1000 days

Today is a Red Letter Day.

The grand departure

It has been ONE THOUSAND DAYS since I set off from Blackpool with my parents on the long journey to get to my home. And what a thousand days it has been.

This is not going to be a normal update (I'll try and get one of them done tomorrow) but is going to pick out some entirely random moments from the time since we left. I've only just decided to do it this way (I was going to do a normal update) so this is totally unplanned.

I can't even work out any headings at the moment so I'm just going to go for it.

The day that we arrived

Celebrating my arrival in style

The great glass pick continues (to this day, actually)

The 'rents head home, leaving me alone

Spuds warming over an wood fire

Friendly cross country racers

The journey itself was memorable - six days driving with me piloting Julian and my parents taking it in turns to drive Thomas and trailer while spending their "rest" time sat in with me. We arrived at The School mid morning and I was welcomed at the top of the hill by Usmivka who gave me a huge hug through the window - now THAT is what I call a warm welcome. That first night held one of a few Moments when I clambered up onto what would end up being the balcony dragging a chair, tripod, glass and bottle of whisky and enjoyed the final sips of the 2013 Lagavulin Festival bottling while smiling like a loon and marveling that I Had Done It!. There followed much work, internet was fitted, S of SandS was met, stuff was burned, water and a shower and a washing machine and a fridge was all fitted, Room 13 walls were scraped (not for the last time) and glass was picked for hours and hours. And that is just a brief overview of the ten days that my parents were able to stay with me before flying home and leaving me on my own and not panicking at all. The day the cross country race came past through our village was another moment that will live with me - hearing the sound of engines and then rushing down the back bank and waving as they drove past - that was an interesting Sunday morning indeed.

It's hard to know how to continue with this update - right now I'm looking back through all the pictures and just grabbing moments out like that but at this rate it'll take me all day and probably turn into the longest blog of all time ever...

Heavy machinery at work at The Old School

Evidence of wild boar

The one

Egg in a Cup!

When Lucy broke down

Electrical work done by a professional

Work on the Cheren Put

Memories: I had the bagga machine digging out the driveway and starting the drainage ditch around the outside of the building around my birthday and actually on my birthday as well that first year. Another strong memory is being shouted by The Other Brother to go chasing wild boar through the mountains behind our village. I caught a glimpse of one, and we found hoof prints. Awesome. My guest (who morphed into "A" on this blog) also came for a visit or two and introduced me to Egg in a Cup; awesome breakfast. The first visit lasted longer than planned when Lucy broke down on our way to the airport - there was a bonus two extra days. Another visitor I had was The Electrician who came and put the wiring in that I have just started to replace with final fix. And the cheren put up to the village was worked on and became a smooth tarmac road. Such changes.

This photograph is printed out and on the wall

Mo's grave :(

Rambo and Ralf

Sassy in her room

The first time I ever met Thelma and Louise

My, haven't they grown!

Animals, we've had a few. There have been tortoises (the most memorable of which was Mo who sadly died and is buried up by the old silver birch in the top corner of the land) and of course there is Rambo who came here to retire. Then Rocky arrived, who was quickly renamed to Ralf. He was such a darling dog however one day just before he was to go on holiday to Ken's while we went back to the UK for winter he disappeared and he hasn't been seen since. We both miss him every day. Sassy came across with me in Julian in that first trip and has stayed here every since. In fact she is the longest continual resident of Bulgaria out of the whole group. And of course we now have Thelma and Louise; they make us smile every single day without fail.

The first of many windows is fitted

Insulation progress

What a lovely lounge we have

Dining room, nook and kitchen

Making full use of the balcony

So much has been done to the building in the past 1000 days. The fence around the property was the first thing to do, before Rambo arrived, but since then we've had a new roof, new windows, full external insulation and concreted parking area made. We've got a bedroom, living room and now kitchen/diner/nook completed. We've got a double guest room with attached wet room and the utility room / pantry / toilet / bathroom downstairs with a dragon foot bath. The balcony has been tiled and walled and the unexpectedly excellent roof terrace has also been done. Being worked on at the moment is Room 13 (me, doing electrics and waiting for the boiler to be removed) and the Men's Room (currently paused for cold weather, but a new floor and the walls being resealed) and once that is done we'll start work on the tool room / workshop. When I think back to the first viewing, the ground floor full of hay and the upstairs with mounds of detritus from the school, it's amazing to sit here in this lovely comfortable welcoming warm and homely home and remember how much has changed. What a 1000 days!

There are so many other memories over this 1000 days that it would be almost impossible to complete this update without getting over-long. I'm going to choose to end it here and say "here's to the next thousand".

The lovely A

Dedicated to the woman making it even more awesome than I ever thought it could be.

It snowed

I'm back rather sooner than expected with a shorter update for you - dinner is currently sizzling away on top of the kitchen petchka and my stomach is grumbling so I'm going to do what I can before dinner and hopefully not have much left to finish afterwards. One really cool thing is that I have got the record player and amplifier back in business so we were able to put music on last night and can listen to more tonight - I hadn't realised quite how much I missed that. Anyway. Onwards.

Sunday evening

It's a short enough update for me to roughly do it by the days, for old times sake.

A's choice - toast to dip in olive oil and balsamic vinegar - lovely

Chicken strips with sesame, and A couldn't wait

Lambs' liver - on the menu as "plucks"

Gorgeous grilled vegetables

My choice of the Pork neck

Pork ribs which are superb as well

After I published the blog we went out for our dinner to our favourite restaurant which was lovely. The carpark was absolutely packed, there were even three coaches parked up, and the main hall was full of a function however we got our usual table and ordered a nice varied selection of dishes, all of which were very tasty indeed. We packed up quite a lot of meat to take back for the puppies and they really enjoyed it. We also found out about the new years eve offering down there and we are almost certainly going to get our tickets bought soon.

Monday

Monday was the last day our workman was going to be here before the forecast cold snap. The alarm was still set and it was still a shock to wake up. He is very good and just turns up and gets started at dead on 8am.

This washing did not stay out long

Low clouds obscuring the parents' hotel

Sassy sat on her hutch

Neco asked for a portrait

The chimney has been renewed

The small room is ready to be floored

Carefully covered to protect from snow

A was off into town to get some last bits and pieces before the weather changes and before she went she hung the washing out to dry on the line in the vain hope that it wouldn't rain. I was out there as she drove away pulling it in as the rain started immediately. It did dry well inside on racks next to the fire so not a problem. It was very low cloud and pretty grim all day and rained on and off but never heavily - just that drizzle that is depressing and gets you soaked. Inside Neco was finishing off everything he could of the walls and I think he's managed to get it all done - now he really needs to find a labourer to help with the floors. It's crossed my mind to offer to help myself but we'll see - if he isn't back and the weather warms up I may call him and suggest it. We covered over the var before he left so the snow wouldn't spoil it and then it was pay time and off he went. We had a lovely quiet evening watching CSI, playing with the puppies and relaxing and off to bed where I turned the alarm off with some relief.

Tuesday

And so we get to today and an unexpected awakening as my carefully turned off alarm from the night before turned out to still be on and it woke us up and, as is usual, this time we both were awake and got straight up. Typical.

Not heavy but still falling

Thelma hides under the rocking chair

A warming up after going outside

Thelma wants back in

Rambo and Louise are much happier in the snow

The pear tree in the chicken enclosure

Rambo catches a snow ball in his mouth

The chickens and ducks don't like snow

A large difference since the last update

Trying to get the sewing machine working

Very excited to check out her first baking

A rather impressive loaf

We'd been promised snow and a light dusting greeted us when we got downstairs. It kept falling very lightly for most of the morning. A had worked a bit on Monday to allow us to have today completely off from work and so we had a nice relaxing start to the day, getting the fire going and doing various bits and pieces inside and watching the snow fall. The puppies were not very impressed but Rambo was very pleased as he loves snow and particularly enjoys catching snowballs. The birds had refused to come out while snow was falling heavily but did emerge briefly - they are not fans at all. A got to finally have a go at two new toys today - she baked a loaf of bread in the bread-maker my mum gave us, and also managed to get her new sewing machine operating correctly. We also headed out as we were expecting a delivery from the UK however it has not arrived, though it was due by Saturday. I snapped a picture looking across the front just as a contrast to the one in the previous update - how fast it can change here.

Skillet sizzling on the kitchen petchka

Parsnip and carrot mash, potato and leek mash, and lamb cutlets

Louise grins

So I got to just before writing about today before dinner became ready and I had to take a short break. It was lamb with two different types of mash and it was lovely! Ironically having just sat here and typed about how nice it was to have the music back I almost forgot to put any on this meal but I remembered in time and saved the day. I do love it. After dinner we sat and listened to the remainder of the side and the puppies joined us. Louise really is so dangerously cute and she knows it - if you could bottle that cute you could make a fortune!

What have I been up to?

I've not been back into Room 13 since Sunday - what with Bekir not coming I've not felt the urge and also I've just been wanting to relax a little and have a short break. I'm certain I'll be back to it and finishing what I can, working on the raised beds as well, this week. I did get into the tool room and clean and tidy it out so it's ready for me to do the raised beds wood and I also hoovered the kitchen and cleaned up a bit but mainly I've been, you guessed it, modeling.

Earth colour painted on, and an extra lump of rock emerging

The courtyard has paving slabs scribed onto it

Real twigs used to model trunks supporting the stairs

Stairway carefully glued into place

Nearly completed the inside of the walls

A cut down tree, and shovels in the background

I'm trying to get my town walls diorama finished and so have been focusing on that and not doing any more painting of miniatures. Part of what I was expecting in the most recent delivery is the tool to enable me to make a start on the model railway diorama so I really hope that comes soon. Anyway, I've been practicing lots of techniques and found that while I was rubbish at static grass application with a little effort, a lot of YouTube watching, and some patience I can do it OK. I am really close to finished on this now, just a few little details which I should get completed tomorrow. I am proud of my steps as I really didn't know how they would turn out but particularly like the little detail of the cut down tree and the ditch being dug.

And so there you have it - a nice brief update for you today. Thanks for reading.