Friday cont.....

Just a couple of pickies of Scratch for the record.....he's the one with his back to you in the first picture and he does need feeding up a bit.  Having done some research there are vets all over the place and one working in Dzebel so maybe I need to take him as soon as possible to get him over the worst before I go.  And a big bag of dog food / puppy food to get him on the road to protecting yours truely.....The second pickie is definately him....and it is definately a HIM.

And what a record day with the house.  They are now bricking from the eaves up so that the snow doesn't get into the eaves and believe it or not....they should be starting on the hardboard and my bitumen anytime soon since they have advised me that they will be working Saturday and Sunday.  I think it was when I threatened that if I didn't have a roof....they didn't have their holiday

Now off to eat with Heinz, Silvana and Richard with an already ordered menu of Carp which is absolutely wonderful washed down with a little red wine....Lecka nosht....

What a wonderful meal....carp cooked in the oven stuffed with onion and tomato..and I settled for beer not wine in the end.  £5 approximately per head and the rest of the fish was included.....now that can't be bad.

Sunday 22nd November

This is especially for Maureen who has got me confused with a Minister in the States....Morning...I am just an Anglechanka in a state ...of euphoria...

Well there are a few photos that I didn't publish earlier so this is more of a photocall than an update.  Today has been glorious weather and I was down from the customary three tshirts and a body warmer to just one tshirt plus the usuals as I sat and read my book after fighting with a bonfire in the garden to get rid of the leaves from the trees.  We had a trip to the wood yard this morning to order another two cubic of wood.  Now I don't know what a cubic looks like but when it eventually arrived late this afternoon, we all thought it looked a lot and when it was unloaded it looked even more.

I have the first layer on the roof joists and I have elected to go for full wood, then comes the hardboard though I'm not sure why, then we have my bitumen, then battens and then roof tiles.  On the inside we have a layer of insulation attached to the roof timbers and after that we have the ten centimetre insulation that most houses have...toasty me thinks.  Overkill may be but definately toasty.  And all the ceilings will be wooden.  

A few pickies of the roof in its stages and views from the different areas of the upstairs....yet no stairs but the ladder works for the time being.  The views from the top floor are from the different bedrooms and the one of the house is .....well just awaiting the rest of the roof and a few finishing touches like windows and doors....Little problems...  Here you go....

Wow!! Those views are totally stunning Elsa P!

I can't believe how well the roof is coming on! They look like they are doing a stirling job  

I wish I was there....I wish I was there... I wish I was there!



















Has it worked yet?? Oh bugger I'm still in Orrible Manchester  

Monday morning for Mikey B  

You forgot to wear your red shoes and click your heels when you say it.....if you don't you'll just end up in Hatfield.  

Soon Mikey B....let me get an inside toilet which I'm assured will only take one day and shower facilities and with my wood working skills, at least a bed for you and Dawn....Have a good day and remember, red shoes Dorothy if you want it to work.....xx

Monday 23rd November

Another beautiful day and another 3 kilograms of nails in the roof.  It is now completely covered in timber and tomorrow goes on the hardboard...why I don't know but that's just what they do.  

I was fence mending today and uncovered my well.  The cows had found a way in by the side of the house and builders being on the roof, they are also on crava (cow) watch and the cry goes up 'you've got visitors'.  Now yesterday I made a cow chasing stick and this came into its own.  It stands in the hallway right by the door and is easily grabable or cravable to get the beasties out.  Little did I think that I would acquire a new skill of cow punching at this late stage of my development.  I built a crava proof fence round the well and costed out barbed wire to go round the perimeter.  Not pretty but these cows can jump so the easier the solution, the better for me.

Today I went up on the roof when I delivered coffee and I jokingly said that it would be good to have a look out point on the roof.  They looked at me as if ' what is she on now' and I just smiled.  At one point I thought the one was going to throw himself off the roof in desparation until he realised that I was only joking and a look of relief came over his face.  We still stick to the phrase...purve poclife, postle sitchco.....first the roof, afterwards everything else.

Now I'm off to eat.....lecka nosht..  Introduced to local school teacher who wanted to practice her English so ended up starving and have just come back to the hotel and demolished a pack of so called digestives that taste more like malted milk than malted milk with the cows of them.  So I think it is a little red wine and to bed with hunger pains.....Again lecka nosht.

Tuesday 24th November

The bottom fence worked.  The cows tried in vain to get over it and into my garden where the grass is a lot greener but I managed to keep them out or rather the fence did.  I was out constructing on the new fence by the well when the neighbour hood watch on the roof yelled 'crava' to which I replied 'let them try' and they did and they couldn't.

The one by the well has grown.  I have cleared out all the crap where I'm sure the locals decided it was a good place to lob plastic bottles, old petchkas and the likes and am getting the wheelbarrow from the first floor tomorrow and dumping it in someone else's garden.  It is sitting in the lane at the moment outside of my new fence and I think a wall and some greenery might look nice now that I've cleared it up a bit.  Eventually the well will have a pocklif but that's after mine I fear.

The bitumen went on today and the glue stuck just like it should but especially on hands. The guys looked just like they were about to do the Black and White Minstrals show and went home still wearing most of it.  They've convinced me that I did the right thing with my bitumen on top of their bitumen.  At the moment they are demob happy since they are coming up to one of their festivals.  They did say though that there is no alcohol during the three day feste but lots of barbeques.  I just asked what was the point of a barbeque without alcohol but I forgot that it is a religious time for them and they have lots of days where they do drink the dreaded Rakia.

Well fresh air and fun building fences has taken its toll.  I have now to go and pick out the splinters since I was using old wood from the roof and get lots of hand cream in to keep the joints moving.  The fresh air is knackering so I'm all set for an early night.  Lecka nosht.....into a good book by Sven Hassell so signing off...

Exciting times now the bitumen is going over the bitumen   So where's the picture then? You've already skipped the timber cladding and the hardboard going on, and now the bitumen hahah I feel short changed  

Wednesday 25th November

Well Mikey B...not like me to short change anyone especially you so here goes.  Today's instalment is more in pictures that words...just cus I know that you prefer it that way....

The first one shows the complete wooden cladding of the roof and I did suggest that they put me a lookout post on the top but the hole is only so that they can get in and out...I repeat it is not a cat flap.  I am a hard task master....they still have to work by moonlight while I just take pictures of the wonderful sunsets....

Enjoy...and now I am off to eat....Lecka nosht....

Thursday 26th November

I am full, full, full of pancakes.  It is the duty of every lady in the village to deliver pancakes because it is their special holiday today and tomorrow it is the killing of the beasts and the barbeques.  So the builders were up on the roof for the first and second deliveries and I was constructing the remainder of my fence and depositing the dross in the lane by the well.  As I said everybody used to think that the garden was fair game but now it is infinitely better and is now ready for Monty Don to do his stuff (if only) on the landscaping to add to the stunning backdrop.  It is now crava proof to boot.  Lord help us all if a flaming great magnet crosses over the house and gardens there will just be a pile of everything else.

The roof is now complete except for the tiles but I am assured that there is a five year guarantee for the bitumen without tiles.  I confirmed that I wanted them on so the Monday (which is when they start again) has been designated tile day.  I dropped them off early tonight since they were not in the mood to start anything else at 3.00 this afternoon and they were obviously demob happy so home they went to start the celebrations.

Pictures...pancakes at dawn with honey and their special syrup and fence and garbage heaps to be removed over the weekend and taken to the local tip just up the road.  The motto has to be 'not in my back garden'.

Friday 27th November

Well I found out today that they are not called pancakes but fortunately none were delivered.  I spent the morning with my car guru in the caravan and at 2.30 we headed for the barbeque of the beast that was and was no more.  It was culled, we ate the meat and Pepe had made a huge Bacalava which is a honey desert so beauty and the beast was the order of the day...

I didn't go to the culling of the animals.  I know where my meat comes from and it's not the chiller cabinet at Asda but I don't necessarily want to see it slaughtered but for the people in the villages in the south of Bulgaria it is part of their heritage and so we celebrate it with them.  They have two more days of this special time but tomorrow I am taking my car back to my guru to get the fuel filter looked at and then a trip to Kardjali and guess what....I found out today that there is an overnight  train to Istanbul with night sleepers for about 24 BGN each way which is about £12 so for all those lucky or not so lucky visitors this is one of the 'specials' on the itinery.  Now I love Istanbul since there is so much to see so you will be forced to enjoy it too.

Off to bed early tonight.....the internet is running like a dog with two legs so it's short and sweet from me.  Oh by the way I think my little dog is now called Herbert.  I looked at him today in the garage and I just called him a scruffy Herbert and it seemed to fit....and they are taking care of him at the garage until I get back from the UK.  I have also found a placement for him should I choose to take to the high road at some point.  It's always good to know the plan Batman....

Lecka Nosht... perhaps more pickies tomorrow when I get rid of the rubbish heap from the garden and put up my litter bins and the 'fine' signs for the little louts and try to break the national pastime.  Lecka nosht.....