Saturday 1st October

Eight start but I was watching Netflix until one thirty this morning so I could be excused.  Another lovely morning, sun shining, gentle breeze and nothing much to do, well there was lots I could do but it was all about choice and in fact, I chose to do very little.  I got dressed with the intention of going in to Kardjali.  My painter had been round this morning to ask how I was, he hadn't heard that I had had Covid so we kept our distance.  I mentioned that I thought that I had a wasps' nest and that I'd bought spray to see them off, showed him where it was and he said that he would be round in the morning to spray the nest.  Apparently there is an election tomorrow so he'll be coming round early before the wasps warm up and start to get active and off he went.

I now had a problem.  I searched where I thought I would find the spray that I'd bought just after my daughter arrived for the holiday, searched several other places and eventually ended up in the wood store and found the cans partially hidden.  Today has been very good on communication, my grandson dropped me a message asking how I was which was a surprise, so I messaged him back to let him know that I'd read it.  Now that I'd found the spray cans I didn't have to go anywhere but decided to take my Covid test anyway and I'm clear and thank goodness for that.  I thought I'd let my  daughter know so phoned her and no response so I dropped her a message and she phoned me back after around ten minutes.  I mentioned that I'd had trouble finding the spray cans and she said that she had hidden them, frightened that I'd take on the task when they'd just arrived.  

So this afternoon I sorted out the suitcases that had accumulated in the corner of the bedroom and now cases that are not needed are stacked, money is all in one place and I've even sorted out my jewellery.  Netflix this afternoon binge watching Last Kingdom, and so involved in it that I missed the first forty minutes of Strictly......but it's on now.  Supper was spicy pork ribs and chippies, the air fryer is certainly coming into its own and just having received my electricity bill for the period when the family was over, only forty one leva though, so manageable. Let's see what I can drive it down to next period.  LN.......And now back to Strictly....LN

Sunday 2nd October

I didn't have a good night....I was woken up by thunder, lightning and the heaven's opening around three thirty this morning.  I couldn't manage to get back off again, not sure if I'd eaten too much last night but the other thing on my mind was that I was expecting my painter to spray the wasp nest that has been plaguing me for a while.  I filled some of the early hours with sudoku, Facebook , etc. yet still couldn't get off so moved to the lounge and settled down to Netflix.  By seven he hadn't arrived, his theory was that you had to be up and at 'em before the wasps got active but since it was a very damp morning, not much was up and about.  I got washed and dressed and just before eight he turned, I found the spray cans from the little house, I carried his shoes up, he carried the step ladders up my upstairs bedroom and off we went on to the balcony.  

Up the ladder he went, I hung on to his jacket as he hung over the balcony and one who can sprayed into the gap in the under roof.  The tiles have to be investigated, I've had damp coming through and the wood needs replacing, spoken to my usual man but to date he's not returned my call.  Maybe another phone call wouldn't go amiss, the work needs to be done.  I brought the chair in from the roof and left the bench just in case I need a perching spot on a good day, the ladder came back down the stairs and into the porch, off he went down to the election hall in the village suggesting that I went and placed my vote but not really interested.  The plan today was to cut back the lavender but when I came to do it it was still a little damp so I downed tools until it had dried off.  

I took a walk down the garden to see if the tortoise were about and came across Rosie and Green God quite close together and then I realised why.  Green God has still got juices flowing despite the fact that it's October but again, Rosie has no interest whatsoever and Green God really hasn't got a clue how to go about it, squeaks a lot but no real action to the effort.  I came back to the house to get the camera, took the photos and with the sun shining on the screen it was more by luck than judgement.  Back to the gardening, lavender done, jasmine repotted, teak bench cleaned down and teak oil applied and it's now in the little house for the winter.  One load of washing done, dried and put away, supper was tuna mayo with potatoes, beetroot and onion and that was prepared with not a lot of effort and washing up done and everything put away.  Everything locked up for the night, nothing to do tomorrow so might just go in to Kardjali and got the gas bottle filled and take out the petchka pipes and give them a good clean.  LN.....Relax for the evening.......LN

Monday 3rd October

Much better night last night and woke up at just before eight this morning.  It wasn't a bad start to the day, I made coffee and went back to bed and played games for an hour or so.  I had nothing pressing to get my teeth in to, no need to drive into Djebel despite the fact that the bread had started to turn colour so I ditched it and reverted to the loaf in the fridge and that was OK.  Toast for breakfast, I spread cheese triangles on it, the old bread went out for the cat but even she turned her nose up at it and went looking elsewhere.

I eventually thought about expending energy and picked up the rubbish basket in the porch and carried it down to the bonfire.  By now the wind had dropped and so I set fire to the rubbish, put the lid on the basket, it went out so I removed the lid, gave it a poke and set fire to it again and it was soon burning fiercely and I replaced the lid.  While I was down there I decided that the shrub hose was not really necessary any longer so I coiled it up and it's ready for winter storage and that's how my brain is working now.  I went up to the balcony to check on the wasp nest and no sign of anything up there so I opened up the balcony umbrella, gave it a good shake and that's now in the upstairs bedroom and it will join the hose in the little house.  The elastic cord holding the bench to the railings has had better days so I put the elastic one round it until I bring it in for the winter.  

The clouds started gathering around four this afternoon and now it's really clouded over and looks like rain.  It's still warm though, I haven't put down the winter carpets on the tiles, they are just so nice to walk on and very warm from the sun.  Having said that, I would have been going to Morocco tomorrow if the company hadn't cancelled it.  Such a shame and they are still advertising for similar holidays for next week and the week after but how can you trust them.  Yes the money is back in my bank but when I think of all that effort to get the documents translated so that I could understand what I was signing up to, it will be a while before I engage their services again.  

Supper thanks to the air fryer, chicken fillet, with chippies and beans from the microwave and the nice thing is that it all feels healthy and not greasy at all.  I did spoil it with a lump of mayo but it just had to be done.  Kardjali tomorrow to get my gas bottle filled and buy some new bulbs for the two new lamps that I bought for the guest room.  I'm very tempted with bronze glass hanging lamps and they're going in the lounge for the winter.  I also need to pay a trip to the chemist for some more of the throat tablets from the prescription, they're homeopathic and very effective.  LN.....Not much else to do in Kardjali but a walk will do me good.....LN

Tuesday 4th October

Six thirty start this morning and there seems very little routine in my wake-up times.  Maybe when I've got this virus out of my system completely I might feel better.  Everything I'd planned for today went out of the window, I didn't go to Kardjali, I didn't fill my gas bottle and it's still sitting in the porch but I did manage to make my plans, book my flights and contact most of the people that are going to make it happen.  Normally I fly into Gatwick and centre my Christmas round there but I've decided that I'm going to fly into Manchester, catch up with my sister's children along the way and with my very good friend that I used to work with when I was sixteen.  Friendships need cherishing.  

On my route down I have this great urge to visit my parents' grave in my home town so I contacted the local council.  I worked my way through the options on the automated system and anticipated failure along the way but eventually a lady answered, she transferred me to Sarah a very helpful lady who listened to my request and within thirty seconds she gave me the information that I required.  I explained that I was travelling from Bulgaria and asked if there was anyone who could direct me to the exact location and she said that if I phone her nearer the time, she will make sure that there is someone available to take me to the grave.  I'm not that sentimental about death, I know that only the bones remain and who's going to hang around a grave in winter and if anything, both of them are more likely to be here in the sun with me but I just want to put some flowers on the grave and maybe tidy it and make arrangement for it to be looked after and if that costs, so be it.  Finally I will make a visit to my sister and brother-in-law's grave and my aunt and uncle, my mother's brother is also buried there.  A few more flowers will be left, it's been a long time since I did 'family' things.  It also occurred to me that I'm the only one remaining of my father's line except for children and off-springs.  The only fly in the ointment is that when I get to visit my old friend, she goes to a jazz club on a Sunday lunchtime and I picked the Sunday that the venue to handed over to a darts tournament...we'll have to find something else to do or find another one.

As for the rest of the day, I've managed to chop two large containers of starter wood and one is in the porch already.  I've also managed to get the chop saw working so the next few should be easier to achieve...chop the wood into the correct lengths and use the chopper to split them but I'd done enough for today.  Tools away, woodstore cleared and ready for operational requirements and all locked up and secured.  I went back into the house and found the toast that I'd put in the toaster this morning and never got round to eating so back in the toaster it went and that became an afternoon snack.  I settled on the sofa and that was me done and dusted for an hour or so, eyelids southwards and I felt much better for it.  My energy levels are OK but chopping wood took it out of me.  LN.....Let's see if I can knock anything off the list tomorrow....LN

Wednesday 5th October

Another early start, not a bad morning, not a slice of bread in the place and didn't managed to her the bread van so I had to go out today.  I telephoned my doughtier this morning to share my Christmas plans with her and managed to wake her up from her slumbers so I asked her to regard it as an alarm call.  I'm still not sure that she did but after the call I got a message from her telling me that I'm on her calendar so she couldn't have been that upset.

I had a shower and washed my hair so it looked like I was going out today but that doesn't mean a thing...sometimes the intention is good but the follow through doesn't always happen.  I dried my hair, sat on the rocking chair in the bedroom enjoying the sun and eventually got out into a pair of jeans and a roll neck so things were looking positive.  Downstairs and found some muesli that I'd bought for the children for holiday and they remained intact until this morning and I had fruit muesli followed by chocolate and hazelnut variety with fresh milk and that kept me going until this afternoon.  I collected my gear together, on with a jacket even though by now the sun had peaked and I was feeling overdressed, remembered to load the gas bottle into the Nipper and headed into Momchilgrad to the garage.  It was either that or Kardjali since the local garage is no longer operational for gas and when I pulled in the garage owner looked at me strangely, I parked up and asked him if he had gas for bottles and he pointed to the gas pump and came over when he'd finished with the car he was filling up.  I put the bottle by the pump, he fetched the adapter and put thirty levs worth in the bottle which he said was 'normal', I paid the man and we both carried it to the Nipper and lifted it into the boot space.

I drove back to Djebel and parked up in the main car park, went to see my flower lady but instead there was her husband scratching his head and trying to undo the lock...there obviously was a problem so I carried on to the car shop and had a catch-up and did we cover lots  of topics.  My student really wanted a tread-mill and now has one, parents have coughed up half of it and he's funding the rest from a forthcoming birthday.  She did point me in the direction of the website that they bought it from, I want a rowing machine and that appears to be the place to get one from and I've been told to look out for bargains. Apparently they have super offers occasionally.  I went to the chemist and bought more of the homeopathic tablets prescribed by the doctor, went down to the hairdressers and bought the super spray in hair conditioner and then made my way to the flower shop and by now the lady was inside and the door lock completely removed awaiting a new one to be fitted.  Her husband was on the case!!

I stopped off at the supermarket and bought bread for tomorrow, the novelty of muesli is already wearing off.  I settled for crisp sandwiches for supper and coca cola, lay on the sofa watching Tipping Point and went to the land of nod so I'll never know if the jackpot was won or not.  LN.....Need a man to fit the gas bottle, my hands just aren't strong enough and it's important that it's done properly.....LN

Thursday 6th October

So I went to bed at one and just couldn't get off to sleep.  It was lights out, I lay there for a while and thought what a waste of time that was so light on again and played sudoku until it was time to beckon the sleep god again.....and this time it worked until seven this morning.  I washed and dressed quickly, had nowhere to go and nothing pressing to do so walked the garden and there was nothing much happening down there.  No tortoise about and even my pesky cat that demands food with an annoying meow was nowhere to be heard or seen so I walked back to the house.

I now had bread so could make breakfast and found a half tin of baked beans in the fridge so the beans went in the microwave and I was sitting down and enjoying breakfast within quicksticks.  The gas bottle is still sitting in the kitchen, I need to find someone to fix it for me but the village seems pretty empty of men at the moment.  I'll have to give my painter a ring.  I went out again after breakfast and took off the flowers that had finished from the sun daisies and geraniums, watered some of the pots that were looking battered, it's still very dry with drying winds.  The grass is looking particularly shabby and let's hope it recovers over the winter.  I meant to get out the rake and collect up the walnuts that have dropped but forgot all about them until tonight, I mentioned that I had some and intend collecting them and giving them to my student's mum.  I also mentioned to her that I have medlar fruit that she is welcome to, asked her the best time to collect them since they're still quite hard but apparently you can pick them early and put them in a warm place to ripen.  The fruit is supposed to taste like apple butter, with hints of cinnamon, and vanilla.....she's welcome to them.  I tried one but I don't really like the texture.

The Last Kingdom is no more.  The series only covers to book eight so I've decided to take to the written word for the remaining books in the series.  They are supposed to be coming out with a film to cover the last three books but not sure when.  Apparently the filming is finished and will be released next year.....but since they've gone away from the books in series five, I shall just have to wait and see.  I did manage to devour some very good tuna mayo sandwiches while I was watching the series and there'll be no supper required tonight otherwise I'll have another sleepless night.  LN....Really bad step-count to day...must do better tomorrow....LN

Friday 7th October

Lovely sunny start to the day, but everything ought to have been secured down.  Leaves were blowing everywhere and ending up in the yard, on the terraces yet surprisingly we still have lots to come down.  The one big one in the yard that delivers the linden tea holds on to its leaves heroically until the first frost and then they all drop at once which is a real hazard in the yard...so far, no frosts.  

I had a cooking morning, I'd fetched mince out of the freezer last night and thawed it out so this morning I made a shepherd's pie for tonight and that's in the oven now and a pot of bolognaise sauce which will be for tomorrow.  Some baked beans that were hiding in the fridge went out for the cat but that only prompted more meows at the porch fly-screen so the rest of the bread went out for her, she nibbled it but obviously wanted more and that still sits on the garden under wild plum tree.  She can't have been that hungry.  I cleared the kitchen and generally messed around and at twelve realised that I'd had nothing to eat so finished off the tuna mayo with buttered toast and that's seen me through until now, it's six my time.  

I had a very pleasant surprise this morning, I received bank notification of my spending and interest paid to me and noticed a charge that I didn't recognise.  The only other thing that I'd spent was on my air fare to the UK and I'd obviously not noticed that the charge at the time was in euro and the charge to my account was in pounds.  It cost less than I thought...result.  I've just checked on supper, the shepherds has a mince meat and baked beans base covered with creamy mashed potatoes and they're just colouring and crisping up nicely.  The woodburner pipes still remain in place, despite the good weather I wasn't keen to be out in the wind today and tomorrow is another day.  LN.....My supper is ready and deserving of attention.....LN

Saturday 8th October

So last night's supper was much too big for me and at four this morning it was sitting very heavy on my upper carcass.  I only had one potato on top of the mince and beans but obviously it was too big and I did end up virtually pushing it down when I should have pushed it away.  I ended up playing game for a while and burping to relieve the agony so tonight I'm going to make sure that the cannelloni that I made for two nights is definitely going to be for two nights.

Lovely morning again, I sat out in the sun, Ms cat was plaintively serenading me until she thought I'd gone in and reckoned she would have better picking elsewhere.  I walked the garden and checked out the perimeter, the walnuts are still waiting to be picked up and the medlars waiting to be picked.  They were looking a little brown on the ends so maybe I've missed the peak...so I'll have another look tomorrow.  I didn't bother with breakfast and set about cleaning the woodburner ready for the winter.  I took the lounge pipes down and left the toilet ones in place until I'd cleaned the pipes and the woodburner.  I really gave it a good going over and had just removed the rest of the pipes when I had visitors.  My friends from the one of the local villages had arrived and he brought gifts with him, an attachment for a drill that cleans the chimney but unfortunately he hadn't the time to do it but explained thoroughly how it worked and I have a man locally who will be able to assist.  He did mention one but my comment was that I couldn't trust him with a knife and fork so no way was he going to get his hands on this.  Instead I phoned my student's mum, I had full permission to let them use it on their chimney and it's in their diary.  We sat in the sun for a while with coffee and off they went with other fish to fry so I reassembled the woodburner putting everything back in place.  One job he did have time for was to connect my gas bottle to the cooker so now I'm as you might say...cooking on gas!!

I've just made supper....it was going to be cannelloni but unfortunately the pasta tubes split when I boiled them up so now it's going to be a lasagna.  I made the white sauce from scratch., layered up the supper in a fairly big dish and it's finishing off in the oven.  Phone calls in the morning to see if I can find a man so that the chimney can get done, nothing else on the agenda so it might be a day pottering in the garden.  LN.....Strictly and The Voice tonight...that's if I don't fall asleep.......LN

Sunday 9th October

I was awake before the sun this morning and ready with my camera when I saw the dawn breaking.  There wasn't much wind at ground level but it seemed very breezy up there, the light clouds were being blown everywhere and changing very quickly.  Eventually the sun broke through and climbed and as it did the mist started up in the valley especially the river area but there appeared to be a very large bonfire adding to the mix.  I made poached eggs on toast for breakfast but got the timing hopelessly wrong and ended up with hard yolks that there was no chance of it falling on the plate and me being chased by pirates.  Just a little in-joke that I used to have with my children, if you got yolk on the plate the pirates would get you and this was brought to light by my son when the children were over this year.  They just didn't get it but it was probably better forty five years ago when my children were small.

I sat out for a while after clearing the kitchen, that sun was hot but thought it best that I got washed and dressed, after all it was ten thirty.  I'd noticed that there were a few cobwebs on the outside of the windows so I found the really long extending brush from the little house and brushed them all away.  We must have had some very sticky rain at some point, I should really have cleaned the windows but with winter on its way...they will do until next spring.  Next on the list was to collect up the fallen walnuts from the bottom of the garden.  They've obviously been attacked by squirrels or the likes, there were lots of cracked shells and the ones that I've collected need cleaning up but for now they're in the porch.  The last time that I put any in the little house, I ended up with only shells so I was wary and these aren't for me but for my student's mum.  I ended up somehow on the computer and checking a few more dates and people on my family history program.  I'd still curious to find my relatives in Canada and remembered that my mother had a dish that came from there with the maple leaf on it.  I'm not sure where it ended up, my sister cleared my parent's house after my father died so it could have gone anywhere.  I must ask my nieces.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a film on Netflix, not sure I enjoyed it, it was an adaptation of a Steven King book and wondered why I'd watched it when I got to the end.  I was warming up the rest of the lasagna during David Attenborough so didn't really watch that either.  I don't feel too settled at the moment....I seem to have been left with a funny sort of cough that I can't shake off after Covid and my energy levels have been down too.  It's taken longer to get over it than I thought it would....time to find out about the next booster.  Ms Cat has got lasagna for breakfast or rather double-folded over cannelloni pretending to be sheets of lasagna and I didn't leave much of the meat for her.

Full moon up tonight.  I tried to take early photos but they didn't turn out well.  I was that funny time of night when it's just shady blue and nothing focused so I had to settle for the one on its own.  Market day tomorrow in Djebel so I might just make it and see if there is anything new on offer.  Alternatively I might make it into Kardjali, it's in the lap of the gods as to how I feel when I wake up.  LN....Strictly results....I can think of two that need ousting... but with no consistency between the judges, who knows....LN

Monday 10th October

So early to bed last night and slept straight through until seven this morning but it didn't stop me having an afternoon nap.  I settled for toast and Marmite this morning, the remains of a can of beans went out for the cat but haven't seen hide nor hair of it today and not even a plaintive meow.  They're still sitting under the tree, I hope nothing untoward has occurred, maybe it's found someone with better 'parenting' habits elsewhere.

Washing done and pegged out by ten, kitchen tidied so I sat out in the sun on the bench and sent out a few healing thought to someone who needs them right now.  The woodpecker arrived at the lonesome pine and soon departed heading for the walnut at the bottom of the garden.  I found the sweeping brush and the shovel and started to collect the leaves from the terrace, the wind had swirled them in clumps and had jammed them under benches and shelving so it turned out to be more intricate than I thought it would be.  I managed to collect quite a few and put them in the composter bin in the yard, that's really quite empty now so should collect more leaves up and fill it to the brim.  I moved to the workshop terrace and tidied up the area removing a concrete pipe that's lain there for a few years and moving another one nearer the bench, I'll use it to store tools when not in use but needed quickly.  I dug around in the tyres and came across a sleeping, or at least pretending to sleep, frog, was going to move it and put it over the wall but decided to leave it where it was for the time being.  I moved to the bottom of the garden and had a bonfire to get rid of household rubbish and next job is to dig out the tins from the cinders and get them into the container at the bottom of the village.  I pay for it so should get some use out of it.

I didn't manage to get anywhere today.  I reckoned Djebel would be full and it would be difficult to park and I really couldn't warrant the journey to Kardjali.  I would only have headed for the cheapy shops and quite frankly, I could do with selling some not buying more.  I'm still waiting for an address in Momchilgrad to take second hand clothing for distribution, I know it's supposed to be at one of the schools but not sure which one.  Tomorrow I have my student, if he wants a lesson, and will fill up my goody box which is currently showing empty.  I have no crisps or biscuits, not a bad thing, I could do with losing weight but there's not a lot of enthusiasm to stay disciplined at the moment...I'm still in recovery.  

Not sure what I'm gong to do with the chicken breast that I pulled out of the freezer last night so now I'm about to get creative in the kitchen.  I've just looked up and noticed cat emptying its bowels under the walnut, covering it up and wending her way up the garden and is currently devouring the food that I put out this morning....cheese and baked beans.  Waiting for the moon tonight, it's supposed to be a blood moon but there wasn't much 'blood' in it last night...let's see what tonight has to offer.  LN.....Kitchen duties call......LN

Tuesday 11th October

Mid temperature day and cloudy, very little wind but no reason to go out and find anything to do apart from throw the slightly tinged bread over the wall for anything that was wanting it.  So without bread I decided to make an omelette for breakfast and put a couple of cheese triangles in it  and that has seem me through the day.  I had every intention of going in to Djebel this afternoon for my student's lesson but fate had other ideas and it just didn't happen.

When I was checking out my ancestry chart last night I noticed that somehow I'd attached my grandmother to her mother and father in law as a daughter along with my grandfather.  I haven't a clue how it happened and despite trying different linking it wouldn't allow me to edit the connection so at eight last night I gave up, slept on it and set about sorting it this morning and I did.  It was a little complicated but I managed it, but this meant that the parents and other relatives of my grandmother were no longer in the chart and it took some resolving and fortunately I'm back even further than I was before.  I think this is mainly due to the fact that you are now able to access other people's family trees and providing you have the correct links, you are able to get back further.  You do have to be really careful though and check the links completely, no point in carrying over their mistakes into your tree.  One thing that really saddens me about my history is the fact that I have two brothers within the space of two years that just didn't make it to adulthood and I think I've mentioned that I first found out about one of the brothers from a clairvoyant and when asking my father he confirmed that a brother was born just before me but never mentioned the second one.  It's always bugged me why they died, they must have born and breathed since they were given a name and a reference number for the death so today I decided to order the paper copies on the internet more out of curiosity than anything.  

I found the website to make the purchase, found the reference codes and ordered the documents and tried to make payment and this is where I came unstuck.  The company handling the transaction was Worldpay and I've had lots of experience with them and they were running trued to form.  The first time the transaction was refused and the message was that my bank had refused it which the bank denied when I made the phone call.  My history with this company goes back to last October when I was trying to renew my ancestry search company and it took six weeks, many phone calls to both my bank and the ancestry company and eventually after throwing a wobbly, someone gave me another method of attacking the problem and the payment went through.  After five attempts I phoned the company that I was buying the records from, explained my problem and I had to choose to buy original records not electronic copies, more money and they have to be delivered to the UK not here.  We worked through the ordering process together and with fingers crossed I gave her my card details and 'bingo', the payment went though and we were both relieved.  I checked the account it was being payed to and it was totally different from the internet account  I found out about these boys, my brothers around twelve years ago and at last I shall be able to find out why they died.

Unfortunately, this threw my day completely out of kilter.  When I looked at the clock it was approaching four and I was late for the lesson so cancelled for this week.  I didn't manage to get into Djebel, I shall have to find the bread van in the morning and buy some eggs since I used them up on breakfast, the whole day has left me feeling annoyed.  My anger with the payment company is bubbling under the surface and when I tried to get through to it for an explanation, all it's interested in is new business....no help lines for payment issues.  LN.....No supper required tonight, just a good night's sleep to calm down my blood pressure.....LN

Wednesday 12th October

Another reasonable night's sleep but the sky didn't look very promising this morning.  There was only a thin sliver of sun light when I opened the curtains and I thought that was it for the day.  The terrace was damp but not really wet as if we'd had some rain but not enough to write home about so added to the list was watering the pots on the terrace.  The wind has been very drying, the grass looks really bad and the yard is a dust bowl but at least the weeds have stopped for a while.

I didn't manage to catch the bread van so it was breakfast cereal, not my favourite but it filled a space and I planned to go into Djebel at some point but that didn't materialise either so it must happen tomorrow.  I shan't starve, there's lots in the freezer and plenty of tinned stuff but not much fresh around the place...last night it was tuna mayo with beetroot and potatoes cooked in the microwave and there was enough of it left to have as lunch today so that's me finished for tonight.  It's eight my time so I shan't want anything otherwise I shan't sleep well.  The weather did clear up so I went out and watered the pots to give them a good start for going into hibernation in the little house.  I didn't stay out there long, the wind was cold despite the sun but I did take out a bubble making kit that my daughter left behind and sent some on their merry way.  It's surprising how far some of them travel.

I got stuck into family history chart again today and I was intending to do it on the computer so I fixed up the old one in the third bedroom and started entering the details into an old version of PowerPoint.  It's been a long time since I've really used the program and it was quite a strong learning curve today.  I used to use it for developing training documentation for the various companies that I worked for but by eight this evening I could see the wood for the trees.  I've started with my great grandparents and am going to chunk it with hyperlinks to the families that married into the line that I'm following and so far so good.  I'm not putting in the partners of brothers and sisters of the direct line descendants but will hyperlink to my ex, my sister's partner, mother's family and grandmother family.  Lots of work and it will take some time but with winter coming on...it's a challenge.  It will also allow me to hyperlink into photographs so when I go back to England I can look through the pile that I left with my daughter and borrow some back.  I suppose really I should be doing it on a later version of PowerPoint...I'll have to try to get one.

So as I said, it was pretty late when I put the computer to bed tonight but I feel I've achieved quite a lot today.  It's bringing together about four years research and if it works, the family can have copies and I might even follow it up with a written chart or print out the pages on to labelling paper and stick it on to extra large sheets that can be rolled up.  Such possibilities.  LN.....Now this computer is going to bed and I shan't be long following it.....LN

Thursday 13th October

The sun had just come up this morning when I opened the curtains and it was looking to be a sunny day.  I meandered around a little this morning, had nothing quick for breakfast so started to make a list of things that I would go into Djebel and buy.  I had two phone calls to make, I wanted more detail about going on to a pro-subscription for my ancestry programme, my subscription is getting renewed in December but if I renew now it's going to cost me almost twenty pounds until the end of my subscription and then another twenty if I want to take it out for the year.  I feel they're really a greedy bunch, I understand it's a business but I feel they don't tell customers about raising subscription levels prior to taking automatic renewal and most of us do this for pleasure but sometimes the money outgrows the value of the pleasure.  Anyway, they will probably not be able to take it, last time it took six weeks before we could get the transaction to go through and since I've had my card declined using Worldpay only yesterday, their systems have an aversion to payments from Bulgaria.

I eventually got ready to leave at twelve, headed to the flower shop to check if the tour to Turkey was going ahead on the twenty first and unfortunately it isn't so I've not had much success recently with holiday bookings.  I bought three plants from the shop, one for me, one to take to England and one for my student's mum which I delivered.  She's got lots on at the moment, family business and so I didn't stay long.  My student came home from school and gave me a big hug and then carried on to the flat to get changed for football.  I moved on to the hardware shop and my phone rang and it was the garage shop.  Student's mum had forgotten to tell me that her husband had sold my old Renault (Beauty) and had put the money towards buying me replacement winter tyres.  What a surprise, I never expected anything for it, it's been about three years since I dumped it on them.  Came out of that shop and ran into my painter and mentioned that I wanted help with a few jobs around the house.  I offered him a lift since he's from the next village so I just went in to the nearest supermarket and brought bread and mayo, the rest can wait...I need a trip to Kardjali.  I drove us home, dropped him off and he's going to phone me when he can offer his services and I won't hold my breath.

As I was closing the gate after putting the Nipper away I saw the lady from the next garden to mine walking along the road towards me.  As I was opening up this morning I found around two kilos of potatoes near the door and guessed where they'd come from.  We stood talking for a while and she mentioned tortoise and I confirmed that mine were already looking for hidey holes and she said that she'd found three in the garden while she was working and one hadn't completely lost it's shell.  She went back to her garden and reappeared clutching a plastic sack, opened it up and there were three tiny tortoise, they were moving, just, the little one was still incased in a very decrepit looking shell and she handed them to me....and I couldn't refuse.  I guess they've got more chance with me that her and her cows and off she went.  I put them in the bottom of a plastic bin, put some water in there since they all looked dry as a bone and then went to the internet to see what I was supposed to do next.  They're supposed t like Aloe Vera so I found a very young plant and stripped it of leaves, found some dried grass and put it in the bin, sliced a carrot very thinly and put them in the sun to warm up.  I don't know how long she's had them wrapped up so now they have a bit more freedom and they're now in my upstairs bedroom by the window and I've collected more hay and covered them over.  Two of them seem to be moving around, the third is not doing well at all so I'll leave them overnight and probably keep them for a could of days where they are and then probably put them at the bottom of the garden where the others hang out in a very sandy spot and let nature take its course.  

Chicken wings and roasted vegetables for supper tonight and it should be ready any time soon, I'm trying to get into the habit of eating early.  As I said, Kardjali tomorrow and I've found out that it's our local village fete on Sunday so I shall have to put in an appearance for that to keep the flag flying.  LN.....I smell supper.....LN

Friday 14th October

Horrible night's sleep,,,,it must have been three thirty before I eventually got off.  It was seven thirty when I woke up and my first port of call was to check on the tortoise and move them up into the sun in my upstairs bedroom.  I'd put lots of hay on top of them so had to search for them, one seems to have more life in them than the rest and the one that still had the shell attached seems to be under-developed but I think what I was doing wasn't doing them any good.  I made a decision, it's getting time for them to hibernate so I took the garden fork, headed down to the bottom of the garden near the bonfire and dug out near the bank near the wall.  I created an underground nest for them, put the three of them in and put the rest of the hay and food near to them.  I couldn't look after them properly so I've left it to nature,  I'll check on them tomorrow and hopefully all will be well.  

I had a shower and washed my hair and had a very slow morning and didn't get out to Kardjali until getting on for twelve o'clock.  I intended stopping off at the garage to see how much I owed after he had partly paid for my new tyres with  the money from Beauty  but after negotiating the traffic in Djebel I completely forgot all about it and carried on the straight and narrow.  The rest of the journey was quite uneventful except for road works on the narrowest bridge on the route but I wasn't held up much.  First stop was Kaufland and first problem was differentiating which button on the scales belonged to my pears that I'd selected.  Maybe if they sold just 'pears' there wouldn't have been any problem.  As it happened, the cashier at the cash point noticed my mistake, said nothing to me but checked with the girl at the next till, made her way to the customer scale near the front window, found the right button and repriced them.  I felt a little guilty incase I'd underpriced them but on checking as I loaded them into the Nipper, they were cheaper after she'd made the adjustment.....and not a word spoken.  Next stop Lidl and this time I stuck to my list, it is really turning into a rubbish store but there are just a few things that I can't get anywhere else so I suppose I shall still keep going but my main bug is that they have shelving at the junction of each fridge cabinets and this shelving is very unstable.  Each time I slide open one of the fridge tops I have to hold on to the shelving system so that it doesn't fall into oblivion.  I really should take the store manager to task over it, not that anything will happen but at least I will have the satisfaction of having mentioned it.

I drove back to Djebel, remembered that I needed to go to the garage, drove down there and the gates were closed so I turned round and headed for the main road.
As I drove passed the shop I saw the man that I wanted to speak to but it will have to wait for another day so I carried on to the last supermarket in Djebel and made my final purchases.  The bread that I'd bought yesterday was rubbish and had gone over the wall this morning and now I was going back to my usual brand.  Home for three thirty, shopping unpacked and put away, chicken breasts individually packed, a bag or coquette potatoes split up into individual bags ready for the air fryer.  Shopping away, I poured a glass of Coke, settled on the sofa with Countdown and promptly fell sleep for an hour so obviously catching up on lost sleep.  

I woke up to very heavy rain, no sign of the mountains and it's cold.  I'm hoping that my painter contacts me tomorrow....I need to get the chimney sorted, I would have had my first fire of this autumn.  No supper for me, I bought a very large filo pastry ring filled with cheese and settled in to it on the way home from Kardjali.  That should do me until morning and my goody box is stuffed to the lid and beyond so I have plenty to go at.  LN.....Shopping out of the way for another couple of weeks.....LN

Saturday 15th October

Another funny night...I fell asleep watching television in the lounge, thought I was still asleep enough to make it to the bedroom and carry on where I'd left off but wrong....another hour or so playing games and then I managed to drop off again.  Seven thirty start, didn't exactly burst into life, decided on the remains of the filo and cheese for breakfast, warmed it up in the microwave and was sitting at the table in the stairwell watching breakfast television and swearing at the news and looking up I saw my painter watching me on the terrace.  I was still in pale blue fleecy pj's so I went out and greeted him and he'd come round to do the chimney.  Joy oh, joy.  He didn't want to use the piece of kit that had been left at my house despite my pleas, he was happy to go up on the roof and attack it from the top.  He'd bought round a weight to attach to the brush but I was concerned.  The weight that he had was around eight inches long but I had visions of it jamming in the chimney and having to break through to find it again.  He set off up the road to ask another of our neighbours for the ball shaped weight that most use but he didn't have one so while he was away I checked out my heap of old metal and found something shorter in length, just as heavy so we set about attaching the brush to it to pave the way for the weight.  I found a long rope, we both struggled remembering how to straighten out the sectional ladder and had a smile about it, he heaved it up onto the balcony and I set about preparing for the rest of the task.  I removed the woodburner pipes so that they wouldn't get in the way of the weight, found some heavy duty tape and attached a black plastic bag to the soot outlet box and supported it on an upturned storage box.  I was ready,

Up he went on to the roof, removed the top of the chimney weather shield so that he could get the weight and brush down and of we went.  I went back down to the bathroom to remove the soot and clinker as soon as it fell to minimise the mess in the bathroom and eventually the weight came through and the chimney was clear.  That said he was about to start the other when the owner of the other piece of kit came round to supervise my use of it not knowing that my painter had arrived until he saw him on the roof.  I settled him in the house with a coffee and carried on with the other chimney which took no time at all, I'd only used it as an emergency when the power had gone off and I couldn't use the main woodburner.  Weather shield replace, ladders away, kit stored in the wood shed for next time, paid the man despite his objections and off he went.  I left the cleaning up and made more coffee and we sat in the lounge, chewed over the fat, set off for Kardjali to go to the new store in Kardjali, he wanted curtains as a shield for one of the alcoves and we managed to find them, he dropped me off and off he went taking his chimney kit with him.  

I cleared up the mess and lit the fire just to check that there was no problem with the boiler, pump and radiators and everything went like a dream.  The hot water was circulating within half an hour so I went out and filled up a container with logs and the temperature of the house is just as it should be.  It's been cold and damp all day with a very keen wind so it's good to be back in control where I can light the fire as and when I want.  That late breakfast has sat with me all day and I'm not sure if I want any supper or not at the moment.  The boiler thermostat is on and I'm going for a bath to get the smell of soot off me and then settling down in a warm house to watch Strictly at eight thirty my time.  LN.....It's good to have friends that appear and get on with things......LN

Sunday 16th October

Much better night's sleep.  I had a late bath, straight to bed while sleepy and through until six thirty this morning.  I meandered through until seven, washed and dressed to face the day, made poached eggs on ham for breakfast, cleared the kitchen and everything was going well in my little world.  The washing went into the machine, pegging it out by ten and by now the sun was out, a reasonable wind was blowing and I knew it wouldn't take long for it to dry.

It was the village fete today and I had every intention of going but didn't get there.  I somehow started looking at my ancestry records and decided to solve a few outstanding issues but didn't manage to achieve it.  I swung over to television and fell on to several celebrities on a pilgrimage walk to Istanbul and they were passing from Serbia into Bulgaria and heading for the top of one of the peaks before dropping down into Samokov near the ski resorts.  Interesting characters including Edwina Curry and Fatima Whitbread, I've seen the program once before but was fascinated by one of the caves that they visited and it might be worth the trek.  I heard a shout from outside, thought it was someone on their way to the fete so just headed to the porch door and was surprised to see Bekir clutching a black plastic bag.  I obviously went outside, he handed me the bag and he'd brought me a jar of acacia honey from his bees.  He asked me how I was and told him that I'd had Covid and it had taken me a long time to get over it and he recommended taking the hone with a little warm water, not hot or it wouldn't do the trick.  We sat on the bench on the terrace and I said that I'd seen his photo of the grandchildren on the web and of his son with his girlfriend at their engagement ceremony.  They do it differently here, it's more an acceptance by the families and the wedding comes later.  We discussed the work that I needed doing with the first on the list being the roof near my bedroom  balcony and I said that I really do need it fixing before winter and he agreed.  He'll be phoning me, reckons it will only take a day but the whole roof under eaves want covering in wood preservative to maintain it....and I managed to get a promise out of him.  Off he went back to his friends at the fete and I went back in the house and stretched out on the sofa and had forty winks...maybe even more.

Just after half seven my time, I watched the Scots get thrashed at rugby by the Italians and next on the agenda is the results show for Strictly.  Quite a few contestants pulled out cracking performances last night so let's see how the public vote as to who makes it through and who goes into the dance off.  Supper might be a picking session tonight, I finished the remains of the ham on a sandwich late this afternoon and not many hunger bugs out and about at the moment.  LN....Pleased that the repairs to the roof is on someone else's agenda........LN

Monday 17th October

Another seven start but this time I slept all the way through...fantastic.  I didn't burst into life immediately, put yesterday's washing away and at about ten decided that bacon and a fried egg was the way to go so I did.  I sat in the stairwell watching the morning television eating my breakfast, sipping my coffee, took my blood pressure and everything was good and so much for tablets...three months without now and much better than before.

I meandered up to the second floor and settled down to solve a few more queries with my family tree and somehow I've managed to more or less complete the tree going back to seventeen ninety one of my sister's husband.  This research is going to be useful as I continue the family tree with hyperlinks, I shan't put all the brothers and sisters in it but it will give depth to the chart for my nephew and nieces.  I did have one bugbear, each time I exited from a search screen it took me to a screen suggesting that I took out the upgrade for the nineteen twenty-one census and I've made a decision that I'm not doing it until December so stopped slipping the screen in every few minutes.  I wrote on the Facebook page my feelings and the post never got by the censor....all issues regarding subscriptions have to be dealt with by the on-line help so I didn't bother reporting it.

The day has just fled by...it's five thirty my time, I'm still in my track type bottoms and top, I never really got dressed for the day.  Mid afternoon I had a message from the Royal Mail that they were unable to deliver a present that I'd ordered for my grand-daughter so it looks like I shall be going back to Gift vouchers...much less trouble.  I've let my son know, after ten years away I have no idea of pick-up points or how to re-organise the delivery. The weather has been good today, wall to wall sunshine but that wind has been exceptionally cold and probably the reason that I only put my nose out, came in and put an over-jumper on.  Student tomorrow and I may couple that up with a visit to Momchilgrad market, depends on tomorrow's weather.  LN.....Time to cook Turkish kebabs and croquette potatoes for supper.......LN

Tuesday 18th October

Another good night's sleep and another very lazy morning.  I did managed to have a bonfire to get rid of the rubbish, find the curtains out to get the winter one's ready for putting up in the stairwell, cook a bacon sandwich for breakfast and that was about it.  It took a while for the sun to burn off the mist from the valley between the mountains but despite the sun, the wind was really cold so I stayed in the house where it was really warm.  Outside this morning it was seven degrees, in the house it was twenty five in so what would you choose!!

At about twelve I checked out the texts that I'd previously prepared for my student and one was a football mini-story in seven parts so that's set for the next seven weeks.  At one thirty I received a message from my student's mother and it was a pair of eyes, I thought it was reminding me that she'd seen the last message that I'd sent her but when I questioned her when I arrived for the lesson, she said that it was a message to let me know that she was looking forward to seeing me. What a nice thought.  My student wasn't there when I arrived so his mother phoned him at school and a few of them had been kept behind for a small incident that I didn't question, the conversation was held in Bulgarian and too quick for me to really understand but from the body language, he wasn't very happy about it and for me it was amusing to watch his little indignant face.  

Eventually he went up to the apartment and I gave him ten minutes before I followed him and we had a catch-up...it's been a few weeks since we've had a lesson so we had to break it in slowly.  I produced the text and we worked through it, we picked many holes in it, a lot of it was talking about times that things were done and it was very inconsistent.  At the end of the lesson we talked about new equipment for his home gym and the treadmill that was able to calculate fat index and he persuaded me to get on the machine and calculate mine....I need to get mine down and this might be the nudge that I need.

Going back on the sale of Beauty, my contribution to four new winter tyres was only eighty five leva which wasn't bad.  After all I'd written the value of the car off and I think it's actually coming back to my village and I shall see it out and about.  So home, I didn't have to stop for anything from the  supermarket, supper was the remains of the boiled ham in a sandwich and I cooked more of the croquette potatoes as a side dish.  I'm going to have my winter tyres put on the Nipper tomorrow to take that item from the list and I might go into Kardjali first.  On the other hand...there are plenty of jobs that I can get on with here.  I lit the fire so take the edge off the inside temperature, it really doesn't take long to make it comfortable in just a lightweight sweater.  LN....I've enjoyed my day....LN

Wednesday 19th October

Happy birthday to my dad, Harry, I've just calculated how old he would have been and it's shocked me.  I forget how old I am at times....where did those years go?

Lovely morning with lots of mist around, three degrees outside so maybe I should be thinking about bringing the pots in before we get the sudden dip.  I did manage to get my backside into gear, dressed for town, ignored breakfast and settled for the second cup of coffee and into the Nipper by nine thirty.  I got stopped by the police on a routine check on my way out of Djebel.  I produced my driving license and registration card for Bulgaria, he checked my insurance displayed on the front window and he said he didn't need any other documentation but two of them seemed to have trouble finding me in the hand held iPad.  After what seemed like a long time he handed me back my cards and said that there was no problem so I questioned him as to why it had taken so long and he didn't explain, just repeated that there was no problem.  He said that he did speak some English so I suggested that he stopped me every Friday and he would be able to speak it better.  I had a cheery greeting from the third policeman hanging around and off I set for Kardjali.  That said they were really out in force and stopping everyone coming the other way when I got to the Momchilgrad turn off....the coffers must be running dry.

Straight to the curtain shop and decided against them on closer inspection and my existing ones seem much thicker so will get hung tomorrow.  I looked at the picture frames that were on offer but it wasn't glass fronted but plastic so they went by the way too but I did buy two pretty smelly candles...my first pressies for Christmas.  Next stop Kaufland and they had Gold Blend on offer so I topped up the store cupboard and didn't have an enormous bill, over to Lidl and the same applied.  Back to Djebel didn't have much to do and straight to the garage, winter tyres fitted so the snow can come when it likes.

Home for two more or less, shopping unpacked and noticed a missed call from my new Bulgarian travel companion telling me that the trip this weekend is not going ahead but said that she would be contacting me if anything came up'  I told her for my plans to Christmas in the UK so any time before or after those dates I would be willing to make up numbers.  I settled down and watched Netflix and lit the fire around five o'clock to make the house cosy.  The hot water was soon circulating around the radiators, supper is in the oven, I've got barbecued belly pork and a jacket for tonight, I can smell it so it's time I went down and checked on it.  LN.....Carpets and curtains tomorrow....LN

Thursday 20th October

What a good day.  The curtain was up before breakfast with only one or two hiccups, the joint of meat that I'd taken from the freezer last night went into the slow cooker, I added a stock cube and some Worcestershire sauce and it's now turned off so that I can poke through it tomorrow morning when it's cold.  When the locals butcher a beast for their feasts and fasts they don't appear to have much idea of butchery....you can get all sorts and I think I did.  So tomorrow when the fat has solidified, I can remove it along with the bits of bone and then do something with it.  I had a pit-stop, made myself a ham baguette and fed the remains of last night's supper to the cat.  I guess she must be sleeping under the honeysuckle, it's very sheltered and it must cut down on the wind.  Last night did go down to three degrees again but it's been OK today.  I laid the fire ready for tonight and set it going around six, thought I'd lost it but managed to salvage it.

Not only did the curtain go up, the carpet went down in the winter lounge as a temporary measure and I'll measure it up in the morning and buy a replacement.  It looks OK but I want it to look better than that.  The carpet that I took up from the upstairs landing, washed, dried, rolled up and stored in the little house is now unrolled and sited and tomorrow the hoover comes out and the whole house gets done.  Only one small carpet to get put down in the stairwell.  I had to take most of the computer apart to get the carpet underneath the table and I was surprised when it all went back together again successfully and it all works...result.

The rest of the afternoon was spent searching for  the death certificates for my two brothers.  I since found out that there are lots of records that are still waiting to be made digital but I did have it confirmed that if there is a birth certificate there has to be a death certificate which as yet hasn't been entered in any system.  So after going to all the effort of ordering the records, Worldpay have sent me refunds minus an administration cost from the GRO.  And now I have to try to find out who holds the original records films and try to see them or get someone to locate them for me.

Nice sunset tonight except that the camera just didn't capture it properly but I tried my best.  Carpet under my feet at my desk on the landing makes it feel cosy again....the cold tiles are great in the summer but not good for the feet in the winter.  So nothing pressing tomorrow, I've got plenty of food in so need to grace the shops with my presence.  LN.....Winter is coming John Snow......LN

Friday 21st October

Seven thirty start and it was a morning of activity.  Two loads of washing the machine and out on the line for nine, the lamb was plucked from the bone and the fat removed and the rest put in the fridge for later.  The cat was to have the left over so I went out on the terrace and made my call to encourage her out but she wasn't obvious so I put it in the conservatory for later, it I'd have put it out one of the others would have scoffed the lot.  Eventually I saw her and took it outside, she hid under the Nipper and is very timid so I put it down near the steps to the little house, I went inside and she immediately attacked it leaving only the bones so I picked those up when she'd finished, no need to encourage others.  Back to the kitchen and I peeled potatoes, beetroot, onions and carrots, skinned leeks, cut them up and into the stock from the lamb and everything went back into the slow cooker.  I tidied the kitchen and felt I'd filled my morning well.

I stopped for a coffee break and made a couple of slices of toast and the mood got me to get the hoover out and run it round downstairs and then took it upstairs to finish off.  I've left it in the bedroom, I think it's going to be needed when Bekir comes to fix the roof.  The rest of the day has been fairly gentle.  I finished watching my Netflix, backtracking on the last couple of episodes, I'd sort of lost the plot and slept through some of it so needed to find out where I was with it.  It was worth the effort, good twist at the end.  Washing in by four and put away and I was surprised to see my neighbours daughter at the door and she had a couple of letters for me.  One electricity bill, which I've never had before and another from A1 my phone company and I'm not sure if the government are now insisting that all household receive invoices and I also noticed that there was a twenty percent tax on the electricity one.  I tried some of the stew for supper and it really needs blending so that's a job for tomorrow and I'll put the meat back in to add flavour.

Gardening day tomorrow, pots cleared and sorted for storage and we've had so little rain that they all need a good watering as well.  Gentle activity keeps the blood moving round the system.  LN.....Still lots of flowering plants in the garden.....LN

Saturday 22nd October

Very silly night.  I fell asleep watching the television around seven and sort of dog dozed for around two hours so obviously, when I took myself to bed, tried to go to sleep and eventually looked at the clock and it was one twenty...and I thought it was around six and time to get up and get going.  The Kindle came out and I played silly games until four, eventually went off again and woke up at seven so not too bad overall.  I thought it was about time I stripped the bed, it was a beautiful morning, sunshine and a breeze and it would be OK as long as I used lots of pegs in case the wind picked up which it did.  So washing in the machine and managed to get two loads including the under blanket/ quilt and I had thought of sewing round the outside of the quilt that was a little worse for wear.  The top coating had shredded in places so instead I put it inside one of the lighter quilt covers that I have, washed the quilt inside the cover so everything stayed intact so all was good.

Next job was to blend the vegetables from the slow cooker to make soup, I put the lamb from the fridge into it and added some peas for sweetness and returned everything to the slow cooker and that was lunch.  I had a bonfire and cleared up some of the old wood and got it going really well.  I don't have a problem here with a bonfire and washing out on the line at the same time.  The garden is just so big.  I took the statutory sleep this afternoon but woke up at three thirty so shouldn't impinge on my bed-time.  Washing in, bed made up for tonight. the rest of the chunks of meat have been taken out of the soup and put into a pie dish, I've sliced potatoes and put them over the top and it's in the oven and that will be supper.  There's still some soup left but that will go to the cat tomorrow and it can pick out of it anything that's left.

Strictly tonight, supper is ready and then I should be ready for bed and hopefully a good night.  I think the house was just too warm last night, I'd lit the fire at five so tonight I haven't bothered lighting it.  I'll put a blanket on if I get cold.  LN...I've got an open mind about what I'll do tomorrow...I'll see how I feel......LN

Sunday 23rd October

More of a gentle climb of the sun this morning.  Blue sky this side but very cloudy towards the west and as the sun came up so did the morning mist in the valley.  I didn't do much until ten, it was Sunday, my day of rest but there again, most days could be days of rest but I do push myself on occasions, when it's necessary.  Today it wasn't necessary.  I watch Monty Don this morning and he said that it was a good idea to cut back buddleia to protect the root stock explaining that with a heavy top on it the wind is likely to break the branches or disturb the roots.  He recommended that you took the existing branches down half way and then did the normal trim the following year...so I did.  The two at the bottom of the garden are now reduced in size and the some of the sheep had a field-day when I threw the branches over the wall until the rest of the flock took off to try and find fresh pastures and off the stragglers skipped to find them.  Those done I moved up and reduced another tall shrub under the lonesome pine, that flowers on new wood but the rest of the ones that flower on this year's growth I left alone.

I came in around twelve, thought about breakfast and then realised that it would be an early lunch....that sun was well over the yard-arm.  I found a chicken leg in the freezer, thawed it out and added curry powder and red pepper to the remains of the soup in the slow cooker and that was going to be supper.  I had every intention of cooking rice but never got round to it but the chicken was so tender after three hours cooking away gently.  I realised that there was very little that I could do in the garden except collect up leaves but they're still falling daily so I settled on the sofa and found another series on Netflix that kept me occupied for about four episodes.  So chicken down, cheese and biscuits to follow, I feel very rested and full and only the washing up to do before I settle in for the Strictly result.  I didn't venture out today realising that I need to go out tomorrow so why use twice the quantity of fuel.  LN.....A very restful day......LN

Monday 24th October

Another good day, seven degrees outside at eight this morning and twenty in the house...and it got better all day.  Top temperature was twenty seven in and at seven tonight it was still fourteen degrees outside.  Of course...that's assuming that the thermometer is working correctly.  I made an omelette for breakfast, I did take a look at the week old bread, it looked suspect so over the wall it went for the animals.  The cat had the chicken bones and the rest of the soup and cleaning out the slow cooker bowl was a job for the metal pot scourer, brute force and ignorance just wouldn't cut through it.  Kitchen tidied, everything put away and the rest of the day was mine.

I didn't jump into action straightaway, meandered through the morning but eventually got out there and cleaned up the pots, cut back the dead flower heads on the geraniums and next year I'm going to grow more of these so I shall be taking cuttings soon.  The are so undemanding, sag a little when they need watering but quickly come back and soon get back to normal.  I took the debris to the bottom of the garden along with the garden fork, dug over the bed with the buddleia, emptied the dried deadheads on the soil and covered them with the bark pieces that I'd put there after my wood had been delivered in June.  Energy tank empty I settled on the sofa in the lounge, watched a little tv and got my head down for an hour or so and then went out again and planted up little conifer that's been on the terrace for a couple of weeks.  It went in the wooden iron bound container, it had a conifer in it before but it went off to the plant heaven.

So it looks like we shall have a new prime minister and hopefully it might settle down again for a while.  I'm definitely not wanting an election.   I couldn't decide what to do for supper so I settled for tuna, potato salad with beetroot, onions and have stuffed myself to the gunnels.  Quiz night tonight, I love my University Challenge and Just Connect challenging my brain at my late stage of life...got to be done.  LN.....Student tomorrow and I'll shop in Djebel....LN

Tuesday 25th October

Six thirty start and it was as black as pitch outside and only one week to go before the clocks 'fall' backwards.  Great that it's lighter in the morning but those nights are going to seem awfully long.  Beautiful day today, it's ben up in the middle twenties. gone cooler tonight but a thicker t-shirt was just too much for today outside but when I was upstairs in the flat with my student and there's no sun in the apartment at all, so wasn't overdressed until we started the game of football.

Lots of birds out and about today including woodpeckers but the camera was always in the wrong place and they're so jittery.  Even though I'm inside and take the stairs, they still manage to spot the slightest movement and they're off.  The electricity went off for a couple of hours this morning, they're obviously doing work in one of the villages and it's been so good for the last few years that you just become so dependent on it and miss it when it's not there.  I've very cautious using the phone and have taken off the internet connection and only use it with the house internet, the bill came as a surprise last time, not hugely expensive but more than I usually pay so I'm cautious.  Had a shower and washed my hair around eleven anticipating the return of the connection so that I could dry it but no go so I wrapped it in a towel for a while, combed it through, plaited it and sat in the rocking chair in the upstairs bedroom in the sun.  Eventually it came back on so I dried it and got ready for the lesson with my student.

For most of the lessons I prepare homework but for a while it's diminished so I thought today was the day to re-instate it.  Last week we did two section out of seven episodes of the same story so today I recapped the first two but had prepared questions on the next two that we were going to tackle today.  As it happened, three and four were interesting and we carried on with the next section, we both wanted to know where the story was going.  There are only a couple of pages in each section so we did the next and the next until all seven sections were finished.  We both said how much we'd enjoyed it, we wanted to know how it ended and it ended well.  So lesson over we had our half an hour of indoor football, I was thrashed even though he's now giving me twenty goals to start the game.  

I went down to the shop and sat talking to his mother and at six her husband and son, my previous student arrived with the old radio that they've taken out of the Beast before it was sold.  No sooner the word than the blow, they'd installed it in the Nipper and this has the advantage of having a memory stick so that I can load my music on it.  Apparently I had the wrong sort of stick before, when I shut off the engine the music went back to the first track so after fitting it they tested it with their memory stick that they use in the car and it worked.  I invested in a new stick, my older student offered to load it for me but I said that I could managed with the music that I have from my old Apple and that's my job for tomorrow.  Home for seven after shopping in the local supermarket, jacket potato firstly in the microwave and finished it off in the air fryer.  I grated cheese, added it with butter and a little mayo and my supper was done.  LN.....Apparently I missed the partial eclipse today.....next time....LN

Wednesday 26th October

So another silly evening and night.  I was disappointed on Monday night that they'd put rugby on and cancelled my quizzes and was amazed when I saw on the sheds. that they'd been moved to Tuesday night so my evening was set in stone.  I watched those programs, started watching another, fell asleep on the sofa and was really surprised when I saw that it was three thirty and time for bed.  Unfortunately I wasn't sleepy when I got there so played sudoku for an hour or so and eventually settled down and it was eight when I woke up and this time in my bed.  First thing I filled my morning with was unpicking three curtain headers off old curtains.  They're not my taste but  can use the headers and attach different bottoms to them to made two short curtains for the old interior windows in the lounge.  I felt fine, the morning was going well, poached eggs on toast for breakfast, load of washing in, dressed for Kardjali, packed up what I had to return to the garage shop, pegged out washing and was ready to leave at twelve.  There wasn't a parking spot outside the shop so I parked up on the main carpark, walked to the shop and the parking spaces outside were all waiting for me....too late.  I didn't stay long and was on my way and parking up in the central carpark in Kardjali.

First stop was to pay my home phone and I asked the cashier if they'd just started sending out phone bills again...I hadn't had one for about two years. he said that they hadn't changed anything and his thoughts were that I'd got a new postman that was choosing to deliver letters not throw them away.  He might be right so I moved on to find the shop to buy the cream and obviously it had moved from where I thought it was.  Eventually I found it and made the purchase and back to the Nipper with ten minutes to spare before my parking ran out.  Over to Lidl, nothing that I really wanted from Kaufland, picked up potting compost, yogurts, fizzy water and a couple of bottles of squash for the fizzy water and was heading home with a very small bill which is unusual.   Parked up at the garage shop and handed over the cream, didn't stop because I'd bought frozen fish cakes, home just before four, washing in and put away and what a good day I've had.  Not thought about supper so far but I'm warming up to it...there's bound to be something easy to make for tonight.  LN.....Another day of pleasing myself tomorrow...nothing on the agenda......LN

Thursday 27th October

I did go to sleep last night watching television but I did wake up in time to watch Elon Musk and I'm really not sure that he's of this world.  Strange but very talented, a visionary and won't take no for an answer pulling people into his world using emotional means.  I shan't be signing up for the next flight.

Reasonable night's sleep, working on automatic pilot going through the motions and decided that the easiest option for breakfast was toast and jam.  I decided to walk the garden and when I got to the terrace there was lots  of caterwauling coming from half way down the low wall and as I approached the black cat shot out of the bushes and I spotted one of the little ginger and white ones hiding and then took off over the wall. Now I've never got close enough to the black cat to find out if it is male or female and have sometimes referred to it as 'Ms' cat but I think I'm going to have to review this or rather have a closer look.  I sat on the wall for a while at the bottom of the garden, quite a few clouds had appeared, dawn this morning was gentle with fluffy clouds but they'd thickened up but eventually they cleared.  Walking back I noticed that one of the pretty pink bobbing flowers was lookin as if it needed a drink so I grabbed the watering can, poured it in the container, filled up the watering can again and doused it again.  It did look much better this afternoon when I checked.  

After deciding that I had curtains to make I went up to the back bedroom, sorted out my boots since they were on the floor in front of the chest that I wanted to get in to and now they're sitting in the porch waiting to be cleaned.  I did find the material I wanted and that's now on the sewing table...things are moving on.  Another thing I went on the hunt for this morning was the garden spade and after much searching I found it in the little house and while I was in there I noticed that the jasmine cuttings that I'd taken were still green so I watered them, opened up the compost bin and shoveled some of the contents into the top of the container to nourish the soil.  The shovel was to remove the contents from the bottom of the composter and put it back in the top, I watered it well and hopefully it will break down.

This afternoon didn't see much activity, it was more of a day of 'cud'av' or 'shud-av' and didn't.  I watched Countdown, put supper in the oven and had an early supper, the washing up is waiting for me and will be tackled as soon as I've finished the update.  Again nothing much listed as being 'must-dos' so it will probably be very much like today, full of good intent so I'll write things down and see if I can tick anything off tomorrow evening.  LN.....And relax....LN

Friday 28th October

Seven thirty start and didn't really get bothered to get dressed but got on with the normal routines.  I settled for toast for breakfast, played around with the material and started to cut out the curtains and that was going to be my quest for the day.  I found more lining material since the main material was only printed not woven so I didn't want it to look unfinished from the other side since both sides would be visible.  One or two deviations to the day, I cleared out the rubbish bins and toilet bins and prepare for a bonfire, put the rubbish in the porch ready to take down to the bottom of the garden and then went back to my curtains.  At ten I was still in my PJ's, I was one of the great unwashed and needed a comb through my hair when my neighbour from the bottom of the village arrived.  This is the one that goes round my plants and wants everything or 'bits' to try to grown her own.  I invited her in and we sat in the lounge, she didn't want coffee and she mentioned water and I thought she wanted water to drink.  After she repeated it again I realised that she wanted me to take her down to the well so that we could fill up a few bottles from the spring.  We went outside, she remembered that I had medlar fruit still on the tree and I'd asked her if she wanted them the last time she was here.  She started to head down the garden, I went back and found a plastic bag and I joined her at the tree at the bottom of the garden and she started picking the fruit and there were loads.  I stopped her for a while and said that I wanted to give some to my friend in Djebel, my student's mum and told her to slow up a little and she did.  I carried the back back and she must have had around six kilograms of fruit in the bag, she had one money plant and had collected tobacco seeds and all this went in the Nipper so that the neighbours wouldn't see her booty.  I asked her if she needed bottles and she did so off she went, we arranged to meet at her mother's house at eleven thirty, I washed and dressed, climbed the ladder in the little house and found clean bottles upstairs and put the medlar fruit, plants and bottles in the car and set off at eleven twenty five.

She came out to meet me, took the loot into the house and off we set for the spring.  It's the usual one just beyond the next village and fortunately no-one else was there and it was also good because since we've had very little rain for the last eight weeks more or less, both water channels were flowing very slowly.  Eventually we managed to fill the four bottles, I put them in the Nipper and off she went collecting fir cones to start off her fire.  I offered her a bag which she refused and only wanted enough for the day.  Back to the house, I parked up in the square in the lower village and we carried the bottle to the house.  Her mother who is really sweet but doesn't speak Bulgarian which makes it a little difficult for me, was sitting in the sun only getting up occasionally to vent her anger on the cats and using a stick to make sure they understood.  My friend has given up her job in Kardjali, the house inside is in a pretty poor state, money is tight but they are having work done.  She invited me in and it was in a complete mess inside, the 'maestor' has done one room, two more to go and a small bathroom to be added so I offered my help should she need it with some of the larger pieces of furniture.  She declined saying that the workman was really good.  

There was lots of activity in the village so we went out to the square to have a look.  The other ladies from the village were sitting on the bench, the social food wagon was delivering and I was getting it offered left, right and centre.  I think you have to be very hungry, the soup and beans were very fluid based and the only decent thing was the bread.  My friend's mothers went to the cats and goodness only knows where Beyser's went.  There were lots of men I didn't recognise and was informed that there was tarmac going down on the road on the next lane over the field from the main road to connect it with the other little square further up the road.  I noticed that there was a lorry parked in the square and another appeared from the little lane and they were obviously the ones with the tarmac that had been dropped and then there was more crunching as another machine made it's way back to the square.  At this point I remembered that I had the camera in the Nipper so retrieved it, I took a photo of the lorries and as the tarmac machine emerged from the lane I took the first photo and the man in control took his good off, smoothed his hair so I took another for his benefit.  

I said farewells to my ladies, got back in the Nipper and set off for home, had to remove three cows from the outside of the property before I could open the gates to get the car back in the yard.  Eventually they left, I opened the gates and reversed in and was closing the gates when the tarmac machine came by the house and I got a wave from the driver.  I didn't go back to the sewing, settled on the sofa with cheese and biscuits and promptly fell asleep waking up just before four.  Coffee and a little tidying round, the curtains can wait, moved the secateurs that I'd used that morning back into the house, noticed that the temperature had dropped and the wind was cold so went in and lit the fire.  It took a while for the pump to kick in but eventually the hot water was purring round the system and giving a substantial back warmth to the house.

Gentle day today, it's Djebel fare over the next day or so so that should keep me out of it without I get a call from my student's family to see if I want to go.  They're very much of a muchness so most likely I'll stay here and get on with a few jobs.  LN.....Time to enjoy the warmth, cook a chicken breast for supper and relax....LN

Saturday 29th October

Another really silly night, I spent more time awake than asleep and felt pretty jaded all day.  I eventually washed and dressed, made mushrooms on toast for breakfast and started my chores for the day.  I filled up the log basket and the spare log container in the porch and set the fire for tonight.  The sun was out, the wind was cold and I kept moving so that the cold didn't dig deep into the bones.

First job outside was to clear the leaves or rather try to, as soon as I'd cleared the yard, the stiff breeze was dropping a load more but not to be downhearted, I did my best.  I used a scarifirer to collect the leaves into piles especially from underneath the Beast in the garage but it was mainly to no avail.  The log container's full of leaves went over the road for the cows and two over the wall and when I checked later in the day, they had all gone and it definitely wasn't the wind blowing them back....the new lot were from overhead.  I also had to water the pots again, everything is so dry and the wind is drying them even more.  I'd set myself a target with the Fitbit but unfortunately the battery showed that it needed putting on the docking station so that went completely out of the window and I only managed six thousand steps....better luck next time.

I came in around three, I'd had enough, the breeze was beating me and I settled down to watch England thrashing Greece at the rugby World championship but the Greeks never gave up until the final whistle. Let's see how England get on in the next round when they face some of the better teams.  Supper of chicken wings covered in barbecue sauce that was out of date but not out of flavour fortunately.  I did them in the oven and the chips in the air fryer, so simple and tasty.  The curtains are still waiting to be completed, maybe tomorrow.  LN.......Now...Strictly calls......LN

Sunday 30th October

Six start, I'd changed the clocks last night before I'd gone to bed but today has seemed incredibly long.  The eyes adjust to the change of the clocks but the body doesn't.  I've also had an issue that 'pain stopped play' and no, that's not a type, I woke up with a stiff shoulder and neck and despite slathering it with 'Deepheat' it's hardly moved it all day.  It may have been that I slept in the wrong position last night or picked up a chill in it from my time sweeping up the leaves, I'll never know but I did say that there was a chill in the wind yesterday.

Breakfast was a simple affair, I'd removed some ham from the freezer yesterday and a sandwich sufficed.  The chicken wing bones and bits went over the wall for anything that could manage it.  I've not seen sight or sound from the cat all day although I've not really been active outside.  I did transfer music onto the new memory stick that I bought the other day and gave it a whirl in the radio that was installed the other day in the Nipper.....and it worked.  The last time I used it I got really frustrated because the radio always returned it to the first track on the dongle so I only ever got to hear the same tunes.  I queried this with my garage shop and she told me that it was the fault of the memory stick not the radio and it seems to have worked.  I played a few tunes in the yard, removed the keys, started the car again and it continued where it had left off.  It will be good to have my own music and not have to search round music channels.  I came in, laid the fire for tonight, went on to my ancestry program and did a bit of a search on the internet as to how to find out who would have the records for the deaths of my two brothers.  I've managed to find another telephone number in the West Midlands in the UK and I'll give them a call tomorrow and hopefully I shall be able to pay for someone to do the research for me.  It's not that I want to find out where they're buried, just the cause of death which should be somewhere in the records.

The pain in the neck has made me lazy, it hurts me to move so why should I.  I've negotiate the stairs and lit the fire going and it seems to have taken first time.  I'm already thinking that it's going to be a long evening, the first of many......we are heading into winter.  LN.....Now to find something for supper......LN

Monday 31st October

So today I offered myself for a mercy mission.  A friend was coming out of hospital, his car was in the wrong place so I volunteered to go up with his wife and the friend who was collecting him from hospital.....I knew he would be worried about the car staying in Plovdiv so I offered to bring it back.  We weren't sure what time he would be discharged from care so I sat with his wife in the garden waiting for the call from Plovdiv enjoying the sun, watching the cabbage whites and other butterflies filling up on nectar  A bit like watching nature in action, feed and mate on the cosmos and head up to the vegetable patch and lay eggs on the cabbages....a good morning's work.

The call came through so a call was made to the friend who was driving the car to Plovdiv, he arrived and off we set for the two hour journey.  We found the hospital and the exact room, brought the luggage down to the car and there was one other thing that had to be done so I sat in the car that I was driving down fiddling with nobs, adjusting mirrors, working out where the indicators were and the light switches.  Everything appeared to be in a different place to mine but I was game for it.  The other three went off to sort the issues out and returned around an hour later during which time it was decided that he would be more comfortable in his own car and could help me get the car home.  I also thought it was better not to travel in tandem with the other car....one gets lost and it's ladies anatomy heading skywards....(work it out).

My first problem once we were ready to set off was a very stiff clutch and this caught me out a few times but eventually I got there.  Plovdiv at end of day hours is not the best place to drive through and with the clocks going back, darkness was upon us fairly early on.  For those of you that don't know the Asenovgrad to Kardjali road, it's a bastard, bends all the way through the mountains but it's the road I like best, no places for overtaking and that's fine as long as there's no one in front of you.  Unfortunately we ended up following a very impatient man following a small truck with very little power and this was further compounded by a car towing another car and a lorry heading up the procession.  Eventually the lorry pulled over. the car pulling the other car shot off in the distance but out small truck was having none of it and just wouldn't move over.  So on a straight stretch the impatient car got round the truck, I got round it to further down the road and we caught up the car being towed as we hit the Kardjali road.  The rest of the journey was uneventful, the sat-nav. didn't put a foot wrong and it was sheer relief that I'd managed to get us all safely back.

Uneventful journey through the lanes back home, and was surprised that it was still early, I'd not changed the clock in the Nipper.  Barbecue crisps for supper and now it's time to see if my quiz night is still on or has been moved because of the rugby.  LN.....Time to find out.......LN