Sunday 11th February

So I just noticed that I made a mistake in the last entry heading it up for Sunday not Saturday....and it's not corrected.  It wasn't the alcohol unless it's been lingering in my system for the last four years or so, it's been that long since I gave up the demon drink.  

Horrible weather today, pouring with rain all day and gale force winds and I'm hoping that the electricity remains stable until the end...then I can light the candles and settle in my the fire.  I was half way through using Moonpig for up and coming birthday cards, I'd done the hard work selecting them and editing and it was just at the payment that the lights went out and the screen went blank.  I edged my way gently down the stairs to the lounge managing to avoid the freesia pot at the bottom, found the candle lighter, set fire to the tea light and lo and behold, the lights came back on.  Not quite like the last big one when it was out for eleven days...that was hard going.  Bulgaria has moved on since then!!

Fortunately for me, the wood was gathered in yesterday and there was no need to struggle to keep the home fires burning.  I've just remembered, it needed topping up again now that the electricity is reestablished.....fingers crossed I won't be moving the logs over to the little wood burner in the kitchen later tonight.  I spent a lot of the morning trying to negotiate the Kruize BG website.  I'd phoned them yesterday to try to see what offers they had on cruises from Athens or Thessaloniki, the person that answered the phone spoke really good English.  Unfortunately that was the only good point that she had going for her, the advice was to put my enquiry into writing and sent it through to them....that's going to work since nothing seemed to be offered.  Perhaps I've been used to having the information presented to me and making a choice then making a follow up call to the office to confirm details and book the holiday.  Can't see that happening somehow.

Rest of the afternoon was on the sofa, playing games and relaxing.  I did managed to break off and do a little more family research but didn't have any dramatic findings, I'm still searching for the relatives that went out to Canada....it's a challenge but one day!!..Tomorrow I'm off to the dentist to arrange an appointment...the tooth has been giving me gyp all day so needs resolving one way or another.  I'm afraid that there might be quite a lot of treatment scheduled and not before time...I'm a bit of a coward and his approach is not really that friendly.  LN.....I'll report back how I got on.....LN

Monday 12th February

Not a bad night, I woke up at seven and it was still dark outside, the rain had stopped but it didn't look too promising for the rest of the day.  The wind was still howling, things were still being removed from their rightful places and deposited elsewhere...I would have work to do later.  I didn't bother getting dressed, I'd made up my mind that the doctor and the dentist would be very busy on Mondays with illness abounding in Kardjali so I decided to leave it until later in the week.  My tooth pain has also subsided and since I'd taken off my Fitbit last night, the swelling on my wrist and hand had reduced...it must be something to do with the Fitbit controls against the surface of my wrist.  I'm just hoping I haven't become allergic to that as well.

I checked my overnight emails and in junk I had one purporting to come from me, to me, so I contacted my security company to give my system the once over to make sure that nothing had been compromised and it hadn't.  I was supposed to pay money into a bitcoin account otherwise they would release the photos and my friends know they find it hard enough to get me to have my photo taken....didn't rise to the bait so delete and move on to the next....why oh why do such people get to breathe.  I made toast for breakfast and have given up on eggs thinking that they could have something to do with the rashes that I have on my arms.  I'm obviously allergic to something and should really have the spot checks done but that means going in to Plovdiv, it's not possible to have it done in Kardjali.  I eventually had a shower and washed my hair at eleven thirty, dried it and was ready for the world by twelve except that my world was going to be reduced in size for today.  The slow cooker pot was removed from the fridge and back to its control centre and supper was on it's way.  I put a load of washing in the machine and that went on the airer in the guest room when the sun had decided to break through and some of the bigger stuff I put on coat hangers around downstairs and those are now put away.  I lit the fire at four thirty, supper at six and washing up waiting until tomorrow, there's no one to be critical of what I do when.  

Nothing on the agenda currently for tomorrow.  I do have my student at three and before that I might to into Kardjali for a few items from Lidl and the doctors if there isn't a queue.  LN....Time to throw a log on the fire....don't want to get cold and I think House MD is waiting for me.......LN

Tuesday 13th February

So woke up at seven, too warm to do anything else but stay in bed and dropped off again until eight. I played a few games, I'd made my mind up that I wasn't rushing anywhere this morning so stayed where I was until around ten thirty.  We'd had a thunderstorm last night and rain, it was around eight degrees outside, damp and miserable was how the day felt. I didn't bother lighting the fire since I was out this afternoon but in retrospect I should have done.  The house has been slow to come up to temperature tonight.

I washed up, realised that for some reason my right wrist was painful so found out a very old wrist support that I'd used when I broke it lots of years ago.  So I finished the washing up and applied it, got dressed and went out to empty out the remains of last night's supper for the cat.  I made the usual noises that normally draw it to the trough but the cat never came so either it's either found a warm place to be or better pickings elsewhere.  I filled up the log basket in the house and went to the woodstore and filled the log carrier and brought it to the porch, went inside and set the fire for tonight.  It was cold so I went upstairs and got washed and dressed for my student lesson this afternoon, came downstairs and messaged my son to wish him a happy birthday, the card should have arrive by this morning's post.  I also remembered that a friend's daughter had her birthday today so I messaged the parents and asked them to pass on a hug from me.

I had a strange call from a door to door 'salesman' clutching two bed quilts and offering them for two hundred leva.  I said that I wasn't interested, that I didn't need them and the price dropped considerably, more refusals from me and again the price was halved and now we were down to one for twenty leva.  In fact it was a good price but after so many refusals I really didn't need any more bedding....he went on his way after I escorted him from the property and he mumbled as he left. It's odd, we don't get many callers of this type, maybe chancing his luck from one of the other surrounding villages.

So I was still cold so I upped the tog rating on my sweater and went for the polo neck, one hundred percent wool with body warmer, I was ready at two twenty to head for Djebel.  I managed to park outside the shop and waited for the son to come back from school in Kardjali.  He went up to the apartment, I stayed talking to his mother and it was four before I got to start the lesson.  Just a few minutes of football, one hour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and downstairs for five thirty.  I went straight to my car, said farewells, turned it round, stopped at the supermarket and bought a pizza for tonight and a few more items.  I lit the fire and it went first time, cooked the pizza and finished it but I shan't be buying one of those again.  I didn't enjoy it and I'm wondering if I shall be seeing it later tonight...hopefully not.

It's really cold and miserable outside, raining when I arrived home and hasn't stopped since.  I have the feeling that this weather is set to continue for a few days.  LN....It will be warm clothes on, fire going, hot chocolate, comfort food and Netflix......LN

Wednesday 14th February

Another cold wet day and my fire has been going non-stop.  I did hit twenty two degrees in the lounge but I've still felt cold all day and so much so that I put an early supper in the slow cooker just after breakfast time and was eating it at four thirty this afternoon.  Happy Valentines day to all those who still participate....and all those postmen who had fun delivering the mail but I'm guessing that more is done over the internet than in paper greetings this year.  The world changes and some of us who remember the old days do so fondly....our age seemed more personal.  

I've not got up to much today....a little holiday browsing and Morocco seems to be on the cards again.  The good thing about booking from here is that insurance is included so doesn't put the price of the holiday up so much as holidays in the UK.  The last quote I asked for, the company advised me that they couldn't offer me any policy and they were supposed to be a worldwide travel agent.  Two things were against me, I didn't live in the UK and my age and there was only one thing I could change but no way could I live in the UK again long term.  My old student has not come back to me about going away this weekend so I've cancelled the idea of it.  We were going on a Spa weekend with her parent, if they wanted to come, but now I don't want to go.  I imagined swimming in a heated pool looking out over snow covered mountains but after the performance of the last two days weather-wise....looking out over dark dismal hills wouldn't cut the mustard so to speak.

My slow cooker supper of potatoes, carrots and a chicken leg was delicious and very filling.  Cat won't have much to go at tomorrow but having said that, I haven't seen it around at all yesterday and today.  I'm hoping it's OK.  So now back to the fire, the wood held out today and it looks like I should have enough in for tomorrow unless I decided to take myself off to the dentist tomorrow to find out what's really going on under my gold crown.  It's more about making an appointment, my guy is very busy normally so not much chance of seeing him tomorrow but at least I can put something in the diary.  LN.....I just hate dentists.......LN

Thursday 15th February

Slept really well last night and woke up at eight fifteen...not been known for ages.  I went to bed at eleven last night, snuggled down clutching Eli...my Christmas present from my grandson a couple of years ago and that was it until late, for me, this morning.  I saw and fed my cat...well not mine but the black one that I feed....the wanderer has returned.  It was sitting on the grass looking at the house so out I went with the remains of last night's supper and put it down under the tree by the low wall, bones and all and it all went.  I didn't bother with breakfast for myself, I wasn't hungry just more coffee.

I somehow got involved in cleaning and delving into boxes and shelves and doing general tidying.  I found two blue hand towels that had found themselves where they shouldn't have done, I also found a machine for cleaning jewellery that I must have bought a couple of years ago and I still haven't used it.  I should do though, my earrings are very difficult to clean, it usually involves a needle and thread to go through the diamond supports to get out the grime.  I never take them out except when I'm going to give them a clean and it would make more sense it I did use the machine.  Next time....

It was almost one when I went downstairs after my mammoth attempts upstairs and first job was to get more wood in ready for tonight.  There was a wood carrier already loaded so didn't take long but I suddenly realised that I'd not had breakfast.  Two slices of bread into the toaster, can of beans opened up and beans on toast delivered to the table in the stairwell in quicksticks.  From there to the sofa, television on and a couple to episodes of House MD allowed the beans to settle.  After an hour or so I fired up the little laptop on the table downstairs and followed up on a cruise going out next week from Athens but in retrospect, I should have looked at the flights first and they are very high priced and not very regular, don't fit in well with a ten day cruise and it's about 500 kilometers to drive down there.  I did suggest that I could embark at Thessaloniki but the girl on the other end of the phone thought that the company wouldn't allow it.  Thumbs down for the holiday then!!

This afternoon saw me on the computer upstairs on my ancestry program and for some reason I found myself looking at the Lichfield Wills and Probate and reprinting three wills made by my ancestors in the 1750s.  It's quite good when you've done most of the research and can start delving in corners and putting meat on the bones, it's documents like these that bring them to life.  Better day but still cold, I've just lit the fire and I've got to have someone out to look at the wood burner, I think the thermostat is sticking and the water really starts bubbling before the pump kicks in.  Once it's going it's fine, just the first push through of the hot water.  Happy Birthday to my Aquarian grandmother today...never forgotten and grandmother, mother and myself all born in February along with my two kiddiwinkles.  LN.....It's been an expensive month.....LN

Friday 16th February

Funny old night, I woke up at three this morning, couldn't go back off to sleep but eventually managed it at five and slept through until seven.  It hadn't rained overnight but the temperature had dropped and it felt cold.  I washed and dressed, didn't feel hungry enough to bother with breakfast and was in the Nipper and heading for Kardjali at ten.  Driving in I ran out of windscreen wash liquid and the wiper on the passenger side was still playing up and a visit to the garage was on the cards.  As I came out on to the main road from the village I passed an old man walking along the high way and guessed he was off to Djebel for the bazaar and the mosque so stopped to pick him up.  He confirmed he was from the next village along when I asked him and he already knew that I was the English woman from my village, my fame goes before me.  I dropped him off in Djebel, I carried on tot he garage and the owner was busy so I found some screen wash in the boot and filled up the bottle, fiddled around with the wiper and put in an old blade from the compartment on the dashboard and I'm not sure if the wiper was replaced by the garage while I was in the UK.  Everything worked so I said that I'd fixed the problem and carried on to Kardjali, parking up behind the hospital which was where I was heading. As I entered the building I saw my doctor coming out and she said she was off for 'a rest' which I understood to be a cigarette.  I went down to the surgeries and sat outside her door with the others that were already waiting and I noticed that lots in the corridor, where eight doctors practice, were wearing masks and coughing and it's at times like this you wish that you'd got one.  I'm so protected in my village and Djebel.  

Eventually it was my turn, she couldn't find me on the computer and complained bitterly that they'd installed a new system and it was useless.  Typical, the ones that develop the programs don't really understand the processes and she couldn't find me on the computer.  She phoned the help desk, the number was engaged so I went back to the seats in the corridor and waited while she saw the next persone, back inside again and back out again and eventually I was examined.  Each year there are a number of tests that you can have that are recommended and I wanted a mammogram which I hadn't had the previous year.  Apparently she was told that I wasn't her patient and I have been for the last ten years or so, she examined me, the form was printed off, she had my record but none of my history and by this time it was almost one o'clock when I was heading for the x-ray department, I checked and they'd closed for the day so I have to go back on Monday.  

Back to the Nipper, Kaufland for a few items including beach shoes on special offer, then over to Lidl for my top up shop.  I drove to Djebel and parked outside the cake shop and bought two smaller ones, eight portions each, one for my village ladies and the second for the family, we're off to a restaurant tomorrow evening for my birthday.  I drove home, unpacked the shopping and put it away, put a couple of coated chicken breast into the oven, lit the fire and waited for supper to cook.  I used smash for the potatoes, added cheese and gave it a cheese topping and that went into the oven to brown off and supper was in front of the television leaving chaos in the kitchen which I'll sort in the morning.  Unfortunately I fell asleep catching up on the lost overnight zzz's so sorry the blog is late.  Cake run in the morning round to my ladies, relaxing afternoon and out for six and to the restaurant.  LN.....Hopefully I should be on the computer my Monday at the hospital......LN

Saturday 17th February

Birthdays come and birthdays go but this has been a most enjoyable evening with my students and the parents at a very nice restaurant on the far side of Kardjali.  I've been there several times before but this has been the best food that I've ever had there.  We took no prisoners but the salad went back, it arrived and we changed it to a 'native' variety instead of the one that the restaurant recommend and that was so much better.

So back to the day.  First job was to find out old birthday cards from my treasure box, the postal service to Bulgaria is absolutely rubbish and I've advised friends not to bother sending any...recycling at its best. I had a few text messages with birthday greetings which was nice and later a couple of phone calls from friends. It was a cold start, I made coffee, put the dishes away from last night, did a load of washing and got that on the airer.  I didn't have breakfast but got the first cake out from the fridge and cut and packaged it and was delivering it round the village at ten thirty and it was a surprise how few of my ladies are left....some are in Germany for the winter and one died and only six parcels delivered.  I also managed to take the non-combustible rubbish down to the dumpster at the bottom of the road and left the Nipper outside the gate. no point in bringing it in.  Next job was to have a bonfire since the rubbish had built up in the porch and it was pleasant walking round the garden while I supervised the burn-up and I'm surprised how close the lot of the shrubs are saying hello to spring.  The buddleia are doing particularly well and the forsythia hs tinges of yellow.  I then turned my attention to getting some starter wood chopped and this proved more difficult that I thought.  I should really make a proper job of it with the reciprocating saw and then use the axe when it's in suitable lengths not bludgeon it with the axe and then expect to split it.

The novelty wore off and I settled on the sofa and watched some more of House MD on Netflix until it was time to get ready to meet my garage family for out evening meal.  We met at six, both students turned up. I travelled with the parents and the boys went in the elder boys car and at six thirty we were seated with the menus.  The cake and candles went with us to the restaurant, five portions delivered and the rest returned to us and it's now sitting in the fridge at home. I had a beautiful azalea plant and rock salt candle holder from the family.  On the way back the elder student went off to find his mates in Kardjali and the younger on came back with us, into the Nipper which was parked outside the shop and I was home for ten more or less.  I lit the fire, brought the goodies inside the house and locked up for the night.  I'm about to finish the evening off with a drinking chocolate and then curl up in bed.  LN......I've had a very pleasant birthday with very pleasant generous people......LN

Sunday 18th February

So last night when I got in from the restaurant and published the photo of the birthday cake and mentioned that it was my birthday, the greetings came in thick and fast and I spent a lot of the morning answering and thanking friends for their well wishes.  It was a dull old morning, mountain to mountain fog and very cold so I lit the fire and it was still warm from last night ashes so didn't take long to warm through.  Last night I'd made arrangements to go to watch a league football match with my students family , my other student's family were coming to visit to bring me a pressie but I contacted and changed the arrangement that I would go to their house instead and then to my students' parent's house and then off to the football.  That all seemed to be working well until the bus service from Djebel to Kardjali that my young 'ball boy' was catching to the stadium hadn't started for the day and looked like it wasn't happening so the parents decided to take him to the stadium in Kardjali, they would then go shopping and I would go to Kardjali with the older son in his car.  And it all went well until we arrived at the stadium and his parents were still shopping in Kaufland but eventually it worked out well.

I thought I'd made an error in judgement.  I'd stuck to the original plan to wear a long down coat, Ugg boots and an extra sweater underneath. hat and gloves but as I was driving to Djebel the sun broke through, the temperature went up and I said this to my student while we were trying to find his parents in Kardzhali.  He said not to worry...at the football match the temperature would drop around four in the afternoon, I would be fine and everybody else would be cold....and that's how the story unfolded.  The match wasn't that good, apparently out local team has sold off key players the previous season and we were again cultivating a new city team and it really is early season.  We left the ground, found the car which we had to park quite a way from the stadium, drove back to Djebel and I drove home.  First job was to light the fire, put the boiler on for a bath, kettle on for a coffee and a slice of cake left over from last night filled a gap while I was waiting for everything else too come together.  I'm now going to linger over a long bath and tomorrow I'm off to the hospital in Kardjali for the x-ray since it had shut up shop on Friday.  Test results will be with the doctor that lunchtime and then we'll know what the next steps need to be taken.

It's been a very busy birthday weekend and I've really enjoyed it.  It makes me realise how lucky I am to have found such people when it could have been a complete failure travelling a few thousand miles and starting a new life here.  LN.....May the mutual support continue for some time......LN

Monday 19th February

So I eventually came down after my exciting day, didn't bother with supper, watched Netflix and went for a bath at ten last night.  I tried to concentrate on Freecell but couldn't manage to crack a difficult one so put the device to oneside, I don't want to screw up my win percentage.  Dried off, went straight to bed, slept well until seven this morning and today was the day for my x-ray.  It was going so well, I was in the Nipper just before eight, parked up and that's when the fun started.  Apparently the phone company that I use no longer add the parking cost to the telephone costs, the system has been changed.  I now have to register my payment card with them, it's good because if you accidentally go over the time, the leaving time is registered and you're payment is updated.  You just have to remember to exit the car-park and confirm that you're leaving.  I didn't want to do this over the phone, I'd not read the terms and conditions and I thought at first that I had a fine from the other day when I overstayed at the hospital car-park and then took out another charge for an hour.  I had my x-ray, the lady doing it spoke perfect English, she wants to work in the UK and I said that I'm sure she'd be made most welcome with the shortages happening.  Her daughter is working and living there already.

I received my disk from the x-ray, took it down to my doctor who confirmed that there are no tumours but recommended that I go privately to a specialist radiologist and I've made my appointment for tomorrow afternoon....everything goes so slowly here.....not.  So tomorrow I have my student's lesson at three and then off to see the specialist and the parking should be OK because the charges finish at five thirty....just when my appointment is to start.  I've not heard back from the car-parking people.  Apparently I'm registered just have logged the vehicles against it or added the card details.....I'll think about that tomorrow....not into worrying about it today and I'll wait for their comments back.

Lovely day with chats with my ex-flat mate from Gibraltar when we shared an apartment in nineteen seventy...such a long time ago when we were both young and fancy free.  The nice thing is, our friendship is still the same despite marriages, divorces, children...we've not really changed and they may even be visiting with a gentle nudge and the temptation of visiting Greece.  The fire has been going since I got back from Kardjali, the house is toasty, I found two portions of the village cake and that did for a late lunch and supper is going to be tuna with potato salad so wont take long to do, the salad is already prepared, in creme fraiche by Lidl.  Not much sun about today...it's been dull and cloudy, hovering at around seven degrees and it looks like the same for tomorrow.  I did managed to go to the post office in Rogosche, my next village, with have a new postmistress and what a joy she is.  We've swapped phone numbers, she went through all the back post and found what i thought was a birthday card from my daughter but it was a Christmas card from my cousin's daughter in Australia.  It was posted early December so I suggested that next year she posts at the same time but makes it a birthday card for me as well...Just a practical thought on my part.  At least now she'll phone me when my daughter's card arrives.  It's been a good day, achieved quite a lot and also got a quote for an A-Z holiday to Morocco and if my friend doesn't want to go....the price is OK for me to go on my own.  LN.....This year has to be meaningful on the travelling front......LN