Sunday 17th March

Six thirty start this morning and my ears are working again....sorry, what was that, pardon...they are working.  When I struck up my desktop this morning the Windows Welcome jingle was only slightly distorted.  White over again this morning and really cold but didn't light the fire, I was intending to go out.

Got ready for my student...my heart wasn't really in it...I didn't have confidence that the Beast would make it, it hasn't really been used since I left for Australia and true to form...it started, it ran, I left it running while I went in to collect my things and ...it had stopped.  I started it again...and it stopped so phoned up my student, apologised profusely and will leave my email address at her mother's shop tomorrow.  I'll point her to some websites that she can work on on her own.

Lit the fire since I was well and truly in for the day and got some more wood in.  Managed to pick up a log with the damaged wrist and every day one more step for womankind so to speak.  Despite the cold the sun was shining so with hat on decided to dig around a bit in the garden but I wavered somewhat from the original intention.  Got a bucket and mixed potting compost with some of the grit from my heap and some of the cow straw droppings from over the road and filled flower pots.  I've planted up some of the seeds that I ordered from England including Cape Gooseberries and that should be a novelty factor if they ever come up.  Lupins, snapdragons, lavender and others that I'd not heard of before are in, some in the house and others in the little house under glass.  Read some of the packets and I'm late with them for this year so they are up for September starting off and they can be out for next year.

Surprised to see the wild damson and cranberry tree in flower already.  Things are really happening in the garden...this is such a good month.

Djebel tomorrow on the bus again and into the garage to get one of them going.  Not sure I can manage the gears on Beauty yet but I suppose there is only one way to find out.  Sit in it and try.  Hope it's fine tomorrow, keep looking at the dandelions in the flower beds and it would be good to get them out before they get too deep rooted...but having said that, the ones that I got out of the grass today had tap roots of four to six inches long...bummer.

Time to switch off and get back to my book...this one's hotting up with only sixteen percent to go....really sucked into this series...they should make TV episodes out of them.  Lovely calm night but cold...likelihood of frost but all is safely gathered in...LN

Monday 18th March

Seven o'clock start and I opened the curtain and it definitely shone on the righteous....I notice the sunrise moving across the mountains from winter to summer and now it was shining and coming up dead in line with where my head should have been on the pillow...so upstairs for my camera and captured it....and that was all we saw of it all day.  There was a hard frost last night, the ground was white over and it remained cold all day with an icy wind.

Into Djebel on the bus, it was packed this morning and even the conductor had to stand.  Remsie one of my four Musketeers was taking her eight month pregnant relative to the doctors and sat by me and I got the gossip.  I noticed a lady who has a house at the end of the village, moves to Turkey for the winter, had returned.  Apparently she is another one who is husband-less according to my source.

Went to the car shop and no one home so on to my new student's mother's shop and handed over my email address so that we can start communication that way.  She went into the back and returned with the most beautiful white hyacinth and gave it to me as a present...they are all so thoughtful here...I didn't think I deserved it since I had let her down yesterday but she insisted.  It's downstairs and the aroma is wafting through the house...just so lovely.  Back to the car shop and caught up with the news of my student's mum who has had the heart operation.  Still suffering from depression but is starting to get around more in the house.  Just a long slow process.  Made a few purchases in the supermarket and decided that I would take a taxi home...no way was I waiting until one thirty for the bus.  Saw Remsier by the cash point and asked her if she was ready to go home.  At that she shouted to another man from the village that I recognised and suddenly there were two more which made it two leva each for the taxi, the same fare as the bus.  We all walked to the taxi rank and I came home with the boys for two leva...I've been accepted as a local.

So lit the fire when I got back and I have only just got warm.   I think we have been spoilt with the warm spell.  Lunch was a spicy sausage fried off with some onions and served on fresh crusty bread with lashings of tomato sauce.  So stuffed that I got my head down for an hour in front of the fire.  Seven my time now...time to move down stairs and back to the fire...I know it's going to be another cold one tonight.  LN...no need to cook ..I topped up at lunch time which in fact, is much better for me...LN

Hi Elsa Glad to hear you are doing ok...pity about your wrist still being painful...
All ok in OZ, still warm and muggy....thunderstorms and couple of cyclones have come and gone...lol
My Mum in hospital for few days but all good again.. she says Hello.

Your flower name is a RANUNCULI, I think..look like the ones I had a long time ago in pots.
Pics are good as usual...
Take care, Linda & Gang..xxxxx

Tuesday 19th March

Thanks Linda...those flowers are no longer nameless and pleased that you're all OK...give my love to your mum and you know without saying that it's on its way to you and yours.

Four until five reading again...what is it with me but head down until six thirty eventually.  Don't have to get up to go to the loo which is a common occurrence of ladies and gentlemen of my age...can't have been hunger, the amount that I put away at the late lunch would have done for the cavalry.

Got two lots of wood in, I slacked yesterday. watered the plants in the little house and moved them on to the window sill to catch the sun and also those on my window sills indoors.  Now I have a seed already showing its little head so it's either a weed or the Aquilegia was waiting to propagate...watch this space.  Went out and lit a bonfire which was a pretty stupid thing to do because despite the sun it was blowing a gale.  Two seconds later the metal cover on the burning pit was heading skywards but fortunately nothing else followed it.  Out with my trusty fork and turned over the rhubarb bed at the side of the house and dug up my leeks from last year.  They were pathetic...I might manage one bowl of soup out of them but it'll be a small one.  Wind has dropped now and it's settled into a pleasant evening.  Chicken roasting with roast vegetables to accompany it.  I have a little glass of the red stuff by my side as an aperitif before I go down and set to.  Another book bites the dust....skipping a few pages now as they get to the 'together' scenes.  I've read it before and they might be in love but there's an awful lot of lust going on it there too.

Now one for those that go off for stag nights and you know who you are....just to let you know that your offspring is being taken care of...

Down to service the fire...it's been ticking over most of the day with a gentle heat...keeps the house warm for the evenings.  LN...I have a chicken to attack.

Cool!!!

Wednesday 20th March

Six thirty this morning  and it's getting better.  Didn't bother snapping it but I had the sun shining on the righteous again.  The sun broke for about ten minutes and then we were overcome in mist which eventually burnt of and gate us a high of seventeen today which turned into close to twenty eight in my hall.  

Usual chores this morning, breakfast was toast with freshly squeezed red grapefruit juice...tart or what.  It did cause me a few problems though,,,it's a right handed juicer so had to juggle with the handle but it worked...after a fashion.  Fortunately one grapefruit....lots of juice.  No fire this morning...it was a beautiful day when the mist had cleared and I settled for Kindle on the settee in the hallway.  At eleven the sun was gently getting through so I put my book down, closed my eyes with the door to the yard open and settled down for a little zizz.  I was awakened just before twelve by Remsier who had come to invite me to a coach trip to Fotinovo on Sunday.  I'm still not sure what it's in aid of but I'm assured that all of the women are going.  I'll see.

Lunch was picking the chicken and the bones went to Tommy and he was licking his lips as he saw me approaching...love him to bits.  The rest of the chicken was fried off with onion, mushrooms, the remains of the veg from last night with a touch of the red added.  All into the slow cooker and served with mashed potatoes fr supper.  Little touch of the red going on tonight...I reckon it makes me sleep better than all of the tablets that I keep getting prescribed. I have a touch of the deafness again today and I suppose I must do something about it.  

Tomorrow...off to Kardjali.  I got my phone from the bank reminding me that I was to present myself so that it doesn't get dumped into a non interest paying account.  My taxi is booked for tomorrow and then onto the bus...have to submit my annual company tax returns (I think) unless the rules have changed and pay the local tax on my car.  March is such a busy month.

Fire going now, supper complete, winebox holding out.....LN...I'm back to my book.....thirty percent yet to go....    

Thursday 21st March

Taxi was early this morning and Gouljan was already in it...and you got to be in it to win it so they say.  I was picking up the car documents when it turned up so I ran in, fortunately had got all the bits I needed to take ready so was heading to Djebel and alighting at eight thirty.  Walked to the car parts shop and had a chat before I went to the bus station for the nine o'clock to Kardjali.  I had specifics today that I wanted to complete.  Gouljan was insistent on paying towards the taxi....so I accepted what would have been the bus fare....fairs fare so they say.

Money tied up for another year despite my money wizard taking a couple of days off....There's another paragraph that has been added asking where the money has come from and my response was that they had had it for four years so they should know.  The magic word was 'Savings'.  Also heard that this sort of money is referred to as 'white' money for 'black' days.  I liked that.  Beast's car tax sorted and annual company returns submitted and receipted.  I went into the office and the kind lady that had filled in the form for me for the previous year was still working there fortunately.  The security guard asked which form I wanted, I looked towards the lady and she told him and I was handed the forms in Bulgarian.  I tried to get a handle on them and no way was I going to be able so I went back to the office and asked the security guard for a stand in line ticket and said that I really needed to see that specific lady.  She finalised her client, I got sent over despite the fact that my number was no where near to being called, she asked me to sign the papers, asked my address, I stamped with my company stamp where I'm supposed to stamp, she gave me a receipt and I'm done for another year.  I left the office with a smile, down to the market and bought a couple of pot plants and on to the supermarket for a box of chocolates, back to the office and deposited the cache.  Makes me feel better when somebody helps me from the heart than with an extended hand for payment.

Back on the twelve o'clock bus, had a word with my car shop and they collected the Beast and it's now in the garage being threatened with a new fuel filter.  I have the feeling that maybe the wrong one was fitted last time.  Went for the one thirty bus from Djebel to home to be told that it only runs on Monday and Friday and the next one would be three thirty and yes, I'm going to wait aren't I with the rain dripping around me.  So into a taxi...fire lit in quicksticks and then a cheese and onion...or rather two cheese and onion sandwiches on crusty bread.  Stuffed....

So my other favourite website is down and we're all wondering what has happened to it.  I'll await the outcome.  LN...I really feel I've achieved a lot today...it's good when you get the paperwork out of the way...and the formalities....LN..

Friday 22nd March

Welcome today...the first day of spring but nobody told the weather sender that.  Cold this morning and raining, brightened up somewhat and then the wind came followed by the cold.  Apparently tonight we are down to minus two again.  Horrible night....woke up at midnight and was really very awake so read until four this morning and then off again until just before seven.  Seems to me that I am working a shift system...so many on and so many off.

Phone call at just after eleven and my Librarian is about to do damage to the laptop and the dongle so I suggested that she brought it over to see how it behaves itself sitting on the desk next to mine.  It's a pretty old laptop, well not that pretty but in fairness, the connection t the service provider was pretty naff today and even I had problems with maintaining the link.  We had pasta and spicy sausage for lunch followed by my neighbours yogurt but it was far too sharp for my palate and I don't normally have a problem with it.  Played around getting connected and by golly it was slow.  The ultimate was to remove Google Chrome and re-install and it seems to have done the trick.  It appears to have made it faster for her...we shall see when it is sitting on its lonely shelf without mine for company.

No supper tonight...lunch was filling.  Beautiful shades on the mountains as the sun was going down but the dark cloud were rolling in...It's supposed to be cold as I said but not sure if the cloud base will keep the temperature up.  Back down stairs now....back to my book and the fire...I sound pretty boring but it's a very quiet life.  My other favourite website is not up yet..but at least I managed to track down the site manager and tell him that he had problems.  LN...I'm away with the fairies.....

Saturday 23 rd March

Well the second day of Spring turned out to be worth waiting for.  Sunrise at six thirty this morning and turned all the white blossom a lovely shade of pink.  I'd kept the fire going all night so even my house had a lovely warm glow to it.

Breakfast this morning was spicy sausage fried with an egg and lashings of brown sauce...well it is 'le weekend' so to speak.  Cleaned the kitchen floor where the tar from the little woodburner had dripped on to the floor before I got my new pipes installed and generally felt that spring was in the air.

That sun came out and stayed out and so much so that I dragged out the bench from the bedroom, stuck it on the terrace and went out with my Kindle.  I'd found a pair of shorts out this morning but was wearing a pair of footless tights under them making not much of a fashion statement but as it got warmer, off came the socks, went the tights under the shorts and the legs got the first airing of the year.  Avatar appeared with her home make cheese and filo pastry special and yogurt so I had lunch catered for.

Had a little nap this afternoon.  I'd come round, was reading and heard the chatter of Turkish voices on my terrace and Avatar was out there with one of my other neighbours and my little garden was under scrutiny.  My forsythia is in full bloom and an offspring has been demanded.  I do have a little one already with roots on in the little house and I told her that she would have to wait until it got warmer.  No was was she tossing out one of my babies until I was sure that spring was really here unlike the weather in the UK.  Bit up and down there isn't it.

So chicken just finishing off.  Not really hungry but since it had sat in the fridge since Thursday I reckoned it ought to be cooked.  As for my connection today to the internet....it's been rated as poor so before I lose it again I'm going to say LN......I might just be tempted to grab a leg and a hunk of bread...LN

Sunday 24th March

Yes I know that I'm late...it's been 'go' all day.

Got suited and booted for the wedding this morning and the coach picked us up at eleven o'clock.  Over to Fotinovo and caught up with more friends from Samodiva that I'd met at a previous wedding.  Stranger still the wedding was being held in Ysat's restaurant and he is the man that I buy all my building supplies from so we had a cheery word with each other and I said that I would be using his services in a couple of weeks or so.

So on to the wedding breakfast.  There were about one hundred and fifty gathered and I confirmed that the one getting married is Remsier's grand-daughter.  She is standing there with bridegroom who happens to be the son of the tractor man from Samodiva and also a friend of KingDom so the wheel goes full circle.     Wheels within wheels so they say.  Lovely part of the ceremony, the bride and the groom both have white scarves put round their necks and people offer them money and it gets attached to the scarf...much better idea than having to think of a suitable wedding present.  Soup, hamburgers, salad, cake and fanta and back on the coach and home for two o'clock.  Took some good photos for Remsier...a very proud grandmother.

Got the fire going and settled down for a little nap and my visitors arrived at around six.  Tea was the order of the day...he said that he was gagging for the real thing so it's good when you can make the first but they know where the kettle is after that.  Into Djebel for supper, the hamburgers didn't resemble the ones on the pictures but told that they were OK after the first bite.  I settled for liver so wasn't disappointed.  Home for just before ten....going house viewing with them tomorrow so I'll await a telephone call in the morning.  Just about to get a glass of the red stuff underway and take to my virtuous couch....LN...it's been a busy old day.