Monday 11th March

Seven start and the reflection of the sun from the little house windows woke me up...it was bright when it came up but then disappeared behind the hanging clouds.  It turned in to a reasonable day, a little cold in the wind but I was on a meander day.  I settled for cornflakes watching Piers Morgan and catching up on the Brexit catastrophe that we call politics and leadership.  It was getting on for nine thirty by the time I was washed and dressed, I laid the fire, filled up the log basket, and prepared to do battle with the elements.

I moved the plants from the work bench in the little house so that I could actually use the work bench.  The cacti has taken up residence in there during the winter.  I noticed that the Aloe Veras had put on substantial growth over the winter so maybe they should stay in the little house and not be allowed on to the terraces or live in the shade.  I split up more of the honeysuckle into it's own pots and repotted the bathroom vine.  It was looking very sad.  I dug up one of the shrubs on the long front wall that had died last year in the drought and will use the branches for the sweet peas.  I turned over some of the soil under the little house terrace and put in the sunflower seeds and also put some in where I dug out the dead shrub.  There was also a lot of honeysuckle self rooted and three of those little beauties I took over to Haciber and planted them in her garden.  The rest of the sunflowers went into a pot and now are in the conservatory and I'll put them out when they're big enough to fend for themselves.  

I came in for a coffee at two, lay down on the sofa and promptly nodded off for an hour or so and woke up cold.  The clouds had come over, it was still thirteen degrees out there and twenty two in the house but I'd only put a t-shirt on so time for a sweater.  I also lit the fire....I needed background heat just to keep the house comfortable this evening...and it worked.  I cooked turkey dippers for supper with thinly sliced potatoes and what a disappointment they were.  The ones that I've left are for the hillside to see if the birds do better with them and as for the rest in the freezer...yet to make my mind up.  Free day tomorrow...I was off to Kardjali with Mrs D of S but it's been delayed for one week but i might still head in myself to Kardjali and get my car and company taxes sorted out.  LN....I'll see how I feel in the morning....LN

Tuesday 12th March

Seven start. cold miserable morning but no rain so far.  I went back to bed with a coffee and toyed with the idea of Kardjali and put it on the back boiler until the morning had moved on a bit....and that's where it stayed.  Cornflakes for breakfast which didn't really touch the sides, I did the usual maintenance on the computer and settled on the sofa thinking about a fire.  I think my body has got used to the warm weather and I felt chilled to the bone.  I made another coffee clutching it to my bosom and eventually gave in, set the fire and put a match to it and it's been going all day.  I read for a while, played games, watched some morning tv and succumbed to an early lunch at round twelve thirty stuffing my little face with potato and onion Spanish omelette following it with bottled peaches and cream.  

Supper has gone in and should be ready in about half an hour, the boiler is on for a bath, the radiators are hot, the fire is going like a dream and I'm feeling that I could have spent the day better.  If it's dry tomorrow I'll go in and do the work on the documents that I intended doing today.  I've got until the end of the month....so there's no immediate panic.  LN...Supper calls...LN

Wednesday 13th March

So I had my bath last night and then ran out of sleep genes and it was one in the morning before I laid my little head on the pillow.  At least the bath had warmed me up, despite the house temperature I'd felt chilled to the bone earlier.  Straight through until seven this morning. coffee, back to bed, the house was still warm from last night's fire but it was one degree outside and there was snow on the mountains and not much sun around.  The terraces had more or less dried off but there was a very gusty wind out there.  I dressed for a document day in town putting on an extra sweater, washed up from last night, had my cornflakes for breakfast sitting on the stairs and was in the Nipper and ready for the off at ten.

I saw my painter working on the road and stopped for a chat and confirmed that I'd pick him up at nine thirty on Saturday morning....he needs shopping from Kardjali.  I stopped off at Djebel at the car-shop when I noticed her husband's car on the drive when it should have been at the garage.  Apparently he has gone down with flu, there's another batch of it going around and I'm hoping to avoid it.  As I was going to Kardjali I asked her if there was anything that she wanted and the response was a loaf of special bread from Lidl.  First stop was at the options, I noticed that the shop was open so I I parked up and handed over my prescription, picked two pairs of frames and the glasses would be ready after four today...pretty good treatment.  I moved on the the central car-park and booked three hours  knowing how long documents take.  I handed over my car document at the first office and I was in and out in five minutes and thought that it was going too well.  I went into the NAP to sort out my company documents and it appeared that the world and all it's friends were doing the same thing so I waited clutching my numbered ticket and eventually saw a lady that refused to speak English and spoke her native tongue at great speed and I gathered that I didn't have to submit any document for a non-trading company.  I asked her whether I needed to go to the National Statistics Office and she replied that she didn't know....helpful soul.  I walked down to the office and yes...I did have to have my company details registered as non-trading and she completed the registration for me.  I again asked her if I had to go to the company registration office and she said she didn't know....so I walked the mile down to the office and a very helpful lady gave me the necessary forms and I have until the end of the month to complete and return them. The end is in sight.  

I stopped off for a pizza at one of the central restaurants, back to the car park, down to Kaufland and picked up a few items and I was now filling in time until I could collect my glasses.  I went into the Leva shop and bought a few gift bags and then on to the opticians, glasses waiting and paid for, on to Lidl, picked up the bread and a few things for me, dropped off said bread and home for five thirty.  It's been a long old day...

Fire lit, Haciber came round and gave me a jar of pine-tip syrup and I got her back with a small chocolate sponge cake that was on offer from Kaufland.  I put it into her cardigan pocket...woe betide anyone seeing contraband going between residents.  I don't really understand it but go along with it for their sake.  So far no need for supper, the pizza and chippies are still lying heavy and it will probably be a ham sandwich later.  The objectives have more or less been achieved and ticked off...I only wish that departments would speak to each other and make the journey easier.  LN....Now relax and I've realised I'm sniffing...oh joy.....LN

Thursday 14th March

Bit of a funny day.  Normal wake up , I checked the temperature and it was minus one outside but fortunately it was plus eighteen in.  The fire remained unlit, coffee did the job of the fire and warmed the inside and I washed and dressed in gardening clothes more or less straight away, and it was going to be a bit of a meander day.  I had a couple of ham sandwiches for fortification, I hadn't worked out a plan and by lunchtime I'd had a bonfire, cleared part of the little garden near the bottom wall and run out of steam.  It was sunny but cold so I came in for another coffee, settled on the sofa and promptly went to sleep for an hour or so and felt much better when I woke up.  

I'd looked at the olive tin plant holder in the bathroom for quite some time and knew that it needed replacing.  The poor tree was looking as if it was struggling for life so I accepted the challenge.  I carried it down stairs, got the tin snips and removed the old olive tin, found a new one and covered it in heavy string securing it with glue, replanted the container and it's now sitting in the bathroom and the old one is ready for the skip.  I'm pleased I've done it.  I cleared the garden of last year's old plants and relit the bonfire, finished off the garden by the wall, planted another shrub near the wall behind the bonfire and spent the next ten minutes playing peekaboo with the woodpecker.  It started off on the lonesome pine and was on the side away from me, moved to the pear tree and ended up in the mulberry.  Thank goodness that the camera has a good zoom on it.

Everything locked away by six.  By this time it has started spitting with rain that it had threatened all afternoon, I came in and lit the fire, locked the door and have settled in for the night.  Nothing on for tomorrow so far...more of the same I think.  LN....Rubbish morning...reasonable afternoon....LN

Friday 15th March

Bit of a dull day to wake up to so I made coffee and went to bed and played Soda Crush until it had warmed up outside.  I had a good run of winners and found that an hour had gone by and it was time to get up and about...I had a garden to do.  I settled for poached eggs on toast for breakfast and ended up with a slice of toast with strawberry jam...I was building up my reserves..  Cleared the kitchen, tidied round, watched the news and in desperation turned off and headed out.  

I started off by moving the new cuttings out on to the little house terrace to get some sun.  I moved some of the other pot plants out but tender ones like the lemon have stayed inside...the weather is still very unpredictable.  I headed down to the bottom of the garden and worked on the garden I'd started on yesterday and then it became robbing Peter to pay Paul.  I moved day lilies from the side garden and planted two lots up and daisies from the main terrace garden.  It's beginning to look like a garden and should fill out.  The little garden by the washing line I dug out completely and removed lots of couch grass and bindweed and then planted up a forsythia, a snapdragon that I'd taken out and felt sorry for and sprinkled some seeds that are known at 'Forking' something or other...and I can't wait to see if they grow.

I came in for lunch, settled for a bowl of muesli and went back out again.  More sunflower seeds planted up, the inside of the long wall at the front is weeded and dug over, I've removed the old string holding up the plants to the front railings and need to trim up the roses before I secure them again.  I dug over the old bonfire bed, sprinkled zinnia seeds over the bed and covered them with new compost.  By five thirty I'd had enough so I put the tools away, got a load of logs in, locked up outside, came in and cooked fish finger and chips for supper.  What a good day.

Tomorrow I'm off to Kardjali with my painter so it's a nine thirty start at the bus shelter in his village.  I don't really have to get anything..I did my shopping on Wednesday but I'm sure I'll find something that I can't live without.  LN....Let's hope the weather stays fine for it....LN

Saturday 16th March

So I got tired of the charity television last night, switched off and went to bed at ten thirty.  I hadn't lit the fire last night and I was cold so the best place for me was in the nest.  It wasn't long before I was in the land of nod and straight through to six thirty this morning.  It was Narnia again with the mist hanging in the valley over the river on the road to Greece.  It was white over and it was down to minus two and because I hadn't had a fire last night I kept on the move.  Coffee, shower, hair washed, dried and dressed ready for town.  Breakfast was a bowl of cornflakes and I was in the Nipper at nine twenty and set off and arrived early and my painter was waiting in his garden.  He'd not been in the Nipper before and he seemed to be hanging on at every corner and told me to slow down.  I said that I wasn't going very fast but before the car is higher than a normal car and there is very little front on it, it appears to go fast.

First stop at Basmar...he needed to buy more work boots but they were all too expensive and not very strong.  We moved on to Kaufland car park and into another work wear shop and he managed to find a pair.  On we went to the central car park, in to the cheapy shop and I picked up a few things and he picked up a computer bag suitable for his work and then down to the market for a meander.  There were lots of tomato plants for sale but I still think it's too early and I don't want to build a poly tunnel, it would be over the hills and far away with the winds that whip up over the hillside.  We went back to Kaufland to do the food shopping and I bumped in to Bekir and Sally out for a Saturday spin round the shops, back to Lidl, stopped off at Djebel for a couple of items and back home for three twenty.  

Coffee and a ham baguette for a late lunch, fire lit and it was a rugby day.  I'm watching England now and where has the team from the first half gone?  I think it might be time to switch off and not bother to watch the end...I'm of a nervous disposition.  Gardening day tomorrow it the weather is good...I've got the bug again.  LN....Back to the rugby....and it's a draw...LN

Sunday 17th March

Seven start this morning and the sun beat me to it...ah well....I've worshipped it all day.  Washed, dressed for gardening yet again and it's been a day of moving stuff, repotting and checking out the survivors from the 'needs replacing' or 'take cuttings quickly'.  Cornflakes and muesli for breakfast, two loads of washing pegged out by ten.  It was a beautiful sunny windy day and just perfect for getting stuff dry.  I also emptied out three little pots that I'd planted up with seeds from Greece thinking that the only things coming up were weeds.  I sifted through the soil and found three seedlings that I've now put into a better pot with potting compost and fingers crossed...I shall be watching them.  I also brought back some long seed pods from Greece that look remarkably like Oleander pods put they're not ....they're now potted up.

I came in at one and made a large tuna mayo baguette for lunch.  I played a few games on the computer and it was three before I went out there again to get the washing in.  I was also drawn to an old bucket that had been used by the workmen for playing around with concrete.  It was looking very dishevelled and now it's a lovely shade of blue.  This place is looking more Mediterranean as the days go by....I'm spending too much time in Greece.  Toys away and all locked up by six.  No fire tonight...it was eighteen degrees outside at six.  

Nothing on the agenda tomorrow.  The only thing that I need to do is to get my forms for SUT completed so that I can hand them in on Tuesday when I'm heading in to help Mrs D of S with her documents.  I'll be heading in to Djebel in the afternoon when the market crowds have dispersed.  LN.....Settled in for the night....LN

Monday 18th March

Late to bed and early to rise left me feeling jaded all day.  I was doing OK until lunch-time and after that it was downhill all the say.

Cornflakes for breakfast and yet again so that's one regime that's appearing to stick, I stripped the bed and washed everything in sight and what a fabulous day it was for drying.  Sun was shining, twenty one degrees out of the wind and a brisk wind heading up from the hillside so I pegged everything well.   I grabbed the gardening gloves and the secateurs and attacked various shrubs that have been left to their own devices over the winter.  The hypericom and  Greek pink flowering plants have been spruced up, the daisies have had last years old stalks removed and the new additions to the bottom of the garden bed look to have taken already.  I'd tried to get on the internet earlier in the day so checked it again at around eleven and it was still down.  I'd checked out everything at my end so I phoned the company and apparently they hadn't any power to the antenna and she couldn't give me any hints as to when it was going to come on again.  I'd also had a phone call from the post office in Rogosche ion Friday so I phoned her back to confirm that she was working today, she was so I got the Nipper out and headed out to her village.  Apparently I had two cards waiting for me, birthday cards as it turned out so I told her that I was going to have another late birthday but no cake.  One from my son that was posted on the sixth of February and the second around the same time from my good friend Yvonne which included a letter.  We've been friends for fifty eight years...where did all those years go????

Late lunch of ham sandwiches and a couple of chocolate mouse and consequently nodded off...a full tummy requires rest but at three, Haciber came round and asked me why the Nipper was parked outside.  I'd not bothered to bring it into the drive intending to go up to Djebel to get my documents for tomorrow completed which I didn't get round to doing.  Ah well another day and there's no rush....Mrs D of S has other fish to fry so I shan't be going to Kardjali tomorrow.  I headed out and brought in the washing and made the bed up so that I wouldn't be doing it at the last minute.   The internet was still down so I took to reading this afternoon, got the Nipper back into the drive and then went back to my book.  It's been a very lazy day.

So plans have changed for tomorrow...I'll get my documents done though.  It's almost a full moon, it's a starry, starry night and there's a song there some where.  The temperature has dropped so I'm pleased that I lit the fire at five...everywhere toasty.    LN....Monday night is my night for the tv.....LN

Tuesday 19th March

Five thirty start and I'm still not sure why.  I tried to go back to sleep again but nothing doing so I made coffee, and settled back into bed after I'd taken the morning sunrise.  It looked a little cloudy out there but at first light it was interesting watching the grey clouds turn to red and the patterns they made.  I went out on to my upstairs bedroom balcony to take the pickies but only stayed out there for a while.  It was cold out there, no frost, just cold so I came in to the warm and back to bed.  Washed and got partly dressed and at eight thirty Haciber was at the door waving a coffee filter at me and asking me if I was going to Kardjali.  I explained that plans had changed and that I wouldn't be going until later in the week but she didn't want a box of the coffee filters that she was waving but wanted the larger size.  I went to the kitchen and found a part filled box knowing that I had another box in the cupboard and asked her if it was the size she wanted and sent her off with about eight in the box.  I'll check with her again to confirm that she doesn't want the bigger size.

I settled for cornflakes for breakfast and sat on the stairs to eat them.  I'd seen an advert for a holiday to Corfu that was using the hotel where I'd spent my honeymoon all those years ago so phoned up the company to see what the extra was for a single room.  On the hotel website single rooms are advertised so I was hoping that there wouldn't be additional costs but the young lady on the other end told me that there was always an additional charge in Europe for single occupancy.  I challenge this but she wasn't moving from her stance...'that is the price and there is no movement' and I shall have to think about it.  As I put the phone down I saw the note from my friend Yvonne that was in the birthday card and since the internet was down, yet again, I decided to go on the main machine and create a reply in Word.  I usually write the reply but the computer served its purpose and I added a couple of joke inserts.  

I meandered around garden and checked out the vegetable patch but to date nothing has raised its little head into the outside world.  Last years beetroot have taken on a new lease of life and I should really dig one up to check out what the bottoms are like.  Despite the sun, the wind was cold so I didn't stay out there for long.  The sofa drew me in and I settled for my Kindle and read until my eyes headed southwards, woke up cold so lit the fire....despite the sun.  No need for supper, I had a filling lunch finishing off with yogurt and chocolate pudding...unless the worms start nibbling later.  LN....Early night for me.....LN

Wednesday 20th March

Five thirty start and yet again but today I managed to get through it without a nap so hopefully I shall get a better night.  Last night I seemed to be in a very light sleep state with a dream that sort of went in and out and I woke up shattered.  It might have something to do with the moon and the pull on my subconscious...and I've got to blame something and I didn't have a late cheese supper.

Washed, dressed, walked the garden and was listening out for the bread van.  He was on time this morning  but the rest of the ladies were slow off the mark.  He didn't have either the cheesy bread or the uncut loaf so I settled for a slices and came back and had toast and jam for breakfast.  I tidies the kitchen and cleared the rubbish and headed down for a bonfire taking the garden fork and the secateurs with me.  The fire went first time with one match which surprised me so now time to trim the oak which had several leaders coming from it and it now has one.  I'd like an oak tree down there not a bush.  I trimmed up the rose bush that's growing in the wrong place...I hadn't the energy or the heart to try to remove it and moved over to the shrubs in the gardens under the walnut and trimmed the arose and the potentilla which was looking pretty unruly.  Next job was to clear the weeds from the bottom garden beds but my heart was only half in it so I did half of the bed, the cold breeze got the better of me so I came in for a coffee.  

I made a quick cheese sandwich to go with the coffee and then headed out to get the lawnmower going for the first time this year.  It was very reluctant to fire but I persevered and eventually it sprung to life and then died and after a few gentle prayers to the heavens and a few more pulls at the throttle we had lift off.  The clover started to get very tall and the clumps of grass that took me ages to cut through last year with the strimmer had started to take hold so I'd learnt my lesson from last year.  It has been pretty dry and the wind has taken away the moisture so I made hay while the sun shone...the top third of the grass has been gut and according to the weather forecast, next week is going to be sunny so the rest will be done.  I think it might be down for an oil change, a good clean underneath and the cutting blade could probably do with sharpening...I might ask my painter to do it for me.

So in desperation I contacted my student to see if she would fill out the forms for me to take to SUT tomorrow to get that off my brain.  I arranged to go round to the house at more or less six and it only took about half an hour to do and so I know what I'm doing tomorrow and my shopping list is ready.  I got up to leave and there was a quickness to everyone and suddenly I was told to sit back down and bean soup appeared along with bread, home made yogurt, pickles and grated carrot.  No excuses were accepted.  I stayed until nine fifteen, we've booked a trip to Assenovgrad for a look at the bridal shops and mother of the bride outfits for the sister's wedding in September.  I thought it was a little early but they seem to think that the new season stuff is just about to start flowing in.  I said I'd check out Mania for my outfit...

So Kardjali for documents tomorrow , I want a eighty litres of potting compost to throw around a bit and I need to pay my telephone bills before the sword of Damocles falls.  LN....Achieved a lot and a relaxing evening with the family....LN