Friday 13th September

Well it's over virtually and nothing untoward has happened ....well not out of the ordinary...

Suffered last night for my late supper and I should know better but don't.  Tonight I have had nothing since four this afternoon so I shall probably be awake because I am hungry not stuffed to the gills.  Showered and shampooed and met the men with wet hair clutching thermo coffee mug.  I'd not realised the time and it moves on very swiftly on some mornings and this was one of them.  Down to the yard and ordered the materials for the wall....phoned the sand man and he cometh, or rather cameth while I was in Kardjali getting more dowels to finish this bloody cabinet.  I start it, the men laugh, I go and do a bit more and they keep on laughing.  Now Bekir has offered to do the job for me but it's only a cabinet for goodness sake and it's all pre-drilled and there are instructions.  Tomorrow with a little help from a hammer it will be put together and filled with all the crap that sits on my desk.  

As for the men...the wall was no problem until we came to removing the gate supports which are asbestos, partly filled with sand and the rest concrete sunk about two feet into the ground.  It was a bit of a job and now it was my turn to laugh and it ended up with Bekir visiting one of my neighbours to see if they had anything bigger than the normal hammer to really give it some welly which is just what they did.  It was the most enormous metal handled metal lump hammer I think I have ever seen but it did the job.  Rest of it down, new concrete gate support already in place although temporarily supported by wood either side to stop the roaming cows, my do they work quickly when it's Friday night and the boys are at the bar already.  Dropped Sally near his local watering hole, Bekir with his mates in another one and I carried on to the Librarian's since neither of her phones raised her today.  She's fine and with her son is attacking the garden with a vengeance and uncovering allsorts.

Enough for tonight...we are having the odd flash of lightening but not near enough to hear the bangs yet...the cabinet is in just in case it rains tonight...I should hate it to get spoilt now I've become attached to it.  There is a beer on the go and at half past nine, no food will be passing my lips tonight...LN...want to get this posted and the computer to bed...LN  

Saturday 14th September

My day of rest but unfortunately it started at three thirty this morning with the zzzz of a mosquito so I sprayed with the stuff and decided that until I was ready to sleep again I would play on the DS....bloody thing only landed on the screen so I shut it down, moved it into the upper hall, and blow me down if it didn't escape and come back to terrorise me or its brother or sister did...ggrrr.

Went back eventually buried under the covers and dawn struck at about eight for me.  Meandered around outside, checked the garden but it had rained in the night so there was little to do.  Thankfully I had got the cabinet in last night otherwise it would have been petchka bound this morning.  Delayed finishing it until I had had a packet of Haribo for breakfast and then took the bull by the horns or rather the cabinet by the instructions and set about creating what the designer had planned.

It is up...no bits left over, sited in the hall by my desk and now that sorting out begins.  I did come out with a brainstorm though.  It's supposed to be a video cabinet but mushroom boxes with their upper nodules trimmed fit into the upper shelf and become drawers that do not fall to the ground when they are opened and can remain open at a tilt to select anything one wants to select.  Last mushroom box without payment at Lidl...one more trip and I shall be complete.

Supper tonight...sparer rib chunks (not exactly chops)m but delicious and at a fraction of the price.  I marinaded them this afternoon with the usual but added Piri Piri sauce so not sure what Tommy will make of the bones but anything apart from bread which is the usual feast of the fettered is better.  Nine thirty my time...Bette Midler is blasting away and I shall be soon to sleep.  Off with my student and her parents to raid the walnut trees at the old school provided that the weather looks OK...no way do I stand in the rain for a few walnuts.  LN...Bette's finished so now to find something else to boogie to...washing up done so my work is ended for today...I'll update you tomorrow...LN

Hi Elsa you so inspire me mushroom box, breakfast,I especially like lunch and dinner  : I'm so jealous
Jackie  x    

Sunday 15th September

Jackie...inspiration comes in all forms...glad to be of service in the words of Bicentennial man....x

So I was doing OK for time this morning and thought that I'd planned it well until my Avatar appeared inviting me to a wedding this afternoon...Apologised saying that I had arranged for a walnut gathering session with my student's parents.  Quick shower and into some clothes that had not been ironed and I hear you saying it now Mikey B...shame on me but for goodness sake...I was potentially up a tree with a big stick.  As it happened..it was not me up the tree.  Sat around at their house for a short while drinking black tea and eating cake provided by their neighbour and then all packed and into the car...not much chance of an English lesson today...we were off walnutting.

Over to the property in Momchilgrad...it is still as big as ever and my student's parents were surprised at the size of it.  Their is not to reason why...we want walnuts....there are seven trees to be depleted.  We were spotted on the way in but fortunately I have sufficient Bulgarian and three locals with me to state my case of which I'm certain...but then next time we take a tarpaulin and spread it on the ground...every new shake as he climbed the tree meant we were going over the same ground several times.  Now I'm into time and motion in a big way and though we had sufficient labour...there are ways to do things and I've formulated the technique for next year and it wasn't what we did today.  Anyway...all is safely gathered in....and then down for a picnic in the grounds by which time the next door neighbour that I know was round with yogurt drink.  We loaded the car with the cache....grabbed the food and sat down in the shade and demolished the lot.  On leaving there was another local to prove to that we had a right to be there....as I held my passport at the ready...well not quite but almost.

Back home...beautiful day, beautiful evening and supper is still in the freezer.  Got a little glass of 'rocket fuel' on the go which is namely gin, sweet martini topped up with tonic water and so named because it 'makes you go quickly'....my ex-mother-in-laws favourite and did me through a few years till I knew better....and now I know that two is sufficient unto the day.

Men tomorrow...the materials that were ordered didn't come on Friday as to be expected but the list is already assembled if the wood doesn't arrive.  My list is endless and they have until I move on to the next phase of life to complete it...I joked with them on Friday that I shall be in a wheelchair directing operations while they appear with walking sticks or zimmer frames....picture it in your heads....

So LN.....I'm off to get the walnuts out of the car and lay them on the terrace to dry....I have work to do...LN

Monday 16th September

Bloody mosquito...I took all the precautions, I sprayed the room about one hour before I went to bed, closed the door and windows and a little b*st*rd woke me up at three this morning.  I heard it and I had this itching on my hand so not sure if it's a genuine mozzie or on of those small wee beasties but I really hate my nights disturbed.  So on to the computer and played a few silly games and went back to bed at five hiding under the bedding but then woke up at six cold as you like.  The temperature had dipped so out again and on with the socks that have yet to come off and a little cardie, that did come off and was replaced with a sweater to pick up the men.

Over to their village, back here in quicksticks and I settled on the kitchen terrace peeling the green stuff off the walnuts.  I cleared the basket and kept half and gave the rest to my Avatar so that she can make me some baklava when it is their silly season.  Nothing much for breakfast, men are busy doing the wall or rather digging out the foundations and I'm pleased to say that it is now ready to start the construction but it did take until five thirty today.  The materials were delivered just after lunch and everything was there.  The breeze blocks were left in the lane but the wood is safely stored along with the metal....try that in the UK.  Unfortunately there were just so many roots wrapping themselves around the old stone work that it was a hell of a job to remove the stone and the roots but job's a guddun...tomorrow they start and I'll add, weather permitting.  It started to rain as we got them in the car for home and it must be some association with the word 'concreting'.  It always seems to manage it.

So home now and the lightening has started so it's going to be a quickie this evening and the pc is going to bed.  Looks like it could be another evening of Angry Birds and my how I love it.....repetitive but the challenge is there to complete the level.  A few pictures of my six o'clock start....of my shelling of the walnuts and the bounty that I found in the lane that requires that I go out and get a couple of bottles of gin.  I came up with this theory that because I had a very indulgent tent moth caterpillar that finished the leaves off, the poor plant has done its best on the fruit front.  Just a thought.  On that note...LN...I have and empty glass and an equally empty stomach...I'm kitchen bound...LN

Tuesday 17th September

It's a late post tonight...I have guests.

Picked the men up today and they have made a start on the wall...Interesting interlude with Semile the sheep farmer at lunchtime...I now have a barrel bung carved by Stara Mush who has now gone to higher pastures but no barrel to put it in.  There was a cost involved that I don't want to discuss...but maybe one day.

So off this afternoon and went down the new road for Slanchogled...Sunflower village...and made it all the way to the new junction with the Zlatograd road and without anyone turning us back....the new road had been constructed so that they could put a massive pipe underneath the existing road and if we have a digger...we can make a new road...no problem peeps.

Did various DIY shops today for my visitors, arrived home in time to make potato salad and 'stuff' including a stupendous sweet and sour barbecue spare ribs for supper with potato salad, took the men home and back to finish supper.....is there no end to my talents.

Third glass of red on the way...guests asleep...almost ten and I still have things to do...but feeling very relaxed and at one with the world.  Super day to day and was able to photo lots of things that I normally end up viewing because I am on the end of the steering wheel....LN...enjoy the photos of my world...LN

Wednesday 18th September

A fun packed day.  I woke up at seven this morning...that extra glass of wine last night put me out for the count and I slept like the proverbial log.  Picked up the men, got them back in time, bacon and eggs for breakfast for my guests and out to see what the men were up to.  Bekir was walking back towards the house along with Emula and carrying a trusty lump hammer and ...my concrete post that was the old electricity pole is no more.  I'd asked if it could come down before the new wall was build and down it has come.  Bekir attached a rope to the top, Emaula was on the hammer at the bottom, Sally was watching and ready to jump if necessary, my Avatar joined in the fray and bang, bang, Emula's hammer came down upon the post, bang, bank and a little tug and  and the next thing it crashed on to the road.  I did a little police work directing traffic round it and then a few more bangs with the hammer and I now have three sections that might be used for something else....in typical BG form.

So off we went to Greece to try out the new road to Komotini.  Fantastic and Greece in one and a half hours from my house to the beach...it has to be done again.  Until the Shenanigan agreement goes through we still have a police post to encounter but that should be removed after Brussels and the rest make their minds up.  Beautiful road, good lunch but at inflated prices in comparison to BG but it is Greece....Coffee by the Aegean Sea,,,now what could be wrong with that.  Home for six, men delivered to their door and what a lovely day it has been....LN....very rested, and now for a little food and vino before bed...LN

Thursday 19th September

Another lazy start to the morning with Angry Birds playing a major part of it.  Over to pick up the men, and then off to look at houses with my guest.  We went to see one that they had seen before and it still needs a decision..off to visit another friend who wasn't at home and whose telephones don't seem to work.  Back to Djebel to sort out a haircut for my guest and what a wonderful improvement at a cost of...now wait for it...five leva for a complete restyle.  She's also found the hair colourant that she would use in the local shop for a fraction of the price...complete restyle and colour for about nine leva...four pounds fifty and it just has to be done.

Over to visit another house this afternoon which appears to be something that needs dragging into this century after being advertised as being fully modernised.  I've put the feelers out for others if the mayor of the Djebel surrounding areas can find one but the specification is two decera of land and panoramic views...not that we ask much.

Men home after we have planned the metal inserts in the wall which they have agreed to make to my specification after they decided that it would be very expensive to have them made professionally.  Into Djebel to fill up with fuel for the morning trip and picking up a bottle of wine as I left and as I drove home I saw the moon and it is absolutely stupendous...there are no photos....it wasn't so impressive as the light faded but tomorrow will be another day.

LN...supper more than filled a gap and now I'm going to digest what I've stuffed down...I'm in to Angry Birds now...LN

Quoted from Elsa Peters

Sunday 15th September
Quick shower and into some clothes that had not been ironed and I hear you saying it now Mikey B...shame on me but for goodness sake...I was potentially up a tree with a big stick.  As it happened..it was not me up the tree.  

Well as long as your underwear was clean on, then I guess that's all that matters!  

Friday 20th September

Men working and still at the wall building ...I asked them to make it taller today...The one side appears to have hardly any wall since the ground slopes down towards the gate and it just didn't look right.  Unfortunately it is distinctly autumn today...and a tad on the cold side.  I've even resorted to long trousers and socks apart from the other stuff before some bright spark asks me if that's all.  Now going to check that they are still out there and haven't walked off the job....I can't hear the chip, chip of a stonemason,,,