Friday 14th January

I have 'em, I hate 'em, I hate em   Bloody cows...The day started well, my wood that I ordered yesterday was delivered and the man was unloading before I notice he was there.  I stopped him and told him that we could remove the gate and unload them nearer to where they were being stored and so we did. Between us we removed a ton of oak from the van, I signed a piece of paper for his records and off he went on his way.  Now this looked a huge pile of logs but in for a penny in for a stotinki....it is all safely stored in my other house.  Well done me.

Now back to those cows.  They're roaming lose which is against the EU directive for livestock.  They should have a man with them to make sure that they don't ruin fences or go to places they are not welcome.  Do they have a man/woman?...do they buggery.....and as quickly as I mended one fence the little beauties had careered through another.  Three sections of my fence down today, two of the blasted beasts were watching me with nails and hammer at the ready.  Crafty blighters.  So I know who they belong to and tomorrow I am going to find firstly the mayor and then the owner and threaten legal action....shouldn't be allowed to roam and why should they get away with it.  I know it was market day and the day of imbibing...no excuse.

Got a friendly black and white cat that scours my garden for whatever...beautiful little thing so I think I'm going to semi-adopt her or let her adopt me.  You don't own cats.  She stalked something in the garden and if only she were bigger....she could attack the cows...now there's a thought.

So tonight I'm off for a shower....I think that I have done a good days work what with stashing a ton of wood and rebuilding three sections of the fence....LN....the kitchen calls..feed me

Saturday 15th January

Not a cow in sight....perhaps someone is translating my diary to the owners but we'll see how tomorrow goes before I make any judgement.

As it happens today has been a lazy day....I started reading a James Herbert and he is someone I always avoided before but it was one from my Samodiva library.  Not sure if I enjoyed it or not.....rather laboured just before the end but the end came quickly if you know what I mean.  It was called 'Others' and set in Brighton which I found quite interesting....following on from the other books of the area by Peter James.  So I think tomorrow is another trip to the library.  I understand that there is one destined for me about the life of Stalin which will probably be a pick up and put down sort of book.

So after reading most of the day I'm feeling that it's time I got my head on the pillow.  I should have been out in the garden today, frosty overnight but once the mist cleared it has been a beautiful if chilly day but I think I did a little too much yesterday.  A ton of wood is quite a heap to move and then there was the fence building and the frustration of one fence after another falling prey to the white cow that just bulldozed it's way through as if it was cardboard.   They are big beasties.....

So tomorrow I am definately out there if the weather is good......that's unless the selection from Samodiva looks interesting.

LN....off to my virtuous couch.....

Sunday 16th January

The month marches on and my intentions of going out in the garden because it was such a lovely day yesterday have fallen at the first hurdle.  After I posted last night, down came the rain, in buckets (well that is a quite exageration, no real buckets) it just pelted it down.  This morning, light rain which went against the sun predicted by BBC weather, and a very cold wind coming from the north east so ....straight from Siberia and don't we know it.

My last lady that I haven't seen since I dropped the present off at her house with her daughter, visited today and thought the photograph that I gave her of herself was really good.  Now my ladies obviously talk to each other and yes.....she has another photograph that she would like copied if I wouldn't mind.....I am the official photographer for Dushinkovo....that is my title, I won it, I like it.....I'm keeping it.  Must get some more photograhic paper...running a bit short but I did stock up on the frames while I was in Kardjali.

I didn't go to the library today (Samodiva).  It is just too cold....my house is ticking along nicely but I must admit I was looking for that gypsy this morning.  The fire is so difficult to light when the wind is coming from that direction but once it's going.....it's fine.

So what have I done today?  Had a shower, washed my hair, played Freecell, cooked my supper (half of which I have just eaten with a chunk of fresh bread from the disco mobile shop and just demolished a half bar of chocolate.  Comfort food.....and just sitting here on my landing watching grey clouds rolling over the sky.  There were five magpies earlier that seemed to be playing tag or perhaps the sap is rising early.  A flock of starlings or short winged somethings have just descended into the garden and are pecking at goodness knows what but then one of my semi-resident cats has just arrived and they took off on mass.  I love my garden, I've now seen all the seasons and still am in awe of how beautiful it is....

Sunday continued

Just finishing off and the setting sun has caught the mountains to the east...thought you might like it....

Monday 17th January

And what a change from yesterday.  Bit of a cold morning but promised sun and did not disappoint.  The zebra is out of the bedroom and after a trip through the washing machine is out on the line.  It just had to be done and there's nothing nicer than getting into freshly laundered bedlinen or in this case zebra fleece blankets.

Now I had good intentions.  Despite the beautiful day I decided to do some Bulgarian homework but it hasn't gone to plan.  Yes I translated what I had to do and highlighted certain phrases and then I though, let's scan in a page of Pippi Longstocking and try a bit more....the OCR didn't recognise some of the Bulgarian letters so I'm flicking between book, OCR'd and dictionary and so I've......given up.... and the weather is just so good that I've decided to go and do a bit in the garden.  Catch you later..

Monday contnued

What a beautiful day...the weather continued in the same vein as morning and I was out there all afternoon and got rid of the mountains of builder's rubble that had collected against the hedge line.  They have all gone. It is now as flat as a lunar landscape (not that that's that flat) and the tiles and slates are ready to be dumped in the foundations for the lounge patio.  Jobs a guddun as they say.  Just realised that I have left my tools out there but I suppose a rake and a shovel are safe until tomorrow.  My bed's made up and it won't be long before I am in it tonight.  Fresh stable for the zebra.....pillowcases are on the radiators just to finish off but almost there.

Lovely phone call for TIP this evening...they may be out in the school holidays....I really hope so, it would be good to see Evie P's little face at having a cow in your back yard, and chickens and sheep on the hillside and cows in your garden that you chase out....fun and more fun for a five year old.

Anyway...LN....I've got one hundred songs from Neil Diamond tonight blasting away....and some of them I don't even remember,,,,back to the past...not back to the future...LN

Tuesday 18th January

Now I have a distinct aversion to tax at any time.  I don't understand it, never have and never will and so when a form came and it was emailed to me from the UK...I panicked...the final box stated the the figure dispayed was either what I owe them or they owe me and there was no (R) in the box at all.  Now what this meant to me was that I was either going to string myself up on a beam or dance in the square at midnight.  So today I had another missive from the UK saying that a cheque had arrived so to save the natives embarrasment I would dance round the .....lounge and if I had had curtains I would have drawn them to save the sheep and the cows embarasment.   Oh what it is to live on a hillside!!!!

So I now have to go to the bank to calculate the interest that is payed on my Bulgarian account because this has to be submitted to the UK.  Now in Bulgaria it's easy...they tell you the interest rate, they tell you the tax payable and it is stopped by the bank...easy peasy  (got that Gouljan, it was one of the phrases from last week's lesson), my lesson to Gouljan, homework, read the diary, list the phrases that you don't understand and you will speak the most coloquial English of any Bulgarian....

At the bank one of the statements or agreements was filed....not only do they file it but they....stitch it up so that no one can interfere with it...joy of joy.....so to get the document that I wanted copied they had to unstitch it and I bet it is being stitched as we speak....two photocopies, stamped and submitted to the UK but to get to this stage today I had to cancel my lesson which is rescheduled for tomorrow at 11.00....she's a hard task master.

So before we got to the bank we did the secondhand shop and I got a summer blouse for 1 Leva ( 45p thereabouts), a fleece jumper for £2.40 and a down jacket for £6 thereabouts...do I need them????  No but they were such good bargains....had to be done.  After that we did the Leva shop and Lidls where the bananas just had to be had for 90stotinki for 2 Kilos.  

We also paid a visit to the post office.  Gems and Baby frogs birthday cards are in the post and I decided to road tax my cars and the first question was ....what are the car numbers....how should I know....so left for another day....Gouljan was not impressed.  Hey what's my mobile phone number.....who cares...I don't phone myself.

LN

Wednesday 19 January

My golly is it cold this morning....freezing fog and the hillside is white over.  There's a glimmer of sun and I'm hoping it's strong enough to burn it off so that it turns into a beautiful day again.  So I have the starting of a cold and last week's lesson was 'A visit to the Doctor' and I think I have picked up all the symptoms.  So I can now say, I have a sore throat, a headache, my muscles ache and a high temperature.  And from the text I know that I have to eat lots of fruit and vegetables, drink hot tea take a tablet for my headache and think about buying multivitamins.  All this from one language lesson so who needs a trip to the doctors??  Gouljan brings the most obscure things for me to translate but this was a gem. I wonder if the text contained the germs....now there's a thought.  On to homework.  She'll be here soon...

Wednesday continued

So I coughed and sneezed though the lesson and I suggested that the germs had come in with the script for the visit to the doctor.  I complained of everything that 'Mike' (the guy from the text) had.  So my lesson for today was about a man, waiting for his girlfriend outside a restaurant and he was extolling her virtues to a random radio interviewer while clutching a bunch of roses and her birthday present.  So it came to pass that on the 17th February.......I think not.

I have just received an invitation to a local wedding on Sunday and I've asked D of S about the protocol for a present to which he replied that you have to pin a 20 leva note on the bride.  Strange custom I though but I'm hoping it goes on the dress....I can't stand to be the inflictor of pain and I don't think she'd have a very good first night full of pin holes.  I wonder if they spend the first night counting it.

Early night for me with a hot toddy and some paracetomol.  I just hate colds and I'm hoping that it's not a full blown one that lingers for ages.  Just a few pickies tonight.  The moon was just so beautiful as it came up and seems to be surrouded by a halo.  I've included one of a guy that took my fancy in Haskovo....couldn't get him to come home with me though....no sense of adventure I thought   And I've just noticed that Gouljans camera needs the time and date changed...no way were we there at 8.30 in the morning and it was this year...honestly.

Thursday, 20th January

What a horrible night's sleep or lack of it.  You know what it's like with a cold, you want to sleep with your mouth open because your nose doesn't work and then you forget.  The polyroll that I took took to the bedroom with me kept getting lost in the bed and I think I was running a temperature of ....silly degrees.  I went to sleep at about 8.30 and looked at the clock at 3.15 and then went off again until 6.45 but no.....I didn't sleep at all according to my senses.

Fire going, breakfasted on toast but I can never remember if you feed a cold and starve a fever but what if you have a high temperature with a cold....just eat norally I suppose.

I think I have a pure white dog that has adopted my garden.  I saw him a couple of days ago playing with Socks so perhaps Socks has a girlfriend.  Wonder if Avatar knows...she'd soon put a stop to it   Anyway he appeared from the back of my old house so I must go and investigate if he's made a bed in there but only when the outside temperature moves up into sensible figures....I'll just wait a while....