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 :)
Wow today has been busy, for both Angela and I as well as the workmen. We have achieved loads so let us get to it.
Games Room storage coming together
The state of the workshop last night
Working out rough plans
We start, however, yesterday evening. After Rosie went to bed I did a bit of tidying in the Games Room (I've done more this morning as well as it happens, though no picture) and then I went down to the workshop to try to plan it out. I spent a very successful 20 minutes or so on the phone to a Canadian friend who helped me to nail down where I want things to go and where, mostly, the table saw should sit. The workshop was a total mess and I cannot wait to see it done.
Some sign of sunshine
Snow on the hills this morning
Halil shifting insulation out of the workshop
Fitting a new bracket for the pool storage
Cleaning the bathroom. Hard work!
A little ice in the wheelbarrow
The pool up on its shelf
This morning was an earlier start, which was good, and I got to enjoy the sunrise and get a little bit of hobby done before Rosie even woke up. Angela took her to school and I got some more of the storage in the Games Room done before the men arrived and I went over my plans with them. Immediately they got stuck in to clearing and tidying the room and once the insulation was moved they fitted another shelf to the wood storage rack and lifted the swimming pool up onto it; this is a huge improvement and will prevent it getting damaged while we store it. Angela was also very hard at work cleaning the downstairs bathroom as now we've had the roof on the balcony to stop leaks it is no longer getting so damp that mould grew on mould. It is so much nicer! Meanwhile I was hammering away at helping the workmen to move things out of the workshop and while not doing that I was shredding cardboard all day long. I am so sore now but it is all done. Outside I found some ice in the wheelbarrow; it was a chilly day indeed.
Stacking the spare tiles
Room looking tidier
Sorting through assorted odds and ends
Sweeping up the now clear workshop
Bekir insulating the pump house
The men kept at it in the workshop until it was all cleared. With the pool out the way they shifted some of the old shelving units (these are now in the roof for me to use as I'm tidying up there) and then they stacked all the tiles neatly out of the way. There were boxes and boxes of random bits laying around which they sorted through and put into organised boxes, throwing away stuff that wasn't needed, and then a sweep and the room is clean and ready for electrics tomorrow. With that done they jumped to another task they had noticed needed doing; the toilet pump house was still not insulated so they've got stuck into that.
Tomorrow they'll finish the insulation on the pump house and then get started on the work to fit the electrics in the workshop. I'll need to go out to pick up a load of parts of them as well. I'm very excited to see this room being done; I had resigned myself to waiting a year or two!
After my last update, which ran to 90 photographs and I don't know how many words, I have decided to pick up the update baton a little earlier this week and get a quick one done this morning. It is now Wednesday morning and A is out collecting the men. I've finished my morning chores (fed Sassy, done the washing up, lit the fire to take the chill off) and thought I'd get this done as well. So here goes.
Red sky in the morning...
The broken wheel is removed
Sally making use of his new machine
Coal shed being dug out into Thomas
Up the top of the village throwing the dust into the dump
Yulhan gets the ceiling painted white
The wheelbarrow is fixed
This update begins with me writing the previous post as it took me all day, on and off, to do that. So let's go back to Monday and the glorious sky that greeted us when we got up to collect the men. It was not very long lasting, indeed it had faded from its initial colours by the time I had the camera, but while it was visible it was stunning. Indeed it was quite an efficient morning photograph as A, heading downstairs already, heard me walking across the living room and guessed to pass the camera up the stairs to me. Teamwork. The workmen got stuck straight in, and we had an extra body starting to do my job of digging out the coal shed. Bekir ground off the old broken wheel on the wheelbarrow and welded a new one on so we're back to having two builders barrows which is great. Sally, after a little nudge, got the mixer running and since then he has seemed to be loving it. As I say our new guy, I've not caught his name accurately yet, is doing the disgusting job of digging out the coal shed and was straight in there chucking the dust into the back of Thomas. When we did the first empty we dropped down into town and bought him a new shovel as our old one wasn't good enough. Finally inside the painting had started on Room 13. What an exciting time!
Sally laying more bricks as the house grows
A bucket full of flowers to plant out
Border flowers
Three tonnes of sand
After Sally had done his mix he got straight back into building the housing for the reservoir and the generator. The big cement bricks that we bought are making this go very quickly and should also have some insulating properties as well I hope. I was out to the shops a couple of times and one of those times A headed out into the garden and did some planting out. We had been given some lovely bulbs by the Little Lady the other day which had kept well in a bucket of water but now they are planted along the border near the garden, with my ice follies, looking beautiful. The busyness of the morning continued with two truck deliveries, one of sand and the other of stones, which have replenished our diminishing stocks. We also did two trips up the mountain in the morning to empty Thomas; this new kid is really doing well.
Bekir measuring for the drain
Tiles laid
Sally getting close to done here
First course of the next building laid
Half way down the wall
There was even more progress in the afternoon as Bekir got into the downstairs shower and laid the tiles in there. He suggested a nicely patterned layout which I immediately agreed to and I think you can see just how well it looks. Outside Sally finished the walls for the first housing and moved round the back of the building to make a start on the next and at the end of play the first course of bricks was done there as well. The painting inside was also cracking on and we could finally see the colour I had selected on the walls; I am very pleased with it indeed.
Clouds and rain on its way
The sweetcorn seedlings, getting covered
Courgettes under custom made cloches
A very happy sight; a pea seedling
All afternoon the weather had begun closing in with heavy clouds and some wind picking up. I headed out with the cloches to protect the sweetcorn and courgettes which A had planted out earlier on. I also found a wonderful sight of the peas finally starting to show; we've yet to have any success with these plants; hopefully this year we'll get a crop. They are in the old spud beds which means we can easily build a framework for them to climb up. Because of the wedding our Sunday roast occurred on Monday night and it was superb but I ended up having a bit of an upset stomach and had a bad nights sleep.
Bekir measuring the metal
Cutting up our sections
The light fittings being moved out 15cm
Already made good by the end of the day
A damp bricklaying day
Over half done by the end of the day
Tuesday had a rainy start, Sally was able to get a mix done and begin work but then it started to rain quite heavily. I headed out with Bekir to the metal yard to get the materials for making the legs for my work bench in Room 13. It took a little bit of time but eventually we were served and came home with enough material to do the job. By this time the rain had largely stopped and as it happened Sally could work outside all day. Inside Bekir was grouting in both bathrooms, as he's also put the tiles around the window in the upstairs one, and then at the end of the day I suddenly realised that the light fittings above my bench would be too close to the wall as I've gone for really deep shelves. Without a grumble Bekir was up and channeling and moving these fittings. This morning he's moving the final two and then a small amount of paint will be required. Yulhan completed all the painting in Room 13 and the colour is just perfect; it was glowing so much that I thought a light had been rigged up. Perfect colour. Sally, meanwhile, had made some good progress again outside and the second little house is coming on well.
Some of my scenery, set up for a game
Louise waiting to go to bed
Looking towards the quarry
The coal shed is getting clearer
After a dinner of an absolutely superb lasagne we set up and played a short game of SBG which was a lot of fun. A was quite tired, after working all day, but as she's going away tomorrow for a holiday we both wanted to get a game in as we haven't done it for a while and also we've been sat watching TV programmes a lot recently. It was a good game and I enjoyed it more because I finally beat her! We had a quick brew before bed but Louise thought this was very much an unnecessary delay and sat on the stairs waiting for us to go up. This morning was still very overcast but we've had a few glimpses of sun every now and then. Sally is still able to work outside currently while Bekir is shifting light fittings before getting on with all the rest of the electrical work in there. Yulhan is tiling the vestibule outside the upstairs bathroom and outside the young kid is cracking on with his job; this was the state of play first thing this morning and you can see he is about half way done. Excellent.
Right, that was a good idea, getting this blog written now. That's a much more reasonable length. See you at the end of the week.
What a week, and what a lot of pictures/videos I have to go through! Looking in the folder I see 524 of them, though a lot of them are duplicates as I just hammer the shutter and hope to get at least one good shot out of ten of any one subject; the pleasure of digital photography. It has been a good week, and an awesome weekend, and now I am wishing I had broken it up a bit on done a blog before the weekend; never mind I am where I am. Here goes.
Sally getting stuck in to the lounge railings
Later on, cutting out the damaged shower tray
The ceiling in Room 13 gets a skim
Bekir plumbing for the boiler
A new toy; a large cement mixer
As you may (or may not - if not, please read the previous blog) recall last week the workmen finally came back to finish off Room 13 and the few bits and pieces that we have on our urgent list for this year. After not being in on Monday we had a Sally back with us on Tuesday which was so awesome; we both love Sally! He was given a couple of little tasks to do; first of all finish the railing around the spiral stairs and then he started work on the damaged shower tray in the downstairs toilet becaues the drill bit he was using turned red and melted; another item for my shopping list. Yulhan was back plastering the ceiling and Bekir was doing plumbing and electricals which then Yulhan made good with cement. Talking of shopping lists I headed out to town to pick up the cement mixer that I probably should have bought three years ago; hopefully this will (eventually, as you'll see later) speed up and improve the cement quality for small to medium sized batches. I also dropped off my newer hammer drill to be fixed as the chuck was slipping.
Enjoying the heat of the day together
The lettuce survived well under glass
Our garlic is thriving
Lazy birds in the, now empty, wood shed
Thelma running back with her ring
Taking a short rest in play
Rambo running along with Thelma
Louise stood on the bench, watching
Happily chewing on a stick
It was another lovely day, after abit of a cloudy start, and lunch time saw us relaxing round the corner on our recliners with the puppies. A was very busy working but was fortunately able to get out for a bit with me then. The garden was looking very lovely and our crop of lettuce (we have two raised beds like this; plenty for us) and garlic has really done well having survived the winter. The chickens were hiding in the wood shed and later, when she got away again and took the puppies onto the back bank, Thelma ran until she could run no more. I was sleeping while A did this as I took an afternoon nap; the early starts to collect the men were a shock to the system after months of no alarm calls.
Ceiling plastered
Boiler plumbing in
Snapping off the excess fibreglass
Inside the ceiling was completed, Sally had managed to remove all the fibreglass from the base of the shower cubicle and Bekir had completed the plumbing for the boiler. Awesome progress.
Hand mixing cement
Bekir plumbing in the drainage
This floor should be much more secure
Grinding down after welding
Cement covers up the pipes and cables
Wednesday was once again a slightly cooler start that warmed up once the sun broke through. The day began with Sally mixing up some cement however he ignored the new, expensive, cement mixer and went with the shovel and mixed it up; I didn't notice this at the time however ever since the cement mixer still sits clean and hasn't been touched; I think it's just what they know but it is a bit frustrating having bought that to improve things and, despite a few comments that I have made, still have it sitting unused; it's tough with the language barrier. I'll probably have a word again today. Anyway, this cement was being mixed to fill in the gap where the shower tray has been removed. There was a very quick trip to town to pick up a new drain so hopefully the problem we had with water taking a while to exit will now be sorted out. With this process begun they left the first cement to go off for a bit and went back to working on the railing. We had changed our minds very slightly and so one of the uprights for the return had to be moved and together Bekir and Sally cut, moved and reattached this. While they were working on this Yulhan cemented in all the pipes and cables for the boiler. Things were moving fast.
Railings leant in place
Sally grinning as I snap his picture
Cement poured for a reservoir housing
More plastering is done
The view from the picture window
In the afternoon Sally fixed the railing in place so now the lounge is basically fully completed. We still have to put the wooden bannisters on, and replace the wooden rungs with more solid ones, but other than that we're good. With this done he moved on to the next job which was to pour cement for the other two reservoir locations. By the end of the day he had finished off one of these. It was due to rain that night so A and I covered it in plastic and we were pleased we did as there was quite a large storm and it rained very heavily. Yulhan was cracking on with the plastering and Room 13 really was starting to take shape. Bekir, meanwhile, completed the cement work in the bathroom and also did some finishing around Room 13. It was a lovely sunset, though the clouds brought what they threatened, and I stood in the nook and attempted to capture the view from the picture window there. It's going to be amazing in the summer when the sunset is even further round.
Sally makes a start on the second reservoir location
Mixing up some more plaster
The lorry is unloaded
A wall is begun
Blue sky as Sally builds a wall
Dinner once again
About 4 minutes between pictures
Louise teasing Thelma
On Thursday we were one man down as Bekir had to work elsewhere for the day. It was still a busy one with Yulhan continuing his plastering and Sally digging out and pouring concrete for the second reservoir behind the building. Later on we had the delivery of concrete bricks and cement (or at least half of it) which will be used in building the reservoir storage. I got stuck in and helped unload the truck and then Sally got straight to bricklaying, after a bit of conversation about how large it would need to be and whether we'd have space down the sides to access for insulating purposes. After a really cold and miserable start the weather picked up fast and it was warm by the middle of the day. A and I took some time in the garden (and captured video of the puppies digging for moles); we particularly love seeing the flags starting to come again. Not long now and the garden will be a riot of colour once more. That night we went out for dinner which was superb until a couple of children, who had been behaving well, decided that the whole restaurant was a playground. Imagine screaming kids throwing themselves on the floor and running around up to my table; imagine me telling them "no!" and "go!" and "sit down!" and eventually the staff having a word. We went back to our own two naughty girls and laughed at them as they fought over a bone - with the weather warming up so has their play time and a couple of times this week they have just chased each other round the kitchen for a while for no apparent reason other than the joy of it. Such fun puppies.
A misty start, but the sun is making an effort
Sally building the platform to raise the reservoir a bit
Boiler and electrics done
The final wall is being plastered
A racing buggy in town
Friday morning we were back up to a full complement and progress was once against impressive. It was a misty start but cleared up again so Sally could work outside in nice warm conditions. Bekir continued doing the boiler and electrics and has got it all working and the switches in the box for the rest of the room. Inside Room 13 Yulhan was still plastering, onto the final wall so that the room could be left to dry over the weekend ready for painting on Monday. A and I went out just before lunch to try and see the independence day celebrations in town however we were late and it had finished when we got there; we did see some of the off road vehicles that are currently racing in the region (though they haven't returned to our village this year, sadly - that was a happy memory from a few years back... check this link out for the blog post) but our lack of success continued when we tried to get a kebab (they'd run out of meat) and go to a restaurant (they were totally full) so it was a bit of a disappointing trip. We were able to get the final reservoir that we need so that was good.
Thelma rolled in shit
She got a double shitty neck
Reservoir in place
Planting seeds
Digging a big rock out
Managed to shift it
A productive evening as well
After eating some very welcome egg mayo butties (not the kebab we were both wanting but never mind) we went out into the warm of the afternoon. Thelma was having a great time and managed to find some duck poo to roll in; she got both sides of her neck and was stinking! I was laughing, of course. Sally had made good progress and completed the raised platform for the reservoir so it had been lifted on so the rest of the walls could be built around it. There is now room to put a watering can underneath the tap which is how we will be using it for now. Eventually I may get a pump in each tank. We'll see. A was keen to take advantage of the weather and found a warm place round the corner (our sunbathing spot being now a water tank location) where she could sit and plant seeds into trays. I was not sitting around (much) either and grabbed the fork to finish off the second dig of our garden. I had previously found, and subsequently forgotten, a huge rock up this end so rather than ignore it again I got the shovel and managed to dig it out. At one point I thought that I had actually reached bedrock but a little more excavating and it started to move. Of course I had to have a photograph taken. We were both really exhausted in the evening however I was pleased that I got a sudden burst of energy and finished painting three models that have been sat on my desk for a while and then got on and did eight more so we can now play one of the scenarios that I've been building scenery for.
A really glorious sunrise
Sassy saying good morning
A very sleepy puppy
The perfect morning brew location
Saturday morning arrived with a glorious sunrise and fog in the valley. I grabbed the camera for a quick photograph before going in to make brews to bring outside. Sassy was up and about and wanted to see what was going on but Thelma was still in bed and had no interest in moving. By the time the brews were made and A was up the fog was starting to coalesce around us and the clear morning had ended. It was still beautiful and we stayed out there in the peace (other than Thelma shouting at her ball) enjoying the beauty. This is the first balcony brew of the year!
All the finishing off tiling has been completed
A lovely spot for some scrambled eggs
The puppies loving the sunshine
Spraying glue and flocking my trees
Now A has her breakfast
Which is the guilty layer....
After that brew A headed out to do some shopping in town while I strolled was surprised to look into Room 13 and find that Bekir had completed the small tiling jobs in there before they left; I had thought this would roll over into Monday. The fog of the morning had already burned off by the time A left so I pulled a table and chairs outside and set myself up for some modeling time later. First of all I cooked up some scrambled eggs and was sat outside grinning to myself and eating it when A got home. What a lovely place to have breakfast. After this I sat at my desk and was jumped on by the puppies who wanted to sleep in the sun as well. I shifted them after a while and went back outside where I sat and attached all the flock on all the trees I have been making. I had this done before A was hungry and then she joined me outside with her own breakfast. While we were both sat there relaxing we noticed an egg sat on the grass by the green building that must just have been laid. While there were chickens and ducks around near it closer inspection revealed it to be a duck egg.
The owl sat on top of the Green Building
Its mate on top of our house
Beautiful new plant
A little bee that is totally covered in pollen
A big Bumble Bee getting involved
A had gone into the fenced garden while I sat and finished my brew sat at the table when I looked up and saw an owl on the chimney on the Green Building. I quickly grabbed my camera, got some photographs, called her over to see and then went to get the better zoom for a closer picture. Unfortunately just as I was going on to the balcony it flew off. A had spotted that there was another one, however, so I ran round the back of the house and climbed onto the mound from where I was able to get some more pictures of the second bird sat on the house chimney. We hear these all the time, and see them quite a lot, but never have a camera to hand. Following on with the wildlife theme the lovely flowering willows that A has bought are really attracting the bees. They are also beautiful. When I brought them in that evening a big bumble bee hitched a ride and we had some trouble encouraging it out through an open window. It's wonderful to have the bees back.
Bruichladdich 18 year old; such a lovely dram
We were out that evening to watch a band in town and I did take a video but because I forgot my camera it is not very good with the sound on the phone. It was lovely to see our friend, and also see Venko and his wife and the bassist from his band, and I ended up being asked to DJ while the band took a rest. This just involved YouTube and a single channel mixer but I had fun. When we got home I carefully selected a very nice bottle of whisky and poured a dram to savour. This was in memory of a very good friend of ours who had died that morning after fighting cancer for several years. It was a sad moment but also a lovely one as I thought about my memories of him and what a superb person he was. You can see that it wasn't a time of moping by the video of the puppies fighting over the ring.
For Dragon
I think that I was joined in this drink by a few people around the world; he was much loved and for good reason.
A looking like a super model
Dressed for fighting
The Other Brother with his lovely wife
The beautiful wedding party
The stunning room
These flowers were on our table
Neja running around keeping everything organised
And so we come to Sunday and the wedding day. It was another absolutely glorious morning which we spent pottering around a little before getting ourselves ready for the wedding. This involved me digging my suit out of storage and A deciding on a dress. That decision was quite easy as she only had one dress that she wanted to wear. We were giving the Little Lady and Usmivka a lift down so swung past and collected them both and arrived at the venue nice and early. It was glorious so we sat outside and waited and before long we heard the beeping of horns as the cavalcade approached. We were beckoned over the The Other Brother to get pictures of him with his wife, and then I stole some snaps of the wedding party before being waved away into the room. And what a room. It was stunning! We shook hands with the greeting party, met Neja's wife, and then were shown to our table by the man himself who was rushing around like a loon trying to stay on top of all the arrivals and ensure people sat in the correct place.
The Granddaughter with the Little Lady
Usmivka with the two grandchildren
This is why we call him "Smiley"
The ceremonial bread is shared by the couple
Down the hatch in one, then the glasses were discarded over their heads
The first dance
The Other Brother and his wife join the first dance
A sat watching and having a great time
The Bride's sister with Neja
A beautiful fancy gift, smelling of lavender
A joins the Bride on the dance floor
Money getting pinned to the happy couple
Something made the Groom laugh
Concentration as the cake is cut
A lovely slice of cake for me
Another lovely solo dance
Busting a move
A dancing with Neja
We were sat on a table with Usmivka, the Little Lady, the Special One and the two grandkids, and also two people who we didn't know. Everyone was very happy and the music was playing while we were eating our opening salads and I was drinking water. A had a beer and Usmivka had a huge vodka which he enjoyed a lot. After a little while the bride and groom arrived, walking in to applause and followed by the Other Brother and his wife, who were the guests of honour. I took loads of pictures, and a fair few videos, which you can see above which captures most of the day. The one thing I did miss that I was after the champagne was quaffed (see the video) they threw the glasses over their heads to smash behind them. I was really gutted to miss out on this. It was such a lovely afternoon and to see how happy the couple were, how much dancing there was (and it barely stopped all afternoon) and for A to go up and have a dance with the bride.
There are a LOT of photographs there but it truly was a wonderful occasion and I had to keep snapping pictures. We headed home about 4pm or so and both of us were whacked; I fell asleep on the lazy boy and slept for two hours and A found me like that and lay down on the sofa and also passed out. We had eaten so much food that we were not hungry in the slightest but towards the end of the night I did have a snack and so did A. It was a superb way to spend the weekend.
So there you are; I've been very busy today so this update has taken all day to write; I'll be back sooner I think with another post as things are speeding up here quite a lot.
