Monday 28th September

Funny old evening and funny old night.....As for the moon it came up and looked superb and then the clouds started coming over and there was a magnificent electrical storm over Turkey or Greece ...no thunder just flashes.  I found that the camera on consecutive photos did well and I took over seven hundred in the space of fifteen minutes or so.  Like a kid with a new toy...I'd not used it before but I certainly will again...

So at two fifteen this morning my guest was creeping upstairs for his camera to take pictures of the eclipse.  I was trying not to be awake...I'd already seen that there was no moonshine from my windows and that the clouds had already taken a firm footing.  Unfortunately when I wake up, I wake up so it was about five this morning when I put my little head down on my pillow and managed to get off again.  And this time...wall to wall rain clouds that burst on to the hillside so my plants have had a serious watering and we might even have reached down to the subsoil.  The downside is...my lawn is looking incredibly green and it could be out with the lawnmower on Friday....

Also last night I was disturbed by the barking of a dog and this afternoon when I went out to check on Gladys I heard whimpering and howling.  I checked and it was coming from the next field and it was a dog that I didn't know.  It appeared to have been caught up in something and me not being very good with dogs had thought about contacting Semile for a solution.  We had to go into Djebel to get some male to male connectors which we needed replacing the kitchen sink tap and on the way back I thought I caught sight of the dog so arriving back home I checked out the field and it was no longer there but there was a considerable branch down on the ground where it had been so it looked like it had worked its way free.

So the kitchen tap is half finished, the chest that my guest has made me is sitting in situ and can be loaded with my curtain material tomorrow, so that's two coffins I have now OH so if you have need...I have a spare.  My guest leaves on Wednesday so we are on countdown so tonight we met up with the Librarian and a local friend from the village and went out for supper.  Really pleasant evening and sorry for the late update.  LN...no eclipse or supermoon tonight...looks like I've got to wait a while for the next....LN

Monday 29th September

Six thirty start this morning and what a morning to wake up to.  Wall to wall clouds...not much of the mountains showing and it was cold.  September is still here...why is it so cold now.

The new kitchen tap had to be completed before I could clear up the kitchen and cook breakfast which turned out to be bacon sandwiched between a cheesy bun from the bread van.  As I went out of the gate he was arriving and promptly stopped outside the gate...such service.  I lit the fire about ten this morning and it's been going ever since.  The wind was so cold today.

So the curtain material was transferred into the new chest and the old plastic thing was dragged down the stairs and we spent the morning renovating, hot gluing wood into the frame and applying metal corners and now it will be kept in the little house and all my 'house bits' will be ensconced.  Lunch was what we could find and unfortunately my guest decided to put two old oak planks on the petchka and I sort of blew a fuse ...I was worried about the chimney setting on fire.  I'm used to the fire and living out here...he just didn't think.

So I've changed round the seating area in the corridor and the chair that faces the garden is now facing the petchka....I think I'm going into winter mode.  My guest is packed, sandwiches made for the bus tomorrow, alarms have been set and we're keeping our fingers crossed that someone wakes up otherwise I'm driving to Sofia.  

Lots of ravens or big birds in and over the garden today...I think the rain has brought up all the stuff that they like.  Heading for bedtime soon..LN it's going to be a five a.m. start....LN...

Wednesday 39th September

Set alarms on both phones so that I didn't oversleep and managed to wake my guest up for departure.....Four thirty this morning and still suffering from the aftershock.  Loaded and set off at five and into Kardjali for five thirty so plenty to spare before the six departure.  I chatted to the driver to make sure that my guest was dropped off before the bus station and at a taxi rank so that there was no problem time wise to get the airport otherwise it can be tight.  So it all worked well.

I was home before six so stripped beds, bath towels, sofa cushions and everything that needed washing was put in to wash...five loads in all and even though it looked like it might rain, it never did.  There was one point when I thought the sheets might end up in Greece but the pegs held there ground.

Moved most of the outside furniture inside today...only the sofa left which is destined for the downstairs bedroom anyway.  The chairs are in the space under the stairs and I've put wheels on the outside table that made so that it's easier to maneuver.  Not without its problems though...as I was screwing the wheels on the bottom..one of the screws jumped to the side and I stabbed my index finger with the screw driver and my...did it bleed/  Bandage off tonight so that I can type...and the Sudocrem worked wonders.

Lit the fire this afternoon to air the washing...that which was half dried is in the bathroom upstairs on the airer and should be OK by tomorrow.  Phone call from my guest to say that he's arrived safely in the UK....he's still on Bulgarian time while I'm on Bulgarian time but knacked after a four thirty start.

So the weather never really took off today...the clouds were hanging around...sun at times but nothing to write home about.  It's supposed to be better tomorrow so keeping fingers crossed.  Had my supper already and it was the remains of some mince with carrots and peas found in the freezer and I put mashed potatoes on the top...a sort of shepherds but without the sheep.  LN...it will be an early night for me...I'm feeling jaded....LN