Sunday 10th October

This is going to be brief...the internet has had a life of its own and it didn't involve me much in its journey.  It's up for now and I'm hoping it stays that way. at least until the Strictly results have been announced.

Horrible rainy day again, now we have mist and I can hardly see the bottom of the garden.  I managed to find the black cat around its lunchtime and took its brunch to the big tree halfway down the long wall and it seemed to eat it without any interruptions from the other roamers.  As I approach it gives out a strange meow and licks its mouth anticipating what it's about to have...and today it was chicken.  Again I spent time on a call to my bank and left them with a quandary.  The card I'd used yesterday had been refused today for my ancestry annual payment and they couldn't work out the reason why.  She came back initially saying that the card had been reported lost or stolen and I asked her to recheck and then it changed to the fact that I lived in Bulgaria and on the other paperwork I'd said that I was in the UK but a payment is a payment.  I originally thought about phoning the company but there opening hours are Monday to Friday...what sort of company offers support on weekdays only!!  I'll have to phone them in the morning.  I went back to sorting out winter and summer clothes and I've finished it.  The hanging rail is out of the guest room and down to my winter bedroom and the winter clothes hanging ready for use.  I've still got a lot of sorting to do but at least I've dug into the corners and know now what has to go to a new home.

So far so good and I want to get this posted quickly just in case it changes its mind again.  LN....Fire going well, boiler on, my evening is sorted...eye test tomorrow......LN

Monday 11th October

Seven thirty start and I really enjoyed my bath last night and soaked away the stress of the day.  The internet did go off again last night just before the results show of Strictly and stayed off for the rest of the night.  It was still off this morning so I phoned the company to see if anyone else was experiencing problem and the girl said not and she told me that she 'send someone out' and thy arrived around one hour later.  My modem was attached to his computer and he diagnosed that the problem lay with the dish on the side of the house. number two engineer was ordered to the balcony.  With one leg over the other side of the balcony rail he removed the core of the dish, said he thought it was damp because we've had so much rain but shook it and it rattled.  They had the new part to hand, inserted it and said that if I gave it ten minutes, all would be back to normal and off they went.  I gave it ten minutes...and it was.

A lot of the rest of the day was taken up with the issue with the subscription that I'm trying to renew and still no joy after time on to the bank and on to the company concerned.  We've now got into the email connection which is proving better.  At least I think I'm talking to a person, we're on first name terms already and we're working through the problem together.  Tomorrow it should come to a conclusion...hopefully.

So into the Nipper and off to Kardjali for my eye-test.  I sat in the waiting room, called into the surgery and my eyes haven't deteriorated over the last two years so no need for new glasses.  He did mention that there is a hint of a cataract but since he is the surgeon at the hospital, he would be doing the surgery and has said that there's no need to panic at the moment.  I mentioned that I wanted varifocals this time, I was taken to the cabinet to choose my frame and didn't like any of them.  The assistant came over, I asked how much they would cost and he said that they would be five hundred leva and I swallowed hard.  He countered it with they do make them for three hundred but that they're not really worth having.  I made a quick decision, I doubled up the order on the ones that I wear at the moment, he ordered the frames, they arrive tomorrow and he'll sort the lenses out later in the day and will phone me when I can collect.  Two pairs of glasses, eighty leva and free drops to make my eyes more comfortable.  

Kaufland and bought two shelving units for the back bedroom/sewing room, Lidl for a few items for me and Avatar, Djebel for some firelighters and back home, spotting one of my sheep farmers walking home so I stopped and gave him a lift which he was very grateful for.  A mile is a long way when you've been at it all day.  Goods over to Avatar, my shopping unpacked and put away, four cheese pizza cooked and eaten and now.....relax.  Tyre change tomorrow so at the garage for around ten and then a mission of mercy helping out on a transport issue.  LN.....At least three out of the four things outstanding have been sorted.....LN

Tuesday 12th October

So the mother of all thunderstorms during the night that blended beautifully into my dream until I realised it wasn't any part of the dream.  The rain was lashing on the windows, the full thrust of the storm came through at around four thirty and at six the lightening was going strong over Greece.  I was up out of bed by seven, had a shower and washed my hair, put a load of washing the machine, dried my hair, got dressed for the day and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.  I found a cheese-filo pastry thingy that I bought yesterday from Kaufland so I warmed up half of it in the frying pan on the cooker, ate half of it and put the rest out for the cat and I think that the birds had most of it before the cat got to it.

I was in the Nipper for nine thirty and heading for the garage to get my winter tyres on as per regulations here.  My companion for the day arrived just after I did, my car was in and out in quicksticks and his was in for a much longer resuscitation programme...and the parts at that point hadn't arrived.  I suggested that we went to Momchilgrad since it was market day and the suggestion was accepted..   we were just filling in the four hours that it would take to get his car up and running.  We parked up in the new car-park by the council offices, walked through the park and though it was damp and dull, at this point it wasn't raining.  We headed for the market, I remembered that there was an upholsterer that I needed to find out more about so we went in, I had a conversation with them and saw some of the work they had done and the small sofa from the winter lounge and the chair is on the list for transportation to Momchilgrad.  We were both impressed with their work.  The sofa and chair were both freebies so any cost is just an investment.  I stopped to ask the price of some underwear and was told eighteen leva so I guess he realised that we were English so I told him in Bulgarian that it was too expensive and we moved on to the next.  At the next stall they were down to nine leva and so I bought two, will try them for size and go back for more next week.

We stopped for coffee once the rain started coming down, walked back to the car-park and I'd mentioned that his hair had really grown and we spotted a barber close to the car-park and since there was no rush on, we both went in and he was done.  Really good barber with a fantastic sense of humour and my phone rang and it was the opticians to tell me that my glasses were ready so we were filling a little more of the day.  I parked up near the shop and there'd been slight 'lost in translation' moment.  I'd asked for identical glasses to the last ones that I'd purchased but he thought that I wanted to use the same frames.  Eventually we both understood the requirement and that meant that I had to choose two more frames which I eventually did and this was going to take another thirty minutes to have them 'ready to go'.  I was feeling hungry so we found a 'cabinet' that sold rotisserie chicken so we had a quarter each, salad and chips, water and coke and the cost was only just over eight leva.  Back to the shop, glasses ready and a new bill that needed paying and then back to the garage and his wife was calling me to tell me as we pulled in.  I left and went to the shop for a chat, he stayed at the garage waiting for the wheels to be tracked and I got home just before six.  

I lit the fire, cream cheese and breadsticks while catching up with emails, finishing off with a chocolate pudding and there'll be no supper tonight...that was it.  Nothing on for tomorrow, I'm going to work on my own family chart getting it into Excel on my old computer and I was pleased to hear that because of the trouble I'm having renewing my subscription, my account has been reinstated until it's sorted.  LN     Time to put a log on.......to keep the fire going.......LN

Wednesday 13th October

Seven start this morning after a good night's sleep.  It was another grey morning, lots of clouds lingering over the mountains with the odd glimpse of brightness which soon faded.  It wasn't raining which was a plus but it was cold and damp, the rain over the last few days leaving water saturating the plants in pots that I'd put in containers that didn't let the water out.  Now I had to do it manually so it was on with the wellies.  I dressed for a day of gardening and that was the plan as long as the rain stayed off but it was a short lived thing.  I made a poached ham on toast for breakfast, gathered the household rubbish together and set off down the bottom of the garden to have a bonfire,  The container was very damp but the rubbish was dry to it soon burnt away and I was looking for other jobs that I could do.  I noticed that I had a self-set shrub, a winter flowering jasmine and it was putting out a flower which I thought was pretty early.  In front of it was a dip where I'd put a shrub which hadn't taken so using the garden fork I thought that with having so much rain it would be easy to dig out a lot of the shale and get some depth to the hole...and it was.  I'd found a home for one of my new shrubs that the leaves turn red in autumn and it would show up well against the stone wall.  I also found an old window frame in the little house and I used that to create a wooden surround for the hole and it means that it protects it when I use the strimmer and keeps some of the weeds at bay.  So it's in, I filled up the hole with the soil that the moles have left in heaps at the bottom of the garden and I didn't have to bother watering it in, nature did it for me.

I came in at one, lit the fire which was very slow to get started.  I think it was a very old log that was reluctant to be made into ash so I sent it to the back of the woodburner and the second one caught really quickly and eventually the reluctant one is no more.  I settled on the sofa and got my head down for a while, I'd had enough exercise for the day.  As inertia set in I watched nothing much on the television, spent a while trying to find the FB page for the upholsterer that I'd rediscovered in Momchilgrad but without a Bulgarian keyboard it was almost an impossible task.  Best course  of action is to take a photograph for an estimate of how much the work will cost to recover the winter sofa and I can do that any day since they're open six days a week. Much less frustrating but before I do I want to remove the cover that I made for it so they can see the original.

Chicken wings out of the freezer ready for tonight but as to yet they are still sitting on the worktop and haven't made it into the oven.  The problem is that I tend to get picky when I'm feeling cold so fill up on peanuts and rubbish food.  The mist has rolled in again, it's still raining and looks like it's set in for the night but at least there's no thunder and lightening.  Dentist tomorrow to have the stiches out.  LN.....Fire and kitchen activity required.......LN

Thursday 14th October

Silly early start, four thirty, I tried to go back to sleep but nothing happening so I played a few Sudoku and eventually went off about six thirty but only for forty five minutes.  I think I'm going to start closing the curtains, not that the light woke me up, dark, dismal, cold and raining.  Pretty normal for the last few days.  I got up and made a coffee, stayed in my PJ's and set about erecting my new metal shelving and opening the pack there were so many little bolts, brackets and I thought I'd bitten off more that I could chew and it was pretty slow going.  I did have the instruction but in Bulgarian and decided that I wouldn't do the screws up to tightly to start off to make sure that everything was in the right place,  

My attention was drawn to the yard and my Avatar was there so I went to let her in not that she ever comes in.  She handed me a pink plastic bag with two cheesy breads in and chocolate drinks so I handed her back the drinks, it's a local thing but not to my liking and went back to my shelf building,  I was doing OK, the screws were fiddly but I was getting there but at ten it was tools down, I had an appointment at the dentists for eleven to have the stitches out and it felt like they were half hanging out already.  I was in the chair for eleven and out of it for one minute past...a quick snip of the scissors, caught one of the loose ends with the tweezers and it was out.  I decided not to linger in Djebel or go to Kardjali, it was such a horrible day that my home was very tempting and I had work to do, the shelf wouldn't put itself up,  I did stop at the supermarket though and bought a super looking cauliflower obviously local grown, a pack of cheese, a few packs of biscuits, more eggs and a very large bag of Juicy sweets.  Total spend twenty four leva, around twelve pounds and back into the car and home.  The fire was out but it had been going most of the night so it felt very cosy inside.  I finished the shelving, tightened up the screws and now it's sitting in the downstairs bedroom and I'm trying to decide what to do with it.  

Computer this afternoon catching up on emails and FB and still trying to update my ancestry subscription.  I received a message from the company asking me to try it again because they thought they knew what was wrong, so I tried it and it failed.  I was asked to try it again, so I did and it failed again....and now I'm beginning to get a little angry...no one seems to be owning the problem.  I checked with my bank and the card is still OK and my bank advised me that despite the fact that I'm updating the card details, they're not being used.  Good news is that my subscription has been extended yet again, at this rate I might not even have to pay for the year!!

At four I washed the cauliflower, made the cheese sauce and grated enough for the topping, I'd already put chicken wings in and I was walking over the road with it for my Avatar at five thirty.  I didn't know the Bulgarian for cauliflower so I showed her the finished dish, she spotted the cheese so I explained that it was done in a cheese sauce with a topping and finished in the oven.  She took it straight into the lounge with the woodburner, she asked me to sit down but I told her that I wanted mine so I was off and it was delicious.  Nothing to do tomorrow, I might even put up the other shelving unit now that I've got the measure of how to do it.  The other job that I might turn my hand to is to take off the cover that I put on the sofa, take a photo and head into Momchilgrad and get that upholstery underway.  I should have taken a picture of the cauliflower cheese, I forgot and it's much too late now...licked clean.  LN......Log time and the washing up can wait until tomorrow......LN

Friday 15th October

Well not a bad night's sleep.....the first part at the computer at around ten until eleven thirty and the rest in bed until six forty five this morning.  I thought I was getting out of this habit and I really don't want to get back into it.  I stayed in bed with my coffee, it was pouring down with rain yet again, the hillsides were awash and all the containers that I emptied yesterday are full to the brim again so I'll sort it in the morning.  Black cat was around, the had some stale cheesy bread, the rest of the cauliflower cheese and some chicken wings and seemed to it all justice.  I settled for the cheese bread from yesterday with yet more coffee, washed and dressed with a warm sweater on and didn't bother lighting the fire until eleven.  

I had visitors about half past eleven and an invite to a painting private viewing next Wednesday in Kardjali.  It's an evening event so it is sure to be coupled with a meal in town.  Off they went around twelve, it was a fleeting visit to settle the debts from the garage the other day.  I think he was concerned that I'd sent the boys round....   Popped out on to the lounge terrace and spotted a honeysuckle flower on the bush near the terrace.  I though it was time that they'd finished flowering but I suppose the drought and the floods have confused it slightly.  I was going to pick it and bring it into the house but decided against it...it is pretty where it is.

The saga with the subscription update continues.  They've now decided that the card is going though OK but it's being stopped by the IP address for Bulgaria not been accepted which says to me that the system is rubbish. I'm getting very close to complaining to the payment system company who handles the subscription collections.  It really is very silly when they advertise as being 'world friendly'....for all your needs.  I've been asked to provide my IP address and we'll set a time for the transaction...and because of this I did some investigation on how IP addresses are allocated and they can change according to what you are doing.  Good luck with that then, it's only been a week since started this quest to pay a subscription.

Next job was to move my old computer from the sewing room to the table in the stairwell.  It has Excel running on it and I've managed to put my family chart on it and can now see the final records that I need to chase down.  There was a lot of scribbling on the original prototype so now I can check the records on the little computer and then update the records on a version of Excel that I understand.   It's also nearer the woodburner so when I come to sit doing nothing energetic except plonking down on a few keys, I'm in the warmest place and when the sun comes out...even warmer.  Apparently next week we're back to nineteen degrees and sunshine so the danger of me developing webbed feet seems to have temporarily come to a halt.

Supper was a simple affair of a chicken cutlet on two slices of bread with mayo....not gourmet but enough to satisfy a need.  Nothing on for tomorrow apart from emptying pots again, getting some wood in and keeping the home fires burning.  I reckon it might be another day of ancestry, it's very therapeutic and with my subscription extended for free while they sort out the issues...,,,it feels even better.  LN.....A little television and an early night.....LN

Saturday 16th October

So that promise of a day without rain just didn't happen. I woke at six thirty, the weather was dull as ditch water and I was very tempted to stay where I was and not face the day.  I shall add now that I've not even unlocked the back door today, not been out at all and yet found lots to do inside.  I was about to throw the ham out to the cat but put my nose to it and it was good to go...as breakfast for me...not for the cat.  I made more coffee, scrambled a couple of eggs, two slices of bread into the toaster and sat in the lounge eating it from my lap, the table in the stairwell was covered in ancestry papers that was the centre off attention as soon as I'd finished my breakfast. Washing up was done, washing in the machine and chugging away, no way of getting it outside though so I lit the fire so that the washing could go into the bathroom on the airer.

I settled at the table and cleared the space.  The folder that I'm filing in to I've already put the names and dates on the different sections so this was going to make my job really easy today...even though there was a lot to sort.  There was no rush, I was even sorting dates and trawling though notes that I'd made on lots of the documents and I sort of make friends with my old family all over again.  When I was originally researching it, I couldn't find my fourth or fifth great grandfather, there had been a mix up on dates registered especially on his birth date and his name had been mis-transposed from the original record.  It took about a year to get there but when I did...there was a fair level of elation.  As his children appeared and their children appeared, I've now around five hundred and sixty associated to this account.  

I've kept the fire going all day and perked it up around five  As the night fell the temperature dropped, I had a few hunger pains starting so hit the fruit and nuts, nibbled on some chicken wings from the other night and finished off with two choc-ices.  I wasn't in the mood for cooking and now there's no need. I've just checked the washing and it will all be put away tomorrow as long as I keep the home fires burning.  Strictly tonight and I just hope that the reception on internet tv is acceptable but at least I have internet.  This time last week is was on it's way out and I never did see the result program.  LN.....Time to change channels and chance my luck......LN.  And as a post script....it's chucking it down again.....

Sunday 19th October

Strictly was probably very good last night but the internet tv provider was on the stop start and I was very tempted to stop it all together but I persevered.  Close to midnight when it finished here so was soon tucked up under another quilt, I swapped them over yesterday from the guest room so hopefully no guests.  Had a brilliant sleep, awake at seven fifteen, coffee, played a few games and then settled in to clearing out the for sliding drawers in the bathroom taking out the summer stuff and putting in the winter,  I have more winter tights than the local leva shop so no need to buy any for the next ten years or so and no danger of out living them.  The towelling pyjamas have gone away, they take too long to dry anyway now the rain has come so now on to the fleece ones that dry so much quicker.  By now it was getting on for nine so I went downstairs and headed for the kitchen to make breakfast.  I sliced up a spicy sausage and fried it with an egg and the cat had the trimmings.  Washing up done, upstairs to get dressed, put the washing away and then down to the television and Netflix.  It was still pretty dull outside and the temperature had not gone up by much, too much water needs to evaporate or drain away.  

Eventually I made it outside, the sun was more out than in and I set about tidying the terrace and emptying the water from the containers.  I'd put on my workboots and needed them and first job was to have a bonfire and get rid of the ancestry stuff that I'd sorted yesterday.  When I was down there I found twelve broad bean seeds that had started to sprout so I picked them up and they're now planted in the 'once was' veg garden but is now slowly being taken over by shrubs.  All have to do now is to repair the cloche that I had, they don't mind cold but they hate mush when the snow comes.  Two more shrubs have gone into the bed, the rest of it has been dug over and the beetroot never did come to anything so I've left them where they are.  Spotted Green Goddess and Blue sun bathing within yards of each other and haven't seen any of them for a couple of weeks.  I thought that they would be digging holes but I suppose everyone wants a day off...it is Sunday.

Pottered in the little house, the wild bird seed is now in a couple of large plastic containers, I'm not sure if the plastic sack that it came in was damage in transit or beasties have been at it already.  It wont be vermin proof until the concrete floors have been laid and that depends on availability of a workforce...or when Bekir and Sally are free. I heard a commotion in the road so went to investigate and my three nearest neighbours were about to take a walk.  I'd got the camera with me so snapped them and then Beyser replaced her headscarf anticipating more photos and I really like how she ties her headscarf.  Avatar was trying to copy it and so I asked Beyser to do it for her and now this photo is heading to her son in Germany but in a private message....we're very particular where we post out pickies.

So everything locked up, I haven't lit the fire since it's eight o'clock now and I didn't come in until seven.  I think it's gong to be tuna mayo for supper since it's quick and easy to prepare,  That might be in a sandwich or with toast...decisions, decisions.  LN.....Strange sight....the moon is up.....LN

The little house is ready for the 'big move' of the rest of the pots but the weather is supposed to be good this week so I'll leave them where they are for now.  

Monday 18th October

So I managed the results final for Strictly, went in the bath at eleven or there about and emerged at roughly twelve thirty after managing to nod off but feeling exceptionally clean.  Soaked to perfection and it's at times like this that I'd got a larger tank instead of the eighty litres.  Next time.  It had been such a good day yesterday that I hadn't bothered to light the fire coming in from the garden just before seven but wishing that I had lit the fire.  Dried off and into fleece PJ's, under my double duvet, snuggled down and straight through until eight this morning.  Coffee, back to bed with the Kindle and now I realised that time was marching on, there wasn't anything I had to do but the sun was up and I felt invigorated to start something, so I made cheese on toast and sat at the table in the stairwell and watched a little morning television.

Washed and dressed and started around four jobs and kept going back to them to finish them.  I tidied off my desk yet again, took the potatoes stored in a net bag in the conservatory to take out the damaged ones and I threw them over the hillside.  The cats from the neighbourhood anticipate that it's food that you're throwing, it could be a brick but they still come back to check.  One sniff at the potatoes and they realised it wasn't food.  I found myself sorting more pots out on the terrace, washing up some of the bigger ones, went into the little house, moved a few things round and generally tidied the floor space up for getting the plants inside.  With this turn of weather though, it appears they'll be staying out for a little longer, I've been down to a sweatshirt today without a body warmer...it was hot out there.  I also ventured up to the second level in the little house, moved some metal bars so they no longer cover the hatch area the loft space and moved the insulation boards into another part of the roof.  I even started planning which work I could do like putting wood preservative on the roof timbers and adding the insulation ready for the plaster board.  They're jobs that builders could do in rough weather....it's super dry in there.

I came in around four and made tuna mayo and had it with toast, demolished two of the smaller choc ices and the rest of the crystallised ginger.  I lit the fire and after several attempts it's very reluctant to burn properly, some logs do and some just don't and this one is either very old put with two firelighters and lots of kindling....maybe this is the time.  Don't need supper, the toast and mayo will do me through until morning with fruit and nuts to top me up when I start getting peckish.

So tomorrow afternoon I have my first lesson of the year with my student's brother that I started coaching around eighteen months ago until Covid got in the way.  I now have to get back into practice finding texts that we can go though that still appear interesting for a almost eleven year old.  I find the best way to teach youngsters is to speak English so they start thinking in the language, just like my French teacher used too teach us and I still can speak it now.  His brother has done OK so one down and one to go.  

The saga with my ancestry company still continues and now they want to 'whitelist' my IP address so that the payment can go though.  Amazing I have no problems with anyone else and I shall be contacting the company that organises the payment on behalf of the ancestry lot and really go to town on them.  Watch this space.

Tuesday 19th October

So last night I missed University Challenge again...and yes you've guessed it I nodded off...in Just Connect, my favourite night of TV and I screwed it yet again.  Managed to wake up in time to get to bed at a reasonable hour.  Seven thirty start this morning and the rest of the day is worth recording for posterity.  Washed and dressed for the garden and pottering knowing that later I had my student for an English lesson and now to get back into the routine of preparing a lesson.  I made toast, went out to the garage and heard some banging coming from the corner of my Avatar's garden and she was trying to sort out the fence round her garden.  I went over to see if she wanted help, it hadn't fallen down and she was trying to put in a support so that she could tie the corner post to it.  She hadn't got wood so I offered her a concrete post that's been lingering in my garden for years, she came over with the wheelbarrow.  I managed to drag it from behind the little house to my main terrace, we put it on the wheelbarrow but to me it seemed unstable so I suggested that between us we could carry it nearer to the Nipper and we did.  By this time she was flagging so I managed to drag it across the road and into the field. together we put it on the wheelbarrow and I took it to the corner of the garden.  

I had to go home, I had to prepare for my student this afternoon and we agreed that we would do it tomorrow.  I got myself ready and at two I went out to the garden and noticed that she was out there and the post was standing so I went over again.  She'd mixed the cement, somehow managed to get the post up, put rocks round the bottom and as she dropped the cement into the hole I made sure that it was upright and we put more stone round it to keep it so until it's dried out.  I skipped off and left her to it....let's hope no cows get in the field and knock it over tonight.  

I drove to Djebel, parked up and had time with my student's mum before the lesson commenced.  The last lessons were not that great, he preferred playing games on his computer but now he is almost eleven and what a success it was.  He paid attention, we went through the text several times, I even got him to translate into Bulgarian and even acting out some of the words.  He was good and I told him so, he has homework to do and I'm sure he'll do it.  It went on for over the allotted time, I went down to report to his mother on how it went and I said that I was amazed how good he has been and she asked me if I went to the right apartment.  I said I thought I had and we laughed.  Lovely moon driving back, the sky was pink and it was a very pale gold but the camera was at home and I was driving.

Home for just before seven, fire lit, pan fried a couple of schnitzels and that was supper organised.  The fire kicked in straightaway and it didn't take too long before the hot water was racing around the system.  I've had another email from my ancestry company telling me that they'd fixed the problem and bow my payment should go straight through.  If I hadn't invested four years in the company, I would move on and find another but my family tree is on there and they do have the best selection of records to find out the history.  LN.....Nine my time, time I logged off.....LN