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Elsa Peters
April 1, 2014, 5:37pm Report to Moderator

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Tuesday April 1st

White rabbits and the rest and I saw about one hundred in my garden this morning....bit late for an April Fool but thought I'd give it a try.

Radio clock said six twenty, thought I'd better check and yes...it was one that I'd missed so I was on a quick, quick to get out in time for the men.  Over to the builder's merchants this morning and after some to-ing and fro-ing we managed to get all the metal we needed for the balcony rails for the two bedrooms with a promised delivery date of later to day.  We scoffed a little but wonder of wonders...it arrived at lunchtime today and so that's the men's job for tomorrow sorted.

As for today....the bathroom is more or less finished with the extra shelving in place after much oo-ing and arrgh-ing.  Bekir didn't read my mind as well as he should have and if I say...the same as downstairs and then I get different...not my fault.  Sally has finished the street side wall of the garage and has set about covering up another of my stone walls but it's soft stone after all, not like the rest of the property.  I got busy with lawn mower when some of the dew had lifted but I gave up and carried on more or less at four this afternoon giving the sun a chance to do its stuff.  There's just a little left to do and that's tomorrow's job should I choose to accept the challenge and of course, weather permitting.  Legs cut for the beds in the third bedroom and they'll be done in quicksticks and the old washbasin shelf unit has been converted into a shelving unit for the third bedroom but just as a temporary measure.....I'll give it about five years before I do something else...it's that temporary...   Librarian has her internet sorted and I'm up to sort out the cash tomorrow....is she pleased and she had a little surprise today.  The house next to hers was up for sale by the Turkish owner and suddenly out of the blue there's two English guys accompanied by some official lady asking if she minds talking to them.  Story goes...they bought the house six years ago and have all the documents but hadn't visited it since...and now the previous owner is trying to sell it again.  Naughty.

Men home.....fish finger sandwiches for speed this evening after lighting the fire and I'm about to settle in with a little beer in front of it.  So tomorrow the men become braziers and metal workers...I'm a painter and gardener...such a skilled lot we are....LN...going to get my strength up for tomorrow...LN
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Elsa Peters
April 1, 2014, 6:01pm Report to Moderator

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And a few pictures



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Elsa Peters
April 2, 2014, 6:27pm Report to Moderator

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Wednesday 2nd April

What a day....picked up the men.  Had to go to Sally's house to pick up the welding machine and on the way back to mine saw a deer in the field more or less before my village.  It stopped, looked at us, Bekir took lot of photos but it's been so busy today that they're still in his camera....and tomorrow is another day.

Off to Djebel to buy the rest of the metal for the balcony rails and came back from Djebel with my scarf dangling from the back of some four meter lengths of metal but because it happened to have some red in it should be be stopped by the local police.....I now it's not red but it has red in it and any fool should be able to spot the dangling scarf...   So while we were away and this was a solo trip with Bekir, Sally had attacked my metal mound and was converting it into ...good metal and bad metal and most of the bad were their cooked meat and fish tins ever since they'd joined the project.....As I threw them to one side I quoted the cost of two leva for every tin and it seen mounted up.  So the upshot is...my garden is clear apart from the stuff that we should be selling to the gypsies, the rest sits behind the bus shelter so don't look to closely folks and now I am more or less tidy.

The rest of my garden is finished...I wielded the lawnmower around and my work is done apart from the odd pocket of stuff that needs to be removed with the hand sheers.  Silly thing is I have a huge strimmer but unfortunately I can't manage to control the thing...much too big for me.

Men set to with the panels and one biggie is complete and by my timing the first one should be up by lunchtime and the second well underway by tomorrow afternoon.  As for me..after finishing with the mower I found the hand sheers and cleared round the flowerbeds.  I tried desparately to plant a couple of junipers at the bottom of the garden but there's so much stone in the soil that it has one of two choices...live or die....

So men home and they were black as the ace of spades...metal work is no joke.  I didn't get home until eight my time, fishfingers and chippies for supper with mayo...that was about the height of my inspiration tonight.  LN....I really need to go and collapse and I think there is a bottle of Rose lingering in the fridge from the other night....LN...found it...



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tcinbg
April 2, 2014, 9:12pm Report to Moderator

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It is amazing what a couple of 'Masters' can produce from a pile of old junk and some new stuff.  

Trev
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Elsa Peters
April 3, 2014, 6:01pm Report to Moderator

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Thursday 3rd April

Early start...read my newbie until seven fifteen and then jumped to.  Quick wash, I don't think I combed my hair this morning but it's shoved up out of sight but not in the way of the paint that it encountered later,

On the way back, the deer that we had seen had been joined by another and again I didn't have my camera.  Tomorrow I'll go out prepared.  The men set to immediately and the first job was to take apart what they did yesterday since Bekir said that it had the look of a donkey's hind leg so that was put right and there was a lecture about a 'maister' doing work quickly and not turning out to be a 'maister' at all by the time the work was redone.  I didn't say anything...I left them to it and eventually the big one was hoisted and put into place and the short one eventually joined it, or rather was joined to it and one down one to go until we start the small balcony on the the third bedroom.  So the first one was in place more or less by lunchtime and let the fun commence...we have an even longer one on my upstairs bedroom and two side panels this time so let's see how good their measuring skills are and not a pencil and paper in sight.

I cleared out the third bedroom this morning, cleaned the floor and the windows and now it's ready for the beds to go in and they are more or less made already.  All that needs to be done is the connecting wood work to the legs that were prepared from the huge chunk of wood that I had lying a round in the workshop.  My men have really had to adapt to this mad English woman that said that if you make me eight legs about twenty five centimetres high I'll have two bases for the mattresses that are still sitting downstairs.  I put together the other table from Ikea and it's in case my furniture is not ready this Sunday....I shall wait and see but I have plan B in place just in case.

Played in the garden this afternoon and flitted from job to job but the weather is so gorgeous that it's easy to do.  At about three I decided to get the paint out and attack the new balcony rail and putting it on is like applying treacle.  Tomorrow we'll add something to it to make it easier to apply but the men laughed.  I'd put down cardboard so that it didn't get everywhere but I worked without shoes and trod on the paint pot lid and as I tried to walk my toes were sticking together and I got covered but thank goodness I'd got on an old t-shirt.  When end of play was called it was out with the petrol and I cleaned myself up...the metal was put in a safe place for the night and we all sat down with a beer in the yard taking ten minutes out before we set sail for their restaurant.  A really good day.  They achieved, I achieved and I think we were are dutifully tired at the end of it.  Super was pan fried pork and I used up half a can of baked beans to go with it.....LN....I'm going to have a bath with Neil Diamond...LN...and the photo shoot will be tomorrow...it was far too dark by the time I got back tonight....
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Elsa Peters
April 4, 2014, 6:09pm Report to Moderator

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Friday 4th April

Silly o'clock start but managed another hour before my seven o'clock up and out call to duty.  We were all waiting to see the deer this morning but no show,  The comment was passed that maybe Semile had been out there with his shotgun even though it's the closed season.  So Bekir told me that he's going for his forestry permit to shoot.  They have a course to do in Momchilgrad and have to pass an examination and the fee for everything is like....high.  The course covers what they can shoot and when...everything to it's own season.

Caught the bread man this morning so breakfast was bread and butter with a skimming of the Australian version of Marmite that is lasting out quite well and thank you Linda.  Out into the garden while the men carried out with the second balcony rails for my bedroom and I can confirm...they were finished around five this afternoon.  Just she paint to go on now and that's down to me...I've started...now I've just got to finish....

Had a really good day in the garden today.  I took apart the old fence that they wind had brought down when the wind swept through and took down a couple of trees.  I couldn't find any decent nails in the place to put the fence up properly but the foundation is down or rather up...tomorrow it will be two kilograms please.....

Avatar came round this evening with a photo that she wants copying and I had a surprise visit from Gouldjan telling me about her new boyfriend.  I had made arrangements to go with her to Kardjali tomorrow but now it;s ll change.  My other Gouldjan Facebooked me to tell me that my furniture is ready for collection so all change.... the Sunday pick-up is now a Saturday pick-up and there was me doubting that it would be finished at all.  All messages have been sent so it's boots blacked for tomorrow and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it meets all expectations but I'm aware that one of the pieces will be outstanding....let's just wait and see.

Bath tonight I think....I'm aching and need to soak for a while....LN....I'm going to start things moving...namely me...LN
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Elsa Peters
April 5, 2014, 5:31pm Report to Moderator

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Saturday 5th April

Usual early start and last night's bath was a disaster.  I didn't put the boiler on relying on what was in the tank already and hoping that the fire had added to it but alas, got about four inches and then it started to run cold.  I thought that I'd risk it but once in wished that I hadn't....splashed it around for a few minutes but it's when the wave stop that you realise that you're on a hide to nowhere so out I got after a quick scour and wrapped in a couple of towels off to find a place in front of the fire.  Serves me right...should have forward planned a little more.

Gouldjan phoned and I arranged to pick her up so that she could go to meet her new guy in Kardjali, the school master arrived at about eight thirty and mentioned that there was a problem with the internet.  Certain sites couldn't be accessed.  Now he's a problem solver where I just wait for it to be fixed and he was trying to find different routes to Rome which he managed to do...I think he was getting Twitter withdrawal symptoms.  I went down to pick up Gouldjan while he hitched up the trailer and off we set but he pointed out that his exhaust was making a noise so over to the garage and a quick weld took place while we waited around...total bill ...five leva.  Dropped off Gouldjan at the bus station then over to Gouldjan two's house to pick up her father and off we set for my furniture makers.  

The man was waiting for us and proudly showed us the two units and said that the others would be ready next week but I'll be able to get those into the Beast.  The furniture was loaded into the trailer with blankets underneath and carefully strapped into place and off we set.  Going through one of the highest villages on the route, there was a sudden bang and one of the straps had come loose, wrapped itself round the axle and the heat from the buckle had popped the tyre,  Unfortunately no spare so we unhitched the trailer, I was given ten lev to get a coffee and the school master went back to his for the replacement.  So into the restaurant with Gouldjan's father and he decided that a beer seemed more appropriate so I joined him while we waited.  We were quite a talking point since it's his village and what on earth was he doing with an English woman.  

Replacement arrived, wheel replaced, bought lunch from the shop attached to the restaurant and safely made it home only stopping briefly in Djebel to watch some motor cross buggies desparately trying to negotiate the river beds and then heading up to the village we'd just left.  It all happens in BG.  Moved the Beast out of the garage and pushed the trailer in and the furniture will have to stay there until I have the boys on Monday.  Cooked lunch, made the school master a blind for his room thirteen and off he went,  I got out the mower and dug a little deeper into the remaining grass, knacked myself completely, eventually got the fire going realising that I hadn't emptied the ash can so there was some reluctance and got my head down for a couple of hours and feel much better for it.  It's been an exciting day.

No supper required, a little beer on the go and so it's down to the fire with my Kindle.  LN I'm off to chill....LN and it appears I can't post pictures again...back to my American buddy I go....
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Elsa Peters
April 5, 2014, 5:38pm Report to Moderator

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Let's see if I can post pickies now....



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Elsa Peters
April 6, 2014, 7:44pm Report to Moderator

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Sunday 6th April

Early start and I've worked out that to do difficult tasks I have to imagine myself doing it for a couple of days and then the mood strikes.  Maybe I'm a born procrastinator in my book where others think that I achieve a lot....I should pat myself on the back a bit more often but the thought springs to mind that if you want a pat on the back...go lie under a cow's backside and I live in the right area for it.  Slept OK last night but still awake at five thirty so finished my current book and it's now leaning heavily on the story of Robin of Hood fame though it's set in Wales.  This guy is working on the theory that the forests in England about the time of the Norman conquests were so micro managed that no way would any outlaws manage to stay hidden and who am I to discount the theory.  It's the first of six books and I'll start the second and see what happens and whether it really does keep me hanging in there.  

Shower and shampooed and off to my students this morning.  Father had been busy making cakes so I presented him with a blender so that he would find it easier to whisk his eggs up.  He makes a mean apple cake with cinnamon.  We all sat for a while over coffee and then the parents went out to plant more stuff in their overflowing garden.  I think mother is of the siege mentality where they grow and store and grow and store even more....and then give it away.  Lunch was meat and potatoes with grated carrots prepared by my student since her sister who we've nicknamed Cinderella since she is so good in the kitchen had to go into work today so that her co-worker could have a Sunday free.  Sat around for a while after lunch and home for just after three.  Got the fire going and a combination of the fire and the sun got the better of me and sent me to the land of nod for a couple of hours on the sofa so at sixish I was looking for things to do.

Three more sleeps and my daughter and co will be arriving and now the countdown begins.  I'd hoped that the men would have finished walking in and out but there are still a few jobs that they need to do so the final clean has to wait until I can boot them off the premises.  Set about making the curtains for the last bedroom and they are finished.  The material I got over from England and it occurred to me that the material I purchased in Corby as remnants about thirty seven years ago and I'd done nothing with it.  It was a Warner fabric and those that know fabrics would appreciate that it's linen and called Pine Trees and Peonies, basically navy with lovely yellows, blues and greens.  I knew it would come in useful one day.

So almost time for bed...as I said the men are here tomorrow so I've an early start to collect them.  Their day will mainly consist of lifting and moving stuff from downstairs to upstairs and Bekir has to finish the table that he part made me on Friday because he thought I needed it.  I better get a list started so that nothing is forgotten...they move on to pastures new for a few days while I have guests.  LN...now where's that sheet of A3...LN
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Elsa Peters
April 7, 2014, 6:50pm Report to Moderator

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Monday 7th April

What a day.....I left the house at seven thirty this morning and got back after dropping the men off at just after eight thirty.  Worse than when I used to work for a living...

So what have they done...all those little jobs that are really quick until you start to do them and they turn into something else.  All the bath towels have been boil washed, beds stripped and everything dried and ready to go back on, the men have finished inside now...more or less but at least for this week and tomorrow is the big clean.  I'm afraid I told them to bring some of the tools inside so that they didn't have to negotiate the stairs every five minutes and they took me at my word and I think they were all in.

I've slung the new hanging chair in the cherry tree and that was a game and a half.  I assumed wrongly that the old one had the same fall and that the same length of hanging rope could be used.  So I slung the old rickety ladder against the tree, almost back flipped as I hooked it over the branch that held the old one got down and tried it for size and it was more like Daddy Bears than Goldilocks....Down it came, a longer piece of rope was brought into play but this time it's on a cleat so that I can easily take it down when the weather's bad....that's if I remember.

Went into Djebel and bought a couple of shrubs from the market and he offered me a free pot plant but unfortunately it was only one of the one leva ones so I handed over two leva forty which was all I had to have the four leva one instead...high finance.

Last job of the day was for Bekir to finish the garden table that it was his idea to do not mine so it was his fault that they were late home...well that's what I told them.  I've just cooked fish fingers, I'm too lazy and it's to late for a gastronomic event to take place.....Early to bed and early to rise....I've got a busy day tomorrow...LN...I might even start tonight to get ahead of myself..LN



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