Wednesday 9th November

What a rough old night and at six thirty this morning the rain was belting down and it was blowing a gale out there.  At seven I phoned Bekir and  suggested that they stayed at home today...I'd checked the weather report on the internet and by lunchtime it was supposed to be really hammering it down.  As it was it came much earlier and the wind didn't abate at all.  

So by nine this morning I'd got a load of washing done and it was on the upstairs airer, cooked a couple of poached eggs for breakfast, couldn't really play on the internet since by this time the thunder had started in earnest and for the rest of the day it's been a lazy one.  I did go out and survey the damage and pci up the overturned plants and bushes and rescued the sunbed cover which was slowly working itself away from the frame but it wasn't until I came back inside that I noticed that the honeysuckle was no longer resident on the terrace but was unceremoniously deposited on the terrace along with the framework that supports it.  Oh dear...I shall need the help of one of the men tomorrow or Friday to lift it back up...it's pretty heavy.  

I also noticed that I had a lake by the front gate due to the fact that the drainage pipe was blocked from the other end.  I donned my yellow wellies, putting on my water engineer head and brandishing a length of wire I poked out the said pipe and made a trench on the exit outside the gate and in a short time it had almost disappeared.  In the meantime the electricity had gone off so that meant cleaning off the accumulated objects from the little petchka in the kitchen and moving the hot coals from the central heating petchka since no electricity...no pump.

The thunder is still rattling around and I'm posting early in case the electricity goes off again....it's on for now...but who knows.  Not sure what the weather is going to do tomorrow...it could be another day without the men but the cows were on the perimeter this morning and that's where they stayed.....jobsaguddun so to speak.  Better get supper cooked just in case....we wanted rain and by golly we got it.  LN..Kitchen bound...LN

Thursday 10th November

So I phoned the men this morning for a weather report and according to the radio and the internet, it was going to be dull at first but then it would get better during the day and...no rain.  Well my internet did say rain after four this afternoon and on the way back I mentioned this to Bekir and he said no way so I took a leva bet out with him and he won.  He wouldn't accept the money though...it's double or quits tomorrow.

On my drive over I managed to see a couple of fir trees that had come down and blocked my side of the road and there were several large rocks that had been brought down.  On the way back there were a few biggies on the road so we took it gingerly.  The men were straight to it...I cooked bacon and egg and made a sandwich out of it and got my strength together to tackle the honeysuckle and get it back to it's rightful place.  The bench support came apart so it was out with the hammer and nails before I tackled the plant itself and I did have to call on Bekir to lift it into its resting place.  I'd trimmed it back quite hard and managed to get a couple of rooted plants and they're in the garden already.

I concentrated on the wall today removing some of the bushes so that Sally could get at the wall to put the wooden capping on.  Bekir was busy making and inserting the metal supports in the channel and as predicted, the sun came out and it turned into a pleasant day until the sun set and the temperature dropped.  I dropped them home on time and called in to Mrs D of S but missed D of S...he'd been sent out to get beer and a bit like Oates....it might take some time.  I'd lit the fire before we left and the house was toasty to come back to...I've just polished off the remains of a packet of chocolate chip cookies so supper will have to wait.  Same again tomorrow please with the weather....I have more work to do on the wall....LN....Wish me luck...LN

Friday 11th November

So I woke at five thirty, realised that I could have another hour or so and so I did....You know those mornings where you are so cosy in bed that you don't want to be anywhere else and you snuggle down again knowing that you can,  Morning was breaking at the second wakening and I love the first lights.  Watching it evolve through the different hues and hopefully culminating in that bright beauty bringing my central heating in.

Washed, dressed and out to get the men at just after seven thirty and popped in the shop to get fresh bread.  Bekir disappeared to their bread van and Sally said that he'd gone to buy the old bread for the dogs...wrong...he'd bought breakfast for all of us...marmalade filled sweet rolls.  I doctored mine with butter and more marmalade and sat out on the terrace in the sun with a coffee and was it warm out there.  The men set to mixing the filling for the shuttering on the top of the wall and Sally was the barrow boy.  I don't know how he keeps going....there's nothing of him so to speak but he's remarkably fit and with stamina.  I was out to the garden and I realised that the work I'd done so far was being undone with a wheelbarrow being pushed over it so I found other things to do.  With the weather closing in I've put most of the plants that don't like the cold in the little house and taking cuttings of the geraniums ready for next year.  I don't bring them in the house....I really don't like the smell.  The petunias have all been cut back and this afternoon I set to on the frog garden and took the marigolds up.  They'd all been attacked by the frost and now they're all bonfired.  Lots of seeds fell when I was lifting them so I know that they'll be plenty for next year.

Haciber came round this afternoon and there have been two mevlits in the village so we all had cheesy bread and sweet buns and chocolate drinks courtesy of the prayers for the dead.  The men were back to it....it's along old wall and unfortunately Sally mixed up too much stuff in his last offering so it was late when they got away.  Bekir is over to a health open air spa in Greece tonight with his buddies and then supper in Zlatograd...it's much cheaper eating here than in Greece.  Best of both worlds.  I was home by six and the fire I'd lit before I went was still going strong and the house thoroughly warmed up.  Two more days on the wall and then a few days off and on to the little house terrace....all go in this neck of the woods.  LN....Time to start my weekend...LN

Saturday 12th November

So it was a five o'clock start and I'm not really sure why.  I thought that I'd read for a while and then drop off again but seven o'clock came and I was still reading so decided to make a day of it.  Morning sunrise was wonderful but the glory sadly didn't last for the rest of the day.  

I was out at eight getting rid of the bathroom and kitchen rubbish and reestablishing my yesterday bonfire that had sadly let me down.  I had great plans for today intending to stack the wood properly sorting out the rubbish for outside use and getting rid of the 'bits' that the two men have left scattered over the garden.  The bonfire was going well and then the rain started....that morning had disappeared and I wasn't really liking the one that I was left with.  I stuck it out for a while but was getting wetter so came in.  I posted my morning pickies on Facebook didn't bother with breakfast but kept thinking about it...you know those mornings when things just get in the way and put to one side until really you can't wait any longer.  I got the fire going and it was back to my book for a while and then toasted ham sandwiches sprung to mind and after that I made leek and potato soup adding a few bacon rashers from the other day.  Back to my book remembering that I had soup on the go, switched off the cooker and a wave of tiredness overtook me so I got my head down for an hour.

It was still raining when I woke up and a plastic stool come table was zinging its way around the terrace but fortunately I brought in yesterday's coffee cup earlier otherwise that would have gone.  I've had a very lazy day and why not...building work is such hard work....I've just had my soup...I put half of it through the blender and it was delicious served with buttered toast.  It will do me until breakfast...rib sticking stuff.  Strictly tonight and I'm hoping for better weather tomorrow....I don't like two days of 'nothingness' together ...I get twitchy.  Clouds are scudding tonight and that moon seems to be filling out even though it's not supposed to be the Beaver Moon until the 14th...it's got a couple of days to go.  Apparently we won't see another as big as this until 2034 and I doubt very much I'll be seeing that.. ......LN....Down to the fire to keep the home fires burning....LN

Sunday 13th November

Seven this morning but what a storm we had last night....Lashing rain, gusty winds and thunder and lightening.  It started roughly towards the end of Strictly and I hung in there.  Normally I'll put the pc down immediately but didn't...I waited for the last couple to dance and that was it.  Thank you and good night, I was down on the sofa in front of the fire, drew the curtains so that I didn't have the panoramic view of the storm...it was just too close.  It eased off about eleven so I was up to bed, curtains drawn and it worked...as I said...seven this morning. I'd beaten the sunrise but nothing particularly dramatic about it this morning...the sky was clear with not even a cloud to threaten its appearance and it was up in a flash and stayed out for most of the day but the wind was chill.  

Poached eggs on toast for breakfast, a load of washing done and dusted and out there and I walked the garden with the intention of having a bit of a sort out...wrong.  I'd been reading about chimney fires on FB and decided to clear out my wood burner.  It had been a little reluctant yesterday and me reading things into things and expecting the worst took it too its ultimate conclusion.  Wood burner...done...pipes...done...chimney...as far as I could reach with my bendy pipe...done....flue box in the bathroom...done.  I did end up with a few facial smudges and a Hitler type shadowing on the upper lip but that was soon fixed after all the cleaning up was done.  I lit the fire to check for smoke leaks but nothing that a bang on the pipes didn't fix and it's been going like a dream all day.  

Remsie popped round this afternoon and was amazed at how warm the house was.  She had three wood burners and most of her day is spent running round keeping them all going.  It reminds me of plate spinning...there's always one that seems to need attention.  Off she went to visit Zelinger my other neighbour....keep on the move and someone else will sort out the fires.

Six thirty my time and just finished the last of the soup,  I've put a jacket potato in the oven to have later and some meat that I wasn't sure what it was but now that it's thawed out it's gammon pieces and it's smelling pretty good from up here.  Strictly results tonight and I'm not really sure how it's going to pan out...'Jo Public' obviously has favourites despite the calibre of the dancing.  

Not many pics today.  As I said the sun was up before I noticed it and the pipes were back before I managed to get the camera out.  As for the moon...one more day and it should be at full volume and I'm hoping it stays clear to capture it.  LN....Jacket and requires my attention...LN

Monday 14th November

Six thirty start again and that moon was just as bright this morning as last night.  I'd draw the curtains but I don't want to oversleep when it's a work day for my boys...said Wendy.  I took a few pictures of the morning and we were back to a cloudy blue sky which is somewhat more dramatic than the clear blue one but the sun had to fight its way over the low cloud base over the mountains.

I had to thaw the car out this morning...there was a good layer of frost on the windscreen and I was thankful that they boys at the garage added anti-freeze to my washers. Two squirts and it was clear and the rest could ease off as the car warmed up.   I was surprised to see that my neighbour had arrived from Turkey and lord help them in their shell of a house....I bed they're pretty cold in there but their business not mine.  Bekir was waiting but without chainsaw so I reminded him that he was supposed to bring it and he went back for it.  I headed over to their bread wagon and picked up a loaf and breakfast for us all for around four lev...not bad at all.  Sally was lingering and wouldn't get int he car until I did....he just doesn't take liberties.

Coffee to go with the buns and they started on the continuation of the wall.  At last I made a decision on one section of the wall that I felt needed another layer of breeze blocks.  It's the stretch behind the toiled tank and I can't lower it unlike the rest of the garden since it has a concrete top on it so I dug the breeze blocks out of the garage and it was done in quicksticks...only eight blocks.  The rest of the edging is finished now and the shuttering complete...tomorrow will see more or less the finished wall apart from tarting it up on the brickwork which should take another day or so.  

Bit of a shock today...the man who delivers the ballast misjudged the gate and more or less took the small one off its hinges leaving a repair job for Bekir and myself.  Unfortunately what could I say but it would have been nice if he'd have said sorry but he was more concerned about the door of his wagon.  The men chugged on, I was digging up shrubs in the wrong place and putting them in a better place.  This garden is going to take a little time to put right again but it will be well worth it.

Dropped the men home and carried on to my student's house for supper with her family...Lentil soup followed by grilled mackerel and salad and finished off with their version of a baked apple which was probably better when it was warm so I should have gone yesterday instead.  The father shot out after supper and came back with some meddlers from the tree in their garden and I'd forgotten how tasty they are.  I hope my tree in the garden decides to fruit next year.  It's supposed to be minus six this evening so I relit the fire when I got back home...it just keeps the chill off.  Just a few pictures...that super moon didn't look as big tonight as it did last night but at least it's shining.  LN....Hot drink and bed.....LN

Tuesday 15th November

So last night I got the fire going furiously and it was too much effort to go up stairs to bed so I took to the downstairs bedroom for the first time this winter.  I'd put a new quilt cover on it that was warm to get in to so I snuggled down and crashed out until six thirty.  Not much of a sunrise...there was a faint hint of orange that had disappeared by the time I'd managed to find the camera.

Coffee and out for the men and it was Sally's turn to get the breakfast in.  I settled for the cheesy bun while the boys had the marmalade ones and I cut mine open to find nothing inside it so I headed for the fridge and filled it with my white cheese.  I put it in the frying pan and warmed it through and showed the men saying that I thought I'd won the lottery on the bun front.  They'd sussed it out though...and knew that there was teasing a foot.  They carried on with the wall, I was out clearing the garden but I soon came in because if was cold out there.  The fire was going when I got up and I've kept it going all day..but I realised that I was out of kindling so I spent an hour or so chopping up the old wood from the little house.  I cleaned out the half oil barrel and that now holds the kindling.

A quick trip in to Djebel this afternoon since the men were out of cement and I stopped off at the leva shop and bought a new pair of fingerless gloves....I know I have some Dennis the Menace ones somewhere but couldn't be bothered to search for them.  I popped in to my student mum's shop since I'd seen a photo of my student by the sea.  They'd gone off to Greece on Sunday and we joked about how much they'd spent on two coffees and two juices....a little more than you would have to have spent here.  

So back home, finished clearing the leaves from the yard and dumping them under the new wall.  The men chugged on and the wall is finished apart from the final grouting and the four pillars to make it the same as the front wall.  Bring it on you cows....Men home early...they'd run out of made up cement and had no where to put it....and I'd put chicken wings, a jacket potato and an apple filled with fruit, brown sugar and honey in the oven.  Back home and everything was cooked and is now eaten....delicious.  

No photos today...too cold to be standing out there but if the sun is out tomorrow I promise to make up for it.    LN....One last push on the wall tomorrow...LN

Wednesday 16th November

Sunrise came up on me pretty swiftly this morning...I didn't wake until seven which was a first for me.  I really should buy another clock for the wall in the winter lounge.  From the bed I can't see the time so panicked a bit but checked on my bathroom visit to confirm that I wasn't too early or too late for anything.  I put a log on the fire and went back to bed with my coffee, eventually easing myself out at seven twenty five giving myself ten minutes to get washed and dressed and five minutes to thaw the car out.  It wasn't a heavy frost so the washers did it for me so no scraping involved but the sky is pretty clear tonight so it could just be heavier.

Nobody got breakfast this morning so I settled for poached on toast and the men had what they'd got stashed in their bags or left over from yesterday.  I didn't rush out this morning but waited for the thaw before I went for it.  I cleared the bonfire out and started it but it wasn't having any of it today.  I'll put it down to the wind being in the wrong direction and the stuff that I was trying to burn being too damp.  I'll have another go tomorrow.  I cleared on of the big bushes out that was covered in old wire netting and I heard the boys chortling... I think Bekir was saying that if I waited he would do it with the chainsaw but it became an obsession to finish it.  I got most of it out but the root went off into another sucker and this was pretty close to my toilet pit so I think it's best left to Bekir.  The root was about four inches in diameter and certainly not going to tackle it with a handsaw...I wasn't that determined.  So I went back to finding the levels against the breeze blocks and have uncovered the old tiles from the bathroom dumped six or seven years ago.  It's a bit like memory lane...my own history in the making.

Sally worked on the rendering while Bekir made the shuttering for the columns so that it matches the wall down the lane.  I'm only having four done for privacy in the downstairs bedroom and I can grow some decent shrubs against it.  Decent weather today but the temperature didn't go up that much.  I did manage ten minutes on the sunbed but the sweaters were pretty necessary...to keep moving is to keep warm.  Men home by just after five thirty.  I'd put my hamburgers ready for the pan and the chippies were already to go in so it was all systems go.  Burgers on plus a sliced onion, chip pan on, beans open, half a can of beans eaten with spoon from can, mayo and spicy tomato sauce in dish, tasted hamburgers and the cats or dogs will enjoy them I'm sure tomorrow but not for me.  They tasted sour and I didn't like the texture.  First and last time that I've had them from Kaufland.  Served up the remains of the beans and chippies and they filled the gap.  Seven thirty my time so almost time for a little relax with Filmon and we've just had a flash of lightening...that wasn't forecast...LN...Better get posting quickly...LN

Thursday 17th November

So today would have been my sister's birthday so I'll still wish her a happy day wherever she might be.  

Five thirty start and it was a gentle resuscitation and the hot water was soon belting around the system.  It was pretty cold over night...I caught the thermometer at minus four when I went out to empty the ash can.  The house was warm though...the fire had been going all night and the sun came up at post seven which boosted my central heating no end.  My internal thermometer was ticking around twenty two.  Over for the men and they were ready and waiting at five to eight.  Nobody bought breakfast again.  The vans were just in the wrong place.  I made coffee for all of us since it was so cold but as the day wore on it turned into a very pleasant day.  Into Djebel this morning to put some diesel in the Beast and Sally asked me to get petrol for him so it was twenty levas worth into a water bottle.  I also popped in to the shop that I got my fingerless gloves in and bought two plastic trays for my winter plants, lots of goodies for my 'Christmas' presents for my ladies.  It's not their holiday but it's a thank you for the things that they do for me during the year.

Sally was still on his wall finishing, the men filled the column shuttering and I was working in the garden.  The other shuttering was removed from the wall, Bekir was busy with his chainsaw and most of the structuring is done now on the garden...and now let the hard work begin.  I've got loads of soil to shunt around and I have to bury the seven years of rubbish.  Huge garden bonfire to get rid of the trimming from the logs that Bekir cut, I've got most of them away but the rest I can do tomorrow.

Men home and I stopped off and had some time with Mrs D of S catching up on the saga of documents for the new little lady.  It all hinges round our registration number on our residency cards..  if you don't have one you can't gat anything done including her first injections.  I was home for seven thirty, chip butty for supper and catching up on Children in Need and the rickshaw challenge...Brave youngsters.  Only a few pickies ...LN...It's been a busy day...LN  

Friday 18th November

Six thirty start and opened the curtains and saw...nothing but fog and freezing fog to boot.  I was back to bed with a coffee after I'd got the fire livened up, out of bed by ten after seven and in the car by seven thirty.  Such a good idea putting anti-freeze in the washers...it takes all the hard work out of clearing the ice from the windscreen.  A couple of minutes with the window heaters on and I was ready to set sail.

Picked up the men and really fancied cheesy bread for breakfast but there wasn't one mobile bread van in sight.  I was so determined that I dropped the men off and headed for the next village but I didn't have to go that far.  He was in the square surrounded by my local ladies and they were surprised to see me pull up in the car and I had to explain that I'd dropped the men off.  So cheesy bread for all of us and coffee and then I tied a piece of string to Sally's leg so we wouldn't loose him at the bottom of the garden and the next thing I head the drill going.  I checked it out and Bekir was removing the old corner of the little house ready to replace it with new metal and concrete.  They didn't bother getting the mix right in the olden days so I'm told.  

The next thing we heard was Zelinger shouting for Bekir to head over to her house via the fields and we thought that there was something seriously wrong.  As it was she handed him nine yeasty pancakes and a carton of juice which really buggered up lunch and sleep for Bekir but we ate them and they were back to work in half an hour.  This made the afternoon exceptionally long but I told them that as soon as they thought they'd finished for the day...we could be on our way.  As it was it was four forty when they packed up.  Bekir had found Australia down his hole and Sally was now working on the outside of the wall.

Funny incident this afternoon.  A plane came overhead which is not normal unless it's military so I took a photo of it using full zoom.  A few seconds later it was doing a turn and ended up going back it had come from and about half an hour later it was back but without any jet stream so I snapped it again.  I've checked for any incident on the internet but nothing...just curious.  I got the fire going again around three this afternoon and by four it was really humming.  The remains of yesterday's burn up were relit with added fuel and some would argue that it's a waste but I've got so much hanging around and this stuff had lots of old wire netting embedded so best way for it to go.

Men home for five more or less, I got back for five thirty and we've had a lovely day.  The weather turned out fine eventually and you could actually get down to one sweater.  Fire been going inside all day so the house is toasty this evening.  Not sure what tomorrow is going to bring....I'll see how I feel in the morning if it's a 'carry on gardening day' or a shopping trip in to the grand metrolopes....Fish finger sandwiches for supper....I should do OK until tomorrow....LN...Teletime for teletubbies...LN