Wednesday 10th January

I was in bed by eleven last night, woke up and thought it was about five but it was only one thirty and there wasn't an ounce of sleep in me.  Out with the Kindle and played a few games, read for a while and at three tried to settle off again.  Now I've been really cheesed off with my hourly visits to the little room so I gave my body a good talking to.  I've this great belief that if you ask for help you normally get it so I told the guys and girls upstairs that I needed things to change, I instructed my body cells to imagine that they were Pac men and to go search the bad guys.  It seemed to work....I rescued the fire but the wind was in the wrong direction and it took ages to fire up and give out any heat, it was cold, damp and miserable and these's been very little bird activity in the garden.  The tits just sat on the bare trees not even tweeting to each other.  

I made breakfast at about ten thirty, two hard boiled eggs and dry toast but I've kept up the honey and salt with hot water.  My mojo appeared briefly while I got in three loads of logs, some of the chopped small stuff for starting the fire and from the little house I brought in the rosemary bush and the freesias along with the pottery cat to live in the new porch.  I did question my mojo if it had spotted yours Mikey B...but to no avail...sorry.  I peeled a couple of potatoes and put them into the slow cooker with the lamb from yesterday and by three this afternoon I was hungry and it was ready.  What I didn't managed to eat has gone over the wall for the animals...your provider is back.

As for the temperature today it's been lingering at around two degrees all day but I hate it when it's cold and damp.  Real cold and snow I can cope with..this you contend with.  I did phone Guldjan today and she's still surrounded by meat but intends paying a visit tomorrow and she'll have to hurry up, she goes back to Germany on Saturday,  I'm heading into Djebel tomorrow and my list is ready.  LN....Need money on my BG phone...LN

Thursday 11th January

So at three this morning I was wide awake and reading but fortunately settled down again until seven thirty.  The fire didn't take long to bring to life and I sat at the table in the stairwell with my new morning drink...ginger and lemon tea.  I settled for toast and marmalade for breakfast and still without butter, I'd washed up last night so the kitchen was good to come down to and I brought two chicken legs out of the freezer and they went into the slow cooker with a stock cube.  

I phoned the Librarian but it sounded like I'd caught her unawares but we made arrangements for her birthday on Saturday. I confirmed the details with Mrs D of S and a little later that I'd mistaken the days and somehow I thought it was Friday.  So another phone call to the Librarian and a Messenger note to Mrs. D or S and we should all be in the right place at the right time on Saturday.  I didn't have much to do today, I printed off the DM Sudoku, had about three attempts at it and used up almost a pot of Tippex but still couldn't do it.  It sits on the table and I'll have to print it again.  It's one of those with so many options on it that it becomes very frustrating.  Had a Message from Mr.s D of S and she thought about heading into Djebel but had already left by the time that I'd answered her message.  I guessed she might call in with the little one with the threat of taking my house apart instead of hers and they did turn up about one.  When I opened the door, Guldjan was with them and they'd met at the gate and were clutching my Christmas post that they'd found on the drive.  Apparently the Kmet had tossed them over the gate .  No sooner were we all settled in the lounge with coffee, teas and water when Haciber was at the door checking up on whether I'd got my mail or not.  It was obvious that she'd seen the car so I went in and grabbed the little one so that she could see her and the little one wasn't sure what was happening...but there were no tears.

I handed over the pressies and Mrs.D of S loved the coat hook thing that I'd found in the charity shop in the OK and Guldjan ended up reading one of the books to the little one and talking to her all the time in Bulgarian.  The rest of the conversations were conducted in Bulgarian, English and Guldjan did keep lapsing into German which confused us all.  So the Samodiva mob set off at three and as she was leaving my neighbour came along the road and wanted his photo taken with his horse.  Guldjan was here until five thirty and we covered the news of her life in Germany and the rest that I don't normally hear about in and around especially since I'd not been here.  

Lovely day...the weather turned very pleasant this afternoon but it's got much colder now. Lots of birds around today pecking on the hillside....mainly crows with a few ravens thrown in.  One of the chicken legs has now been reduced to bones and yet more ginger and lemon tea.  It could be my new poison.  Djebel and Kardjali tomorrow with Guldjan to get 'stuff' done before she goes on Saturday.  LN...I've got such good friends...LN

Friday 12th January

Another silly night...I woke up at three and just couldn't get off again.  I toyed with the idea of relighting the fire but left it until five thirty.  I hadn't got to be anywhere until nine thirty and for some reason I never managed to get breakfast before I set off to pick up Guldjan.  I'd written my list, I hadn't got a lot to buy and I was on a mission for Guldjan today.  Wedding dress day all over again.

So when I got to the bus stop her father was there too.  This is normally par for the course. It was going to be a messy start to the day.  We drove in to Djebel, I stopped off at the petrol station and father got out so I thought that was the end of it and I'd got away lightly.  We went round to the bank and Guldjan queued up and waited to be admitted.  Strange system.  She was only in there for ten minutes or so, her phone went and she disappeared into he local supermarket and came out carrying bananas, apples, fruit juice saying that there was a man in the village outside of Djebel and we were now waiting for her father to give him a lift there.  So father arrived and he said that we had to pick up my painter from the central parking and it was just 'drive down there and turn round' and then we can be off.  I smiled inwardly, this is normal.  So I did as instructed and he was no where to be seen, te father checked the cafe bar on the parking area but shill not to be found so I put my food down with a firm hand and said that we were leaving...and we did.  I dropped father off with the bag of fruit and it was a short walk to the invalid.

On we went into the big Leva shop and we both picked up a few items, on to central parking and down to the travel agents so that Guldjan could pick up her ticket for the flight tomorrow. We stopped for a soup lunch with creme caramel to finish on and on to the Telenor shop so that I could put credit on my phone.  The lady was determined that she would sort me out with a contract, I'd told her before that I wasn't interested but she was really determined and I walked out laughing saying that today I wasn't interested, tomorrow I might be.  Over to Panda hoping to get a case for my new phone but so far they don't stock it and into Kaufland for fresh veg and picked up some good offers on pork and chicken wings.  Lemons were so cheap..ten large ones for three leva...a little different than Rottingdean.  I dropped Guldjan in town to wait for her brother to take her out to a distant village to visit her husband's grandmother, I popped into Lidl and back to Djebel to pick up a new square ashcan so it doesn't spill out of the bucket I was using.  It started to rain as I was heading home but back at base I unloaded the Beast, lit the fire, put the shopping away and left Guldjan's shopping in the car...she was picking it up later.

Sat and watched the fire for a while and back to the kitchen making more chicken soup from the remains of last night's supper and it was delicious.  The shopping has now made it home in the brother's car and it's really cold and damp out there.  I was pleased to get back inside.  I'm hoping for a better night tonight....I'll last out as long as I can before I get my little head down....I want a good night.  LN...Everything crossed...LN

Saturday 13th January

Seven thirty this morning...the sleep of the just.  Did a bit of housework by clearing out the bins and rubbish from the kitchen but it was far too windy to get down the bottom and have the bonfire.  It was blowing a gale down there and it was sleeting so it's now sitting in the new porch.  I knew there was a reason that I had it constructed...

I had a leisurely start, packed up the Librarians's birthday pressie and got myself ready to head out at eleven.  I was a little delayed...one of the villagers flagged me down and he thinks he speaks English.  I told him to try his own language and we might have a fighting chance of understanding each other but the gist of it was that a mechanic was bringing his car back to Rogosche and I met the driver by the bus-stop.  Unfortunately he hadn't made it clear that this was the man so I was heading further along the road when he bellowed 'stop' and this I understood.  So out he got with a 'thank you madam' and I carried on to Samodiva to pick up Mrs D of S and the little one.  We were there on time to pick up the Librarian and taking the child's chair with us.  The last time we were at this restaurant theirs was a little suspect.  We decided to leave ours in the car and asked the waiter if they had a chair and the reply was negative so I legged it out to the car and got in the one that we'd brought with us at which point the waitress approached and said that they had one.  We settled for ours.

The waiter was an trainee but we managed to get the order placed and the food came fairly rapidly.  We'd made the mistake last time of ordering too much food so we were careful this time round.  The little one is a treasure.  She packed away the cheesy chips and a hamburger and delighted the other diners when she was eventually unleashed for the chair.  Dropped off the Librarian at three-ish, we carried on and I had coffee and I delighted in the fact that the little one climbed on to my knee clutching a book and we acted it out together with Mrd D of S supplying the punchlines and she passed with flying colours.

Home for five and the fire was out...the big log had died a natural so I had to start from scratch.  It's very cold out there and is destined to go down to minus four tonight so I shall keep the home fires burning now that I've stoked it up.  I've just lingered in the bath for an hour or so and kept topping up the water.  Now clad in several layers...bring it on...do your damnedest.  No photos tonight..I'm not feeling too good ...I think this tummy bug is coming back to bite me in the bum.  LN...I'll post in the morning if we have snow overnight....LN

Sunday 14th January

Silly night...woke up at three thirty and felt like I'd had a full night's sleep.  Off until three again and then down again until five thirty, read for about an hour and then back off at seven until eight thirty.  Fortunately my Fitbit captures every detail...and I've only really had four complete nights since I got the thing.  I'm still feeling very tender around the lower stomach area and tomorrow ...I might very well pay a visit to my doctor and hoping it won't turn into a hospital visit.  I've not really tested yer yet.  I sorted the fire out on my five o'clock sleep break and despite the sugar coating of snow...it was really very cold out there and no hint of sun at all so no free central heating.

Bit of a lazy day...I've been introduced to the Game of Thrones books and I started book one last night.  I've made ten percent already but I'm finding it hard to put the characters into camps yet.  It might get easier as the books go on.  So I spent the day on the sofa and obviously caught up on one and a half hours of sleep, topped up on ginger and lemon tea and stretched out again and was just about to nod off when there was a tapping on my window and it was the daughter of one of my old ladies and she came bearing gifts.  One coffee mug, one little pot for bonbons, a serviette fan holder, a trivet for the table and a very pink nail varnish.  I made her proper coffee and opened a box of chocolates for her.  I offered her the newspaper wrapping paper so that her mother could light the fire with it and she said that I should;d keep it for my fire.  I mentioned that I didn't use it and showed her the firelighter...and I gave her a box to go home with.  She left at about four and I decided to top up both of my log carriers and they're in the porch.  

I remembered that the snooker championships are on the TV and that's what I've been stuck into for the rest of this afternoon.  It's a bit more interesting than Dancing on Ice will be tonight.  What is it with these judges....I heated thought the soup that I'd blitzed this morning but didn't really enjoy it.  It's now back in the saucepan with the stale french stick and I'm sure the animals or birds that get there first will enjoy it.  I finished off with yogurt and honey for pudding.

There was a hint of sun as it went down and it's all we've seen of it all day.  My fire has chugged along nicely all day and the house has maintained a comfortable temperature.  Not hot but comfortable and it's bitter outside....I should have worn cloves when I sent to get the wood in.  I'll see how I feel in the morning as to whether I'm off to Kardjali or not.  LN...I'll let you know...LN

Monday 15th January

Better night and a lovely five thirty start.  It was one of those mornings that seem to take a lot of time to get in to but it's a pleasant journey.  Got the fire going, a load of washing in and back to bed with Game of Thrones.  It was time to stock up the fire again made breakfast of yogurt with honey and freshly squeezed orange juice and it could become a favourite.  I felt good this morning and cleared out three boxes of bits, namely supermarket receipts and other 'stuff' that was waiting to be deposited in the garage, wood store. upstairs or in a box somewhere.  Done, dusted and all present and correct.  It went a little hazy this afternoon when I was trying to remember where I'd put the ends to make a light fitting.  I'd brought the cable in from the little house and couldn't find the ends and suddenly spotted in the 'wait to go' pile.  When I was getting dressed for the day I decided to pop on the scales and all it said was 'Lo'.  I guess it meant low battery not 'lo and behold' so I removed it, checked the number and phoned my car shop to see if they had one in stock...and she had so that sorted out the rest of my day.

I checked the weather report and it did say snow in the afternoon so I got my act together and headed out at twelve and it was just beginning to drop a few flakes but that's all we've had.  The Beast jumped to, I moved it outside, closed the gates and set off.  I parked up and went to pick up the battery and I sat with her for half an hour or so chewing over the happenings.  Apparently her son had the same virus that I had, and lots of people have had it so I asked her for the 'local' remedies and came out with some good ones.  A local powder that you take four of the first day along with drinking a ampule of the stuff that usually get's injected in to you for problems in the nether regions and I went off to the chemist clutching a written list of requirements.  The shelf life on the ampule is 2021 so I thought it was worth investing in two.  Total value of purchases...just under ten lev.  Next port of call was a trip round the market and bought three pairs of scissors describing to the stall holder that if I'm up the scissors are down and vice versa...she knew what I meant so I bought three pairs again for ten lev.  Final call to the market and bought some apples. came home and had cheese, biscuits and a peeled apple.  I weighed myself and it came back with more than I was in the UK but I was wearing three more sweaters and a pair of boots than I was wearing in the UK.  I've just got into nightclothes and I weight the same as I did in the UK.

Fire going well, got enough wood in this afternoon to last through tomorrow, brought in my pottery frog and hedgehog to sit in the porch and sorted out the small wood and got the next load to bring inside.  I've had a good day today and I seem to have put my last few days to one side.  Still cold and temperature dropping so I'm wrapped up for the night.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow..I'll have to find something creative to do or get stuck into my book again.  LN....Time to do down to the fire....LN

Tuesday 16th January

One of those nights when I was reading until late, woke up at five and got the fire going, read until six again and then got my head down.  It was nine thirty when I came round for the second time, the fire had mostly burnt itself out and it was a struggle to get it going for the rest of the day.   Poached eggs for breakfast on toast...I'm getting better thank goodness ...I moved the birds food from the terrace wall and threw it over the garden wall.  I guess it's too near the house for anyone of the little beauties to attempt it unless they're really starving and there seem to be less cats around.  They're probably holed up in barns and searching wildlife that coming out into the cold and yes, it was cold despite the sunshine.  So giving up on the fire I decided that I could last the day without it but it wasn't going to happen.  I wasn't feeling active despite my Fitbit telling me to take it for a walk and I spent most of the on the sofa with my Kindle and with my eyes closed until three this afternoon when it was definitely time to get that fire moving.

I did go out to look at the garden and I'm amazed at how green things are.  The marigolds are still with heads held high with lots of buds still waiting to come out, the narcissus are still in flower though looking a little raggedy and I noticed my first crocus in the middle of the grass and I have two snowdrops.  So at this point I decided to to a walk of the garden and noticed that the rose that I planted last year which seemed to have done nothing has a new shoot on it with very green leaves and both winter flowering jasmine are doing well.  The one hidden up the corner in the shelter of the wood store and the wall is doing really well, I think it likes its root under concrete and the shelter that it gets.

So back in the house and really shook the fire up and I'm pleased to say that there is at last heat coming from it.  It was twenty four this afternoon in the stairwell so not so cold but at least the house is maintaining the heat with the fire going.  So supper is in...chicken leg with jacket potato and roasted vegetables and I've even put a baked apple into the oven.  I've felt inwardly cold so maybe I've not been taking in enough fuel.  Time to do something about it.  

It appears I missed the Ronnie O'Sullivan match yesterday but at least he came through it without me...good lad.  Supper should be ready by seven so a little Tipping Point until then , Eggheads and time to cosy up.  My next planned outing is on Thursday....Lidl is selling a shredder and the offer price is good.  I've got lots of old bills that I need to get rid of and yes, I could burn them but this would make life easier.  I didn't catch the sunset only the remnants but it was really stunning.  Very red and very black...there are some dark clouds on the horizon from Smolyan direction.  LN...Time to check on supper...LN

Wednesday 17th January

Another silly night...one thirty and not an ounce of sleep in me so I was reading until four this morning.  This has got to stop...I need to tire myself out more.  I did go back off until six thirty though and it was the morning to welcome the dawn.  The sky was that early blue black that opens up to a blue pink and then the sun comes up...my free central heating.  Not that I really needed it today...the fire had been ticking along all night and with a little bit of sun it soon shot up to twenty three degrees in my stairwell.  

I washed up from last night after a fantastic supper and pudding.  Maybe that's why I didn't sleep to well, my body was having a hard time digesting it so I'll keep it a little lighter tonight.  By nine thirty I was washed, dressed and eating toast and marmalade sitting in the sun and reading my book all at the same time and Princess called me for a post-Christmas catch-up.  She just loves her new job, has only been there for about three months and is saving the company money already by following up on training grants for the apprentices.  She's organised a couple of events that have been very successful already...that's my girl.  I went back to my toast and decided that I needed some activity so lit a bonfire and got rid of everything since I'd returned from the UK and sat on the wall at the bottom of the garden taking it all in until I realised that the wall was cold so I headed up to the terrace and carried on with my book on the old chairs that hadn't made it inside this year.  I came in for a drink, took to the sofa again and at twelve my eyes went southwards for an hour, I carried on with Game of Thrones but realised that I needed to do 'stuff'.  I emptied the ash tin, filled up the log baskets from the log containers and took them outside to refill.  It was such a good day that I decided to split logs taken from the stack in the garage and armed with the axe and the lump hammer, I filled one container and half filled the second.  Good stuff.  I also put the battery charger on to Beauty...with the weather getting colder it's time that the Beast was under cover but I needed also to pump up the back tyre...as a pancake.  The Beast went out of the gate so that I could manoeuvre Beauty, she came down the yard and I parked her close to the wall under the tree but before I could attempt it I had to throw water on to the windscreen and rear window....you couldn't see out.  Since the garage was empty, I took the opportunity of sweeping up the dead leaves that had accumulated under Beauty and generally tidying up the area but it was strange driving her again.

I should have worn work gloves splitting the wood...I've acquired a couple of blisters that might stop me doing it again tomorrow .  According to the weather we're going to have snow flurries at three a.m. and I'm hoping that I'm not awake to see them.  Apart from that we're only in for a couple of minus degrees so not so bad.  Time to look in the fridge for something nice and easy and maybe make some chippies with it.  Give my gut a work out.  I might head in to Kardjali tomorrow...I mentioned that Lidl has a shredder...I'll see how I feel.  LN...A successful day....LN

Thursday 18th January

So despite the wakefulness in the night I managed to eventually go through until five thirty.  I coaxed the fire into life, got a good log on it and the house was toasty while I lay in bed reading Game of Thrones ...and is it getting exciting!!  I could hardly put it down but I had places to go.  Poached eggs on toast for breakfast and why is it that as soon as I put the eggs in the water I always find something to do and this morning was no exception.  I was checking the balance on my Bulgarian account from the last withdrawal slip. it was still OK and as I returned to the kitchen I remembered the eggs.  The toast had popped up and was cold so that went in again, the eggs were rescued but by the time everything was assembled....the were overdone and the toast was cooling rapidly.  Note to self...do not stray from the pan when eggs are in progress...

Washed and dressed and ready for Kardjali by ten.  I went down the back lane ...it was a little damp and I decided that I would take the high road through Djebel on my way back.  I stopped off at Lidl first and picked up the shredder but unfortunately it comes without a waste basket so I'll have to see if anything will suffice.  I also got a few other things while I was in there and then headed for my central car park.  I had two things on the list....a 'Next' watch that I'd bought in the UK about ten years ago needed a new battery so into my watch shop and he fixed it in quicksticks charging me two lev for his time and effort...not bad...about eighty pence.  I then moved on to my stationery shop for some inserts for the cheapy note book cover I'd bought the other day but nothing to hand with the holes that far apart.  It's almost like a small Filofax....I'll have to check the internet.  The last shop was my 'dinky doo' shop or 'Aladdin's Cave' as I call it and it was really to check out new stock.  They had two more of the square plant containers but this time in terracotta so I bought them both and stainless steel kitchen scales for another five lev....so another ten gone.  Cheap at half the price.  Finally on to Kaufland for fresh veg and another six chicken legs since they were on offer.  

I arrived in Djebel and bought two bottles of lamp gas to be prepared if the electricity goes off and then into the car parts shop where I should 'five  minutes' which invariably stretches to half an hour or so.  I was settled in when suddenly the Librarian came in, she'd seem my car outside and thought I had problems.  I said that I hadn't and had just come back from Kardjali and she said that she was on her way there.  I said to call in on her way back if she had time and she did.  We sat and had coffee, apparently she had an issue with her laptop so I rebooted it and sorted it for her.  We've made a date for Monday if she fancies going in to Kardjali.  Off she went at four thirty and I chugged the fire back to life and logged in to TV Catchup to catch up on Ronnie your actual and what a poor show he put up.  Beaten six one so now he's out of it.  

Fire going beautifully, switched over to Game of Thrones again, much more interesting that the programmes that were filling in the gaps and pulled up the drawbridge for the evening.  I've achieved what I set out to achieve today and that's a first for a while.  Six thousand steps on the Fitbit...that's what going in to town does for you...exercising and spending money.  
Lazy day tomorrow without I have guests and then it will be all hands to the pumps.  LN...Those sort I love to man.....LN