Things keep happening

I'm glad I'm not doing this every day; I'd have missed yesterday's update anyway and then felt bad. It's been another busy couple of days but, looking over the pictures, not quite as busy as I remember - I think that is because the stress I've been experiencing has been coming from paid work, not the renovation which is just going along well, and so I have no need to mention that really after this introduction. Let's get to it.

Wednesday

Miserable start, and it didn't really get any better

Wood store as I started

I filled up this storage cubical

And had to make a new one

Nearly all the wood moved inside

Louise in her camouflage mode

Friday for A, but not for me, it dawned cold and stayed that way. There was a biting wind and pretty much no sun all day. Our normal morning rituals occurred, and while A was collecting the men I got stuck into moving the wood from the woodstore. I didn't quite finish the task as I had to stop mid way through to make another storage unit out of pallets. I did do eight wheelbarrows despite this interruption. The puppies had been out with me, Thelma with a stick to be thrown (of course) and Louise disappearing off on her own whereever it is she likes to go. When she came back in she was absolutely filthy and very proud of herself indeed.

The lorry turns around on the patio

Pouring the mix out into the prepared area

Sally on the other side twisting as well

Making the step up less dramatic

A filthy puppy

As I've said I was stuck working all day and mid morning I heard a truck on the road and saw that the var (cement pre-mix) van had arrived. Bekir was also on the ball and he went down to open the gate. The driver was on his phone and stayed on it right up until he parked the truck up to unload. I was rushing around so I snapped a quick picture of the beginning of this process and then legged it back to my desk. Later on I popped down to check on what was going on and found that Bekir and Sally were pulling the old pipes out from the walls. This was leaving a useful channel for the new pipes to go in which was really good. Just before lunch I again went to see the men and found Sally now with a pickaxe removing the step out of the kitchen into the back passage, and also making the lintel above that doorway safe as it was very loose and risked collapsing at any moment. Just before lunch we went to check on the puppies and A found Louise had been laying in the var and she was filthy. This made us laugh a lot however it's not really very good as that stuff burns so as soon as we had a picture she was in the shower and shampooed heavily.

Slightly wonky walls

Ready for a new lintel

Another day, another tile delivery

Stacked up in the kitchen

Bekir had said he needed to get cement so I went down when I had a free moment and said "let's go" but he now realised he needed a few more bits so we agreed to go to the bigger town for everything. Sally was going around working out how badly sloped the walls are and as you can see, they are not great. This will be filled in with cement to make it a straight up down and left right wall. Sally had already finished the sides of the new doorway from the kitchen so that was looking better already. We did our shopping trip and it didn't take too long and then it was back and at my desk until our tiles arrived that we had ordered the other day, a day earlier than expected. With Bekir and Sally here as well it wasn't too much of a challenging job to unload and now all we need is the electrical stuff. At the end of my working day I popped out and finished up the wood moving so now the external wood store can be dismantled ready for the insulation to be fitted.

Cherry and Lemon birthday cake

Welcomed with salad, Rakia and Vodka

Our chef, happily cooking away

Baked chicken and rice; superb

Usmivka gets a birthday kiss

Little Lady also got covered in paper

Birthday candles and smiles

While I was out doing the watering round I was called to the gate by the Little Lady who told me that it was Usmivka's birthday and we were invited over for dinner at 7.30. Panic struck as we realised we had nothing for a gift but then A realised she could bake a cake and that actually turned out to be completely perfect as there were no other gifts exchanged. After taking the men back we chilled out and waited for the time to go over and were pretty much dead on time. It was such a wonderful evening from beginning to end, with superb food and great company. We were even able to joke with the family and get involved in things; it's so lovely to be invited to such an occasion. A's cake went down very well, as did all the other food that the Little Lady provided us. We took some party poppers over and the birthday boy was showered with them liberally. Later some candles came out and were lit and blown out several times by different people (including A who got in on the act) and then we ate a slice of each cake each. We left as the Other Brother was also leaving with his family and sat in the living room at home for a while before heading to bed, reflecting on what a great time we'd had. It really reminded me of the time nearly two years ago now where I was sat where I am now and was called for "gosti gosti" and didn't understand what was going on and then had to force a second dinner into myself as they had cooked a wonderful meal for me with zero warning. What people.

Thursday

And so we get to today and another day spent largely stuck at my desk beating my head against a recalcitrant computer system until suddenly mid afternoon I got that working and I was happy again.

Just the merest hint of light on the horizon

Poking over the shoulder

A raft of clouds blows in

Bed frame, cut

Holes for the recessed screws

We were both exhausted after our night out and slept well, though we still woke up before the alarm went off. I was able to get out on the balcony early to get the predawn peach in the sky and then a little later, as I was in Room 13 making brews, I saw the sun rising and ran back to get a snap of that as well; beautiful. Unfortunately this clear sky didn't last long and the clouds were in place within a few minutes. We've had confirmation that Chaz and Ivan's men are going to be doing the external insulation and they'll be starting this weekend so that meant my task for while A was out getting the men changed to me making up a new bed frame for the other single mattresss. I measured the original and made it the same dimensions however I decided to not assemble it until Sassy's room has been cleared and cleaned again; the frame will be so heavy I don't want to have to move it very often.

Bekir removing the old plaster

Sally refused a grinder, and cut it by hand. Hardcore

Bekir and the window man discussing the hatch

The old window gets removed

I had just finished doing this, and done a little preparatory clearing in Sassy's Room (including scraping moss off some logs into a pot for later use on the railroad) when A got back with the men. I popped down to say hi to the men and found them working away on the walls in the bathroom, while Sally was cutting another cement fence post to make into a lintel. Not long after this, just as we were having breakfast, one of the window men arrived to measure up for the hatch between the living room and the kitchen. He didn't really seem too concerned about it which is great. I also asked him about changing out the door onto the balcony from the bedroom and here Bekir helped a lot.explaining the exact problem. The guy headed off and I didn't expect to hear from them for a few days. A unfortunately wasn't feeling all that great and so she went to bed for a rest after this but then the window people arrived back, this time with their van, and said that they had come to fix the bedroom door. I had to go and wake A up and get her to go rest in the guest room but at least we had that as an option and so she got some rest in the end.

The chopper flying down the valley

A opening a window before starting to sweep up

I spent the morning, and lunch time, beating my head against linux running in a vm (if you don't understand this sentence, don't be sad) and I even ate my lunch (heated up cottage pie) while on a call with a colleague. The only excitement was a military helicoptor flying up the valley which I actually managed to get a picture of. A had woken up and come in for lunch and then just before I headed out to go to the bank and ekont she got started on cleaning out the lab which the workmen for the insulation will be using as a kitchen. Rather them than me as it needs a lot of cleaning. I've just realised, as I'm typing this, that this room is the last room left with original rubbish from when I first arrived. This is actually quite an emotional thing to think about - nearly two years to the day after I got here, and nearly on the year anniversary of our getting back together last year (and thus A's year anniversary of continual residence), we've finally removed the last rubble from the abandoned building.

The lintel is in place

The level to which the cement needs to come

Sally working away (Bekir round the corner)

A taking pictures of the puppies as they play

Rambo confined to his trailer

Window men back and fitting the new doorway

Sassy's nose, sniffing out at me

We went up to the centre of the village together and emptied out the buckets that A had filled from sweeping in the lab and then I left A sat there with the puppies waiting for the mobile shop while I dashed into town. When I got back I checked out the men's progress; Sally had put the lintel in place and secured it with cement and was now working away on the walls with Bekir to level them up. After this it was back to work and I was only disturbed by the window men coming back with the newly sized doorway for the balcony. A had finished up cleaning for the day and she got her camera and went out onto the back bank with the puppies to play with them and take pictures. Rambo, sadly, was confined to the trailer as the window people really aren't confident of him. They were working away well, though, getting the new window fitted. Sassy also made an appearance as she ran through one of the tunnels and into her little tent.

Pork fresh into the frying pan

Sunshine and clouds always makes for a nice view

New shortened door goes in

The gap from raising the door

It was worth racing back to get this picture

Weather sealed for the night

I stopped work and started writing this post, eventually and then chopped up the pork belly strips for our dinner which was going to be a joint effort involving spicy pork pasta. It got to time to take the men so I got myself ready and went out, only to find Bekir was still on the balcony chatting to the window people. He went to get changed and I dashed and got the camera so I could take a picture of the lovely sky from the balcony. I then went down and found they were all ready so we headed off and I dropped them back with on drama. The journey home was calm until I got close and realised that I was in danger of missing the sunset so I screeched up the hill and ran for the camera and then onto the roof terrace and I was just in time. While I had been out the window people had finished and they had sprayed loads of squirty foam in the gap under the door so we can stay in the room tonight. Tomorrow Bekir will be putting a concrete step there which will be tiled much later in the year. This is such a surprise completion as I really didn't think they'd do the door next week, let alone today.

So we've eaten our (superb) spicy pork pasta while listening to Status Quo and now it's time to go and relax for a bit before it starts again tomorrow. It's going to be an insanely busy weekend as well so Sunday's update may be quite long....