Wednesday continued

Today has been about organising the troops and trying to get them back in line.....Bekir has had to help out the central heating engineer because my walls were too thick and some holes had to go in at an angle so Stara Mush came up with the goodies (tools) from his metal toolbox (house).  Now the obvious thing for me is that if you want a hole to come out in a certain place that you go from down upwards....wrong....I now have a hole in the ceiling where I didn't want it and no amount of pursuading made it any the better or more acceptable and I put my little foot down.  But it would only mean about ten inches of pipe and a bend and now I have it my way....straight into the corner, pipes buried in the wall and no can see.....I have now looked round the rest of the proposed installation and have now resited most of the holes that have been created and Bekir will fix tomorrow.....grrrrrhhhhh.

Sally has had a good day...the woodwork for my column for my third bedroom balcony is in place and the old rendering has been removed ready for the balcony woodwork to be done tomorrow.  We are going to get the stuff delivered.....off to Fotinovo for free coffee in the morning whilst placing the shipping order....must make a list tonight.

Off for supper...my chicken thingy that has been stewing all day....LN...

Thursday 14th October

So today we have even more 'stuff' delivered by lorry and I want a job as a lorry driver....all they do is....drive and Bekir and Sally were responsible for getting it off.  Well most of it that is.....Bekir decided that the wood for the shuttering was not up to standard and sent it back.  Firstly he did offer to cut the end off and we would pay less for it but this seemed to get into a heated discussion and the result was...take it back then and send me the good stuff tomorrow...

Meanwhile back at the ranch....Sally seems to be perilously hanging on to the remaining concrete over the main entrance door.  He has decided that it is not good enough to be added to to make the balcony from the third bedroom and is currently using the hammer drill to remove it and is down to the bars that run through the concrete.

Today Bekir had a visitor who it turns out lives in the next village to Dushinkovo, has taught Bulgarian and French for seven years and Turkish and is currently unemployed.  She has now been booked to teach me Bulgarian two/three mornings a week at a figure yet to be agreed.  My problem is that I know lots of words but it's the verb endings and the linking words that confuse me....I did several years of Latin, understand declensions and the likes but with no one to explain it too me it just gets too complicated so let's see how we get on.

Just thought I would add a few pickies of this morning's work now that I have the makings of a patio and decided to add one of the big hole in the lounge/dining room (currently bedroom) to take the central heating pipes.  Pretty big since they had to remove the stones from the wall as the drill couldn't get through it.  All should be repaired tomorrow....I hope....

Friday 15th October

What a funny day today has been.  It rained, there was fog, the wood from Fotinovo didn't arrive so Sally was at a loose end.   I went into Djebel to get the rest of the material for putting in a new outside water tap since the old one was all surface mounted and running along the landing floor and now I have tiles missing and a pipe submounted so I just had to make the point that that's what I'd asked for all along.....men...

My second trip into Djebel was to get a water cut-off so that I could disable my outside water tap whenever I wanted just in case I was away and a cow knocked it off....the last time that happened it cost me an awful lot of money and a very red face at the waterboard....I just paid up and shut up but be damned if it's going to happen again.....

So now men home, they are not working the weekend because there's no point, rain and no materials have stopped play.  I have swept through the house now that I am back, will only mop through it there is no rain tomorrow and otherwise am happy with the state of the place.  The outside bench is now esconsed in the kitchen since the weather looks like it has set in for the winter and I don't have a patio to speak of more like a bomb site so it's OK for the moment and now I believe it is time for a .....vodka and tonic......I did put sweet and sour sausages in the slow cooker this morning but have just switched it off.....I have no hunger after downing two slices of fresh crusty bread with butter at about 4.30 so it I feel like it later I shall get something otherwise....I shall have it warmed up tomorrow and freeze the rest....There does look rather a lot for one so I might invite A and D over for a late lunch/early supper before she sets off for Sofia tomorrow bound for the UK.  Now this weather set in when she arrived and I'm just hoping she takes it back with her....

Enough for this time....I'm into a futuristic good book by Edie Shah about the absconding of the President into a parallel world of the internet and the dark places....Half way through and enjoying it although it's not something that I would normally pick up and it's left over from the guest who should really be referred to as Martin to give him his name although I think he rather likes the TG monogram that I have bestowed upon him....

LN...back to my petchka just to keep the damp out, the vodka to keep the spirits up and the book because I don't have a television I'm pleased to say....LN everybody....

Hello,

  Back to being just me here!  Me and Annie went to Smolyan and Pamparovo and got wet, stayed in a fish hotel and restaurant and ate beef and chicken. Someone has stolen all the roads in Smolyan. Rain rain go away!

Regards,

D of S

Where the picture of the new open air front door?

Elf and safety would have field day with Sally removing his perch from under him!  But the Bulgarian way is so much easier!!!

Quoted from 25

Hello,

  Back to being just me here!  Me and Annie went to Smolyan and Pamparovo and got wet, stayed in a fish hotel and restaurant and ate beef and chicken. Someone has stolen all the roads in Smolyan. Rain rain go away!

Regards,

D of S

Have I lost a day or what.....I thought you were taking Annie to Kardjali today and she is flying out tomorrow and that was when I was expecting a severe upturn in the weather....

Saturday 16th October

So today I have had my first......Bulgarian lesson and now it starts to make sense.  I'm one of these that needs to 'understand' the mechanics to have a clue as to where I am going so grammar came to life a little.  She is a very sweet young lady and we started with the Alphabet and I was even writing 'words'.  We did a bit of verb endings and that really took me back to my four years of Latin and several of French and it's as it someone just switched a light on.  You can listen to the radio or people talking but somethings just don't seem to make sense until someone is there and you begin writing stuff down....whoaaaa.  We've agreed on 4 hours a week, Tuesday and Thursday and she is hoping to improve her English at the same time.

Just for Martin I am including this pickie....the rest he will have to wait for......and the rest of you.....now I'm going to stoke up the fire....it's cold and damp and I just need a little warmth before I start downloading the verbs and adjectives from the Bulgarian language site now that I am fully fired up and then get back to my book....

Sunday 17th October

Well I'd just like to mention that it is my grandaughter's birthday today and she has reached the grand old age of 5.....I tried to phone but I suppose they are off visiting so I'll try again later but if she looks in....Happy Birthday Evie P and I'm hoping the card has got there safely and in time.

And Annie has left....the sun is out and what a beautiful day.  I predicted it would happen and so Mystic Meg triumphs again.  I'm having a lazy day and my petchka is still going from last night, washed my hair, did my homework, downloaded some childrens' play stuff from a couple of good English sites, tried out my vermouth cherry vodka and tasted one of the cherries.  My resolve....to get some plain chocolate and make some Christmas goodies using the cherries...that should prove to be a good talking point.  Who needs a still and Rakia...this is just as good and the ladies should be able to try this one out....after all, it's only chocolate..

I've been planning the garden as well today and should have really been out there digging for victory but it just seemed a little like hard work.  D of S is into the deep bed method and I had to read his blog twice thinking that since A was out here I'd leave them to it and on the second reading I realised that it was double digging the veg patch working on the principle that the roots go down not sidewards so hence delivering more produce.  Now I have enough problem single let alone double but it might be worth considering if you have lack of space.

Off I'm going....I have a bunch of leeks that I must do something with for supper.  Those with some bacon, potatoes and onion and a little chicken soup for thickening should be fine.....might catch you later...

Sunday 7th continued

Super supper, petchka going a bundle and warming the whole house although it is not that cold outside, the stone walls still want heating.  Picked up a book that I had already ready so no peace for the wicked.....I have nothing to read...must pay a trip to D of S to see what is in his library...need more books.

So today went into the 'facial' mode with calendular creme.....the benefits...great for acne and blemished skin...don't know why I picked it off the shelf but I did.  So tonight a facial with the said creams and a touch of 'surgical spirit'for the drying out of the odd blemish.  Worth giving it a try.

Now back to Sting singing his little heart out and then off to bed...Early start...men at 8.00 means 7.20 for me...LN.......