So unseasonably hot

I am sat here at the end of my working day on Tuesday sweating away; the temperature inside at my desk is 26 degrees but outside it is up above 30 degrees and that is in the shade! The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms tomorrow and I for one will not be sorry if it is a bit like that. The only thing is the impact on our workers. Oh well.

Monday

You all know about my Monday morning as I was typing away doing the delayed update from the weekend. It was a working day for me so I fit this typing in around doing my paid job and handing over to my colleague who had been away for a week. This meant my day was pretty rubbish and I was not that happy to go back to working after such a lovely weekend but hey, all this has to be paid for somehow.

Fixing up the fiddly bits

Skimming begins once again

The chimney, including cement cap

Cleaning access panels for both chimneys

As I was so focused on working I didn't get out to take many pictures through the day. The first time I went was about 9.30 so quite a long time after work had started. First of all I went to see the insulation progress and saw that they had begun putting the first skim and mesh on the final part of the wall. Ahead of this work there was one workman on the top level of the scaffold who was finishing the fiddly bits around the roof. Down in the kitchen Bekir and Okhtay were working away, we had no Sally as he had chores to complete, but I just got pictures of the state of the chimney for the fireplace at the end of the previous day. It looks so good.

Best of buddies

Another wall skimmed

Grunt-meister

Bekir running more cables

A display of flags

Very pink walls in the nook and dining room

The next time I got away from my desk was at coffee time for the men. I went wondering around a bit and caught a lovely shot of Louise and Rambo sat together with his new toy. He wasn't even growling at her for being so close to it; it must be love. The insulation men had cracked on well and completed the skim on the next big section of wall and were cracking on with the next. Inside Okhtay was stoof on a table applying grunt to the walls so Sally could make a start on putting the plaster on. Bekir was running the cables for the remaining lights and sockets and is really very close to completing this, after being distracted by the fireplace. It came to 2pm and I went out to get my daily photograph and while I was there I saw that the flags have all come out and are looking amazing. The final picture for progress for today is of all the grunt that Okhtay painted on the walls; excellent work. The only other occurrence of note was Ivan ringing the council to see if they have a asbestos removal team. They sent round some environmental officers almost immediately who confirmed that the roof on the green building is asbestos but that they wouldn't do anything about it. Standard.

Putting cabbage leaves into the steamer

Making little parcels of rice and stacking them in the pot

After roasting in the oven for an hour

Left to cool, looking great

A plate full of awesome

The sun sets on a lovely evening

I finished work and took the men home with no dramas and when I got back I found A hard at work in the kitchen. We've discussed for quite a while that we want to have more traditional Bulgarian food in our diet and one thing we eat a lot of next door is little packets made of either cabbage or vine leaves, stuffed with rice and sometimes mince. Today she decided this is what she wanted to do and so, making use of the lovely earthenware pot bought at Perperikon, this is what she did. She also prepared some absolutely stunning white fish (we're not sure what exactly it was, but whatever it was was very lovely) and also hard boiled eggs and salad and coleslaw. It was absolutely superb. After doing the watering round it was time to relax and then head to bed again nice and early. I wasn't feeling all that physically tired as I'd done pretty much nothing in terms of exercise but I was mentally tired. I fell asleep quite quickly.

Tuesday

My early night unfortunately translated into a not very good nights sleep. I woke at 2am and that was it until about 4.30 when A got up to sort out the puppies and I almost immediately fell asleep. I woke with the alarm and we snoozed it three times before finally dragging ourselves out of bed. I was only doing a half day today as we had plans for the day.

It was a cloudy start to the day

Bekir covers over his wooden block

Asen starting to mesh the balcony wall

The first of many poppies

A ready to get out for the day

When I did finally get up we went onto the balcony to drink our brews and then A had to leg it to get the men as it was quite late, due to our lie in. I had a few chores to do like emptying the humanure and I'd barely sat down when she got back, minus Okhtay. It turns out he has got a job in Sofia and won't be coming back; very sudden but that is how it is here. Good luck to him. I was trying to work but finding it very frustrating as there were lots of problems so I headed round to see Bekir and Sally and welcome them. Bekir then went out to the back door and spent a bit of time cutting out and fixing a lump of wood to attach the light fitting to when we get round to doing that; some good planning ahead there. By this time we were nearly ready to head off for our adventure and while we were waiting for our guests to be ready I snapped pictures of the progress as Asen started to put the mesh up on the balcony walls. A then pointed out that our first poppy has opened, the first of many just on this one hillock. The day had slightly warmed up but it was still cloudy however we dressed for a hot one as the forecast promised it to reach some high temperatures later on.

The auditorium is starting to deteriorate quite badly

Thelma sniffed,then rolled, then stank

John's super new hat

Such a beautiful view

An interesting looking fountain

So our first plan for the day was to head down to market in our local town, which happens every Tuesday. We parked up and spent a lovely 40 minutes or so strolling slowly around and picking a few things up, I got some more sandals just because I can't walk past without buying them, and John got a very excellent hat that he wore very proudly for the rest of the day.After this A took the wheel and we went across country towards The House. This time, unlike when we went with Chaz and Ivan, we weren't in as much of a rush so we stopped off a few times on the way to see sights, like the auditorium which is starting to deteriorate quite badly now sadly, and a few of the different view points we've found in previous trips. We also pulled into the town local to The house and strolled around there, stopping for a coffee and visiting a park. It was a lovely relaxing journey and after the coffee I took the wheel to drive the last 20 minutes of the way.

Some of the damage to The House

The back wall is falling down

John, Magda and I strolling

View from outside our favourite restaurant; first outside eat of the year

After our previous visit I was a bit worried that it would have been fenced off however, other than the padlock being back on, it was no different. We had a lovely wander around and looked in the windows and explored the land and I stood for a while and listened to the only sounds I could hear; the wind in the trees. Since our last visit the trees have leaves and blossom and the land is blooming and I was once again reinforced in my determination to end up owning this section of land. We didn't stay long, we had to get back for lunch and then I had work to do in the afternoon, but we spent enough time to really relax. I drove us home and it always takes longer than expected when you go the smoother road so we stopped off at our favourite restaurant for lunch which was very nice indeed. By this time the wind was really starting to whip up and it felt like the storm planned for tomorrow was going to hit us earlier than expected. We paid up and headed for the Old School.

The nearly finished fireplace

Lots of wires in the kitchen

Back wall nearly ready for drask

The father grinning as he watches my reaction

The rest of the team working on the garage wall

At this point the wind was high and the storm felt close

The sun descends below cloud level

A lovely colour display; it would have been amazing from the roof terrace

When we got back I was straight to my desk to pick up whatever had happened during the day. This was quite a lot however I did go to check out what Bekir and Sally had done and was so impressed by the look of the chimney and fireplace now Sally has rendered it! Wow. Bekir has been running cables all day and is very close to finishing this mammoth task. Tomorrow he is going to be putting the consumer unit in and my electrician friends will be pleased to hear he's certainly taken my earthing requirements on board. I noticed that the door to the roof was open so popped up t check out up there and found the father working away insulating that end wall. He grinned as I took a picture and explained how excited I was. The men were continuing to work even though the temperature was up around 30 degrees and it was really humid. I finished work and started this update then just before taking the men I had a lovely cold shower which made me feel a whole lot better. It was a simple journey and when I got back a beer was immediately opened and I started cooking Spicy Pork Pasta for everyone. We have just finished eating this on the balcony as the stormy winds of the afternoon finally calmed down, and so I'm writing this last paragraph before going back through and enjoying the rest of the evening.

We have one more full day with our guests then they head off; it's been so lovely having them here and they seem to have really enjoyed themselves so it's been good all round. Maybe tomorrow they can see a huge thunderstorm and witness that side of our weather patterns as well; we shall see.