This is my blog about emigrating to Bulgaria. It starts with the idea and will take you through all the steps I am taking to create my new life in this wonderful idyllic country. Thank you for reading.
Please make use of the comments box to ask questions or suggest blog subjects too :)
First last night was a classic summer sunset, oranges and reds and fire going down over Apple Tree Farm. This morning I dropped Rosie to school as Angela's foot is still very sore and when I got back the men were in and working on the blocks for the pump house. It did not take very long at all for all the courses to be laid and then they worked on fitting the shuttering around the top; I have asked for the roof to slope down onto the collection points so that is what they have done. After reinforcement mesh they poured the cement into the space, and also filled in part of the floor which we realise we didn't need as a trench. Then the remains of the cement was used to fill in gaps around the drain pipes coming from the patio. Finally the task of cutting out the insulation to fit the pipe for the upstairs toilet began; this is not far off completed.
It is truly very exciting to see how close we are now, though there's a fair amount of metal welding work to be done before we can say "complete". Thanks for reading. Back tomorrow.
Bekir and Halil took last week off entirely as it was Eid, which was both a welcome break and also a frustrating delay. It is what it is, however, and we made the most of it.
Collecting dried leaves for the toilet
Relaxing while the ladies are in the pool
A stunning sunrise
Rosie with a lollypop
F16 flying past
One of the things that has been concerning me a bit is running out of leaves and sawdust before the new toilets are working again. On Sunday I headed out briefly to collect more leaves and now I think we have enough; there really are loats on the back bank. After that Angela took Rosie into the pool while I lay on the swinging chair in the sun and watched; it was a time of feeling massively blessed, which of course I am! The rest of the week has been taken up with awesome sunrises, visits to the neighbours where Rosie got a lolly pop. The Other Brother and his son came over to swim in the pool as well which was just lovely. We've also had a fair few visits from NATO F16s, I got a very bad video (above) as well as this not so bad photograph.
Rosie watching it pour with rain
Tidying the porch
Birthday BBQ
Rosie on Big Nemo
Playing Oak & Iron
I was just thinking that we were set in with no chance of rain for months when a storm blew through and threw loads of rain. Since then the weather has been sunny but there was days of north wind - not cold as such but very very strong and gusty. Angela has taken advantage of the new patio to empty the porch and clean it out so that's now a much cleaner room. It was the Other Brother's son's birthday as well and we went over for a BBQ to celebrate, Rosie had a great time until she decided she was too tired. On Friday my mate Steve arrived to stay for the weekend; he always brings excellent gifts for Rosie and this visit was no different, turning up with a Big Nemo which was an instant hit and Rosie has LOVED playing with in the pool. Steve and I got as much gaming in as time and energy would allow and it was a great weekend indeed. He headed off and arrived home safely today.
Bekir removes the roof supports
The small hatches are also tidied up
Halil soaking the patio
Pump house takes shape
The new pipe being installed
Getting the pump out to test it
And so we reach today when the workmen returned. The first task they set to was removing all the wooden shuttering around all the cement that was poured previously, including taking down the wood inside the toilet collection points and opening up the hatch on top. This will have a fine mesh and an opening metal door on top. With this done Halil then wetted down the patio (which we should probably have been doing during the week, on reflection) while Bekir measured up the pumps. I took time to work with him on this so we were confident in the size of the pump house. They then started laying the bricks but then Angela had the VERY good idea of proving that the pumps worked at that distance. This involved Bekir and Halil removing the old pipe from the wall into the downstairs bathroom and plumbing the new one in. We then moved the pump (which wasn't the nicest task for Bekir) and connected it all up. It worked first time so tomorrow I will probably ask them to do the same for upstairs and then they can really focus on the laying of blocks. It will be SO nice to be using these new toilets again.
So there you are; it's good to be back seeing progress again. See you tomorrow and thanks for reading.
Another Friday reached, and the last update for a while as the men are taking next week off.
Halil starts to remove the cement from the drains
Tough work in the hot sun
Bekir scraping as well
Nearly done on this task now
Putting up a curtain pole
Today has been all about the patio and smoothing and scraping it. It has been a long hot day for Bekir and Halil but by the end of it they really had taken a lot of the roughness off the surface. It's such a pleasure to see it all done and now they are left with the toilet pump house, and then the grates and doors on the collection point. It's a bit frustrating to lose all of next week as well as it probably means they'll have to work into August to get the toilets done now. After finishing up outside they came in and put up the new curtain pole in Rosie's Playroom so now that can be kept dark at night for her, and cooler during the day.
In the shade
Super happy Rosie with drawings by Mummy
After I finally finished work, and it was hot on the balcony again today, I played with Rosie for a bit then we went in the pool. It's so good to have that and the way she loves being out there is wonderful.
So there you are; another week done. Thanks for reading.
When I wrote my update last night I was starting to feel a little like a cold was coming on; this was not helped by a gypsy wedding in a village a few miles away who thought that screaming down a microphone at 10.30 was the best way to celebrate; I didn't sleep well enough and today was tough as I was feeling quite rough. An early night for me after this update is written.
Bekir, Halil and Hikmet do their weeding
Let's start chopping
We had the cement lorry booked for 10am and Hikmet came with Bekir and Halil to help with this task. 10am came and went, with the men weeding and preparing the last of the ground and waiting. Eventually they went round and started to chop up the firewood whil we waited and waited.
The truck is finally here
Starting in on the pour
Big pump machine
Second lorry, and lots of dust
Smoothing and polishing
Eventually at 2pm the truck appeared and we were ready, booted and gloved. It was another long hot afternoon for them as 10 more cubic of cement was pumped out and they spread and packed it in. A second truck was needed which arrived in a cloud of dust and emptied its load into the pump. When the pump had finished it wasn't time for a break as they had the long task of polishing it, and the ramp was not hardly done. Halil and Hikmet were working on the ramp, shoveling the cement and removing excess. They also covered over the final bit by the toilets. After that they were all down on sheets of insulation and smoothing and smoothing. More of the same for them tomorrow as well.
So there you are; finally all the cement is poured! Thanks for reading.
Another hot day here today, but today I got in the pool twice which was lovely.
Early morning before the sun rose
Edging stones at the bottom of the slope
The toilet pipe, covered with plastic pipe
The day started early again, before dawn, and Rosie was also awake early today. I was at my desk but managed to get away to play with her a bit before she headed for school Bekir and Halil arrived as Angela left with Rosie and they were into the tasks on the patio to complete before the cement. This included putting the edging stones we'd bought yesterday in place, fixing some final parts of the steal mesh and a few other areas that needed work, and finally Bekir put the plastic over the toilet waste pipe so if we need to replace or repair it we can without having to dig out the cement. First thing this morning I had great fun listening to the oriole singing in the front trees. There is a video above.
Starting to assemble the second fan
Right at the top of the ladder
Wiring to the wall
Chef Rosie and her lasagne
After lunch they came out onto the balcony and started working on the second fan. I had to escape for a little bit (I went into the pool) while they did the drilling through the metal and it was lovely to swim for a bit during the mid afternoon. Later on the fans were both mounted, and the first one was spun up which was nice. The cables have been run and the next task will be to fit the switches to the wall. It will be great to be able to run fans in here. Rosie helped Mummy make lasagne then after some play time we were into the pool again (and the neighbour's grandson joined us again which was lovely). The lasagne was really nice.
A day later than expected but here I am with another update, and again I'm pretty tired so having a four day period to cover means this may be a short one. Onwards!
Playing in her tent
Sat on the trolley at the shops
With all the drawings she did with Mummy
Sunday night Sunset
Another blurry Oriole
So. The weekend. Saturday was Daddy Day as always and after play time for a bit I went with Rosie into town to try and get some storage for the balcony, and also to look for edging for the slope off the patio. The storage was a success but the curb stone not so much. The rest of the weekend was a lot of pool time, including the neighbours joining us which was lovely, and art time with Rosie's new easel, and then a lovely sunset. Yesterday we had a call early from Bekir that he wasn't coming in so no workmen for the day and the only picture I took was of an oriole that was flying around the patio - there are loads this year and I have now seen and not just heard them a fair few times.
Bekir laying out the center line
Very hot work for Halil
More shovelling
Now making sure the ramp is ready
At the yard of the cement block factory
Hot hot hot today
And so to today, which started off with me feeling rested after a good night sleep. It was hot today, and Bekir and Halil were working hard in the sun to finish off the final tasks before the cement pour. This involved laying the centre wooden strip across both sections and putting the metal grid down and it took them most of the day, working steadily but understandably not moving fast. I was baking working in the shade! The cement lorry was not available for Wednesday so will not be coming until Thursday and by the end of the day they had all but done everything. I headed out with Bekir to get edging stones and after visiting the factory (who didn't want to sell such a small quantity) we found what we needed in the normal shop. It was 40 degrees down in the yard, and 38 outside the Old School. Hot indeed.
Tomorrow I hope that they are able to work inside for most of the day as it isn't good working in such heat, even with regular breaks and ice creams. Thanks for reading.
