First building day at the School

I have just got back to my friends house after such a full on day oevr at the school, the first day with Bekir and Sally who I am working with all week.

I was dead to the world this morning and needed a "wakey wakey sleep head" from my friend as encouragement but I managed to bounce out of bed and operate to some pretended level of coherence while loading the car with materials and tools and then was alert enough to drive the twenty minutes or so to the village where we collected Bekir and Sally.

Breakfast at the school, with yoghurt drinks

From there it was past the 'magazin' (shop) to get food and more Banichkas for breakfast, and then to the LPG station to put 20lev of gas into the can I bought yesterday.

We were at the school to start work by about 9am local time (7am UK time so you can understand why at 5am UK time I still had my eyes shut and was dreaming of lazier times).

Bekir and Sally digging out the free water supply

Upon arriving we had a bit of a wander around and let Bekir take in the place and work out what was needed and what order to do things in. The roof has definitely deteriorated so we had a few minutes discussing that however our aim for this day was not the roof; we were wanting to get the free spring water supply located and then put a stand pipe in.

A brand new tap

Normally things go slowly over here but with this I was amazed as within an hour or so They had found the pipe carrying the spring water through my land and connected it so I had water coming into the school! That includes the time it took for me to drive Bekir to the builders merchants to pick up a tap and some other plumbing things to allow the connection to be completed. Talk about efficiency and lack of mucking about; they just got on with it and with a pick and shovel uncovered the pipes, cut and spliced into the school supply and bingo, dirty black water pissing out into the room me and my friend were cleaning.

The spring, connected up so the house has water

This leads me nicely on to what I was doing while they were doing this. We had decided that the room which the water was coming into would be good for a temporary builders kitchen so were sweeping and removing all the crap on the floor; this was wheelbarrowed by your tired author round to the dump site I used the last time I was cleaning the school.

A tobacco plant in the room we were cleaning

We managed to clean both the small room with the tap in it, and the bigger room next to it so that was a very successful morning.

The first brews of the day

The double gas hob had been attached to a gas bottle first thing we arrived and brews were forthcoming from it all day, notwithstanding trouble later in the day as the wind got up and kept blowing the flames out, and swinging the window onto the cooker and threatening to knock the kettle off. This last was solved with a bit of string and a spare nail; when in Bulgaria.....

After a lunch of more Banichka, and a banana, my friend went off with a couple of her friends who had come past (one of whom may end up helping out if work is done in my absence, as a chaufeur and overseer) to the town to sort some business and I was left on my own. I made a brew for me and the men, then went into the roof to clear up a bit around the chimney which is going to have to come down. I piled up loads of tiles and while I left some which were a bit structural for me (the remaining tiles on the roof did look a touch precarious) I was able to make good progress.

The big hole; getting bigger

Rotten beams

New damage

After this I sat on my balcony with a cuppa and my book and relaxed but then felt really useless and so went to where Bekir and Sally were in the process of digging a trench from the road outside my property and up to where the spring came in from my neighbours. The idea here is that when the Veka (water) people connect me to the paid supply this will be brought in and along next to the free supply and then an access panel will be built with the clock (which tells you how much you've used) and also a tap to turn off the free supply into my building. All well and good but the ground was very stony and it looked exhausting.

My tea break seat on the balcony

After five minutes of watching, and a lot of internal dialogue 'should I just grab the shovel or ask' I just grabbed the shovel before Sally could and got stuck in, clearing the rubble which Bekir had freed with his pick axe. After three iterations I thought my hands were going to fall off and my respect for these incredibly hard working and friendly men redoubled; they work bloody hard and there was I, paying them and unable to keep up. I did make up for this by going and putting the kettle on again and then picking the shovel up when I had come back with the brews; it is one thing about me that I cannot sit and watch people work.

Bekir and Sally on a break, talking to my neighbour

Shortly after this the travellers returned and we discussed the drainage at the back of the school. The ground at the back comes in about foor feet above the floor level and I am aware I will have to dig this out for drainage and to stop the problems with damp which the building does have. My original thought had been to dig it all out and back and terrace it however, having spent all day pondering, I am convinced this is a silly idea as there would be multiple tonnes of soil moved, and who knows where the bedrock is. The new idea, thrashed out with those present, is to dig a four-five foot deep channel about 3 foot wide all along the back, put a grating over it, and guide it round the side of the building and down towards my little orchard at the front. Far less effort, it will look nice (no huge banks with concrete faces to look at) and cheaper. Win all round.

The trench

From this point it was pack up, lock up, dot the padlocks and keys with nail varnish so we aren't struggling to unlock things, and home.

I am exhausted, and very excited about the spicy pasta which is being prepared as I type this. I have also drunk two glasses of beer without even taking a break and I am dry again while I'm typing so I will let this extra long update draw to a close very soon, even if only so I can refill.

Tomorrow we plan to order the materials for the roof, finish digging out the channel for the mains water, during which time I will be in the roof with my friend clearing crap again, and should the materials get delivered in the afternoon we can make a start on securing the roof.

What a brilliant day and, as a friend tweeted to me, it really DOES feel so good to be getting stuff done finally. I cannot WAIT for next March. Doing this is the best thing I've ever done.

Thanks for reading to the end ;)

Progress with the Architect

Wow what a day.

I am just sat back at my friends house and I am exhausted! I slept through last night like an log and woke up before any alarm went off but in time for a welcome shower and to leave at around 8.30am for the 2.5 hour drive to Chaz's school and onwards from there to see Veselka.

Banichka; breakfast of champions

We stopped for Banichkas (cheese wrapped in a savoury pastry; awesome) and fuel and by the time we'd done this the satnav was saying "you will not be there until midday" but with my usual driving style I managed to shave thirty minutes off that and we got to Chaz's about 11.30.

We went in for a cuppa and to look around his school, which is very impressive; I particularly like the amazing and airy stairway which puts mine to shame - not that I am jealous at all. Honest. He is hoping to open as a hotel around new year and good luck to him and his is what I say.

A long and straight Roman Road on the way

After that we went, via giving a lift, to Veselka's office and were greeted and sat down with her nephew acting as translator.

To cut a long (and probably to you, boring) story short this is the outcome.

Veselka is going to do two separate "projects". First of all she is going to start the plan and project for the roof as this does not require any additional approval from any government authority. Once this is done (which should take a month or so) I will be able to get building authority from the Obshtina and start work on the roof. One other thing is I will need to get what is to all intents and purposes a Building Inspector to double check the completed work is up to standard; we can use the friendly man at the Obshtina for this purpose. What this means in a short sentence is (other than I could have had this already had the plan been started when I took Veselka on, but then maybe I wouldn't have got the materials to the school as the new road is not fully commissioned) when I get over next March and start work I can do the roof immediately with no delays. That wasn't a short sentence but never mind. And of course it could all change again.

At the same time as Veselka is doing this first project she will be starting the other process, the additional one which we had hinted at when my friend went to EVN (the electricity people). We need (wait for this) to apply to the central government Education Department for Permission to apply for permission to change the use of the building.

Yes. Permission is required before you can ask for permission.

You have to have permission to ask for PERMISSION?!

Right.

Anyway, this isn't the end of the world; she says she will apply for this and the law is that they must respond within a month; she also said "but they normally just extend it" so it could take about 6 weeks for this first permission to come back. Once that has been received she will put the rest of the plan together (7 stages apparently including "insulation", "power", "water" and other elements and then THIS will be put back to the Obshtina (who will have been told - hopefully, by the Department of Education that they are OK with this school being re-purposed) and then my second permission for building will be received. Apparently there is a chance that this will be received by March and so when I arrive I will be able to crack right on with the other renovations too.

I was given the contract today and have taken it away to read over the next week. I am back to Veselka next Monday to sign the contract, pay 50% of the fee up front, and also give her Power of Attorney so she can process all the paperwork for the permission for permission (called PUP apparently).

What a load of hassle.

Veselka at one point said "I like you, but you make my life difficult with this project" haha. My happiness is that I know what is happening, I have a contract to sign (which has time limits in it) and there seems to be progress.

Anyway, this is a really long post but I wanted to explain in detail, particularly after my update yesterday where I was quite concerned about all this.

The beautiful sun set on the way home

I'm sat with a whisky (yep, Bunnahabhain) and will be hitting the sack very shortly as early tomorrow I am off to go and collect Bekir and Sally to go and start real work for the first time on the school!! VERY excited indeed.

I'll update again tomorrow evening, thanks for reading.

Back in Bulgaria

What a 36 hours this has been.

Mmmm whisky

I am sat in Bulgaria right now sipping a Bunnahabhain and feeling like I may pass out at any moment. Last night I attended a tweet up in Bethnal Green with a bunch of really interesting people, then went straight from there to Gatwick.

When I got to Gatwick at about midnight Departures was shut and so I had to try and get some sleep on a bench with arm rests splitting it into four sections. Suffice to say this did not happen and so when they opened Departures at about 2am I was there, about the 6th person through. I found a very comfortable bench and slept on it until 5am, when I bought a cappuccino, then the aforementioned bottle of Bunnahabhain, and then went straight through to my plane.When I say I slept on that bench, I dozed for about ten mins at a time, checking the time about that often, as my mobile phone battery was on its way out and I did not want to miss the flight.

On the plane I managed to get another hour or so, but without a neck cushion it was rather uncomfortable again. I jumped straight in my hire car (Savoy Rent really are excellent; even though I arrived an hour late they were waiting for me in arrivals and within five minutes of walking through the gate I was sat in my car and driving off) and got to my friends house down here by around 2.30pm local time.

Tired me

To say I was starting to hallucinate while driving is to indicate just how tired I was and after a short catch up (and a gift giving to say thanks to her for being so amazingly helpful) I got an hour or so shut eye before we went into town and bought (though I may have forgotten some stuff):

• A large gas cannister
• A 2 hob hot plate
• Some gas hose
• A gas regulator
• Some hooks and padlocks to secure more doors
• Some cups, spoons and knives
• Washing up liquid, scrubby things
• Tea bags and milk

Thus I am ready for Monday when I will be meeting Bekir and Sally for the first time and starting working finally on the school.

About that, there is some quite momentous news. My friend spent a very frustrating day last week at the electricity and water boards trying to arrange for the actual connections to be made so we can start work correctly next week. To cut a long story short the water is pretty much sorted; I actually do have a free spring on my land and will be putting a standpipe in first thing on Monday to this (with Bekir the master plumber doing the work) and also the mains (charged) supply will be connected either Monday or Tuesday.

Electricity is another matter, and has highlighted a potentially extremely serious situation.

They refused to agree to a temporary supply based on the fact that the Change of Use from Educational to Residential is, apparently, against the law. According to the head Kmet of the region (whom my friend had a short and sharp word with) the law changed in 2009 so they are not allowed any more to change use for old schools. The short word was "Well why the hell did you sell it to him then!?". Outcome being the Kmet has said "never mind the electricity board, I will run a cable to your school for this week" (we shall find out if this happened on Monday) and I think they are going to have to have a good long think about what they will let me do.

Frustration

I am going to see Veselka tomorrow so I will be asking very bluntly whether she is aware of this, and what the hell she is going to do about it. As far as I can see, if I don't need a change of use, I won't need architects plans or anything else to renovate the building. I may register it as a school, and my little flat will become a 'caretakers residence' for the purposes of insurance etc. This is something to research and something which I cannot do anything about until I have spoken to Veselka.

Talking of which, she has just changed our meeting from 2pm tomorrow to 12 midday so at least that'll happen sooner.

It is great to be back and I am really excited still, despite this uncertainty from the change in the law. I think I may get in touch with Georgi Stankov of "Bulgarian Properties for Sale" as well (the agent who sold me the school) to see what he knows about this and what advice he may have.

Too late for the Bees

The other day I wrote a blog where I was deciding which courses I thought I should do before I go over to Bulgaria. Some people have said I am thinking too hard about this process and should just take a step back and wait for things to happen. This may be correct in a few places (for example, I was looking at the price of a second hand mini digger on cars.bg the other day, as I have LOTS of digging needed on my land and having to hire one in every time I need to terrace or whatever seemed a waste. Worrying about this now, however, is premature.) but I have found one situation where I have missed the boat.

I want one of these

I spoke to a lady today about bee keeping courses (thank you Tracey for the contact) and the last course this year is this weekend, with the next ones starting, you guessed it, towards the end of March.

I should have had these thoughts, and booked myself onto a course, about two or three months ago apparently.

A bee

She has kindly said that if I want to go to their hives and observe their winter maintenance (which would definitely be interesting to me) then I can possibly do this. I will not be getting any bee keeping training before I leave however.

I have had a bit more luck with booking a plastering course and I am going to be doing this over two weekends later in the year. One of my work colleagues was interested in doing it also so we are both going to do the course together.

This will be me, oh yes!

Four days of training will not make me an expert by any means, of this I am well aware. What I am hoping for is to have confidence to pick up the tools and give it a go, at first surely helping my workmen while they are there, but hopefully building up to a stage where I am able to give it a go during the summer when I am on my own for the renovation.

I have not yet done any research into the other potential courses and tomorrow I fly to Bulgaria again for the weeks worth of building to make the roof safe, and get water and electric installed. When I get back I will probably look into the pig husbandry courses at least, and get the trailer course booked too.

My updates may become sporadic (especially after the mistakes in auto posting last time) over the next few days but I will try and do a blog a day diary probably in the evenings, rather than the mornings.

Cheers for reading.

Software and Books to learn the language

A few days ago I wrote a blog about how I was learning the language, mainly with help from my friend called Boris, but also I hinted that I was using some software for this.

As I ran out of room in that update I am putting this short collection together with the software and pulp based books I have used or had recommended to me, along with a brief summary of how useful they are. I hope you find this helpful and if you know of any which I have forgotten please add them to the bottom with the comment form.

Two screens from BYKI Bulgarian

The first suggestion I would like to make (and actually this goes for anyone learning any language, not just Bulgarian) is check out http://www.byki.com/. They have a free offering you can download from that website which allows you to select one language which you want to learn. Alternatively you can pay for the full service which includes LOADS of languages. I am currently using the free version and in my opinion this software is the best I have come across. The best thing is their concept of learning is the same as mine; you want to learn words and phrases and then how you plug it together follows. It has an easy to use interface, and doesn't only focus on the listening and speaking, but also expects you to learn how to spell the phrases back in Bulgarian. I'm not being as disciplined as I should be however I think you could spend ten-fifteen minutes a day on this and make very swift progress.

The Lonely Planet two way phrasebook

Next are a couple of phrasebooks which I have and have found to be useful. The first is the Lonely Planet Bulgarian Phrasebook. This has a two way phrasebook so if you are in a restaurant and there is only a Bulgarian menu you can (with some guesswork) find the word and translate it into English. This is more useful than you might think.

One Way phrasebook

The first phrasebook we bought was the English to Bulgarian Phrasebook. This is not just a dictionary and phrasebook, however, as it contains pages of explanatory text and cultural information. On our first visit I can remember sitting in the restaurant trying to work out how to order food (without the two way phrasebook) and then sitting and reading this book while waiting for whatever it was we had ordered to arrive.

Finally is this DVD which battsby has recommended to me; I have not yet used it but he tells me it is full of useful phrases, mp3 files which you can listen to via your phone on the go, and various other helpful things. I will give this a go at some point and report back.

I do have another piece of software which was given as a birthday gift which we used for a little while; I cannot remember the name of it (my fault) and can't find the install disks either at the moment. I will update this page if and when I do. From what I remember of using it we found that the pronunciation was a bit off and confused us slightly from what Bulgarians actually say to you in person. I think this could be the case with a lot of these online systems and ultimately you have to live immersed in a language to really get fluent with your local dialect.

Yeah, that's me

There is also a free website which I was a member of for a while which seems to have shut down recently. This was quite good, but not as good as Byki. Again I've forgotten the name of it.

Helpful people are helpful

After work yesterday I met up with Boris for the first time for ages.

Boris isn't a "little miss"

For months we met up to once a week to learn new words and have some nice food but this kind of petered out when I changed jobs amongst other reasons.

So it was nice to get back to see him, especially after all the excellent help which he has been giving me over the last months, with tracking the architect down and making appointments for me with her and generally being in a place where he can remove my stress.

As such last night was very much my treat and I was clear to say "thank you" for all the help he has given me.

It has made me think about all the help I have received from various people over the last couple of years while this process has been ongoing and while I am not going to enumerate everyone (because for sure I'll forget someone) I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone one of you. I include in that number everyone who is responding to this blog as you are encouraging me, as well as providing me with suggestions and ideas which will help me.

While (as anyone who knows me in person will tell you) I shout a lot about how much I hate people, you aren't all that bad are you :)

This'll be my homestead

A fair few people have asked if I will be accepting help once I am over there; specifically allowing people to come stay with me and get involved in the renovation or homesteading work. Let me be clear that, within reason, I think this is a cracking idea so if you are interested in doing so just comment or send me a message in the form on the right and we can discuss this.

Thanks again.

Training myself; course thoughts

Part of the the excitement and thrill of this whole adventure is the range of tasks which I am going to take on which I have never tried before. Setting myself challenges like this is something I have done my whole life so far; I am a self taught guitarist and music producer (and have a profitable recording studio to show for this), a self taught software developer (earnings from which funded the studio, and are allowing me to expedite my retirement as described in this blog) and I have started the process of learning about growing things.

Learning is Fun

Being self taught does not mean, however, that you ignore all advice or even that you isolate yourself. It can be very useful indeed to get a helping hand when you are getting started and I would never say that I had no mentors for my music or my software.

A fair number of my regular readers have commented that I should look into some courses before I leave to get this grounding in subjects which I have zero experience in. I thought I would put a brief blog post together summarising these suggestions and my thoughts on this.

One course which I am pretty sure I am going to have to do is the trailer towing course. As I passed my driving test after 1997 I do not have the correct codes on my license to allow me to tow a trailer. Not many people know about this change in the law but it is sadly true. I have found some suppliers local to me who do a weekend of training and then provide the test. It is about £500 with the training course and test cost. I'd rather spend this and get the additional codes than risk losing the trailer on the journey.

The first course which I considered was for plastering; the walls in the school are expansive to say the least; it would be good if, during the non-building seasons (summer and winter), I could get ahead and do plastering of rooms I'm living in. There are courses available in the north west and this one looks like the best. I am very tempted to book onto one over this winter. I think having some confidence with plastering will be one of the most important building skills I can have.

Me learning Brick Laying with Phil

Another course someone suggested to me is Bricklaying. I am not so sure about this as I have some experience with brick laying, having had a friend teach me and my business partner when we first started work on the studio. This was a long time ago and I didn't do that much, but the principals are in my head and I'm sure I will be able to do it at a pinch. I don't think using one of my now becoming limited weekends for a bricklaying course is a good use of time.

Finally, for the construction style courses, it has been suggested I look into a welding course. There is a fair amount of merit for this suggestion as I have not a clue about anything to do with welding however I also am not sure what I would need to know it for over there? My thoughts on this are that if I find I need to know welding I can find a course over in Bulgaria and learn while I am there.

I am quite confident with animals, as my parents will tell you I have always been able to deal with animals, however there are two courses which could be useful.

First of all a bee keeping course is an option. I am really keen on keeping bees, they are amazing creatures, are at risk at the moment from the monumental evil which is Monsanto and other GM companies, and they work really hard for a homesteader by pollinating flowers and helping plants to fruit. If you keep honey bees then you get the added benefit of, well, honey. And what would be nicer than to be able to source your own honey in your back garden. I am exceptionally tempted to try and find a bee keeping course.

Bee keeping - fetching outfits huh

I have also been recommended to look for a Pig Husbandry course. I am feeling quite close to decided that I will be keeping pigs early in my stay and I have been told by people with experience that they are not as simple as some other animals. I think I need to spend some time this upcoming visit exploring the village and seeing if I can talk to any locals who may already keep pigs; if there is some expertise in my village then that would make taking this course less important.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of courses which could prove useful (for example if I wasn't planning on going next March I may well have booked myself onto this: http://www.panyaproject.org/permaculture-in-practice-course-october-20-november-2-2013/) and if you think I have missed something then please comment below.

The Last Shift

I am sat in my studio right now for the last ever shift I will have to work here (barring holiday/illness cover).

A month or two ago I handed over my Friday night shifts to Pabz, a lad who has been involved in the studio (mainly as a customer) for most of the time we have been open and today I am sharing my shift with Billy who really has been here from the beginning, even at one point living at the studio while I did; a period of time where the studio became home to a few of us as outside influences took away other housing options.

What a momentous day this is.

The empty unit when we first moved in

When I was fifteen I used to bunk school to go to No Machine Studios and make cups of tea, eventually I became trusted by the owner and ran rehearsal shifts and my own recording sessions. When I left home and ended up in Sheffield and later Blackpool my dream never left me; to have a No Machine of my own. Meeting my business partner put me onto the path which is taking another turn today. We leased a medium sized industrial unit and have managed to build the best recording and rehearsal studio in Blackpool.

The studio as it looks now

And today, with the business starting to be a success after years of struggle, I am taking the next step towards becoming a silent partner and removing the final time obligation to the business.

This does not mean that I will not be coming back; I have taken on a unit across the way to put the trailer and Julian in and to practice loading the vehicles. I also need to keep practicing that reversing of the trailer (going to go and do this after I've finished writing this blog post) which will have to take place here also.

The studio has been a wonderful place for me, as I mentioned before I lived here for quite a long time, with a little bedroom which has just turned into a cafe kitchen in the last week. I have made many friends, had some exceptional times, and the fact I had to go out to earn a large amount of money to pay for it has left me now in the position where that money (no longer funding the studio) has bought my school and will pay for the renovation and hopefully the first year or two of living there.

It has all worked together to put me in a position where I can live the next part of my dream and, fingers crossed, my studio will continue growing as it is now and will be here for me as and when (and if) I come back.

Rambo (our guard dog) when he was a puppy

So I am going to sit here, do a few bits and pieces, watch the NFL and enjoy my last day in the saddle as a rehearsal baby sitter.

Motivation

Another reflective blog post.

We'll see how it goes and whether it even gets published.

Maybe this will just sit in a "draft" state for months and months...

Anyway, motivation.

It is something I have always struggled with; I really REALLY enjoy a challenge but the question of "why bother" is never far from my mind. Indeed a lot of the things I have succeeded at in the past have been because I am also stubborn and have, in a sense, done them just to prove myself wrong and that I can achieve things if I want to.

Originally the plan for Bulgaria involved me and my girlfriend going together and this was a very good plan. She would have been there to ensure that I kept going with what I said I wanted to do and my motivation would therefore have come from that location.

Sadly our relationship has not lasted (though very happily indeed we are friends and have not done that ridiculous thing where we hate each other; I am relieved about this) and so I am now going on my own.

Being on my own is not a problem. I like my company and, with the wonderful interwebs to provide me with some 'human' contact I doubt I'll be lonely.

The area of most concern is with my motivation. When I am only doing something for myself I have the unfortunate habit of not really being that bothered about it. Nothing will get in the way if I am doing something to help or impress someone else but, if it's only me, who cares!

When we split up last year I basically ignored my garden until she came back; it was only the fact that I was able to share it with her that enabled me to really throw myself into it. I absolutely love gardening and growing things and being outside and everything like that but only doing it for myself just wasn't enough of a kick to drag me out of my laze.

Our old garden; how I loved that place

And now I am taking on a massive renovation work, including hoping to grow food and keep animals to at least partially feed myself. I am sat here writing this and quite literally fascinated to see what the outcome of all this is. I know I am going, I am so excited and I cannot wait to get there. I even am pretty sure that I will complete the renovation (or at least the initial living quarters - see some other blog for that detail) and I will have a little kitchen garden because the pleasure of growing (and not having anything else to do) will encourage me. What I do not know is will the joy stay with me, with no one there to share it with and enjoy the challenges and struggles which will come.

I have always said this is a three to four year plan for me. I aim to get the house livable in and take that length of time away from "the world" and then see how I feel then as to whether I retire there permanently or just use it as a base for more travelling or even come back to England.

Well, I guess we will all find out together won't we.

Thinking.....

I do not know if this will get published. It probably will. This IS the purpose of this blog; to capture my state of mind as well as the actions I am taking...

Thanks for reading :)

Why am I doing it at all, and why Bulgaria?

Another question I get asked a lot is "why do you want to leave the country?" and "why Bulgaria?" which I suppose is pretty understandable. Most people would not consider leaving the country, or if they did would be able to persuade themselves to not go because of all the things which could go wrong, or some imaginary ties they have with people or places here.

This makes anyone who has taken the opportunity to leave appear either crazy or lucky to these less adventurous people.

So, first of all, what has prompted me to decide that I want to leave the country?

Here you should imagine me looking at you as if YOU are mad as I really cannot understand why anyone would want to stay! I should warn you that he be politics and angriness.

The cost of living over here is disgusting, increased by punitive taxes which target those who go out and try and make something for themselves to punish success and restrict and control us.

The friendly British Bobby on the beat

On top of the taxes the state is inserting itself further into a position of total hegemony over every individual and all the choices they may take. For one example I no longer have any power to allow or deny a customer from smoking in my studio. The state has abrogated this to themselves. All of this offends me but the state would consider my offense a crime if I were to act upon it however, if I were to say anything to offend certain minorities (or even to cause someone to THINK that I may cause offense by my words) then that offense is now a criminal matter.

How much more broken can a country get?

English weather

On top of that is the weather. It sucks.

There are many more reasons around wanting a new challenge, being excited about learning some new skills and wanting to become self sufficient and therefore remove myself from a daily grind of being stuck in offices, but I won't bore you with this any more.

Why Bulgaria, then? It is cheap to buy a property (I was looking at houses about £5000 until I found and fell in love with the School) which means the risk in buying out there (if that were a worry to me) is massively reduced. The cost of living over there is pretty low still (so long as the Euro keeps away) and people in the villages where I am going still live a life very close to the soil; this means that when I move I will be able to learn from them, rather than just relying on books for my training. Bulgaria has a flat rate tax system which I think is the fairest form of tax. The people there are lovely; very welcoming and always happy to share what they have with you. Finally, the weather is real weather with a very cold winter with snow, and the rest of the time nice and hot.

Happy sun

What's not to love?

So there you are. I will not be introducing politics to this blog very regularly but I could not avoid it with this one.

Remote Harvesting Walnuts

This blog is vicarious in the extreme. If you detect hints of jealousy then well done; they are definitely there.

Bashing the tree and collecting the walnuts

At the weekend E managed to get over to my school with her friends to harvest from the seven walnut trees that are on my property.

The walnut trees on my property are all along the front wall, in the little area where I am planning on putting an outdoor table and chairs. They appear to be doing very well for themselves, particularly if you consider that they have probably been left completely alone for the past 8 years at least while the building has been empty.

This is a portion of the harvest

It is a really strange feeling, at once making me feel proud that my land is producing something that people want, and at the same time making me feel jealous that I'm not out there and present at the time when the harvesting is happening. This time next year I will be, though, and I'll be blogging about it I'm sure and will look back at this post and remember this, sat in this dark back room of my current house, feeling tired after work and nervous and unsure still about the architect and building work, and so many things will have gone right and so many will have gone badly that I'll probably laugh and say "ahhh, if only missing the harvesting of the walnuts was the worst thing".

The gutter, the big hole, the rest of the roof

The other benefit of E having gone over is she got to take some pictures of the roof. My analysis is that it looks like the big hole has got a bit bigger, what guttering remains is looking a little less secure, but the rest of the roof looks about the same. This is good as they have had some pretty high winds recently and I was a little worried that it would not be in a good state at all.

My watch-guard

My little lady neighbour put in an appearance, as I thought she would, just making sure that the place is safe and not being raided by people who have no permission. This is a great thing as I know they are keeping an eye on it for me as they promised they would.

It's 10 days til I fly to Bulgaria next and I'm still trying to get a meeting with Veselka confirmed. I really hope I can because I won't be over there again until I drive there with the parents. I am thinking that she could have the contract prepared so I can sign it in person and we won't have to fanny around with couriers or any of that.

It is funny to think that I was hoping all of this to be completed by now and this trip I have coming up now to be me starting to whole process of removing the roof. The best laid plans and all of that.

The other day, driving back from my studio, for some reason it really struck me that before I know it I will be driving away from it for the last time, with all my belongings in a truck and trailer, and two roof boxes, and that this really will rush towards me. Time is flying, it's nearly October and then it'll only be five months.

I cannot wait.

Thanks to E for the pics.

Money - how do I plan to earn?

Probably the second most common question I get asked (after querying my ability to speak the language) is "How will you earn money out there" or "How will you support yourself then?"...

These are stotinki coins, up to a lev

Some people ask this just out of interest and some ask it because they are contemplating checking out of this rat race and going to their own little retreat and hope that I may be able to divulge some incredible ideas which will enable their plans.

I'll answer the question but my answer is very personal to myself and I don't really have any excellent business idea to sustain myself which is easy to apply to other people; this answer is very much making use of my skills and the luck I have had to end up in the industry I work in.

So, how do I envisage supporting myself financially when I get to Bulgaria.

These are lev notes

First and foremost for the last seven years I have been funding and building up a business in England, which is a recording studio based in the centre of Blackpool. This has taken some time get going but in the last couple of years has really started to become a mature profitable enterprise. When I leave I will retain my stake and will become a silent partner and this will pay me a certain amount every month as a profit share. This amount I see as being my bread and butter money, paying my regular bills such as food, electricity, water and rates. Should the business do better than expected I may even be able to save something every month.

Secondly I am a software developer and so am hoping to be able to get some small contracts from a few friends and old companies I have done work for previously. I only want to really work a day or two a week total and this will build my building fund over the summer, and replenish my savings. Depending on who I tap up for work I could be earning as much in a day as the studio will pay me every month.

Next I am currently saving like a lunatic (though not as fast as I want to be, but that's the same old story) and I hope to be taking enough in savings to pay for the whole renovation, and possibly to live off for the first two years. Ideally I will not be touching my savings for living, as the studio income and development contracts will be enough.

Scrooge

Lastly, and hopefully it won't come to this but at least I have the option, if I do not get a remote contract while I am over in Bulgaria I am considering whether I may have to come back the first winter for 3-6 months to earn at UK rates and save as much of it as possible. This is, as I say, is by no means my ideal plan however one must be flexible to succeed.

I have absolutely no plans whatsoever to run any business at all over in Bulgaria, apart from my development work. One of the reasons for going is to extract myself from that kind of life so it would not make sense to move all that way only to return to that for my income. Others I know do make successful business over there, particularly if you are a handy man then if you go to nearer the large collections of ex-pats you will be able to earn as English like to pay English to do their work. Another friend is planning on doing some art holidays and finally there is the option (which many have said "oh why don't you do this") is to have a guest house or B and B.

Frankly everyone is different and only you can decide what the most efficient way to survive fits your needs and desires.

This is how I am planning, and is particular to my situation.

Learning the Lingo

Learning Bulgarian with Boris

A question which I get asked a LOT is "how are you doing with the language?" or "can you SPEAK Bulgarian?" or "isn't the language really difficult?". To these people I have promised a blog and so this one is for you.

When you are emigrating to a country where English is not widely spoken then the language is one of the first things that you will start to think about. Being able to communicate with your neighbours is vital and will mean that you can integrate much quicker. It is also really helpful if you can make yourself understood when in bars, restaurants or shops.

The Bulgarian Alphabet

This challenge is made greater when the language you need to learn is based on a different alphabet; you find yourself not just trying to remember words, but also not able to just pick up a dictionary and read a word as you have to memorise the pronunciation of unusual letters.

But what is life without a challenge, hey.

As in many parts of this whole process I was lucky in that around the time that I decided to move to Bulgaria, I was in a position to influence the hiring in of a Bulgarian developer to the company I worked at. Boris since then has proven his weight in gold (it is he who has been my main nagging weapon with the architect has he has willingly phoned her a few times, and also he who rang the Kmet about the house in the woods) and he has been teaching me Bulgarian.

The first words

I can clearly remember the first lesson where I took my notebook (front page pictured above) and the list of words which myself and my girlfriend had come up with, and attempted to pronounce "zdraste" which means "hello".

Our strategy was to pick up words which would be useful, and not worry too much about language structure and grammar at this stage. We spent all week working out what words to add for the next week and then took Boris out for dinner over which we proved what had learned the previous week, while adding new words for the next.

I really struggle with languages and found that I was only able to really pick up one or two new words a day, and sometimes not even that. Many times J managed to learn every word for the week in the first day, and then spent the rest of the time patiently trying to hammer those same words into my thick skull.

This process has slowed down since I changed jobs and don't see Boris every day, and pretty much stalled completely as things finished between me and J. In the last few days I've started taking the notepad into work and getting colleagues to assist me in breaks at work. Scottish Mike takes particular pleasure in requesting that I repeat the words with the correct angry accent (which is amusing as I've always found the language sounds soft and lyrical when locals talk).

There have been any number of examples of how useful it has been to know even the few words that have stuck; the pleasure of being able to say "studeno" (cold) when given a warm beer, and then have the warm beer removed and one with ice on it passed over is amazing. We were also able to walk into a village and communicate with a villager that we were looking for the house ("kushte") for sale ("prodava li se") and it was a flash of amazing inspiration when I understood as he said "ahhh eto tam" which means "over there" and follow him.

This blog is plenty long enough now so I will leave it here. I will do another blog covering specifically software and books which I have found useful, bought, or had recommended to me.