Thursday 21st March[b][/b]

Straight through until seven thirty this morning and how good is that.  Coffee, no back to bed, sorted out the documentation that I needed to take today and I thought it was going to be 'in and put' in a flash.  How wrong can one be.  I filled up on muesli before i set off and that was the sum total before I managed to get a chocolate bar from Kaufland.

So armed with my documents I headed for SUT...the third floor of the law courts and only had one person in front of me and soon it was my turn to display my array of documents.  I sat down, she started and suddenly the lady was pointing to another declaration that I didn't have and kept repeat one phrase over and over but the volume did not help the understanding one little bit.  I eventually got a word in and asked her where I could get the form from and she didn't know.....so I left the office.  I headed to an office where I know a translator but she wasn't in so I asked the lady sitting at a computer where the other lady way.  She said she didn't know and looked at me oddly.No I knew that she knew who I was talking about and didn't understand her attitude but suddenly a car pulled up outside and a man who I believed to be her husband came in.  He asked how he could help, I explained the problem and she translated the word that the lady had assaulted my ears with as 'accountant'....and not having one I had alarm bells.  I thanked him and said that I'd come in to see his wife and he retorted...'ex-wife' so I said sorry and made a swift getaway.

I went back to the car park and went to what used to be my starting point.  I went to NAP and asked to speak to anyone who was able to speak some English and the lady that I spoke to had handled my documents before.  I explained that I hadn't had any joy with SUT and that I felt that system changes had meant that departments are not speaking to each other.  Clever lady...she found the form, printed off my details and sent me on my way...back to SUT....the queue was now four deep so I waited, waited and waited.  Eventually it was my turn, everything was in order, the computer inputs were made and she thanked me for my patience.  I told her I'd see her in another year's time.  

Kaufland, Billa for filter bags for Haciber, Lidl and half an hour with my student's mum in the shop and I'm knacked.  I arrived home at five thirty, shopping away, chicken wings and vegetables in the oven for supper, I didn't bother with a fire it's twenty one degrees in the house.  I've just finished supper, I think I'm going to linger in a hot back and then straight to bed...it's been a long old day.  Librarian is coming round tomorrow mid morning, we'll have lunch and I have to update her Kindle...give her some new stuff to go at.  LN.....My legal work for this year is complete.....LN

Friday 22nd March

What a performance last night!!  I mentioned I was going for a bath and that I felt extremely tired after my document day and I kept to my word.  Into the bath at ten and I promptly fell asleep and woke up at twelve.  I vaguely remember moving the water with my feet to circulate the remaining warm but eventually I woke up enough to put more water in so that I was warm when I got out of the bath.  It reminded me of when my mother used to bang on the bathroom door asking me if I was awake or not when I used to have a bath at home.  I've always done it and suppose always will but not recommended.  Because of the evening 'nod' I found that I wasn't ready for sleep and spent the next couple of hours playing Soda Crush on the Kindle eventually putting the light out at three this morning.

I was still awake by seven thirty and didn't bother with breakfast since I was out to lunch with the Librarian.  I sort of found myself in the garden putting mothballs down mole tunnels and moving hollyhocks that had taken root in the grass and transferring them to the long wall garden.  There was no sun when I went out and that wind was really cold so I didn't stay out there too long and the next task was to take the mats out of the conservatory, give it a sweep over and then wash the floor.  The morning was going well so I thought I'd take a break and check out  the internet and no joy...it was down again .  This week has been absolutely rubbish...just like a bride's nightie.

The Librarian arrived at about eleven thirty, we chewed over the fat for a while, I sorted out her Kindle, deleted books and added a new selection for her so I've given her Harry Bosch and Kay Scarpetta which should keep her busy.  We headed up to Djebel and had lunch at the soup kitchen, stopped off at the supermarket and I bought profiteroles and we had those as pudding when we got back.  I also managed to offload some of the wool I'd bought with great plans in mind and done nothing with.  I kept the thicker stuff and sent her off with four ply....too narrow for me to do anything with but I did have high aspirations at the time.

I made another string covered container with the rest of the heavy string I have and then decided to have a go at glass painting and went about it the wrong way.  I wanted to paint the very attractive Turkish tulips and should have printed off the photo first to use as a pattern.  Instead I painted what I thought it looked like on the glass jar and it looked nothing like and I found out that nail varnish remover works a treat and I'll have another go at it tomorrow.  The only another thing that's on the agenda is to finish the remainder of the lawn...weather permitting before it gets the upper hand.  Supper tonight was what I thought to be hot-dog  sausages but I heated them up in water, slapped four of them on to French stick but as I bit into the first one, there was no way those skins were meant to be eaten so I ended up squeezing out the filling onto the bread with tomato sauce and ii did the job.  I'm now working my way through a pack of local 'Smarties' that I was introduced to by Mrs S of D's little one but they don't taste the same since they're not pre-licked.  LN...Tomorrow is going to be a gentle day.....LN

Saturday 23rd March

So my morning coffee was taken out on the terrace but I did go in to get another sweater on.  That sun was deceptive again mainly due to that chill wind that seems to belt over the hillside.  Washing in it looked to be a good day for drying just so long as you attached the clothes securely otherwise you could be a few short at the end of the session.  I fried the sausages this morning in the hope that they would taste better but added bacon, fried bread and an egg into the pan just in case they didn't....and they didn't so they went over the hillside for anyone who could managed them but I did split the skins to make it easier for the wildlife.  I got the second load of washing out and removed the two containers of oven cleaner from the side shelving in the kitchen and tossed the idea of cleaning the cooker but it went by the way and the containers are still on the kitchen table...maybe tomorrow.

I had a bonfire, tidied up some of the trimmings from the shrubs and decided that the lawnmower was going to be taken for a walk.  I removed one of the wheels and cleaned underneath it, it was jam packed full of last year's grass.  I also checked the oil and topped that up and decided to use up last years petrol before I added more to the reservoir.  Now serviced and ready to go.  I would get to clean underneath when the petrol ran out whenever that happened otherwise you get fluids flying everywhere.  So little bed done and dusted by twelve thirty so I came in for a drink and five minutes but I was out there again in quicksticks and I was three quarters through the big house grass when the fuel ran out.  Now the fun could start.  I tipped it over and with an old screwdriver dug all the rubbish from underneath and there was a lot of stuff that I obviously didn't remove last year.  Ah well...new season.  I topped up the fuel and surprisingly there was almost enough to fill it up and as I started it again...there was an almighty puff of smoke, the oil had obviously worked its way into the engine while it was upside down but it still kept going.  I finished the rest of the grass and now I need to concentrate on the gardens,,,the weeds look more obvious now that the grass appears to be knocked into shape.

Had a conversation with my very good friend in Gibraltar and a holiday looks to be on the cards both ways...they could be coming here and I could be going there.  I love the Rock...after all I spent four years there in my early twenties and still fond of the place.  Not so many of the old ones still there, they've gone off to the great beyond some earlier than they should have done and I still have lots of memories.  I watched the gymnastics from Birmingham on Film on...and there seems to be new faces for the British team that I don't recognise.  Either they're resting or retired and I suppose I'll never bother to find out.,,,it's not a passion I just admire the physicality of it...such control and precision.

I lit the fire at five...it's not that it's cold in the house but just comforting...I've had two nights without it.  I'm undecided what's on the menu for tonight but rest assured it won't be sausages.  Seven my time, nothing fixed in stone for tomorrow but I might be round with the old engine oil on the wooden surrounds to the flower beds and I have to make a few more for the shrubs at the bottom of the garden.  It just allows me to mow and strim round them without damaging them and to keep the main shoots weed free.  Bit of woodwork, bit of painting, bit of gardening, bit of weeding.....that's my day sorted then.  LN....Time to throw a log on the fire...LN

Sunday 24th March

Lovely morning again and I started playing Soda Crush and wasted a couple of hours...well not wasted exactly. I think I let my subconscious make the moves and I knocked off about eleven games winning super pieces as I went.  The more you win, the longer you have.  Eventually I shut the Kindle down...I needed bread so had to get dressed to head down to the van.
So I waited and waited and he was really late....my ladies were champing at the bit so I waited until they'd been seen to before I placed my order.  Beautiful day again but a really cold wind.

Ham sandwiches for breakfast...it was sort of midway between breakfast and an early lunch and it did me through to this evening.  So I've been taking cuttings today of my bottle brush shrub and my pretty red wavy flowers from Greece.  The bottle brush looked like it had been slightly frosted and was very tall and thin.  Now it's short, shooting from the bottom and I have seven cuttings from it so fingers crossed.  The Greek one was in the same state so that's been trimmed back too and again I have about six cuttings even though i have three of the same plants growing in the garden...I'll find more spaces for the cuttings or my neighbours will benefit.  I tidied the little house, sorted out my seeds, took the electric strimmer apart, gave it a service and refilled the spool.  I tested it...and it works...result.

Had a visit this afternoon and we put the world to rights....He said that he didn't follow the barbecued lamb up to the restaurant last night since he's given up drink and realised it would be a temptation.  Off he went, I finished off the seed sorting, put my tools away and locked up the little house and workshop.  I came in and lit the fire...not necessary but 'nice to have' and in the freezer found some steak that I bought in Greece.  I thawed it out, sliced it in two because it was quite thick, fried off some onions and then fried the steak and an egg followed it into the pan.  Delicious...that will do until morning.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow apart from more of the same.  LN....Time to relax.....LN

Monday 25th March

Lovely moon last night and caught it while I was sitting at my desk pretty late on so I had to get the camera out and do what I do best.  It straight to bed after it....woke up at tow thirty and managed to get off again until six....and this time to watch the sun come up.  I do revolve around nature.

Breakfast was the rest of the steak only this time cold on a sandwich and it set me up until three this afternoon.  I pottered around in te garden for a while and then settled in to unscrew the glass door from the cooker, give it a good clean and then tackle the inside and the racks.  The cleaner that I'd bought that I thought would do a sterling job failed me and it needed quite a lot of elbow grease to get the job done but it's all back together now.  It's not perfect...I'll have another go at it when my heart's in it....it wasn't today.  

I got a couple of the outside furniture cushions out and sat watching the garden and the birds.  I'd taken a cup of coffee with me and half a pack of biscuits and ended up dunking the lot of them but then suddenly the wind got up so I came in.  I also set about taking off the protective cover from the door to the little house from the raised terrace.  The builders had left it on, I'd ignored it but now I was beginning to notice it and a little each and every day should finish it by the end of next year.  There's got to be something that removes it when it's old but it's just finding the right product.

So toys away quite early on and everything locked up.  I lit the fire around four thirty...I was cold and it's ticking away quite nicely.  I'd forgotten to take any pickies today so only have the one of the moon last night but it is worth posting.  More pottering tomorrow ...I'm feeling a hermit phase coming on....shrubs, cutting and seedlings normally get me out of it.  LN....Just takes a little time.....LN

Tuesday 26th March

Six start and the sun was up...beat me to it this morning.  It looked like being another beautiful day and it was until around lunch time.  Toast and Marmite for breakfast sitting out on the terrace and I hadn't even bothered putting on my hoodie....it seemed very Mediterranean and not spring at all.  So this morning's task should I choose to accept it was to clean the battery operated strimmer that I should have cleaned before I put it away for the winter.  I firstly checked it with one of the rechargeable batteries and with the first one, no life was trickled into it.  I replaced it with the second battery and this time there was life but not as we know it....it struggled.  I removed the battery, removed the plate that holds the cutting blade taking care to put the screw somewhere safely and remembering that it goes the opposite way to a normal screw so not much chance of finding a replacement.  The guard was the next thing to come off and that went straight into a bowl of water to soften the grass residue.  Everything cleaned, I oiled the spindle and put it back together again, tried it with the battery and now it was sounding as it did out of the box.

Not I really put it to the test...I cleared the garden edges of the little house terrace and followed on down the long wall and it now looks so much better.  It's the area that the mower doesn't do comfortably...a little stony and raised tree roots.  I went round the wooden little garden surrounds, moved to the front gate and did under the wall at the front of the house and around the downstairs bedroom grave garden as I call it.  And then the battery expired so I put it on charge and cleaned the machine again.  

Lunch called at one , tuna mayo and very little happened after that this afternoon.  I got a load of logs in, settle don the sofa with the Kindle, got my head down for an hour or so, the temperature outside dropped, windows and doors were open and I woke up cold.  Quick trip round the house shutting windows, fire lit, cleared up outside and locked up and soon raised the temperature in the house.  It's supposed to rain tonight, dull tomorrow so it's back to sweaters and the vest...and I thought that summer had arrived early.  Not good news for my friend in Latvia though....she planted up seeds...and they've just had another snowfall and the locals are blaming her...

House pursuits tomorrow .  I'd like to sort out some new curtains for the downstairs bedroom and make it more guest friendly.  I might have to make a visit to the second hand furniture warehouse just to see what's on offer that might interest me or I might try my hand at glass painting and this time using the picture of what I'm trying to recreate.  LN...Tomorrow is full of possibilities....LN

Wednesday 27th March

Reasonable night's sleep and found out that it had rained overnight.  The terraces were drying up by the time that I went out to start my day.  It was a pretty slow start for me...I was watching Piers Morgan and I reserve judgement on the man and he does talk over people but he does say what the normal ones of us thing about Brexit...let's get it over with and leave.  Most people are sick of it now...so much ill feeling over something we have negotiators that are supposed to be doing something about.  I think that in constituencies where they voted to leave and the member of Parliament is not supporting the decision, they should be voted out.  Just my thinking.

Toast and strawberry jam for breakfast with my third cup of coffee, a little more time on the sofa with Kindle and trawled my huge gardening book to find out when the best time is to cut back the oleander that's not looking too good after the winter.  It said spring is the best time so I told it I was going to cut it back so that it could should down it's branches.  I hope it was listening...it's had a very big haircut and now the trimmings are sitting in a bucket of water and I'll see if there are any cutting from it tomorrow.  I set about tidying the little bed by the steps down to the garden.  I planted low Michaelmas daisies and they're thugs.  Three quarters of them are now along the big wall where it's been a dumping ground so let's see how well they do there between the shrubs.  I've cleaned round the buddleia at the bottom of the garden and tomorrow I'm making wooden surrounds.  It's been on my list but I've not got round to it yet.  

Brilliant day in the garden for woodpeckers, morning and night.  I'd just line up a near perfect shot tonight and suddenly it took flight and Haciber was in the garden shouting for me to go to the door.  I legged it down the stairs and she presented me with a jar of some syrup, I asked her if it was strawberry or pine tip and she said she didn't know.  I thing she sorts through what she's got in the store cupboard and I get the ones that she's got the most of.

In at five thirty, toys away and all locked up.  I lit the fire...it's been a chill old day and I need the warmth.  Supper of chicken wings and roasted vegetables for tonight....I missed out on lunch today.  More of the same in the garden tomorrow weather permitting and I'm hoping it's warmer. Long wall on the agenda tomorrow and more strimming.  LN...Busy time in the garden....LN

Thursday 28th March

Silly night....I woke up at four and couldn't get back off again.  Got my head down at six and woke up at seven and washed and dressed by seven thirty.  It was a dull old day. cp;d and damp and that wind was blowing over the hillside.  I tidied out the fridge and threw away some of the things that had been lurking there...over the wall it went.  I don't like feeding cats and the likes in the garden.  

Poached eggs on toast for breakfast, kitchen tidied and everything put away and ran the washing machine with the dish cloths in at a high temperature and dried them in the conservatory.  I did mange to get out to the garden for a couple of hours planting up the nasturtium seeds and moving some of the self sets and putting them where I wanted them not where they'd decided to grow.  The sun eventually came out but that wind was really cold and it drove me inside so it was tools away, the unplanted seeds back into the conservatory for another day.  I looked at the sunflowers and it's time they were out there but it's supposed to go down to minus two tonight so perhaps it's better they stay where they are for the time being.

It's been a sofa afternoon with the Kindle and I lit the fire by five this afternoon.  Not many birds about today.  I did see the tits taking nesting material into the log by the garage and fingers crossed that they don't get frightened off.  I think I'm heading to Kardjali tomorrow and head to the second hand furniture shop just to check out what they have that might be suitable for the downstairs bedroom.   LN....Time to settle into the evening.....LN

Friday 29th March

Sun was up already again this morning....six fifteen start.....roll on springing forward.  I was still in bed at seven thirty with my coffee and then a sudden burst got me  washed and dressed and ready for action at eight.  As it turned out there wasn't much action.  Lovely as it was the wind was gusting cruel, throwing everything around the terraces and there was no way I was out there with my trusty garden implements...I made my mind up fairly early on.

Toast and cheese spread this morning which made a change.  I went out and secured everything that was moving around the terrace and putting them against the back terrace wall of the little house where it seemed to be sheltered....and it seemed to have worked.  I filled up the log carrier leaving it in the workshop thinking that I had enough in the house to last.  As a precaution I went out and dragged it into the porch but also took some of the old logs and put them in a plastic bucket.  I'm getting rid of the old stuff.

I haven't a lot to report...not much happened in my camp today.  I watched the birds trying hard to fly into the wind...they didn't seem to want the easy option and there wasn't much out at all.  Such a shame...the sun was beautiful but there was no enjoying it.  Fish fingers and chippies for supper and the washing up can wait until tomorrow morning.  LN....I need something sweet to finish on.....LN