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 ;)