Wouldn't you know...

Yesterday I waited.

Tapping of toes in a cooooool fashion

I had been told by Dilyana that I would hear from her towards the end of her working day with the feedback from the visit to the Obshtina which had happened on Tuesday.

It got to 2.30pm my time (4.30pm their time) and I rang her; while I am being understanding I have had enough of being patient.

Her phone was engaged.

It's good, but not THAT good

I tried again a little later and got through straight away; I didn't ask but I hope she was engaged because she was hassling Veselka. She probably was because there was an update and it was a pretty good one at that...

Veselka had promised Dilyana to email the contract to her that day and Dilyana said that she would translate it for me and send it tomorrow (today as you read this). She promised, though, to email the Bulgarian original to me as soon as she received it.

Veselka has already applied for the Obshtina for change of use which is the first stage of the PUP as she is hoping that they will come back with knowledge of the process and timings and who she has to talk to in Sofia to get this Permission to Ask Permission. She has also applied for a new skitza; when I first heard about this I thought this was unnecessary as I had my skitza stamped and renewed last time I was over however apparently this is going to be a brand new original on tracing paper etc etc which is required for the change of use. So that is good.

The best part of it was Veselka had apparently understood that two separate contracts were sensible, one covering the design and permission work (with clauses to cope with delays for the PUP) and the other covering the PUP, when it became clear what the timings should be based on external dependencies.

Happy.....

So finally I knew what was going on....

.... or did I.

About ten minutes after I put the phone down from Dilyana I had a text from Chaz asking me to call him as they had been to see Veselka and had some information for me.

Hmmmm.

or maybe not....

This update was subtly different from Dilyana's.

He told me that the PUP had been applied for but that this was done the previous week, and not the day before. He also said that she had agreed to start work on everything she could that wasn't blocked by the PUP and this includes the drawings for the changes and also, apparently, getting the Geodesia (what I have been calling Geophysics) which had already been out to the school and done their survey!

Why the HELL I hadn't been told about this I really do not know; if she had been arranging the PUP and booking Geodesia what is the problem with typing a one line email to tell me this; I've even employed a translator so she doesn't even need to worry about that.

Very much frustrated about this.

So it was that I was back to waiting again; for the originals of all the documents which Veselka was sending to Dilyana for translation. About 6pm my time I had a couple of emails containing the PUP application, the Skitza application and a drawing which I think may have come from the Geodesia survey.

No contract.

No contract this morning either when I woke up and the chase email I sent was replied to with "she has promised to send it today... she is still worried about the PUP timings...". This is getting to be beyond a joke as yesterday she was comfortable with sending the amended contract and today she is resistant again.

This is my face...

It had better arrive today!

Pragmatism, or stupidity?

I never had a reply to the email which I sent yesterday. I even sent a chase email and had no reply to that.

She's prettier than I, but I pulled that face too

About 3pm my time I finally decided that calling Dilyana was the correct thing to do as it had reached the end of their working day without any communication. Without her number it was the work of a couple of seconds to google for her and I found it on my favourite Bulgarian Forum.

So my deadline was firmly set that if I hadn't received the contract (and I really cannot in any way see why this would be a problem) I would be walking away from Veselka at the end of yesterday. To this end I had sent a couple of emails to various people, one to the other architect I have already met and some to the ones recommended to me in the comments of this blog a few days ago.

During the day I received a quote from one of the guys recommended to me which is a very impressive response time I think. They were happy with the task in hand and said that it would possibly take up to six months (this seems a long time but hey). The problem was they were quoting 20 EU per square metre for the work which is a fair chunk of change and twice the highest quote I had when I was originally looking for an architect.

I have not yet heard back from any of the other people who I contacted however various other friends are coming forwards with "ooh I might know someone" so that avenue isn't entirely quiet.

A quiet avenue

It was with this in the back of my mind when I decided to phone Dilyana and she answered as she was heading home from the office. The situation was as follows. She said she had rung Veselka twice to attempt to encourage a contract from her, but with no luck. The visit of her colleague (apparently a water engineer? Not sure why I need one of those as Bekir is a water engineer but more of that later) had happened during the day (and not today as I had been told originally) and so Veselka was determined to wait until after she had heard what the Obshtina said about PUP before giving me my contract as "we had agreed it would be in the same contract". Funny that as both myself and Dilyana remember agreeing to have the PUP as a separate contract. But onwards.

At the time when I spoke to Dilyana this colleague had not got back to Veselka and so I reluctantly agreed that I would wait until this report had been made; apparently this would be towards the end of the day on Wednesday (today as I write this). I have made it clear that I am unhappy in the extreme with nothing happening and need the comfort of having a contract however it feels like Dilyana is quite powerless in the situation; maybe Veselka is quite influential and she doesn't want to upset her?

My current position is:

• I will wait to hear from Dilyana until about 4pm their time and then phone if no communication
• If no contract is forthcoming today I will set up a skype video-conference with myself, Dilyana and Veselka and will ask her to her face the simple questions which are being avoided
• I am continuing to investigate alternative architects and if you have any recommendations please shout

This does involve a slight bending of my firm deadlines however as things are progressing I am frustrated but can rationalise. If things go quiet again then this will change and fast. I cannot stand with being treated like I have been treated and Veselka needs to understand that a large change in my attitude has occurred.

Other small updates; my text to the camper van engineer didn't lead to any response yesterday so I will be phoning him today. And I still haven't managed to track down a fork lift on the cheap for the landlord so pretty soon he's going to be receiving a call telling him to hire one :D oh, and he has sent me a bill for insuring the unit for a whole year where I'm not even really into it yet, and leaving in four months - there may be a short conversation about that also.

PAHAHAHA

It feels like things are being held up by others on all sides at the moment. Why can't people just do what they say they will do?

No more being pushed around

After my blog post yesterday I sent an email to Veselka and Dilyana (the translator) making much the same point and waited.

Time is a-ticking....

I set three distinct requirements and gave deadlines for each.

1. The contract emailed to me by the end of tomorrow (now today)
2. An update telling me what had happened since 18th October (the last communication)
3. To be told that a visit to the Obshtina would happen by Wednesday

It was not much of a surprise when I received a reply from Dilyana within about an hour or so telling me that Veselka was ill but she was sending a representative to the Obshtina on Wednesday to continue the investigation. I have a couple of things to say about this. First this could have been done last week surely? And second I am willing to bet that it was only my email which prompted this visit.

Tellingly the reply did not mention at all anything about the contract but it did answer the other two points; a visit to the Obshtina is planned and absolutely nothing has happened since the last update. Surprise surprise.

Too calm?

The clear point here is I have been way too calm with this woman and I should have been angrier before and certainly should not have kept calm when I was sat in her office. I was steaming quietly during that meeting but trying to not lose my temper. I now think this was a mistake.

Anyway, since then I have had a few replies with my questioning regarding the contract getting more insistent and Dilyana attempting to play the "oh this IS Bulgaria..... she's an artist..... when I needed an architect I was delayed too" cards but none of this means anything. To quote my most recent email:

Let me be very clear, and please will you call Veselka and get her exact response to these points as my deadline for receiving the contract is the end of the day today.

Veselka had a contract for me to sign. It included getting Planning Permission which involved the PUP. The only reason I did not sign it is because she made the mistake regarding what she was delivering. If she had had the quote correct I would have already signed a contract!

1. She PROMISED me that she would send me the amended contract at the end of that week.

2. All she had to do was edit the schedule to take into account the correct values to pay her and that was it.

3. The contract already contained provisions for external delays and getting the PUP.

I need specific answers to each of these questions.

I really cannot get my head around any real reason why a contract should not be forthcoming today, unless Veselka is admitting that she is just not going to do the work required to fulfill it. For this reason my determination to hold the line on this is strong.

My guess is she wants to wait until after the Obshtina visit tomorrow and then try and put me off with "oh now I need to talk to Sofia".

Hmmmmmmmm....

Another thought I have just this second had is that I gave Veselka Power of Attorney; how can she send a representative to collect the information she needed? One of the excuses she gave for not having been to the Obshtina prior to my last visit was that she did not have my Power of Attorney.... Anyone else think I'm being sold a crock?

My research into an alternative architect needs to kick into gear. I gratefully received the recommendations on the comments yesterday and am going to send an email in to those people now. I haven't heard from Martin (the contact for the second architect I met at the school when I engaged Veselka) yet and I am still open to other suggestions or recommendations.

Onto other things...

The landlord has received his quote for the shutter and is now just looking for a forklift truck on the cheap to remove the old shutter. I am also still waiting on a date for fixing the electrics from the camper van dude; I think I may chase him today.

It's all about keeping on top of things.

A rant

This weekend I started to get really quite irritated with the situation with the architect and PUP/planning permission. Another whole month has gone by with absolutely nothing having progressed and now we are approaching the "four months til I go" date and, when I think about it, that is starting to make the timings look tight, and not comfortable.

Yep, time for this fella again

I had planned a really lazy day on Saturday but by the middle of the morning the frustration I was starting to feel drove me to pack my books up and load them in Thomas to take to the studio. I then decided that, rather than wait for the shutter to be done, I would get my stuff moved out of the store room in the studio (where it was starting to get a bit messy again) into the new unit. My trolley did show its usefulness doing this and I moved everything apart from the huge heavy top to my desk.

Saturday night my tiredness went away and I sat up watching films and rubbish TV with my mind stewing and when I finally did head to bed the following thoughts ran through my mind:

"I need to think about fitting a shower at the school as soon as I can... how will I be able to wash in the first couple of months... will I be able to fit the shower without planning permission... well at least I can sort out Room 13 without any alterations just need new windows...."

All of these thoughts are predicated on the fact that I now no longer believe that my PUP and Planning Permission is going to be done.

It took me hours to switch my mind off and then when I woke up (and I still hadn't identified the thought above; what can I say I'm not the brightest sometimes) I set to and packed up all my DVDs into a box.

It was only when J asked "what are you doing?!" that I was able to face up to the fact that my weekend had been displacement activity because of the frustration slowly turning into anger at the complete lack of attention and progress from Veselka.

I unpacked my DVDs.

So, why am I getting to irate about this right now; it's MONTHS until I go, surely there is time.

Time is melting, fast...

Let's quickly analyse the dates...

• 21/7/2013 - Met Veselka, received quote and told it would take a month to get permission to replace the roof.
• 22/7/2013 - Emailed Veselka with answers to the questions which she asked me.
• 22/7/2013 - Told by the head architect in the local Obshtina that I don't need planning permission for the roof
• 13/8/2013 - A promise that she will start work "next week" received by email.
• 16/8/2013 - Email received saying she will be talking to the Municipality about the roof (note that I had personal approval for this three weeks before)
• 22/8/2013 - Plans received of what is currently there. Confirmation that apparently the approval to work on the roof which I received was not the case.
• Silence.....
• 14/9/2013 - Booked my flights for a 10 day trip to do what I can with the roof, and meet Veselka to find out what is happening.
• 27/9/2013 - E finds out that we need PUP. Veselka has not told me anything about this at all. I communicated with her and am told "oh I know about that". Communication?!
• 29/9/2013 - Meet with Veselka. Receive contract which is incorrect, allowing only for planning permission for the roof, and only a concept for the rest. What is the point in that?! Take contract away to read.
• 30/9/2013 - Corrections to the contract emailed to Veselka. Arrangement to go back at the end of the trip.
• 7/10/2013 - Meeting with Veselka. Contract corrected after MUCH discussion and quote increased. Power of Attorney sorted. Promise that I would have the contract emailed to me by the end of the week to sign and return. Promise that Veselka would visit the Obshtina now she has Power of Attorney to start the process
• 14/10/2013 - No contract, but Veselka is going to the Obshtina today. It is Eid. They are shut. Where is the planning?
• 17/10/2013 - Still no contract, I now engage the translator to be my interface with Veselka with a promise of a weekly update on a Friday. It is requested that I send my vision to Veselka. This is the "concept" on the original, incorrect, contract.
• 18/10/2013 - Email from Dilyana. Veselka not sending contract and not able to confirm date of next visit to my Obshtina
• 21/10/2013 - Sent the plans as requested with my thoughts for the concept. Confirmation of receipt from Dilyana

And since then... Nothing.

We are now over three months since I originally took Veselka on to do the plans and in that time all I have received is the drawings of how the building looks now. She promised me a contract week ending 28/7/2013 and yet I still have not had one; this is after another promise of the contract made on 7/10/2013.

Looking forwards it is now 132 days until I leave. I can basically say that it is four months. In that time is Christmas. Also in that time is the snowy season and it has been made clear to me that the survey teams will not go out in the snow (they can't - how can the GeoPhys the ground if it is 3 feet deep in snow, at least) and they won't go to the school to do this scanning until the PUP has been approved.

You can't GeoPhys through this

Regarding the PUP. It seems we don't even know yet how long this will take to receive, or how much it will cost, and yet despite this Veselka hasn't even found out what she needs to DO yet, let alone started doing it.

So if I think it could take her another month to bother to get to the Obshtina to find out what is needed, and then maybe 7 weeks (and that is best case) we have two months gone. It is then January and the snow will not melt until February and so the GeoPhys can't go in. It then takes six weeks to get the approval to build from the Obshtina and that is all presuming (against all the evidence of my dealings with her so far that everything is expedited efficiently) that Veselka responds in a timely fashion to progress.

This is not going to happen and so I am sat here thinking "I am not going to have my planning permission when I arrive".

I do understand things are different in Bulgaria (blah blah blah) but there is different, and there is incompetent.

Anyway, rant over and while I don't feel any better, it has cleared my head now that I can really see what has happened with my little timeline above.

I haven't had an update from Dilyana since that first email so she is already starting to let me down. I am going to keep a spreadsheet of the agreed schedule of updates and whether she keeps to this. I'll not be paying her if I have to revert to my previous routine of nagging through friends.

eBay shennanigans

Having listed Pierre on eBay and gumtree I had a good response.

I advertised on these sites

I had a nice chap texting me from the gumtree advert and I promised to hold the sale until Tuesday as he tried to work out a plan for collecting him and storing him at his house. I then received an offer via eBay for the entire amount and this time-limited offer was due to expire around midnight on Tuesday.

Sadly the first person text to say that he hadn't been able to sort out a location and so I accepted the offer and thought "I wonder if this will actually work out".

Of course, and you guessed it, I have had an email from the eBay offer person saying that the offer had been put in by their granddaughter and they don't want to buy even though they really like the look etc etc etc. I am now in the situation where I need to contact eBay to get Pierre relisted (without additional charges as this is certainly not my problem) and I have told the first person who is still interested but still struggling with a parking space.

Life is complicated

Nothing is simple, but then I didn't expect it to be.

My eBay is asking for confirmation that I am who I say I am (apparently my password isn't enough) and is asking me questions I have no answer to ("what is your dream occupation?" well, what drugs was I taking when I answered THAT question...?) so I have to ring them up to gain access to my account. This isn't such a dreadful thing because I will use the same call to get the listing made current again.

Another little update; the shutter is moving forwards and now I am just having to find a neighbouring unit with electricity so the men can do the installation. Hopefully this will be done soon; I want to start getting my things over there and sorted them for most efficient packing. I also need to attach the Laycorn boxes to the front of the trailer and do the drilling and bolting to make them fully secure.

Just a short update today as I'm still feeling a little delicate from my night out on Wednesday night.

Challenges with Julian

The chap came out to look at Julian yesterday to quote for removing the fridge (it being plumbed into the gas means its a bit more than a task I want to undertake) and updating all the electrics to run off 240V from the hookup.

He was early which is something I really like in a business (Veselka take note haha) and had to come back later as no one was there to unlock the gate and allow him access.

His feedback was not the greatest, specifically regarding the gas system and getting the fridge out.

Stupid Americans

To cut a long story short because Julian is an American vehicle (damn those yanks) his pipe work is not standard size (well, not European size). Not only this but there is no isolation valve for the supply to the fridge. This is what I found out myself when I was trying to get it working (which is nice; I was questioning myself) but the problem is, with non standard pipes and no existing isolation valve, he is going to struggle to cap off the fridge supply so I can continue to use the water heater and cooker.

He is trying to get hold of a plumber who may be able to help but my suggestion of "just getting it welded shut" was not looked on with favour.

It was better news regarding the electrics and he has suggested a cheaper method of having a battery charger with a small house distribution box and a mains powered battery charger to charge the leisure battery from the mains, and hopefully the alternator charging into the leisure battery still working.

I have told him to fix the electrics immediately and to not worry too much about removing the fridge. If I can't remove it I will just put books in it or something, use it as a cupboard, and never mind.

Pierre

In other news the nice couple who were texting me all weekend about Pierre unfortunately came back to me yesterday saying they were unable to find a place to store him so I have accepted the offer for the full amount on eBay. Now I wait to hear from this person (who is actually in Down and will therefore have to come over on a ferry to collect him) and arrange for them to collect him.

I am not totally convinced that this will work out; I've not sold anything via "Best Offer" before and it feels a little less certain than the bidding process. All I can do now is wait (again).

My scribblings on the plans.....

I am continuing to fulfill my tasks for the architect, even though I am not sure how much is being done at the other end.

She requested that I send her over my thoughts for how things should be (as you will have seen in a blog post a week ago) and I have finished doing my sketches and marking my scribblings onto her excellently produced plans. These were emailed this morning (a nice 15MB email; isn't it funny that for email you STILL worry about the size of files, but no where else...)

So, you lucky people, I am going to record here my thinkings and let you see and comment on my plans. Many people have asked me questions and hopefully this will provide more information than the probably lacking answers I gave previously.

So, without any further poncing around....

Scribblings on the Ground Floor

Scribblings on the First Floor

These have been posted before but they were a dodgy photograph of them and now I have nicely scanned in all my sketches so here they are again. This is the "what are you going to DO with all that room?" plan, and also a summarisation of the changes which I want to make and which I have detailed in the following drawings. One big thing is the layout of the guest suite, with thanks to my friend for her advice, where I am putting a shower and toilet (humanure, obviously) in a small room between the two larger bedrooms.

Bedroom access to the balcony

I want to change this window into a door with a window above and next to it.

Interior window into Bedroom

To ensure plenty of light gets into the top corridor, and so that I can put my sofa at the end of said corridor on the landing and see right through to the balcony, I want to fill in the current gap not fully, but with an internal window. I can then draw the curtains should I have guests, and open the windows in the summer for a full draft through.

Access to bottom corridor

This door is really really narrow. The bottom corridor is dark and dinghy. To fix this I want to widen the doorway and make it into an arch, with a display shelf knocked to the side; this will bring the entrance hall and back corridor into one space and improve the light and movement of air. It is hard to explain so hopefully this diagram helps?

End of Living Room wall

Lastly for my awful sketches, I want to have windows and a door in this wall. This sketch is not accurate, though, and I will have to redo it. The door will not reach to the top of the windows (See the door in the Bedroom with windows) so I will probably bring the windows in on each side to butt up against the door, and have a pane across the top. Plenty of light. I will be putting wooden shutters on the outside so I can lock it down for winter, and leave just the door un-shuttered for access to clean snow off the balcony.

Water plan - ground floor

Water plan - first floor

One thing which I wanted to make really clear to the Architect was the simplicity of my water requirements. I want one spur running down the front of the building, feeding the upstairs bathroom and then carrying on along that wall and past the kitchen to my wet rooms. The rest of the building does not need access to water. Hopefully this will make things easier for my build, and for her water planning survey thing.

Warmed zone - ground floor

Warmed zone - first floor

Finally for those who have asked me (very sensibly) about heating and staying warm, the red-hashed areas are the only ones which i foresee as being "warmed". As I want to use a Rocket Mass Stove and this will be an interesting experiment regarding heating a back boiler and radiators, I don't know at this stage how successful this will be. I may end up with a Rocket Mass Stove in both Kitchen and Living Room and then pipes taking the heat into the associated spaces but this will be something I will work out when I get there. Fortunately I don't think I need to provide this detail to get the permission to build so yeah, just my thoughts and imaginings about this right now.

So there you are, lots of diagrams and drawings and hopefully you have a slightly better insight into what I am planning on achieving with this amazing building.

A quick update; tomorrow (today as you are reading this) I have the camper van man coming to look at removing the fridge, and sorting all the electrics in Julian. Very excited about this, it'll be nice to have a fully operational camper van and hopefully it can be done before my next camping trip; the tweet up on November 23rd.

Improvements and storage for Julian

Over the weekend I picked Julian up from the garage (he's been ready for ages but I just haven't been able to get over there and my business has been too busy for my business partner to manage it either) and took him back to the yard.

It was such a great feeling to get back into him, walk around the back; I felt so at home and I must admit I cannot wait to spend the time travelling across Europe in him. He started first time and drove well through town. He really is easy to drive.

Everything I asked for has been done including the re-wiring of the cruise control and the passenger side wing mirror which has been cleaned and remounted. They had to replace the standard battery as well, which was unexpected, but now I know that Julian is fully ready for the journey.

There are a few things which I need to do inside Julian and one of the ideas was to make the bed (above the driving position) into a location for us to store our suitcases during the journey.

My plan for this involves ring-hooks and bungies..... It's easier to show you in pictures so:

Fitting the first ring hook

All three fitted

Bungies in place

So the idea is that the bungies will stop any bags from sliding off the bed though I am not sure there would ever be a situation where my acceleration would cause this to happen. Better safe than sorry though.

There are a couple of other things which need fixing on Julian now and, now I have him back from the garage, I will be arranging for these to be done. I need to fix the ladder, have the fridge removed (and then build a rabbit cage there for Sassy) and I need the hookup electrics and inverter sorted out.

As I am so busy I am going to get professionals to sort the inverter and electrics, and I do not trust myself with the gas supply to the fridge so that also needs someone who knows what they are doing. I have the quote for the ladder already so that is not a problem.

Julian and trailer in their temporary storage

I went into the new unit this weekend also and there is now space for me to drive Julian inside however the shutter still hasn't been fixed. I need to get this chased as it is taking a long time to sort.

Super strong padlock

My final task was to make sure that Julian and the trailer were secure. I had to climb over the gate again (heart, once again, in mouth) to access my unit but this is the last time as I have bought a shiny new padlock and affixed this to the gate. The key has been left with my neighbour (who needs to get his bins out that way) so all is well.

I have had a lot of interest for Pierre which is great so hopefully he will be sold to a happy new home very soon. If you know anyone looking for a camper van please do send them to one of the following links:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190937404906?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/superb-camper-van-excellent-condition-hes-called-pierre-and-he-will-love-you-back/1036024521

I'm selling Pierre

Having waited for several months to receive the V5 for Pierre (and eventually having to send off for this myself; gotta love it when the seller doesn't bother telling the DVLA they have sold you the vehicle) I have finally managed to get onto Gumtree and eBay and list him for sale.

Pierre, in all his glory

This is quite a bitter sweet moment as he is an awesome vehicle, however I do NOT need two camper vans and there is no point in keeping him, sadly.

Interior shots

So, there are two listings now live on t'interwebs where you can purchase Pierre the Gorgeous Camper Van for the merest £3000.

Sleeping accommodation

You can see the listings below and if you are interested then please do get in touch.

Storage

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190937404906?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

That there milage is genuine

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/superb-camper-van-excellent-condition-hes-called-pierre-and-he-will-love-you-back/1036024521

Some other updates for you from the other frustrations in my life. First of all, the translator has replied saying that nothing else has happened, Veselka has been busy and hopefully will be making an appointment next time she decides to go to see the Obshtina. I just hope that this is this week because the time, it is passing and soon it'll only be four months and then three....

I get the feeling that I should have gone over to chase Veselka earlier than this last trip, and I also have this sinking feeling that I may have to go over again between now and moving for that purpose too.

Oh well, when in Bulgaria and all that...

I'm not waiting for the architect any more....

..... because now I am waiting for the architect and the translator :)

This is why I need a translator... apparently

So, the blog today is a short and sweet "state of mind" update and as per usual focuses on the patience being forced on me by having to run the first part of the build (getting planning permission) remotely.

Veselka went over to the Obshtina for my Municipality on Monday however she picked the first day of Eid and so (I think because I haven't actually had a full update yet) she was not able to see the people she wanted to. I didn't have a request for extra keys so either she got to the school and didn't need more access, or didn't even get there.

I haven't received a contract still, and have heard that this is because she is trying to find out how long the PUP will take so she can put that in the paperwork.

More frustration....

As my frustration with this situation is palpable I have been feeling more and more aware recently that my nagging and hassling has been going through friends who are helping out of the goodness of their (very good) hearts. I do think that my feelings are legitimate however and so I have not stopped from nagging. Sorry to those who have suffered my impatience.

Anyway meeting the translator on the last trip over was an eye opener and I came home thinking "well, if I could pay her to be my go between then that would be ideal" and this week I have managed to get that agreement. So, bless her heart, Dilyana is now going to be the recipient of my hassling emails.

We shall see if the situation improves. It should do; she comes across as a very efficient and helpful lady and I have hopes that the communication from over there will improve.

I am a capitalist, what of it...

None of this is in any way supposed to sound negative about everyone who has helped so far; I appreciate all your efforts it is just that I feel bad for imposing on people who are only helping because they are nice. I am a capitalist and believe one should be remunerated for ones efforts.

I am at the moment awaiting my first update from the translator and when this happens I think a weight will drop. We are less than five months now til leaving date and while that may seem like a long time, with Christmas and extensive holidays amongst the "public servants" in Bulgaria it will disappear really quickly particularly if there is no urgency.

You have your say... yes... you!

Today's blog is a semi-interactive one.

Which way to go....

As regular readers will know I have been thinking rather a lot about the route I am going to take when I drive to Bulgaria next March. Originally I had three prospective routes and I have narrowed this down to two as the third one, through Italy and then a ferry across to Greece, was much longer than the other two and the cost of the ferry was just too much to be realistic.

I am now left with the final two options and I am struggling to pick between them. There are pros and cons (of course) for each route.

So, with the understanding between me and all of you that I reserve the right to make ALL my decisions myself and will, ultimately, do so AND that this is just an exercise in fun here is a breakdown of the options and, at the bottom, your chance to register your vote on a poll.

Via Romania

The Romanian route

Pros:

• This route stays entirely within the EU. As such I will not have any problems transporting my whisky, nor with Sassy.
• A lot of people have done this and, with the new bridge open, it is a well traveled path which appears to be the most popular on the facebook community.

Cons:

• The roads in Romania are a worry as are the number of mountains which we will need to drive up and down in Julian who is not the nippiest of vehicles.
• This links to another concern which is we want to cross Romania in a single day if we do go this route so we will have to stop the day before at the border, no matter really how early we arrive and then just keep going until we get over the bridge into Bulgaria.
• Snow?
• There are some comments that the road down from the bridge is not the greatest either.

Via Serbia

The Serbian route

Pros:

• The road is supposed to be very good and quick and will not be affected by snow.
• This route is slightly shorter (according to google maps)
• Chaz has highly recommended and says that he has done this route multiple times every year without any trouble.

Cons:

• Serbia is not part of the EU so there is not free movement of alcohol; 100 bottles of whisky WILL cause a problem and I will have to make alternative arrangements.
• There could be issues at customs, particularly with a trailer. Several people have commented that they know people who have had to pay "fines" to get through.

So there you are.

What do you think? Which would you chose if you were planning on doing this trip starting March 10th and driving a pickup truck with a trailer, and Julian the camper van?

Vote here:

Which route should I take?
	via Romania
	via Serbia
pollcode.com free polls

The other news is that I have booked my parents on their return flight. Things are happening really regularly now just stepping onwards and upwards towards that leaving date now less than five months away.

I have also made my decision regarding my leaving party so that is booked as well. If you want information please message me using the form on the right and I will decide if I want you there or not :)

Shutter trouble

I marked this down as a subject to talk about a few weeks ago but have just left the title on the back burner as I didn't have much to say.

Today things have started moving on this so I figured it would be worthwhile to crack on with it; it is relevant and recent anyway.

As a quick catch up I have taken on a unit in the same yard as my studio where I am planning on storing Julian, and using it as a base in which to practice packing the trailer and Thomas under cover and in the (relative) warm.

The shutter which needs replacing

This has now been sorted out for a month or so however a problem occurred immediately as the shutter door (which I absolutely need to have working so I can drive Julian and Thomas and the trailer inside) is completely seized. This was identified quite early on as no one had a key for said shutter and the locksmith (who came out to look at it free of charge and I am happy to link to him here because of that - he was brilliant) said that while he thought he COULD open the shutter he gave it a 70% chance that it would never shut again; not the most secure of situations.

So I have requested that the landlord replace the shutter (as he has on all the other units) and to his credit he didn't complain and said "OK, it needs doing that is fair enough".

I have only managed to get into the unit once since I have taken it over (not a problem as Julian is in the garage, still) and this was quite an exciting experience.

A REALLY high gate

The person in the unit next door has padlocked the outside gate from the inside. This isn't a problem for him as he can go through his unit and out the back door to unlock it however it blocks off all the access. I solved this by getting out our large ladders and climbing up and jumping over. This sounds simple but for someone who is scared of heights (even heights this small) it did take some effort to transfer myself from the ladder to the gate and hop down.

Inside the (currently used as storage) unit

Once in it was clear that the person who had been temporarily storing their gear in the unit would need to move it as there was no space to drive any vehicle in, however it is also clear that the unit has plenty of space for everything which I want to do.

So today I have been speaking to the landlord and his secretary and due to various things absolutely nothing has happened for the last three or four weeks. The secretary is now in the process of arranging for a quote and I can tell you this is not going to be a cheap do! It is a huge shutter and those metal electric ones (which he'll have to get if it's to match) are pricey.

Anyway, this weekend I collect Julian so I will be putting a padlock which I have the key for onto that gate, parking Julian behind it, and posting a key to the neighbour so if he needs to get his bins out he can. Then, hopefully, the shutter replacement will arrive soon and I can put him in there and move the trailer and start the process of working out exactly how much space I have and what I can take.

I am going to start taking things over which I do not need in the house (my bedroom is getting more and more cluttered with packing materials and boxes and things I don't need could do well to go) this weekend too.

Regarding the mooted visit by Veselka to the Obshtina today I have not heard anything at all, not even to request further keys, so I am hoping that no news is good news and she had a successful day. I did here, concerningly, that it may be a holiday in that region today but fingers crossed the hard working employees of local government were there to help her. I do hope to hear an update soon though.

So, we wait wait wait for people to do things and rationalise my absense from Bulgaria by "I am earning now to pay for all this" which is the unfortunate truth.

Some progress with the Architect

I was wondering what I was going to write about today but things have happened which make for a real blog post.

Which is nice.

I am sure I am going to struggle to keep writing a new blog every weekday before I leave (as not very much interesting stuff actually is happening between now and then) and I think I will not force it; if I have something to write about then I will, otherwise I won't fill up these pages with crap.

Anyway, today is not a problem, as I have said.

A flurry of activity occurred from Bulgaria to me late on yesterday as Veselka is going to the Obshtina today to start the process of arranging the PUP (for those who haven't read the whole saga this is where the Government in Sofia decides whether or not they are happy for me to ask to have the change of use for the school....) and she is also bringing an engineer of some sort with her.

My scribblings for the ground floor

I am not sure what the engineer is for; maybe just to look at the actual land, but I had a couple of messages from various people asking me to send over the ideas and concept which I have come up with for changes to the school. I had not started this so last night I was sat scribbling onto a plan at about 11pm and then took some pictures of these sketches.

My scribblings for the first floor

My friend noticed that I had forgotten the door between the Living Room and the Bedroom (with an amusing comment about it being a bit cold to have to go out onto the balcony every time I want to get into my bedroom) so this has been changed and re-emailed.

One of the challenges is that I have padlocked all the doors (which are still hanging) and the keys for these doors are not in the possession of my friendly neighbour. Veselka had asked if the neighbour has the keys so I do not know if she will need access to everywhere (not possible with the keys the neighbour has) and if so she will have to arrange to meet up with my friend who DOES have all the keys.

There are LOADS of these

It is complicated sometimes trying to organise something like this from 2,500 miles and in this situation I feel so very strongly that I should be there and around to support the architect in these processes. I know I have to be here to earn, but that doesn't really make me feel much better.

So I am waiting for a panicked call when she doesn't have access and then to have to try and organise the keys to her; hopefully the engineer is only for the land and so she won't need the extra keys. Fingers crossed.