Lawyers

What a day. I'm sitting down with my head still spinning quite a lot so I don't know how much sense this will make but I'll give it a go anyway. Please don't ask for clarifications in the comments as everything I am going to say is in this post and I will not be elaborating at all at this time.

Ralf experimenting with new sleeping positions

Anyway, back to yesterday and a quick picture to lighten the mood. While we were sat enjoying the fire and relaxing last night Ralf was doing the same and at one point I looked over and he was laying with his head totally upside down. That dog knows how to chill out. Unfortunately he doesn't know how to sleep inside and our experiment with having them in the entrance area backfired as Ralf sat up all night scratching the door. He was so noisy he disturbed me loads and I really didn't sleep that well again. We really don't think he slept at all. Rambo, of course, was sparked out totally happy with being in there in a slightly warmer place. Eventually Ralf was brought upstairs and allowed to sleep on his bed in our room just so the digging would stop.

Just before the sun rose...

And so the alarm went off and it was actually snoozed this morning which does not happen often at all. It was a dark and misty start so the kettle was put on before I realised that the fog had shifted slightly and the view out from the balcony across the valley was stunning. I took a load of pictures from a few different angles but none of them perfectly captured the breathtaking sweep of the fog and cloud with the glow of the nearly-risen sun behind. This is the best I could do.

.... and just after. Wow.

I went back inside and cuddled my cup of tea but then when A left to take the men I decided to get the washing hung out straight away as the weather forecast was for some rain. As I stood up to go I looked outside and immediately ran onto the balcony. The sun had risen and was just at the correct angle to reflect off the valley fog and it was stunning. It is amazing how every day this place brings up new things which amaze and astound.

Rambo never gets in the way at all

The washing run had consisted purely of the guest bedding so it was hung out quite easily, while Ralf sat very well and didn't move all the time I was doing it. I went back inside and did the washing up and then got the kettle on just as I heard A get back with the men. Once again we were without Orhan and his name wasn't even mentioned today. Not great. I had been chatting with my friend who was telling me it was Bayram (holiday) and I may be losing the men for a few days so I met Bekir on the stairs and had that confirmed; they will not be back until Wednesday after today. Bekir promised that the roof would be done today and then maybe three or four days of effort on the flat roof and rather than distract him any more I just let them get on with it. The ridge tiles were going up onto the roof today and I was most amused to watch Rambo getting completely involved as Shengen was working to get them lifted up to Sally. He's a pain, he really is.

A getting her power tool fix

There were two main tasks for us today and we split them down the middle. I had to empty the humanure again (having guests really does speed up the rate of bucket filling) and I did this easily as always. When I raked the pile to create a small dent to add the new material I was able to confirm that there is quite a heat building up in it; you really could feel it radiating. I think I will try and get some more sawdust bags to leave here over winter for when we come back. The second task was to chop more wood for the fire and A got stuck in here, getting the power saw out and cutting planks and logs to the correct length then stacking them neatly by the petchka. We now should have about enough to get us through to the end of the year.

Bekir working on the ridge tiles

The men worked away hard to day though I didn't get any pictures again. When I was upstairs to ask about the parking ticket I found Sally was bricking up the gap between the eaves and the end wall near the roof terrace. Bekir had been operating his tile cutter a lot (I saw that he had taken the power up through a hole in the roof by one of the chimneys as he tried to get "tok" to where he needed it). And then there was the ridge tiles; the last bit of the roof to be done. How exciting!

The river

Before I was really ready for it the time came for me to head down into town for the appointment at 3pm. I was lending the generator to S and S so pulled Lucy round, got it loaded, and then rolled down the hill. I had to wait to cross the bridge as there were a couple of cars coming the other way so I snapped a quick photo looking up the river. I beat S to the meeting place by a couple of minutes but we were straight in and the solicitor we were meeting was ready. We were in there for just over an hour and came away having decided on a path forwards. It is the best outcome we could have expected and though I feel completely battered from the experience I am happy deep down inside. Honest.

After this I went over to the police station to try and pay my parking fine (I had shown the bit of paper to the solicitor and he had laughed and said I'd been supposed to go to the station on the day it was left but never mind) however the person I needed to see wasn't there and the desk guy managed to explain to me that he wouldn't be back for half an hour. No matter we were both hungry and in need of a drink so we went into the pizza place across the street and had a beer and some food while we waited. The pizza was outstanding, certainly the best I've had over here so far, so this place will go down on our list of places to go. S had a lovely looking rolled kebab as well. It was just about time to head back to the cop shop when I finished so I went on my own and had the correct officer called to see to me. He looked at me, I said "small bulgarian, not understand" as I handed the slip of paper and he frowned, looked at me, then waved and said "get out of here". Success.

We spent another hour or so chatting and relaxing in the beer garden of the cafe before he had to go to Kaufland and I wanted to get back up here to allow the day to settle and stop my mind from racing. Funnily enough the action of typing this has cleared my head a lot and I feel a fair bit better now. I am in a good position where I need to write down a timeline of events and, because I have this blog written pretty much in real time, I'll find it easy to carry this task out. Wish me luck but don't expect anything more to be said about this for a fair while as the proceedings will drag on.

I have, however, updated the "things I have learned" page on the blog so please go and read it if you are going to do business over here.