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Elsa Peters
August 1, 2012, 6:30pm Report to Moderator

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Wednesday 1st August

No hares in the garden, no white rabbits and it was a pretty slow start.  I was into one of those recurring dreams that you can't seem to get out of and I was pleased when it was seven and I could get up.  Don't ask me what it was about...I really can't remember...but you know what I mean.

Tomatoes on toast for breakfast, watered the garden and plucked two of my four melons that were ready for picking.  The other two will last a little longer on the plant but the weather has been so hot that they have ripened so quickly.  The cabbages despite the assault by one bovine bastard look to be sprouting again so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some sort of harvest.

Today's journeying was to find a house that was for sale in a village about thirty kilometers from here.  We knew the village and the house number and that was about it.  We arrived at the road sign for the village, the road disintegrated into a track that the car we were in couldn't hope to navigate so we turned round and headed for another village hoping that there was another way in.....wrong....so we tried another village and wrong again so we had lunch, settled for another couple of ice-creams and headed back to Djebel and home.

Checked out the BBC weather for Kardjali and it said that rain was due at six tonight....it started at five fifty so for British weather predictions I call that bloody good.  Unfortunately it stopped after about fifteen minutes...threatened the garden but really it didn't touch the sides but watering can wait until tomorrow now.

Gouljan came round when I was half way through preparing supper so started the rice and it cooked itself while we chatted.  She said that her holiday wasn't a great success but now she doesn't go back until 15th September  so she has plenty of time to wind down before she has to wind up again.  Finished supper, chicken livers with rice followed by melon......a little beer on the go again....it just has to be done to keep up the fluid levels....LN....time for another....



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Elsa Peters
August 2, 2012, 6:31pm Report to Moderator

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Thursday 2nd August

Broke up for the weekend again...I so love Thursdays.

Into Haskovo this morning to buy a new strimmer cartridge and to get the men to take the old one apart since the old one seemed to have jammed.  He used brute force and ignorance and a bloody great hammer and didn't seem to replace the washer that seemed to have been the problem.  As it stood they had no replacement so I asked why they were still selling them and go no reply....looks like another trip to Haskovo when this cable runs out now that he has re-theaded it.  Will probablty last all of twenty minutes....  

Back in time to get lunch, prepare questions to go with the lesson this afternoon, pick up Gouljan and her nephew and head into Djebel.  Did my student and he was feeling down in the dumps today.  The weather is so hot and the atmosphere oppressive but I made him slog it out until the end and we are still speaking at the end of it.  Met up with Gouljan in town and we went for a coffee in town.  Dropped her off at about six....supper cooked for my guest and went down very well.  Washing up done, biscuits are taking a hammering as we speak and there is a bloody fly flitting round and creating havoc....I hate the buggers.  Chasing him around the light and he seems to be winning...arrrgggghhhh.  LN....I have business to sort....must say though...my Avatar's tele is useful for Olympic coverage  but I must get her to turn the sound up higher.



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Elsa Peters
August 3, 2012, 4:29pm Report to Moderator

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Friday 3rd August

Early start...breakfast was back to my poached eggs.  My guest was very satisfied with hard boiled and toast.  Dug up some of the reluctant weeds this morning but the ground is so hard that they are difficult to remove so gave up on the chore....

Beds stripped today and I had the feeling I would be rescuing my sheets and duvet covers from the Greek mountains but the pegs held.  There was such a wind blowing.  My guest set sail just before lunch and we sat for about an hour trying to do the Daily Mail Sudoko which was a bugger today....I am pleased to say I eventually did in in about fifteen minutes but that was after about four resets.

I am now ready for the next visitors or returners....beds made up but mine didn't last long.  It was so hot that I took to my virginal pit at two thirty or thereabouts and got up at five thirty but am wondering how the night is going to fare.  Just watered the garden for the night but it seems to be going nowhere.  If you scratch the soil it seems as dry as the proverbial bone but short of letting the hose stay on all night, not a lot I can do about it.  The hillside is bare and the poor sheep are not finding much to whet their appetites so thank goodness I fortified the fences otherwise they would be in.  As for the cows, they've had anything worth eating so they are avoiding me like the plague.

Fish finger sandwiches tonight....forgot they were in the freezer but they jumped out at me tonight....LN....I'm about to get the pan out....
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Elsa Peters
August 4, 2012, 5:22am Report to Moderator

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Saturday 4th August

Early start this morning and it could have had something to do with the taking to the virginal pit yesterday afternoon.  This time the mosque didn't wake me at five thirty...I was waiting for the 'hodger' and the dogs that join in the morning prayers with him by howling along.  This isn't a whinge....it's a very pleasant sound even if it is at the crack of...sunrise.

I've lifted my onions this morning and dug over the bed.  They're now spread out on the terrace to dry off in the sun before stringing.  My soil is just so naff that I am going to put the sawdust lingering in the wreck on it to give it more bulk and hopefully that will help it to retain what moisture there is around.  Not that there's much....it's going to be another scorcher so what's there will soon burn off.  Looks like that area might remain unplanted but looking at my Avatar's garden...she has only a quarter of it being productive at the moment.

Tail of woe yesterday from one of the 'blog' members.  All I would say is that some 'helpful' souls might just be helping themselves to your hard earned cash....stay alert...

So a whole day ahead of me...sawdust first and then I'll see what I can get up to before the heat really kicks in....I think it might even be a sewing day...or watching the BBC text messaging service from the Olympics....all I seem to get on the live streaming is ....this cannot be shown in your area...bummer....but many congratulations to the golden boys and girls in the cycling and rowing to date and now on to the athletics and fingers crossed for Murray in his final...
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Elsa Peters
August 4, 2012, 5:08pm Report to Moderator

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Saturday continued

So I made my duvet cover, washed and ready for guests, supper tonight was chips with ham and tomato sauce and mayo and it was eaten while watching the live texts on the Olympics.  

I was fairly active today despite the weather which clicked in at close to the ninety mark.  I have got my picture ready for erecting.  It is in three sections and I have screwed eye hooks between the sections...tomorrow it will be hung or thrown on the hillside in frustration.

Loads of people trying to sign up for my website where the name and the email address show not correlation...they're destined for the rubbish bin and so they should be....why oh why do they try to sign up when all they want to do is add adverts....not on my diary you don't!!

Super Olympics this afternoon and good luck to J. Ennis in the final stage ...and to the cyclists that are still chasing gold at this late stage.  Now is the time that I was back in the UK...there is just no coverage out here at all.

LN...time to get showered...I would just add...the sherry has been opened....
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Elsa Peters
August 5, 2012, 12:07pm Report to Moderator

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Sunday 5th August

What a night....there was a mossie in the bedroom and I could hear the dzzz but could I see it....Blasted thing.....I hope it found its way to the insectocutor that it should have found its way to before it woke me up.  Mosque, but no dogs this morning on our singalong session and then went back off until eightish.  Had this weird dream that I was digging a plantain out of my eyebrow and there is still some sherry left in the bottle....so it can't have been that.

Finished putting my three part painting together ready for hanging but I think I need someone else in the house before I start my grand ascent of the landing.  Somehow there is safety in numbers.

Well the idea of taking the Beast to the library this afternoon to double as a caravan tonight has fallen into difficulty.  Its MOT ran out on Thursday and I forgot about it so Beauty will take its place and I might not even stay the night.  I'll put in a foam mattress, pillow and sheet but if there is a shortage of space....it's not that far to come home.  They're having a lamb roast tonight for their relatives over from the UK and I have been invited to partake and it would be rude not to.  

So tomorrow I'm picking Gouljan up at eleven by the bus-stop and we're off to Kardjali.  Firstly the Beast, then the bus-station to see if I can find out the times of buses to Elhovo should I decided to go to the UK having been offered a lift leaving on Thursday.  Heck of a decision.  I'll keep you updated.

So grab washing from the line, bundle stuff into Beauty, wallet, phone, couple of bottles of beer and away I go....update tomorrow....have a pleasant afternoon and I envy you coverage of the Olympics and thanks OH for the suggestion.....
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Elsa Peters
August 6, 2012, 7:54pm Report to Moderator

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Monday 6th August

Well what a twenty four hours or so this has been.

I set sail for the library yesterday afternoon and everything seemed to be going OK.  I'd packed a few bits and a bedroll but thought I would abstain from the demon drink and drive back...for no other reason that own bed is best.  My plans were thwarted by the gods.  Drove into the yard, decided to put my car into the garage backwards just in case there was a problem with the battery on the Beauty, started to turn it round and then the car wouldn't go into reverse at all.  Now I felt a little bit of that little bit of male anatomy that females don't have as I tried desperately to find that elusive reverse gear but it just wasn't there.  

The librarian has two sons currently visiting and they were rapidly summoned to sort out the car.  I think at first it was a belief that there was this dippy old bird that hadn't a clue about the gear box but after a few attempts, they couldn't find it either so a little bit of a tow from a larger beast, one of the guys used the fall of the land to turn in, up the hill in first and pushed it back into the garage.  Went in the house and watched Murray win his gold and the car would be worried about tomorrw....I have a lamb roast to attend.  

Met the rest of the family and we went down to the village.  Chip, cheesy chips, salads and lamb and rice were the order of the day and a little beer to help it along.  Did make a point of asking the restaurant owner who also runs a garage if he would look at Beauty in the morning so it was agreed I would be down there between ten and eleven. Back in the back of the jeep and sat out and put the world to rights until one in the morning and then into bed and slept OK until eightish.

Breakfasted, took my car down to the village and we identified the problem but it would take a day to get it from Kardjali to the garage and a day to fix so we were looking at late Wednesday before it was back on home turf.  I apologised to the man but said that I would risk it in forward gears to Djebel, into my garage....part ...fifteen leva...labour...three....tip....two...jobsaguddun for twenty leva.  Problem, it was the cable from the gear lever to the selector box.

Phone call from my previous guest to say that he was heading back with his wife to the area and could we meet up for supper so into my favourite restaurant after finding them a bed for the night in one of the hotels in Djebel.  Very pleasant evening....home now and a little beer on the go....I don't sniff the bottle when I have the car outside.  I am threatened with a breakfast delivery in the morning.....LN...I have some sleep to catch up on...other people's beds are never the same.



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Elsa Peters
August 7, 2012, 7:38pm Report to Moderator

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Tuesday 7th August

Hot as you like last night and didn't have a really good night's sleep so out in the garden watering the estate by sevenish.  Everything is looking really parched and the nights are almost as hot of the days and whatever water you put on evaporates as quickly as it is distributed.  Had good intentions of going out to start on the bed this morning but I got carried away with the Olympic live updates at Chris Evans doing his stuff on Radio two.  My breakfast arrived at about nine thirty...my guest and his wife carrying the plastic bag containing with local filo pastry filled with white cheese and I provided the coffee.  We sat around until half eleven and then I threw them out to go see things while I got on with hanging my on the stairs and the one in the lounge.  The original from the stairs is about to be recreated to go into one of the bedrooms....that's creativity for you.

So out to my student this afternoon. As I said I was deeply concentrating on the Olympic  BBC live update and that's the best I can get without a TV.  Today's lesson was all about computer system logons and passwords and how to protect yourself.....useful if you are interested and I had to struggle for the last ten minutes or so with him but he was due a dental appointment to replace his brace that he had broken eating local hedgerow fruit with stones in....I don't think mother was too pleased.

Went to the shop in Djebel to pick up a few things and my guest from the morning had spotted my car and I had yet another invitation to supper tonight in Djebel since that it where they are staying...Home by 10.00 and out with the bottle.....not good for a girl to drink orange juice and water just because there is a car outside.

More guests tomorrow for lunch....so salads and just a few simple dishes round a big table (well it would be if I had one).  Mine has gone off for its hols to the library so out with the hammer and nails to see what I can come up with at short notice.  LN...just need to post a couple of pictures...I'm in for an early night....



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Elsa Peters
August 8, 2012, 3:27pm Report to Moderator

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Wednesday 8th August

What a dilemma...I have the opportunity to go back to the UK tomorrow and I don't know what to do...one part of my brain says yes...the other...what for...and I have to travel three hours in the opposite direction to get to my lift.  It doesn't help that he says that if he didn't have to go back he wouldn't ...and I think well I don't have to go back so why am I...decisions, decisions...deep thought session tonight.

So what sort of a day have I had?...lovely.  I had six guests for lunch and it went very well....coleslaw, mixed grilled meats, potatoes since the little one only eats boiled potatoes, boiled eggs, cucumbers fresh from the garden, tomatoes and tomato sauce for the little one with a little bit of meat.  Her father is not a gigantic gastronome and I think it's rubbing off.  The rest tucked in though and most of it was demolished and it was just as I hoped.  Not much left for the canine villagers.  Fanta lemon, beer, fruit juice for those not imbibing and water for the latecomers.

Settled in this evening for the updating of the Olympics and sad that the jumpers have knocked fences down...commiserations for them but at least they have gold in their back pockets.  Interested in the BMX stuff since I watched her go out last Olympics and maybe four years have added to the experience.  Good luck to her.

Beautiful night...hot as you like...my avatar has offered to water my garden should I go to England but as I said ....in the lap of the gods as we speak.  The decision has to be made tonight though so perhaps I should have another beer...it might help....LN...I'm about to meditate....
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Elsa Peters
August 9, 2012, 5:28pm Report to Moderator

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Thursday 9th August

The decision was made at six this morning.  I sent the text which said sorry and that I would not be joining him on his homeward bound trip to the UK and I received the reply that he would let me know when he was returning in case I took a flight and wanted the return overland trip....and I just might to that.

Reasoning...things are happening on the  16th /17th in France and I didn't want to impose on preparations.  Also, it's a long way and very hot at the moment....my tomatoes would have fried in the heat and the rest of my garden would have disintegrated despite my Avatar's best efforts to revive it.  I'm also very tired.  It might not seem much to have visitors for the last two weeks or so but it takes its toll.  I have this natural instinct to help and I find myself doing more than I should and agreeing to far more than I ought.  Back to sense and sensibility now.

My Avatar's daughter has arrived from Turkey for a holiday and she bought me another evil eye wall hanging.  Not sure what she thinks of Bulgaria but I now have three to keep them away from my door.  It's with the others facing the front door...the ideal place for it.  We are off to Kardjali tomorrow with her son and cousins so that I can get my Beast MOT'd.  It is over, I know it and despite the fact that I don't need to use it...I want it done.

My lesson today was a story of Hans Christian Anderson and as we started it he declared that he knew it.  We got to the end of where I had printed up to so I asked him to tell me the end of it....he's forgotten so at lest I have my text for next week...the continuing saga of.....

Home and plugged into the live updates from the Olympics and well done to the female boxers and equestrians...it will be interesting to find out how many women won gold against the gold....now there's a thought.

Early night tonight....it was a late start for me this morning....I woke up at six and then went off again until ten....and I must admit I felt much better for it.  The heat is stiffling both during the day and at night and at five this morning the perspiration was just dripping off.  My student said that he took to the balcony and spent the rest of the night under the stars.  It hasn't come to that yet in my neck of the woods but never say never as they say.

LN....still following the Olympics on the BBC...but shan't be long before I hit the sack...eight thirty my end....LN....
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