So unseasonably hot

I am sat here at the end of my working day on Tuesday sweating away; the temperature inside at my desk is 26 degrees but outside it is up above 30 degrees and that is in the shade! The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms tomorrow and I for one will not be sorry if it is a bit like that. The only thing is the impact on our workers. Oh well.

Monday

You all know about my Monday morning as I was typing away doing the delayed update from the weekend. It was a working day for me so I fit this typing in around doing my paid job and handing over to my colleague who had been away for a week. This meant my day was pretty rubbish and I was not that happy to go back to working after such a lovely weekend but hey, all this has to be paid for somehow.

Fixing up the fiddly bits

Skimming begins once again

The chimney, including cement cap

Cleaning access panels for both chimneys

As I was so focused on working I didn't get out to take many pictures through the day. The first time I went was about 9.30 so quite a long time after work had started. First of all I went to see the insulation progress and saw that they had begun putting the first skim and mesh on the final part of the wall. Ahead of this work there was one workman on the top level of the scaffold who was finishing the fiddly bits around the roof. Down in the kitchen Bekir and Okhtay were working away, we had no Sally as he had chores to complete, but I just got pictures of the state of the chimney for the fireplace at the end of the previous day. It looks so good.

Best of buddies

Another wall skimmed

Grunt-meister

Bekir running more cables

A display of flags

Very pink walls in the nook and dining room

The next time I got away from my desk was at coffee time for the men. I went wondering around a bit and caught a lovely shot of Louise and Rambo sat together with his new toy. He wasn't even growling at her for being so close to it; it must be love. The insulation men had cracked on well and completed the skim on the next big section of wall and were cracking on with the next. Inside Okhtay was stoof on a table applying grunt to the walls so Sally could make a start on putting the plaster on. Bekir was running the cables for the remaining lights and sockets and is really very close to completing this, after being distracted by the fireplace. It came to 2pm and I went out to get my daily photograph and while I was there I saw that the flags have all come out and are looking amazing. The final picture for progress for today is of all the grunt that Okhtay painted on the walls; excellent work. The only other occurrence of note was Ivan ringing the council to see if they have a asbestos removal team. They sent round some environmental officers almost immediately who confirmed that the roof on the green building is asbestos but that they wouldn't do anything about it. Standard.

Putting cabbage leaves into the steamer

Making little parcels of rice and stacking them in the pot

After roasting in the oven for an hour

Left to cool, looking great

A plate full of awesome

The sun sets on a lovely evening

I finished work and took the men home with no dramas and when I got back I found A hard at work in the kitchen. We've discussed for quite a while that we want to have more traditional Bulgarian food in our diet and one thing we eat a lot of next door is little packets made of either cabbage or vine leaves, stuffed with rice and sometimes mince. Today she decided this is what she wanted to do and so, making use of the lovely earthenware pot bought at Perperikon, this is what she did. She also prepared some absolutely stunning white fish (we're not sure what exactly it was, but whatever it was was very lovely) and also hard boiled eggs and salad and coleslaw. It was absolutely superb. After doing the watering round it was time to relax and then head to bed again nice and early. I wasn't feeling all that physically tired as I'd done pretty much nothing in terms of exercise but I was mentally tired. I fell asleep quite quickly.

Tuesday

My early night unfortunately translated into a not very good nights sleep. I woke at 2am and that was it until about 4.30 when A got up to sort out the puppies and I almost immediately fell asleep. I woke with the alarm and we snoozed it three times before finally dragging ourselves out of bed. I was only doing a half day today as we had plans for the day.

It was a cloudy start to the day

Bekir covers over his wooden block

Asen starting to mesh the balcony wall

The first of many poppies

A ready to get out for the day

When I did finally get up we went onto the balcony to drink our brews and then A had to leg it to get the men as it was quite late, due to our lie in. I had a few chores to do like emptying the humanure and I'd barely sat down when she got back, minus Okhtay. It turns out he has got a job in Sofia and won't be coming back; very sudden but that is how it is here. Good luck to him. I was trying to work but finding it very frustrating as there were lots of problems so I headed round to see Bekir and Sally and welcome them. Bekir then went out to the back door and spent a bit of time cutting out and fixing a lump of wood to attach the light fitting to when we get round to doing that; some good planning ahead there. By this time we were nearly ready to head off for our adventure and while we were waiting for our guests to be ready I snapped pictures of the progress as Asen started to put the mesh up on the balcony walls. A then pointed out that our first poppy has opened, the first of many just on this one hillock. The day had slightly warmed up but it was still cloudy however we dressed for a hot one as the forecast promised it to reach some high temperatures later on.

The auditorium is starting to deteriorate quite badly

Thelma sniffed,then rolled, then stank

John's super new hat

Such a beautiful view

An interesting looking fountain

So our first plan for the day was to head down to market in our local town, which happens every Tuesday. We parked up and spent a lovely 40 minutes or so strolling slowly around and picking a few things up, I got some more sandals just because I can't walk past without buying them, and John got a very excellent hat that he wore very proudly for the rest of the day.After this A took the wheel and we went across country towards The House. This time, unlike when we went with Chaz and Ivan, we weren't in as much of a rush so we stopped off a few times on the way to see sights, like the auditorium which is starting to deteriorate quite badly now sadly, and a few of the different view points we've found in previous trips. We also pulled into the town local to The house and strolled around there, stopping for a coffee and visiting a park. It was a lovely relaxing journey and after the coffee I took the wheel to drive the last 20 minutes of the way.

Some of the damage to The House

The back wall is falling down

John, Magda and I strolling

View from outside our favourite restaurant; first outside eat of the year

After our previous visit I was a bit worried that it would have been fenced off however, other than the padlock being back on, it was no different. We had a lovely wander around and looked in the windows and explored the land and I stood for a while and listened to the only sounds I could hear; the wind in the trees. Since our last visit the trees have leaves and blossom and the land is blooming and I was once again reinforced in my determination to end up owning this section of land. We didn't stay long, we had to get back for lunch and then I had work to do in the afternoon, but we spent enough time to really relax. I drove us home and it always takes longer than expected when you go the smoother road so we stopped off at our favourite restaurant for lunch which was very nice indeed. By this time the wind was really starting to whip up and it felt like the storm planned for tomorrow was going to hit us earlier than expected. We paid up and headed for the Old School.

The nearly finished fireplace

Lots of wires in the kitchen

Back wall nearly ready for drask

The father grinning as he watches my reaction

The rest of the team working on the garage wall

At this point the wind was high and the storm felt close

The sun descends below cloud level

A lovely colour display; it would have been amazing from the roof terrace

When we got back I was straight to my desk to pick up whatever had happened during the day. This was quite a lot however I did go to check out what Bekir and Sally had done and was so impressed by the look of the chimney and fireplace now Sally has rendered it! Wow. Bekir has been running cables all day and is very close to finishing this mammoth task. Tomorrow he is going to be putting the consumer unit in and my electrician friends will be pleased to hear he's certainly taken my earthing requirements on board. I noticed that the door to the roof was open so popped up t check out up there and found the father working away insulating that end wall. He grinned as I took a picture and explained how excited I was. The men were continuing to work even though the temperature was up around 30 degrees and it was really humid. I finished work and started this update then just before taking the men I had a lovely cold shower which made me feel a whole lot better. It was a simple journey and when I got back a beer was immediately opened and I started cooking Spicy Pork Pasta for everyone. We have just finished eating this on the balcony as the stormy winds of the afternoon finally calmed down, and so I'm writing this last paragraph before going back through and enjoying the rest of the evening.

We have one more full day with our guests then they head off; it's been so lovely having them here and they seem to have really enjoyed themselves so it's been good all round. Maybe tomorrow they can see a huge thunderstorm and witness that side of our weather patterns as well; we shall see.

Full house

It is Sunday morning as I start typing this, trying to get ahead of the game as we have another busy day ahead. It's going to be a stonking long update so get your brew ready and I'll begin...

Friday

Friday was half a paid work day for me, and we also had quite a lot of stuff to do around the place. Fortunately our visitors were not arriving until Saturday so the pressure came off us slightly in our preparation for their arrival.

No filter, this is exactly as it was

Julian has a frosty roof

Looking the other direction to normal, mist in the valley

Thick dust on a glass shelf

It dawned cold, with frost, but a glorious day and stayed lovely all day with barely a cloud around. Julian was coated in frost, as was Thomas but this morning A had to scrape him herself as I didn't get down to help. I had decided to hoover in Sassy's Room as my task while A was collecting the men however I changed my mind and went into the lab and spent the time tidying up in there. It was still a really messy room with lots of stuff to be thrown away, even after A had done such a good job the day before clearing the floor. I was moving things that hadn't been moved since the last time there were pupils in the school and it was quite an awesome feeling at times to see such thick dust around bottles on a shelf. A lot of this stuff has been saved and will eventually be displayed in a little museum however I was quite ruthless throwing less interesting or well preserved stuff away. We ended up with five boxes full or rubbish to be put into the village bin.

The shower enclosure has arrived

Doorway to be finished

Sally in the bathroom

Smoothly polished walls

Bekir doing the doorway

Finishing off around the window

A hadn't been shopping on Thursday as she wasn't feeling well but she headed out Friday morning to get some bits and pieces for the next week. Very shortly after she left a van arrived with the shower enclosure that we had ordered. Bekir helped unload it while I paid the man. They were on good form as usual and were getting on with the task in hand which was still to cement up the bathroom walls to make them straight. Because it is a small space they split up and left Sally doing this, polishing and finishing the walls, while Bekir worked on the doorway from the kitchen. All of this is hard to photograph as it's very dark in there but I hope you can see what a good job Sally is doing.

Washing hung out to dry

Bekir and Sally taking down the temporary wood store

And it's gone, for now

Doors hung into Sassy's room

I'd put the washing on while A was out and it finished just as she got back. It was a super drying day and almost blew off the line it was so gusty. A set a burn done of our plastic waste when she got back and did a bit more tidying in the lab but she was pretty exhausted from being out shopping. I was working all morning until midday so nothing else exciting happened for me. I'd talking to Sally about the wood store needing to come down and so when they finished their lunch this is what they focused on doing. It didn't take long and they stored all the materials carefully so they can be reused when we rebuild it after the insulation is done. Bekir also spent some time getting the double doors into Sassy's room hung so the workmen who would be sleeping in there would be warm and private. In the afternoon A and I went shopping for bits and pieces for the bathroom, like lights and an actual shower and we had quite a successful trip. Our first attempt at picking a shower, at the usual hardware shop, failed because the shower we picked was an old unit and there was a problem with it. They offered it to us at a discount but we declined and then managed to find a really lovely one in the next shop we went to. We came back laden, and poorer, but happy.

A watering in the raised beds, still under glass

The moon was out as I left to take the men

The sun goes down, above the men's village

Massed clouds over the Greek mountains

River in the valley

Party time at the BBQ pit

I had developed a headache while shopping so when we got back I went to bed. I wasn't sure if Bekir was going to be cementing up below the balcony door in the bedroom so I slept in the guest room and while I didn't really sleep deeply when I got up I felt a whole lot better. This had left A to do all the chores including the chickens and the watering but bless her she just got on with it. I was OK to take the men home so I got to get some lovely pictures of the sun setting over their village, the Greek mountains with some huge clouds piled up on the other side, the beautiful river winding through the valley below and finally of some of the villagers who were up at the BBQ area on the ridge with a harmonium and a drum kit dancing around and whooping up a ball.

Saturday

What is normally a quiet day of work for the two of us was this week completely different, and in a totally amazing way.

The fog didn't last long

A much cleaner Sassy's Room

The laboratory is finally clean and tidy

The narrow bridge in a hazy valley

We were up relatively early, but with no alarm which is the best way to get up early, and got on with cleaning and tidying ready for our arrivals. It was looking to be another beautiful day which was good as there was going to be plenty happening outside. A swept out Sassy's room while I hoovered and cleaned the last of the rubbish out of the lab, and we shifted a table in there for them to use for food prep. I moved the spare petchka down and found that we were missing one bend for the pipes so that was added to my morning shopping list. Our guests were due about 10 but one of the shops I was aiming for didn't open til 10 so I would miss their arrival. The morning fog was still hanging around over the town though it was very thin and not noticeable when you were down in it. My shopping trip was a full success and I bought everything on my list, plus an Aloe Vera plant for A. As she said when she saw it, who says romance is dead.

Lots of dirt from the chimney

New standard lamps, plus new bed being built

All put together

The workmen bring their stuff inside

Sleeping for five

When I got back I found that Chaz had arrived while I was out, as expected, and was stood in the garden with A and one of the builders, Acen, playing with the puppies and enjoying the weather. I unloaded my purchases and went up to show Chaz the room. He couldn't resist getting his hands dirty and so made a start at cleaning out the chimney, sticking his arm right inside and pulling loads of black dirt out into a bucket. We were waiting for Ivan and the rest of the workmen to arrive as they had gone into town to arrange for the scaffold delivery and while we waited I put the new bed together. Ivan called from the scaffold place to ask if the road would be big enough for the scaffold lorry to get down and I was quite confident it would however the driver chose to come over to check it out for himself. He was happy so headed off to go and get the lorry loaded and return later. I finished up building the beds and was surrounded by smiling workmen as I put the finishing touches on it. They then helped carry the mattresses in and got the room into a state ready for sleeping in.

The workmen make a beginning

Chaz gets in on the action

Tulips nearly about to burst into bloom

The grass about to be cut

The scaffold wasn't arriving quite as quickly as hoped for so Ivan got the workmen to make a start removing the cladding at ground level. The got to it with hammers and chisels and then I got the pneumatic drill so they could get some of the tougher stuff off quicker and pretty soon quite a large pile of rubble was developing on the patio. Even Chaz got in on the action. I took a little stroll around the garden with the camera to get some pictures of the flowers that are coming up in the tortoise garden including some beautiful looking tulips, and then I got the lawnmower out to cut the grass as finally it was looking dry enough. It ended up taking me an inordinately long time to finish this job, as you will see.

The lorry arrives on the property

The man gets ready to unload

How much easier than unloading by hand

Getting ready to put it down on some beams

The crane had a very long unloading arm

The first distraction was the lorry for the scaffold coming jouncing down the lane and onto the land. Ivan went to open the gate and then there followed a discussion about where it would be unloaded, so we weren't blocking the cars onto the patio. Finally there was a need for wood to set the load onto and so the old beams from the roof were raided again and made good use of. Eventually the man got his remote control out and started swinging the heavy scaffold off the truck and onto the ground. I needed something like this back in England when I was moving that scaffold I bought backwards and forwards so many times from front garden to back. This was much easier.

Starting to assemble the scaffold

Nicely cut grass

Blisters on old blisters

Ever more scaffold

Once the lorry had fully unloaded the workmen went straight to work and started assembling the scaffold along the front of the building starting up near the flat roof. All this time I was pushing the lawnmower, emptying the grass into the wheelbarrow, emptying THAT into the chicken enclosure and then repeating while every now and then stopping and being distracted. I had a couple of visitors, including the farmer (asking what I was doing) and the Special One. A headed out with Chaz to buy some more wheelbarrows and plastic deck chairs and I kept at it and just as they arrived back I was pushing the last wheelbarrow to the chickens. I had blisters again. Of course.

Scaffold at the end of the day

Pink sky to end the day

My Lamb Kavarma

A excited by her Shashlak

She even got pudding this time

As has been happening recently the temperature, so warm during the day, suddenly dropped around 4pm and it got quite cool. The men got the scaffold almost all the way along and then decided to head in and finish up sorting their room out, like putting the petchka together and lighting it and also making their beds up. We were going out for our dinner but we sat in the living room for a bit while the fire got going for the puppies before heading out. The sunset was beautiful as always, particularly just as we headed out to our favourite restaurant. We had a lovely long slow lazy meal and because Ivan was driving I was able to have a couple of beers as well. When we got back we sat having a sip of some very nice gin and it was really quite late by the time we got to bed. What a full day, and a lovely way to finish it.

Sunday

Normally a day of rest, after our morning tidying ritual, today has really been anything but. I started this update in the morning but I'm coming to write this part of the update at the beginning of the evening.

About 6.30am

Early morning Sassy

The sun is shining, but from below the horizon

Golden skies

Stick is thrown for Thelma to chase

Rambo really wants his stick

We both woke up really early as is usual after a few beers. I tried to sleep on but it wasn't happening. I was up and out onto the balcony a couple of times to grab a picture of the sky as it changed colour from early dawn just as the sun was coming up. Sassy was hopping around saying hello as well which is always nice. We got up once the workmen began and had a brew then were joined by Chaz and Ivan. Eventually we dragged ourselves into action and got the cleaning done. I changed up the order of my tasks and did the humanure before sweeping which meant I didn't track dirt in from down by the collection point over my just-swept floors. While we were doing this Ivan took the puppies (including Rambo) onto the top bank with two sticks and threw them for them over and over again. They are loving the extra men around.

The scaffold runs all along the front of the building

They are extending it around the corner

The sign is down and ready to be re-done

Looking along the front of the building

The men were out putting up more scaffold during the morning, they started at just after 7.30 having eaten their breakfast and washed up. It was discovered that the quantity of scaffold supplied isn't quite as large as expected, but it is only just too short to extend right around the entrance dogleg to the end of the building so will only be a few metres short. While they were working they removed the sign from above the entrance, which I am now going to arrange to get renovated and rehung. There was some discussion around the satellite dish so we've arranged for that to be moved tomorrow. While this was being discussed I remembered about the box on the back wall for telephone lines so went back with Ivan and he ended up talking to the neighbours, confirming they don't want it, and so arranging for the telephone company to come and remove it. It's been promised a few times so far so we'll see if this happens now someone as competent as Ivan has talked to them.

One man with his hammer, and the wall

Outriggers being secured

One accidental hole made us change tactics

As soon as I finished cleaning it was time for breakfast. I had bought sausages yesterday but totally forgot to put them to cook so it ended up being butter fried mushrooms (not my best effort this time, sadly), bacon, eggs, fried tomatoes and toast. We all ate in the front room which was nice, though A followed behind with a bacon butty as she hadn't wanted the full breakfast. Outside the men were split into teams with a couple of guys working on removing the render while the rest continued to assemble the scaffold and put outriggers and secure to the wall. Some of the render is really strongly attached and we decided that if the render wasn't coming off to not force it as one brick came completely loose under the battering to remove the render.

Lazy play time

After this I got stuck into doing this update while Chaz and Ivan went out with the head builder to go shopping for the workmen. A went onto the balcony with the puppies as it was a glorious warm day and left me to it. Once I had finished the update up to last night I stopped typing and went for a lie down as I was feeling really battered from the night before. I'm not calling it a hangover, though that is what it was. It was not possible to fall asleep really as the banging was so bad but it was nice to lay there and cuddle A for a bit and just shut my eyes. When I got up I felt a lot better. We had a quick bite to eat for lunch then got ready for our afternoon.

It's been over a year, but we're back here again

The front door was open so I took these pictures inside

Having a conversation with the local people

The plan was to head over to The House for the afternoon to show it to Chaz and Ivan, and just get us out for a bit away from building. Long term readers while know of the building I'm speaking but to quickly summarise it is a wrecked house that is not for sale that I fell in love with when I was initially house hunting and could never find who owns it or whether they would sell it. I still want to buy it. We shall see. It was a slightly longer trip out than planned as we ended up talking to some locals and ferrying them around a bit but we did find some more details of the property and there could be some options opening up. We shall see. Of course I'm super excited about this. The puppies were happy also and Thelma loved the steep bank for running up and down it. The building has deteriorated again and is in a dreadful shape.

Removing the hard grey cladding from the pillars

Two hands makes light work

I drove us back and we got home about 5ish to find that the workmen were not outside and had called it a day. Ivan got them back on the job very quickly and they finished off the final tasks including using the breaker to remove the cladding around the columns below Room 13. I was working away on this and the entire room was shaking. We're having a paella for dinner tonight and Chaz got involved helping the preparation. It's smelling amazing so it is time to wrap this update up.

I'll be back with another update on Tuesday.