Monday 7th March

Yesterday I had this niggle about ordering the wood and because I thought it was a holiday I decided to leave it until today.

So this morning I woke up at six and though how light it was outside and thought that the moon must be bright.  Jonothan Cainer had said that the moon would be shining and so out into the hall I went to take a look.  White over, snow, wind, no moon....fristy frosty and nothing like the BBC weather forecast.  I didn't order it, in fact I know of no one who did so please take it away.....the upside, I didn't order my wood and I do have enough to last for a few days...so no real problem.  Even the locals are wondering why it's been going on for so long...somebody must have really upset Baba Marta and it wasn't me....it's my first winter here.

The food in the feeding station that I promised to put on the compost heap has come into its own this morning....I had as many as eight coal tits feeding from it this morning and one robin that kept upsetting everyone by dropping from above, filling his beak, flying off and then it all went back to normal....no cats this morning, the birds have it all to themselves.

Now let's see what I can get up to today.....

Monday continued

Now I thought that this was just a late blast.....but it's lasted all day.  I ordered my wood when it was melting, decided to go into Djebel to get some money out of the bankomat to pay for it tomorrow and since I've got back it has just thrown it down and it's white over yet again. The wind is blowing heavily so the road could be blocked tomorrow so may be he can't deliver...he's hoping if it's like this. Now he's very good, backs his van up so that we can throw it into the wood shed so we don't get snowed on....but if it carries on like this it will be feet deep tomorrow and I don't mean those things on the end of my legs....I shall be reporting back tomorrow....I may be some time...and pictures will be taken.

We had snow yesterday too but not much despite the short blizzard conditions. Mind you the wind meant that what little there was accumulated in the most awkward places like our neighbours drive, which meant their car was unable to get out when they needed it. The number of times their poor daughter is going somewhere special and they can't get their car out because it is either broken or stuck - good job they know we will help.

Tuesday 8th March

Well done Joanna...resident Brits abroad normally turn out.  

I woke up at silly o'clock again this morning and I'm not sure if it was the external prevailing wind...I was warm enough in my bed but just wide awake.  So I read for a while, did a couple of sudukos and still didn't manage to get back off so up at 5.30 emptying the ash can from the little wood burner where you have to take it apart every three or four days.  It really is burning a fire in a bucket with a raised fire brick thing in the bottom but it's easy to get going when you empty it all out, put the fire brick thingy back and then collect up any embers that are still going or in the case this morning, glowing wood.  Soon warms up the kitchen.

My mercy mission was brought about from a text message from Gouljan...could I take her into Djebel at 7.40 this morning and of course I text back that I could.  The story goes that she had come back on the bus from Turkey overnight (12 hours), arrived in Djebel and got a taxi back at five this morning and had then fallen asleep and had missed her bus at 6.30 to get her into work.  I asked her why she hadn't gone straight to work and got her head down there....strange looks....it has been known I'm sure...but only in the UK.

The roads were really icy this morning so I took great care.  I had one 'twitch', was extra careful after that and there's still a gale force wind blowing from the north.  Just the weather to get logs delivered but at 9.30 this morning he was here, we threw them into the wood store and off he went.  Unfortunately he didn't deliver the quantity I ordered, (I think it got lost in translation when the boss would insist on speaking German to me of which I have only the minimum understanding) so it's not as much as I wanted but at least I have some.  Winter has just gone on too long but at least we have seen the sun today and I have just noticed that there is a trio of lacewings on one of the picture windows on the landing.  Beautiful things...really must Google them to see what they are all about...  

Need a bit of action....am now going to stack the logs just to see how big the pile is....I might have to just chew him off a strip...you have to pay for the van to deliver so I'm wondering if there is none so deaf as those that want to misinterpret....Da...(yes)  ....ton  (ton)....

Tuesday continued

Did my wood....stacked so at least I can see when I need more and I better practice...'ton...da....ton...da'....and better get out my German phrase book just in case.

My fires have been pure figments of anyones' imagination today..warm, toasty burning ever so brightly when the gale force winds are still screaming round the rest of the property.  My old roof though has hung on in there and the two old chimneys are still there....I thought one of them would have gone....

And so ....just going for a shower and getting tucked up fairly early tonight but not that early that I'm doing the rounds and the activity centre at silly three thirty...LN....

Tuesday continued

Forgot my icicles one....and forgot to mention that it's Women's Day so good wishes to all the women out there....don't know when Men's day is perhaps we should find out....

Arrh I see what you mean about the Brits abroad turning out.

I think it is an ex-Soviet thing, if you don't talk the language of the country to try German, they are sure to understand that  . A bit like in Denmark where a friend of mine was from Russia and couldn't speak a word of Danish when she got there and so they all spoke to her in English, her English is now better than her Danish. . Mind you, do you ever find there are times that someone will throw in the odd word of English into a conversation and totally throw you? A Latvian once used two words to speak to me and said Man sis, the first word was actually his only English word and the sis was Latvian, the problem is that the man is also a Latvian word and so the sentence made no sense to me whatsoever, if he had used just Latvian I would have understood as he was asking if my hubby was home.

Wednesday 9th March

And I am really late posting today but there again, you are two hours behind so it's not so bad against UK time.  Why you may ask? I've just woken up. Had this niggle in my back come over me so I've been moving very gingerly around knowing that pulling on my slippers again after doing the outside chores, ashes, wood and stuff, was going to hurt.  I decided to sit down to do it and yes, it still hurt.  I think it's when I get here at night on the landing working on my pc, I must get the cold into it so out with the hot water bottle tonight, stuffed down my pyjamas.  It was funny the other day when I first developed this aching back, I managed to get the hottie nicely placed and was moving around the house and as I moved, the water was swishing backwards and forwards.  It almost felt like a liquid rudder, weird sensation.  

So last night I put some beans into soak and this morning I rinsed them, brought them up to the boil on the cooker and transfered them to the slow cooker on high for a couple of hours.  Drained them, fried off an onion, added them to the onion with tomato paste, honey, my signature hint of chilli, the cubed remains of the gammon joint, topped up with water and back to the slow cooker.  I kept sticking a fork in and coming out with the odd lump of gammon and so much so that I decided to have a bowl of the mixture with a couple of slices of toast while sitting in the hall soaking up the sun's rays and that's when fatigue overtook me.  Sometimes I just fight it off but today I decided that my body obviously needed the rest so I took a couple of extra strength aspirin for the pain in my back and made up a nest on the sofa in the lounge, not like going to bed in the day.   It took me a while to get off but I relaxed through the pain as the aspirin kicked in but boy, did I have a vivid dream about my ex inlaws (both passed over to that other place wherever it might be). There were a lot of clothes that had to be put away in this ostentatious over decorated wardrobe with amber crystals embedded in the white melamine and if you'd have known my father in law, not to his taste at all.  Now what was that all about?

Despite the sun, the temperature didn't get over the zero today but at least the wind dropped at around lunchtime but is picking up again this evening.  As for my freesia.....well look at the picture.  It won't be long now and the fact that the second one is coming into flower that lttle bit later means that I shall be able to appreciate the aroma for that much longer.....just delightful.

Thursday 10th March

Could this be the start of spring?  This is the first day that I have not had both wood burners going and am relying on the little one today.  It's just about made zero outside and it's such a change from the other mornings.  My feeding station has more or less gone by the wayside.  I decided not to make it a permanent thing so this morning's stale bread was lobbed on to the garden and there seems to be less coal tits but I've seemed to encourage a whole lot of sparrows and my avatar's chickens and cockerel.  I looked out and there they were strutting around the bit that will be concreted when I have builders back (joke ).

It took me back this morning to the advert where the young man went into the laundrette and stripped off proceeding to put everything into the machine.  Once I'd done all my chores I decided to have a shower and wash my hair this morning and get clean for the day.  Now getting down with this back of mine is getting to be a pain in the back as you might say, so I stood in front of the wood burner in the kitchen with the washing machine at my back and peeled down as far as I could.  Then using one foot on the leg of the garments I was taking off, I managed to get one foot free and then did it with the other.  Into the washing machine with the tights, trousers, pyjama bottoms and socks and then a quick run into the bathroom to get the rest off and under the hot shower.   Bliss.  Hair washed, body washed, big bath towel and back in front of the wood burner which by this time is pumping it out.  Quick run upstairs to my upstairs bathroom which is now turnng into a drying room since that's the radiator that seems to acquire the most from this central heating and into warm clean clothes.  I sat in the hall waiting for that sun to break through (and I am still waiting) and dried my hair.

Today I'm into the design stage or things that I can make for Gouljan's project benefit stall.  The original funding came from the EU (where else) but they need extra for materials for the school room and partitions between the desks.....now what's quick so that I can start to deliver and it's not partitions.  I know my woodwork is good   but even I wouldn't do that to them H & S at work.....

Thursday continued

Just going down the stair today and 'captured' the escaping chickens.  They ran away when I shouted 'curry' at them and went straight to their own back yard....or anybody elses back yard.  

And going down the stairs again on fire duty....noticed that although dark outside, the sky over the mountains to the west ...very dramatic so hung out of my bathroom window and managed to get a shot....LN...it's 7.00 here and tomorrow I think I might be a taxi and make my way to Kardjali....