First dark morning

Well it has (as always) been another busy day today so I'll jump straight into it. This is also my second blog post of the day so I don't want to spend too much time sat staring at the computer now.

Really dark when we woke up today

Sleep last night was long and satisfying and I didn't wake up more than once in the night. When the alarm went off at 6.30 it was so dark; the darkest it has been so far (at least since summer began anyway) but we didn't snooze and pretty much immediately got out of bed. A went to put the kettle on while I went out on the balcony to photograph just how dark it was first thing.

I achieved shifting this wood inside

I woke up feeling pretty rough still, with the high pressure feeling in my head and restless legs that I have been suffering for the past couple of days. I had a chore or two to do but I decided rather than start that straight away to join A in feeding the boys as I haven't done that for a while. It was lovely to sit out there with them and watch them eat and sip my brew again. After this A had a shower and then headed for the men while I sipped another brew and then went to do my chore. I had planned on clearing all the wood off the back step by the back door, then throwing a load more down and clearing that however I was feeling so lacking in energy that it took almost everything I had to just clear the wood and shift it into the store room.

Bekir getting ready to fix the wall in place

I had just about got started on the washing up when A got back with the men so I finished that, made a brew, and then we sat and I decided that today was a posh scrambled eggs kind of day so I set myself to cooking this and if I say so myself they were absolutely outstanding today. Just what I needed to put some joy in my slightly low-in-energy start to the day. I had asked Bekir when he came past to help out fixing the wall for the guest room in place and after a while of working upstairs he came down to get this done. I only realised he was there as I was carrying the humanure buckets out to empty (see my other blog post for information on that) and so I stopped that task and went in to watch.

A medley of Bekir working on Bulgarian Wall Plugs

We looked for some suitable drill bits but couldn't find anything big enough so Bekir used the hammer drill and the super long bit The Electrician had bought to get through the floor of Room 13. With the correct tools he marked up where each hole would be needed. He then drilled them out, then made "Bulgarian Wall Plugs" out of left over scraps of wood which were then hammered into each hole until totally stable and then finally the excess was trimmed using a saw.

Marking up where the bottom fittings should go

The fixings for the floor were done in a similar way however he used the drill to go through the wood and mark the floor so he knew where to put the plugs into the floor. I stood watching and snapping pictures as he did this then we decided that as I didn't have any super long screws we would fix it all with nails. The first attempt wasn't quite right as it missed slightly on the floor fixing and rather than shrug and move on he pulled the nails out, moved it slightly, then put them back in place for a more secure fixing. I just love how conscientious these men are.

Shengen the grinning helper

Shengen was assisting Bekir with this task and as I haven't really got a picture of him in detail (he is quite shy so I normally stop myself from focusing too much on him) I decided today to go for it and he laughed and seemed chuffed to be the subject of a picture on his own.

Hefting the tiles onto the roof using the pulley

While Bekir and Shengen were distracted from their "real" work by assisting me Orhan and Sally set themselves to hoisting roof tiles up by way of the pulley. It was good to watch them doing this as, unlike the usual careless way they lift buckets of cement, Orhan was skillfully watching as it swung and lifting it timed to avoid banging on the wall. While this was going on A finished the work she had for the morning and it then occurred to me that now would be a good time to go do our shopping trip. First of all we had to go for fuel for Thomas and this was accomplished relatively quickly, though one guy in a Mercedes got very impatient and leant on his horn at a car in front of him which is fair enough apart from the driver was inside the shop and the assistant was still fueling it up. As this car pulled away said Mercedes screeched round past him in a cloud of smoke and disappeared up the road, not even waiting for fuel. It seems not all Bulgarians are as chilled as others.

The wall has been fixed in place

After this we made our way to the big builders merchant and there we had good success finding what we wanted (50mm screws for the plasterboard, two curtain rails to hang the curtains my friend very kindly lent us for our guests' visit and tiles for the guest room) though that last added about half an hour to our trip as the assistant couldn't find the pallet with the tiles anywhere. Eventually they were located on a pallet just out in the yard and not put away in the organised wall of tiles. With our purchases we headed back and found that the wall for the guest room had been done including the temporary tie across the door gap to add rigidity to the whole.

First plaster board in place

We arrived back just as it was lunch time for the men so a quick brew was made then I got a section of plasterboard and very quickly I fixed it to the small wall. It really is so quick and easy to work with which is why I chose this method of construction rather than getting the men to brick it in. It also will allow us to very quickly take the wall down or change the configuration should we make that decision.

You can now see just how nice this room will be

A hadn't realised I was doing this and she came through and was quite amazed that I had already put this in place; I didn't let her head back to her typing however but with her assistance we finished off all the plasterboarding in the next twenty minutes. What a great thing to have achieved so quickly. It was really good to be able to stand in the room and see that it is a really good size and the bed that I would be building later would fit in easily and there would be loads of space for wardrobes and a couple of comfortable chairs so guests could have their only space.

A smiling Sally on the roof in his socks

We went from this straight up onto the roof to see how progress was going there and found that, while they aren't yet nailed down, the first tiles have been going in place. The men were putting the wooden struts in place which the tiles sit on and so had loosely sat said tiles at intervals to allow them to get the spacing correct. A had to run back inside as she was too uncomfortable watching as the men walked easily across the sloping roof with Orhan barefoot, Bekir wearing his little rubber boot and Sally in his socks.

Replacing the broken glass

I then had lunch of sirene and nardenitsa on bread (very tasty) then I went to unload the tiles from the back of Thomas as I had been too tired to do so straight after our outing. I was nearing the end of this process, stacking them behind the new wall in the guest room, when the window fitter's van drove along the lane so I broke to put Rambo away then finished the moving before they parked up. They were coming to fit the glass in where it had been the wrong size on Saturday, and also they were fixing the broken panes. They work so fast and with so little trouble A didn't even realise when they had gone but I was able to put in the final order of the year which was the windows in the Living Room and Kitchen, and the door out to the sun terrace. So super exciting!

Tile spacers getting fixed onto the roof

While I was up on the roof talking to Bekir and the fitters about the double door to go there I was able to get a quick snap of Orhan and Sally as they were working away putting the tile supports in place.

The bed frame laid out ready for fixing

I was starting to feel a bit better with more energy and so I decided to make use of this by measuring up and cutting the wood for the guest bed. This will be the same size as ours and so I am using exactly the same construction technique. To this end I cut three lengths at 1860mm and two at 1660mm from the 100 x 100mm wood that we brought upstairs all those days ago when hugely bad weather was forecast which wasn't as bad as expected. I took regular breaks so as to not burn myself out from this recovery but after cutting I then secured each length (with A helping to keep it all square) and then satisfied for the time being went and had a brew and read a bit of my book.

Drilling and screwing the feet in place

Where the guest bed differs from ours is height; we only raised our bed 100mm off the ground (I do like a low bed) however to provide some storage under the bed we have decided to lift these 300mm. I had not been too sure how to achieve this but while driving yesterday I designed a solution which, on explaining it to A, got the necessary stamp of approval. With the go ahead I spent a while cutting out the lengths I would need then set to attaching them. I got the too "foot end" feet done before deciding as it was very close to the end of the day to stop there and finish the task in the morning.

Orhan, Bekir and Sally on their commute

I popped up onto the roof again with A to see how it was going and they had put the struts all across the other side of the roof too. Bekir was clear that tomorrow would see most of these tiles in place to which I pointed out that the computer said it would rain heavily tomorrow. We had a laugh about how inaccurate that is and then they headed off over the roof to the other end so I snapped a picture showing just how casual they are on this perilous journey.

Putting some waterproofing over the last gap

There then followed another example of just why I love having these guys working for me. We had had a good laugh about the potential for rain tomorrow but straight after this Bekir took them over to put some waterproofing in the gap they have left for access, so if it does rain it won't cause problems in the house. This caused them to be slightly later leaving but they are just so willing it is great.

After this they went and washed up and then I got in Thomas to take them home. Here I really do wish I had taken my camera with me as we stopped in the middle of my village and Bekir went to the sheep farmer (the old man) and bought a ram which he trussed up and put in the back of Thomas. We drove this all the way to their village and then they unloaded it, massaged its legs, and led it off down to be included in his herd. I am gutted I missed this.

Progress as of today

I got back to find Ralf on the balcony again running around excitedly looking for Rambo and then at me as I went up on the back bank to take a progress picture for the first time for a while. I really can't wait for the photograph tomorrow which should have lots of tiles up there.

This is threatening, but it never hit us

The sky had been a picture all the way too and from dropping the men off and as I was going up the bank to get the progress picture I was struck by just how threatening the cloud approaching us looked. It never came near us though and as of yet we have had no storm. So I sat down, wrote the first paragraph of the blog and dinner (cold chicken and potato salad with hard boiled chicken and duck eggs, home grown lettuce and orach and olives and onions from the shop) was served which we ate while watching Series 1 Episode 1 of Father Ted to much hilarity and I think this will suitably replace Fawlty Towers as our dinner time watching.

I am now sat listening to Tom Middleton chill as A also works on a blog post. I am feeling mainly better but I still have a vestige of the strange head/leg thing going on. Here's to sleeping well tonight and waking fully refreshed and energised tomorrow.