The heat, the drums

I'm sat here in Room 13 and it is so warm. Last night it was 29 degrees when we got back from our meal out, at 9.30 and this morning at about 8 it was already 30 degrees. It is currently 31 degrees inside (I just checked the thermometer on my desk) and very muggy. The forecast has storms and I just got back from town where it was 37 degrees and raining, so maybe they're correct. Whatever, it's been very warm indeed the past few days.

Wednesday

The past two days have, as well as being very hot, been very much working days for both A and I. As such, as per usual, there aren't oodles of pictures to go through and hopefully also there won't be many words.

Louise loves getting her ears rubbed

The final digging is completed for now

Plastic, sand and lining stones in place

We started our day on Wednesday on the balcony with our brews and the puppies enjoying it with us. Louise does love having her ears rubbed and she was the picture of contentment here. While A was out I went into the garden and got on with the pathway, digging very cautiously as I'd been warned about a water pipe in the next few metres. I didn't discover anything and by the time A got back I was already laying down the next sections of plastic and covering them with sand. My plan is to get this path to the edge of the patio and then move onto another couple of tasks that are more urgent rather than this purely prettyfication.

Putting a cap on the overflow pipe

Welded up pump

Making sure the wall is level

Louise and her belly being rubbed

Bekir and Sally arrived as usual and got stuck in with their tasks. Sally was working on finishing up preparation on the platform for the wood store and water storage tank. He has put in the pipework for the overflow from our storage tank and was just putting a cap on it to prevent anything going down it while it goes nowhere. Inside I remembered to take a picture of the welding on the pump and Bekir was once again flying away on the tiling, having made a very good start of the wall with the door in it. I don't want to give the impression that we never cuddle or fuss Thelma because that would be far from the truth however once again I have a photograph of a massively happy Louise getting her belly rubbed.

Final touches on the concrete platform

Stones revealed once again

All these weeds came from those stones

Sally attaches fencing

The final part of the new concrete platform was to put down the plastic, cover with metal reinforcing, and secure it all together. I'd dashed out early with Bekir to pick up the metal for Sally and this was a notable trip as Thelma chased after us and came along with, which is normally something that only Louise does. I also had to go to town to try and pay the tax for the filing, and get my own pay, but this turned into a bit of a drama as I got to the bank to find my ID card was not in my wallet. After a lot of panicking I remembered I'd had it in the phone shop and when I went down there they handed it to me as soon as I walked in. Relief. Sally impressed me once more by just getting on with things intelligently; he finished the preparation for the concrete and just got on with weeding the stones that will also have concrete poured on them by the washing line. Awesome. I didn't even have to ask him and this was the next task I had in mind for him. I returned with my ID card to find him just finishing the weeding and so he also got asked to attach the wind proof fencing in the garden. He's just getting so much done, and seems to be enjoying it as well.

Getting hot and bothered while processing plums

Masking off the letters

Final tiles go onto this wall

My task between the end of my working day and taking the men was to get started processing the bucket of plums that we had collected and I actually got quite a lot done in the hour and a half or so that I was working on them. It was hot work with the sun beating in on my neck through the window, and sticky, but it needed doing as there were already quite a few that were going off. I'd given Sally another job and this one would probably take him a little longer; the school sign which Ivan had started to renovate had sadly sat outside since without any progress so I helped him to carry it inside and told him to not rush, to just get what he could done and to be careful. He smiled and got on with it straight away. Bekir had, during the afternoon, near enough finished the wall with the door on it and when I came to take them home they were both pretty happy.

Looking up the river from the restaurant

Lots of different dishes to choose from

Dipping in to the mozzarella with tomatoes

The healthy option. Honest

A dramatic divided sky

The journey back with them was remarkable if only because no one attempted to kill us by stupid driving and when I got back I jumped in the shower and then we headed out for our dinner at our favourite restaurant. It was lovely to sit outside looking over the river and watching the sun go down. We had a very nice selection of food and were doing very well for a diet until I ordered mushrooms with cheese. Our friendly waiter saw us and came over and we had a chat entirely in Bulgarian which was very cool. Also as we were about to leave we saw our mechanic and his family come in to have a meal so we went and said hello on our way out. The sky was a picture as we drove up the hill towards home so I stopped to get a picture in case it went away before we got back. We did our watering round before it got dark and it was basically time to go straight to bed after that.

Thursday

I was disturbed twice by Sassy banging and a few times by some high winds that blew things around on the balcony but on the whole it was a better night for both of us, though A was up at 5am and snuck off not disturbing me.

She's not as grumpy as she looks

When I woke up at about 6.15 I went to find her and had a brew then we both went outside to take advantage of the early start and the cooler weather to get some chores done. A was planting out some more tomatoes while I was starting to shift pebbles into the path to finish off the first stretch. We got so far and then suddenly Louise took another sneezing fit and while I was holding her I noticed blood from her nose on my arm and so we piled into Thomas and rushed to the vet. I rang Bekir who said he'd try and get a lift over so as to not be delayed starting and bless him he did manage to do this. After waiting outside the vets for about 45 minutes or so he opened up (it was quite early) and had a look and this time Louise once again sneezed and sneezed in his presence. He said it looked like an allergy and gave her an injection in her bottom which made her scream, then one in the back of her neck and then took her temperature which was normal. He has given us a course of tablets for her to take over the next 9 days however through today she had continued to sneeze on and off; if this continues tomorrow then I'll be taking her back I think.

Sally with the school sign

Every other letter is done

Sally grinning widely

Yellow tomatoes replace the early spuds

The final stage is done on the first part of the path

When we got back we found Sally happily working away in the tool room with the sign, masking off the letters carefully and accurately and then painting the white paint into the shapes. He really does seem to be loving this job and even said it was like playing for him. After having so much work outside in this heat it's great that we've got this job for him to do inside in the cool that he loves. A and I had some breakfast and then went outside to finish off the tasks we had set ourselves for the morning. We now have some yellow tomatoes growing in the early spud bed and the path has a load of the stones spread on it and they look great and aren't even that painful to walk on bare foot. Just after finishing this the Little Lady and Usmivka came over to collect from the tea trees and we gave them a tour of the progress.

My new trees, and a bargain they were

Storm? What storm?!

Bekir admiring the last wall to be tiled

All the letters done

Other than working I headed into town to get some stuff for Sally, buy some milk and beer and bread for us, and go to the bank. I had full success, though I accidentally bought four more Japanese Willows as they were 80% off and only 2 lev each and then it started to rain really heavily as I drove to the bank so I got soaked. The rain eased as I drove home and there was no sign of it anywhere at the old school. I thought it was coming our way but soon enough the normal thing happened and all the clouds just disappeared leaving a bright sunlit blue skied day. Bekir had made loads of progress today and he is finished with the tiling, other than around the windows inside. He will probably start grouting tomorrow. Sally for his part had finished all the letters on the sign and tomorrow will start painting the black background. I thought this would take him at least a week! I spent the time between finishing work and taking them home in chopping up the rest of the plums and got them all finished. Now we'll have to harvest more. The journey home, via the petrol station and another long chat with the friendly cashier all in Bulgarian (I must be getting more competent) was uneventful until near home on the way back when an idiot Romanian almost killed me and a car coming the other way so that makes it a full house for this week; a Greek, a Bulgarian and now a Romanian.

A bright searchlight from the sun

Distant rays of light through the clouds

And so I got back, finished most of this update before we ate our dinner of pasta bollognaise downstairs in the dining room. Louise has continued her sneezing on and off during the day and I think we'll have to take her back tomorrow at some point as the pills and injection were supposed to stop this. Right now A is outside attempting to water with the really limited supply - no free water and the ViK is almost nonexistent as well, and she called me to go to get a picture of the sun shining through the now gathering clouds. A perfect sight and a wonderful way to end the blog.

See you all on Sunday, maybe after we've had some storms.