Saturday 19th November

Six thirty start despite it wasn't a work day.  Coffee and back to bed since there wasn't an ounce of sleep in me.  I played a few silly computer games but was up and about by eight...I had work to do.  There wasn't much of a morning...lots of mist around again and it took ages to burn off.  Breakfast of poached eggs on toast and then it was out to it.  I eventually got rid of the remains of the big stump that's been burning for the last two days and at last there's no wire netting in the burning pit.  It should be straightforward from now on.

I was working away on the computer and noticed that there were two four by fours on the hillside.  The one left gingerly over the hillside and eventually appeared on the main road.  The second one left after ten minutes but unfortunately they'd left a gate open and when the sheep came over the hill, they headed straight for the gap and there was some heated shouting and redirecting the sheep to the allotted pastures.  One of the jeeps came back after about an hour and positioned himself back where he started...I'm just a bit curious what they were doing...I'll probably be informed...someone will know.

The rest of the afternoon was spent digging up roots but the big one I decided to build a fire under it.  No amount of digging was going to move it, well not the amount I was ready to do.  I came in at five and got my indoor fire going again, watched the tennis semifinal with Mr Murray, put the heater on and have not long surfaced feeling exceptionally clean and in PJ's ready for bed and lined up for Strictly.

Same again tomorrow I think...more soil to shift and sift.....LN...Strictly has arrived...LN

Sunday 20th November

So what happened to the day of rest....it didn't visit me today....

Six thirty start which seems pretty normal, coffee back to bed after putting in a load of washing, breakfast of baked beans on toast at eight and ready to tackle the final frontier with the tree stump.  I kitted myself up with axe, pick axe, matches in case I got desperate and resorted to desperate measures.  It was one of those jobs where you start with one tool, decided to use the next, go back to the first and end up sitting down looking at the job all over again.  Slow and stead and it came out in stages but I realised that it had been in the ground a long time and the roots were deep, thick and long.  I had the feeling that that this is how a dentist must feel with a canal root filling....

I managed to get the fire started with a few plastic flower pots, leaves and some twigs and once going it didn't let me down.  So eventually I'd got the roots and loaded it on to the bonfire.  I'd looked at the quince and poked around a bit with the pick axe and decided it's a job for another day.  It was at that point that I came in the house, used the Kindle to check emails and FB updates and I could feel the eyelids going southwards and I was out for about and hour and felt really zonked when I woke.  Eventually I went out to check on the bonfire and it had all burnt away so I put some more on and fiddled around with it and it burst into life again.  Now I don't like burning wood but it was riddled with wet and dry rot so on to the fire it went and I've cleared the pile.  I looked after it most of the time....I don't leave fires unattended...but I put the metal lid on it and came in at six to work my magic on the wood burner.  No supper tonight...I managed to fit in cold meat with cold beans and beetroot before nodding off and it should do me until the morning.  

Strictly results tonight...another good one will probably go instead of the one that should.  LN....I'm off to check fires, inside and out...LN

Monday 21st November

How exciting last night...the general consensus was that Mr Murray would not win after he had had such a tough time getting to the final.  The Saturday match against the Canadian being one of the nails that would be in the lid.  Well done Andy...the commentators were using their own yardsticks.....Andy has a different one and when the going gets tough...some of us just chugg on to the end with sheer bloody mindedness.  I know that Mum Murray has been driven but to have two of your offsprings at number one in the world...not bad going egh...And then to Strictly...The ones in the dance off shouldn't have been there but out of the choice of two...Greg had to go....and we were all driven to tears.  How can somebody be bottom of the leader board every week and the public just vote to keep him in...but I suppose that's how Trump got there.  Rant over....

Six fifteen start and it was dark as you like or as you don't like.  I remembered that I had to go into the cash point this morning to get enough out to pay my bill at the materials yard but it was a bit of a shock.  Normally the machine allows me to specify the language I want to use...this machine didn't and I had to wade my way through it but eventually I got there.  Straight to pick up the men from Djebel and Bekir sauntered up from the house and Sally's opinion was that he'd had a little too much the night before.  I was assured it wasn't the case so down to the yard, paid the bill, more cement and metal into the Beast and home for nine.  Sally with the cement, Bekir with the metal insert for the corner of the wall and me printing off my boarding passes for my flight to the UK.....it seems to be getting here pretty swiftly.

My bonfire was still going so got rid of some more old roots that were lying around.  I collected some of the stone heaps from around the garden and cleared under the cherry ready for planting the daffodils.  The stones were dumped under the wall near to where I was working yesterday along with the leaves and the soil will go on it tomorrow.....progress.  I also notice that there were some white patches on the ground where the four by four was parked the other day so I took a photo and asked Bekir if he had any idea what it could be.  It looked like something had been marked out so we legged it over the wall and went to look and the peasant that had been driving it had dumped his lunch packaging on the hillside.  No  other rubbish in sight...I'm going to see if I can make out the number...and I might even do something about it....

Unfortunately it's been a coldish damp day...not the sort that I really like but there were no complaints from the men.  I popped into Djebel again this afternoon to get enough money out to pay the men and saw my painter in the supermarket so I told him where the Beast was parked and he was waiting but with a face mask on.  He's got raging flu and didn't want to pass it on...thank goodness.  I dropped him off and the men had really chugged on.  Only a few centimetres to go but they need day light for this bit.  Lots of tamping and inserting some of the stones to fill the gaps since I want the wall pointed up not covered with render.  Men home, fire going but it's been reluctant today and I've put it down to the damp cloying weather.  Not much to go now...I might even get that terrace for Christmas.  LN...Tele time....LN

Tuesday 22nd November

It's been a busy old day.  Five thirty start, coffee and back to bed, dressed and in the Beast for seven thirty and the men were on time.  Bekir appeared from his home and I asked him why he wasn't spending his time in the cafe these mornings...he came back saying that the coffee was rubbish so he's obviously getting better at home.  He came clutching a bag of four Barnsly chops cut from a goat that he'd slaughtered on Sunday and it was all because I'd shown him a photo of how to prepare a Barnsly chop.  They went in the fridge and I knew what I was having for supper,

The rest of the corner pillar has been completed, the wood has been taken from the towers on the side wall, I took some radiator water from Beauty and into a bottle it went so that I could take it down to the garage to check out the antifreeze content.  I'd asked Bekir to checkout the free water supply that I'd queried with the water supplier who shook his shoulders at me.  So all the tools came out, the hosepipe was brought into play, the sleeves were rolled up and eventually the shut off valve was removed which of course allowed the water to pour out but fortunately the hose shoved it on to the hillside.  On inspection the valve was so old and we headed into Djebel to see what we could find.  The lady laughed...she'd see nothing like it and had nothing to supply us with.  On to the garage and the headlight was fixed, the fluid in the bottle was up to standard so nothing needed to be added and on the way back Bekir spotted a pretty little dog that he set his heart on.  We spent ten minutes trying to tempt it down but nothing was doing, back to the watering hole when we got back and it's fixed by threading string round the valve and waiting for it to seal.  Sally has been digging out the little house bedroom terrace, sifting the soil and putting it on the new garden under the wall.  We've all had a lovely day.

I put onion, potatoes, my one parsnip that I'd dug up from the garden and squash in the oven to roast, I took the men home and the goat was cooked when I came back.  Men home by five thirty and me by ten to six.  I fried off two of the chops in butter and oil until they were browned off and straight in to the oven with them in a really hot oven.  They were in there for fifteen minutes and they were the nicest chops that I  think I've ever had...fantastic flavour and I've got two more for tomorrow and the veg were delicious too.  Lucky me and a full tummy deserves rest...LN...Time to get my feet up...LN

Wednesday 23rd November

Five thirty start and the fire was in but not in if you know what I mean.  There was a glimmer, I put some wood on it and it smouldered and I put it down to the dank weather and no wind.  It even didn't respond to a fire lighter and kindling and it stayed like that until lunchtime more or less.  I went back to bed with coffee and both Kindles needed recharging so I just lay there and watched the dawn coming up.  Thee was a faint glimmer of pink but nothing to bother getting out of bed for to take a photo and washed, dressed and ready for the off by seven thirty five.  I managed to spot the bread magazine on the way so stopped off and got breakfast for me and the troops and as I arrived Sally was just going to his bread van so I shouted that I'd got breakfast which confused the driver no end...He couldn't understand where I'd got it from so Sally had to explain.  

Coffee and breakfast first off, Sally set to digging out the footings for the little house terrace and Bekir was clearing up the wood from the recent constructions and it seemed to be potter time so I suggested that he made me a container out of the boards so that I can get some or most of the daffodils in.  He took to the idea and he made it in quicksticks and I spent part of the afternoon scraping off the old cement from the boards before I apply old engine oil to it or paint that I have knocking around.  I want it to look like the other stuff that sits on the terrace.  Two visitors today...the Librarian arrived on her way to Kardjali and just as she was leaving Mrs D of S arrived so we sat in the sun enjoying coffee.  

I spent the rest of the afternoon planting things that have been hanging around awaiting the wall finishing and it's going to look filled out in the spring.  Not a lot of greenery around at this time of year.  Got the washing in at three before it got damp again...it had dried pretty well and went straight on to the airer in the bathroom.  My bed is made up for winter...I stripped it and washed it this morning and 'the nest' is now in situ.  Fleece bottom sheet and quilt cover...warm and snugly to get in to.

Men home by five thirty and I drove into Djebel to top up the diesel since they decided that they would work tomorrow.  I realised that I was out of potatoes having lobbed the soft ones to the donkey this morning and came back and cooked the two remaining goat chops, chippies and I had them with cold beans and beetroot....heavenly.  So tomorrow more of the same and I'll get the box ready for planting up.  It's going to sit on the main house terrace and get filled with a Christmas tree and daffodil bulbs and it should look very seasonal.  LN...It's relax time...LN

Thursday 24th November

Such a busy day with guests that it's not been a day for taking photos...sorry...and so much work has been done.

Five thirty start but after a coffee and a look at the Kindle my eyes headed southwards and it was seven thirty when I awoke second time around which just gave me time to get washed and dressed and head out for the men.  It was white over and down to about minus three...the windscreen was done from the inside though not the outside...that was too much like hard work.  So men ready and waiting and we passed my bread van one stop up from mine and I asked it they wanted breakfast and they didn't.  I legged it down, had a chat with a couple of my neighbours and handed Zelinger a pair or fingerless gloves since she had admired mine.  She was so sweet and asked if they were a present...they just don't assume here.  Back to the men and out with the coffee and that hole outside the little underneath room is getting bigger by the hour.  I spent the morning trying to find some screw on wheels that I'm sure I bought and have obviously put them somewhere really safe and never to be found again.  I decided that a trip into Djebel to get another lot was the quicker and safer option...they'll turn up I'm sure.  They were needed to put on the newly constructed flower box otherwise I'll never be able to move it again.

I bumped into Mrs D of S in Djebel and she was shopping for a wood burner with her neighbour....She was quoted eighty plus leva for one and since I have two lying idle in the little house I suggested that she have one of those and save her money.  They followed me home more or less, I'd managed to clean it up and apparently it's already installed and working...we certainly don't mess around here..it's too cold to think about it for long.  Off they went after a coffee and later that afternoon I discovered Mrs D of S's handbag on the sofa in the lounge so it was a stop off after dropping off the men to return it and any excuse to see the little one again.

So this afternoon Bekir put the wheels on the box and I got some old engine oil and mixed it with some wood preservative and painted the box and it's come out OK.  It needs to be turned over tomorrow and I'll paint some of the mixture on the top of the inside, then I can fill it with soil and plant up the million and one daffodils that need something doing with them.  Emula came round with the spoils of his labours today and was clutching a bottle of beer and one of coke.  He asked for permission to come into the garden which was really sweet...no one else seems to bother....and asked if I could provide three glasses so that he could share the beer with Bekir and Sally.  Since it was twenty to five I saw no harm in it and I still saw Bekir heading up and down the garden with the wheelbarrow so it didn't stop play.

Men home, handbag delivered, fire crackling away, not in to food yet a while....the mood might take me later.  I'm off to Kardjali tomorrow with the Librarian and the men have decided to work since snow is forecast for a couple of days early next week and the temperature is going to drop.  We might be having an enforced drop in productivity. I'm doing some investigation as to whether you can get Filmon on a wifi TV and if not, there's no point in me getting one tomorrow.  Only one pick of the early sun which fortunately came out after lunch and it turned out to be really pleasant until the sun went down.  Starry night so the temperature I'm sure will drop and we should be white over tomorrow.  LN... So tele time for me....LN.

Friday 25th November

Silly night's sleep...I am just too warm in the nest.  I was awake at three thirty and it took me ages to get off again, awake at five thirty more or less and catnapped until seven when I got up, washed and dressed, put the washing away and had to put a spurt on to go for the men.  I was there for eight, it was a very misty morning but not as cold as it had been.  They set to straight away and I made them their first coffee at nine.  The sun was out then in, hidden behind the swirling mist and accordingly the temperature was up and down like a fiddler's elbow.  I'd managed to keep the fire going all night so it was OK in but chilly out and since I was going in to Kardjali I asked Bekir if he would take out the old florescent light that had given up the ghost from under the kitchen worktop so I could find a replacement.  

The Librarian arrived at ten and we set off down the back lane and surprise, surprise, they've re-routed the bottom of the track so that it's straight and not like a dog's hind leg.  If you'd have tried it from the bottom in the dark you'd never have found it.  A big improvement but I think the road is a 'no-no' in the winter...too steep and it will be too slippery.  

First stop was to the electrical shop to get the new tube for the kitchen light and I found a couple of lovely glass lamp shades for eight leva each and ten for the fittings.  Next stop was the Leva shop for goodies for my Christmas gifts for my ladies, the opticians for a replacement for the last lot I broke, the cheapy clothes shop to see what they were giving away and then over to the hospital to visit a friend of the Librarians that's been incarcerated for a few days.  Kaufland for a few top-ups, lunch from the car-park restaurant, over to the Japanski shop as we call it and I bought a pair of thick socks to wear in my wellies and finally to Lidl on the way out of Kardjali.  Where did the day go!

Back to mine via the rough road and the Librarian was on her way with not even time for a coffee.  The men had really chugged on with the digging out of the under room storage space and the new stone and cement wall was two and a half feet high.  Metal had gone in at the base of the original cement column....they really know their stuff.  Bekir fitted the replacement tube for me and they were ready with boots blacked by five and home by twenty past.  We're on phone calls next week...the weather reports are so variant.

I was back home in quicksticks, topped the fire up, shut up the house for the night from the outside elements and am preparing for the weekend.  I have nothing that I have to do but I want to get the new wooden box finished and planted up for the terrace, sort out the new range of mountains that has appeared on what was my flower bed, oil the outside furniture ready to bring in for the winter.  I think we've taken the downstairs room to a level I wasn't expecting with steps going down, drainage, door and concrete floor but it will be a fabulous place for storing 'winter stuff' when the little house is completed.

Lunch out so not ready for anything just yet...time for relaxing and a little television,  I didn't bother buying one today...it looks like Filmon is a no-no so I'll make do with my monitor and the Black Friday in Bulgaria didn't really amount to much in my neck of the woods.  LN...Vivre le Weekend...LN