What a day, it's really late as I start typing this so I'm going to try and be brief but you know what I'm like; I'll probably still be typing tomorrow. Onwards without delay.
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| Super tasty pork dinner |
So now I try and remember last night and I look at my pictures and find that we had pork with onions, marrow slices and potatoes and I remember just how gorgeous it tasted. Once again, and as our habit is going to be for dinners, we ate at the table and watched a very disappointing sunset.
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| Don't even THINK about taking this bone off me |
The girls got to chew on the bones from our pork, one each, and Rambo got two. He ate them so fast that when A went out to check on the neighbour who had come over to get some blossom from our tea trees he had completely devoured one by the time she came back in. The girls loved their bones also and spent the whole evening gnawing on them until very little was left. The night was undisturbed in the large part however A was up at 5.30 with a sore tummy and I slept in til quite a bit later when I woke to find myself alone. I got up and went looking for her and eventually found her out with the chickens; at least it wasn't that she had left me, huh.
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| First ever mains electrical work |
I was in slave driver mood this morning as I had a very definite list of things to achieve. The most important was to get the armoured cable that was taking power to the bedroom and re-route it in the way I had originally planned so that on Sunday I could try and get the distribution box installed and have safe power into the bedroom. We turned the electric off at the pole and, with some nerves I must admit, I went into the splitter box and separated out the cable we were moving. I didn't kill myself and we had the power back on within about twenty minutes so that was really good.
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| Breaking out the original wiring |
With this completed and as a proper workman we stopped for a brew before starting the next step which was to chip out and disconnect the wires taking power into the bedroom. This had actually been cemented into the wall and so we used a hammer and a chisel to carefully remove the mortar and free up the cables for untwisting.
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| Labelled the earth wires |
It turns out that the plug sockets have been wired in earthed which is great. I'm not very confident on this whole electrical thing and so I started off suggesting that we label everything. I wrote the labels but my writing was way too messy so A took over and we did the earth cables before noticing that the colours for the bedroom feed three core matched the colours in the armoured so we didn't bother labelling any of the other feeds.
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| Happy man with armoured disconnected |
After some graft and much sore knees from the awkward position I finally managed to extract the cable from the junction box and so we moved on to pulling it through and freeing it from the path that Bekir had put it. This didn't take long and we then fed it back down towards the junction box Steve put in so I can connect it all up tomorrow. Finally I fixed it in place for the first couple of metres in the roof going towards where the sub-junction box is going to be before stopping for breakfast.
A wasn't feeling that well sadly and so while I ate bacon and eggs she went to bed for a bit. I was sitting on the balcony, which is nice as I've not done that much, while she was in bed and able to talk to me when Thelma started barking at something down the side of the house. We just thought it was Rambo but then the Bulgarian phone started ringing and eventually we spoke to Bekir who had been ringing and realised that he was at the gate. He had dropped round, on his way to market with his son and friend, to come and talk about the work that we need doing. We explained the urgent tasks and he said he'd be over 6th July to start work. This is excellent as we need the bathroom and guest suite done for my parents' visit.
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| The cable reached the point we aimed for |
When he left we headed back into the attic (A was feeling better by now having finished off my bacon butty while I spoke to Bekir) and we completed the task of running the armoured cable over to the correct place for the distribution box. I now have the really hard part of this job to do which is actually putting the box together and then making sure it works and doesn't blow up. That is for tomorrow though.
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| Nearly over the edge |
There was time for a quick (cold) shower (we STILL have no reliable water and it is getting worse and not better unfortunately) before we headed out for our first gosti of the day. We have been wanting to go see A of S for a while and this weekend was the perfect opportunity so we got ourselves together and went to leave. I heard a strange noise as we were going and looked up and saw that the new chair A had bought for the roof terrace had been blown over and was almost over the edge. We ran upstairs and managed to save it; the wind had really got up by this time! After this excitement it was a pleasure to drive for a while as we took the long scenic route to our friends house and when we got there it was lovely to see her and to have a cup of coffee sat on her terrace. This is actually the person who's blog I first ever read about Bulgaria all those years ago.
We finished our brew and headed off to Isat's to pick up a new burning drum as our existing one is falling apart. He was eating his lunch when we got there so we waited a bit but this is no hardship here and you just learn the pleasure of not being in a rush. He came down from the cafe shortly and was happy to sell us the last drum he has for quite a cheap price. After shaking his hand and getting given his new card we were off home, via a friend's house who he had asked us to photograph to check on its state, and we got back very hungry and gasping for food.
I made us a pasta meal from the dried packets and then A headed into town to the shops and left me to do a few bits. I fed the girls and then took them outside for their toilet while I went on the swinging chair and almost dozed off. When I woke up I found the girls gone but they had only gone up the side of the chicken house towards the washing line so that was OK. Rather than go in I cleared out the wood from the trees which had come down in the snow and been cut up by the Special One and which was tangled in the weeds to either side of the gate. Next I headed inside and tried to get the pictures in the frames I had bought but found that some of them were not the right size and anyway all the dust around was getting everywhere and making them look rubbish. Finally I started on the other job I'd set myself which was to clear the non-computer stuff off of A's desk but after moving the speakers the whole dust and mess thing got to me and I sat down in a huff on a comfy chair, with the puppies on my lap, and read my book until A got home.
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| Cleaned and tidied |
I was feeling tired and lonely (I know, I've only just finished three months without her but it's funny how you can cope and then suddenly you can't) and when she got back she told me to go rest so I went to try and do this on the swinging chair but the wind was up and I just relaxed rather than sleeping. After a bit I gave up and went to bed and slept really soundly for an hour and I woke up feeling much more positive and happy. A had arranged a surprise for me this evening which was a BBQ with the neighbours coming over so when I woke up I got involved and tided and cleaned the landing and Room 13 so we would have somewhere to sit inside if the weather proved too bad.
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| Roof terrace ready for party |
We got the roof terrace ready with chairs and recliners and the parasol and the swinging chair and then the BBQs and then suddenly, before any food had even started to be cooked or even the BBQs lit, they were on their way over. I lit the BBQs very quickly but then the Special One came and took over and we split the two BBQs so he was doing the chicken and I was doing the burgers.
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| Superb kartofe |
They had been told that all the food would be provided by us however it is a measure of the people that they refused to turn up empty handed. The star of the show was these lovely potatoes that I wolfed and so did A. We also had some very lovely cooked meats and cheeses which went down well and when the burgers were finally ready they also were appreciated.
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| The girls chewing a bone with grandchildren in attendance |
For the past few we have forgotten to the give the girls the bone we got for them from the restaurant we went to with SandS and their friends. A had the brilliant idea of distracting them with it while we had the BBQ and so gave it to them and they spent about the next three hours chewing on it and reducing it steadily with their small teeth. The grandchildren of our neighbours were enthralled with the puppies as you would expect and barely left them alone. Fortunately Thelma and Louise are really good natured and put up with the fusses from particularly the little boy who just loved them.
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| Having a great time |
Usmivka and the Little Lady had not come over for the first part of the evening as it is Ramadan and they are fasting (which is something I am certain I would not be able to do - I barely survived from breakfast to lunch!) however we had a great time anyway and really enjoyed being on the roof terrace until the clouds came in again, the wind picked up,and we were chased downstairs onto the sofas I had moved onto the landing for that purpose.
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| Aftermath of a pretty good sunset |
After a lovely time sat there, talking about the pictures on the walls and the recording studio amongst other things, we noticed that it was nearly time for the fast for the day to finish so A went up to start the BBQ again for Usmivka and The Little Lady while I sat with our gosti. Eventually the Special One went up to take over the cooking again and after a while we headed back up there where I was just in time to catch the end of the sunset.
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| Ghostly Usmivka stood over the Little Lady |
I went down to control Rambo when they walked over and then we sat on the roof terrace in the gathering gloom while the meat was cooked on the BBQ. They were both quite quiet and tired having not eaten all day and were obviously looking forward to their dinner. I took a few super long exposure pictures, hand held camera of course, of the group which came out as you would expect and then it was time to go downstairs for them to eat. I put everything away from the terrace and joined everyone; A took the opportunity to give the gifts we had bought for the ladies and they loved them. Then, as soon as the final bite was eaten, it was home time and we hugged them goodbye, waved them off, and I came upstairs to start on this.
I'm going to sign this off quickly now as I have another long day tomorrow but first I want to say what a wonderful and lovely surprise it was for A to have arranged this evening for me. It is something I wanted to do all last year and never managed to and much as I am not a great socialiser I love that family and love sharing time with them. Anyway, bed time.
