Wednesday 20th October

Wonderful seven thirty start this morning and it was wall to wall fog and I could only see down to the mulberry.  I made coffee and played games and eventually headed down with the washing  for the machine and the household rubbish for the bonfire.  I got partly dressed, it was only three degrees outside so on with the extra sweater over the PJ's  and set off for the bottom of the garden with rubber gloves on and the garden fork at the ready. I was burning mainly paper so it was quick to start and quick to finish and it wasn't too long before the sun was through the mist and burning it off.  By this time the washing had finished so I pegged it out and blow me down the mist settled again and it was another hour before the sun really got going,

I cleared up the pile of wood that I've been looking at for a while on the back terrace to the little house and must make another protector for the broad bean seeds when they come through.  It's got to be done by the time that I go to England unless snow is forecast before then...who can tell.  Having tidied the area I swept up the leaves and collected them in the log carrier and took them down the bottom of the garden.  The rest of the wood I've put into the garage and most of it is going to become starter wood but at least it's dry there and out of the weather.  I swept the big terrace but before doing that I coiled up the three hosepipes that had lain on the terrace since the last time I'd mown the grass.  That again was swept off, just the branches from the cherry tree to saw up and put ready for burning.

I suddenly realised that I'd not had breakfast so I made corned beef sandwiches out of the Bulgarian equivalent of corned beef and lashed it with brown sauce.  I ate lunch watching Netflix series that I've sort of got in to...not brilliant but adequate for lunchtime and the resto of the meat went out for the cat.  A choc ice chased it down the food pipe and then I went back to clearing and tidying, went over and had a word with Avatar who'd decided to winter dig her vegetable garden so that winter and the frost would break it down ready for spring planting.  She's made her mind up that she wants to grow potatoes, peppers and garlic and that's going to be it.  No phosphates, no shite, all natural...much better than shop bought.

Washing in, time was marching on and I had to be ready for four thirty I was off to an art exhibition in Kardjali.  Shower, hair washed, dressed for town, makeup,  decent shoes not boots and leather coat with everything stuffed in the pockets including money....I wanted to be able to pay my way at the restaurant.  The exhibition was good with lots of new artists as well as the usual artists demonstrating their abilities.  My friend had three on display and we met up with other friends and caught up on various Covid sagas. It began to thin out so we got in the car and set off for the Turkish restaurant  which we enjoy and it was doing a roaring trade.  We managed to get a table and found things that we liked on the menu despite the fact that it was difficult to read and I was going between both my glasses.  Eventually my friend was able to read it and order using my re ding glasses which were 'just right' said Goldilocks.  Meal over we set off for my village and I was amazed to find that it was still only nine thirty when I got dropped off....it seemed much later.  

Nothing to do tomorrow so I'm going to catch up on the things that I should probably done today.  New rules have come in for open spaces and restaurants as from tomorrow, You have to produce your Covid certificate of an electronic copy and a very big fine will be levied if you are unable to and a five year jail sentence and in Bulgaria it will appear much longer.  They don't do anything my halves here and we're still wearing masks.  LN.......Too late to light the fire so I might as well go to bed.......LN

Thursday 21st October

So today has been very leisurely, I didn't have anywhere to go and lots that I could do or put aside and it was all choice.  I made the mistake of signing on and trying to pay my subscription being told that everything should be fine....and it wasn't.  I got the same error message that I've been getting for the last two weeks so I/m thinking that I shall have to remind them that they need to extend my free period.  I tried to find and email address so that I could have time to compose a decent complaint and while checking the internet I came across several reasons for me to checkout Trust pilot and I worked out that the person who is assured of a job for life is the one who is answering the complaints with the standard response.  I thought the best ones were those who had given the company one for effectiveness and competence and said that they would have given a zero but it wasn't an option.  Harsh words.  It took the company until late this afternoon to let me know that they were dong something... 'I am sorry to learn you are still having these issues' and I responded with that they weren't as sorry as I was.  I reminded them that I have other things to do with my day than try to pay for a subscription for a service.  

I made two boiled eggs and toast for breakfast and sat in the stairwell in the sun.  Black cat was around waiting for food so I found an old spicy sausage that had past its sell by date but fine for a cat.  I've learnt not to put it out there and leave it for hell to break out between the roaming felines so I cut it up and fed it to it piece by piece.  It; still very wary...takes a piece and moves away from me and waits for me to throw the next.  One day it might be more trusting.  Standing there feeding the cat I realised how warm the sun was, we had two degrees over night and it took until lunchtime before it warmed up.  I went in and brought out the electric trimmers and attacked the lavender, moved to the bottom of the garden and trimmed back the bushes that are concealing the young yucca.

The rest of my day was to go on to my ancestry company and search the records for a few dates that were missing against some the old records and I hit upon two children that were born here and died in New Zealand so I need to investigate if they had children and what they're doing now.  I just hope thy weren't convicts and taken there.  I suddenly realised that I was cold so at six thirty I lit the fire and it soon started sending the hot water trough the system.  I quickly made beans on toast for supper, I wasn't in the mood for lingering over a hot stove.  More of the same again tomorrow, I like these down days.  LN.....Saturday shopping to fill-up the store cupboard.....LN

Friday 22nd October

So at two this morning I was still watching the television and QI and suddenly decided that it was time I went to bed.  I did manage to answer and email from another insomniac and suggested that we both made tracks and got our heads down and obviously not together since there's about two thousand miles between us.  It didn't take long for me too start my nocturnal journey and I managed to stay asleep until seven thirty and I've been at a leisurely pace for the rest of the day.  I made coffee, got a load of washing in and went on the computer to compose an email to this ancestry company that's really winding me up.  The problem is that I'm in the middle of something that I can do nothing about and in the middle of the email I decided to try the card again as suggested by the last email I received from them.  So I filled in the details, sent them off and ...it failed so I let them know....and their response was that I'd changed my IP address.  In the same email I'd confirmed that I was going to use the same card, on the same machine, at the same location but obviously it was too difficult for them to work out.  I decided that I would explain that IP addresses are allocated and can change at any time....I'm supposed to be interacting with people that understand these things.    

I pegged out the washing, realising that I was going to get nowhere worrying about the issues I was having.  It was a beautiful morning, the sun was climbing, there was a chill in the air but perfectly acceptable.  I logged that I had to get some smaller logs in for lighting the fire later and made poached eggs on toast for breakfast to set me up for the day.  I was very tempted to take a photograph of my plate where some of the egg yolk had fallen on to it and send it to my son quoting that the pirates were on their way....a silly thing that we used to say, mainly because the egg yolk was difficult to remove from the plate when it came time to wash up.  I made more coffee, I did the washing up without difficulty, tidied the kitchen and went on the the computer to continue researching the hints that I'd found yesterday.....and the time just flew.  I suddenly realised that it was six o'clock so I got the washing in first, logs came second, barbecue ribs in the oven for supper, lit the fire and then put the old computer on the table in the stairwell to bed.  

I served supper in the oven dish that I'd cooked it in, with the remains of a tub of mayo.  I carried it on a tray to the computer on the landing and settled down to watch the rest of Tipping Point and The Chase and I'm thoroughly stuffed and not about to do anything energetic tonight.  So all I'm waiting for now is for my subscription to be blocked so that I can't access the records and where's that fan that something is going to hit.  It's not that I'll lose any of the information, it's that I can't access records or change any details...I can only view them.  And now, it's eight thirty my time, shopping tomorrow for a few basics.    LN.....Hope the weather is as good tomorrow.....LN

Saturday 23rd October

Sleep of the just last night and woke up feeling fresh as a daisy but it soon wore off.  Not really.....I made coffee, put the washing away, back to bed for the time it takes to do two Sudoku and then started my day for real.  I dressed for Kardjali but never go there and just think of the money that I've saved.  I toyed with the idea of Djebel but never made it there either.  I didn't even bother with breakfast, I ate so much last night that I think it's blocked up the system...not much room for any more but I did enjoy it.  A whole rack of barbecued ribs and potato wedges and a pot of mayo that really needed finishing before it ended up for the bonfire or the cats.  Stuffed to the gills.

I set about my ancestry project and noticed that I had a highlighted red tab asking me to subscribe.  Now this is rather like red rag to a bull and since there is no support over the weekend I'm expecting my service to be cut as from tomorrow so I wanted to finish what I was working on and I have.  I did find though using an available free access to another site gives me different information and by combining the old with the new...I've done a good job although I say it myself.  I'm pleased with the results except for one thing...my printer decided that a plain blue back ground on a square would look much better if it were striped and the cleaning program takes a long time so I removed the colour from the boxes on the 'tree' and they can go back when I've cleaned the printer.  The ink's OK, it's just the head.

So almost seven my time and I'm wondering where the day has gone.  I did take time out to watch the birds, the woodpecker decided that it would get better pickings from the lawn that from the Lonesome pine after standing still and listening for a while, it decided to fly down and see what was there.  Magpies have been flitting around and my early robin was sitting on the bedroom balcony railing and at least it's safe from the cat if it's up high.  As for the black cat it's been round for most of the day and I have haven't found anything for it today but there's lots of pickings around the village.  I also managed to catch the end of Yentle, I think the plot is not so good but I love the music and the song 'Papa watch me fly' sums up my relationship with my father.  He's love it out here and so would my mother but maybe not at the same time.

Strictly tonight and fingers crossed the internet holds up for it.  I've got a couple of hamburger things out so I'm heading to the kitchen shortly.  I love the end of a project...yes you can always add more and with ancestry, there are so many leads you can go down, but that's for another time.  LN....Time to get creative in the kitchen....LN

Sunday 24th October

So I didn't wake up until eight fifteen this morning and there was no sunny start to the day...it was raining and I was going to say, where did that come from but we all know.  Such a beautiful day yesterday, I didn't even need a fire last night but I lit it at three this afternoon,.,,it was cold.  I got washed and dressed straightaway, the day was moving on quickly after my late start.  I was out of bread so settled for a cheese omelette and in the process of sorting out the fridge I found some cheese that was due to be hiked to the cat and so I took off the blue mould, cut it up and more or less hand fed it except that it takes it and disappears into a private place in the garden...and then comes back for more.  

I've felt very down today.  My subscription for my ancestry site has been marked as expired despite my request for it to be extended due to their incompetence in not being to able to process my card payment.  I checked the parent company to see how far I could go up the hierarchy to tender a complaint, found a telephone number to leave a message and the message system was full...what a shower.   To add insult to injury I've received tow emails today telling me how to renew my subscription and even had two emails with hints telling me that if I renewed, I would be able to see the hints.  No support desk today...c'est le weekend.  They did say that the telephones were open and to leave a message and I did on the other line, but no one phoned me back.  I have managed to obtain the email address of the CEO of the company and tomorrow might be the day if I don't get a phone call from them.

Had a lovely afternoon watching the television.  This afternoon the coverage from BBC2 was of the World track cycling championships and now we have the gymnastics,  Some of the main personalities from both are not competing due to the Olympics and the amount of time they had to spend away but congratulations to the female cyclists, they were brilliant.  My avatar has just arrived with some fresh bread that she's baked and so that might be a cheese and onion sandwich for supper since I'm not in the mood to cook much more even though I've just remembered that I took a chicken leg out of the freezer last night to thaw for today.  LN.....It will keep until tomorrow...LN

Monday 25th October

Five thirty start, the sky was dark and we had the pink blue colouring and then the clouds started gathering on the mountains and it was a cold start.  Apparently the temperature did drop overnight to one degree but by the time I checked it out it was three. The house had held twenty degrees overnight so it wasn't cold in but when I went out to fill up the log carrier and bring in more starter wood from the little house, it was a little on the chill side.  

Dressed early on, thought about Kardjali but put it to the back of my mind.  I searched again for the missing memory stick that must have jumped out of the folder with the ancestry documents in or I've got a poltergeist.  I'd put the file on the stick to take it over this morning so that I could hand over the documents with an electronic copy.  I wanted to hand the file over out of the way, you can keep checking and finding more information, but I'd done enough on it.  So at just before eleven I contacted the ancestry company and unfortunately for the person that answered the phone, I recognised the voice, gave over my email address and said that it was me again, and my issue had not been resolved.  My complaint was controlled but direct but I did manage to mention that I'd seen his picture on the CEO's website extolling the virtues of the support desk and my subscription was immediately restored.  There are time that you have to say the clever thing in a non-threatening way...and it worked.  He said that he would raise it again with the 'teckies' yet again and we agreed that he would email me at two this afternoon to confirm what was happening next.  Now this is four my time and I'm still waiting.  He did spot my message sent on Friday at the crack of but said that they never got round to them, they had too many support calls that day.

Any way, in the Nipper and over to visit my friends and deliver the docs and it was well received.  I explained how I'd laid it out and it will take time for him to go through it and follow the chart.  We walked the vegetable garden and they have so much growing there and the flower beds are still vibrant.  I'll have to go round there with the trowel and dig a few up but firstly I think I shall have to follow up why my manure hasn't been delivered yet.....another ruck to be had.  I stayed for lunch and then into the car and as I said back for four for the ancestry meet but instead I started researching his wife's family and it was soon too late for them to contact me so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Avatar has just been round and delivered more bread, my chicken leg is cooked and so it looks like I shall just make a big sandwich.  My night for quiz games tonight and let's see if I can stay awake for all of them.  LN....Bad start but a good finish to the day.... LN

Tuesday 26th October

Four thirty start and goodness knows why.  I read for a while and played Sudoku, tried to get back off again but at seven I was out of bed, getting washed and dressed, lots of coffee, woodburner cleaned out and set ready for tonight. Funny old sky this morning, dark clouds and lots of mist over the river in the valley with just a hint of sky well away from where it normally comes up.  I made toast for breakfast, fed the remains of last night's chicken let to the cat and I love how it licks his lips as it approaches me when I have something in a bowl or in my hand.  There's bit of a scrap kicking off as I type and I guess one of the others has tried to make the terrace its own and my black one is having none of it.

I dropped a note to Find my Past and I'm now going to name them which I haven't before because I just let them know that I'd waited yesterday afternoon for a call back and update and could they let me know what stage we were at. I let them know that I was out all day but would appreciate an up date.  I prepared my lessons for my student and set off at around three with no call from Find my Past to meet my student.  I parked up and went to the shop and my student was waiting for me.  We went up to the apartment, I checked over his homework and I was amazed that he just hadn't answered the questions, he had made full sentences with very few mistakes.  He is a little chatterbox and I'm amazed how well we are getting on, we talk about all sorts of things as well as getting a full lesson in.  We worked through the text, and between us we did the homework but he has a very fertile imagination and the one part of the homework he has to imagine a scenario and then write a story about it.  We were working at it for about two hours, I went down to the shop and told his mother what a good lesson we'd had and she still can't believe it.

Stopped off at the supermarket and only then did I notice what time it was, chicken wings, mayo and bread and then home.  I got the fire going, the temperature was falling rapidly and with a frost last night, I wanted to get some heat into the house.  I checked my emails and FMP had let me know that there was nothing wrong with their system and that my bank had refused the transaction and I should speak to my bank....so I did.  The FMP are still using the old card details and of course it's not going to work and the processes that I update the FMP system with the new card details and fails to update before it polls my bank.  I am assured that there is nothing wrong with my card.

I picked up the phone and was met with a message that the phone lines were closed and to leave a message even though they had another thirty minutes before support closed...so I did.  So I finished it off with 'Back to you',  and we'll see what happens next.  The fire is burning brightly and the radiators piping hot.  I used a chicken cutlet to make sandwiches for supper, ate them watching television and now settling in for the night.  LN.....Pots in from the terrace tomorrow. Nights are getting colder.....LN

Wednesday 27th October

Another early start and it was pitch black outside which lightened up to reveal a splash of dark pink just like the other morning.  Bring on the daylight saving hour...it should be anytime soon and I've just googled it,,,this weekend.  I put a load of washing in at six, hopefully using cheap electricity, emptied the machine when it had finished, folded it and waited for morning to break enough to find out if it was raining, it wasn't so I pegged it out.  There was quite a stiff breeze but when I brought it in at four, it was still damp so on to the airer with it and it should be ready to put away tomorrow morning.

I had a rather lazy morning, I made boiled eggs for breakfast, washed everything up and toyed with the idea of going out and sorting the pots but it had been seven degrees overnight so there appears to be no rush.  Find my Past has been playing on my mind so I composed a superb email and it was ready to send by twelve of the clock.   I'd spent quite a lot of time on the composition and was pleased with the result and I'd managed to glean the email address from various sources and off it went.  Two seconds later  it was pinged back to me as unknown recipient and I was thoroughly deflated so I cheered myself up by getting the Beast out and taking it to the garage to confirm that the anti=freeze was up to spec.,the oil was OK and that the tyres were the correct pressure.  It really needed a clean but it was cold and damp and I decided that the layer of dirt over it would protect the paintwork.  The owner's son said that he would do it for me and I said that it was OK, we'd tackle it in the spring.  I asked for a bill and wasn't given one and the son said to have it on the house which we laughed about and my mood was already back to positive.  I stopped off at the shop to ask if she'd had any adverse comments about the lesson but apparently he was full of it and I'm thinking of pushing it up to twice a week because he's so keen.

I drove home and parked the Beast back in the garage in one fell swoop settling it in for the winter and the Nipper will go in tomorrow although it should be OK.  The last time it was in there he topped up the water with anti-freeze as if in preparation.  First job was to light the fire, second was to get more wood in and thirdly I checked my emails and there was another one from Find my Past telling me that she didn't realise that the issue had not been resolved.  It appears she was answering a previous email not the one that I sent last night so I followed it up with a reply including a copy of last night's email to Liam.  Nothing came back from them so I telephone them once again and poor fellow. Liam answered, I recognised his voice and I asked him why this had been passed over to another agent and it appears that whoever picks it up deals with the response.  What a company...so I asked him for the name of the person to whom I have to escalate this problem because of the response that I am getting and was told to use the support email and it would be addressed there.

I filled up the log basket from the log carrier and filled that up from the wood store.  It was still light at five thirty so I grabbed the burnable waste and had a bonfire to get rid of it.  I dug out a few weeds from the garden while I was at it, checked on the yucca flower and it's still doing OK and a cutting from the pretty pink floaty flower from the old burning pit has put two little roots on and is doing it's best to survive.  I put it in fresh water and dropped some fertilizer in the water, let's see how it likes that.  Chicken wings and roasted veg are in the oven for supper and there's enough for Avatar so I'll take it over later.  It's getting a little late though so I might just fill myself up.

Gardening day tomorrow if the weather is good and I might be putting bangers down the mole holes so see if that slows them down a little...they seem to be having, literally, a field day out there.  Shopping on Friday or Saturday, I've got plenty of stock in.  LN.....Kitchen calls.....LN

Thursday 28th October

Six start again, coffee, Sudoku, washed and dressed by eight and set to printing off a photograph that had been sent to me yesterday by my Avatar's grand-daughter.  She's had a baby in Germany and asked if I could show the photos to her grandmother and I thought it best to print it off, framing and take it over to her which I did.  She was over the moon, almost in tears, she misses her family in Germany but is stubborn enough to want to stay here this year.  She's spent the last two winters over there but dug her little heels in this year and will probably be digging herself out of the snow this year.

She bought the dishes back that I'd taken supper over last night in and again she thanked me.  I'd dug her out of bed and shouted that it was me at the door and handed over chicken wings, roasted vegetables and mayo at around seven.  She said that she'd eaten at five and hadn't bothered much after that but when she caught the aroma of the chicken said that it brought the hunger to the fore and wolfed it down.  I must admit it was very tasty last night and the chicken wings very tender.  Mine was a bit of a let down, I'd run out of mini choc-ices so I really need to go shopping tomorrow.  Beans on toast for breakfast and I more or less started work after I'd washed up and tidied the kitchen.

I cleaned the fire out and set it for tonight, the house had held nineteen degrees overnight so not really essential at the moment but pleasant to look at and keep the house temperature up.  So I looked at the metal shelving unit that I'd bought a couple of weeks ago and decided to put it together.  I wasn't sure where it was going but I would make a decision when it was up.  It too quite a while, it's not the strongest on the market but as long as you really tighten the nuts up they don't wobble so I did.  I took a little time out and played around with ancestry but didn't manage to track down my grandfather's sister who died near Falmouth after running a pub in Birmingham or her daughter that is supposed to be my link into Canada.  It's as elusive as ever.

The shelving went up the stairs and I put myself between it and the windows and hung on to the handrail very tightly.  It's now in the third bedroom that I'm using as a sewing room and the overflow of material is now ensconced.  It's now forced me into clearing the room up, I've made a good start on it and tomorrow I shall be moving the debris down to the bonfire, the wool over to Avatar's and lots of winter hats and gloves that I'd forgotten all about.  Time for some of the old back in and some of the new donated to charity.

Supper is going to be the remains of the chicken wings from last night and probably topped up with a jacket potato from the microwave.  It's been a super weather day and I suppose I should have worked outside but there again....as long as you achieve it doesn't really matter what you get done.  LN......Contented feeling.....LN