Unreliable Utilities

I began typing this up into a word document rather than straight into blogger as our utilities have become suddenly unreliable. It is Sunday afternoon and we have currently got no water and have had no internet either all day. I have rung the provider and I think a technician is coming out tomorrow but there’s no guarantee that will result in a fix [[EDIT - The internet returneth! woot]]. Our water has been unreliable for days and we’ve only been getting a little supply during the morning; not ideal with the weather now hot and topping out at 35 degrees or so. Oh well.

Missed from the last update

So I published the last update on Thursday and it was only later that A realised I’d not taken the pictures she took when she was at the garage with Thomas on Wednesday. There are some lovely photographs that are worth sharing so here you go.

Thomas being looked after by Lyubo the mechanic

A dragon fly down by the river

A bed of roses

Bee inbound to an already occupied flower

Another bee, this time with daisies

This flower is waiting for its bee with a huge load of pollen

On Wednesday morning, after only a brief bite to eat and brew, A was straight back out the door to take Thomas in for his service. He was having new shoes put on the back, his fronts swapped over and some brake issues looked at. While there A took a turn down the river near the garage and she took some pretty awesome photographs including a series of a bee flying in to land on a flower; this country never ceases to amaze with its wildlife. The cost was not great either considering all the work that was done and every since he has driven like a new car which is great.

Friday

And so we get back to the normal routine of the blog, back into synch as it were. Friday was the day my parents were going home after a wonderful visit however our plans of spending the entire day being tourists in Plovdiv were dashed by the forecast, accurate for one, of 40 degree heat which would make going around Roman sites quite unpleasant.

A with her helpers planting out peppers

A very happy table of breakfasters

Boxes of kitchen stuff unpacked

Our new candle table centrepiece

Household rubbish burnt

Gardening with a JCB

In the end we had a really lovely relaxing day and it was for the best we didn't rush out trying to squash stuff in on the day. It was a hot one, even here, and A was out early planting out some of the peppers from our seeds on the balcony. I cooked up some Posh Scrambled Eggs for breakfast which we ate sat on the balcony and then I did the humanure and a few other bits that I'd forgotten about doing really early in the day. While I was at that, and then resting a bit, A got out all the boxes of stuff for the kitchen and with my parents' help this was all stacked up in the kitchen waiting to be put away. This included the really nice centerpiece for the dining table we'd bought the night before at the restaurant. I did a burn and watched it for a while, beating out some small fires started by embers in the long dry grass, then watched as the new neighbour had his garden dug out, trees and all, by a big digger.

Much needed refreshment

It was very hot, but they are still happy

Puppies sleeping in their bed, kinda

Smiling Louise

Smiling Thelma

A's meatball tagliatelle

My pizza

Antonov cargo plane

Farewell to the parents

Chaz giving Thelma a cuddle

Soon enough it was time for us to get in the car and head off, via ekont to pick up a present for Chaz and Ivan, and off to the airport with the parents. We arrived in plenty of time after an easy drive over and visited the garden centre there where we picked up four more olive trees, and discussed the options for getting more silver birches. From there we found a really lovely restaurant attached to a posh hotel and had a lovely meal sat out of the sun, melting as it was about 36 degrees in the shade, and drinking fresh orange juice and ice water. It was a brilliant way to spend the last hour or two of my parents' holiday and the girls were also on best behaviour, off their leads but staying in their bed happily. A had a very nice tagliatelle dish while my dad and I both got pizzas which was superb. My mum's chicken with cheese also went down well and by the time it was all gone it was time to go and drop them off. As we arrived at Plovdiv there was the site of a huge Antonov cargo jet on the hardstanding which both my dad and I went to get a photograph of and then it was kisses, hugs, a photograph and waving them goodbye as we headed on to our next destination. It wasn't a difficult drive from there to Chaz and Ivan's and when we arrived I changed and had an evening swim which was lovely. They had another visitor, a new addition to their visit who was very friendly, fed us a very tasty spaghetti bollognaise even though we'd told them we had already eaten, and it was much later than expected when we finally got to our beds.

Saturday

The reason for the visit to Chaz and Ivan again after only being there last weekend was to see the new accountant and we had arranged to go over relatively early in the morning on Saturday. It was another hot night and once again I had to open the window during the night and we got munched (I killed a huge mosquito in the bathroom in the morning but it was too late by then) and A's foot swelled up really badly by the time we got home.

Jumping into the pool after breakfast

Underwater length being swum

Frank and Mildred recline by the pool

My visit to the accountants started later and took a bit longer than planned and by the time I got back I was starving and so was everyone else so the large full English that Chaz prepared was put away in record time. We wanted to get home before all of our plants died in the heat so didn't hang around long but I did get time after breakfast to change into my swimming costume and swim a few lenghts. We could also now see our gift to Chaz and Ivan much better than in the dark the night before and they are chuffed with them and are at pride of place by the pool.

Cut down walnut and new cutting

A new road has appeared

Another attempt at an olive grove

The drive home was easy enough though I did swap driving with A half way so I could have a nap as my eyes were drooping, but as we pulled up at home we had a shock as a load of the overhanging branches from one of our walnut trees, laden with fruit, had been cut off and were on the floor, along with a newly cut through road up the side of our land, encroaching onto The Little Lady's property and indeed her fence and gate was no more. I was a bit upset by this and there were a few raised words however they seemed OK with what had happened and our new neighbour, who finally introduced himself, understood I was mainly upset that they had just gone ahead and done it without asking our permission. It was still hot but I went out with the scythe and cut down the grass around the raised beds for the olive trees and then planted two of our new ones to replace the totally dead ones from last year. Peace was made with our new neighbour as well which is always a relief and he said he'd only be around a month of the year anyway; we shall see.

Playtime for the puppies

Late evening sun shining through the haze

The sun descends to the horizon

Add caption

The rest of the day was spent on the balcony relaxing and steadfastly doing no work. Dinner was home made burgers with chips and beans and was superb sat at the dining table outside. The temperature was still high but there was a hazy cloud that hung around most of the afternoon taking a lot of the edge off the heat and we stayed outside until it was quite dark, reading and enjoying the peace and quiet. The sun went down not in a blaze of glory but in a strangely muted way through the haze but then after it was gone suddenly the wispy clouds around the moon were highlighted in pink and orange. We went to bed with the fan going as it was warm in the bedroom and our duvet has been relegated to a heap at the bottom of the bed for the girls to sleep on until we have fallen asleep and they can get into bed with us without being told off.

Sunday

Ahhh Sunday, normally a half-busy day for us but today not busy at all. We have done roughly nothing all day but relax, chill, read, sunbathe, sleep and relax some more. Oh, and we did some shopping but that was actually relatively pain free.

One of many runs with the dumper truck

Clouded over but still very warm

A beard that caught the sun

I spent almost the whole afternoon on the balcony, after the shopping trip, reading my book in the sun and watching as the dump truck from next door made its way across the top bank and emptied its loads on the paddock over the back. They have done a massive amount of work out there and reshaped the Little Lady's garden as well as their own, and I can only hope that everyone is OK with the changes. The same cloudy/hazy weather as yesterday has predominated today, though we did have some direct sun when I was outside earlier, and I'm now quite red and looking forward to it going brown over night. Other than that we've done nothing today and now our dinner is very nearly ready which we will eat again sat on the balcony.

Tomorrow the men are back, I'm to work, we've got electrical problems to solve (the breaker which the downstairs pump is on broke again on Thursday night so now I'm sure there is a fault with the pump) and I'm sure this superbly relaxing day will melt into a mere memory very quickly indeed.