Massively exciting news

I planned today to be a day off from working in the garden as I was exhausted. The alarm went off and I snoozed it once and then decided to make a move and woke twenty minutes later with Rambo barking. This is one time when I was pleased that he got impatient and barked else I may still be asleep now. Anyway thanks to the canine alarm clock I did wake up and so went and brewed up.

Sun rise in a blaze of glory

I'd brought the bowls down by the front door so, when I had my brew, I went out to get it. The sky was glowing gold so before I did anything I snapped a picture for you. Once again the feeding went pretty well, though both Rambo and Ralf were a bit naughty and didn't settle down before I opened the gate.

Clouds indicate a slightly cooler day

My plan for a rest day changed while I was doing the rounds as the clouds were rolling in and it felt a little cooler. Today would be a good day, I decided, to finish off the brick work for the tortoise house.

A short section about the collection of the men. I have meant to write this for a while and every time it gets to evening I forget, so this is being written first thing in the morning while the thoughts are fresh in my mind.

I set off at about twenty to the hour, though sometimes it is a little before. If I am pulling up at the top of their cheren put before five to I will park up and enjoy the view for a short while. I aim to be dropping down into their village and parking up at exactly five to. My arrival sparks something of a flurry of activity. Up til that point the men have all been sat outside drinking coffee and chatting, sat around a table outside their cafe that, in winter, is pulled into the warm. I park up and chill in the car, giving a wave to Bekir. After a couple of minutes one of the men jumps up and gets into his old car which starts on the fifth attempt and he roars off. I have been late once and that day he looked at his watch and ran; they do use my arrival as a timing point.

Often there are a couple of women sat to one side, on the other side of the road, and there are always tubs lining the road. I don't always get to see the exchange but it was a revelatory moment when a white van pulled up and the owners of said buckets came rushing over and emptied the milk contained within into a big tub in the back of the van. Another white van appears sometimes as well which is a mobile shop, strange as there is a perfectly well stocked shop right next to the cafe.

At about two minutes to first one, then the other of my men gets up and goes into the shop to buy their lunch; a tin of fish and some bread and maybe some breakfast as well. When I am in Lucy Sally will get in first (she is only three door) and greet me "dobro utro" to which I always say "I'm good, you?" and Sally replies "Gore dolo" which means "up and down". Bekir will then get in the front and his response is always that he is good. It is a nice little exchange every morning and then we are off bouncing down the cheren put and then along the new road to my place. The addition of a new worker this week hasn't changed much, though it has delayed Bekir's entry to the car as this other chap also has to climb in the back.

Straight back to work

As we drove there was conversation again and I got involved discussing that it is 6 lev for a coffee in Greece, and 50 stotinki here. The eurozone is a terrible thing. Upon arriving home we parked again on the lane under the tree, and then walked in through the side gate. I unlocked the front door for the men, then went and let the boys out, and returned for my breakfast in Room 13. Toast with strawberry jam. Lovely. The men went straight up and carried on working on the beams for the roof. I think they were still making changes caused by my wanting to be able to walk down the corridor to the roof terrace.

Bekir in his element

There isn't much to say about this except I think he looks more comfortable when perched on top of a beam or clambering over a rickety framework than stood on firm ground. He is brilliant and this morning just after taking this picture he said, in response to my "sorry for making you change, and thanks" he replied "it is your house, you have to be happy. Your materials and your money. No problem". Top answer.

Achieved before lunch

So I headed out, with gloves, vest top and hat on despite the slightly cooler day, and started setting out and concreting in the second course of bricks. I did the first run and took a break then went out again with another brew and did the top set. It was cooler with a fair breeze but the clouds were hovering around the horizon (as they normally do here) and so the sun was still very warm. Ralf did his "squeezing through the front fence" thing again while I was out the second time so I popped him away in the enclosure, then left him there over lunch so he didn't bother the men.

Sat in the shade for lunch

The men had come down for lunch while I was still doing the second run and they went over into the shade of the tea trees rather than sit near where I was working and be disturbed as they were relaxing. I think tomorrow they will get their normal place back as I really do aim to have a quiet day tomorrow.

All this hard work for them

Lunch was another cheese and tomato butty with my home grown tomato and they were once again gorgeous. The wind really was starting to get up and it blew some sheets of paper into the tortoise box. When I picked them up I found that they were both on the bridge climbing, though Shiva had hidden. I hope they appreciate the effort I have gone to for them; my hands are still basically non-functional and that is because of digging out for their house.

And the enclosure is complete

I arranged for my lunch time call and then legged it back out to finish off the brick laying. Ralf was already in his enclosure because he pissed on the rug in Room 13. I was setting the bricks in the way I'd done all the rest when Sally came over and said "no, do it this way" and I did and it was far far easier; it really is easy when you know how and I have learned something there. I finished in very short order, much quicker with the new technique, and then returned to Room 13 to await the call and chill for the rest of the day.

Oh yeah. DO THE CARLTON BABY!

And it is now time for this fella to make an appearance; a long time since he was last out. But this is for a very good reason. in 35 days time my Special Guest will become my partner over here as today she told her boss she was coming here and it is now possible for me to talk about it. How very exciting indeed, though probably terrifying for her. Anyway, I helped her a bit on the letter before she called and then a bit later I had confirmation that he knew. Brilliant.

What bird is this?

After finishing the call I decided I would have a rest but first I relented (I had been thinking of leaving Ralf in his enclosure for a long time, but it wasn't really his fault he had pissed) and went and got him out. On the way I spotted something on the bonnet of Julian and I am really sad to think this could be a Golden Oriole which looks like its neck is snapped. I don't know how that could have happened, as there isn't anything really see through (the windscreen is filthy) for it to have flown into. I stopped Rambo from getting it and put the carcass on the humanure. I do hope there are more around.

Shallow watering trough

True to form Ralf had a wee when I let him out of his enclosure; I don't know why he doesn't want to wee in there as there is loads of space but never mind. We went inside and I took my book to bed and read for a bit then fell asleep and woke about an hour later feeling a bit bleary but generally better. Ralf had slept on the rug and been a really good boy all the time. I woke feeling like finishing the job on the tortoise house so went downstairs with the bag of plastic bottles, scissors, knife and a trowel and I dug and concreted in a couple of little troughs which I can fill with water for the boys to sit in and drink from.

Shade installed with a pillar

I have loads more of these I can use and I will probably see how these two go and maybe put another couple in. My next job was to ensure that the water was always under shade, and that there was permanent shade for the boys to hide under too, so I went and got a door from the store room and made a pillar for it to sit on and when I was happy with the height of this, I also concreted the pillar into place. With that my outside work for the day really was done so I tidied up.

Hard at work, with an observer behind

While I was doing so the young gypsy from the farm came past and asked about the men; I said they were upstairs but he had me hold Rambo before he would come on the property. This is a good thing and it was quite funny to see him cringing away from the dogs. Anyway I've no idea why he wanted to talk to them and when I went up after finishing tidying I found that he was wandering around, and the men were working and ignoring him.

Cutting a beam to size

It turns out the second chainsaw is actually Bekir's (he has TWO CHAINSAWS I am totally jealous) and this one is electric. He had taken the extensions that are running power to the bedroom at the moment when he arrived and now I found out why. I also saw him fixing it earlier; something to do with not the right oil in it, but anyway enough of that here he is cutting things with it.

Getting a support beam in place

The piece they were cutting was an additional lateral support under the ribs and this was held in place by the new guy while Bekir nailed the far end, and then a sling was used to replace the human and hold it firm. Their utility and way of using things without seeming to have to think at all is incredible for someone like me who struggles with all his making.

He has been obedient this afternoon

I spent the rest of the time before the men left doing some paid work (which I have been doing throughout the last two days, but it is SO boring to talk about it) and watching Ralf being cute and obedient. I made the men more coffee and thought they were ready to leave a couple of times but finally I heard them washing up outside and I took the boys to their enclosure.

In bloom

As I was walking back towards the gate to leave I noticed the hibiscus has now got three flowers on it. It is so beautiful I had to stop for a shot. I was turning the car around when Sally remembered he had left his phone (well, Ralf barking reminded him, for some reason) so he took the keys and legged it back. The journey was really easy and we found that the final layer is being put on my new road which is just brilliant. On the way back I saw a tortoise in the middle of the road so I stopped and lifted it out the way. I hope that saved its life and it didn't just walk back into the road again.

Current state

Upon arriving back I went up to Room 13 and prepared my cold pasta salad. I had boiled the pasta prior to the men leaving and all it needed was a rinse in cold water and it was ready. Cheese, home grown tomato, lettuce, cucumber from next door, olives; what a lovely meal however just before I started eating I remembered I hadn't taken the picture for today so myself and Ralf headed up to the normal spot (the ants are going crazy up there still) and snapped this picture. It is starting to look like a real roof now.

The corridor is now fully formed

And so I scarfed down all the food, with beer to follow and I need to get to the shop as I have NO spare bottles now, and then saw that the sunset was looking good. When doesn't it, frankly. I popped upstairs and decided to get a picture of the new, higher, corridor out to the roof terrace. It is definitely tall enough now and it doesn't feel too narrow either.

Going down in a ball of flame as well

While I was up there I took this shot of the sun as it made its way down. Stunning. This is quite early in the sunset and I just love how golden the whole shot is. This will be our view from the roof terrace and this alone makes the whole thing (including setting the progress back by a day) worth every stotinki.

A bit further progressed

Reflections on cloud opposite, with moon

Golden in the distance

I went back to typing on this and then went back upstairs again for more shots. There are a few above because I loved all of them. It's just brilliant, isn't it?

Every cloud, and all that...

This last picture I took with the zoom after trying and failing to capture an image I was pleased with using my normal lens.Fortunately the sky wasn't changing so fast that I missed it by dashing down stairs and grabbing the lens.

So there you have it, another day done and an exciting one at that. I hope you have enjoyed this slightly longer blog. Til tomorrow.