Disturbed nights, and a kitchen

No blog update for the past four days, what a long time it is since I've typed in this little blog update window. Our slightly busy end of the week ended up being so busy that doing an update on Friday was just impossible. Let's get on with it anyway.

Thursday

Wednesday night was a really badly disturbed night. The outside nightclub, which caused such anger last year, has started up again. I was asleep at 1.30pm when I was jolted awake by the sound of the DJ shouting down the microphone. There was no way I was getting back to sleep so I got up and emailed the local obshtina, and my solicitor, to make a complaint as it is illegal to play music that loud that late. I eventually got back to sleep at about 4.30pm when the music finally stopped. Not ideal.

Bekir working outside on the light fittings

Sassy stretched out while the sun is hidden

Clouds and blue sky, mixed

Sally painting the stairs

Second Sally swinging his scythe

There was no way I was getting up early after that and I was just waking up when A got back with the men. I gathered myself together and got to work, which was a struggle with so little sleep. The workmen are finally in the closing stages of the work downstairs. Bekir was fitting up the light fixtures along the corridor and in the small rooms there, and he set up outside to get the fittings assembled. It was a nice morning, though with some hefty clouds floating in, and Sassy was enjoying it not being too hot. Sally, having cleaned up and masked off the night before, was getting stuck in to painting the spiral staircase. Our extra worker, Second Sally, had also got stuck in and was swinging the scythe and making excellent progress.

Unloading lumber for the raised beds

Sally cleaning away plaster remnants

Careful masking to keep black paint off our walls

Top section of stairs painted and finished

Shoveling manure into the pots

One tree planted, three to go

There was a short trip out with Bekir for me to go to the shops and pick up a parcel from ekont and while we were out we had a call to say that the wood I've ordered for the rest of the raised beds had been delivered. We still had time to get some more chicken feed and when we got back we found the wood being unloaded and gave the driver a tour around the building; it's been a year or so since he has been here. After assisting with this unloading Sally went back to his painting and he's doing an excellent job of it, even though he wasn't very happy with our choice of black as a colour and we had a few good laughs about that. Bekir had assembled all the fitting and was putting them up and while he was doing that he found that one of the glass lamp shades has broken while in storage which is a pain. Lunch time came and A and I together planted out the japanese willows into the big pots we picked up the other day. Hopefully these will now thrive.

An excellent translation gaffe

A sat sweltering on the boat, but a beautiful view

Very tasty hot chocolate

A fisherman using a weighted net

A lovely dinner

On the water with his faithful friend

We had rearranged our meal with SandS until Friday so we could go out this evening to see Venko's band play a gig to celebrate the beginning of July. The gig was at the fish restaurant and so we went straight there after I got back from dropping the men and got ourselves some food. It was very hot sat up on the ship and we were glad for every breath of air that blew through. I was still very tired from my lack of sleep (and lack of nap through the day; I'd just not been able to get to sleep) so I was on hot chocolate which was very nice indeed. There was an amusing moment when I asked "where is my dinner?" only to be told that it was right there and we'd got confused and thought it was another side dish. The food was wonderful though and this restaurant goes back on the list, after a couple of disappointing visits. There was also quite a lot to see on the water, first of all someone fishing using a net and then a chap with his dogs bringing his boat back from a fishing trip.Every one in the restaurant had a nice smile at this sight.

We asked for a small beer and a big water.....

Venko and wife

Our table, at about midnight

Ivan and the other guitarist from Venko's band

A dancing during the night

Olden Beat just get going

As soon as we had finished eating we left our table and went down nearer the water into the shade and a cooler location. We found Venko had arrived and happily had a table with space for us so we joined them. Sat at the same table was a lovely English couple, the one was playing drums in the opening band, and it was really nice to meet them. We were surrounded by Bulgarians in the main though and it was a lovely evening indeed, with pretty good music and good company. Sadly it was also a very slow evening and by the time Venko's band got on stage it was nearly 2am and I was struggling. When they had a quite serious technical issue I decided not to wait and we just headed home, really pleased we'd been but genuinely gutted to miss Olden Beat. I was shattered though, and A had had a few beers and was also ready for sleeping.

Friday

Once again I didn't get up to do anything while A was collecting the men but once again I didn't really lie in that long and was up and about when they got back. I had been asked to work today but with the two nights sleep (or rather lack of) I decided against it.

Lovely splashback tiles starting to be fitted

The first railing ready to be fitted

More broken clouds

Cutting and snapping out a circle in a tile

Bekir laughing at me taking pictures

Having brought the men back A went back to bed herself and I got up to make a brew and get on with stuff around the house. First of all, however, is the progress made by Bekir and Sally. Bekir, having done all the electrical work he could, was now working on the splashback in the kitchen. Sally had brought one of the railings up to fit in the lounge but decided to wait until A was awake. He'd turned up with  a bad headache but after a pill he cheered up which was really good; he's too smiley to be seen looking unhappy. Some of the tiling that Bekir had to do was quite detailed, with all the plugs that run along by the worktop, and he was having to cut circled out to fit around each hole. It's great watching a skilled person work.

Lovely unit in its final home

Sally working on the buttresses for the railing

Tunnel web spider in the garage

Second Sally swinging away

Munching insect

So anyway when I got up I drank my brew and then decided that I would start to clear the dark wood bureau that we wanted downstairs. Bekir had informed us that he would be having next week off, for Bayram and then he has guests, which meant we were keen to get into the kitchen now. I polished the wood and then had a hand carrying it downstairs and, after some fiddling, got it screwed back together and in place. Sally, meanwhile, was working on the next of the railings, putting some buttresses in to improve its stability, and as I say looking a little happier. Second Sally was still out in the front garden scything away and making a great deal of progress. There was some washing to be hung out which I did and while I was doing so I saw an interesting looking insect on one of the trees. Bekir said it wasn't a good one to leave so after some pictures he knocked it off.

Careful to get it absolutely vertical

A huge wall of dark cloud

Hladilnik in the kitchen

Two bookshelves that I made

Second railing being fitted

Second Sally getting some weeding done

Insect with huge horns

A woke up after her nap and Sally was able to get into the lounge and start fitting the railings and they look great; the buttresses are working to make them stable enough as well which is very good news. The weather had remained as it has been for the past few days, hot and muggy with lots of threatening storm clouds, but we had no rain all day again. A cleaned out the fridge in Room 13 and when it was ready I carried it down with Bekir and we set it in the kitchen. I'd ordered a couple of book shelves online the day before and had received a phone call to say that it would take 20 days to arrive however that proved wrong as they arrived Friday morning. I spent the afternoon setting them up and getting friendly abuse from Sally for being a "master" in my own right. Towards the end of the day Sally was up in the lounge trying to get the second railing in place and having some trouble with some of the bolts while Second Sally had finished the scything and moved into the orchard and weeded around every tree. The insect life around here has been picking up recently and I saw the first of these impressively horned insects, sat on the balcony wall.

I encouraged Sally to not worry too much about his struggles with the second railing and took them home then it was a rush to get over to SandS and I didn't even pick my camera up so there are no pictures at all. It was a lovely evening, the flooring that S has put down is amazing and their entire home is lovely; inspiring indeed. Food was very tasty and we ate it sat on their balcony. We didn't stay for long after eating as S was yawning and so was I and it was pretty much straight to bed when we got back.

Saturday

Unfortunately once again that night club kicked off late but this time it woke both me and A up. I got up again to email the obshtina again, this time in Bulgarian, and then we did manage to get back to sleep again relatively quickly. Still, I'd rather be without any disturbance from an illegal music event.

Big bee climbing up the seedling tins

Big, but not aggressive

Hazy view of the train in the valley

Barely a dribble watering in the orchard

It was a nice enough start to the day, however, to sit out on the balcony and I open this day with another insect, a very large bee that was flying around. It paid me no attention at all. We thought we heard the steam train going along the valley while we were having our brew but it was just the normal train, hard to make out in the hazy light. After this we had to try and do some watering and once again we are struggling with the pressure. It took about 1.5 hours for me to water the orchard and A, who was doing the garden at the same time, took slightly longer. When you consider it is only a 15 minute job when the pressure is correct you can see just what an impact this has on our lives.

A getting very happy as she tidies up the kitchen

Another chest of drawers made up

Thelma considering the stairs

We were both feeling better for our not-that-disturbed sleep and after our watering round we got stuck in to our tasks for the day. A was down in the kitchen putting everything away now we are finally moving downstairs for good. I was going to make some raised beds but realised that doing such heavy duty work really wasn't what I wanted to do so instead I put up the other chest of drawers. I played the CD that CJC had bought me on Islay again and both of us enjoyed it. There was some amusement, and finally a panic, with Thelma as she couldn't work out what had happened to the spiral stair case and kept trying to go up and down it. This was ended when she snuck past us and climbed right to the top then got stuck and A had do rush up and grab her before she fell. I think this scared us more than her but I've now put some loose boxes on the bottom rung that she will knock over if she tries again.

Raining, but not here

A heavy rain shower heads our way, then misses us

We had quite a storm during the day which went on for several hours. It was banging and crashing with some pretty continuous thunder and, just after I took the daily photograph, a rain shower however even though it got very threatening, and it was certainly all around us, we managed to avoid all of the rain other than that small drizzle. It's so strange and very frustrating with our weak water pressure; a good solid downpour would be very good for our plants. It was an impressive show anyway and there was a lot of forked lightning over the hills all around but of course I didn't get any pictures as my reflexes aren't good enough, even for the multiple forks that we saw.

A looking very pleased in the nicely tidied working kitchen

How that room looked when I first ever saw it

Display cabinet all set up with stuff in it

Spuds boiling on the new cooker

Chicken, sausages, spuds and grilled veg. Gorgeous

The lane is put back to rights

We weren't that bothered by the weather though as we were working away inside in the kitchen getting everything in place. We had more stuff to be brought down from Room 13 and so I was doing relays while A was stashing everything in random cupboards and drawers so we'll not find anything ever again. With the room finished I took a wide angle shot and then remembered taking one on the first ever viewing trip of the Old School, back in March 2013, and so I've found the picture and wow, what a difference! So with a kitchen in place, and the storm still rumbling, we declined a BBQ and decided to use the new cooker (with jets fitted, sent by Chaz and Ivan so kindly) and it was a good choice as our meal was outstanding and it's so exciting to use the kitchen. All during the day the new neighbour has been working away with a bagga machine digging a huge trench all the way across the lane however by the end of the day all the pipes were in and the lane was once again usable.

Distant clouds lit by the setting sun

It always gets glorious here; look at that!

Crepuscular rays shooting in all directions

Dark clouds highlighted with orange

After eating we did what watering we could with the minuscule trickle of water and then retired onto the balcony to enjoy what had turned into a very lovely evening. We both read, sipping a beer, and watching as the usual stunning show was put on by the descending sun. Once it went down we went inside and read while drinking our brews and then it was off to bed and to hope to not have a disturbed night.

Sunday

Sadly once again the nightclub kicked off and even though we were able to drop off when it first began at about 11 I was up at just after midnight and again emailing the obshtina to complain. I didn't go back to the bedroom but went into the guest room and actually got straight to sleep and slept right through so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

What we woke up to this morning

Sunny selfie with a brew outside the kitchen door

Puppies on the window sill

A very messy Room 13 ready for tidying

It was a glorious start to the day, misty in the valley after the downpour of the day before, but hot hot hot at our place. We made ourselves a brew and for the first time took it outside the kitchen door and sat on deck chairs in that particular sun trap. We didn't stay our long, though, as it was very hot and when we got inside we were laughing at Thelma and Louise chasing the birds outside the picture window, standing on the window sill to do so. And so our day began properly with A heading to the shops as she hadn't managed to get out all week while I stopped back to tidy. We've managed, we hope, to arrange for an electrician to come next week to stay for the week and do all the electrical work to get Room 13 reconfigured into an office, and also tidy up the twin room so when Bekir and Sally come back they can get these rooms finished. I only really did this while A was gone and had just sat down to do the electrical diagram for the sparky when she got back.

Kindle, tasty butties and a beer for lunch

Room 13 emptied ready for the sparky

Our office for the next few weeks

A got back for lunch so we made some butties and I even had a beer with my lunch which I never do and we ate it sat on the balcony. After this we got stuck into the next step of our preparation which was to empty out the twin room to both allow access for the sparky, and so we could move our office in there for the next few weeks. It didn't take all that long and now we're set up nicely in the twin room, and Room 13 looks so tidy and clean after our efforts. I've spent all afternoon sat here typing away at this, at first very slowly but I'm glad to be through it. I've also been watching the Tour de France while I've been typing which has slowed me down. The BBQ is lit on the balcony and we're 8km from the end of the stage and the burgers will soon be sizzling.

You'll have to read about the BBQ, and the rest of the evening, on Tuesday though; I'm done for the day.