Tuesday 3rd November

Well what can I say.  It appears that I am back on line.  Such a lot has happened and October seems to have been one of the busiest months so I'll try and fill you in on some of the activities that have taken place.  I think pictures speak a thousand words but where is that camera when you need it?  I was up on the second floor of my little house when I noticed that my little old man who lives next door appeared to have fallen down the well and all I could see was a little head with a very worried expression poking out.  'Help' in Bulgarian I understand but this was Turkish so I was desparately trying to make my builders understand that there was a problem and they ran to the rescue and pulled him out.  Goodness knows how he managed to get down there in the first place or how he came to fall in but there you go.  All day long I had this thought pounding through my head of ding dong bell, stara mush is down the well.  Stara mush being Bulgarian for Old Man as he is now affectionately titled.

Hurrah, we appear to be back online... Glad to hear you are okay, as opposed to the stara mush. I hope that the house is finished soon...The hotel costs sound horrendous. Speak to you soon...T L E & L XXX

WooHoo the mad women from the hills has been plugged back in  

Good to see!!!

Anyway back on topic!! What do you mean no pictures! I was going to put a question mark but im typing on a turkish keyboard so you`re lucky you understand me at all  

Wednesday 4th November

Well to you Mikey B....I am lucky to understand you at all never mind the excuse of a Turkish keyboard

So yesterday was a day of variables.  It was dull in the morning when I picked up the workers at 8.00a.m. but as we passed the young builder's house, I slowed down the car and his mother handed him a bag.  He just turned and said 'barbeque' and I just smiled and thought that he couldn't be serious.  Well yes he was.  But as the day wore on the weather deteriorated and we had the first few flakes of snow so what there was on those far off hills was slowly making its way to the lower reaches.  And then it started and continued but in the midst of it all the little builder started to make a fire in the garden on my bonfire spot and I thought it was just to keep warm but no.....a barbeque.  He constructed a makeshift lid, it appears that they had killed a calf and we had a few slices of the wee beastie that we were having for lunch so in the blizzard he set to work.  Delicious.  We all sat around the wood burner which was rapidly consuming the old roof and had it with bread and Fanta.  Not a drop of red wine in sight.  After that it was a bit of an anti-climax.  Too cold to work and so back to their respective houses and me left with the washing up.  There are pickies that I will add when I work what has changed so that I can't add them at the moment.  Do not fear....I have the evidence of this mad occurence

Thursday 5th November

Well I did promise the pictures for the barbeque and here goes....this is the proof

Thursday continued

Yesterday started off rainy but then turned into a reasonable day but hey if it rains, my builders don't want to work but this morning it was a beautiful but chilly start.  The Beast had thawed out by 7.30 this morning as I set off to collect the workers.  Now to ask anybody how they are it is usually Kak si but this has turned into Taxi which is what I usually say when I pull up outside the cafe.  It's become a bit of a joke and this morning they all turned out in hats but as the day wore on I was down to only two sweaters.  I had Heinz and Silvana over this morning checking out the reception for the home box to get internet installed.  I think I shall have to get electricity installed first since I am currently attached by an extension lead to the pole....

Lets have a few pickies of the house in it's current state.  I should now to be careful what I ask for....my little house has now become my big house, all the lintels are in place and the roof timbers should be arriving tomorrow.  I am also proud of my wood working skills, not pretty but effective and very useful

hey, tried to get you earlier, to stop off for a photoshoot... well not actually to shoot you, just the Pajero!

the page on the http://4x4inbulgaria.com site, has now been updated with your gearbox repairs, and alledgedly yur now due for a complete winter servicing too lol ...   however it seems both me and Rich havn't taken photos of the entire jeep!  

so when yur washed n ready... the jeep will be featured here - http://4x4inbulgaria.com/mitsubishi_pajero_4x4.html

Tuesday 10th November

This is in response to a bantering by Mikey B who has nothing better to do than take a holiday, get to sit on the pilots knee on the way back by the look of his pickies and is demanding that I update.  Now getting up at the crack of and shifting builders around is not my idea of fun.  I thought I had retired from the early morning starts but not so.  I did tell a funny story about my stara mush neighbour and a well and so here are the pictures of the well and stara mush but not in the same sequence....where is that camera when you need it???

I have also the first wooden bits in place for the roof and yesterday we went and bought the steel gutterings and down pipes so I think that signifies that there is a roof on its way.  The big timbers are coming later today and I have just arranged for three acro props for the other house so that the ceilings don't come down in the snow.  My guys yesterday said that because the timbers didn't arrive on schedule that they seemed to have nothing to do after lunch time....I suggested that they dig the trench for the loo that connects to a pipe that supposedly takes the extruded contents down the valley.....where down the valley I know not but I now have the channel for the plastic waste pipes....progress.  OK Mikey B and I promise more to follow later.....

Tuesday 10th November

The promised lorry arrived along with its load of timber that I though, what the hell are they going to do with that lot...Firstly the man couldn't get his lorry with his crane into the drive so it was dumped on the road in front of the main gate and dutifully blocking in the Beast so I'm now concerned that if they don't get it moved to within the compound then we are all well and truely stuffed.  Now I needn't have worried at all.  With my lovely Stara Mush of the Well fame instucting and advising everyone of everything...what could possibly go wrong... Well it was unloaded as the pickies show but then the heavens opened and rain stopped play.  I've mentioned already that they don't like the rain but they don't seem to have a fallback plan either so we all sat round the petchka (woodburner) while Stara Mush related some funny stories but only if you speak Turkish or Bulgarian fluently.  Driving back we could have done with a life safety raft.  Bulgaria doesn't have very efficient storm drains on the roads so it was a bit like Thorpe Park water rides.  Not only did the heavens open but we had the thunder and lightening to go with it.  Ah well...let's get some pickies loaded....

Wednesday 11th November...lest we forget

Now the pickup was same time same place but it was sunny when I left Dzebel but foggy when I got to the cafe pickup point.  In truth I anticipated a problem despite the fact that they seemed to be anticipating a breeze of a day with the barbeque forecast for 1.00.  Those logs seemed pretty big to me and considering that they had to get them onto the first floor of the house....bloody big.

So now I am discussng the possibility of a crane and ask them to make a phone call to the nearest crane supplier but he was on holiday.  Now I watched them wrestle the first one up there and then I thought that I had to do something constructive and end the agony.  Now Richard my car angel has a winch attached to his discovery so I put two and two together and gave him a call.  Now I'm trying to explain this to my guys who don't speak much of anything that I understand and neither do I as far as they are concerned but I got the message across.  Richard arrived and yes we could manage to winch the beams up to the first floor considering that we had nine of the beauties to move.  Success and we had the barbeque as planned and they sat round the fire while Richard and I sat round the petchk enjoying lamb the like of which you haven't tasted in England...these eat grass and roam free.  As for the kitten that you see in the pickies....it's not anybodies but one of my mates confirms that if I pay the builders and they are providing food for the kitten then I am indirectly providing for the kitten.  We joke about it but with them gone I think I have acquired my first responsibility....

All beams successfully sited and guess what...we have another nine coming within the next couple of days and yes...Richard is on standby....Lecka nosht...everybody....oh and the name for the kitten....Toya...it's yours....