Men back at work

What a day; I've been like an excited little boy all day today however before we get into that there is a fair bit to talk about yesterday evening, after the blog was published.

Final glimpses of the sun

As expected the clouds cleared during the evening and by the time we had eaten and settled there was quite a sunset coming on. A went onto the roof terrace with the camera while I was doing the last tasks towards publishing the blog and I was hurrying so I could join her before too late. I did everything in record time and legged it up and was in time to watch the final act which was pretty lovely indeed.

Like lightning, that chicken!

After this it was time for our chook wrangling; I think they are OK with being in their coop but they are still a bit nervous of being put in it; I hope we're not scarring them for life so they avoid it in the future but we cannot leave them out not after the fox sighting. They are pretty quick when you are chasing them but are getting easier to catch; I honestly think they are more comfortable around us every day. Now they just have to start laying.

Ready to ride round with the cooker

We were just heading back inside after this when the Other Brother appeared at the side gate and asked if we wanted to move the cooker so I ran in to get the keys and hitch up the trailer onto Thomas while A went over with the camera. When I got round there they had already unwrapped the tarp from around it and were waiting to lift it into the trailer. It only took the two brothers to do this; after four of us struggled in the snow. I didn't have any straps so sent A to grab some but then the Special One just hopped in the trailer with the cooker and said "dobre" so I got A to go to the gate so we could drive straight in and it was off. While we were loading the kmet had appeared from somewhere and he hopped on the back of the trailer, with the Other Brother, to be driven round in style.

Unloading between two of them

I pulled Thomas right up to the front door and swung round as far as possible so the carry distance would be reduced as much as possible. This time the Kmet insisted on being involved in the carry and I couldn't get anywhere near them to help as they were in and putting it down near the back wall very quickly indeed. I did help reposition it inside but for the most part I was merely an observer. They waved goodbye and left immediately after this and I presume maybe now the hay is in it was really getting in their way. I'm glad we have it back; we can now rat-proof it and store it carefully until next year.

Really misty start to the day

It wasn't a late night last night though I had the pleasure of talking to a mate about a gig in Sofia he was wanting to go to with me which kept me up a little later than A. I slept well, though I did need water a couple of times and had to go refill which was a challenge as the water was still completely off so I had to heft the large water bottle. I did this without spilling any which, when you consider I could barely see, was rather a success. We woke up to a very heavy mist which didn't shift for quite a long time. It ended up being a three brew morning before any progress could be made, largely I think because of this heavy overcast.

Straight to their food

We headed out to let the chickens out of their coop after the first brew and A refilled their food bowl so as soon as they were out they went over and pecked away. It's lovely to see how well they are settling in and A is sure that they are really starting to fill out as well. People who know about chooks; does this mean they may be about to start to lay? I hope so; I want my own eggs!

Today I had to go see the solicitor in town about the bulstat (bulgarian company registration card) and the company stamp that is needed to be applied to official paperwork like the bank stuff. Before I left however I had an urgent task to complete for work so I set to that and it took me longer than expected though not entirely because I struggled. First of all was the small issue of breakfast where I started out cutting up some melon then realised it wasn't going to fill me up so fried bacon and an egg for a butty. Then about 8.30 the workmen appeared and this distracted me again as I had to explain to them (the owner wasn't there) exactly what we were wanting. They set to immediately with the machine to break up the raised ledge and I helped the foreman to draw all the shapes in all the places for the alterations. It was really good to be involved at this stage and there were a couple of things I helped with that may have delayed them if I hadn't been there to point it out.

Come on; finish it quickly!

The water came on which was cause for celebration, a shower for A, and the washing machine being run; it's amazing just how much this means to you. Eventually I got my work done and committed so I jumped in Thomas to go to town. First I was stopped by the foreman just to check a few details and then I got to the gate to find that they had left it open and Rambo's ball was lying on the lane outside. I ran up to the porch to find Rambo dozing on his bed which was a relief so it was back down to the gate, shut it behind me, and rolled down the hill to town. On the way across the bridge I stopped to get a picture of the new bridge which apparently is the key to our returned reliable water supply returning.

I parked up eventually, it was REALLY busy in there today, and walked over to the solicitor's office. He was dealing with another customer and then when he finished we walked up to a shop to get the stamp sorted for my company then went back and printed and signed some paperwork for the bulstat. It is never a quick visit with him but it's always nice and he had a good laugh at my attempt to say "drunk" in Bulgarian which is "pian" but I said "piano". Anyway, after all this was done (my stamp will be ready in a week) I said goodbye and went past the post office to pay the electricity bill (7 BGN, about £2) and post some documents to my accountant. I then wound my way through closed roads (via the window people who said that they'd be over tomorrow to look at the next windows to be done) to the main road and over to the shop in the big town to buy the petchka we wanted. This was also super quick but we ended up with a crowd stood around the truck trying to get it to fit in safely.

Putting the final hay on to cover the humanure

I was gasping for the toilet by this time so I drove as quickly as I could without swinging the car and damaging the petchka and when I got back it was pretty much lunch time. The trip out had taken a bit longer than expected but all my non-legal related chores had only added about twenty minutes tops. I made myself some lovely cheese and tomato butties and cooked A up some super tasty pasta and we sat together to finish it off which is just lovely. I then did a little more paid work to keep on top of it and went to do the humanure. We still haven't finished the new collection point so I was having to try and fit it into the already pretty full old one. There was quite a lot of food as well, mainly rolls and things from my journey, and it was quite a challenge to shove it all around but I did fit everything in eventually. It is now totally vital that we have the new collection point completed before the next emptying cycle.

Spying on the girls between the corn leaves 

Look at my stick!

The cutest thing they do; running with the same stick

Mercury with his lunch

The big lump with the smaller lump

While I was doing this A had the camera and was playing with the puppies and taking lots of pictures. I've selected a few of my favourite and now I wish I could get them printed onto canvas. I'm loving the ones I did before I left and maybe I will order a few which I can bring back after a whisky festival. Yeah, that's a good idea.

I spent the rest of the day working on paid work but there were enough breaks and trips down to check on the progress being made that I was able to help out again a few times. The video above is super long and I'm sure no one will watch it however it was amusing to me. It started off with Nikolai and a huge lump hammer knocking the bricks out then he started with a pick axe then he was going to stand on a table but I persuaded him to use the scaffolding which I brought down for them so he was up on that with the big pneumatic drill attacking the reinforced concrete and then he went back to the pick axe and finally they all realised suddenly that the concrete went a long way up and was actually part of the structure of the building. At least they realised this before bringing the whole thing down on our heads.

Bang smash crash boom bang

For those of you who can't be bothered with the video above is a picture of Nikolai in full flow with the lump hammer knocking bricks out. He is a big lad and wielded that thing like it weighed nothing. The effort was strenuous for him though and he was gasping for breath a lot of the time.

Seriously thick walls

The foreman had stayed all day and had taken it on himself to chip away at the dividing wall which we are knocking arches into so the two rooms and corridor can be turned into one big room. This wall is made from stones and is really really thick. It is part of the earthquake protection for the building and we were quite strictly limited in the percentage of the wall we were allowed to remove. At the end of the day I went down there with A to check on the progress and she was amazed and almost in tears with how it has all come on even in one day. There are a couple of things which have had to be compromised on for example the reinforced concrete which stopped them knocking out the whole wall earlier in the day also ran around and meant that the archways cannot be quite as high as we were expecting. The fireplace as well will need a slight redesign as the chimney sits at 90 degrees to the expected angle however we can still have a lovely fireplace and it may even make the nook nicer.

Anyway, all of these things are lovely problems to have and I'd rather be learning and making choices like this on the fly rather than having had the place done to a drawing which (in our case at least) was out of date before it was even printed. I forgot until just now that actually the window people turned up today so they were shown what we wanted this time and left saying they'd be back in about two weeks to fit everything. Once this round of windows is in we'll only be left with the ones on the back wall of the kitchen, the ones in the entrance hall and the actual back door but all of these are very dependent on our plans for by the back door so may wait another year. I'll probably pay the company off for the balance after this next round though as they have been super patient and excellent to boot.

Dumping the final load for later removal

We waved the workmen off and then the Little Lady was at the gate with the tarp which had been wrapped around the cooker so we invited her in to show off the progress and she was suitably impressed. We really need to learn the words for "kitchen" and "fireplace" and other things like that, however. It was a struggle without them. It started to drizzle around this time and this steadily increased as the thunder rumbled around.

I'm going to leave the blog here though other things have happened since then; you'll just have to wait until tomorrow. From a rainy Bulgaria; good night.