Lying architects, and a trip out

The morning started with an early alarm call, only the second I've set since I arrived, and a fairly long period of snoozing. I was in no really hurry for this day to start as I had arranged for Lubo to come over to talk through what he had told me the other day which the letter he gave me did not back up.

Buds appearing on my tea trees; I love these in the summer

It was a gorgeous day however and eventually the draw of a cuppa, and the fact the sun was shining in through the windows and making me feel bad, dragged me from my pit and inside. The cuppa was definitely the first thing on the agenda and then chatting online for a bit and eating an orange for my breakfast and finally pushing Sassy through into her room so she could have a run around. I was waiting for 9am when Lubo was due to arrive and therefore not really able to do very much else. About five minutes late I noticed that he was walking through the corner of my property from the lane; he never brings his BMW down my lane ever.

I went down to see him and he had started to get the documents out on the table tennis table which was not good for me; I was wanting to scan stuff for my own records. The conversation started calmly enough with me asking for the new skitza and seeing that it had the correct land on it (which was a bit of a relief) and then bringing up the story he had told me about the reason for the rejection of the PuP.

To cut a long (and at points private) story to a shorter public story we had some raised voices, I expressed extreme frustration that I was paying him to do a job that he was not doing and he offered to give me that money back. I expressed that not having the PuP was not satisfactory to me and he said that (direct quote) the letter from Sofia was "bullshits" and not correct. Hmmmm. A little while later the Kmet arrived and appeared to back up Lubo's story, nodding along when the renovation work was described to him.

I got rid of Lubo after a while saying I would talk to him next week but I was feeling quite suspicious at this point and had read something in his body language (and the words he had actually used) that led me to suspect he was nervous and paddling desperately to escape from a difficult situation. To my shame (now; I really do wish I hadn't) I paid him the money I owed for getting the electric installed and that was that; I will probably get him here next Monday for the next installment of our discussion.

More of that later.

Ground based spiders web

With Lubo gone and this whole thing settling in my head I decided to do something useful for a bit while waiting for my friend to arrive for our trip to town. I took the wheelbarrow over to where Rambo's run is going to be to do a really careful and slow check of all the ground for glass or plastic. Now he would probably be OK if there was glass there but I'd rather be safe than have him hurt himself. When I got there I was distracted by the site of loads of spiders webs, made close to the ground, which were glistening with dew at that time. They were pretty and all over the place. Amazing. It took a little while and was quite pleasant in the warm sun.

Really red abdomen on this fly

At one point I noticed a strange looking fly on the wall and grabbed my camera; unfortunately it flew around almost immediately but I was able to snap a couple of pictures and this is the one which shows its bright red abdomen off best. It was flitting around quite a lot while I was watching it and seemed to be focusing on the grass and not the flowers. There were quite a lot of other buzzing things flying around there too, visiting the tiny flowers which are everywhere on the ground and that is really good; when I get my fence and start putting proper plants and flowers in I hope to get loads of wildlife to visit.

Lionel the Lion

My next task after the glass pick was to pull the lion out from Rambo's shed and clean it up. I had noticed this last year but decided to leave it be until I arrived full time this year as it would need a bit of care to bring it back to a better standard. It looks like it used to be hung up somewhere and I am going to have to work out where to put it.

Strengthening bars in place on his tail

I pulled it back to the porch on the wheelbarrow and got my broken broom head and used it to brush all the cobwebs and dust off both sides. There was quite a lot of this on it and I had to be quite careful as bits of the wood it is made from had become warped and some were quite close to snapping off entirely. I found some flat metal joining pieces and flipped him over, then put a strengthener across all of the joints that were loose and most of the others, and now he is back to being rigid and not close to falling apart. Success.

Plastic over the windows

Finally for my tasks of the morning I spotted that the Swallows were starting to fly in and out of my landing again and as I am going to be getting the windows in soon I think I don't want them expecting to be able to come inside in case they lay eggs and then can't get to their nest because of my windows. I had some plastic sheeting left over from last year so I have just loosely nailed this up to stop them gaining access and I think seeing the window man tomorrow is now a priority.

And so I settled down to wait for my friend, in the sun with a book, and very pleasant it was too though I found myself nodding off and struggling to focus on the words. She arrived shortly afterwards and we were pretty quickly in the car and heading towards town. My tasks included posting some stuff to my dad, going into a bank I have an account at, but no card or access to the funds, and picking up some immigration forms (though I can't do the immigration process until I've sorted the bank).

My successes were nil; at the post office the queue was stupid - not long just people kept walking up and pushing in and as a foreigner it is hard to impose yourself in those situations. I gave up eventually. I will work some other way of returning my parents' items to them. The same situation happened in the bank, though this time we just took one look at the queue and walked out as I was getting hungry. On our way to the chicken shack we walked past a flower shop where my friend bought some pots of stuff and I bought a Clematis to have as a climber somewhere, maybe my entrance porch I think. Lovely.

Chicken just before we demolished it

The chicken was really nice (as per usual) and we enjoyed watching the Turkish families walking past on their holidays. As my friend observed it really is obvious down in this part of the country that you are in a foreign land; some places are very English and this is not one of them. I for one like it like that. After lunch we headed back to the car and then realised we hadn't even picked up the forms from immigration. Oh well, there will be another time and it was a nice little trip to town without achieving anything.

The valley upstream

From there we headed off the half hour drive to the abandoned power station I had found with my parents the week before. My plans here had been to take extensive photographs and use my wheel to measure distances however it quickly became apparent that the extent of the property was rather larger than I had previously realised. The towers extended down the river and round the far bend. After about half an hour of wondering around, climbing inside some of the square, land based, relay stations which are empty, we headed back to Thomas and I will come back when I have an entire day to devote to measuring and surveying.

If you didn't know to look you wouldn't have seen him

The wildlife over here is outstanding and I kept disturbing colourfully patterned lizards which dashed away and hid before I could photograph them. In the pools which were fed by the running water from the pipe in one of the main buildings there were loads of frogs, actually there were frogs everywhere but these were the ones we could see. One of them hopped away and submerged itself to hide however we had spotted it and I got my zoom lens out and got some really good pictures of it. You just have to love the closeness to nature that you can experience here.

After this we headed back through town and finally did something that was on our list; we picked up some curtain material for me to put up in Room 13 to stop the sun shining through and blinding me while I'm sat at my desk. We will make this into a blind at some point maybe this week, maybe next, maybe the week after but at least I have the material now. It will make a big difference to my comfort particularly once I start work again.

Now THAT is a mug!

And so we got back and now I am sat here drinking tea from the huge mug I got yesterday from the house clearance (we've been invited back so maybe I'll do the blind and then we can go back over there again) and feeling exhausted after the day; possibly I think the stress with Lubo is not helping my state of mind and it is tiring my out because I am continually having to think about it. I may be going into the Obshtina on Thursday as my friends are going to come over to help me out (thank you so much for all you have done guys!) and we shall find out exactly what the Kmet there, or at least the head architect, is saying. I'm not going into detail here but I have pretty much had it confirmed that once again Lubo was not straight with me this morning, despite my obvious irritation at being lied to, and that is why I wish I'd kept my money in my pocket and not felt obligated to pay him back anyway.

Oh well. Life goes on and I will get to the bottom of this; I just wish people would be straight with me and not try and wriggle and twist and lie and cheat to avoid fulfilling their responsibilities.

So now I am going to chop some potatoes up to make chips or wedges or something and try and make my own chips for the first time ever. I will probably be back to add to this blog later with the success or failure of this venture, and I will hopefully not be dragged next door again for a second dinner as my chicken at lunch did me quite well enough thanks.

My dinner which was as lovely as it looks

I am back and I have a series of pictures of me making chips for the first time and, having just eaten them with ham (ok, the stuff I call bacon in the morning) and eggs they were absolutely divine! I am totally going to do that again! Used nearly 5L of vegetable oil but it can be put back in the bottle, huh.

Chipping my tatties

After five minutes over the heat the first bubbles appear

The bubbles are slowly growing my vigorous

Finally the bubbles are giving it some welly

The final product; seasoned with salt and pepper

So there you have it; I have just pulled Sassy in from her room, luckily she was in her cage as it has got dark really quickly and I didn't really notice this happening. The fire is chugging away nicely throwing out lots of heat (though I will have to keep chopping wood as I haven't kept it up the last two days and I'm burning through what I have quite quickly) and now I am going to drink a beer and chill and chat and wait and then head to bed early.

A cracking, and busy, weekend

So as a few people pointed out to me (thank you, I now know who really cares haha) I didn't blog last night so this blog will cover two days; though yesterday is a blur as I have slept since then.

A bowl of Ayran

First of all a quick additional picture to supplement the previous day; this is the bowl of Ayran that my little lady neighbour brought over the previous day. This is still in my fridge, barely touched, and I suspect it will be not good pretty soon so I'll try it for breakfast tomorrow and judge whether to get rid or not; it's lovely though, how generous they are. They have nothing and yet want to share the little they have.

So the first awesome thing which happened this weekend was pretty early yesterday morning. I was sat just eating my morning Muesli (and yes, I managed to only have Muesli yesterday; I'm not sure if I should be pleased about that or not but hey) and I heard my name being called, or rather a slight mis-pronounciation of my name, from outside. I almost ignored it, thinking it was the gypsy farmer kid from across the road come to complain about the padlock I've put on my barn, but I popped my head to the window and saw someone I didn't recognise, standing with the Special One.

Thank you to my Aunt and Uncle

To cut a slightly longer story slightly short, it was my local Kmet who I have been trying to meet, bringing me my first mail; a "welcome" card from my Aunt and Uncle which was so lovely to received so thank you to them. I had a brief chat with "youldjan" (or at least, that is what I wrote his name down as) and he told me that a new road to the village would be done this year. We shall see. Anyway, it was great to meet him and he seems like a really nice lad; I hope I can get on with him and he can assist me with the various issues I currently have around architects and planning, but more of that later.

Shortly after they left I swept through downstairs (all the coal dust from my excavating was everywhere, and there was hay all over the floor from moving it the other day) and had a shower and then came and relaxed until my guests arrived. This was my friend, and another expat who is local but living out of the country at the moment. I hadn't seen him since last year so it was great to catch up. After the guided tour, and usual "why do you want something this big" comments we had a cuppa and the he headed off to do some errands while my friend stayed with me and we did a few little things around the place before jumping in Thomas, hitching the trailer, and heading to hers.

We stopped on the way at the market and immediately attracted a crowd of men who were all interested in the trailer and were asking me how much I would want for it. This was quite amusing; one of them even followed us into the shop. When I told them what it cost me they were very impressed, and I probably should have said more. Anyway, I'm going to find out how easy it will be for me to get the trailer registered (over here, they are registered separately from the motive vehicle) and if it is a real pain then I may sell it; otherwise it will prove useful I reckon so I'll register and keep it.

The wasp on the table

After picking up beer, wine and food we were back to hers and then shortly after the other expat arrived and we were out sat in the sun with beer (or wine) and chatting away; this little wasp appeared on the table and started chewing the lacquer off to take back to its nest. Dinner was served after a while and was lovely and then the other expat left.

While we were eating a phone started ringing and after a few minutes of confusion I realised that it was mine. It was my friend who had heard about the potential confusion with the land ownership calling me again. I had scanned and emailed the rejection letter from Sofia regarding my PuP and he was calling back with interesting news. It turns out that the actual reason for the rejection was not what Lubo had told me (that Sofia had changed the law to make it impossible to change use on an old school) but that the Obshtina had not done the processes they were required to do. Why would he lie to me? I don't know, but I can tell you I will be finding out tomorrow. And he better have a very good explanation or I will be getting very angry with him and shouting.

Gorgeous colours in the trees, and Thomas

Anyway, after dinner me and my friend and I had another beer before deciding to head out for a bit down the road to the forest at the end. The plan was to go and dig up some more pine saplings, and more specifically get some Juniper trees for both of us. We threw a pick axe, shovel, and some of the new buckets into Thomas and then drove down and parked just before the trail dropped sharply into the trees so we could have a short stroll while looking for the correct specimens for our bucket.

Reflections in the lake

As we walked we spotted some good options for the fir trees but no Juniper so we kept going down and eventually went round a corner of the trail which overlooked the lake at the bottom of the village. It was so still it was glass-like and the reflections of the trees on the other side of the lake were incredible to see. I love all the colours of the different trees around as well; Spring in this part of the world is an incredible thing to see.

Pulling up a Juniper sapling

A couple of hundred yards further down the trail we spotted some good Juniper saplings and then the going got quite muddy and broken up so we walked back to the Junipers and then I ran (a short way and walk the rest, gasping) back up to Thomas and drove him back to my friend so we could load things into him directly. Digging the trees out was pretty easy as they were rooted relatively lightly in the top soil; I just dug away a bit with the pick axe until it was loose and then wrapped my hands up in my hoody and pulled them out. They are REALLY spiky! We got four or five tiny seedlings before we decided to call it enough.

An unidentified tree

Just next to where we were getting the Junipers was a clump of some tree I didn't know what was and neither (unusually) did my friend. I managed to get a very small sapling dug out but with less success than with the others so I don't know if it'll survive. I hope it does. If anyone can identify it I would be most grateful.

Rose lined clouds

From there we drove back up to where we'd seen the tiny Christmas Trees and parked up. Digging these up was far more difficult as they have a pretty amazing tap root even when they are tiny. I was covered in the clayey soil by the time we'd managed to get three trees and we decided that enough was enough and time to head back home for more beer and more chilling. As we drove the sun was setting and it was reflecting on the very tops of the clouds, causing a lovely rose-lined effect.

The morning sun

Our evening was exceptionally relaxed, with some tuna and mayo for supper while listening to Bob Marley and then I was dozing off on the couch with a glass of Jameson watching the fire and listening to my friend blog. The clocks changed last night so we made our plans for the morning and then I headed to bed where I slept right through and woke up to a lovely view (as always) from the balcony. I love her house!

Our plan was to hitch the trailer and go and collect the dad of one of her students then head to get some furniture that she is having made by a deaf and dumb man who lives in the mountains. We went in for coffee at her student's house and it was a really nice time as the family (father, mother and two daughters) sat with us and did some language stuff and also just had a laugh (for example there was much amusement about the word "the" which doesn't exist in Bulgarian or Turkish). It was amazing to me just how much I understood however my speaking skills were too weak for me to fully join in. We had cake as well as coffee which was like the more watery version from the cafe the other day but much nicer.

A proud man and his machine

After about half an hour both parents came in Thomas with us, we were dropping the mother off on the way to do some visiting I think, and headed up into the mountains to this artisan. His place was incredible and we got the full guided tour including his hand-built wall which is slowly progressing its way round his perimeter. He also has a large swimming pool type thing fed from free water collected from the mountain, a huge hot house with loads of tomatoes in it, and many fruit trees all in perfectly straight lines. He communicates with hums and haws and much hand waving and jumping about and the dad of the student was able to translate him perfectly. His most prized possessions are two Jupiter motorbikes, cold war machines from Hungary or Czechoslovakia I think. They are gleaming and I got some good pictures of them.

The hoopoo bird on the terrace

Sadly all of this amazing work and he hadn't actually finished (or even really started) the furniture we had driven up to collect and nothing he said or showed us could distract from that disappointment. We will probably go back next week. We recollected our helper's wife, and then dropped them both back near their home and went back over to my friends house to drop the trailer off and grab a bite to eat; toast with my mother's marmalade which was epic and really filled the hole. While we were sat eating my friend noticed that there was a HooPoo bird hopping on the terrace so I grabbed my camera and managed to snap a few pictures before it flew off.

New cooker

After this it was off on the other main task of the weekend; heading over to her friend who had a cooker for sale that I was interested in. We arrived but her son, T, was there as she wasn't feeling well and he took us into the house with all the goodies in that were being sold. There was loads of stuff and we ended up loading Thomas with another petchka for my friend, my cooker and gas bottle, a ladder and a load of other interesting items like some manual drills and screw drivers and also some cooking equipment. There was also some awesome Marmite stuff (a tea pot and a toast rack) which I have asked how much they want and I'll but it off them another time.

Radiator on Petchka

I also got a radiator attachment for my petchka which I have installed and am using now, it seems to be making a bit of a difference but it would be better if I was sat close to it. When I got home I spent a bit of time reorganising Room 13 to get the cooker in (I need a plug to use the electric hobs and ovens, but the gas one works great) and I have swapped the tables around a bit to get more storage and food preparation surfaces. I think it is great that I have Julian, though, as looking around I really don't have space for a bed in here.

Little tortoise on the road

While I was driving home I spotted my first tortoise of the year crossing the road. I stopped and took his picture and then picked him up and put him on the verge where he scuttled quickly to cover. I was tempted to take him home but then thought it's best to just appreciate them in the wild.

Stunning sunset

I made myself dinner on my new cooker and sat down to enjoy it. As per usual I was on high alert for cattle coming onto my land and sure enough, after a while, I heard the herdsmen shooing them in for the night. Some of them came up the cut and through my little grove. I dashed out to chase them off but then looked out the back windows and noticed that the sun was going down in a blaze of glory. I legged it back to get my camera, snapped some shots, and then went out to chase the cows away. One of them took a bit of an interest in the smallest sapling but I was able to discourage it with a shout and by running at it. I really should use the post borer (which I now have) to put some in at least just around the saplings. Maybe in the morning I can try.

And so we get to just now. I was relaxing, tippy tappying away nearly finished on this blog when I heard my little neighbour outside shouting for me. I didn't know what was going on so dashed downstairs, thinking maybe there was a problem. She shooed me outside and went to put the padlock on the door however I had come with such alacrity that I didn't have my keys or anything else with me so I stopped her. She ushered me over to her house and inside and before I knew it I was sat down on the floor around a large flat cooking tray covered in a pastry omelette type thing, with eggs and onions and leeks. It was delicious however I had already eaten my dinner so I didn't eat that much. It was a surreal experience but lovely too; as I have said they are so welcoming and the huge hug I got from Usmivka Mush (now that I have looked at what "smiley" actually is in Bulgarian) just showed how welcome they want to make me feel. Special One was there as well as was his brother and we even managed to talk a bit of politics around the table; the TV was on with the Turkish election results.

Pretty quickly I made my excuses as I was too full and I did feel a little unusual having been rushed over there with no warning. I really hope they invite me again and I am going to have to work out how to say "thank you so much for dinner last night, I look forward to joining you again" haha.

Right, time to put the pictures in and hit post. Got lots more planned for tomorrow so I'm needing to get an early night I reckon.

I am a coal miner

It rained last night. Hard. I was asleep and woke to hear it starting to pound down on the roof. I love the sound of rain so it didn't disturb my that much however I needed the toilet.

Drips from the roof of Julian

While I was going I grabbed a bucket to put on the sofa. I have noticed that, since I drove underneath the tree on the day I arrived here and got bits of tree stuck on the top of Julian, he has been leaking again quite badly. I haven't yet really gone on top of him (my bikes are still up there, for example) so instead I just popped the bucket on the sofa and went back to bed, listening to the drips turn to plops as the water got deeper. This is how much there was in the bucket this morning when I woke up.

The sheep walking through

The thing which finally dragged me out of bed, after a righteous lie in up to nearly 9am, was the sound of the sheep being walked onto my land by the sheep dog. I snapped this picture through the narrow window in Julian while I was still in bed and then noticed that one of them was eating my tree so I jumped out of bed and ran out shouting and waving, in my boxers, and shooed them off, being barked at by the sheep dog all the way. It's my land, buddy.

Super contented Sassy munching her breakfast

I fed Sassy as she was looking at me with her hungry look and I think an urgent thing is going to be to find a source of rabbit food, or make my own. I have one bag left; I should really have brought more to give me more lee way in this issue. She isn't that fussy though fortunately. As she was eating she looked so contented with her eyes half shut munching away that I just had to snap a quick photo of her.

A bowl of muesli. Yay.

Then it was time for my own breakfast and, good to my decision to be a bit more healthy and not have fried bacon and eggs every morning, I opened the packet of muesli I'd bought yesterday and poured myself half a bowl. It wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever eaten but it was nice enough. I don't think I'll be doing it every day I can tell you.

The view from my desk

The sun was just starting to break through now after another cloudy beginning and I snapped a quick shot from sat at my desk in Room 13 so you can see exactly what I see while I'm typing. It is a lovely view, and will be even better when the new windows are in and I can see out of them well.

Eggy bread from my neighbour

My first and main task of the day was my accounts; I have been putting this off as it is boring however it is also getting closer and closer to the end of the year so I knew I had to put in for my dividend to get the maximum out, and I also knew I had to have it all up to date so they could process my accounts quickly post year end. As I started to do this I heard a banging on the front door and went to investigate and sure enough this was visit number one from my little neighbour and she had a large bowl of Ayran in one hand, and something wrapped up in newspaper in the other. It was eggy toast. As some people on twitter commented, maybe she is trying to fatten me up! I couldn't refuse, obviously, and ate it all down and it was absolutely lovely. Kind of destroyed my healthy breakfast plans though. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

My three new trees

The sun had continued to break through and I took some standard pictures of the view however I also snapped a quick shot of the trees in their triangle, which the local cattle seem unable to resist every time they are near. It will be brilliant if these establish themselves and grow well; I love fir trees.

Sassy hopping out of her cage

I pushed Sassy through to her room and waited with the camera for her to jump out. Typically she did this just as I wasn't ready so the picture isn't great. She does seem to love that room very much and when the second coming of Little Lady happened, this time with a handful of green stuff for Sassy, and the request to borrow a bag for toplo mush (which, come to think of it, hasn't been returned yet) she went racing around the room again really fast and caused some amusement from us both.

She didn't stay long, again, and so I finished off my books and paid myself my final amounts for the year; it'll all go towards this place and help me to complete my dream, I suppose. While I was sat doing my accounts an email flashed up from Chaz, who also owns a school but is far further along than I in redeveloping it. He asked me to call him which I did and we discussed the fact that my PuP had been rejected, and Lubo was saying I needed planning for the fence. Now I'm not totally sure I understand fully however he was saying that they had been told (how, and by whom, I don't know) that my obshtina had messed up and, a few weeks after selling me the land, had given some of it back to the original owners under the Repatriation Act (this returned property which had been 'nationalised' under communism). Because of this, the boundaries in my contract were incorrect and, potentially, the contract was null and void and therefore the PuP had bounced. A very concerning piece of news. The issue is that I have seen the new Skitza and it looked like the land on it matched exactly to the land on my contract so I'm not totally sure whether this might have been solved or not and certainly when Lubo explained the rejection he said nothing about this at all. I need to get all the documents Lubo gave me translated urgently so I can understand better what has happened. It was really great to talk to Chaz again after a few months of busyness for both of us and I'm looking forward to seeing him soon, now I am also a resident of Bulgaria.

The next place to clean

My second task that I had set myself was to dig out the coal store under the stairs. I think that they used to bring the coal from the out house I have raided a couple of times and put it here; I was mistaken in thinking it was all waste as, while I was digging, I filled two of the new bucket things with good sized lumps of coal and took out six or seven wheelbarrows full of dust and waste.

I am a dirty man

After four wheel barrows I decided to take a tea break and I took some timer photographs of myself to show just how filthy I got. It felt good to wash the dust off myself, but I am now thinking that before I continue this I should get some masks; it is very dusty and coal dust is not nice.

Thunder head building

On one of my trips out with the wheelbarrow to the dump site I noticed that the clouds were building impressively into a thunderhead so I dashed inside and grabbed the camera. I could hear thunder rattling and rumbling around and there were a few which once again shook the ground and made the windows vibrate. I love a good thunderstorm.

The sheep streaming past Thomas

When I got to my next natural break point in the coal clearance (I filled my second bucket) I decided to break, wash up, change into clean clothes, and dash over to Lidl to get as many more of those buckets as they still had in stock. As I was driving down the hill towards the Nuovo Put I was halted by a very Bulgarian problem; sheep on the road. So I didn't scatter the flock I parked the car and let them flow around me, driving off with a nod to the shepherd once they were past.

Clouds over distant mountains

Almost as soon as I got onto the new road I was pulling over to the side again to take a picture; the clouds in the distance over the mountains were just absolutely wonderful and demanded a photograph. This country just provides photo opportunities at every turn even when it is raining the light and clarity of the air is amazing and beautiful.

My trip to town was fully successful, grabbing all 21 of the buckets that they had left (there will be a gift for the Little Lady tomorrow morning when she arrives, and some for my friend too) and also remembering to get some of the coffee sachets the men have, so I don't have to remember another time. I also bought an Aloe Vera plant but I think I picked a bad one up because when I brought it home a few of the leaves were quite loose. I'll have to nurse it back to health. My final purchase was a naughty one at the counter of a couple of packets of cookies but when I got home I tested them and they are lovely, specially when dunked.

While I was supping on the cuppa and the cookies the thunder storm really arrived and I decided to try and video it so I took one video stood in Room 13 and another stood at the open windows at the top of the stairs. The second one was the best (sorry my voice is so quiet, I was whispering) so here it is. The storm was so bad that it even knocked my internet out for about ten minutes which caused me much consternation!

Evening sun shine reflecting

I decided, upon getting home, that doing more of the coal digging was a bad idea and so I spent a little bit of time online and starting this blog, and then noticed that as the storm cleared the sun was shining on the clouds across the valley. I had to go and take a picture out of the window of this as it was really lovely again.

More wood for the petchka

My next, and final task, was to chop some extra wood (I am ending each night with more wood than I had prepared at the beginning, but that is good because if there is a particularly cold night I won't get caught short) and I chopped a bucket full of large logs which should hopefully last a little longer than the small ones I've been using so far.

Sassy munching greenery

And so I have been sat typing this ever since, enjoying the fact that it was still light when I started typing up this blog and I noticed that Sassy was reaching up to access the greenery that I had put on top of her cage which had been brought by the Little Lady earlier in the day. She was quite enjoying it, from the looks of it and was munching away at it for ages.

The other cool thing which happened was I happened to glance out of the window to my side and I saw a couple of bats flying around and around really fast just outside. I grabbed the phone and went and shot this video of them chasing each other really fast. I don't know if you can hear but when they flew past close to me I could hear the sound of their wings whooshing. What an amazing thing. Just now when I popped out to get my torch (after dark today; not as organised as yesterday) they were still out there, flying around. This makes me really want to take care with the roof to enable them to stay living here, if at all possible.

I've only just lit the fire now as the night is a little warmer tonight; I probably could have avoided lighting it to be honest but I like the sounds of it behind me so it is worth doing. It was a bit more difficult to light tonight for the first time but now it is snapping crackling and popping away nicely behind me.

The Bulgarian for "hay" (correct now)

Oh yeah, the one other thing I did was I finally got my motivation together to make some A4 posters with words that I want to learn on them. I have printed out "Gift", "Refrigerator", "Hay", "Sheep" and "Rabbit" and they are stuck on the walls around Room 13. This is the one for "Hay". How awesome am I.

EDIT thanks for pointing out that  had copy-pasted the wrong word onto my hay poster while I was working out how to do them; I have correct it now, and done one for "straw" too. Cheers.

Striking out alone

The day started later than recently as I lay in til nearly 8am and only dragged myself out of bed because I was thirsty and gagging for a cuppa.

Misty start once again

The day once again dawned very misty and, after I had put the kettle on to boil (priorities, right) I took the camera with me with the watering bottle into the temporary nursery room, and snapped a few pictures out of the window. As my regular commenter had warned me, the soil in the seed trays had gone pretty hard; I'm going to keep at them tho, just water them every day, and as soon as I can get some proper potting compost I'll start some more off.

Sun just starting to break through

Initially today I was slow and didn't feel any rush but then I remembered that I had to get cash out and take it to the building yard and get back before the architect was due. This caused a rush of activity with another lovely shower (how did I not have putting a shower in as my top priority before I arrived?!) and then I was in Thomas and off down the hill towards the local town. As I dropped below the cloud level the mist cleared and the view was outstanding across to the other side of the valley. I'm not sure if this picture really captured the light and the atmosphere but I am putting it here just to remind myself really.

Leaving town, ploughed fields and mountains

I parked in town and paid 1 lev to the old gentleman who now patrols the parking spots near the places that I want to go; it was free there last year, got the cash out and left within ten minutes; the ticket does give me parking for the entire day however I had no need after this. It's a bit of a waste but whatever. I decided to follow the incorrect road out of town on my way to the builders yard, to have a bit of a cruise along a road I haven't been since the first ever visit and just to relax a bit. I took my own advice and stopped regularly on the way to take pictures of the views.

Emerging from the clouds, lovely views

The road I took climbing windingly up out of the valley and into the mountains that I have photographed often in my morning pictures. After a short while of driving again through some quite thick cloud I suddenly burst out into sunlight and the view to my right was so good I pulled over to the side of the road and took some pictures, enduring the strange looks of a truck which had to overtake me. Oh well, I'm Anglechenin, I am allowed to do crazy stuff like that.

Right on the top with the vista, and the cattle

The next beautiful view occurred as I reached the top and the vista opened out dramatically. There was a little place to pull over at the side of the road so I went in there and then stood on my seat in Thomas, precariously as my sandals were a bit slippy, and managed to capture both the view, and the cattle which were grazing in the foreground. People can ask why I can here and I will just show them pictures like this.

From there I focused more on the driving as I had come a long way out of my way and was starting to wonder if the road would go where I remember it went. I took one wrong turn and ended up near one of the houses I had viewed once, driving past a train station on the way out and back where someone attempted to flag me down quite vehemently; I was not about to stop though both being in a hurry and not understanding the language. After this I pretty much directly drove to the yard and thus I have closed the circle on another little bit of the geography in this region. The man was there and I paid him and when I asked for some sacks he pointed me to a huge pile and said I could have as many as I wanted. Result! I grabbed a sack full of other sacks, chucked it in the back of Thomas, and headed off.

Mud tracks from yesterday...

On the way back up the new road I went past the bottom of the cheren put from my friends village and saw the tracks I had made yesterday coming down there. I realised that I forgot to add this episode to the blog yesterday. It was quite hairy, with Thomas sliding sideways at times and I had to resort to 4WD Low Range to extricate myself from the mud at the bottom. These tracks are the ones I made clearing the mud as I drove away and have survived lots of traffic, and the rain we had yesterday. I don't think I will try that route again until it has been dry for a while and the mud has died down.

A lovely and unhealthy breakfast

I arrived home and immediately set about cooking some breakfast; I had some old bread ends that were getting a bit stale so I had decided I'd fry it today and I did, along with a couple of eggs and some slices of the faux-bacon (which is actually really nice). It occurred to me that I would not really be losing much weight if I persisted in eating like this so resolved to get some muesli from the shop when I went later.

I was just about to set myself at the first task of the day; moving the waste left over hay out of the room which will be the kitchen and into the end room of the green long house near the humanure collection point when Lubo the architect arrived, slightly early I may add. We had a brief chat and he said that the kmet was not there (this was the main reason for his visit so I don't know why he turned up if he knew he couldn't do that) and also he told me that my owings to V.i.K were needing paying. I had him on the phone to my internet supplier to try and work out the problems with my sending email over SMTP (I'm not totally sure how this resolved itself; I just expected to be told a routing solution and be done with it, but oh well) and then he measured where the spiral staircase is going to go. I really do not know how much of this is necessary as Bekir will surely just do the correct thing here (and probably will ignore the plans anyway) but Lubo also told me that, to put the fencing up, I needed permission and he would sort it out. I need to get a bit of paper to say I can fence my own land off? I don't think so, nothing has ever led me to believe that but he said it is included in the original fee so whatever; let him make himself feel useful.

After this we arranged to go down to the V.i.K offices so I could pay the bill and then I was going to head into town, hopefully with Lubo, to start sorting my residency card and also raid the trees and mulch area again. Before this I had to get Sassy back in her cage and, as you can see from the video, she wasn't really having any of it. I am not sure what had spooked her so much but she was racing around the room for a while before I thought to video her. Eventually I calmed her and she allowed me to pick her up without any problems and let her jump out of my arms into the cage.

The bill payment was painless, though I didn't understand when she asked my name; I know what this is in Bulgarian so I reckon it was just a bit too fast for me. I really need to focus on learning the language, a fact which has been reinforced over and over to me today. I left the office to see Lubo in his car and about to drive off; no help for me there at the immigration office today then. I shrugged and got in my car and headed towards town. There is no point coming here and not being able to operate without a crutch, or at least give things a go.

I parked up in the centre at my normal carpark and made my way through a lovely park towards the council buildings. The first place I went to a really friendly man spoke in a heavily accented american accent and explained where to go; he was really helpful and chased after me when he realised he had said the incorrect door. I found my way from there straight to the correct office and this is where the success came to a slamming halt. I had been warned that the lady in this office was unhelpful but that word does not sum up how deliberately (and from the looks of it at time, self entertainingly if that is even a word) this woman was difficult and obstructive. She spoke fast, muttered, covered her mouth to obscure her words even more, and didn't even attempt to be helpful or assist me. In the end, when she wandered off to answer the phone, I took my leave to ring Lubo and see if he was available after all. It turned out he was on his way to Sofia and so he said he'd help on Monday or Tuesday, when I'm seeing him next anyway. I didn't bother going back up to the office. There are some things you need assistance with, it seems, and she is the first Bulgarian who hasn't gone out of their way to make me feel welcome. Oh well.

I brought the tree back like this

From there it was over town to the place where my friend and I had got a few trees and the buckets of mulch. There was another car behind the gate this time but I pulled my spade out and filled two bags, and picked up a huge bushy tree, and put them in Thomas. Just as I was thinking of filling the third and final bag a couple of guys walked from the road and went to the gate and pressed a buzzer I had not seen before. Even though they were smiling and saying "OK!" at me I decided to take my leave at this point. I will go there next time and ring the bell and double check it is OK to take the stuff I have been. Not today though.

After this I went past Lidl for my food shop and while I was walking around I found a set of six large bucket type things supposed to be used in the garden and exactly what I was looking for to hold the wood near the petchka. I grabbed one set and it was all of 8 lev I think for all of them. Amazing. I should have bought them out. I may have to go back soon and get more, for my neighbour, who took one look and asked me to. Next time I'm there, if they haven't sold out, I will.

Impromptu lunch

And so, with some successes and some failures, I headed home with a tree flapping around out of the back of Thomas. I arrived home and made myself a brew but before I could get stuck into it my little lady appeared with a sweet bun and a bowl full of Ayran. She sat next to me on the stacked plastic chairs and watched me eat it, then headed off rapidly the way she had come. She is a strange one, I'll give her that, but very welcoming and caring.

Padlock fitted

I had been about to make myself a small lunch when she arrived and this bun took the edge off my hunger so I decided to not chase it and just get on with the tasks I set. First of all was putting a padlock on the outhouse (even though all the windows are out it just makes a point that it is my property now, and to stop using it please) and this was achieved very quickly indeed.

Bringing good productivity to this walnut tree

Next I remembered that my dad, having finally seen a number of storks, had left me his Martenitsa to bury or adorn a tree with. Now I know this is not how it is supposed to work but he only saw it on the last day so wasn't able to get up here to do it. I reckon this is fine and I chose one of the newly budding walnut trees to tie it to. I would love a large harvest from these this year as well.

The chickens took their opportunity well

I had been efficient in all this, loading a barrow with the hay that was going to be put into the outhouse I had just added the padlock to, and leaving said barrow full of hay by the front door to be pushed to its destination after the Martenitsa had been placed. Silly me. The hens had obviously spotted this lovely pile of never-before-pecked-at hay and they were all over the barrow as soon as my back was turned and having a great time. They scattered as I approached and so I was able to deposit the load in the end room where I had planned without loosing too much to their depredations.

The last of the hay to be moved

The room-which-will-be-the-kitchen had apparently been cleared of all the hay my neighbours wanted and just had a small pile left in the middle. They had been in with their bags the day after I arrived and cleared loads out so I was left with the task of making this room fully available for work to start as soon as possible. I figured it wouldn't take long as it was just bits and pieces left over. I was correct and after a few barrow loads I was down to a very small amount left and decided to finish it off tomorrow; it was not hard work but time consuming as the barrow was too narrow to fit through one of the doors so I had to push it through carefully at a steep angle to get through.

Not very far down to the bedrock here

The main reason I stopped with moving the hay was to get on with planting the large tree I had brought back with me and so I picked a likely spot and got the pick axe and started digging a hole. It would have to be a large and deep one as this was a proper sized tree really. After about a foot or so of digging I hit rock and after another fifteen or so minutes I gave up trying to go through it with the pick axe. I was making some progress but not very much. So I filled the hole in and reconsidered.

My little neighbour collecting cow poo for me

While I was pondering my little neighbour appeared again and pointed to a spot I had previously considered and rejected as too close to powerlines/other trees. It was easier to dig here and I managed to get a big enough hole. I had collected a load of horse, sheep and goat poo from around the land prior to starting digging the first hole and this was vindicated as she went and found some and broke it apart to put around the other two trees. I was able to show her my bucket and she was impressed that I had already thought of it.

My new tree

The base of the tree with stake

We put a load of the collected dung in the bottom of the hole, then put the tree roots in and covered with some of the soil, then I put some more dung in and she trod it down very hard indeed. Finally I pulled the rest of the soil over and then it was trodden down again. She then wandered off and came back with a large stick to use as a stake but before I could do anything with it she said she had to run and off she went, appearing a few minutes later from her house with two huge buckets full of something and taking them up the track. I finished the job tying the tree to the stake and supporting both that and the tree with some large rocks around the base.

Little neighbour and Toplo Mush

I headed upstairs for another cup of tea and to chill for a bit and shortly afterwards heard footsteps on my stairs and both my little neighbour and toplo mush appeared. I had to get a picture of him and his grin properly so I got them to stand together and snapped a few pictures; he wouldn't smile properly at first but when he thought the picture was taken the grin broke through and I'm so pleased I managed to capture it. She had come clutching cups of coffee and he had been along the corridor to the room-which-will-be-the-kitchen which I now realise was a precursor to what happened later. But of that in a minute. We sat drinking our coffees and trying to talk (yes I really need to learn the language) and then they were off but not before emptying the contents of my compost recycling box into a bag and taking it with them for their chickens. I didn't expect that but it was a good swap for the food she has brought me.

Messy around the petchka

My final task of the day was to tidy the wood area around the petchka and to cut myself a load more for burning over the next couple of days. Now I had those excellent basket type things this was easy to achieve. I gathered together the wood I already had around there and put it into a basket, the smaller bits in one and the chunkier bits in another and then swept up the dust and wood bits that were starting to get onto my new rug already. This complete I grabbed some more wood from the waste piles in the attic and set to with the saw cutting it down.

Clean and tidy now

This gave me the excellent idea that if you are cold and don't have much wood to burn, just chop it up into smaller pieces and then you won't need the fire because you will have warmed right up. After about half an hour or so I had loads of wood to burn and decided to call it a day and stack it carefully in my new collection area. I am much happier now with the state of this corner of the room as everything is easily accessible and tidy.

Fresh salad from little neighbour

The activity had made me hungry and I was just about to set to cooking my one remaining pork chop to go with some salad and the cold potatoes when I heard a rattling and knocking. I have been able to 'lock' my doors from the inside for a while now, ever since the wind kept blowing the front door open last week, and so when I'm in and do that people cannot just stroll in as they are wont to do. I went down and my little lady was there once again, at the back door this time, clutching a handful of salad leaves and spring onions in one hand (for my dinner) and a sack in the other. She had come back to check on the rumour from toplo mush that the hay had gone from the room. Which as you know it had.

We went through to the room and I explained, as best I could, that I had cleared it out into the outside store room as I had workers coming into this room soon and I needed it clean. I apologised and I think she was ok though the fact remains it should have been cleared out the week before and not left after they moved the majority of it. I have told her I'll get it from where I have put it and transport it for her where she needs it tomorrow so that's another job I need to do.

Healthy dinner for  a change

I left her sweeping and picking up the hay into her sack and went upstairs to start cooking and pretty quickly I had knocked up a fantastic meal. It was exceptionally tasty particularly the onions and I have a few left over for adding to something tomorrow.

And so I am sat once again at my desk tippy tappying away to you or myself and listening to the snap and hiss of the petchka keeping me warm in the corner. I have had some excitement since I've been sat here as I heard the sound of cowbells and looked out the window to see the goats eating my new trees! Suffice to say I was outside very quickly shouting at them and chasing them away. Only a few minutes later I looked out again and some of the young cows were using the new trees as scratching posts, almost pushing them over. Once again I was outside and chased them off. I may need to protect them a bit; something to think about tomorrow as well.

I touched the petchka really lightly....

I'll sign this off now with a picture of my arm where I managed to burn it on the petchka yesterday; I didn't even notice it until this morning in the shower when I took the skin off without realising. It is not as sore as it looks, so don't worry. I'm away to pour my third beer of the evening so don't expect any sense from me from now on.