A bit of a rest day

It rained all last night. It was still raining when I woke up to have a wee at 6am and it felt very much like it was set in for the whole day at that point. Today, however, I was determined to enjoy as a Saturday and so decided there was no hurry at all to wake up so back to sleep I went and it wasn't until near enough 9am that I finally got out of bed. The thing that woke me; the sun was shining in through the windows. So much for my weather predictions.

These were SO easy to put up

Upon waking I obviously needed a cup of tea however once it was made I cracked on with a load of chores that I had. First of all it was the washing which I set off last night. I had bought two internal drying racks from Kaulfand in my super fast shopping trip yesterday so I opened them and put them up (which took no time at all as they were really easy to do) and then spread my washing out on them. These have been in and out on the balcony during the day, as there have been a few showers, and I think my clothes are all dry though they're still hanging now. I'll probably leave it over night and fold them tomorrow morning.

Burning plastic running

The next thing I did, before even a sip of tea had passed my lips, was to take all the rubbish from Sassy's room out to the burning drum, along with the few bits and pieces in the kitchen for burning, and set it all on fire including the box for the boiler. This picture was early on in the burn as some of the plastic melted and ran down over the cardboard behind, while still burning. I think I managed to capture it just before it dripped off. I love fire.

Overcast with hints of blue

As I have said the sun had broken through a bit to wake my however the vast majority of the sky was covered in cloud and it has remained such all day with periods of warmth when the sun breaks through (and then it has got very warm very quickly) however the clouds have always quickly returned and the breeze is quite a cool one so it has largely been a combats and t shirt day today, not shorts.

After this burst of energy I returned to Room 13 and drank my brew then ate some toast with the smooth marmalade which is the only bottle I have left (hint hint at the 'rents to have some for me when I come past this winter so I don't run out; maybe ten bottles?) and tried to work out what I was going to do today. I had originally planned to go into town to buy some chickens with Bekir however last night the option of some laying ones from one of his friends was put on the table and this morning I found that my friend had cancelled my meeting with him as Bekir had other plans and was trying to sandwich me in. I was pleased to hear this because I only wanted to meet him if he was there anyway.

This meant that I now could stay around the house all day and didn't have to drive anywhere which was really good news as I do like chilling out when possible. So what would I do. After breakfast I went and played kong with Rambo for a bit and then had another brew and then I decided I should really get the humanure sorted out as I had two buckets full, and all the kitchen waste as well. As per usual it didn't take long to do and, other than Rambo getting a bit involved and wanting to dig around in the pile (I stopped that quick sharp!) it was very simple. Then it was time for a shower however that nasty centipede was still curled up at the shower end; I had hoped it might have crawled out if I left it over night. No matter I just turned the shower on him and he ran up to the other end and spent the whole of my shower scuttling around and looking a bit peeved at being disturbed. I did keep my eye on him pretty much the entire time just to make sure he didn't try to get back up my end. I think I'll have to lift him out at some point soon I can't coexist with that.

It was now time for the main thing for the day which was to take Rambo for a walk. I pretty much ignored him all day yesterday what with working and other things and so I was determined today to give him more attention. He had several kong sessions through the morning but I don't really think that was enough so I put his collar on, hooked him to the lead, and headed out. On the way the two sheep dogs got quite aggressive towards me and him, racing across a field (I'm not sure why they bothered as their sheep were a fair distance off) and getting quite close until I turned and faced them down, then kicked stones at them which backed them off. Not a pleasant experience. The Other Brother had just dropped some people off at my neighbours as well and as I walked on I met Usmivka and he introduced me to the man he was with as his brother. I shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and walked on.

Gorgeous stone built farm just below my village

The aim for my walk was to get up to the lake so Rambo could have a splash about (I briefly debated walking down to the river but as it isn't as nice weather I decided that can wait for another day) however I wanted to go past the lovely pink poppies and snip a seed pod to dry and then grow them on my own land. This took me a little out of the normal route up to the lake but instead of retracing my steps I decided to go along the bottom lane in the village which I've not taken before and up that way. I am glad I did this as it was a lovely little short cut going past the fields for my village including this gorgeous barn and hay ricks.

Rambo taking me for a walk

Rambo was running on happily ahead of me, sniffing everything out and continually turning to check I was still there. He very rarely gets to the full extent of the lead and is such a good dog when you are walking him, quite often just trotting along next to me with his head next to my hand. He made his mark in a few places on the way up the hill as we rejoined the normal route just next to the dead tree and not-working spring however for the most part I was mainly concerned with swinging the lead to disturb the flies which was settling on his back in swarms. They are everywhere and were bothering me too. I think I need to take my fly spray with me next time.

Aphids and their Ant herder

Just before we reached the lake there were huge thistles on either side of the track, as tall as I am, and I stopped to have a look as I really do love their colours. It was only after I paused that I noticed something else; they were absolutely covered with aphids and there were ants on them carrying the aphids and doing their herding thing. Now I've heard of this behaviour but never seen it before so it was really fascinating to watch and I brought Rambo to heel (eventually; he hadn't realised I had stopped bless him) and snapped away trying to capture a close up of the ant at work. This proved impossible as it was moving very fast however you can see it at the bottom right of this picture.

Gorgeous flower, but the plant is being eaten

The aphids are really quite destructive however as you can see from this picture; they are stripping off the entire top layer of "skin" from the plant and where it has gone there are very few aphids left as they move down and keep stripping. The plant looks healthy enough but it can't be that good for it.

YAY WATER!

Anyway by this point we were only just round the corner from the lake so we walked on and then, after an impatient Rambo was made to sit while I took him off his lead, he was off and straight into the water like the water dog he really is. He kept dashing in and out, shaking himself dry, and then going back in again and then he spotted the small tree you can see on the right of this picture. He decided that THIS was his stick and so he set about chewing and biting and tearing and managed to split it in half to a slightly more manageable size.

This is where this video comes in which is a classic. He's completely barking mad and has this thing where he offers you the stick and then as soon as you go to take it he whips it away and stares at you, then brings it back. I think that is the fun for him, not you throwing it for him to fetch but him taunting you with it. Bless. The stick as you see it in this video did not last for long with the extra sticking out bit and he ripped that off shortly after I stopped filming.

Local gypsy that rode past

While we were playing around in the water I heard a horse coming up the track and Rambo chose this moment (as per usual) to be disobedient and he just stood in the water and ignored me calling him so I could hold him in case he decided the horse was worth chasing. Fortunately he did not chase anything and I waved at the gypsy as he trotted past (he did wave back) and then after the cart was gone Rambo was good again and came to me when I called him.

He actually sat still for 30 seconds

A bit after this I was feeling slightly hungry and thirsty and so we headed back down, with Rambo bring his stick with him in fits and starts. He had stripped most of the bark off it by this time, and trimmed it down to the single branch, however he doesn't really have the whole "bringing the stick back home" mentality. We would walk a few metres and then he would drop it and stop and look at me in the way described before and the only way to get him to pick it up again was to try and pick it up myself. Then he would pounce and run off with it for another twenty or thirty paces before repeating. I did manage to get it off him a few times and walk along holding it at which point he walked in very close proximity to me and was looking at it the whole time but even that wore thin for him and he started jumping for it so I gave it back and the whole sorry business repeated itself.

Eventually he walked away from it where he had dropped it and it is still there now as he showed absolutely no signs of wanting to go back for it this time. What a strange dog. We went past his usual watering hole (which he jumped in again to drink from) and then through the village where there were a load of kids who ran off when they saw Rambo (or maybe me) approaching. They said hello though as we walked past them in the central bit and then followed at a distance. The Special One came out to say hello to Rambo as we went past which was nice but then the sheep dogs did their legging it across the field half a mile to come and bark and growl thing which is going to get old fast if they keep doing it. I'll throw a stone to actually hit them if they get much closer than they did today but Rambo, as always, just ignored them.

Because it looks to me like Rambo has been losing a bit of weight recently I have made the decision to give him a half bowl of food around midday so he bulks up a bit so when we got back I did this however he didn't seem too interested at the point of me putting the bowl down. Maybe he's eaten it by now though I haven't checked. For my part I went inside feeling a bit hungry so I made one of the packets of soup up which was a bit rubbish even with fried onions added to it. I started feeling quite tired and achy and, after a bit of a chat and some small persuasion, I went out to Julian to rest, read and watch the Giro again. It isn't the last day today; that is tomorrow, but today was a massive mountain stage which I did want to see.

Contemplating the drop

And going for it

I read a bit, watched it a bit, then fell asleep for half an hour and woke before the exciting bit of the race feeling much better. I stayed in bed watching until the race had finished and then when the WiFi became a bit glitchy and started to freeze the stream I decided that getting up to eat and do this blog was a good idea. when I got in I saw that Jesus was about to try and get down a quite steep part of the terrain so I snapped a quick picture. When I got up to put my pizza in I saw he was definitely on his way down so got another. This is just one more example of how much more agile he is than Mo. He has since climbed back up and gone into his cave that he has made.

And so my pizza has been eaten, two pints of tea have been drunk, and now it has started raining again so I'll not need to do much watering tomorrow from the looks of it however neither will I be able to get back on to my scything for a while. I did want to do more Hugelkultur today but sleeping was a far better idea so maybe I'll get that done tomorrow; it would be nice to have it done and maybe get some more tomato plants and cover the mound with them; I love tomatoes and would love to make use of them in different preserves and sauces this year.

I've also had news that maybe my best mate may come over with his lovely lady later in the year so that is really great news. Not that he reads this as he thinks it is too long and boring. Which it probably is. I have five weeks til my extra special guest returns and in the intervening time the Man of Mystery will be in the area for a few days so that should be good. Anyway, I'm going to splash some Brimstone into a glass and sip it for the rest of the evening; too cold for beer and I'm even considering lighting the petchka.

EDIT

Orange gap in the clouds

This is where the sun went down

As the evening has gone by I have been aware that the sunset has actually been pretty good and these two pictures were taken stood on the balcony at the very end of the sunset. They go from left to right with the first a section of open sky retaining some of the daylight and the other actually looking towards where the sun actually went down.

And so the weather changed again

Another red letter day and another very late start to typing my blog. The update yesterday didn't end up being as short as I expected as I typed really fast however I am going to keep this one down; I'm tired and want to relax. Anyway, the beginning to the next sentence was planned in my head in the early hours of the morning.....

.... twas a dark and stormy night and wasn't it just. As I went to bed the flickers I had seen in the distance when I popped out to get my torch had become accompanied by distant rumbles and it started raining about 10 seconds before I stepped out of the door, occasioning me to adorn my head with my rain hat for the first time for a while. As I lay in Julian listening and counting the time-gaps went from about 24 seconds down to 14 and then 11 and then 4, while Rambo howled and barked until the rain got too heavy for him to stand outside like a stupid dog and he finally took cover and shut up. I attempted to sleep but the thunder was so loud it was actually shaking Julian and once, when I did drop off, I was awakened with a start when the largest bang crash wallop of thunder sounded as if it went off just outside the camper van. I was asleep for the flash so I don't actually know but it surely sounded close. I grabbed this video a bit earlier in the night and you can see how the flickers were fully illuminating Julian, and the thunder was rumbling a lot.

No storm, but still raining and cloudy

I did sleep eventually, after my heart stopped racing, but woke to continued rain (no storm any more) so stayed in bed til the last possible minute (7.50) as there was no requirement for an external watering round today. Upon emerging I was pleased to see my little spider (and yes, it is little; those pictures were just closeups) had survived the deluge in the night however the clouds were low and threatening across the valley. Rambo was up as always waiting for me but he had to wait for a brew to be administered to me before feeding time.

My brew was finished, and I had had a lovely conversation as per usual, before I went outside and fed him which must have confused him as we went back to the old routine of no rounds for watering. He didn't seem bothered in the slightest and stayed to wolf it all down very fast as usual. I did take a quick turn around the land just to see if everything had survived the night and it had which was good. The tree on the left of the gate, the second last one to go in, is currently the least healthy of them all however while a large number of its leaves have gone brown and are falling off there seems to be enough green healthy branches to keep it alive. I hope.

So today was dominated in my head by one thing and one thing only; I was going to collect my residency card at some point after 3pm. My morning however was focused on paid work and Sassy. I have been wanting to give her a proper clean out for a while but with the water off it hasn't really been something I can do. Today, with water available and too much of it outside, I set myself the goal of getting her cage completely cleaned, and her room swept and tidied. I took her cage away from her and emptied out all the hay and sawdust for putting on the compost then carried it downstairs and washed it out. I realised that I would need a scrubby brush and some washing up liquid so returned to Room 13 just in time to answer my morning call from the office. They remembered me and it was really nice to have a quick chat with a few of them informally before signing off.

This is not a summer view

The call went well and I have stuff to do so I quickly finished the scrubbing of Sassy's cage and then returned to Room 13 to work on. Looking outside was a miserable sight that I hoped I wouldn't see until at least next year now with rain missering down  outside and while I do appreciate it watering my plants it is nearly June it should be Summer by now! The forecast does not look good either, though of course they don't really know what is going to happen, but it is forecasting no sun at all until 8pm Saturday night which will be just enough to give me a good sunset. Horrible.

I got a fair bit done work wise before I noticed it was already 2pm and I should be eating before heading into town and so I did with dry and slightly stale bread around cheese. Nommy. Or something. For some reason a nervousness had been building inside me all day and by this point I was feeling quite unsure of myself. The simple meal did actually do the trick of grounding me a bit and also some lovely words of encouragement and reassurance helped me no end. I have been thinking that post residency card I would go and register Lucy in my name however I think a large part of my nerves was down to worrying that I wouldn't be able to do it and then they may impound her or fine me massively or something. Just silly worries but they don't half build up. I decided to play it by ear around Lucy, and made plans for Lubo to help me out on Monday by meeting me at KAT (the vehicle licensing place) to act as a free translator.

Yuck!

When I left I turned over the base of Sassy's cage to allow it to drip dry a bit better (it has cooled down so much today that it still wasn't dry) and as I was about to do this I noticed there was a huge house centipede sat in it. Who knows where this had come from however they are known to be nasty and they bite so I tipped it out into the trough and left it to either run away, or get washed down the drain before my next shower. And yes, this IS very big.

Identity cards

And so I set off to town having put Rambo away and I had even more things to be stressed about as the petrol gauge was on and below the red line all the way. I cruised at a really steady pace and made it to the petrol station without running out so that was a relief. I parked up and, still wearing my rain hat and getting some glances from a few people, made my way over to the immigration office. I walked in and no one was being served so went straight to the desk. They saw me as I walked in and (obviously) recognised me. Within about two minutes I was walking out with a white card (my temporary card) and a coloured one with my photograph on it which was the permanent one which I paid a bit extra to get quickly. What a quick service and I am now officially allowed to stay in the country.

I left immigration and walked over to my bank to get my account upgraded to a full one, which could only be done with the immigration card and my usual lady was sat there with no customers so I was able to go straight up to the desk and get served. She joked that the card was still warm as it was so new but with a few issues (helped out by her colleague) my name was changed from Roman lettering to the Cyrillic and the address was changed and then I was allowed to apply for a debit card. There is not free banking here and I get charged 20 stotinki for withdrawing my money from their machines, and 1 lev if I use a rivals. I have just realised that I forgot to get my internet banking upgraded but no worries there I need to go back next Friday to collect my card and I'll do that then.

After this I decided I would go past Kaufland for my drying racks (the weather is set in and I really want to have some clean clothes again so I will reset the washing maching tonight (I didn't actually set it going last night which I realised pretty quickly but left because of the weather forecast) and I can at least spread things out inside with them even if they do get dusty) and also find out if they had a toilet as I was starting to get a bit desperate. I parked up and was walking toward the trolleys when I noticed S and S come out of the shop. We stopped and chatted and I got the update on their progress and they were jealous because they hadn't known they could pay extra to get the other card very quickly but I was aware of my need for the loo and so didn't stop with them as long as I wished. I hope to get over next week to see their place as I have a week without workers.

I dashed around and only grabbed a Raid plug in for the flies, and two racks, and my need was too great so I bailed before looking for the other things I need. My drive home was swift and I caught up with S and S just before they turned off towards their place and peeped my horn to which they peeped back which was nice then I was home, past the road which is heading ever upwards towards my village and was in and relieved very quickly. Rambo was also happy to see me as he had been in his compound while I was out.

Where Sassy lives, and it is not clean

When I got back I made a brew then sat and watched the Giro d'Italia as I have missed the last couple of days. I was going to finish cleaning for Sassy immediately but the excitement of the race distracted me and actually on reflection I think I'm glad that I did watch it. The final day of racing is tomorrow so it is nearly over. I stopped and watched it all and then, after Quintana had won the stage (and probably won the whole race as well) I grabbed the broom and started sweeping.

Very dusty room

After a few minutes the dust got so bad that I had to go and get a face mask to keep from choking and even then I was struggling; maybe this is what Sassy had been made ill by. I think I need to do this more often. My first task was to pick up the big and burnable bits which didn't take long and then I removed the three windows she had been hiding behind (as all of them were broken) and went and found one with a complete pane of glass in to replace them with. Then I lifted the huge wooden ladder Bekir had made last year out of the way and started sweeping. Here you can see the dust I raised in the first round of sweeping.

All gathered into little piles

Because the dust got up so quickly I swept little areas of the room into localised piles and then moved on while the dust resettled before returning to finish each one and in this way I worked my way round the whole room and got as much of the dust and other rubbish as I could collected together. I went away for a bit to let the dust settle and grabbed one of the wheelbarrows to carry the dirt out of there. All this time Sassy had been in her cage sat on the landing and she was eating the food I had put in; her second feed of the day and a really good indication that she is feeling much more herself now.

Dusty forearm

While I was waiting for the dust to settle so I could go in and remove the piles I noticed that I had entirely grey arm hairs from the aforementioned stuff. It was so marked I snapped a picture of it; this is what my arms might look like in 40 years time when I have gone completely grey. How awesome

Removed from the room

After a bit of waiting around the dust was dropped enough to go in with the dustpan and brush and lift it all out with the wheelbarrow however there was so much I had to get one of my buckets and I filled that too. This lifted even more dust into the air so I decided to leave Sassy out on the landing until it had settled again. The spoil in the barrow and bucket I emptied into the hole out the back door as it was raining, and then I went to start my blog and cook dinner.

Dinner was an onion and nardenitsa omelette (with chili in obviously) and was lovely and tasty washed down with a beer and as I get to the end of this blog I have just poured a small whisky to celebrate friday night with. Sassy was put back into her room a bit ago as she started getting irritated with being confined to her cage and when I checked the dust was all down. She is much happier. The weekend may involve chicken purchasing tomorrow or it may not, but I definitely need to take Rambo for a walk as he has largely been left to his own today. Anyway, that is to be found out huh. Later.

Residency

Today has been epically busy but not in a "lots of different stuff" sense but in a "lots of progress made" sense. I'm really late starting typing this as I haven't really been around at all today so you may get treated to a relatively short blog. You lucky people you.

Glorious golden sunset

The blog starts last night however as I had published so long before sunset I didn't feel like adding an "edit" to show this picture as it was so beautiful. I am so blessed every day with the sights and sounds of this house that I love sharing it with you all. I did have another thing I was going to add which is a bit of a funny story about my generator which myself and T got sparked up and pulled an extension to Room 13 to plug the fridge/freezer and router into and then realised I don't have the right plug adaptor to put a two pin into a three pin. Foiled by a simple stupid. Oh well.

Sleeping Rambo

My evening was lovely as ever, with a pizza, some beer and a brilliant conversation and then, relatively early again, I headed out to Julian to read for a bit while gym-ing was going on and as usual Rambo was laying on the earth waiting for me and followed me back to his cage nuzzling my hand the whole way. Earlier in the evening I had been to the toilet and spotted him laying down in a really funny position with his entire body on the porch and his head hanging off over the edge. This was the best picture I could get sadly and when I opened the door to try and take a clearer one he woke up and moved.

When I was walking to Julian I noticed immediately that the fireflies have appeared on my land; there were loads of them, some sitting, some flying past but all pulsing with ghostly light. I put Rambo away, dumped my stuff in Julian, and then came out to shoot a video. It isn't the best but you can see a few fireflies, one sitting on the roof of the green building and another flies past. While I was out there I could also see the strange flashes coming from over the horizon. I'm pretty sure these are lightening however it has just occurred to me that the military jet sounds have been coming from the same direction.

High cloud and hazy, cooler, sun for starters

I slept the sleep of the just and woke up at 6am very briefly followed by 6.20, 6.45 and then 7. I was very aware of not wanting to sleep in past 7 like I have the past few days, so I can get my morning started in the way I like. That morning dawned with lots of high cloud and the sun not really burning through very much until much later in the morning than when there is low fog. It was still a gorgeous start to the day, however, and I snapped this picture from the balcony after I had done my rounds. The mains was still running very slowly, and the free water was off, so I actually used one of the 11L bottles that had been left filled from the previous day by T to do my rounds and I only just had enough; I could have done with maybe 15L so that is an interesting bit of knowledge as to how much water I'm actually using for these few plants.

A bit of really good news is that Sassy seems to be much better indeed. Today she banged for her food again and when I went to put the water down she bashed it out of my hand and then drank it from the pool it made on the top. I obviously refilled the water bowl and put the food in and she has eaten it all and thrown the bowl downstairs so I think we can safely say she is better. I may have to feed her a bit more for a few days to get her weight back up, and hopefully stop the baldness from getting worse.

T with Rambo in attendance with his stone

As you can see from the previous picture T was up and at it early this morning as per usual and I snapped this shot just after I had eaten a fantastic breakfast of the last egg from my Little Lady and bacon on bread. The white thing in Rambo's mouth is a rock that I watched him carry as he followed T along, taking a path that took him directly through the mock orange tree (which smells absolutely amazing). Rambo obviously has not yet grown out of his rock obsession.

Flame just taking hold

My main task of the day was getting into the immigration office in town to meet a translator there at 10.30 but before this I decided to burn all the rubbish which has been piling up for a few days, including more bottles of beer than I want to admit having drunk. Some of them are from when The Electrician was still here to be honest.... please believe me. I have lots of pictures of the fire (as per) but I love this one as you can see the beer bottle starting to drip in the heat and the drip is itself on fire. I like things like that.

It caught really quickly and I was also able to burn the ten or so empty cement bags so they aren't cluttering the place any more. Now I just need to empty the two full buckets of humanure and I'm up to date with my irregular chores. I've not done this as the water had been off and I need to wash the buckets. Honest. I'm not being lazy at all.

Anyway, after the fire was lit I returned to Room 13 to chatter and then heard a beeping which I thought at first was the mobile shop but it turned out to by my friend trying to encourage the sheep to get out of the way as they had settled in their customary shady tree which actually involves blocking the track. She was here to come with me to town, with a few chores of her own, and we were just about to head off when my phone rang and it was the kmet. He seemed to be asking me to go to the obshtina locally so I said I was off to town, he went then I walked outside and there he was, with three people from the obshtina including the lady from planning and another lady who had been at the auction, and they were waving at me over the fence.

I'm still not totally sure what they came up to look around for as they only walked along the front and up to the big pile of spoil from digging the parking out, commenting on how much work it'll be but how lovely it'll be, and then they said goodbye and left. T suggested maybe they had been looking at the progress of the road and the kmet decided to show off what his anglachenin was up to. Either way the brevity of their visit didn't delay us too much and I made it to the steps in front of the immigration about two minutes before the agreed upon meeting time. Two minutes later the translator showed up and she was a bit surprised I was on my own.

We headed into the office and after a short wait were in front of the same grumpy woman who had been so spectacularly unhelpful the previous visit. This time, with a Bulgarian translator who knew her, she even cracked a smile or two and we made progress, eventually heading off to the office of the translator so she could do her thing with my EHIC (which is enough to get residency) and photocopy a few things as well. I filled a form out there with a bit of prompting from her and then we were back down the road (this time with my friend who had returned from her chores) to the immigration to hand it all over.

As the lady (a slightly younger, more pleasant, one) was stapling the file together I realised that they wanted to keep all the documents and I had turned up with the original of my Notorelien. This it the main bit of paper that proves that I actually own the school, think of the deeds in the UK, and seeing them disappear into a filing system was not on my plans. I shouted and they were duly unstapled and passed to me whereon I had to run back up the road to the office to get copies made. When I returned I was ushered to have my photograph taken (and I was called handsome too! *blushes*) and then I was told to return tomorrow after 3pm to collect my finished 5 year residency card.

I should detail that normally it takes a month to receive this but I had said I was in a hurry (I need to sort both cars out with Lucy needing registering in my name post purchase, and Thomas rapidly running out of insurance cover from the UK) so they said "pay double the normal and we will do it quicker". You have to love a bureaucracy.

I got me some brand new shoes!

And so we left, grabbed a quick kebob (sorry) and then did a few little chores in town, getting some stuff for A for her garden, and picking up some new sandals for me. Here they are, modeled by my own feet and having been worn pretty much ever since. They are quite comfortable but having cost less than a fiver I don't know how long they will last. They certainly look like they are made of leather so maybe they'll be OK. Watch this space.

After this I decided to go and look at the prices for beds as I have been getting warmer and warmer in Julian at night and it isn't even really summer yet. This viewing trip ended up with me driving away with a huge mattress with a solid base strapped to the top of Thomas. All other aspects of the trip were then thrown out of the window and we just headed back home to unload it. T helped and then there was a short bit of chit chat and my friend left to do more chores while I went upstairs to get ready to scythe.

This did not happen - I suddenly felt completely wiped out and after sitting on the internet for a bit I decided I wanted to read and then, having sat and read on the balcony for a few minutes I decided I wanted to lie down and so I was laying on the airbed, with pillows, and the reading turned to dozing and while I didn't actually sleep I didn't read much either. I'm not sure why I was so exhausted but I just couldn't get any energy up at all. I only got off the airbed because it started to spit with rain so I moved everything inside and then, at exactly that time, I had a lovely phone call.

It was after this that the second best news of the week arrived. It has been Feis Ile week on Islay (which I went to the week after winning the auction for the school last year) and I have been sore at missing it, though obviously still really pleased to be here. Today was Kilchoman day and this is the distillery I have a particular interest in collecting. My mate had said he'd try and get me a bottle but normally it is very limited in release and he had also said publicly that he wasn't going to be able to get any bottles for anyone.

Anyway, I saw that I had received a notification on Facebook and it was my mate, sat with the two other good friends we made last year, holding a bottle and smiling at the camera. Then I was tagged "this is yours". I almost fell off my chair. Wow. I was chuffed to bits and almost immediately started feeling a little more alert as my blood started pumping with excitement. I know this seems like a small thing and in once sense it is, but I am so bloody touched that my mate would do that for me. What a guy. I can't wait to pay him back some day, and also to see them all next year as I will be going for sure to Feis Ile 2015. Maybe now I'll not moan and whinge so much about not being there this year.

I was cheered up even more by the fact that the water has returned and I can put the washing on tonight, and have a proper shower in the morning. Things are all coming together, huh.

After this my evening trek began with taking Thomas to the garage (with T driving Lucy in front) so he can get new tyres on the front, and also have his headlights swapped for driving on the wrong side of the road. I was assisted by a friendly chap who was having his car cleaned by Lyubo and once again I commented to T about how in England you would be frustrated at waiting but over here it's just chilled and you don't feel bad at all. He said it may be done by tomorrow or maybe Monday which is fine, and I am waiting for a call. After this and a brief stop for eggs and fresh bread at the shop, we went over to my friends as we had her chair in Lucy, and I was taking Bekir home. We sat and had a coffee while the workmen finished their tasks.

Not great camouflage for this one

While we were sat there admiring some of the plants I spotted a smaller version of the huge grasshopper from yesterday sat on one of them. I was asked to flick it off so I did but not before snapping a picture. I can't help it.

And the one tonight

T drove on to his and then I took over and drove back here, tired and hungry as it was past 7pm by then. I had taken some pork belly out to defrost earlier and so I set about making my amazing pork and mushroom pasta dish, while starting this blog, and I have eaten the lot (like a fatty) while typing. It seemed right to bookend this blog post with pictures of sunsets so here is the one from tonight; a totally different shade with lots of lovely pale yellows and golds shading to blues and black.

Today has been the last day of any workmen for a week, with T spending time with family and Bekir having requested a couple of weeks off after finishing for my friend to do stuff at his house. I have hopefully arranged to meet him this saturday to get some chickens though so that could be good. I'm gonna sign this off now and look forward to a quiet day tomorrow.

Make hay while the sun shines

I am starting to write this blog post in word as, about 9am this morning to go with the mains water which has been out of action now since last Thursday, my electricity went off. Now this looks like it was a planned outage (there are workmen dismantling the substation for the village and when I went past and asked they said it would be back working today) but it has left me a bit scuppered for paid work and being online to write this blog. I haven’t had a boring day sat around, however, as you will find out.

 

Female Preying Mantis at the window

First of all however is a picture I took last night. I was on the phone as usual and having a nice natter when I saw something large fly past the window in front. I immediately thought it was one of the bats that live in the roof and dismissed it however about ten minutes later I noticed that there was a quite large Preying Mantis on my outside window ledge and it was scrabbling and fluttering around as if it was trying to get in to the light. I immediately got distracted from my conversation and, much to her disgust, I grabbed the camera and managed to take this picture which I was quite proud of as I couldn’t reach to look through the view finder so just held the camera out and pressed “shoot”.

 

A slightly better, clearer, shot

After we got off the phone I climbed onto the desk and got close so I could properly frame it however this was still quite difficult as it is outside a sealed double glazing unit and the glass is no longer clean, which compounded with the fact I had to take with a flash and the camera did its flickering thing to focus (which then startled the poor thing and made it move) this proximity didn’t really improve much. I did try with my zoom lens, and from a bit further away, but this didn’t work either. So these two pictures are the best I got. I’m still buzzing, though, as this is the largest specimen I’ve seen yet.

 

The hole spider with babies on its back

On to this morning and once again I slept past my preferred wake up time of 7am, opening my eyes to see that it was 7.30 and I didn’t pause in bed at all as I was so thirsty it felt like my mouth was the sahara desert. The urgency for a brew was not great enough to make me forget that I was supposed to be checking for the hole spider today and, laying on my stomach inside Julian and leaning out the door so as not to disturb it, I was able to get a pretty good picture while it was just sticking its head out the hole. A bit later I found that it was actually outside so got the picture inside this one which helps you see the tiny baby spiders that are clinging to its back. A few times today I have seen it scuttling back inside so you may be treated to an even better picture if I am lucky enough to capture it.

 

Finally she is eating

I was a bit dozy and found it hard to operate first thing, sitting at my desk and drinking my entire cup of tea before even beginning to think about going out for my rounds. Indeed T had arrived and was well on with things before I finally emerged to feed and water Rambo but I didn’t do my watering round then but a bit later on. What I did do was hear Sassy doing her banging to get my attention thing and I took her some food and she actually went to eat it. This is great news and maybe she is getting better finally.

 

A daisy and a tiny blue flower

It was while I was continuing to chill out that the power went off and this prompted me into moving. First of all I had to do the full watering round so I did the watering can from the standpipe and headed off. All of my trees are doing OK apart from the one in the corner which has lost most of its leaves however even that has some green growth on it and one or two branches of healthy leaves. While I was walking round I saw a gorgeous tiny blue flower and thought I’d take a picture with the daisy as a comparison for size purposes. There are so many lovely wild flowers over here and the perfume which wafts across my land is often divine.

 

My first tomato has appeared

I did two runs with the watering can, pleased to see the zinias are also making good progress though there aren’t as many coming up as I hoped for; maybe I’m being a bit impatient though so I’ll continue to water the whole patch in hope. I returned to the hose and used it to water the plants on the table and, in doing so, saw that I have my first tomatoes appearing. It is still green but I will certainly be looking forward to eating that in a little while.

After this chore was complete I decided to go and do my off site job of getting the final piece of information from the kmet. I had text him first thing with a question but not had a reply so rung him early and he said he was already in the Obshtina and so I should come down. I told him I would be a while however with the power going off I left a bit earlier. My plan was to ring him on getting to town. As it happened I didn’t need to do this as I caught up with the little white car of my young farmer friend and as I did so, it stopped and the kmet jumped out. He came to my car and got in, indicating I should drive on.

As I was about to a BMW drove past, stopped, and tooted its horn. Now Lubo B has a beemer so I didn’t know if it was him, but the kmet seemed to be telling me to drive off. I was confused and the chap got out the other car (it wasn’t Lubo) and then offered me a petrol generator. I said “no” and left him standing there; I should have listened to the kmet; this guy had seen the UK plates and decided to try and scam me. Nice.

We parked up by the Obshtina and headed into the bill paying area, being accosted on the way for a chat by the kmet’s brother. Once inside they asked for my passport which I’d left in the car so I headed back for it. When I returned, the kmet took me away from that office and we went round a few others in the main building, not having much luck, until he disappeared into a private area I wasn’t allowed, then came back out with a look of comprehension in his eyes. I think he hadn’t really known what was required at all.

From there we went to the final office where the really helpful, slightly stern looking, woman from the auction and other visits last year was and he and her had an animated conversation about what the number might be for my place. The word “nyama” came up a a lot which means “none” however after a while they seemed to agree and wrote 94 on the sheet of paper. So now I know, I live at number 94. I have a suspicion they just counted up the other house numbers and tacked me onto the end.

 

Mo is always out his shell, Jesus hides

One other benefit of this brief meeting with the kmet was to hear that the water should be back on tomorrow. My fingers are firmly crossed as I want to do a load of washing, and my morning routine of washing up is all out of kilter. Anyway with the final bit of paperwork in my hands for my residency I headed back home. I was pretty thirsty having only had the one cuppa so I made myself another and then saw that both Jesus and Mo were out and about so I picked them both up and set them on the desk to watch while I drank.

 

This about as brave as Jesus got

The difference in their characters is quite telling as Mo was immediately out and off pulling himself labouriously along with his not-working back legs while Jesus sat there right inside his shell for ages before finally poking his head out a bit to have a look round but never moved once. He is obviously older as people have been telling me and so has more of a nervousnous around me than Mo, who I am certain was only just hatched when T first found him and so has learned that I am OK and to not fear me. To be fair, Jesus’ concern is far more intelligent and maybe Mo would be best being kept in a covered compound as he doesn’t hide when a shadow falls on him.

 

Jesus hasn't moved, Mo it exploring

So I sat and chilled and watched and waited for Jesus to do something, anything, interesting but he didn’t move once and after my brew I picked them both up and put them back in the tray. Here Jesus has found his legs and he has been everywhere, though once again he is burying himself in a hole while Mo explores and keeps managing to tip himself; just now I had to turn him over again for the second time today. Silly Mo.

 

This is where I am going to start scything

My main task for today I had chosen as the scything so I took the sharpening stone downstairs and stropped the blade for a bit until I could see it was sharper. Then I headed down round to near the entrance gate to start off. I had decided that I would start by the drive and clear round under the trees in that direction as that would improve the entrance quicker, allowing me also to place the stones I want to between the trees to demarcate the drive, and also it is slightly more open there so easier to swing the scythe. The grass has got really high though and is about waist high to me in places.

 

What I did by lunch, and my sweaty hands

When I stopped for lunch I had cleared a good area and was starting to get the feel for the pendulum motion that apparently is best for this task. I still was leaving a fair bit too long behind me, and also was struggling to swing the scythe in such a way that it cleared the cut grass out of the way, and allowed me easy access to the next bit, but those things will come with time. I went to sharpen the scythe again until I slipped and sliced into the top of two of my fingers on my left hand. Woops. They weren’t bad cuts so I wrapped them in toilet tissue and I just went in to make a brew and some sandwiches and as soon as I  stopped the sweat just started pouring off me. I was soaked with it and could feel it trickling down my back. Good honest work does that to you though. I had some nice cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches, sitting outside next to T while he had his lunch but not really talking that much, just in companionable silence,

 

A spider and a very large grasshopper

It had stopped bleeding by the time I finished eating so I picked up the scythe and went back to it. On my first stop to fork the grass over to my newly formed hay pile I spotted a huge grasshopper on a bit of thistle and next to it a spider. At first I thought the spider was hunting the grasshopper but as I carried it over towards my camera (which I had left by the porch for some unknown reason) they met and then ignored each other. I snapped the picture then went and put the chunk of thistle into the long grass near the steps.

 

Dried blood from my little cut

After another hour or so and feeling quite tired from the physically strenuous exercise I stopped to take stock and noticed that the cut on my finger had been bleeding while I was working. It hadn’t hurt at all and I hadn’t even noticed until then however it looks really impressive (or is that stupid?) so here is a picture. I am man; I bleed!

 

The first day of scything is done

I was rapidly drawing to the end of the target I had set myself for the day which was to get back to the power pylon and down to the second tree and I achieved this pretty quickly really; I was probably scything for two hours or so to clear all of this land. The grass has been piled to one side to dry and I will probably ask for some help from Usmivka to get one of the poles in the ground and build a hay stack like they have for all the grass I will get from cutting it all down; I am going to have loads from the looks of it.

I was completely soaked with sweat by this point, and had some mud and dirt on me from a few sweeps of the scythe which took soil as well as grass, so I determined to have a shower from the hosepipe which I had previously made sure was completely full of water for this very purpose. I changed into my swim shorts, grabbed the shower gel and a scrubby thing, and proceeded to have an absolutely lovely, very hot, shower stood on my front yard. This occasioned much amusement from my neighbours who were shouting over asking what was going on.

Once I had finished, and rinsed myself off, Usmivka appeared and invited both myself and T (who had appeared just at the end of my shower looking to refill his water bottles for cement) over for a coffee so I towelled myself dry, put a t shirt on, and we went over to have some lovely strong sweet coffee. We were offered food but I was not feeling hungry at all having just finished the exercise so refused as politely as I can without much language. I was put into use however as I changed the batteries for them on a little radio/light thing. While we were there the Little Lady was trying the lights and grumbling a bit as the power was still not back on however I was not able to explain that I had seen the workmen at the sub station and they had all the insides out and in bits. My concern is if they can’t get it put back together by end of the work day then they may  just leave it til tomorrow. I have the generator though so if the power isn’t on by 5pm I will spark that up and get at least the fridge, freezer and my router powered up. I will probably need to plug this laptop in too as the battery is looking a little low.

Anyway since then I have done very little other than type this blog however just now the storm clouds built quite impressively so I expected a downpour but this has not materialised and once again we are in gorgeous sunshine with even the rumbles from around the hills no longer occurring. There is not perfect peace because two dirt bikes just went blatting up my lane and are making a racket as the climb into the hills; I’m glad we don’t get too much of that because I am a grumpy so and so.

I’ll sign this off now and be back to it later with more thrilling updates from my day without power.

---------------

I am back and I have power; it came back on about 4pm which is pretty impressive when you consider what they had to do. After / left before I went downstairs and sat with T for a while chatting and playing with Rambo. I then decided that I would head up the village to find out what was happening with the electrical work. T came with me and this proved a good test of the security of his wall and fence as we left Rambo out loose and he did give it a good try to get out, pushing hard at the gate, but he didn't manage it at all.

Replacing the switches in the substation

We strolled round enjoying the heat of the sun which was now fully out as the storm had blown past without effecting us. In the centre a chap tried to talk to us but I wasn't sure what he was saying; he might have been asking about the tiles on my roof but I'm not sure. I'm sure he'll come see Bekir next week if that is what he wants. Anyway, we got to the substation and could see that they were still working hard and it became clear just how much work they had to do; they had ripped out all the old switching gear and concreted a whole new setup in place. At the time we went up the final wiring was being done and it looked good for being done today.

I think he thought I was photographing him

The new road has been progressing up the hill well and the big digger was clearing ditches and widening the road and I snapped some pics of that as well, much to the amusement of a couple of the workmen who probably thought I was photographing them. I'm not too sure how I feel about having a tarmac road up here as it may encourage more traffic however it will be good for the vehicles and does show that the kmet doesn't lie as he promised me this would happen by July and it will.

We meandered back to the house and Rambo bounded over from where he was dozing in the shade on the porch completely overcome with joy that we had returned to him. T disappeared off to continue on the wall at the top of the land and I decided to achieve one more thing; fix up the ramp for the chicken coop. I briefly toyed with the idea of cutting up some wood and attaching it inside the pallet however I quickly decided that this was a bad idea. I grabbed some duska that had been used to do the lintel over the inner bedroom window and it looked great, though one needed a bit of extending and this was done quickly. They don't have access to the side platform yet but I'll fix that eventually. I also put a large rock in place to stop the gates swinging and I think I'm pretty much ready for my animals.

Lovely blooms on my rose

The mutlicoloured rose has been putting out more and more blooms which is great however the older ones are bleaching and changing in the sun, going from red/yellow stripes to a deep burgundy and white. The other two roses bought as root stock from the market still haven't really done anything but I'll keep watering them and be patient.

I was going to look out a latch (I'm sure I have one somewhere) to improve the security of the chicken run / garden gate however when I got back in I found that the power had been put back on so I came in to do a bit of paid work, and send a much-waited-for email. I've not really done much since coming in apart from drink tea and type so that latch will have to wait.

Jesus, mid chew

While I was sat here I could hear scratching from the tortoise enclosure and I initially presumed it was one or other of them digging. I checked it out after a bit and Jesus was up out of his hidey hole munching away on some undergrowth. I took about thirty pictures trying to capture him with his mouth open and the third one was perfect. After about twenty minutes of chowing down he turned and went back into his cave.

Spider, just before it ducked into its hole

So I am not expecting anything else to happen today, and I want to stop typing so I can read for a bit before my enjoyable evening conversation begins. I will leave you with another attempt at photographing that awesome spider by Julian which is the best yet. I hope there are no arachnophobes in my audience. Tomorrow is my day sorting my residency out so is a big red letter day for me.