Tuesday 28th April

Very frustrating evening on the internet.  I wanted to arrange a delivery of flowers to a very good friend for her birthday.  The company I chose allowed me to register with only my name and email but didn't ask for any more details.  As I progressed with the order I got the message to go back to registration and enter my address but there didn't seem a field to enter the information I required so I tried again.  I selected the flowers, ordered a card and made the changes to it and even managed to download a code so that I didn't have to pay for it...and then again it wanted my address.  I entered the address I wanted the company to send the flowers too and it put my name address as the delivery address.  Eventually I worked it out...The address was entered by postcode and so I had to use my old UK postcode to add my address, when it came to telephone number I tried my Bulgarian number and was told it wasn't recognised so put my old UK number in.  The recipients details went in OK and so to checkout and this was negotiated fairly easily and my order was placed.  Fingers crossed they will be delivered tomorrow.

Normal morning start and settled for toast for breakfast, tidied the kitchen, I dressed for the garden only it was impossible to see the bottom of it, there was a heck of a mist which took ages to burn off.  Before I headed out to find something to do I decided to pay both telephone bills and that was another issue.  I signed in to the house phone account and wasn't able to view the reason my bill was high and decided to pay it anyway and then question it over the phone with an operator.  One payment method asked me to sign in to my account which I tried to do and I received a message to say that my email wasn't recognised and since they'd contacted me on it....and the reason they gave was that I didn't have an account and had paid without registering.  Doh....and then I attempted to pay the second on the phone but this entailed getting a one only pass code from my bank and that wiped out the detail on the phone so I went to the site on the internet and got a new code to authorise the transaction.  Nothing is simple.

And now to start what I wanted to do....I moved the pots from the conservatory to the terrace so they could get some fresh air, trimmed back the hypericom in the little bed between garden between the terraces and put some of it in water to take some cuttings, the village ladies are always asking for them.  By now it was really hot outside so my next task was to put another layer of wood preservative on the table and a good layer on the wooden bench that holds the outside sink so that it all looks refreshed out there.  I decided to take my Sudoku book out and settle on the bench but lazing in the sun, my eyes were heading southwards and the weather was closing in, the thunder was hovering around and there were a few spots of rain.   I settled on the sofa and had an hour's kip and woke up cold, I toyed with lighting the fire but it was twenty four degrees in the house so it was another sweater on instead. Not sure about supper, I've picked all day so not really hungry at the moment...maybe later.  LN...Early night for me....LN

Wednesday 29th April

What a day of lethargy....I could have done so many things and ended up doing very little.  Seven start and the sun beat me to it...it was up and shining and looked to be a good day.  I went back to bed with my coffee, played silly games and decided to give Piers Morgan a chance and that lasted all of two minutes before I closed down the Kindle.  I headed tor the kitchen and cooked bacon and fried egg for breakfast, sat in the stairwell in the sun, was tempted with toast to follow but I didn't succumb.  I washed up the dishes and that was me finished on kitchen duties.

Up to the bathroom and washed and dressed for the garden but that was a waste of time.  I did venture out there and watered the pot plants, moved a  few more from the conservatory to the terrace and sprinkled some special feeder crystals round them.  They were give to me by the market garden in Haskovo last year and seem to do the trick.  I sat out on the terrace and enjoyed the sun and watched the birds flitting around.  The martins have finished rebuilding the nest under the eaves and it shouldn't be long before they're working their little socks off feeding the little ones.

I didn't phone my friend that I'd sent the flowers until I knew they'd been accepted as I was tracking the delivery on the internet.  I'd sent a card with the delivery but I was only able to change the text on front to personalise it and didn't find the space to put a message inside and sign it.  The delivery was at four twenty and I phoned and wished her happy birthday and sang it to her.  She'd just opened the box and read the card and didn't have a clue where they'd come from until I asked her how the flowers were looking and at that point the penny dropped.  She told me that they'd only just arrived and I said that I knew since I'd been tracking them and she thought that was really clever.  She's not really up with technology even though I keep pushing her in that direction and she's promised me that she will...we'll see.  I think she has a younger relative to help her out.

Tomorrow I promise myself I'll be more productive....I think the Fitbit has been shedding tears today.  LN....Now to find some suppers....LN

Thursday 30th April

So the best laid plans of mouse, men and me today.  It looked promising this morning and the lawn mower was going to come into play once the overnight rain/dew had burnt off.  The plans were made and then nature intervened.

Usual morning with coffee and back to bed, bacon and egg for breakfast and didn't even bother to wash up the dishes I went out to assess the options.  I collected a few tools including the electric hedge trimmer and started on the topiary which my neighbours really laugh at...an English garden.  I like it and it adds form to the garden so I did the biggies and the row of small ones and got rid of some of the wild rose branches that sprout up in the middle of things that you're trying to control.  I cleared some of the weeds from the bed nearest the big walnut and as my topiary moved up the short wall I ended up at the mulberry and that's where I concentrated the effort.  It was such hard work, the weeds have really taken hold but I worked at it and threw the weeds over the wall for the animals which haven't appeared today.  I uncovered another small forsythia, removed the weeds from the base of the shrubs and as I continued I noticed that the clouds were coming over.  They were very black over towards Smolyan and that wind was getting up.  When the thunder started I put the toys away and moved anything that would be blown about to a place of safety and waited for it to throw it down...which it didn't.  It did rain but not really enough to soak everything through so I might be able to do the grass tomorrow.

I came in at two, settled down on the sofa and played a few games and caught up on emails, lit the fire for comfort and headed for the packet of chocolates...again for comfort...blame the virus and being tied to house and home.  I put a chicken leg in the oven for tonight's supper and at the moment nothing else with it...probably chippies, it's been a while since I cooked any.  Another month gone and what a strange one it's been.  I hear that Kardjali is now open for bus traffic from Sofia and of course the other way....I'm not sure if it's open for car traffic from the outlying districts...I need another Lidl trip for things I can't get in Djebel.  LN....Time to check on the chicken....LN