Thursday 25th June

Woke up this morning by torrential rain and wondered whether it would clear up for the fetching the men and going shopping today.  As the morning wore it, it stopped and cleared up so there was no question of heading out.  They're chugging on well with the wall...another couple of weeks should sort it out and then back to the list to see what's next.

On the way back with the men ensconced, the Librarian was sitting in the pick up point for Ms D or S....and it we'd have worked it properly she could have saved me the journey....as it happened I was home and sorting out the tray for the men for the day....coffee, kettle outside and clean cups for them to help themselves.  

My guest arrived at nine and we sat out in the garden drinking and we commented that we were all wearing cardigans....the staple of the English (and Welsh) where there is a chill in the air...The men cracked on with the wall and by nine thirty we were off to the city for the day each with out shopping lists and mine only consisted of Domestos bleach and nail varnish remover where others had different agendas...like Sim cards, bank cards and internet banking.  All were successful.

I found a couple of mower repair places and I'm taking mine in either this week for next for a full service....I think it's something to do with air getting into the system so the fuel isn't delivered correctly but we'll see what the man says.  Lunch was pita wraps with loads of stuff inside and we all had trouble finishing them but we managed.  I think it was the messiest thing that I've ever eaten with the combination of yogurt dressing and chili sauce....delicious but you don't normally tackle it in company.  Bought some mole deterrent tablets to get rid of the mounds that currently make my excuse for a lawn like a mine field and the girl said that you had to be sure that you handled the tablets with plastic gloves on..they must be highly toxic and I hope so.  .Found some more plants for the garden namely a jasmine and then over to Kaufland to see if they were giving anything away which they weren't and finally on to Lidl with equally poor bargains.  

Home for three more or less and again out with the tea and coffee and they left roundabout four.  I went down to the garden to see how the men were getting along and they are working well on the cement capping for the wall while the third man has had a good day delivering the stone from the original excavations to the new wall for the stone facing which will then be capped to match the rest of it.  It was hot today and the cardies came off around lunch time but the men were able to work in the shade so not so bad for them apart from the one pushing the wheelbarrow.

Home  they are....home I am....cheese and biscuits for supper since that pita wrap was a biggie...Lovely skies tonight over Greece with high building clouds and at one point it looked like the start of a rainbow which didn't amount to anything.  The temperature is dropping tonight so it's time to shut up shop.  Tomorrow is a woodworking day I think.  I moved the sewing bench down and need to reassemble and put it back upstairs to regain a sense of organisation.  LN....I'm back to Filmon...they're might be something that interests me...LN

Friday 26th June

So I was awake this morning waiting for our little lady to pop her head over the mountains and she didn't disappoint.  YUp she came at the allotted hour and it would have been totally wrong not to have the camera handy...  There was lots of mist on the mountains but the sun itself came up with no shadows at all...Marvellous morning.

Over for the men and Emula caught me in the garden and decided that he wanted to come with me to pick up the men from their village.  They were really surprised to see him and so was his brother who has been working for the  week as we pulled up in Beauty.  I stopped the mobile shop and we purchased breakfast and it was a real coffee morning this morning,  Five of us sitting down to foodstuffs from the mobile shop my coffee,,,

Wall building and cement mixing was the order of the day and I was digging out a new flower bed and putting stone round one of the others which met with derision from Bekir and so much so that I left it to find other work and I'll finish it when he's not here.  He did explain that it was my work and it should be as I want it but by that time....I'd moved on to pastures green or greener with all this rain.

So the next high light of my day was the road technic man appearing in my garden and asking me what had happened about the bus shelter.  Yesterday I'd had a conversation in French may I add and thank you Grammar School...Mr Draper and Miss Andrews for that...insomuch that I remember it after all these years.  The' technic' had come back to me asking me what had been decided about the bus-stop.  I've spoken to the local Kmet..(mayor) five times now and gone to the municipality to no avail...Everybody turns their heads sideways to I told the technic man this.  He tried to phone the Kmet for a resolution but nothing so they carried on anyway, and I have a fully functioning wall.  The bagger machine pulled the bus shelter forward so that it was no longer resting on my wall and then the digger machine man I think got a little carried away...and it's a level playing field for tomorrow...I'm really not sure that he needed to flatten the bus shelter and my joke about being like a flat-pack piece of furniture went out into the ether....so one really understood so I left it.

Gouldjan came round at about five thirty and we chatted until it was time to get the men home.  I've invited her and her boyfriend for supper on Sunday and again....how did that happen.  I paid the third man who informed me that he's off to Belgium for three days on Monday so my men are flying solo so to speak.....He's up for work after that but by which time there will be little cement work to do....took the men home, my Avatar stopped me and gave me some pancakes that I brought in, warmed up and had with lemon and sugar for a snack while I was waiting for chicken wings to cook...Served up with mayo, after a little honey dressing...delicious.

Boiler on and about to rest my weary bones in the bath tub...I'm gong to say LN...I've enjoyed today...LN

Saturday 27th June

Late night bath last night and ended up reading for an hour or so and as I was just nodding off those noisy revellers that purport to be awakening everyone so that they can get the first meal of the day over by three thirty am were bashing out the beat on a drum.  I don't think it is going to head me in their direction especially when they put the knife, fork or spoon down they aren't allowed to lift any of them up until nine ten the following night.  No water is allowed and I found out that Sally's wife and Bekir's wife are also sticking to the rules.

The sun actually beat me this morning but not that it stayed around much today and there was a chill in the wind.  The martins were out and I tried to get some shots of them but they move pretty swiftly so to speak.  I was out in the garden and planted up the new bed that I made yesterday and lumped more stone round and put it in place but I'm not happy with it.  I'm going to take it up and do it again when I have the strength to lift some of the blocks.  I've got a good technique for getting it towards where I want it by rolling it using my Bulgarian gardening tool but it's still hard work.  Did more strimming until the battery ran out again and had the intention of recharging and heading out there again but instead I watched the Eastbourne women's tennis, went down and lit the fire since I felt chilled to the bone then nodded off until sevenish and felt much better for it.

So it's turned into a lovely evening, the wind has dropped and I think it's back out into the garden to try to get that stone looking the way that I want it and I really must get out tonight and water those that I planted earlier...LN...down to the kitchen to be creative, topped the fire up and find a little drink....LN

Saturday continued

Managed to catch the sunset or what was left of it after I'd watered the garden and one of my new hollyhocks against the front wall...LN

Sunday 28th June

Awake just before the sunrise this morning and had to go out and capture it on camera including upstairs and shots from the little house terrace.  Having said that, I went back to bed for a while taking my coffee with me and eventually emerged at eight.  Out with the strimmer since the grass is still too wet to cut with the mower and managed to do the top section of the lawn before shut down.  I have my original student and her boyfriend over tonight for supper and I thought it best if I gave the house a going over and in all, hoovering through and washing over the floors it was still only half twelve and by this time the battery for the strimmer had recharged so I was out there again.  Dug over the old window flower beds and planted up tobacco plants that have rooted on the paths.  New homes in different parts of the garden.    

Shower and shampoo and by this time the heavens had opened and it was chucking it down.  We'd had thunder rumbling around most of the morning but by the time I got into Djebel in Beauty, it was a beautiful day again and the pavements had already dried out.  Into the first supermarket and got a few things then down to the second one and picked up the rest.  The fruit and vegetables always seem fresher in the second one.  Home for four and set about preparing supper.  I picked four cucumbers and dug up four beetroot and considering that I only play at the veggies and prefer flowers and shrubs, I was quite chuffed with my efforts.  Everything went to plan, they were supposed to arrive at seven and it was more like seven twenty when they got here and I was reminded that this is the Bulgarian way.  I reiterated that they were now on English territory and that if I'd had a dog...that's where they would have found their supper.  As it was, the garlic bread was just at the finishing point so there was no problem.  They came bearing gifts of eclairs from Turkey and a pot of yogurt so they can come again.

So the rain has set in for the night...time for bed...men to be picked up in the morning, weather permitting that is...I must check out the internet.  A little more wine as a nightcap and on that note...LN

Monday 29th June

So this morning I could see nothing of the mountains and it was fog all the way to Greece.  I was cat napping from five thirty to six thirty and had a strange dream about two black squirrels and they were obviously squirrels by the tails.  I need a good analyst or a book of dreams but the only one I know of is in Turkish at my Avatar's house and try translating that one.....not an easy task.

Out to the terrace for my morning coffee and it had begun to lift a little.  Got dressed and ready for the world for seven forty, out to Beauty and picked up the men on time.  Bekir was carrying a box with an homing pigeon in it and the intention was to let it fly off at elevenish to see if it makes it home...we shall see.  They were straight at the wall....I cooked a bacon sandwich for breakfast and felt much better for it and was reminded that I hadn't delivered coffee since I was faffing around redistributing plants that are growing where they shouldn't.  The pigeon was released so watch this space, coffee delivered at ten thirty and there has been a succession of different cups all day, .  Because they are working at the bottom of the garden I get different cups for them and some come up and I believe some of them could still be down the garden...I'll do a full reckie in the morning.

So what did I get up to?  I looked at the bottom of the tea tree and realised that the succours had taken over so got my new billie bean machine out and took it back to ground level more or less.  It then struck me how the metal on the table and benches in that area had never been painted so I was out with the wood preservative and then went for a pain brush and realised that they'd been used for other purposes and there weren't any left apart from one fat one that would do the first part of the task but not the second.

Into the Beast...there was a demand for more cement and picked up my paint brushes at the same time.  Went down to see the windows man that Mrs A or S has selected and asked him why he hadn't been down to quote for the job...embarrassed was he and I managed to get a new date and time out of him and the details have been forwarded.  

Painted the metal on my wall seating and it's looking good.  I also got some marigolds and put them in troughs to make the area pretty...aaahhh.  Horrendous rain at five of the clock and the men rushed in to the workshop.  Bekir reckoned that it would be all over by five thirty and we sort of took bets on it but he was more or less correct...a few minutes either way.  They went back to the wall to use up the rest of the cement so that it didn't get ruined overnight...Lit a fire before I left, men home and now it's back to chucking it down so I shall have a foggy journey in the morning if I have a journey at all.  I'll check out the forecast for tomorrow...it's no use paying them to sit around if there is more rain than sunshine.  

Turned on Filemon for my usual programmes and realised that Wimbledon is going to supercede everything that is normal.  Finished off the rest of the chicken wings from last night and a few of the roasted veg followed by melon but I think the rest needs to be made into a soup.   Just topped up the fire...it's not cold...it's comforting and I'm going to say LN...I can hear the fire crackling and it might be time to throw another log on it...LN

Tuesday 30th June

What a ridiculous sleepless night.  I fell asleep in front of the computer and woke up to a television programme that I enjoyed in the UK and off I went to bed at about one thirty to be awoken at two by some local with a tin tray or drum waking up my neighbours as part of the local religious celebrations.  They were about to eat breakfast.  So tried to go back to sleep and it was a no-no.  I managed to dog doze and at six I was wide awake and brimming with enthusiasm...for a little more sleep and it was just after seven thirty when I came to with a vengeance....I had ten minutes to get out to pick up the men...and I made it.

Men back and wall building...I plucked another couple of my cucumbers and I only wished I like them.  I got the woodworking tools out and demolished the old bathroom table for good with a few swift bashes with the hammer.  The electric plane came out and I cleaned up the legs that I'd cut and unfortunately I had to provide a couple of new ones...The legs from the old one was too short and Bekir was denying all knowledge and blaming Sally.  Me thinks he protesteth too much.  Set to with the sun-lounger extensions and  again planed the legs and cross pieces but the joining of the parts will only happen tomorrow.

Thunder has been rattling around all day and I decided to strim the bottom of the garden...well not quite the bottom but the centre panel.  There are a lot of brown stalked things growing on the grass and I hate them.  Every time I walk down to deliver coffee to the men they bang against my legs so I reduced them considerably with one strim.....tomorrow there will be others...they have to go.  Tidied up the garage that had been my workplace for today and bagged up the shavings.  Strimmer battery again on charge ready for tomorrow but we'll see what the weather brings.  It's destined to be thunderstorms as is Thursday...what is this weather ...it's almost July.

Men home and decided to stop of at Ms D of S to take coffee and generally chew over the fat.  Lovely drive home via Djebel to make sure that I had enough fuel to pick up and deliver the men tomorrow...Lovely sunset and we haven't seen many of those lately...I managed to get home to capture some of it and realised that we also have a full moon.  Supper was the remains of Sunday night's food fried off and it was delicious.  I've never had beetroot that way before but it gives a beautiful colour to anything that it comes into contact with and it's mine...  I grew it from seed,  

I've set my alarm to be out there with my tin tray and wooden spoon at one this morning...(Joke)...but I'd love to and now I'm preparing for bed to get a few hours in before they start calling everyone to breakfast...LN....I'll update you tomorrow...LN