Wednesday 1st April

So this year what was different?  No practical jokes in the newspapers or on the television.  I suppose that this virus couldn't be beaten...what a joke this is.  I woke at seven and struggled to get out at seven thirty.  For some reason I looked at the time on the weather station clock and it appears to have stuck on the old time so I spent around half an hour trying to reset it.  It's tied to the automatic clock in Germany and didn't want to go on the extra hour beyond and it eventually reset itself at lunchtime...I suppose it logged in to the Germany efficiency.  

So back to this morning...coffee, beans on toast since there were no eggs, I lit the fire, it was slow getting off the mark but once it got going it's been good all day.  When I noticed that the outside thermometer was registering only half a degree on the plus I thought that like the clock, it had gone wrong but checking on the internet, it was OK and then it started to ...snow.  One day out with the lawnmower and then two days later potentially to be out with the snow plough...it didn't come to that but it might overnight.  Half a can of tomatoes went into the slow cooker with the half can of beans from this morning and that was going to be the thick soup for tonight.  

A very impressive day in the garden.  I looked up from the desk and saw the largest buzzard in the garden.  I grabbed camera, it changed position in the garden and flew up to the tree and then stopped on the grass in front of the long wall and three magpies were trying to take food from it.  I took out the Canon and as I headed out to my bedroom balcony I obviously disturbed it and off it went on to the hillside.  I did managed to get a few shots of it and I was just surprised to see it.  I've also had blackbirds, thrushes and lots of sparrows around the garden today.  It must be that I'd cut the grass making it easier to get at the insects.

It's been a day for catching up on FB friends on Messenger...I suppose everyone just has more time.  I've finished the soup served with crusty bread and buttered toast, looked round for biscuits to finish on but they seem is short supply.  LN......I'll have to go shopping.....LN

Thursday 2nd April

I'd like to say that it was a deliberate mistake that I labelled yesterday up as 'Wednesday' but it wasn't.  Every day seems the same, I am tired of the coverage of the virus on the television and it's time they concentrated on the numbers released to convalesce at home.  Why the comparison with Germany and the number of test carried out when a spokesperson from Germany admitted that the numbers were only estimated.  

The snow wasn't a complete surprise this morning but the volume was.  I expected a light covering but it was about ten centimeters and it was still coming down, the terraces were covered and so was the main road so my lack of biscuits and goodies would have to wait for another day.  Coffee, biscuits, lit the fire, opened the curtains in the lounge and went back to bed with the Kindle.  I read for a while, did a few games on Soda Crush and after a while got washed and dressed and went down to the kitchen and made cheesy toast.  I also made a pork curry out of the meat taken from the freezer yesterday and that went into the big slow cooker and I emptied the contents from the little slow cooker out for the cats or birds....first come first served.   The magpies were very busy but not very rich pickings, I had no spare bread for the bird table and I'm out of bird seed...Is your journey really necessary?  Yes officer....

The rest of the day has been pretty lazy.  I posted a could of pictures on FB and watched the response.  I know the snow looks pretty but in April...I don't really expect it especially after I'd serviced the lawn mower and given half the grass its spring haircut.  I couldn't settle to read but checking up on the weather for tomorrow I decided to get another load of logs into the conservatory and clear off the terraces, the drive so that I can get the car out if necessary and the drive to the road.  The snow plough had been out and left its deposit between the road and my gate, there were a few footprints in the snow that were definitely not mine so I'm guessing that my painter popped round to check if all was well but I never saw him.  He obviously didn't knock hard enough.  The snow was very slushy so I don't think it's going to be around for long.  Supper time...pork curry and rice and time it was served.  LN....I'm hungry...long time from cheesy triangles and toast.....LN

Friday 3rd April

I had my late bath last night, washed and dried my hair and was in bed by ten thirty.  Bit of a mistake really, I was awake at six and raring to go...but no where to go.  Freezing fog covered the hillside and the terraces had a super sheen to them...no going out there in a hurry...it would have been lethal.  Back to bed with a coffee after rescuing the fire which took quite some time....it just didn't want to go.  Opened the curtains, not that there was a lot to see and read for about an hour.  Up to the bathroom and dressed ready to go to Djebel for a few items of shopping.  I came down to the kitchen and used up the last two slices of toast, buttered it and wrote my shopping list and thought I'd leave it until later to set off and then I decided that it was Friday, market day and for me...I changed my mind and I'll go in the morning when there are fewer people around.  

Having made the decision I settled on the sofa and carried on with my book and it has been another lazy old day.  My Fitbit wanted feeding so I walked the garden, it was a beautiful day but the air was cold so I didn't stay out for long.  I did log three hundred steps though.  I heard the phone go and there was a message from my land line phone company to remind me that I had an outstanding bill and so I used their direct line and tried to pay it over the phone.  What a mistake that was...I didn't seem to be able to get through to the payment line and I gave up in frustration...'and thank you for your call'...pahhhh.  I moved on to the computer and on to the website and for some reason the payment system wanted a special number from my invoice to confirm who I was and since I never receive an invoice and make my payments in the shop, my payment was not accepted.  Not to be put off...I went on to on-line help and my first question was to confirm that the person on the end of the keyboard was able to communicate in English and after that it went like a dream....outstanding bill paid and I gave positive feedback in the email I received.  I did get a phone call from my student's mother and she confirmed that I did the right thing by not going in to Djebel.  People were out and about, not distanced from other people, few with masks and the police ere circulating and reminding people of what they should be doing.  I have the feeling that BG is on a time bomb.

Afternoon, 'book at bedtime' and I had my siesta making up for my early start.  There's lots I could be doing but I'm feeling fairly lethargic.  A few games of Soda Crush and I was amazed to see that they have changed the settings to extra free time online which is great but makes it fairly addictive.  Fire had gone down and so needed shaking into life again...I had my supper and only washing up to do and I've made another decision...it's a job for tomorrow.  LN.....Soon be time for bed said Zebedee....LN

Saturday 4th April

Six start and in my book that was to early for a Saturday, not that you can really distinguish one day from the next with no real 'days out' so I went turned over and it was eight thirty at the second awakening.  Much better.  Coffee and I sat on the chair in the stairwell and watched the sparrows flitting around between the bushes in the garden, trying desperately to see if they could make a nest in the old martins nest under the eaves of the little house but I think there was too much effort involved.  It really wasn't the day for it.  There was lots of water around, it had rained all night, the stream was running well and the yard was a little waterlogged...the drain wanted sorting.

Washed, dressed and didn't bother with breakfast and by ten I was ready to go into Djebel along with my shopping list.  I'd been told that to go into Kardjali needed documentation in triplicate to get through the police road blocks and that wasn't going to happen...local was OK for me.  In fact some of the prices are cheaper...Gold Blend is less than in Kaufland...still expensive but well worth it.  So I moved the car outside onto the road, used my trusty scraper to remove the leaves from the drain and from the outside pipe that leads to the lane.  The ground is sodden so it's going to take a while to drain away.  There were no police on the road so my first stop was my student's mum's shop and it was only to pop my head in and say hello and all at a safe distance.  I'd put a roll neck sweater on so that I could cover my mouth and nose in the absence of a face mask so I went into the chemist next door to the shop and bought one...and was only allowed one.  I carried on to the supermarket with mask in place, picked up some of the things from the list and put them into the car.  It was very quiet in there and everyone was trying to keep their distance and in a small shop it's difficult but we all did out best.  I went back to my student's mum's shop remembering that I needed firelighters and bought four packets...I think the wood burner will be going for a little while yet.  I carried on to the supermarket at the bottom of the town, filled up with cheese biscuits and the like and a giant pack of chocolate caramels and joked that the diet comes later.

Back home and unpacked the shopping and it was still only eleven thirty.  I lit the fire, the temperature in the house only went up two degrees but it really does feel so much different.  I watched Great British Menu on the Chuwi but the blasted thing kept freezing and I got sick of reloading so I went back to playing games.  Another load of logs in and my Fitbit suggested that I take it for a walk and I resisted the urge to throw it in the garden and only swore at it....Made me feel better.  There's time for exercise when the sun shines and the grass wants mowing.

Supper is in, chicken wings and roasted veg and I haven't had that for a while.  I've also put an apple stuffed with sultanas, currents, brown sugar and butter in for desert...and why not.  I'm boosting my immune system with decent food.  Nothing good on the TV tonight....the virus has put an end to live audiences. but I did manage to catch the program of the celebrity pilgrims march through Bulgaria.  There were things in Bulgaria that I didn't know about and it will be worth going to visit next time I's in Sofia and in the Rila mountins.  I'm surprised they didn't visit the Rila Monastery, I think it's well worth a mention.  LN...Supper smells like it needs attention..LN

Sunday 5th April

Silly night, I woke up at four, couldn't get back off to sleep, put another log on the fire, decided to read and play games and then I went really sleepy but it was a false message from the brain. I moved on to the sofa and went back to my book but my heart wasn't really in it.  We've all been there, reading pages with the eyes but not muck being committed to memory so I put the book down.  I went for my second cup of coffee and at eight made scrambled eggs on toast  Coffee at six and I went really sleepy again but it was a false message.  As for the weather...it's been horrible all day, gale force winds, drenching rain, things blowing all over the garden and some very sad cows in Haciber's paddock. I heard a crash and a tinkling of glass and looked out of the lounge window to find a jam jar turned over with some oleander cuttings in it and the bird table is now horizontal and leaning against the little terrace lawn.  I haven't put it up again...it would only blow over..that wind is gusting.

At eleven I decided to put the remains of the chicken wings into the slow cooker with the contents of a tin of sweetcorn and make soup for tonight.  I turned the slow cooker on with water in it, added the rest and thought that that was me sorted for tonight.  Wrong...the electricity went off and it's been on and off all day.  I cleared the top of the little wood burner in the kitchen, emptied the ash tray and took one of the half burnt logs from the big wood burner and got the little one going.  It's a good standby....I wasn't sure how long the power would be off.  Fortunately the second log in the biggie hadn't really got started so I left it in the burner and concentrated on getting the other one going well....and then the power came on again.  I stirred the log in the big burner and got it going again and crossed my fingers.

It went off again twice but I managed to finish the soup and as I started my update it went off again.  The little burner is going well, the big one I'm letting go out...it the power goes off overnight, the UPS on the pump will only last for a couple of hours...not enough.  We appear to be back to winter troubles...roll on summer.  LN....Early night for me....LN

Monday 6th April

So seven thirty start this morning and again last night we still had the electricity on and off so the fire was very low, I was in bed quite early with the Kindle and hoping that the battery held up.  I did manage to watch the excavators of the Egyptian tombs...very interesting.  Lovely singing video from my 'adoptive's' little one...specially for 'Nigh-Nigh'...what a poppet.

The wind had rattled around all night, no real damage done and at least it wasn't raining.  It was very cold though and with the electricity still up and down like a bride's nightie, I wasn't even risking lighting the big wood burner so it was on with an extra padded shirt.  I lit the small wood burner since that doesn't rely on the electricity and it raised the temperature in the kitchen each time I dipped into the chocolate caramel sweet bag.  I did manage poached eggs on toast for a decent start to the day but I think out of boredom, a lot of people eating stuff that they wouldn't normally.  I shan't be alone on that diet.  

The sun tried desperately hard to break through and despite the fact that the temperature in the stairwell was nineteen, the air felt cold especially when I sat down to read my book.  I got up to get more wood in from the wood store and then turned to the old wood stored in the little house to get some of suitable size for the little wood burner.  I'd avoided this supply during the winter....I saw something run and hid under it once and I'm not very brave, however today I was.  If it's warm tomorrow, which it's supposed to be when the wind drops, I intend moving all of it from there into the little house porch so that it's easier to get to.  It's time it was used up so that the work can start on the little house later in the year. A window has to come out in the 'A.M.' room and a door and window will replace it so that you can get out on to the little house terrace and I'll make use of that window in the porch.  All in the planning stage and watch this space.

Eventually I succumbed and lit the main wood burner at five o'clock and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have to start moving flaming logs into the little burner or outside.  Supper is likely to be anything I can work up the enthusiasm to prepare...the contents of the slow cooker is going out over the wall tomorrow.  LN...First of the finals in University Challenge....LN

Tuesday 7th April

Seven thirty start, sun shining but you've guessed it....nobody told the wind to drop even though the weather men forecast that it would cease....and it's been blowing a gale all day.  And it's still rattling around now.  I put on Transponder TV to see how Boris was and he looks to be holding his own so to say...fingers crossed that he pulls through.  I made a mushroom omelette for breakfast and added a cheese triangle and sat in the sun eating it and enjoying the morning, following FB and answering emails.  I'd not found it before but internet radio was recommended to me and it was a pleasure to put it on and it's been playing all day...it took me back quite a few years to travelling around the UK in the car before the radio was replaced by the CD stack player....another dimension.

I sort of drifted through the morning and suddenly realised that I'd reach three and done nothing except get in a load of the old logs from the little house and even though the fire wasn't necessary today, they're ready for when I start the little wood burner again.  The electricity seems to have settled down again, well I hope so, I've just lit the big wood burner, closed the doors and am settled in for the night.  I did have a spell of exercise this afternoon at around four....I got the lawn mower out, managed to strike life into it and despite the fact that there had been a lot of rain, I managed to do the rest of the main grass, the bank between the two gardens and around the cherry tree.  I put a hooded sweater on and my hat, left my glasses on and struggled....four thousand steps later on the Fitbit...I came in, switched the internet radio off and settled in to the evening.

Supper is in the oven.  I opened a tin of local corned 'type' beef last night and made sandwiches with brown sauce for supper with half of the can and the rest of it has gone into a pie dish, half a can of baked beans added and topped with sliced potatoes and covered with butter. I can smell it cooking so something is happening down in the kitchen.  I really should go and check and throw another log on the fire and get ready to spot what is supposed to be a super sized pink moon tonight.  Fingers crossed I manage to catch it.  LN...Rest of the grass tomorrow ...if the wind drops....LN

Wednesday 8th April

Lots of pictures of the moon last night on FB and mine was as good as any of them...and as for my supper....what a quick way to make a meal with very little intervention.  Corned beef in dish, baked beans in dish, two potatoes sliced in dish, a little butter over the top and into the oven with it.  One hour at one hindered and eighty degrees... worth remembering when I CBA in the kitchen....

Seven thirty start, the sun was out and it looked to be another sunny day...and it has been.  Unfortunately that wind kept me housebound for some of the day..the wind had an edge to it.  The rest of the beans on toast for breakfast, kitchen tidied and I had the urge to strip the bed down and get the sheets washed and of course it didn't stop there.  Three loads of washing done, the quilt cover and bottom sheet were draped over the stair banister to dry and because they're the winter fleece blanket ones, they were virtually dry already and were only finishing off in the sun.  They are so warm to get in to and create the perfect nest.  The rest of the washing went on the clothes airer in my upstairs bedroom and they're now ready to put away.

I ventured out and had a bonfire, trimmed back the ailing red oleander, dig up a very dead oleander from one of the pots and toyed with the idea of finishing off the rest of the grass.  The mood soon passed ...that wind was vicious and I reckoned the grass was still too wet to tackle it.  I'd walked on the patch that I did yesterday and it was squelchy under foot.  Walking up the garden I looked a very dead tree by the old toilet block in the garden and it was showing no signs of leaves at all, not even any buds so I grabbed it and gave it a tug and it moved.  So I got two hands to it, gave it an even bigger tug....and down it came, there were no roots on it and I'm surprised it hadn't come down in the wind.  Tomorrow's job will be to get the reciprocating saw out and cut it down to size for the wood burner....I don't know my own strength obviously.  

At one I came inside and grabbed a packet of cheesy biscuits, onto the sofa with a cup of coffee and the Kindle and yes, you've guessed it....I was out for a couple of hours.  I woke up a little cold despite the blanket I'd put over me so lit the fire using old wood and one great big chunk of new wood which is going very well now.  I made the bed up for tonight and found another pillow case upstairs that I'd forgotten about for the oversize feather pillow and am now thinking of supper.....

Still waiting for the moon to come up tonight....and hope it will be as good as last night.  Again nothing on the agenda for tomorrow...it appears for the news that we still have another three weeks of lock down so I shall have to go steady on the butter front or ask the local shop to get some in for me if they are shopping in Kardjali.   I was tempted to order another two tons of wood....the weather if it stays this way will dry it off enough to get it in and stacked and it will be ready for next winter...forward planning or just plain boredom.  LN.....Supper and fire attention time.....LN

Thursday 9th April

So after my catch-up sleep yesterday I was awake at five this morning and watched the sky go red, pink and then up it came.  There appeared to be no wind and I was keeping my fingers crossed for a productive day which started out well but then the inspiration was there but the petrol in the mower wasn't.  Now the question arises...is this a legitimate reason to go into Djebel or not?  I could merge it with a trip to the local supermarket...after all I'm out of chocolate caramels and that is an emergency.

The fire was still going at five but I didn't feed the brute...it looked as if it might be a very warm day and I left it.  I went back to bed and struck up the Kindle, checked emails and FB and then settled in to my book....King Alfred is having rather a bad time of it at the moment and taking on most of the tribes and Merlin is backing him...currently.  Washed and dressed and ready to face the day and I was making fried mushrooms on toast by eight o'clock and tidying the kitchen by eight thirty.  It was too early to be out so I took to the sofa again until the weather had warmed.  I headed out at ten and went to the wood store, filled up the log carrier and brought it into the conservatory and back to the wood store and out on to the terrace with the loppers and attacked the tree that I hand felled yesterday.  I took all of the side shoots from it and yes, there wasn't any life in it at all and I did the right thing in bringing it down.  I moved the trunk to the side of the grass intending to sort it later...and it's still waiting.

I struck up the lawn mower and started on the little house side of the grass and despite the fact that it was still damp underneath I was doing fairly well with it when I ran out of fuel.  I filled it up with what was left and didn't have enough to finish it all but by this time the wind had got up and it was cold.  I'd put on my hoodie and body warmer at the start of my gardening episode, shed the body warmer and realised my mistake so gave up, put my tools away and came inside.  The rest of the day has been reading, sleeping and watching TV and I'm hoping that it doesn't interfere with my sleep pattern.  I've just put the boiler on to have a bath tonight so that should help, not that I need to relax....there's nothing much to get heated up about and I've just lit the fire to raise the temperature in the house as it falls outside.  I shan't be going in to Djebel tomorrow, market day and the locals will be out and about and I don't want to run the gauntlet....I'll leave it until Saturday.  LN....Electric strimming tomorrow.....LN