Snow break and Grandma time

Well obviously I wasn't back the next day as that night it snowed and snowed and there was no way for the men to get over out of their village let alone up to ours. This means we have had an enforced two day break from the workmen and a lot of fun with the snow. There are lots of short videos this entry so enjoy.

Talking of videos let us start off with this awesome one of Thelma and Xena playing. Xena has really started to settle in, as you will see from a few of the following pictures as well.

Xena in the deep snow

A very beautiful early morning scene

Angela, Rosie and Grandma having fun in the snow

As I say we went to bed on Tuesday night with rain and woke up on Wednesday morning with a heavy blanket of snow. It was an impressive fall for having gone down on very wet ground and deep enough for a lot of fun. Xena almost got buried going out for her toilet and Angela and Grandma had a huge amount of fun sliding down the ramp on the bum-sleds. Sadly I was feeling at my worst on Wednesday and despite desperately wanting to go out and join them I really couldn't do it. Rosie has been loving Grandma being here so much and is spending every possible second with her, which is so amazing to see and really makes us happy that we were able to get everything to align for the visit. It snowed all day on Wednesday until about 11pm.

Angela and Rosie head off to school

A cold morning, but it warmed a lot

Late afternoon sun

Rosie just loves the snow

Rosie and Grandma work on Sammy

Big thumbs up from Rosie and Grandma

Big thumbs up from Daddy and Rosie

Yesterday was a much warmer day, though it didn't start out like that. Angela drove Rosie to school through the deep snow and icy roads and did so safely which gave her a day of peace, the first for weeks, and an opportunity to do a load of tidying and cleaning. Such a joy that this is top of the list of priorities but it was lovely when Rosie got home she was SO pleased with her room and playroom "Thank you so much mummy it's lovely!" I was still not well but determined to get outside with Rosie when she got home and so as soon as she was back we went out and first of all had a lot of fun sliding down the slope together. Grandma got involved again as well. With that done we made our way round to the back bank and started on another Sammy and this one was huge. I did two big rolls of snow and struggled to lift the second onto the first but managed with help from my mum. Rosie was very helpful and added lots of snow usefully to the gaps and weak spots and before long we had a respectable looking snowman. Great fun!

Sammy in the freezing morning fog

A really beautiful sunrise however

Thomas frozen solid

Making sure my feet don't overheat

And so to today and what a day it's been. It was very cold last night and when we woke there was a hint of fog, freezing fog. The fog cleared, however, and it was a stunning sunrise but still very cold when I went outside to start Thomas and scrape his windows. Of course I wore my Bulgarian Safety Footwear and my feet did not overheat so they worked perfectly. The car was so frosted that I struggled again to open the doors, though. By the time I came to get in the car and take Rosie to school it was fully defrosted so that was great. What was less great was how slippery the roads were. They were treacherous but it was a safe trip there and back.

Complex inside this safety switch

Halil doing some sanding

I'm happy to have this in place now

Grandma and Xena bonding

Wiring the final plugs

Varnishing the work top again

The men were back and the first thing they did was to fix a problem with the electrics to the guest suite, which had no power to the plugs (though the lights were OK) and they did that very quickly before heading down to the workshop to do most of the final tasks in there. First off was to fit the emergency cut off switch inline with all the electric on the central island and while Bekir was working on that Halil picked up some other jobs like sanding down the benches ready for another round of varnishing. Come lunch time and I took Xena down and finally she cuddled up to Grandma so it's taken four days for her to get comfortable with a new person. In the workshop Bekir finished the final wiring for the plugs and then hung a load of large hooks on the wall so I can tidy my ladders and straight edges safely away (no pictures of this, but I'll get some for monday) and finally did the next coats of varnish on everything.

Bekir checking the roof junction box

The main box contained the problem

And that's where I started to write this blog, and expected the day to be done. However our electrics again had a different opinion as this time not only the guest room plugs went but the entirety of the upstairs electrics. Not one of our RCDs had tripped and I could not work out what the problem was but a call to Bekir to say "please can you drop past tomorrow?" resulted in them driving straight over (how amazing is that!) and he found the problem in the main distribution box probably caused by heating and cooling as there was a loose connection. Not ideal, and it brings into focus how this final part of the renovation is more urgent than maybe anyone realised.

So there it is; an epic huge and long blog and much delayed and late because of this electricity problem but really you cannot argue with that help from Bekir and Halil. Just wonderful. Thanks for reading, back Monday.