of course as mentioned in the last update I found that Sassy was dead, though she had been off her food for a few days and I was wondering whether she would get better or not. That was my first grave I have dug this year, up next to Mo near the Silver Birch in the top corner. She was a good rabbit though I always think I should have made her a tractor run and let her have a more natural life than up on that balcony. Then my Nana passed away of the illness she had been suffering, which was very sad but not unexpected.
What a wonderful thing; this is a Very Happy Beard Daddy
Then a pure moment of true amazingness. Little Rosie came into the world and my life changed immeasurably. She was healthy, and remains so to this day (though I've had to come away for work so I'm missing her every day). Nothing can prepare you for what fatherhood actually means. Nothing. She is certainly the only really meaningful thing I've ever had a part in. Amazing. She will not appear regularly in photographs on this blog (that isn't what this is about) but as of today, just over two months later, I've got more than 1,000 photographs and videos of her and this number will only grow.
Then my life fell apart; a freak accident put my father into a coma and he never came out of it. He died having never met my daughter and with such suddenness that there was no time to prepare. One minute the greatest man I've ever known was there, the next he was gone. We were helped IMMEASURABLY by the wonderful embassies in Sofia, both the Irish and British embassies went beyond the call of duty to help us get traveling documents for Rosie so we could all get back to the UK for my mum. Sadly we were not able to get back before my Dad passed; there was nothing that could be done about that.
I really cannot speak highly enough of the help from Sofia; they truly made a huge difference to me, and more importantly my Mum.
The funeral was an intense day, and humbling for the people who made an effort to be there and show their love for my Dad. I can't remember all that much of the day right now, except trying to stay next to my Mum. Some people were there I've not seen since I was in single digits as well as friends I've known since then as well. A truly incredible day, but one I would give up for having him back.
The previous attempt to write a blog was the day of my Dad's accident, but I did not know as I was writing it that he was in such a way.
Digging the grave for Rambo
The Cairn I have built over his grave site
And so to the next thing; Rambo is now no longer with us either. He collapsed one day and managed to get back up but over the next few days his state became so bad he could not move at all; I had to carry him out to the toilet but of course I wasn't there all the time. We had to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. I spent that entire day digging another grave, this one much larger than Sassy's, and then building a cairn over the top.
And so it has taken me a long time to write the second blog post of 2019. I have taken nearly 2000 pictures since the 1st, many lovely moment as well as the horrible ones listed here. We had some snow (Rambo loved that) and Bekci the new guard dog is settling in. Rosie has been an unending source of joy and this year our focus for building work has to be the bedroom and playroom for her off the Kitchen. I've managed to get work again, though I've had to be away for a month while I'm settling in the company. After this it should be fully remote which is perfect. The week after next I'll be driving back to Bulgaria again, this time with my mum, and I cannot wait to get home.
I'll close this update with a couple of videos that A took the other day, stood on the balcony, of nightingales singing in the dark.
And I'll dedicate this blog to my Dad. He was everything to me and he'll never leave me; I now have to live up to his example.
Thanks for reading - normal service will be resumed in a couple of weeks time.
Well it has been a while since the last update, however this one is not going to be lengthy. I've no real desire to turn this blog into a personal diary past anything directly impacting our immigration to Bulgaria and the building work we are involved in. For this reason I'd expect the updates to be few and far between until the building season starts.
Getting ready to dig
The sun shines on my task
Covering her back up
Mo on the right and now Sassy on the left
Unfortunately I do begin this update with a sad tale as Sassy, our rabbit, sadly died yesterday morning. She had been a little off her food for a few days however that is something that has occurred on and off throughout the year but when I went to feed her I found that she had passed. A was out shopping at the time so I immediately went up to the top bank with my pick and shovel and dug her grave then waited there until A got back so we could bury her together. She is now next to Mo, underneath the Silver Birch, and will become part of my little habit of walking up there to see Mo and enjoy the view. She did a lot, brought a lot of joy to our lives, and will be missed. The one memory that was brought back to me yesterday by a comment a friend made was of the journey to Bulgaria with Sassy living in the cage I built in Julian, and being let out over night to run around.
Sassy Bum
RIP Sassy Bum.
The party goers early in the evening
The Other Brother and his lovely wife
I am so proud to have won the coin
Lighting his cigarette with a sparkler
So many fireworks going off in town
In the evening we joined our neighbours for their New Years Eve celebration as is now our habit and it was a really awesome and lovely evening indeed. The Turkish version of The Voice was on television, as usual, while rakia was passed around and more food than was possible to eat placed in front of us. We are slowly getting better at communicating, much slower than makes me proud to be honest, and it is getting easier and easier to spend comfortable time with this lovely family. I was very proud indeed to win the 1 lev coin in the bread, that coin will go to bubba's fund; gotta start somewhere, huh. There were sparklers and party poppers (brought by us) and fireworks (provided by the Other Brother) and all in all it was a wonderful evening.
Christmas Day picture
A stunning morning photograph
I'll leave it at that; we had an awesome Christmas, really wonderful, and are now very much getting ready for the new arrival. I'm planning a picture every morning of 2019 to celebrate this amazing year; this photograph was actually taken during the past week but is so beautiful I wanted to share it.
As part of my new push to get these updates out more regularly I'm sat down on Friday evening after a hectic day and I'm going to try and publish this tonight. I may achieve this or I may not; I'm also playing with Thelma and Louise and am waiting to hear from A so it could be that I delay the completion until Saturday morning. Here goes.
A digging over the spud patch with bird assistants
A nice neat row of seed potatoes
Thelma digs at her stick
The rain closes in
A resting with the puppies
Back to Wednesday and the rain held off in the morning long enough for A to get into the garden and plant out her spuds which I had collected the day before from ekont. The chickens and ducks had followed her into the fenced garden and were busy digging it over, which was useful, but when we started putting the seed potatoes down they had to be removed. I did help a bit doing this but almost 100% was A and now we have three (or maybe four?) varieties of spuds planted with three different growth rates. Thelma was in digging at her root once again which helped somewhat but mainly she wasn't in the right place. After this it started to rain and became quite miserable; the trips up the hill in Thomas to empty out the coal dust were disgusting and messy and I told Ennis (for that is the kid's name) to take the rest of the week off until it clears again.
Walls now taller than the reservoir
The lights are being hung
Yulhan helping out with the welding
Sally took back over and completed the task
The hanging of lights has been completed
Some more finishing off; the vestibule floor. Finally.
In terms of building work it was quite an exciting day; Sally worked outside while he could, what with the weather, and got a long way towards completing the second reservoir housing. Inside Bekir was hanging the lights in Room 13. When the weather closed in Sally went to doing the welding for the legs for my workbench and Yulhan gave a bit of a hand for a while.You can see, I hasten to add, the safety helmet we bought for Sally in these pictures but they often decide to not bother with it. Bekir managed to get all the lights up in Room 13 which is wicked; we had to work out our heights for them and I think I'm happy with what we have chosen. Yulhan's job, having completed the painting, was to lay the tiles in the vestibule outside the guest bathroom and he made a good start on that before it was home time.
Cloud hanging low in the valley
A sleepy duck and a hungry hen
The journey home was easy and on the way back I was watching as the clouds were pooled in the valley; it must have been dank and damp over there. We had a good laugh as well at one of the ducks that was stood up fast asleep while the chickens ate bread all around. It was my turn to cook on Wednesday and I made my spicy pork pasta (click the link for the recipe) which was just superb and then it was an early night for both of us as the next morning was going to be crazy.
There is the bus that will take her away
Front window seat; top skills
A breakfast to get me through the day
Thelma and Louise getting their fight on
The first alarm went of at 3.45am and that was bad but we were both out of bed and downstairs when the back up sounded at 4am and that made me jump. Her bus was at 5am so we were ready, down the hill, and waiting when it pulled up and she got on, grabbed the window seat, and began her journey to Sofia to fly home to see her family. I drove home feeling sad as I will miss her (and I am) and after a brew I headed back to bed and got another hour which was much needed. After collecting the men it was time for breakfast and I made bacon and egg butties to cheer me up. The puppies were a bit unsure why A wasn't around but then they started chasing and fighting which was great to see.
The second housing is completed
Sally with Thelma (hidden) and Louise
Yulhan finishing off the tiling
We have light!
Of course the workmen were cracking on once again. I went outside to see Sally first and found that the second housing was completed, including the sloped roof and a lintel over the doorway, and he was starting to layout for the final one. I decided the doorway should be towards the orchard and he set the bricks ready for that and carried on. Inside Yulhan had all but finished the tiling of the vestibule; the next task would be grouting. Finally Bekir had all the lights hung and the light switches wired in by lunch time. They look really good and I'm pleased we went with the low hanging lights in here.
Thelma in mid air as she runs back
Thelma getting away from Louise's interception attempt
Louise accelerates hard to catch up with Thelma
Nearly caught her, and Rambo joins in the excitement
A tug of war stalemate ensues; Rambo watches on
Seeing as I'm on my own I'm doing my best to entertain the puppies and not get too tied up with hobby time or rushing around after the men. To this end I have taken them up onto the top bank to play both yesterday and today. It's good for me as well to just stop for a bit and have time for them. Everyone got involved in yesterday's fun and Louise got stuck in for a lot of it. Rambo was really good and played along very nicely which is always a pleasure; he's a lovely dog when he wants to be.
Guest room doorless
Buckleberry Ferry
Puppies hinting that it is bed time
Inside Bekir was continuing with the electrics while Yulhan, who had finished grouting in the vestibule, started the next task which was to fit the final two doors. This involved first removing the old door for the guest room and by the end of the day it was gaping and ready for some serious demolition work to occur. I had a bit of a hobbying evening last night and got more stuff done on my rivers and the ferry. The puppies were lovely; I played with them a bit then they took themselves off to have fun and chased each other around and around the room. I missed out on videoing most of this however I caught some of it, and a fight they had. I was really tired and so were the puppies and they both took themselves up the stairs to encourage me to go to bed. Which I did. And I slept really well indeed.
Yulhan hammer drills the wall down
Bekir wiring plugs
Sally laying bricks. Still.
When the alarm went off this morning I did not want to get up so I didn't and I snoozed it. Thelma, even after this slight lie in, refused to get up and stayed there. She's a lazy one. I had a lovely hot shower in the newly tiled downstairs shower this morning which was epic and woke me up enough to collect the men. Yulhan was straight in with the breaker to widen the doorway for the new door while Bekir got cracking with wiring up all the plug sockets for Room 13. There are a lot of them. Sally, meanwhile, was outside in the drizzle and cold getting on with the final housing for the reservoirs. It really was a miserable day today and I've done a lot of rushing around, or so it seemed to me while I was living it.
Bekir drilling a new hole for our internet to come through
Health and safety?!
A woodpecker on the ground
Blooming marvellous
The new door is fitted
I was supposed to go into town to meet up with Lyubo but cancelled at the last minute as I was just too busy. We also had a bit of a disaster with the internet as Bekir accidentally drilled through the cable however, as per usual, the support guys were out really quickly and put a new cable in and now I have internet though I'm finding that the upload isn't working well; I couldn't do a video call just now with A which was a huge shame. While I was washing up this afternoon (yes my routine is all to cock) I saw a woodpecker hopping around on the grass so snapped a picture though I don't think it came out all that well. The cherry tree is blossoming already which is lovely to see; spring is definitely very close now. We finished the day with all the plugs wired and the first curtain rail begun in Room 13. I was really hoping it would all be done so I could move up there this weekend but alas that isn't the case. I've got plenty on my list for the weekend anyway now so I may not have got time as it is.
And so I have managed to get this done this evening. The puppies have just taken themselves off for another fight and chase; Louise was sleeping on my lap and I was throwing the ball for Thelma then Louise jumped off and that was that; great fun. It was lovely to talk to A as well before, even if my internet didn't let me do the video call. I will have to get that looked at. Thanks for reading and I'll be back again sooner rather than later.
