The big arrival

I have been both a mixture of very busy and very lazy (or tired, if you like). I did not do a blog post on Sunday as I am supposed to because, well, he will forget about it in a week or so. Hopefully.

Tonight I am going to provide you with a lot of photos and fewer words than usual, just because there is a lot to show you and less to say.  Let's get started.

Stuff:

Ok, I am just going to show you a few random things that I snapped over the last five days. 

On Friday I was whisked off out to lunch and in a little coffee shop we stopped off in before the restaurant, I spotted these. They had loads of them and I desperately want something like this. I did suggest that I could get a sewing machine and make my own. Maybe. Probably not. How lovely though?

I need this chair

I think it was Saturday when I got a text to say that we had parcels arrived at the local courier office. I was only expecting one, so when I got chased by a huge box wielding man out of the shop, I was somewhat surprised. Pleasantly though as I can now have a decent cuppa. The teabags here are not the same at all. Also, the most important part of the package - the peanut butter!

Proper brew again

As much as I have tried, I have been unable to stop a nest being built by the swallows. This is on the second floor window by the top of the stairs and since our fly screens have been actually screwed in place, I can't get to it. They are a nightmare around here because they have nested on and in the building for the last 20 years while it has been unoccupied. I shall have to let Himself deal with this over the weekend. I have managed to thwart any building in the porch so far, but they have made a right old mess up there.

Pesky birds

Whilst doing the watering round this morning I stumbled across this. I have no idea (or had) what it was and thought it may be eggs of some kind. On closer inspection and also reading a post on a Facebook group, might it be white Mulberries? If you know, do leave a comment.

No idea

Moving on now.

Progress - Sally:
The men have been working very hard. On Monday morning Sally was at a bit of a loose end and had been planning to grout the tile work that Bekir had finished on Friday. Never to be idle, while he waited for me to go to the shop and pick a colour and 12 bags of grout (I know!) he was on with some tidying outside to help make the place look a bit better. He shovelled and swept all the debris from the edge of the platform along the front of the building. What a man!

Sally keeping busy

I had realised that morning that he was going to have some freed up time whilst Bekir was sorting out the electrics and plumbing for the kitchen. After a quick discussion with Him in the UK, I went to tell him that the through-way to the downstairs corridor should be made slightly wider so that we are able to move things around more easily to and fro the tool and wood room. He got straight to it after the sweeping and narrowly escaped losing his shoe!

Keep your shoe!

With Bekir working towards the kitchen being finished, he also made a start on digging out the shallow channel to allow the pipes to go inside. He is fantastic at just getting on and using initiative.

Drainage

 And also, they sure do clean up after themselves.

Better access

I had been to get the grout but when I got back he was started on another task which he was able to get on with without hanging about. Sealing the top of the tiles off did not take long but makes a huge difference to the look and feel.

Sealing the top

I had picked a grout in the colour Karamel. Here, it looks very orange and not to worry Himself who will be reading this later, it calms down once it is dry and works very well with the tiles, thankfully.

Grouting

More grouting

This is a little bonus, but when we got back this morning, the carpenter was standing playing fetch with Rambo and waiting with our last door of this round of fittings. Excellent.

Another door

Progress - Bekir:
As I have mentioned above, Bekir had lots to get on with to finish off at the end of last week. Firstly, the platform edge tiles and metal guard.

Final finishings

Now, you cannot see it from here, or maybe you can, but some of the tile cutting for this has been exceptional!

Chimney tiles

On Monday morning whilst pottering around upstairs and cleaning the guest room and bathroom, I heard a huge drill. I was a while but when I took their coffees down I had to ask him to stop what he was doing with the drainage for the bathroom and toilet and get on with the kitchen as it was more important and i wanted to use it when our guests arrived. Bless him. He hates deviating, but he was fine. He made great progress though.

More pipework

Groundwork done

After a brief count and discussion I was off to the shops again, this time with Bekir, to get some electrical supplies. We have 28 double wall plugs in the open plan area. 28! I suspect the Mr was responsible!

Plugs

Lots of plugs

Today was all about the electric. Having put ALL of the plug sockets on the wall, he got stuck into the hell that is the distribution box which supplies it all. I do not envy him at all.

Concentration

 And done. Almost.

Complete box set

Finally in this section, I add this last photo. Not because it shows anything in particular, but I like it. It really is almost ready for the first meal to be cooked!

Almost there

Progress - Me:
I haven't had the greatest progress in the last few days, but I have done ok. Inside I have just been pottering around, tidying as I go, washing sheets and towels and cleaning as much as I go.  Outside though, I have mad a bit of an impact. The garden, again was in need of more attention. Just one more walkway to clear and I was going to be happy. The fact that I got a fair bit of weeding done also, was a bonus.

More jungle

Every little helps

Once the garden had been tackled I set to clearing some of the debris that has been left from the insulation work. It has really been bothering me and I set to it. There were about 6 or 7 of these barrows emptied. It was warm work!

Bits and bobs

There was also a lot getting swallowed up by the grass. After Sally cleared the patio, I did feel a little bad for piling the stuff up again, but we almost lost the hoses and it took quite an effort. I had to actually cut them out in the end (the grass, not the hose).

Lots of bits

 One of my jobs was to keep the spud towers filled with soil. Mega fail. As it had rained and stormed so much I had been unable to get out and do this and as you know, with the heat rising and lots of water falling, the garden took to a growth spurt. The potatoes did the same.  Now the ground and soil had time to dry out for a day, I set to work and managed to fill the sections that were already built up. The potatoes are starting to slowly flower now, so I'm not sure if I should be adding further soil. I will have to Google that.

Spud soil

I am going to leave you with two more sections, in which I think the captions will be enough without a whole lot more typing.

Dogs:
Thelma has been a little bit clingy for a few days and a little bit nervous. I think something has scared her but I am not sure what. Perhaps she has been startled by storms or by Sassy banging in the middle of the night.  Today, she was much better, but she has shadowed me for a few days. Louise on the other hand, has been very much an outdoor dog since the rain stopped and it has been warming up. She has been lizard hunting.  Rambo? Well Rambo is enjoying his retirement.

Shadow

Sniffing

Nap time

Play with me

Lou-Lou

They really love the space they have here. It allows them so much freedom to explore.

Garden:

This section shows you the growth happening all around. It has been very fast over the last couple of weeks indeed. I cannot wait to eat some more of our own crops.

Spuds

Finally some letuce

Rhubarb

Corn

Courgettes

Broccoli

Tomatoes, cabbage and cauliflower

Beetroot

As I have been typing, I noticed that some other bits are missing. I have swede growing very fast which I forgot to take a photo of. I also planted strawberries but as the weeds have grown with the strawberry plants, I have been uncertain as to which are plants and which are the weeds. I will show you that when I confirm I have not grown a raised bed of weeds and upstairs on the balcony, there are slow growing, but getting there, peppers, tomatoes and randomly, sunflowers.

There you have it. I am exhausted after that marathon and I will be very glad indeed to have Himself home tomorrow night. I have missed him. And of course, his parents arrive with him, so we will have lots of activities to report back to you with next time.


Leka nosht
A x

KAT

Yesterday I made the mistake of commenting on how we hadn't seen a cloud for weeks. I made this comment both in the blog and in person. A asked me not to but I still did; today it has been a little more cloudy though it stayed warm all day. As I sit down to write this update, having just been with Baker for a bit watching her eat very keenly which is great, it has clouded over a bit more and we may even be in for a storm this evening. To be honest it would be nice; there is so much dust after the Bagga machine and Kamion that a good downpour would settle all that and encourage grass and plants to start growing in the dust bowl.

Anyway to last night. We sat on the balcony again after I published the blog and enjoyed the evening once more. I had to take the torch to go lock the chickens away and on the way out I saw the firefly again. This time I did get the camera but unfortunately the video has corrupted and so it isn't worth showing you. Maybe I'll get to see it again later. Once more it was warm into bed and we had the fan going. I turned it off earlier in the night last night and A didn't mind so I'll probably do that again this evening. Neither of us slept that well though and morning once again found A up earlier than I (she just pulled the duvet up and Louise appeared and jumped around needing the toilet) and then me joining her shortly after.

Waiting for KAT to open

After two cups of tea A headed to collect the men and I had 15 minutes until I needed to leave to go to KAT with Julian. I had some toast to fortify me and then headed out with my bag of provisions, my kindle, and hope in my heart. When I got there I was far from the first and I took my place back in the queue to wait. We were all there before they opened and almost exactly 8.30 the door cracked and the friendly bald man who I had spoken with last week came out and spoke at length to the assembled people.

And inside the main office waiting

As he was turning to go back in he spotted me and called me forward by name which was great; I went into the main office and sat and waited and then waited some more. Eventually the boss turned up and to cut a long story short said "you have the paperwork, we only have copies, we cannot do this without originals". I was quite flustered by this as I was sure we had left them there last year but even with calling Lyubo to talk to him I was sent away with a flea in my ear and nothing doing. I was helped as well by a bystander who spoke a bit of English and this really does show just how friendly locals are; they don't look on a foreigner as an annoyance, but come over to help and there were a number of examples of this today.

I drove home (stopping on the way to go past the electrical supplies shop for some stuff for Bekir) feeling annoyed that I knew they had the paperwork; my plan was to have a quick look and then when I couldn't find it to talk to Dincher to go back with me to resolve the issue. I made a brew first thing on getting back and then started to look through the old places I had put documents. Along the way I also found the previously missing pet passports for Sassy and Rambo which was great and then suddenly, tucked away underneath a flip file, I spotted the paperwork for Julian!

Brilliant! I would rather me be an idiot and find it than have to go and deal with KAT with no paperwork at all.

The carpark near KAT

After finishing my tea, doing some paid work (and letting Lyubo know the good news) I jumped back into Julian and drove back to KAT, walking in to the office and spotting Stankov (the bald guy) waved the documents. He smiled and laughed and the process started again. One of the issues I had was the EcoTax (like an import duty) had been paid last year but the certificate had run out. I went back to the girl in the cubicle and left this with her, hopefully to get it sorted so I wouldn't have to pay anything. While this was happening they asked me to pull Julian over onto the onsite carpark which I did.

There then followed a very frustrating afternoon. At first I once again couldn't find the Chassis number that was the cause of the problems and then midway through the search it was lunch time so everyone stopped working. We then moved Julian inside over an inspection ramp so the search could continue and it was only when they came out with the picture taken the previous year (and yes, it was August so that part of my memory was reliable) that I was able to identify a location and find it. I was then given rags and told to clean it up which I did.

There was so much waiting around, expectant looking at various officials, broken conversations in English and Bulgarian with various people that the afternoon passed but very slowly. The policeman who was helping out (I THINK that they needed three signatures on the document to bypass the problem with the chassis number and he was one of them) was really friendly and we ended up chatting for quite a while. He is in a band and maybe we will be able to go see them perform one day; that would be very nice.

Old number plate hacked out

He left mid afternoon as his shift was over but his parting words were "this is nearly done; just one more signature and you're done" and this seemed to be true as they told me to get the number plates off. I managed the front plate but the back one was so badly rusted into place I got a technician who brought a drill and just excavated the plastic around each bolt to remove it. This was great but as it got to nearly 2 hours after and I was still walking around with the old plates in my hand, waiting for the new plates, I was wondering if I had jumped too soon and now I had a vehicle that REALLY couldn't be driven on the roads.

Finally putting the new plates on

There were other friendly people around also trying to get vehicles registered and I was again touched when the time finally came for me to go and get the new plates. Stankov came from behind his desk to show me to the cash desk and then as I was trying to fill in the blank bits on a form I had a crowd of people helping me all in good humour. Now consider that this was at about 4.30 when the office shut at 4.50 and I was pushing in the front of their queue to get this done. What a lovely people. I let out quite a whoop, and had a lot of smiles from everyone around, when I was given the plates. The nice technician (he actually looks grumpy but he isn't) put them on and I was off and away in a very nearly legal Julian. Now I just need to get insured.

Super grin from Louise

As I pulled up and parked A came onto the balcony and I gave a thumbs up and she was very pleased too. The girls were so happy to see me both of them smiling really widely and then coming to the stairs to greet me it was a nice way to come home, as exhausted as I was. A poured me a beer and told me to not bother about taking the men, she would, which was super as well.

Labels on cables

Talking of the men it has been a busy day here as well, all the time I've been out. Sally has been on with doing the plastering which is coming on a-pace and Bekir has been doing the wiring for all the electrics. There is actually quite a lot to do there (10 spotlights, four main lights, four uplights in the vestibule, a central light in the bathroom, the boiler, and switches for everything) so it's good to see it coming on well. It is getting quite soon to when the parents will be here now, not that I'm nervous at all.

Tomorrow should see the window people coming to do the next stage of windows and doors for us which will be super exciting but for now I'm gong to sign off and eat the amazing curry A has cooked which is now being served.

Plenty of gosti

What a day, it's really late as I start typing this so I'm going to try and be brief but you know what I'm like; I'll probably still be typing tomorrow. Onwards without delay.

Super tasty pork dinner

So now I try and remember last night and I look at my pictures and find that we had pork with onions, marrow slices and potatoes and I remember just how gorgeous it tasted. Once again, and as our habit is going to be for dinners, we ate at the table and watched a very disappointing sunset.

Don't even THINK about taking this bone off me

The girls got to chew on the bones from our pork, one each, and Rambo got two. He ate them so fast that when A went out to check on the neighbour who had come over to get some blossom from our tea trees he had completely devoured one by the time she came back in. The girls loved their bones also and spent the whole evening gnawing on them until very little was left. The night was undisturbed in the large part however A was up at 5.30 with a sore tummy and I slept in til quite a bit later when I woke to find myself alone. I got up and went looking for her and eventually found her out with the chickens; at least it wasn't that she had left me, huh.

First ever mains electrical work

I was in slave driver mood this morning as I had a very definite list of things to achieve. The most important was to get the armoured cable that was taking power to the bedroom and re-route it in the way I had originally planned so that on Sunday I could try and get the distribution box installed and have safe power into the bedroom. We turned the electric off at the pole and, with some nerves I must admit, I went into the splitter box and separated out the cable we were moving. I didn't kill myself and we had the power back on within about twenty minutes so that was really good.

Breaking out the original wiring

With this completed and as a proper workman we stopped for a brew before starting the next step which was to chip out and disconnect the wires taking power into the bedroom. This had actually been cemented into the wall and so we used a hammer and a chisel to carefully remove the mortar and free up the cables for untwisting.

Labelled the earth wires

It turns out that the plug sockets have been wired in earthed which is great. I'm not very confident on this whole electrical thing and so I started off suggesting that we label everything. I wrote the labels but my writing was way too messy so A took over and we did the earth cables before noticing that the colours for the bedroom feed three core matched the colours in the armoured so we didn't bother labelling any of the other feeds.

Happy man with armoured disconnected

After some graft and much sore knees from the awkward position I finally managed to extract the cable from the junction box and so we moved on to pulling it through and freeing it from the path that Bekir had put it. This didn't take long and we then fed it back down towards the junction box Steve put in so I can connect it all up tomorrow. Finally I fixed it in place for the first couple of metres in the roof going towards where the sub-junction box is going to be before stopping for breakfast.

A wasn't feeling that well sadly and so while I ate bacon and eggs she went to bed for a bit. I was sitting on the balcony, which is nice as I've not done that much, while she was in bed and able to talk to me when Thelma started barking at something down the side of the house. We just thought it was Rambo but then the Bulgarian phone started ringing and eventually we spoke to Bekir who had been ringing and realised that he was at the gate. He had dropped round, on his way to market with his son and friend, to come and talk about the work that we need doing. We explained the urgent tasks and he said he'd be over 6th July to start work. This is excellent as we need the bathroom and guest suite done for my parents' visit.

The cable reached the point we aimed for

When he left we headed back into the attic (A was feeling better by now having finished off my bacon butty while I spoke to Bekir) and we completed the task of running the armoured cable over to the correct place for the distribution box. I now have the really hard part of this job to do which is actually putting the box together and then making sure it works and doesn't blow up. That is for tomorrow though.

Nearly over the edge

There was time for a quick (cold) shower (we STILL have no reliable water and it is getting worse and not better unfortunately) before we headed out for our first gosti of the day. We have been wanting to go see A of S for a while and this weekend was the perfect opportunity so we got ourselves together and went to leave. I heard a strange noise as we were going and looked up and saw that the new chair A had bought for the roof terrace had been blown over and was almost over the edge. We ran upstairs and managed to save it; the wind had really got up by this time! After this excitement it was a pleasure to drive for a while as we took the long scenic route to our friends house and when we got there it was lovely to see her and to have a cup of coffee sat on her terrace. This is actually the person who's blog I first ever read about Bulgaria all those years ago.

We finished our brew and headed off to Isat's to pick up a new burning drum as our existing one is falling apart. He was eating his lunch when we got there so we waited a bit but this is no hardship here and you just learn the pleasure of not being in a rush. He came down from the cafe shortly and was happy to sell us the last drum he has for quite a cheap price. After shaking his hand and getting given his new card we were off home, via a friend's house who he had asked us to photograph to check on its state, and we got back very hungry and gasping for food.

I made us a pasta meal from the dried packets and then A headed into town to the shops and left me to do a few bits. I fed the girls and then took them outside for their toilet while I went on the swinging chair and almost dozed off. When I woke up I found the girls gone but they had only gone up the side of the chicken house towards the washing line so that was OK. Rather than go in I cleared out the wood from the trees which had come down in the snow and been cut up by the Special One and which was tangled in the weeds to either side of the gate. Next I headed inside and tried to get the pictures in the frames I had bought but found that some of them were not the right size and anyway all the dust around was getting everywhere and making them look rubbish. Finally I started on the other job I'd set myself which was to clear the non-computer stuff off of A's desk but after moving the speakers the whole dust and mess thing got to me and I sat down in a huff on a comfy chair, with the puppies on my lap, and read my book until A got home.

Cleaned and tidied

I was feeling tired and lonely (I know, I've only just finished three months without her but it's funny how you can cope and then suddenly you can't) and when she got back she told me to go rest so I went to try and do this on the swinging chair but the wind was up and I just relaxed rather than sleeping. After a bit I gave up and went to bed and slept really soundly for an hour and I woke up feeling much more positive and happy. A had arranged a surprise for me this evening which was a BBQ with the neighbours coming over so when I woke up I got involved and tided and cleaned the landing and Room 13 so we would have somewhere to sit inside if the weather proved too bad.

Roof terrace ready for party

We got the roof terrace ready with chairs and recliners and the parasol and the swinging chair and then the BBQs and then suddenly, before any food had even started to be cooked or even the BBQs lit, they were on their way over. I lit the BBQs very quickly but then the Special One came and took over and we split the two BBQs so he was doing the chicken and I was doing the burgers.

Superb kartofe

They had been told that all the food would be provided by us however it is a measure of the people that they refused to turn up empty handed. The star of the show was these lovely potatoes that I wolfed and so did A. We also had some very lovely cooked meats and cheeses which went down well and when the burgers were finally ready they also were appreciated.

The girls chewing a bone with grandchildren in attendance

For the past few we have forgotten to the give the girls the bone we got for them from the restaurant we went to with SandS and their friends. A had the brilliant idea of distracting them with it while we had the BBQ and so gave it to them and they spent about the next three hours chewing on it and reducing it steadily with their small teeth. The grandchildren of our neighbours were enthralled with the puppies as you would expect and barely left them alone. Fortunately Thelma and Louise are really good natured and put up with the fusses from particularly the little boy who just loved them.

Having a great time

Usmivka and the Little Lady had not come over for the first part of the evening as it is Ramadan and they are fasting (which is something I am certain I would not be able to do - I barely survived from breakfast to lunch!) however we had a great time anyway and really enjoyed being on the roof terrace until the clouds came in again, the wind picked up,and we were chased downstairs onto the sofas I had moved onto the landing for that purpose.

Aftermath of a pretty good sunset

After a lovely time sat there, talking about the pictures on the walls and the recording studio amongst other things, we noticed that it was nearly time for the fast for the day to finish so A went up to start the BBQ again for Usmivka and The Little Lady while I sat with our gosti. Eventually the Special One went up to take over the cooking again and after a while we headed back up there where I was just in time to catch the end of the sunset.

Ghostly Usmivka stood over the Little Lady

I went down to control Rambo when they walked over and then we sat on the roof terrace in the gathering gloom while the meat was cooked on the BBQ. They were both quite quiet and tired having not eaten all day and were obviously looking forward to their dinner. I took a few super long exposure pictures, hand held camera of course, of the group which came out as you would expect and then it was time to go downstairs for them to eat. I put everything away from the terrace and joined everyone; A took the opportunity to give the gifts we had bought for the ladies and they loved them. Then, as soon as the final bite was eaten, it was home time and we hugged them goodbye, waved them off, and I came upstairs to start on this.

I'm going to sign this off quickly now as I have another long day tomorrow but first I want to say what a wonderful and lovely surprise it was for A to have arranged this evening for me. It is something I wanted to do all last year and never managed to and much as I am not a great socialiser I love that family and love sharing time with them. Anyway, bed time.