Goats and Wrestling

I am so tired after today I face writing this blog with trepidation. Hopefully getting it done will make me feel so good that it'll be worth it. I have LOADS of pictures to go through though so we'll see how long it takes. The rack of lamb ribs are roasting in the oven at the moment smelling lovely though I'm not that hungry for it yet. Anyway, onwards.

Little bat hanging in the corner

First of all though back to last night after the post was published when A was checking on Rambo before heading to bed she found him going absolutely mental in the entrance porch. She quickly worked out what it was - there was a bat flying around and he was chasing it. After a bit it settled in the top corner of the room and I managed to calm Rambo down enough to get some pictures. I then made the decision that I'd rather have put Rambo away all night and not disturb the bat than try and encourage it to move now it was settled. So Rambo went into his enclosure.

Super bright moon - 13 second exposure

It was a gorgeously clear night so I went out onto the balcony and took some pictures of the moon and also attempted one of our moon-cast shadows. The picture I have chosen had a 13 second exposure which I shot from a hand held camera however the shadow picture went to a 30 second and I was way too shaky to hold that steady. I could have got the tripod but that would have been boring so instead we just enjoyed the lovely air and then went in to bed.

Frosty on Thomas

We woke up with no alarm - the great pleasure of a weekend (our last here, I realise as I type this!) and I went to make a brew to be drunk in bed because I'm a nice kind of guy. A bit later as we were getting up and making a move for the day I went onto the balcony for a misty day shot and was surprised to see that Thomas had frost on his windows; the first of the year. The weather is definitely changing rapidly here and one of the most pleasant things about standing out last night was the smell of autumn, and fires, in the air.

The plan for today was to go out with my friend and go to the open day thing at her village. I was actually at it last year (the post about it is here) and I must admit being able to go again this year was a really lovely surprise. We had talked about doing more shifting of planks this morning but I had no desire at all to go outside and do anything of the sort so I refused. Breakfast was porridge into which I added some of the pear preserve and that was gorgeous. I also cut all my hair off which has been required for a while so that was a great relief. After a nice relaxing morning it was time to put the sofa in the back of Thomas (this was going back to my friends) and head off.

Cutting up the goat

Because of the frosty start, and it was still pretty cold when we got in the car, I was wearing trainers with socks which is totally unlike me and as the day went on I regretted more and more that my plan to take my slip on sandals fell through by the simple fact that I forgot to pick them up. Anyway we made our way over to my friends via the cheren put which was bumpy but not muddy and found the librarian was there already. We put the sofa on the terrace and then pretty much straight away headed up the road on foot to the fayre. First of all we walked right through past all the stalls though there were fewer that last year and then we judged it wasn't too early and so went and sat down with a beer. We spent a lovely time doing this until we got hungry and decided to go over to where Bekir was sat with some other men near some goats and lambs roasting over coals on spits. We negotiated to buy 1kg each of a goat and a lamb but the lamb wasn't quite ready so, being the special customers we were and right at the front of the queue which materialised out of no where as soon as a spit was pulled from over the fire, we were able to admire as the meat was carved using a huge knife and some massive bolt cutters.

Super tasty goat

We took the goat back to the table and then ordered some bread but when it arrived the lady said we couldn't sit at that table to eat the meat so we shifted across to a different table. The goat was lovely but it was on the bone and none of us had a knife so this gave me the excuse to pop over to one of the stalls and pick up a hunting knife. I found one that was very sharp and it was only 15 lev! You'll see a picture of it later. As I was walking away towards the market I was stopped by the man sitting on the next table who knew me but I didn't know who he was though I did recognise him. The knife was a great success but as we got to the end of this chunk we realised that we didn't need any more meat so cancelled the order for the lamb without any problems.

We spent a lovely time sat at the table after eating, being greeted by several people including the gentleman who had spoken to me. He was a very pleasant man who had left Bulgaria for political reasons back in 1986 and ended up living in Australia. This is something I really like about Bulgaria; the people are wonderfully welcoming and they are really excited about you being in their country.

Intense stare....

..... and then the grapple

One of the highlights of the open day is the wrestling however we weren't aware that it had started until we decided to take a stroll along the lane to try and buy more apples. The stall had gone but we looked up and saw that there was a large crowd gathered in a rough circle and realised that the wrestling had already started. We had been wondering where all the people had disappeared to over the past few minutes. We made our way up and really enjoyed watching as a succession of kids went into the ring and fought. First up were two boys who fought for quite a while before the little one won. They were taking it quite seriously and the small kid here got quite upset at times.

The girls got involved as well

After this a couple of young girls went into the ring and their fight was much more technical with far less aggression than the first fight we saw. The crowd was much quieter while this fight was going on (it had got quite rowdy for the previous fight including someone being ejected after running into the round and being dragged out by other spectators and then the single policeman in attendance got involved) but the techniques and the steady way each was weighing the other up before grappling was really interesting to watch.

Young teenagers in the grapple

Young helpers cooling the fighters down

After this there was a succession of other fights from various kids who were sat around the edges and all dressed up for the fighting. The rules were a single pin would win and it had to be both shoulders on the ground while on you back. One of the fights was epic as the two were so well matched it went on and on and they had to pause the bout for a short time every now and then to allow water and cooling down to happen as the temperature had really shot up. It was so funny to watch the kids swarm on and help out their respective fighters with shoulder massages and a flapped t shirt for air. At one point a kid was holding one of the fighters noses up to widen the passage to help him breath. This was serious stuff.

This fight was fun; they kept going into the crowd

It wasn't just the "professional" fighters who were involved; a couple of kids got involved from sitting with their families and one of them even beat the one who was suited up. The funniest bout of the afternoon however was when two older men, one of them at least looking quite like a gypsy and we saw him sat in the back of a gypsy wagon as we were going home. They kept ignoring the whistle to stop fighting and the referee, who was really good, was getting quite frustrated with them. It was all in good spirit though and neither stopped smiling once even after one lost and the other won. Great fun.

The two big professional fighters

This one was a huge lump

Finally there was the fight we were waiting for; the two big lads who had been warming up around the edges all through the previous fights. These were big boys and the taller and slightly less built lad was from Greece I think so it was even an international competition. They met, slapped hands, and then met to grapple. Unlike the kids these two knew there thing and so it was slightly less explosive for the most part, but the strength and concentration of both of them was amazing to watch. At one point they both got slightly cut so some tape was put on the Greek's thumb and the local boy's arm. After this there was a slight slip of concentration and suddenly the Greek had flipped the other right up into the air over his shoulder (you'll have to check out A's blog to see that picture) and then pinned him and it was all over. There was applause and then the crowd dispersed and we took our cue and headed back to Thomas parked outside my friend's house.

Waiting to pounce

What a lovely day it had been but the heat had really wiped my energy out so I was feeling beat by this time. Our day wasn't complete however as we had to get to Kaufland for a shopping trip to get gifts for the neighbours and the workmen, and a few bits for the journey. With this completed we made our way home and I must admit I was feeling really jaded by this time. We couldn't immediately settle down to relax however as we had brought the goat bones back with us for Rambo. He was obviously super excited and spent the rest of the evening crunching it happily.

Sun kissed tree

After this I sat in Room 13 and played my game while trying to get my head back into a more relaxed place. I was sipping my pint of water and that really did help a lot but, as you can tell from the opening paragraph, it wasn't helping too much. One thing that did help was looking up and out of the window in front of me and seeing the tea tree glowing in the late afternoon sunshine. Gorgeous.

Going local

I was way too grumpy for company and so A went out with her camera and book and sat on the balcony. I wasn't in the mood for being outside at all so I stopped inside and enjoyed the smell of the lamb cooking. At one point A came back in as the temperature was dropping and she put one of her new jumpers on and looked so like an ewok I had to get a picture.

Current state of play

I remembered after this that I had a progress picture to take to show you so here it is. You can see that the ridge tiles are done and there is a little bit of work still to be done on the chimneys and then it will be totally completed. How exciting, but also how important as this is the last week that the men have to do the job. Let us hope that it all gets done really quickly so we can have a few days before leaving without workmen around. This is by no means guaranteed unfortunately.

Gorgeous sunset once again

We both went up onto the roof to get some pictures of the sunset which was better than last night though not as stunning as it has been through the year. I only took two pictures and they came out perfectly how I was aiming; as a panoramic view looking up over the village and across to the sun set point.

Making use of my new knife

Dinner was ready and despite both of us really not feeling hungry we set to and enjoyed it a lot; I put a huge amount of butter on my peas and this was a good thing. Also the Father Ted episode we put on helped and I finished eating feeling a lot less like I was wanting to kill everyone. It is a concern that I was so tired after being at a small village fete and how am I going to be when I get back to Manchester. Anyway, here is a picture of me using my new knife to cut up the ribs. What a beaut.

I've got NFL on at the moment and am sipping the excellent port my best mate bought me last year for Christmas but I think it'll be bed time for me soon. Tomorrow is going to be a big and busy and stressful day. See you then.