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 :)
Today has been a very busy day all round as I've cracked on with my chores as well as done a bit of hobby.
Snow this morning
Reparing the kitchen door
Bekir fitting shelves in the games room
The shredder shredding cardboard
Shelves on one side done; this was duplicated
Halil holding Henry while Bekir hoovers
Shelves up by the printer
The snow last night settled over night but it wasn't that much; I did have to clean the windscreen on Thomas to drop Rosie down but we were only just above the snowline; only a very little distance down the hill and the snow turned to rain. The men were in and got stuck into their first task, to shave the kitchen door down so it shut properly, and then they spent the rest of the day on the main task which was fitting the brackets to the walls for my shelving. I was up in the roof clearing (no pictures yet; it's still a mess) and also did a lot of shredding of cardboard. I've lots more to do. The men managed to get all the shelving finished that I have current plans for which was awesome. This even included the shelves next to the printer. All the black plastic shelving that has been freed up will now go to the roof space to help me tidy up there. What great success.
So there you are; we've almost run out of odd jobs inside for them to do so I'm hoping if they come back tomorrow we can FINALLY make a start on the workshop!!! Thanks for reading.
... but apparently it can rain a LOT, and so it has been.
The day looks promising
Here comes the rain (inside)
End of the day glow
Rosie painting the railway
Filthy water that came through the window
It was torrential on Friday and Bekir and Halil didn't come which was a shame but not massively surprising. The weather changed from torrential to promising sun to then absolutely incredible high winds and driving rain that was so heavy it forced its way through our windows and I spent a chunk of the morning running around with towels mopping up floods. It was my final day of work for the year so was a bit busy. The storm blew over and we did get to see some sunset, which was surprising, and at the end of the day Rosie asked again to help with the Model Railway which was just awesome.
There are a couple of videos above the paragraph above and if you can't see them, go here to check them out.
The only picture from Saturday
Promising on Sunday
Rosie and Teddies watching the train
At the restaurant
The weekend was a mix of some sunny periods with lots of rain and wind. On Daddy Saturday we went to the shops and played on the trampoline and with the skittles but I did not take many pictures while on Sunday it was nice enough that Angela got to go into the garden with Rosie which was great. We went out in the evening to our favourite restuarant and Rosie had a great time with a birthday party that was going on there.
Starting to fit the new lights
Confusion at the garage
Guitars back on the wall
Boiler back installed
New angle for the timer
And so to today. It was raining all day and horrible so the men worked inside all day. First of all they fitted the two new lights into the balcony so now we have good illumination throughout. I had to head out a couple of times, including to the garage to get Thomas looked at, and while I was out the men fixed my guitar hooks which is great. Angela and I did a Bulgarian language lesson today as well and the final task for Bekir and Halil was to refit the bigger boiler. While doing this they changed the timer so now we can see it. At the end of the day we looked at the windows and found that our drains empty behind the insulation, and are blocked, which is far from ideal so that will need to be fixed.
Of course it cannot rain all the time and right now it is snowing...
So there you are; the long weekend and today. Thanks for reading.
The sun shone today, which was a great relief to me and probably to the workmen as well.
The sun appears
Thomas, low on his suspension with sheep manure
Sifting then shovelling into the raised bed
The long task continues
Taking the manure out of Thomas
Nearly all done for the day
It was a beautiful sunrise though I was up quite late after a disturbed night (more of which later). I had a busy day at work but did pay attention for the men to arrive in Thomas, loaded down with very mature composted sheep manure - this is amazing quality and will be wonderful in the raised beds. The men got stuck into their task for the day which was filling up the first bay with soil; they sifted it through the old gate again to take out stones and roots and then threw it into the bay. It was a long and boring day but eventually they got enough in that it was time for a layer of sheep manure. After emptying Thomas they about a few inches thick over the whole area then finished the day by covering that with soil. The first bay is COMPLETE!
Moon over the Old School
Where the guitar hanger pulled out of the wall
Rosie went to the park with Angela after school which was lovely and then after she got home it was time for some play upstairs and then outside to get the washing in and also run around about in the gloaming. It was while I was upstairs that I noticed one of my guitars on the floor and suddenly realised - this is what disturbed me in the night. About 3am this morning I was woken by a huge clatter of something falling over but despite going all round the house, down to the woodstore and up into the roof space I could see nothing that could have caused it. But now I see the guitar hanger pulled out of the wall and the guitar fell to the floor. Fortunately it doesn't SEEM to be damaged but I'll have to give it a good look over.
So there you are; another day done and STILL not onto the chicken enclosure; my fear is we won't even start that until next year now. Oh well, back tomorrow.
Today's update is going to be short and sweet; it's been a simple day for the builders, and a busy day (as always) for me.
Halil preparing the ground
Puddle inside the raised bed
Another barrowload of stones
Into the bay it goes
Sand on top of mesh
Getting to the end of the day
The first task of the day was removing the shuttering around the inside of the raised beds (Bekir did this) while Halil scraped away at the bottom of the far trench to make it slope smoothly to the drain at the bottom. You can see why we need to think about drainage as while it doesn't rain all that often here, when it does it is normally very heavy. They filled the first bay with the layer of stones and then laid down the mesh Angela had bought to prevent soil from clogging the drains. This was weighted down with sand. By the end of the day the bay was ready for soil and the path around the outside for stones. They have taken Thomas home to their village this evening and will come back tomorrow with it full of sheep manure to put into these beds.
So there it is; another day done. It is taking AGES to get these finished. Thanks for reading.
I was fully expecting today to be a fully inside working day, particularly with how torrential the rain was when I first woke up.
Getting the day started
Drilling for wires
Cement mixer is going
Polishing the cement
Darkness falls at the end of the day
As it turned out the rain stopped and largely stayed away, other than a few very short showers, so Bekir and Halil were able to spend all day outside and getting the cement toppers done on both raised beds. They had to complete the wooden shutters initially and then got the mixer going and spent the day putting the cement in the forms and then polishing it carefully to get a good finish. It was very dark by the time they wrapped up for the night. Bekir said today "there's a lot of playing around with this task" and he is right. There have been lots of fiddly little tasks to do that have taken time. We're finally slowly getting there though.
Having a laugh by the tree
Rosie setting up the skittles again
Hitting the badminton shuttle
When Rosie came home and after her snack I had a lovely time with her playing by the tree, then she got the skittles out and we played with them for a while and then I found some badminton stuff and she was having fun with that as well. She's trying out so much stuff now, it's great.
There it is; another day done. I really hope we get to the chicken enclosure soon!
It's Monday once more and what a lovely weekend we had.
Rosie sitting on the chest on the trolley
A big bounce, before a bum-landing
Soaking after the splash
An absolutely stunning sunrise
New light fitting up in the roof space
The sunset is reflected in the balcony
Leaving for dinner
Rosie in the play area
Saturday was a bit dull and raining but we still got out in the morning to pick up some more storage for Rosie's play room before coming home and (after a nice chat with Grandma and Auntie Nods) there was time to bounce on the trampoline and then the sun suddenly came out so we wrapped up warm and went for a big splash in the big puddle in the lane. It was a lot of fun. Sunday was a busy day all round, it started off with a beautiful sunrise and ended up being a beautiful day, though very windy at times. I did a bit of tidying upstairs and fitted a new light in the roof space. In the evening we went out for dinner to our favourite restaurant, leaving the School as the sun set and returning after a very fun evening (lots of play for Rosie, and good food as well) after dark. A lovely weekend indeed.
Halil working to get the drainage in
More stones for drainage
I even lit the fire today
Shuttering goes up around the raised beds
And so to today; it has been so changeable weather with the sun shining one minute and torrential rain the next; really unpleasant and horrible for the men working outside. The first task of the day was digging out the rest of the drainage from the garden area, this involved some breaker work outside in the side path but was done quickly. I was again busy and didn't get out much, though I did run and get a quick picture of the rest of the stones being delivered for the garden. The men went to get more electrical cable so they can put new lights up in the balcony but then the changeable weather struck again and the rain stopped briefly so they actually spent the rest of the day outside shuttering the top of the raised beds so they can pour concrete tomorrow and finish them off. We did get a quote for the glazing of the raised beds and it was so expensive we've decided to leave it for now.
Tidy play room (for a few minutes at least)
Angela has been super busy today cleaning and tidying and reorganising and she got the new storage, that Rosie and I picked up on Saturday, into the play room and it is so much better now!
And that is that; back tomorrow, thanks for reading.
