Quoted from Hwlffordd

The garden is looking gorgeous and I love the new bench and seat!

I hope they are robustly constructed for "normal" sized Welsh people to be able to sit on them

Quite excited now to be heading over on Thursday!! Arriving Ruse Sometime Sunday all being good (fingers crossed)

It's been tested by a twenty stone English person Bob, so I think you are going to be OK....

Lovely day today...my student didn't take too kindly to the text that I prepared for him and I think he was only just awake when I arrived for  the lesson....I almost walked out at one point saying that there was no point in my being there and I think he got the message.  Talked to his mother after the lesson and they said that they had been to Greece for the day on Saturday, ate Taramasalata and salads on the beach and I envied them...One day I shall be there.  

Very hot today until the weather took a turn for the worse this afternoon and the heavens opened.  It was at this point that my guest decided that he wasn't sure of the time of the bus journey to Sofia so off we trotted to Kardjali and confirmed that it is a five a.m. start from here to catch the five forty five to Sofia.  That should get him to the airport in time for the lunchtime flight.

Supper al fresco on the outside table was chicken livers, pork kebabs and potatoes that went down a treat with ouzo and water.  About fifty fifty makes it right.  Washing up can stay for tomorrow, sandwiches made for the journey just in case easyJet doesn't have a bacon sandwich left from the outward haul and water from departures.

Early to bed...early to get my guest to the airport....I shall come back...sort out a few things and ...rest....having guests is a busy old time....

Wednesday 11th July

Morning and yes it was a very early start to catch the Sofia bound bus at five forty five.  My alarm went off at four thirty and it was straight into action and we arrived in Kardjali at five thirty five.  Now if it's one thing that I hate it's someone telling me that their watch is five minutes behind mine when three clocks in my house and the one in the car say the same thing so my response was...'tell the bus driver that' and I refuse to drive to Sofia.

So back home at about half six...stopped for petrol and the man thought that I was on my say to somewhere....bed did come into my head but it might be a siesta at about lunchtime.....

Anyway reason for being on this early....I'm about to post the pictures from yesterday....the keyboard decided last night to give up the ghost when I was about to name the pickies so I gave up as a bad job.  This morning....everything loaded as normal...so here goes.

Wednesday continued

Bit of a none day today.  Stripped the bed down and washed the bed linen including the pillows and I went up for my siesta at one but didn't sleep at all.  Those bloody seven from yesterday have told all their mates and there were about forty of them on the electricity wires at lunchtime all chattering to each other.  Now I'm not adverse to birds of any description but they are just so noisy.  They were bombing inside the 'soon not to be so much of a wreck' and popping out again through the upstairs terrace.  Red arrows / Black sparrows eat your heart out....

So as I said not much of a siesta....too hot to sit out...guessing about thirty six this afternoon so stayed in and did a few Sudoko and started to train my brain once more.  My guest forgot to bring his DS so mine was sort of commandeered and I've taken back possession.... I've knocked off another chapter of the Blue Man Falling by Frank Barnard and it's getting better.

Just watered the garden.  My plants were looking a little the worse for wear except for the cucumbers...if only I liked them...   I must look up on the internet to see if I can make a face or hand cream with them.....I've left it a bit late to pickle the latest or else I'd need thumping great jars.  No food today....I think I've eaten for the starving millions in the world for the last month and I know it's hot and calories in this heat don't stick....but I read somewhere that it takes three weeks to come on and three weeks to start coming off so I'll be checking the scales at the end of the month.

LN....a little beer maybe and that should do me for tonight.  As an afterthought....my guest has arrived safely in the UK to a huge downpour at Gatwick and is absolutely knackered after a fourteen hour journey.  I'm absolutely knacked and I only took him to the bus stop and drove home again...

Thursday 12th July

Seven o'clock start and straight into emails and coffee. I knew I didn't have to be anywhere until 9.30 this morning and I made Gouljan promise that she wouldn't speak to anyone in the bus shelter at pickup time so that we didn't have the world and all his /her friends filling my little car.  She arrived in her flipflops carrying her day shoes and changed them in the car.  She stated that she couldn't and wouldn't leave them in the bus shelter since her little black rubber shoes had been...stolen.  A theft in Polianitz and since everyone wears them...try and prove it...impossible.  So as we went through the village we had a few words with Avatar and my other neighbour, headed onwards and I ended up with yet another man who wanted to go to the next village.  We had sweets donated and the offer of a leva.  The sweets we accepted, the leva I refused but I came up with the idea that if I collected all the offerings I could paint my little Beauty yellow and become a real taxi.

In for my student and I came up with one of the Hans Christian Anderson texts.  It was quite a long one so we only did one page and his homework is to write the story up in his own words,  The second page we will tackle next week.  Went into the leva shop and picked up a couple of tools that I was told I couldn't do without and apparently neither could the customs at Sofia Airport.  My guest had put one of them into his hand luggage and was told that he could not carry them onboard...I think he tried to argue the point but not really speaking Bulgarian for the sake of one pound fifty he abandoned the idea and the tork wrenches with the customs officer.

Really hot today and decided that I would cook this afternoon and have a late lunch.  Ended up with chilli and onion pork kebabs, chippies, mayo and tomato sauce and that got the better of me.  The thunder and rain didn't arrive but by three I was ready for a siesta and woke up at seven thirty with the sun streaming through the window.  I forgot that this bedroom gets the evening sun and boy did it.  Downstairs I heard a beer calling from the kitchen so at seven thirty I took a little refreshment and out to water the plants that were equally in need of a good soaking.  Eightish my time and still very hot so I'm thinking it's time for a shower to cool off a little and freshen up then back to the Blue Man Falling.  I think he's got about another one hundred pages to fall.

Demob happy now......I've broken up for the weekend and it's very psychological.  No students, nothing to go into town for, no commitments except one and that's to take the little one into Kardjali for an MOT.  Probably do that tomorrow and get the monkey off my back.  So my haul from the garden...one tomato and four giant cucumbers....if only I liked them and you can't give them away...they all grow them....LN....I've got other things to do....

cucumbers are doing well you must be well pleased...books on route.....

KingDom(ofS)

Friday 13th July

Quoted from KingDom

cucumbers are doing well you must be well pleased...books on route.....

KingDom(ofS)

Now you and I know that cucumbers are really plentiful and you know that I hate them with a passion.  I only grow them for guests and now that he's left...I'm left with the cucumbers...   Thanks for the book...I look forward to reading it since it made a terrific impression on you according to your blog....and I still do not know who the man is but I'm sure it will all make sense after reading it....

So this morning was a fitful start.  Those three hours of sleep yesterday afternoon buggered up the night and at four I was reading, at four thirty the mosque and the accompanying dogs kicked off and at five the thunder, lightening and rain started so down with the book, off with the light and I settled down for another couple of hours.  Straight on to the pc and out in the garden by eight thirty working on the principle that calories burnt off before breakfast are taken from stored fat and that breakfast could wait for a while longer.  Heard a good one today though that I am going to repeat...shampoo runs down the body and clearly printed on the label it reads...for extra volume and body....it is recommended that you change to washing up liquid when taking a shower ....it dissolves fat that is difficult to remove.....bit of a no brainer...

The garden this morning was full of tortoise.  The first one to get spotted was down by the walnut tree and making its way across the lawn, the second one was hiding under the cherry tree and was very lucky that he didn't get smashed to smithereens as I was raking up the remains of the strimmer assault and the third one, a little one, was munching on my tobacco.  I think it's the rutting season coming up so I'll listen out for the jockeying for positions over the lone female.....quite good sport according to last years pickies....but not for the female.

As I said I raked up the trimmings and burnt what I could and lobbed the rest over the hillside, I weeded the two little gardens and got rid of the ever growing bindweed, dug up a couple of beetroot that are now boiled and lingering in vinegar with onion for tonight and dug up the garlic and that is drying on the terrace.  And that was all before lunchtime when I decided that scrambled eggs would replace the burnt off calories and boy was it hot...I was melting out there.

Afternoon had been a bit of a none day...cut out a piece of foam for the new bench and tomorrow I am making a cover for it and for the rest of the outside furniture.  Just cooked two pork kebabs and the potatoes are on for potato salad to have with them.  It is so hot that you don't want to eat too much...it's a pity it doesn't put you off drink but the beer lake is empty, the wine lake is full, the vodka rum and ouzo are available and where's that four headed coin when you need it.  

So into the evening...let's hope it's a better night's sleep....the pilot is still falling from the sky....LN...

Saturday 14th July

Melting in my bed at five thirty this morning so got up, grabbed a coffee and went out on to the terrace to grab some solitude.  Despite the fact that I live alone here...just to get out and sit and look at the mountains and gardens does wonders for the soul.  I happened to glance to my left and there it was...that red orb gently finding it's way over the mountains and the bugger has been pressing down on us all day.  Thirty nine degrees it got up to this afternoon so I'm pleased that I got my stuff done this morning.

Sitting reading my book but this time under the umbrella on the kitchen terrace, I suddenly looked at all the brown heads of plantain bobbing away and thought that it was time they were in the grass box of the mower so out it came with no more ado and I threw it round the garden, was vaguely conscious of someone to the left of me while I was down by the tomatoes and it was my Avatar wanting to borrow the foot pump.  I switched it off, felt sure that I would never get it started again although now that I've found the primer I don't seem to have any trouble and first time is go time...   Out to the car, off she went to pump up something and I know not what since the tyre on her wheelbarrow is long gone and she returned it five minutes later but I didn't switch it off this time.  

So I hit a few bricks, chopped some wood into matchsticks, sent up clouds of dust from the molehills but this beauty was made for me and my garden...I just love it. I ventured into 'unmown' as opposed to 'unknown' territory and the 'lawn' gets bigger every day.  Just need to rake a bit more to remove the worst of the obstacles and then it will be down to the rough garden and everything in my garden will be lovely...I spotted a couple of moths on the lounge terrace wall and reckoned that they should never be allowed to fly and would be a hazard to civilian aircraft.

Not content with gardening I decided to push the hoover round inside until the thing stopped and I realised that the dust-bag was full and the filters needed washing out....job done...one hour later I was back in business but I put it away...don't want to push the boat out too far on such a fine morning.  I looked at the clock...it was only twelve so I sauntered up the road in all of my filth from the morning's endeavours, gave my surplus cucumbers to my Avatar for the cows and thought I better shower and wash my hair since even the sheep were staying away from my fences.  

Played on my PC this afternoon...decided to cook supper early since I hadn't breakfasted so I breakfasted, lunched and suppered all in one go and cleared out the fridge at the same time.  Washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and jobsaguddun.  Marvellous what you can achieve when you don't make a plan but tomorrow I am down to Gouljan's parents cowsh*t heap and collecting bags so that I can pot up the plants from my nursery beds...I've got some lovely roots formed.

So, a little ouzo tonight.  I was toying with the idea of driving to Djebel to get some beer to save me getting dehydrated but CBA.  So update almost complete and I have a whinge to make...will all those ba*t*rds who try to sign up to my website so that they can put advertising on here....bugger off.  If your details don't look anything like your email address I shall decline your application...it's a little site that I enjoy writing and I hope you enjoy reading...nuff said.

LN...the rant would have been more but I've only had one drink so far....

Sunday 15th July

So what have I done today...nothing...it has been too hot to hardly venture outside.  I've done the usual like water the garden twice, dug up a few weeds around the tomatoes so that the weeds don't suck up the water that I put on the garden but the activity level has been very close to zero.

The man in the blue uniform has hit the ground but I think there ought to be a sequel...there are so many unanswered questions like...what happened to the girl that made off with the thousands of cash by taking over somebody's identity, did he actually go back and return the toy soldier to the boy and did he 'get it on' with his French bird....questions that need answering.  As you can see today I have finished my book and on to the next but this time I move to South Africa....as the story unfolds I will relay it to you.  

Sat on the terrace this morning and soaked my feet in fabric softener and got rid of the old nail varnish and dead skin......and this is where a grater comes into its own.  Trouble is that wearing sandals and rubber gardening shoes doesn't do much for those things dangling from your ankles but they are now looking a prettier sight than they looked before.  The nails have yet to have applied the colourful varnish but I'm letting them air for a while.  

Today I am covered in bites...I know not from where but I slept without PJ's last night because it was so hot and I don't know if there was something in the bed or in the room but I've sprayed both.  Napalm would have been the obvious choice but in the absence I went for the green can and held the nozzle down firm and hard...the ants in the hall didn't like it when I saw a stream of little ones heading from one nest to the other....bastards.

So tonight I am on call at ten my time and eight UK time to chat to one of my ex colleagues.  We worked together for about six years so good mates so to speak and tonight we shall speak.  Another friend has made it down overland and and is experiencing the delights of the north of the country...he's in possession of a bottle of sherry and another of port that I can't get in BG plus some citronella candles.  

LN....I thought I had lost this piece of prose but Google saved it....you beaut....so LN....I have other fish to fry....and pickies tomorrow....can't risk it tonight with my connection being dodgy...

Monday 16th July

Am I late tonight and what's my excuse.....I haven't got one.  Bit of a late start this morning....out watering my garden when I saw my cow man taking his cow down to its private pasture and the hills have been alive with the sound of jingling cow and sheep bells most of the day.  It has been a hot sultry day and so I've stayed in for most of it and my energy levels have been at rock bottom.  Some bastard insect had a good feed off me last night despite fly-screens and insectocutors around the place.  I've been itching so much that at one point I thought I would have to start taking the antihistamine tablets for a little comfort but I'm using the cream at the moment.

So at three this afternoon I was holed up the lounge on the settee in comfort reading when there was the rumble of thunder which got progressively worse.  And then it started.....the wind hit gale force, huge claps of thunder, my garden umbrella was closed but horizontal and I went out to try and secure it and got sand blasted from my own heap.  Then the rain came and again that was horizontal, I had given up outside trying to secure the umbrella, went back into the house and I was covered in a fine layer of grit sticking to me now that I was soaked.  As quickly as it had come, the sun came out and it subsided.  Saved me a job though...I don't have to water tonight.

Back to my book.....I have put one of the insect thingies in my bedroom tonight so that we shall see what we shall see.  My poor body at the moment looks more like a red dotted dot to dot page and I think if I joined them all up.....it could be an interesting exercise.  I think I just might go and get creative.  Only one picture to post tonight....I was too busy protecting the property to be bother with the camera during the downpour but just managed to catch the sun going down on me..... MOT tomorrow and I think I'll check myself in for one as well.....

Tuesday 17th July

Back to being me again...woke up at silly o'clock, read for about an hour or so, went back to sleep but I think it was the insectocutor with its disco coloured light and I thought myself back to my youth,  So it did the trick.  Virtually out of coffee and it was on my list for Kardjali today so managed with just the one and a half cups of the black stuff.

Did I have trouble getting out of the village.  You know I mentioned that there was a huge wind last night and it appears to have taken down a huge tree but fortunately no one was hurt.  It came down across the road from west to east taking out part of the bee keeper's wall.  As I approached it I thought I was in for the duration but a chicane had been cut through it obviously with a chain saw but as I moved further along the road there was a thumping great fire engine coming towards me with a police wagon on its exhaust pipe and goodness knows how they managed.  My spies told me that they were there to put out a fire in a rubbish tip that had gotten out of control but I saw nothing of it.

The book is no more.  A nice rolling book covering three decades and two continents, entitled Sunday Morning by Ray Connolly.  Jumped about a bit time wise but some nice characters in there.  Left it with fifty pages to go before I went to my student and to get my car MOT'd and took to the sofa to finish it off.  My student this morning had done loads of homework....not necessarily what I asked him to do but he seemed to enjoy writing the story down of the Little Red Hen.  I think the fact that she told them to go away at the end while she munched through the cake she had made made him chuckle.  

Got to the Garage in Kardjali realising on the way that I had forgotten to pick up my passport as identification.  The white copy of my insurance documents was missing so goodness knows where that has gone and he hummed and arrgghed and then asked for my passport which I told him I had forgotten so I handed over my residence permit with the stupid reference number seven on it....that's in a computer then!!...So I reckoned he would ask me to come back another day but no...it was done...thirty five leva and I'm all set for another year.  Tomorrow I insure the Beast and that has to be MOT'd before the end of the month.  I should have all the documentation that he needs for that.  He might even raise a smile...

Phoned Gouljan to see if she wanted a lift from Djebel which she did and arranged to go down tonight to collect the cow droppings for my plants.  The Kmet was down there and complained that no one had called him when the tree went down but perhaps they wanted men of action not smiles to resolve the situation.  Stopped off at Gouljan's house for melon ice-cream which is a first and last for me....my visitor was Emaula to pay me for the petrol that he borrowed the other night and to return the container.....and could he please use Facebook for five minutes which turned into twenty so not really into cooking tonight.  Another beer will give me all the calories I need for today.  Tomorrow doing that potting up so long as it stays reasonable and not scorching out there....LN....I've had a much better day...