Monday 1st January

Usual early start and by eight thirty I was ready for breakfast even though there wasn't a sound, except for snoring from the rest of the house.  Marmite on toast...the butter was finished so it was definitely a trip down the village to exercise my Fitbit or a visit to town.... know my host wanted some lemons since I refused to pay sixty pence each for them from the village.  This is more than I get ripped off at home.  So I eventually made enough noise to raise the dead and it worked.  At ten I had a telephone call from one of my good friends, we chewed over the fat for thirty minutes by which time I went into the bedroom and said that she'd wished him Happy New Year.  I briefly asked if he had any plans for the day and said that I was out of butter and bread and if he intended going in to town all well and good but otherwise me and my Fitbit were off out despite the weather.  So in his own time he breakfasted and got ready and we were in the car by twelve thirty.

Lidl was the first stop and I was pleased to see they were closed.  All members of staff having a day off was to be encouraged,  We headed down to Asda in the Marina and that was heaving.  How can people be out of food for goodness sake...some had really full trolleys or perhaps they were out after the bargains.  There were a few....mince pies and short coded cakes were down to twenty five pence or so but not a lot was to be had.  We went on to the Village store specialising in cheap dinky doo's and I found a pair of slippers for my hose that I picked up for three pounds in the sale...good buy.  We headed for the luggage shop and I like a handbag but not the price and then home to scoff the food that we'd bought watching the end of 'Dances with Wolves'.    

The temperature has dropped, it's still damp and I don't like that....I'm not used to it.  Give me 'cold', or in the summer 'hot', real summers and real winters.  Lunch tomorrow at one of the old restaurants we used to go to but now under new management.  I'll let you know what the general opinion was tomorrow.  LN...Time to check the schedules....LN

Tuesday 2nd January

Well it was seven thirty when I woke this morning and according to my Fitbit it really raised my average nightly sleeping pattern...   I didn't bother with breakfast until I spotted a packet of cheese straws and two of them got demolished.  I'd booked lunch today for Princess and her husband at a pub restaurant that we used to use a few years back but it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

I'd booked for twelve thirty but we were overtaken by two ambulances on the drive over and the queue along the Coast Road was horrendous.  For some reason they'd installed temporary traffic lights at the turning to the restaurant and it really did slow things down.  Eventually we made it and we had a deadline of a ten to three leave time for Princess, she's booked an Asda delivery and that was the only time that was available but we thought that two hours for lunch would be about right.  As it happened we were wrong.  It was very quiet when we arrived, we placed the order for the drinks and the food more or less straight away.  Only one of us was having a starter but in the meantime the restaurant filled up and even though the starter didn't hang around for long, the serving dish did and all around normal service was established but not for us.  It seemed to take ages and the clock ticked on.  There was a brief moment of panic....Princess looked out at the car park towards their car and it looked like it was on fire.  Her eyes shot open and then she realised that it was the reflection from the bar fire and it was focused perfectly on their car.  She got her camera out and I asked her to send a copy to me....I didn't take my camera it's another grey, rainy, stormy day....how many days left?

Eventually the started plate was retrieved and it must have taken fifteen minutes before our mains arrived so now we were heading for two twenty.  Lots of tables had come and gone and our requirements must have gone to the back of the queue whatever their system was.  The meals were disappointing, we'd asked for chips not potatoes for one of the meals and we go potatoes, the mixed grill which we'd gone 'large' on was nothing to write home about and by this time the clock was severely ticking and so asked for the deserts to be cancelled since we'd run out of time and as we were getting up to leave...they arrived.  ...up and brewery spring to mind....As for the bill....I just wanted to pay it and leave.  I mentioned to the man behind the bar that it has taken too long to eat and he said that it was half an hour each course.  My response was that we were there before one and it was now almost three and we'd had only one course each and only one starter but it wasn't worth the hassle.  I might become very active on their website and leave a comment....it would make me feel better.

So home, usual quiz stuff on television and I've just watched Eggheads.  I've checked up that my grandson isn't working on Thursday so I might be able to have some time with him in town before I go back.  He was working today.  LN....Please can we have some sun....LN  

Wednesday 3rd January

What a disturbed night last night.  The wind was howling, the rain lashing against the window and the outside light popping on and off every few minutes.  I finished most of the puzzles in my 'Mindfulness' Christmas gift, a couple of Sudoku and would have resorted to a bottle except that after two years, hadn't the heart to.  According to my Fitbit it was two ten when I eventually got off or lay still enough for it to detect no movement and seven thirty when I raised my weary head from the pillow.  I legged it down for coffee, didn't bother with breakfast until ten and spent the rest of the day doing everything and nothing.  I did make it up into the loft to try to find a book that I'd been given from school as a prize for woodwork but figured that if I moved one box the rest might come careering down.  The temptation was to start tidying but with two days to go...my nerves weren't up to it.  I also started to go through old photos and decided to get out my camera and take photos of photos so that I could take them with me.  I belong to my hometown's website and I have lots of old photos that my parents took when they went on holidays with others from the town.  It's good when I post them and a lot get recognised by their relatives...it's a good talking point....

I did intent to go for a walk down the village today but I got engrossed in a survey.  Yesterday's restaurant asked for any comments that I might have about the meal yesterday and yes I had plenty so gave it to them between the eyes.  It was all fact not fiction and my major criticism was that the waiting staff can only deliver what's ready to be delivered.  If they get their timing wrong in the kitchen...you will always have the same outcome.

So my Quality Street are no more.  I finished the last of the chocolate creams today even though I don't like cream chocolates.  I have a box of After Eights that is still intact and a box of Florentine biscuits.  I have about twenty four hours...I better get started.  Tonight I cooked potatoes, swede and carrots in the same pan and mashed them all together serving them with liver and onions.  Angela has just phoned to say safe journey if case she doesn't managed to get round to phoning tomorrow due to pressure of I know no what.....retired and so much to do.  I might be out with my grandson for lunch tomorrow somewhere in Brighton.  It will be good to catch up with him...it's been too long.  I'm down to see if there is anything that might be worth watching on the box in the corner of the room.  LN...Getting ready for D-Day....LN

Thursday 4th January

Grim start to the day again and I was reading at four thirty again.  I eventually went off, woke up late and have been trying to catch up with myself all day.  I got a text from my grandson and we arranged to meet in Brighton at one so I caught the earlier bus to have a bit of a wander round in Churchill Square but he phoned and with the use of technology we found each other....mobile phones egh.  I mentioned to him that I wouldn't mind upgrading my mobile since I thought it was up for a renewal so we went into the shop together and sure enough, I was eligible and had been for a few years.  The assistant was very helpful, I told him that I had a Friends and Family discount from T-Mobile which he informed me had been reduced from fifty to thirty percent.  So now I had to select a phone from the numerous ones on display and he calculated that an upgrade would cost me nineteen pounds a month.  Now I don't use this phone much so selected a cheaper phone and the outcome was that I would now be paying just nine pounds so I quickly said 'done deal', I was saving money.  I think my grandson hung his head when I selected the phone...he can stick to his Apple and I suggested that they called it that because they squeeze the pips out of you with the cost.  Lead balloons and what.

Shopping done we headed to Nandos and filled up with lovely spicy stuff and extra hot sauce added and I think I'm breathing fire at the moment.  Coupled with garlic bread, I'm not sure if I'll be safe on the plane tomorrow.  And talking about that.....I'm in the final stages of packing which I think is always very stressful.  I've gained a ten ipod with keyboard and case, an extra phone and the appropriate chargers for everything.  I've got my Fitbit and I've bought pressies and so some clothes have got to stay and will get delivered if any of the visitors have room.  I also want to take back a leather briefcase thingy...why do I do it to myself.  

So back to the packing...flight is at six twenty five so I'll wave as I go over the UK and when I arrive in BG.    LN...Back to the packing...LN

Friday 5th January

So couldn't manage to go to sleep last night so slept with the light on to make sure that I'd wake up when the alarms, and I repeat alarms went off.   I woke up at two and deiced to read and stayed awake and got dressed and was ready for the four o'clock taxi by three thirty.  It went like a dream.  A text message to to tell me that the driver was outside the house, it was a Romanian lady and we had such a lovely chat going up to Gatwick North that we ended up with the usual continental kiss and she wished me a good journey and I wished her luck in the UK.  Security was a bit of an issue...I'd left my jewellery on which meant that I had to go through the Tardis and I'm not liking the new system...you seem to have no control over where your hand luggage  and I'd got coat, computer, boots and belt in one basket and then the second one was shifted over to another desk while she checked out my kindles.  In the old days you were able to watch every step of the operation.   Anyway....negotiated it well and had only half an hour before we were sent to a gate that had obviously been renovated.  The last time I'd complained about the dirty carpet and chairs...why do they always pick me out for surveys.

I had difficulty lifting my supposedly 'hand' luggage into the overheads and fortunately a chivalrous male came to my assistance and helped me heave it up there.  The good news was that we had a hundred miles an hour tail wind so we were in Sofia in record time.  I took the Shuttle bus over to the bus station and managed to easily get the twelve o'clock bus and was in Kardjali by three twenty.  Again the next bus was waiting for me and scheduled to leave at three forty and the driver asked me if I wanted to stay on and get dropped off at the door.  As it happened my car was outside my student's mums shop and after a little chin wag I was home by four thirty and Haciber noticed the car outside and came out to welcome me home.  Water turned on, fridge turned on, gas turned on, fire lit, suitcase unpacked, washing done and drying, computer set up, plants watered and I'm settled.

Managed to catch the sunset tonight...the photographs that I'd taken from the bus were rubbish  so I won't be posting those.  I'll be down to the bread van in the morning and also need eggs, it will be a cooked breakfast in the morning.   LN....It's so, so nice...to be home...LN

Saturday 6th January

I caught the moon last night but unfortunately I'd hidden the keys so well to the balcony that I took it through the window...so not a good shot but it was good to see it again.  I got my head down at about eleven but by three I was toilet bound and it's been that way all day.  I've had tummy gripes and the trots and they only thing that I ate yesterday was the bacon sandwich on the plane and some cheese biscuits on the bus getting down here.  Not a lot to upset me there but it only takes one little bug...and then that's it and it found me out.

I slept downstairs last night near the wood burner...the house has been three weeks with out heat and there have been a few minus temperatures and last night it went down to minus two in my neck of the woods.  As I said I was up and down most of the night and it's been the same today.  I caught the sunrise and it's been sunny but coldish all day. I did managed to get down to the bread van and the man shouted and welcomed me back to the jungle.  I'm not sure that he knew what a jungle was but he'd obviously hear it somewhere.  I said that I was pleased to be back and then had to translate it for him.  Haciber was down there and she told me that her son was in Haskovo and would be arriving soon.  She'd bought a box of chocolates and opened them, mine is sitting on the worktop.  I met the other two Beysers and had a hug from them...they wanted to know how my family was in England and I told them that Princess and family will probably be coming out in May. I topped up the log basket and the outside container and again it's been going all day.

I finished my book lying on the sofa, the Miniaturist is no more and despite having see the two part series on the Beeb I really enjoyed her writing style.  I did manage to catch up on some sleep and my Fitbit suggested that I took it for a walk....I shan't tell you my response.  

Seven thirty my time...I might just manage some dried toast before I go to bed.  I missed the sunset but caught the dawn so you'll have to bare with me.  LN...I'm off to bed...LN

Sunday 7th January

Early to bed, early to rise but I did go back again and was up at eight....I'd had several visits to that little room in the night and it doesn't seem to be abating.  I suppose I shall have to try Imodium or something akin so I've kept up with the water intake infused with honey and salt.  There's no sickness with it so that's a relief but I've just felt out of salts.

I did manage a walk of the estate this morning and noticed that the winter flowering jasmine is out in a couple of places and I have jonquils out too.  They were looking decidedly blown about and frost ridden so I took thee of them and they're now in the house.  They're something pretty to look at.   As for the rest of the day it's been spent on the sofa.  I read for a while, did a crossword, dozed, played a couple of silly games and kept the fire going.  It's been a beautiful day but I want to ensure that the fabric of the building is thermed up before winter really sets in.  Apparently it's going to rain towards the end of the week which will turn to snow but only be a couple of centimetres or so.  I've heard that one before so like a good girl guide...I'm prepared with my snow shovel in the new porch and at the ready.

I've had a bit of an issue with chargers for the various devices that I brought back with me from the UK.  New mini laptop, phone and Fitbit and it's almost as if I've lost some but I'm not in the mood to search at the moment.  I know they're trying to make the connectors universal but in some cases it doesn't seem to work.  It's a job when I feel more myself.  A little TV and then bed....I'm feeling drained and no pun intended.  LN...A little yellow sunshine...LN

Monday 8th January

Five start but felt better than I had for a few days.  I'd tried to light the fire last night and given up in disgust..it just wouldn't go so I took it apart this morning, put it all back together again and it went first time.  I went back to bed after having a honey and salt hot drink  and got my head down until eight thirty again...Great stuff.  It was now to put another log on the fire and it's been going all day.  I've managed to slide in huge logs into the firebox and they've done the trick.  The pump has been going all day and it's surprisingly comfortable, the tiles are warm to walk on.

I haven't had a great day of activity....I managed to get logs in and I had a visit from Haciber who arrived bearing gifts.  I have a new pair of slippers, two packets of biscuits, a pair of socks and her son has brought me some Pepparkakor ginger biscuits. from Sweden where he works.  They should last a while as should the others.  I'm still on the dry toast.  I did tell Haciber off...she brought me thses presents because I bought her some for Christmas.  I had to remind her that her festival is Byram and I expect meat not pressies.  Had another lovely surprise,Guldjam phoned, I recognised the number but the phone hadn't picked up the contact.  She told me that she is home having picked up a cheap return from Germany and she's here until Saturday.  She's coming to see me tomorrow when she's finished her work at home.  Her parents have killed a cow and apparently there is meat everywhere and they're probably putting it in jars.  

Weather-wise it's been good today, mostly hazy but a sign of a sun up there somewhere and there wasn't any sunset only a red sky at night over Greece.  There must be loads of pollution up there  but I got  a few good shots of it.  LN..Hot bath and bed...LN

Tuesday 9th January

I had my bath and then watched Connect and University Challenge and took to my virtuous couch at eleven last night and didn't wake up until seven forty. Wow...the best night's sleep I've had in ages.  I decided to check the Fitbit and to look at the quality of sleep since it breaks it down into REM, deep, awake and light and I seem to be measuring up quite well as it puts it 'for someone your age'.  It's the same with my resting heartbeat but I do object to it encouraging me to make a few more steps just for the record.  Not today....I'm still feeling under par.  If anyone sees a mojo lurking where it shouldn't be, please sent it back...especially you Mikey B.

What have I done today.  I managed to do a load of washing and that's dry to put away.  I've got wood in, filled up the log baskets and got the other log carrier filled for tomorrow, a casserole is in the slow cooker but not sure if I'm really up for it.  At two this afternoon I was really hungry to put a couple of eggs on to boil and half an hour later I remembered them.  I opened a tin of tuna, drained it, added the eggs and a few slices of beetroot and sat on the sofa a scoffed the lot...thinking that all the time it was a mistake but so far so good.  The casserole can wait until tomorrow.

A couple of phone calls but I've no credit on my phone to phone back.  I was downstairs, the phone upstairs and by the time I got there the phone had stopped.  I called back on my English phone but there was no reply...it was Guildjan and she probably didn't recognise the number so didn't answer it.  Since she didn't appear today as suggested she'll probably turn up tomorrow and I'm having another day at home so it's no skin off my nose.  There are plans afoot for Saturday...just need to confirm a few things.  Fire and book tonight but I'm finding the Brief History of Everything very hard going....it's along old book.  LN....Need to find a new series...LN

I think our mojo's must have secretly met up while you were here for Christmas and sneaked off... as I've not seen mine since either