Well Hello there Mummy Moo Mar.......... I'm so glad that you are up and running again! Looks like things are all systems go with you.

I have been very busy at work and think that I'd be much better suited to Sainsburys and I would also benefit from Nectar points!.......... I hear that you are coming home in December? It will be great to see you. Miss you Mummy but so happy that you are living your dream.....................I'm dead proud of you, YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!

Remember, to the moon and back,

Big Kisses, Princess and her Frogs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday 13th November

Miss you too Princess and your frogs and the moon and back seems positively nearer than my roof although saying that...I’ve just realised… Friday 13th and there wasn’t the option to stay in bed.  Off with the Beast to collect my little team.  My car was in yesterday and has been prepared for the winter and I’m advised that I can go down to -25degrees now that the anti-freeze has been done and my nipples greased….now there’s a thing.  Last night I decided to treat Richard, my car and winch guru, to the local for chicken livers done their special way, chicken wings, cheesy chips, salad, and two beers for me and I forgot to count how many coffees for Richard.  The total bill was 17BGN which roughly translates to £9.00 sterling. And……there were a lot of coffees.

On my roof there is a lot of banging and the pickie that they are working to is still up on my notice board.  It is now in their heads and they're placing beams accordingly.  It's rumoured that Bulgaria is held together by six inch nails but I believe they are much larger.  England screws, Bulgarians nail.   Now we had a funny story about bitumen.  Bitumen in Bulgarian means wooden timbers and I am trying to insist that we have a layer of bitumen over the timbers not relying solely on hardboard sheets to do the job.  I kept saying that they must put bitumen and they assured me they would.  Eventually we got to the bottom of it and now it’s their bitumen and my bitumen so that we understand what we are talking about.  I’m off to buy some of my bitumen.  More pictures to follow…..there is at last progress.   Just a little update on the kitten...she now loves my boots and is determined to get me to pick her up but I've left that to the men....Toya is not mine....theirs...and now I am going to rest my weary head.  Lecka nosht

Sunday 15th November

Sorry that there has been no update but the internet at the hotel was down.  Here we go.....the workers have worked their little socks off over the last couple of days and we now have something that resembles the bare bones of the roof.  We did have a site meeting this afternoon with the 'picture' held in high esteem and decided that we didn't need any windows in the roof...it would have made it too tall.  I just suggested that if I am going to go up into the loft that they can fit me a light instead.  Again it started off with freezing fog and by the time that I had got the petchka up to full steam it was time to go home.  It's difficult though...the door remains open and I've only got shower curtains for windows as it stands at the moment so it doesn't have much of a chance.  It did get up to 12 degrees but I think it was warmer outside. Now for a few of the house....and lecka nosht...I'm off for a sorely needed shower...

Well I'm at home with a poorly brave soldier (no..................... not my husband!) My little frog is croaky and has managed to persuade me that he should be off school for the day....... He did seem to improve slightly after 9.00 I must admit.
Things are really going well with you by the look of it, the house is looking great and the hard work seems to be paying off. Callum has fallen in love with Toiya and I think he would be a very happy bunny to get her wrapped up for his christmas pressie!..... I on the other hand would not so please don't be tempted to smuggle her home!! Well I'm off to do my Florence Nightingale bit.... I think Big Frog may have told Little Frog that Man Flu can be a killer and that he should let me run around and look after him......... Big Kisses, love you to the moon and back, Princess, Big Frog and Little Croaky Frog xx Rebbit, xx Rebbit

Monday 16th November

OK Florence, send the troops back to the front tomorrow.  Now if you think the Toiya cute take a look at these beauties.  It was suggested that I take both because we all had the same colour hair but we have a boy and a girl in there and so it will be probably the boy although the girl is more aggressive.  Now there's a thing.  As for the kitten picture I think it was being threatened with the barbeque if it didn't stop stealing food.

I've had a lovely day today.  Went with Richard into Kardjali, picked up my residents card and sorted out the insurance on the properties.  I'm amazed how much Bulgarian I am understanding and speaking or perhaps more people down here are giving English a try.  What the heck...everything seems much easier than it used to.  

Well today I went and got my bitumen from the local do it yourself place and it is now in the back of the Beast along with two pots of something to secure it to the hardboard.  The back seats of the Beast have no leg room whatsoever and the men have got to move things around in the morning before they can even get into the car.  They decided to take today off so that they come back refreshed or something like that.  The weather forcast is fine until the weekend so that's an improvement and it looks like it is getting warmer....  I paid off some of my hotel bill today not wanting to let it run until I come back to UK.  The last seven weeks has cost me the same as one week in the UK...gore dol (or there abouts) and that can't be bad.

Now for the pickies....and good night everybody.  I got a chicken leg and some crusty bread from Billa in Kardjali and I can't wait to tuck in...Lecka nosht...and to the moon and back Princess and the frogs even though one is ever so slightly croaky....XXX

Tuesday 17th November

I'm a suffering insomniac.  I have just finished another book but fortunately the English fraternity here has provided lots more to go at.  I shouldn't eat cheese at bedtime Grommit.....

Now what a beautiful day it turned out to be.....the weather was warm and sunny and so I shall continue to leave my new gloves in the pocket of my body warmer and the builders had a field day.

It was confusing at first.  The general conversation was to go to Chacalarovo which isn't spelt like that at all or were we to stop off at Fotinovo and wait for Ysat to deliver coffee me being a good customer?  Anyway it was all lost in translation and I went with the flow and without the coffee but came back with huge logs in a van that I know not where it came from.  That's BG for you.  The petchka was slow to light this morning when we eventually got to the house and was surprisingly warm by the time that we came to leave.  I spent the afternoon cutting down the trees that obscure my view of the Momchilgrad mountains and then refining them into logs suitable for the petchka.  Productive, good for the bust so I am told and now I have also removed the one remaining blot on the landscape so that I can take a good pickie of the house without there being any intrusions.  The builders put up eight courses of bricks, unloaded their bitumen from Chacalarovo and mine from the Beast before they went home or rather to the cafe.  I believe it is their watering hole and there again everybody needs one.  I pulled the Beast into the parking bay behind the hotel, went to my local, got my own beer out of the fridge and a glass and sat for an hour making animals out of plastercine for their three year old daughter.  Hubovo Givot or wonderful life as they say....Back in the room now and taking a much needed shower and time to get my head into a book or Sudoko on the Nintendo.....now time to relax...Lecka nosht....

Wednesday 18th November

What a beautiful day it turned out to be after the morning fog had cleared.  I picked up my guys at the agreed time, got them to the house, lit the woodburner, made us all coffee and then drove the Beast down to Dzebel to get one of its boots fixed.  The cost of parts and labour was approximately £35.  I fell in love all over again with the little dog and offered to take him after Christmas if they would look after him until then but I recognise that they just want to get rid even though I offered money for food and injections until I returned.  Ah well.  I'm sure she'll have other pups.

Have a lovely Twitter interlude going with Peter James and the highs and lows of using an ironing board for its intended purpose or perhaps using it as a surf board and trying out the Thames Barrier.  He said that he is a novice with an ironing board and I suggested he stays that way and gets a housekeeper to keep him suitably turned out for all occasions.  I await a response.  I also want to know if his books are translated into Bulgarian yet.  It would be handy to have something ready if I get stopped for speeding and an organised book signing could keep me beyond the law....just a thought.  I await the next Tweet.

Now the roof is getting nearer and it's looking fantastic.  I dropped the guys off tonight and on the way noticed a huge 'bonfire' in one of the men's garden.  I joked barbeque and they said no....Rakia.  We had a still going.  I went to Pepes for coffee but on the way back I called in to see whether it was 'still' going and yes it was and found out the tecky terms and the second stage of the process.  I decided not to use the camera on this one....it is as illegal here as it is anywhere but I stuck my finger in the outpourings and wow...what a taste.  I'll get my bottle or the pics get published....

Now back to the hotel for the well earned shower and looking forward to another super day tomorrow.  The builders apologised that it is taking so long to do but they are doing it properly and that's all that matters.  I'll get more up to date pictures for you then and so it's goodnight from me....sleep tight and if I had had more of that Rakia, I'm sure I would....lecka nosht....

Good news, the little croaky frog prince is fully recovered and back to school tomorrow! I can't be doing with poorly demanding chidren...... especially when i am not being paid for it! I know he is better as he has talked non stop today and I'm looking forward to going back to school for a rest!!
The puppies that you have adopted are beautiful..... I think you should call them Itchy and Scratchy....

Can't wait to see you soon...........................Moon and back, Princess, Big Frog and Baby Croaker xxxxxxxxxx

Thursday 19th November

Well Princess...you could always ship him out to me.  I could do with a hand chopping wood and that would be guaranteed to get him back to school in quicksticks.  It's become a bit of a joke.  Locals use the axe cum hammer cum whatever else you might want to use it for and this is now termed as Turkish Robote (work).  Now yours truely uses a saw for the big bits and props the little stuff up against a ledge and bangs down hard with a foot and this has now become known as English Robote.  If I can't get through it with the foot then it goes into the pile marked 'saw'.  Easy really.  I now have two piles of assorted firewood that is going to be stored in the other house waiting for the snow but today I was down to two tshirts having stripped off one Priory School jumper and a body warmer.

The guys have spent the day sawing and banging and bending rods of metal around the roof timbers.  Now I thought they were arials for the local radio station but I'm assured they are to keep the roof on if there is a gale force wind blowing so that it doesn't end up in Greece and once more I would be without a roof.

Had a bit of a battle with the cows again today and had more fence building to do.  It's not that there is nothing to stop them but they seem to leapfrog what's there even though it is covered with thorns and balk at the thought of going out the way that they came in.  I am now getting to be quite a dab hand at removing them from the garden and I have improved the fence using the beams from the old roof.  Let's see if it stops them tomorrow.  

Quick shower and off to my local for some cheesy chips and chicken wings....lecka nosht and big kisses to Princess and the frogs......

Friday 20th November

Well Princess and the frogs....is it to be Itchy or Scratchy......to be delivered January, fully injected!!   I better read the book......   Maybe just Scratch.....