Thursday 1st May

It was raining this morning so I phoned the men and cancelled today.  Not sure why....the day started off pretty poor then perked up but I lit the fire at eight thirty and got settled with my book and a coffee until the mood took me to get the bonfire going and get rid of the debris that was lying around in the bonfire pit.  I planted out a couple of wild plum suckers that I'd dug up previously and they have two choices, either they will or they won't.  

While I was out in the garden I had a deputation committee arrive and three of my neighbours came to survey the changes to the property since they had been round last time.  They spotted a new shrub that is now to have three new cuttings taken from it....and very pretty it is too.  In fact I have to take four since I've been told it's frost hardy but a cutting will ensure that I still have  it for next year though as instructed, it's planted against a wall.  After the walk round the garden I was invited to a lunch party along the street and  ten of us were gathered at twelve thirty for mekitsa....a yeasty pancake thingy with jam, a yogurt and garlic with pasta dish came later, a nutty cake that I was told was hash and I must admit  I felt a little strange after it but I likened it to walnut and something....all washed down with orange squash for starters and black tea for finishers.  Now I never take sugar in my tea and this caused something of an uproar and they decided to try it but soon rushed for the sugar basin.  It must be a British thing.

Over to the Librarians this afternoon and took her shopping to get some provisions in.  Her new car arrives sometime next week but currently it's 'Shanksies for her.  We did Benkovski, unloaded the 'stuff' and sat out in the sun until the thunder rolled in, the clouds hid the sun and the temperature dropped dramatically....and welcome May.

Staying here for the night and will pick up the men tomorrow hopefully.  The weather seems to be better for tomorrow than it's been for the beginning of the week.  About to have supper and a little beer to wash it down....I'm signing off  and despite bringing over my camera to upload some pickies, I  forgot the connecting cable so you'll have to put up with the text....LN....I'm about to pour another beer...LN and the thunder is still thundering....

Friday 2nd May

Not a very good night at the Librarians.  I slept badly and at two thirty was reading but eventually got back off again and woke at six so back to my book not to disturb the rest of the house.  Six thirty saw some activity and the dogs had been put out for their morning run and suddenly they were in again.  The big one knows how to open the door so the others wait to be let in.  We sat out on the terrace and had the morning beverages checking out the garden to see which plants had decided to show their little faces.  Several strains of cornflowers about to burst forth and the peony is just coming into bud and she has several different types of lilies.  

Phoned Bekir at about seven twenty and we decided that it was worth risking it on a day's work today so set off at just before eight to fetch them from the restaurant.  It was a little overcast but as we got nearer my village it cleared up somewhat and we felt sure that we'd made the right decision.  Men set too, I went into Djebel at about twelve to sort out KingDoms internet connection installation and into M-Tel to settle my final bill that a recorded message tells me exists.  So I've paid or so I though most of the stuff but the lady in the shop that is in fact a clone of the real thing told me that I owed sixty four leva for two months overdue.  I cancelled this in March so I was really surprised so said I wouldn't pay it, I would seek out the real macoy shop and fight to the death.  Went to the dentist and booked an appointment for a scale and polish for Thursday and then home to do the dirty with M-Tel on the phone.  Now this little lady on the other end kept asking me 'So how do you connect to the Internet' so I told her 'Link' which is one who sits in opposition.  She then informed me that I could use M-Tel since I had still got a live connection.  At this I think there were sparks about to set fire to the land-line that was a new one since they cancelled the only thing that I wanted to keep and so it transpires.....M-Tel shop had left the internet active and cancelled the home phone, the new home phone was taken out at an increased cost and I was advised to pay the outstanding bill I would receive a credit.  I told them to leg it, that I wouldn't be paying the outstanding bill for the internet since as far as I was concerned it was all cancelled in March.  I asked her to check the internet 'traffic' on the line to confirm that despite the fact they were providing me with a service, the offer hadn't been taken up.  Angry or what....and I confirmed that it wasn't a language problem, I had written confirmation and a signature to confirm it was as I said.  I await a verbal confirmation from my little lady.

The informed that I'd left the lights on on the car so I had a push and a shove from Bekir and Sally down the main road and it burst into life again.  Down to Gouldjan's village to give it a bit of juice and then left it running on the road for the next hour or so and meanwhile those heavens opened, men came in out of the deluge, I got the coffee on, Sally sampled some of the half bottles lingering in the little house and then one of the neighbours arrived with a carton of juice and a sponge cake that they had round to the village when then celebrate the death of one of their family.  Threw the men out at just after six so I could get on with my evening.  Home for just before seven, chicken wings, settled on a bed of potatoes and onions are cooking nicely in the oven and a bottle of red opened.  Loads done today and I'll raise a glass to a successful outcome to their investigation of incompetence and I'll get the box of matches ready to resolve the issue in my own way if I don't get the call....   LN....the aromas from the kitchen seem to be worth checking on....I'm now into a food frame of mind...LN

Saturday 3rd May

Chicken wings with potatoes and onions done in the oven is worth trying if you want something different.  All that is needed is some mayo and a bottle of the red but don't drink it all or you'll end up asleep on the sofa in front of the fire which is not a bad place to be but not at four in the morning

Went to bed, woke up at the normal six, back to sleep again and eventually got out at eight thirty which for me is unheard of.  Washed up from last night, put the washing in and checked messages and one from the schoolmaster suggested that he came with his visitor to mine for lunch so there was a swift response to advise him to pick up some fresh bread on the way through and a couple of spicy sausages or alternatively...we could head for Kardjali and go for a chicken lunch.  Advice accepted so showered and shampooed and all I had to do was hang out the washing since there was a glowing ball in the sky for a change despite the cold wind.  The guest viewed the estate and off we set meeting up with another Danish couple who have recently bought a little further south.  Five of us for lunch and they were blown away with the thirty leva bill for two chicken and beers all round.  Quick trip round the market, into the gun shop for more cartridges for my air rifle since they'd all been used by my son in law and grandson so goodness know how I would have coped if I'd had burglars....firstly know how to use the weapon and secondly worry about ammunition...

Parked up the car and I headed over to the M-Tel shop and after explaining to a rather nice young man that I'd spent an hour on the phone yesterday, he confirmed that on Monday the charges would be removed and no debt collection agencies would be beating a path to my door.  Little food shopping in Billa, back home for about four thirty and we sat out with tea and coffees as the clouds came over.  Watched the stork circle and make a landing in the little lake and when my guest had gone I sat out on the balcony waiting for it to continue on its flight path to the next pond but either I missed it or it was full to the gills so to speak with little frogs and too fat to take off. As I sat there I caught Semile and Jaylan's sons driving the sheep home and they do it with such joy for twelve year olds but this time no bicycles and air pistols though that was fun to watch too.

Lit my fire, no supper for me since the chicken is sitting heavily and the beer might help it to go down.  Carrying on with King Arthur and he's doing battle royal up and down the country and it suddenly hit me how differently he is portrayed by the different authors.  Will the real Arthur please stand up!!   Almost eight my time...tonight I shall be in bed at a respectable hour, read for a while and then lights out and hopefully a good sleep....well see though...LN...I might be having visitors myself tomorrow..let's see how it pans out...LN

Sunday 4th May

Beautiful sleep...woke up at just before seven and went through all night...now what could be nicer.  Very slow start....I heard the rain but didn't bother to get up and look at it but when I did the sun was shining and it was still raining.  Come on boys...it's May for goodness sake but having looked at the long range...not good...yes there will be weather...but as for what sort...who can say.  I think it very much depends on where you are and where the clouds decide to dump it.  I want it to go away...my grass is getting longer by the day and the poor old lawnmower is going to struggle I know.

No breakfast apart from a chunk of bun loaf in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other as I went out to view the estate.  Back in and had a few conversations on FB and then it was time to head down to Djebel for my student.  The house was so tidy and it was put down to the fact that the father and the elder daughter are in Istanbul living the high life while those remaining carry the can.  It's holiday time here but some take it before and others after the weekend and some like my other student are lucky enough to get the week off.  We don't have a lesson as such...she practices listening, speaking English and translating it for her mother into Turkish and then the responses back again for me into either Bulgarian or English.  She definitely gets put through her paces.  Fish for lunch with potato salad and banichka and stuffed to the gills so to speak.  Mother was off to a party this afternoon so she got suited and booted for the occasion.  I left at just before four...it was a long session but really enjoyable.

Got some wood in and lit the fire....it's seems to go cold in the evening at the moment.  Few more conversations on FB but my visitors didn't arrive so now off to my bath listening while a You Tube mix of Bulgarian music is playing in the background.  Men tomorrow unless the weather proves really useless for outside work....just have to see what tomorrow brings.  Just missed that bloody stork again with the camera as he moved on to his next site....I'll get him or her eventually.....never fear....you will get the photo call.  LN...my beer glass is empty and the bath is full....I'll top up the beer and head for the bathroom...LN

Monday 5th May

Straight through until six ten this morning...I could get used to this.  Phoned the men at seven twenty and made the wrong decision.  Only a few spots of rain dropped on this idyllic abode, around lunchtime there was a short sharp shower and later but it looks like it might throw it down overnight.  The men were working at the schoolhouse today...they could work inside and as I said, a wrongly calculated guess...I could have had my wall finished.

Breakfast was a bacon and egg sandwich and it was much more tempting than a bowl of cornflakes which was on the menu but I chose to ignore.  I looked at the excuse for a lawn and got out the trusty mower that Bekir things is much more an ornament than a tool but managed to do the top half of the garden before it gave up the ghost.  It struggled but it wasn't as much cutting it as frightening it into submission and eventually it died for its art.  Phone call from my guests that I expected yesterday and they turned up at just before twelve.  We chewed over the fat as friends do and they left about four thirty and I'm meeting them tomorrow morning on a property search.  The men are off to one of the village celebrations and it's St George's day so where's that flag and flagpole.

As to the weather...that wind is coming from the north and is cold.  The clouds are racing over and I keep reminding myself that it's May but it should cheer up about Wednesday so I'm unreliably informed from the internet...and yes....I did phrase that correctly.  I think I have more faith in my Avatar's cockerel.

Opened the wine tonight since the beer is finished.  Kingdom's lady love has arrived and is now experiencing the chill of Bulgaria after the warmth of Cyprus...I wish her well.  LN....there's no supper on the horizon since I managed to finish the bun loaf this afternoon piggy that I am...wine and my book with fifteen percent to go and then on to the next in the series...LN

Tuesday 6th May

Welcome St George's Day Bulgaria...highly celebrated and more lambs to the slaughter and put on spits that you would care to think about.  Lazy start and I was out viewing properties today with a couple of friends and while I was waiting for them I decided to scythe the grass down to give my lawn mower a rest.  Thank goodness they arrived. I was just getting into the swing but running out of steam...

Off we set and picked up the Librarian and her son so that we could find one of the houses again and find it we did....lots of photos taken and it's one for the shortlist dependent on the price.  Found the one that very nearly ripped out the sump of Beauty the last time I went looking for it and the property agent's car broke down and again that's shortlisted.   On the way back there was a marshy piece of ground and we discovered what we thought to be wild orchids intermingled with the buttercups and loads of frogs doing what frogs do at this time of the year.  On to the next and one that I really liked but not enough land with it for me and finally dropped off the Librarian and then on to Kirkovo to find that it was their holiday day and the fair was in town.  Walked round the market and had lunch, getting home at just on six and the question was...where has the time gone?  Sat down with a coffee and the next minute I have a phone call from the schoolmaster whose car had broken down just north of Kardjali while taking his guest to the airport in Plovdiv.  Too late to get her to the airport so I went to collect and found a field of storks on the way and so a photo shoot was essential.  I got them home at about eight thirty and now home, glass in my hand and feeling guilty about this being so late...still I have a few different photos for you....LN....I better get them posted...LN

Wednesday 7th May

I've had a lovely day with friends and the last thing I wanted to do was finish the conversation and disappear to finish my blog...I will tell the story tomorrow..LN....it's worth telling....LN...

Thursday 8th May

So yesterday's stretched out day....friends arrived at about lunchtime and I was digging away trying to remove an old root so that I can get a new tree in.  It was pretty much down tools, coffee provided and I was in rather a heavy discussion with the men about the terrace and where the walls were to go.  I thought it was pretty much laid in stone so to speak but no...they had their own ideas about what would be aesthetically correct.  Off we went to view a property that they'd seen before but Bekir made a phone call and it was arranged for them to go and have another look inside.  Job was a guddun and went to a new restaurant  for me, Romantica, for lunch.  We hadn't been sitting there long when there was quite an intense moment.  A lady walked in with her partner and the waiter immediately came over to our table and started looking around and it transpires that they had set off for Kardjali and when they arrived she realised that she hadn't got her handbag.  Several more joined in 'hunt the bag' but unfortunately nothing came to light.  So we had lunch and left the restaurant and discovered that we had a puncture, quick change of wheel and then back to the garage to have the tyre repaired at a gigantic cost of five four leva.  I stopped off at the garage shop to borrow money to pay the men for last week since all the cash points in Djebel were out of action.  

And back home at just on six to find that the instruction hadn't been followed and I had about two foot of stone walling that was in the wrong place....so there were discussions and my visitors knew to keep their heads down, and the outcome was that the wall was taken apart and the new footings established.  Again it was wrong so it was remeasured and new lines of attack drawn and now everything in the garden will be lovely...one day.  So in between  them taking it down and putting it up again, I was getting supper underway and getting the veg ready for when I'd dropped the men off.  Seven thirty when they left, eight thirty more or less by the time I got home, straight into finishing supper and so we didn't sit down until about nine thirty and out came the wine.  I'd left the update too late to write anything sensible so hence the garbled quick message but I suppose better late than never.  

Today in pictures

Friends left this morning heading for Greece via a cashpoint and I had my dental appointment at eleven and again was hopeful that one of the three in Djebel were working otherwise I couldn't pay my debts or for my dental treatment.  New kid on the block this morning, it appears that my normal dentist was involved in something more important than a clean and polish but I think I want my original back...please...pretty please.  He was very thorough but there seemed to be an awful lot of blood in the bowl and yes, they look good but everywhere is tender this evening.  Cost for one hour in the chair...twenty leva but unfortunately hiding under the plaque I have three small holes that need attention so back next week to the Butcher of Djebel.  As for the rest of the day...I arrived back and Bekir advised me that we were short of bags of cement so I threw a bit of a wobbly since I'd only just come back from Djebel.  Out with the Beast, I wasn't going to risk Beauty with five bags of cement on the springs.  Work still in progress.  I dropped the men off and lit the fire when I got back.  It's been a beautiful day but the wind still has that chill about it and the temperature's dropped tonight.  Men in the morning and they're finishing early since Bekir is going to an organised hunting course so that he can be out with the guns in the hunting season.  Me thinks he's going up in the world.  LN...pictures to post and then an early night for me...this building lark can be a little stressful....LN