The finer things

It's me again, from Belgium. Just an update because I've actually done some stuff and been places and I want to get it written before the excitement of this weekend when I'm GOING HOME OH YESS not that I'm massively excited or anything about that. Obviously. Onwards, I don't want to take too long over this.

A bit of modeling, and a departure

First of all just to cover off the end of the week before last as I was spending my last few nights at The Cottage before moving to where I am now.

Cling film stretched flat over my cutting board

A thick bead of silicon sealant

Spread it downwards with a toothpick in straight lines

Left to dry and then cut out of the cling film

My modeling stuff on the back of the bike

Laptop safely secured to the bike

I had been putting off doing any more modelling because I didn't want to make a mess just before leaving however I gave in to my urges and had a go at the technique described in this excellent video to make a waterfall out of silicon sealant. It was really easy - the biggest fear I had was using cling film which I am notoriously bad at doing. I left it for a day to dry and then cut it out carefully with a craft knife and was pretty impressed with my first attempt. I'll keep this, as it's not going to break easily, and use it in the first diorama I make, hopefully this winter. After this fun I had to pack everything up (I had actually packed everything, and then had to get loads of stuff out of the box to do the waterfall) and on the Monday I took my big rucksack with my clothes, and the modelling box and then Tuesday morning, my last day in The Cottage I strapped the laptop to the back of the bike and had the small rucksack full of food; two very heavily laden days. No matter, I transported everything I needed to without having to resort to a taxi.

A new temporary home

Tuesday night I cycled to the new place leaving my laptop and modelling stuff in the office as I need my clothes and I had food for the refrigerator. When I got there the owners were waiting and showed me around being very nice and even suggesting that I make use of the little scooter in the garage which is a terrible idea, but eventually they left and I could settle down.

A huge pile of mixed noodles

Interesting twin bridge over the canal

Looking towards work along the canal

Looking back towards where I'm staying

A not-very-nice curry eaten outside

I had no intention of cooking that first night and hadn't had a chance to pick up more food since eating most of it prior to leaving The Cottage so I ordered a Chinese which was actually very good indeed; the delivery driver, randomly enough, was the son of the owners as well! The next morning the walk to work took me along the river, after a bit of searching, and I was lucky enough to catch the lift bridge operating as a large container barge went along the canal. I've not seen the bridge in use since so I'm really glad I snapped some pictures even if they were with my dodgy phone. The walk is lovely all along the river to the station, though I've gone back to cycling since then. I got another takeaway the next night which was much less tasty and I'll not be having curry again here I don't think. It was nice to eat it sat outside on the patio table. I've also done a video walk through if you're interested so check that out above as well.

Alkmaar and Amsterdam

There follows the bulk of this update; I spent the weekend visiting Bart, my friend from the Islay festival, and had such a great time. The title of the blog is something that we kept saying to each other over the weekend as we enjoyed the Finer Things in life; good food, good weather, good company, good whisky, good sightseeing.. it was just a really relaxing time, exactly what I needed.

Double decker train pulls into Mechelen

Pizza wrapped around kebab meat - lovely!

A lovely Belgian beer to start off with

Cheers as we sip another beer

I worked from "home" on Friday as the office was closed and walked up to the station in plenty of time for my planned train - of course this was cancelled but there was another one going in roughly the right direction five minutes later so I got on that. I'd aimed to arrive at Bart's by about 7.45 but due to that first train not running I ended up changing at Antwerp, Rosendaal and Amsterdam and despite all the changes being tight and having to run I didn't arrive in Alkmaar until just before 9pm. I was hungry so on the way back we grabbed a very nice kebab before dropping my stuff at his flat and going out for some beers and a chat. He knows a lot of people in his town and we were called into a lovely Belgian beer bar as we walked past. The night ended up being very late with more beers and then whisky when we got back to his and I fell asleep eventually about 1.30am.

Cheese matured for ten years

An old German bunker from WW2

An interesting wooden bridge for my dad

Amazing architecture

So many beautiful details on this house

Another stunning bridge shot for my dad

The old customs house (I think?)

A statue on the old fish market

A house supposedly bombarded by the Spanish in the 1700s

Coffee in the antique shop / hairdressers

Of course when I woke up at 7am the next day I was not feeling my best and I felt pretty rough all morning. Ahh well I don't drink too much all that often. Our plans were to go to Amsterdam so he could show me around but after breakfast of cheese butties (lovely local cheese at that) we decided to tour Alkmaar before going to Amsterdam and this proved to be a good choice. It was a stunning day, so warm we were sweating slightly as we walked, and we spent a good couple of hours strolling around seeing things. There is a lot of history to this place and I took a lot of photographs so I've tried to limit the number I've uploaded to not bore you. On the way around we stopped in at an antique shop that was run by a hairdresser and she was there cutting a chap's hair while we had a coffee and cookie that she gave us when we went in. Of course, Bart knew her. French music in the background, the snip snip of scissors and surrounded by old things - brilliant.

This looks like a Banksy

An awesome old Citroen

Bart in his favourite spot

Double bridge trouble for my dad

An old pepper warehouse

Memorial for sex workers

The Grand Palace on the Dam

1945 when German snipers shot at people celebrating the end of the war

Hiding behind lamp posts - 20 killed, 120 injured!

Old houses along the water front

After this lovely stroll we headed to the station and got the train into Amsterdam. It was quite airless in the carriage we were in and I was struggling quite badly during the trip but we got me a drink of water and a chocolate bar when we arrived and after that I was OK. Bart knows Amsterdam very well so there followed another fascinating walking tour showing me things that I'd never have seen if I was just there with "the lads". I've never felt the urge to visit Amsterdam before but getting a tour from a local made it really interesting. He took me to his favourite place, showed me the red light district (quiet when we went through) and told me some of the backstories of the streets and big houses we saw. It was fascinating.

A lovely old style pub with superb beers

A would be feeling at home right about now

Eating Chinese food with chop-sticks

We had a plate like this each!

Anyone know what this gorgeous car is?

Two beers, and some lovely raw smoked sausage

After this sight seeing we were both a bit dry so the other benefit of being with a local came to the fore. First of all Bart took me to his old regular haunt which was a lovely old pub, still yellow with tobacco smoke from when you could smoke inside, and serving excellent beers. At one point the barman talked about a hen do coming in and that he sent them off to another bar. My kind of place. After chilling there for a bit we walked across town to a chinese restaurant that Bart likes and he was correct to. The service was quick and the food was stunning. I also took the challenge of chop sticks which I haven't tried for ages and managed to eat almost everything, just using a spoon for the sauce left at the end. I was absolutely stuffed after that meal but we got on our way to our next destination; a presentation of new beers in a shop. We got there by tram and found the shop and when we walked in it was just the two shop people and the guy from the brewery looking a bit forlorn. They were lovely people though and it soon filled up a bit more and when we left, each having bought beer and I had also picked up a bottle of Belgian whisky (I know, not from Belgium but shhh) they were happier. After this we went to another brewery and had a beer and some of the local delicacy, raw sausage which was AMAZING, and then it was time to head back to the train to go home.

The Dutch tall ship

This is called a Koploper

We're impressed, and this wasn't even everything

The fully laden table

About to tuck in

On the way back we saw an old dutch ship moored as a tourist attraction so I wound Bart up that it was nice to see one that we hadn't sunk. He laughed, which was good. On the way up I had seen some great looking locomotives with a really distinctive shape and was hoping to get a picture of one so I was very pleased when a consist pulled in to the platform across from us as we waited for the train. I snapped loads of pictures but this one came out best. It really is very distinctive and I've already found out where I can buy a model for my own railway - very expensive though so it'll wait a bit I think. We chatted all the way back and then went to the flat to change and have a shower (and so I could do my revision on memrise so I didn't break my streak) before we headed out for dinner. Now we hadn't eaten until about 2pm so I was still feeling full at that time. I thought maybe something light but Bart had other plans and ordered such a huge pile of food I thought we'd never get through it. Each dish was tiny but there was loads of dishes. We slowly worked our way through it, laughing along with the table next to us who had ordered the same thing and had the same "oh dear" reaction and while we didn't finish every dish we did at least taste it all and it was super. Waddling slightly we left the restaurant to find that the Festival of Light on the canals in Alkmaar had just started and we were perfectly positioned to get a video of it. What awesome timing.

A small dram when we got back

The Belgian Whisky

Local cheese with scrambled eggs - super breakfast

Leftovers dinner; tasty!

Back to normal meals again

And so it was back to his, a couple of drams, one of which was the Belgian whisky which I cracked open to try and was very impressed by, and the other was an amazing Bowmore hand fill from a few years back which blew the socks off the Belgian whisky, and then an earlier night than the night before. I was disturbed a few times by loud drunken people outside but that was better than having the balcony door shut and overheating and when I woke up the next day I felt really refreshed and rested. Breakfast had been planned as a full Scottish but neither of us had thought we'd want something so heavy so that stayed frozen and instead we had a lighter scrambled eggs, which was just perfect. We headed to the station and Bart waved me off on the train and I had a much easier journey on this leg, getting home in plenty of time to go to the shops but feeling far too lazy to do that. Instead I edited all the videos on this post which was good as I wouldn't have wanted to do them now. Dinner was the last of the veg so I made a wonderful mashed potato and carrots, par boiled the green beans and then fried them in salt, and did some fried onions as well. It was superb. I finally got to the shops yesterday after work and today was roast lamb steaks with boiled spuds and butter mushrooms and onions. Also super.

So it's now Tuesday night and I'm not sure when this will be published; A wants to get her double-header that she began tonight out of the way so maybe this'll land tomorrow maybe on Thursday but all I'm thinking is on Thursday night I fly out to Bulgaria for the weekend and I cannot wait! It's only a short visit but after that I'm into the home stretch and only a few more weeks before I go back for good. Cannot wait.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :)

Roadtrip

Where did I leave you? Ah yes, leaving Belgium on Friday morning.

Up and at it at 6am, we packed the final bits and bobs for my journey into the car, I checked I had all I needed food wise close to hand and then we both set off. Himself on his bike and me shouting "faster, faster" at him until finally he couldn't keep up. I was off and headed home!

I would just like to say at this point that I had a wonderful birthday and was spoiled rotten by an amazing boyfriend.

Ok, enough soppiness.

As we left the sun was starting to rise. A perfect start and sadly my photo does not do it justice, but I can be forgiven as I was driving.

Sunrise

Pat and I went at it and before I knew it I was beyond Frankfurt. Normally this stretch of road is quite busy and you get to see a plane or two taxiing over the motorway bridge runway. Not this time. This time I thought I recognised the bridge but very soon, I was beyond it and traffic was flowing normally. This was a real bonus, but sadly means I did not get to take the photos I said I would for the Beard. I stopped soon after for fuel and lunch in what I think was the hotel we slept in on one of our trips and where I left my comfortable pillow. I seem to remember the car park and the buffet type restaurant.  I had some (very salty) Indonesian noodles.

Lunchtime filler

I drove on and on at as steady a pace as I could, just around 75mph. Disaster struck. About 70km outside Nuremberg, here exactly, Pat flashed her "Stop" and battery warning light. I was lucky enough to be about 400m from a parking section off the motorway and I hesitated, wondering what was going on, but then heard a noise, like I had driven over something, so I pulled in.

So began the drama. After speaking to the Beard and he reminded me that I had taken out the EU breakdown cover I got straight on the phone to the RAC (other insurers are available).  They promised that in around on hour I would have someone out to have a look. In the meantime, the power of Google proved pretty danged good and we diagnosed that the fan belt had come off. Under the bonnet sure enough, the fan belt was off. This must have been the noise I heard.  To cut a long story short, and also because it is funny and embarrassing, a guy finally pulled up in a van behind me as I was calling the RAC back after 1.5 hours to see what was happening and I hung up. He proceeded to look under the bonnet and had no English and my German is limited to about ten words (numbers). I thought "great, this will be fun". Next thing I know he is off chatting to some truck driver parked up behind me and eating his packed lunch. Next thing I know is the truck driver comes over and in very broken English asked me if I have called a mechanic. I ask him if they have not called one. It suddenly dawned on me that he wasn't from the RAC at all, he had just stopped and offered to look in case he could help! Nightmare. Feeling rather stupid and a little bit amused, I was back on the phone to RAC who informed me, eventually, that they had messed up and not spotted an email coming from the rescue man and so he was unable to find me. Second time lucky then.  I gave them the coordinates from the TomTom again and was told another hour. By this time it was 7pm and I was not happy. I was running out of water and only had crisps and sweets to eat. I could not cook because I had no water, there were no toilets at this layby and it was around 30 degrees. I tried not to panic but realised that the sun was beginning to set and I was alone at the side of a German motorway.

By 8.30 I had a truck, a young mechanic and was getting Pat loaded onto the back of the loader to be taken to the garage where we would await the parts in the morning and book into a hotel for the night.. Frustrating, but by that stage I was extremely tired and the idea of an actual decent night's sleep was welcomed.

Poorly Pat

Hotel rear

Hotel front

I was on my way again later than expected around 12 noon. Originally I was supposed to be picked up at 9am, but at 11.30 Pat arrived with the mechanic to pick me up. I was just happy to see her back on the road, so I paid the hotel, dropped the mechanic back to the garage and paid him and I was on my way again. I drove nonstop, bar to get fuel for almost five hours and stopped in Austria for some food somewhere around Vienna. It wasn't a long stop, a bit like most stops really; fuel, toilet and a quick bite and back on the road. I even used the gas camping stove.

Lunch :/

I have very few other photos of the drive back, but I can tell you that once into Hungary I just wanted to keep going. I drove all evening and after dark, aiming for Szeged, but at around 10pm I was shattered and simply had to stop. I parked up in a well lit service station right outside the diner and made hard work of trying to get some sleep. The motel was full and I had no choice but to try and sleep in the car. Now, I am not the largest of people, but it was a struggle. Eventually I dozed off and woke about an hour and a half later.  I went into the diner, grabbed a coffee and ciabatta and hit the road again. No point sitting there tossing and turning. About an hour and a half later (around 2pm) I had to stop again as the old eyelids were starting to drop. My plan at this point was still to get to the Hungarian border with Romania. I felt safer stopping in Hungary overnight than in the mountains of Romania, so this worked out quite well. I grabbed another two hours sleep and was up and driving again when the sun rose.

Sunrise close to Romanian border

I crossed the border in daylight into Romania and I was happy with how this worked out. I was feeling this as the last stretch home now and was excited. I peaked too soon. TomTom and I had a falling out and he wanted to sleep every few minutes, whereas I wanted him to stay awake and guide me over the Romanian mountains. TomTom won and I had to resort to road signs and a paper map. Wasn't frightened at all, honest! Romania is such a beautiful country and I really hope that we can take a trip sometime to see more of it. Stunning. This was coming out of the mountains and heading towards the Bulgarian border.

Big dam

Beautiful

It was further from this point than I thought and, thankfully, Tom decided to wake up about here to guide me through the winding route to the bridge into Vidin. I was on home soil at last!

Home!

What a journey. I drove on, right through until 9.30 that evening so that I could have my own bed to sleep in. I was exhausted. And shaking. I arrived at the Old School to the neighbours shouting to make sure it was me who had driven in and was greeted with hugs and smiles all around. They let me go to bed very soon after though, so I appreciated that. They are lovely people.

I had driven that whole journey and made it back on the day I had expected to without foreseeing an 18 hour delay in Germany. I was so very pleased with that effort. Home on Sunday night.

Monday arrived way too soon. I think I woke at 7am and rolled over, waking again at 11am. I had arranged to get the dogs collected on Monday and was surprisingly up for that trip, even after driving 2000 miles in 2.5 days. I must have been on auto-pilot. I stayed the night with Chaz and Ivan, had a few beers and fell asleep on Ivan's lap whilst waiting for my dinner. I was so knackered still. They laughed and luckily did not mind too much as Chaz has done the journey himself and finds it tough for a good few days afterwards.

In all honesty, all of last week was a washout for me. I did very little to be honest and I took the opportunity to rest and recover. I had to get Thomas MOT'd before I collected the dogs. I ordered Pat's new headlights, have now got those fitted, change the speedometer sensor which was playing up and tightened the accelerator cable on her ready for re-registration next week. That took two half days to sort out, but hopefully we will have a straightforward import process next week.

Since then, I have found my eggs and preserved peppers that next door has kindly prepared for me whilst I was away.

Bless

So, I unpacked and made a mess in the kitchen on Monday. It drove me mad on Tuesday, so it went from this:

Mess

To this:

Much better 

I felt much better.  I also laid the dining table out nicely as I had bought a new table cloth/runner thing to stop the table getting more damaged.

I love this room

Apart from that, there has been very little happening. Although I have realised that I haven't actually sat down that much after writing all of that. The garden is still producing and still needs watering and there is only one chicken laying currently, but I still have an abundance of eggs. Pretty standard stuff here. I am not going to upload any more photos tonight, but I have harvested a load of peppers and processed them yesterday and today. I am afraid I am about done now and so I will update you further when I do another post. Possibly on Thursday.

On Friday morning, the Beard will arrive and make the puppies bark, waking the whole village at around 4am. But we will just have to forgive him. Two days/nights that I am looking forward to very much.

I am signing off now so that I can take half an hour before I hop in the bath to ease my back. One day at work after three and a half weeks off and I am already stiffening up! I am getting old.

Leka nosht.
A xx

A's Holiday

*drumroll*

Coming at you live from The Old School in Bulgaria, it is A!

I know, I know, what an entrance. I am back, as you can probably tell. Three weeks (almost) away from home and all the animals (not forgetting the work) and I have had this week off in terms of much to do and paid work so that I could recover from the epic, if not troublesome, journey. This is what happened in the first couple of weeks. The journey itself is going to be a separate post due to time constraints here.  

Ireland

The main purpose of this trip was to get back for the birth of my nephew (or niece, as I didn’t know at the point of booking). I left the Old School on Wednesday 10^th afternoon with SandS, who kindly gave me a lift to the bus station.  The bus (minibus) arrived on time and I was very disappointed to note that it had no air conditioning, given it was around 35-37 degrees, but I made it to the town beside the airport in plenty of time and in fact, 40 minutes earlier than scheduled. The drivers here are crazy! I stopped for a beer to kill a little time before getting to the small airport in Plovdiv.

On my way

The flight was an easy one and I arrived at Stansted around 10.30 and quickly made my way to my hotel. I had the first flight out to Belfast the following morning and was hoping for a good night’s sleep. I obviously stopped for a beer before I went up and was horrified at both the (small) size of the bottle (we get 500ml ones here, not 330ml) and the price! So horrified and finding myself still wired that I had a second. I was on holiday and decided not to set a beer budget. :D

You will be glad to hear that I did not have only beer the whole time I was away, I actually had very little in fact and often had a sensible breakfast, even at the airport!

Sensible breakfast

The trip was a complete success in that Baby Jack was born on Tuesday and Mum was being released (sorry) on Thursday afternoon, the very day I arrived, so it was perfect timing. He is a gorgeous wee thing, obviously as he has good strong beautiful genes from his favourite auntie and he is very content on the whole. I have some photos, but due to parent preferences, they have been omitted.

In between baby coo-ing and visiting relatives I was doing another bit of sorting out for the journey ahead and was dashing between relatives and car garages and quite frankly, by the time my week was over, I was shattered and I felt it was much too soon to be leaving. Maybe next time I will split my trip more appropriately.So there you have it. The newest member of the family. He must take after me already as he has some fist clench going on there.

Next stop, England.

Taking Pat from her first home to Bulgaria and the ferry journey began at 10.30am.  I hadn’t thought it through properly when I booked it. There were screaming kids, live music and just a lot of noise with nowhere really comfortable to sit, for EIGHT hours. I decided I would get a cabin. Best idea ever!

Best £30 ever spent

I managed to get some sleep and my first stop in England was with the Beard’s best friend and his family. They had a baby last year who I have not met yet and they had invited me to stay with them whilst I was over. What an absolutely lovely child he is as well. They had moved house and it had all changed, so it was great to catch up with them again. Little H is a star and painted the Beard and I a picture for our fridge. I have a photo of the artist at work, but I will not add it here without their permission. Here is the final masterpiece, taking its rightful place on our fridge at the Old School.

I think it is a cockerel

Next on the agenda, The Out-Laws! The Beard had been buying some things (I know, it is so unlike him) and there was a stash of “bits and bobs” to be collected from his parents on my way down to London, as well as his haul from the whisky festival. So off I went on Saturday to meet up with them and try to battle the roof bar and rack system before heading out with his Nan for tea. It was a mission, but between his Dad and I, we managed just in time to attach said system before rushing off to pick Nana up for dinner. A wonderful meal and I regret to say I have no photographs as I had left the camera in the car whilst trying to get us all inside. Sorry Beard x.

It was early to bed and up to pack the car at 7.30am. It was actually really not a hard job. I packed everything and slotted it all in first time without the need to use the roof bar system at all! Result. And all before his parents left, so the additional bonus of not having to use the alarm system and lock up. Phew! I was off to London just before 9am and I took my time, stopping for a coffee on the way.

I arrived at my friend’s house earlier than expected, her son let me in and she had gone out to see her daughter. I made myself very much at home and rested until she got back. Long story short, there was Chinese, wine, chatter and bed and the same again the following night. On the Tuesday night we were all out meeting various friends from work, facebook, twitter and real life at London Bridge and I have to say that I was very touched by the turnout. Especially my good friend who had just had both big toes broken and who travelled the whole way from Brighton to buy me lunch and join my in a few bevvies. What a star!

Friends

And more

I had to behave myself that night as I was due to drive the next day to Belgium to see the Beard for my birthday. I left bang on time and the traffic was flowing very well indeed on the way to Dover when I noticed a missed call and text from my friend saying I had left my camera at hers! Only it wasn’t MY camera, it was HIS. I tried not to panic, thinking we would get it somehow sent over to him, me or we would get it collected by someone. It was a mistake and not the end of the world. I wasn’t going to let it spoil my excitement for the next couple of days. So a big thank you to Dee who arranged the packing and postage for me x.

Belgium

I made the ferry I needed to be on in order to make it to his cottage in Zemsk for dinner, what a relief! Soon after, I tucked into a curry to keep me going until that evening and it wasn’t actually too bad at all.

Goodbye Dover

Curry lunch

I arrived dead on time at 6pm to himself sitting enjoying a brew in the sunshine, waving like a loon when he saw me. It has been tough being apart like this and I suppose it will be again after his visit home this weekend, but the end is now in sight.

We had a lovely relaxing evening and he cooked a fabulous Irish steak each with his spicy potato wedges. It was a lovely dinner and I of course got to open my birthday presents. I will take some pics of those for the next update.  The next morning he had to work and I dropped him into town with the plan to relax at the cottage until he was finishing around 4pm when we would take a walk around what can only be described as a beautiful town with some absolutely stunning architecture. We had dinner at his favourite gourmet burger joint and enjoyed a beer or two along the river. Another perfect evening.

I was sure this was too big for my mouth. It wasn’t in the end.

Too big for my mouth

That is all I shall tell you about tonight. The journey through Europe will follow tomorrow hopefully as this has been quite a long update (for me) so far.

It’s good to be home.

Leka nosht xxx

A