Saturday 1st September

No white rabbits to be seen and no hares and the only hair of the dog is Tommy/Socks scouring my burning pit for anything that he can manage to scavenge.  Nothing doing...I had a good burn-up yesterday.

Rotten night but I'm thinking that it is down to the fact that I have to sleep on my back and just can't move around in bed.  I might have to move back downstairs onto the Turkish mattress and see if that is any better.  It has a bit of a hollow in in from three fairly hefty men having used it over the summer but not all at the same time may I add.

Today's checklist is to see if a couple of the village lads can work for me next week to sort out the little, little house that has to be roofed before the winter.  It will protect the far wall of the little house and give me a decent workshop and wood store area.  A woman's work is never done so it seems.... ;)  To horse....

Saturday continued

My librarian came over today for lunch and we've had a lovely day.  Sat around drinking coffee and chatting about books and at five we went out to see the house that the man at the top of the village and his brother have up for sale.  It doesn't look much from the road but at the back there are superb views of the mountains of Pamporovo and Smolyan and the huge balcony at the back is over a summer kitchen and shower room....we both fell in love with the house.  It wasn't what we expected.  I'm putting a couple of the pictures on just so that you can see what I mean.  They are a lovely old couple but I think that he has health problems so they want to sell up and move to their daughters.  Life can get a little hard at times on limited pension.

So all alone now, the librarian has taken a few more books and has returned some that she has borrowed.  We discussed Kindles and I think we are both going to invest...it should save a fortune in diesel / petrol but I do enjoy our chats. ;)  Just come in from watering the garden and what is it with these people.  Byser wanted to know what I had done to myself and insisted on picking up my t-shire to look for herself but then insisted on poking it...I screeched and she asked if it hurt...I responded that it did especially when she poked it....big ouches all round....Wait till she sets fire to her feet again and I'll get my own back for sure.

Not much into supper...still full from a late lunch....Did without extra tablets today and the rib is feeling much better but had to stifle a couple of sneezes and subdue one coughing session when a crumb went down the wrong way.  Big hurt....so...LN....going to curl up with a book.

Sunday 2nd September

Better night last night but I feel that my back is not used to not being turned regularly so that's another problem.  I can't turn over on to my side yet so stiffening up.  The bruise is coming out after applying liberal doses of Arnica and it seems to be better when I am on the go.  Woke up this morning and was about to go up to see my Avatar to see if she wanted anything else from the market and it suddenly hit me that it was Sunday not Monday and I had another day to rest.  

Breakfast was two hard boiled eggs from yesterday and dry toast...I do want to take some weight off for this holiday....lunch was the rest of my baby beetroot, tomatoes, onions, potato salad (again from yesterday) and another egg. The only liquids to have passed my lips have been water and black coffee since I've been on these tablets, the beer remains unopened so thereby a saving of several hundred calories me thinks....straight from the lips....on to the hips.

On the sunbed today for a few hours reading a book.  Normally round the garden I wear three quarter length trousers and a cotton top but it suddenly occurred to me that it was about time that I got the rest of my legs to the same colour as my lower legs and feet.  Holidays looming...if I intend wearing a swim suit on this holiday of mine around the pool then I better do something about it while the weather is still good.  The result of today's hard work...I am a lovely shade of pink...there was a wind and I didn't feel the heat and was too interested in a book that Kingdom had dedicated to the cause.  It's a bit of a chickflick so maybe it was Mrs Guds....not too sure but I got stuck into it and I'm enjoying it...Mark Haddon's ....A Spot of Bother.

Lifts arranged for tomorrow...I'm taking the grand daughters in tomorrow to the market in Djebel at nine to carry the ten kilos of apricots, black plums and carrots since I'm not going to undo the repair that's already been done to my rib number seven...

Supper is ready...sweet and sour pork with pasta so I'll say LN....I'm kitchen bound....LN

Monday 3rd September

Rubbish night...up at two for a stroll round...it's my back giving me gyp not my rib number seven....back with another pillow...read for a while.....head down...up again at four and eventually got back off until six thirty.  Justice is metered out.  I've decided that a picture of the bruises posted on the bathroom door and the drinks counter should serve as a reminder that wet tiles and alcohol are evil if mixed together. :-/ :-/

Dull morning and have been round putting some sawdust round the flowers on my side bed.  It seems to have done the ones at the bottom of the garden good and these do look in need of love and attention.  Gave them a good soaking so let's wait for the results.....I expect them to be a mass of colour by tonight ;)

Quick shower and I am a little less pink this morning.  It suddenly struck me that yesterday Avatar said that she was not able to take to a sunbed because people are always popping round to her house.  Makes me wonder how much she would take off.  She appears guilty if I even catch her without the headscarf.

My librarian is off today to try to get the document from the bank to confirm that she has a certain amount of money coming in to her account regularly so that she can have her ten year residency permit issued.  Apparently this is new so that you do not become a burden on the state.  We should be trying this in England :-/ :-/  That would sort the sheep from the goats so to speak.  You can bypass this if you have a large amount stashed away in a Bulgarian Bank and I guess one or two under pensionable age will not be getting their permits issued despite having a house here.  I suppose the other way is to prove where your income comes from if you have a job here or out of the country just so long as you pay you ten percent income tax.

Fun and games at OK coral.....  and now time to get on....catch you later....

Monday continued

Did the market.  They didn't have any apricots so my Avatar settled for peaches...ten kilograms of them, ten of plums and twenty of carrots. Total bill...thirty eight leva but the carrots will last her all winter along with the compote.  So that was what she was doing this afternoon and her granddaughters were helping.  

I sat outside and read for a couple of hours in the shade and for lunch made egg mayo sandwiches on fresh bread which were delicious.  So good in fact that I went inside and made another one but unfortunately there was one little cheeky fly that forced me indoors to eat the second. It kept flitting around and I just couldn't catch the bugger.

Took to my bed this afternoon and caught up on the sleep that I'd been missing. Finished my book....and must get going on another.  I was looking at Kindles on Amazon but I have been told by one that knows that I shouldn't order for a week or so...there is something in the pipeline and so long as I have it for my holiday...that will be fine.

Taking to my bed now...it's ten thirty my end...feeling really very rested.  Those clouds rolled away and we've had a beautiful day and a beautiful sunset....that adjective is really appropriate out here....LN...taking to my pit but one more glass of water before I go....yes....water... ;) ;)

Tuesday 4th September

I shall be so glad when I can move about the bed without it hurting....OK guys, I've done my penance...give it a break :-/ :-/  Pretty dull this morning, an amazing sky and fortunately cleared up and was up in the thirties this afternoon.  Planted out one of my Jasmine in the herb bed so that it has a fence to climb up...it was looking a little sad in its bucket so let's give it a better chance at life.

Well the guy that I'd asked to clear out the little barn had work to do so his father arrived, the Kmet's brother.  I asked him how much he wanted for a days work and offered him 20 leva as an opener and he replied that it was 'malko pari' so we struck up thirty.  I explained what I wanted done.  He started at nine and I asked him to 'stack' the stone which I think got lost in translation.  He cleared out the shell, dumped it outside the framework, left the dust in with it, he did move the wood that was against the back wall and put it all together...he stopped for coffee at ten and started again and twenty past...went home for his lunch at eleven thirty and came back at twelve forty clutching a gift of a bag of tomatoes  and at two he said he had finished.  Well yes, technically he had but I suggested that he filled his day with taking off the tiles from the roof and clearing the rest but he said that was it.  So I asked him how much and he said thirty leva.  Now if I ask for a day's work ...I normally get it.  First time he has worked here...say no more.  OK it's not a lot of money but when somebody tells me that I have lots of money and asks me how much I pay my men....I have nothing more to add except that I worked for forty five years in England non-stop apart from high days and holidays and if I have money to do what I'm doing...it's down to me and it's very much my business.

So off to see my student and the lesson today was about the Sahara Desert.  Not that interesting but I put together a question sheet and I suggested that he made full sentences instead of one word answers.  Did a little shopping in Djebel and bought another couple of pairs of black cotton trousers for my holiday and all this has to fit into hand luggage...now there's a thought.  

Supper tonight is pork kebabs with rice which is waiting to be served up....I'm still on the water and have another three weeks of tablets to go but they are absolutely great.  I got a  translation from my student's mum.  They are anti-inflammatory, they've done my arthritis in my hands a power of good and according to the blurb...are also good for tooth ache so I look like getting a repeat prescription and keeping them by me for the holiday.  Well you just never know do you, ;) ;)

So supper calls...I can hear it from the kitchen and let's get these pickies posted.  LN...

Tree looks lonely!!! ;)

Wednesday 5th September at Silly O'Clock

Quoted from 50

Tree looks lonely!!! ;)

It was OK when the sun came out later Danuta.....I went and gave it a hug and fortunately it can't hug me back in my state of health... ;) ;)

Wednesday continued

So I read for a while and eventually went back to sleep at five thirtyish waking at nine fifteen.  It's been pretty much a downhill sort of day.

Looking at the kitchen shelving I worked out that I had more empty jars than they stock on the market so decided to do something about it.  Cleared them all out...I've saved a few should I make more jam, the beetroot didn't get pickled this year since the cows hoicked it out of the ground and I had to replant, I renamed them 'baby beets'.  Two sessions and they'd all been eaten.  Note to self...need more beetroot next year and no cows.  I picked the rest of my tomatoes and with the ones given to me yesterday I have to do something with them tomorrow.  I dug over the old potato bed which I'm sure wasn't a good move in my state of health and the ground is so dry underneath despite watering.  Everybody's crops have failed this year....the tobacco is rubbish so I hear.  Just no rain.

So going back to my jars and shelving in my kitchen.  Pulled everything out and found some tiles up in the gods and now all the wooden surfaces have tiles on them.  It should make it much easier to wipe over and the jars have now found their was to my Avatar.  I popped up yesterday and the carrots are done along with the rest of the fruit and apparently she has fifty jars of peaches in syrup...seems like overkill to me but if that's what they like.  I'm taking my camera over tomorrow to get shots of Aladdin's grotto...if there's a flood or a siege...I'm moving over the road.

I've been a lucky girl today.  I've been told that there is a parcel on its way for me and is in Sofia as we speak.  I'm wondering how long it will take to get from there.....Another bit of news...my lovely MOS from this website has bought me a knitting machine, it's in his trailer and he'll be over with it next week.  It's very basic so I'm told, has a worktable but he will only hand it over if I follow the rules.  There are certain articles of clothing that I have to make for him otherwise...no delivery.  Better get my pattern books out.

Tonight's supper was the remains of last nights with curry added which was a wrong move on my part.  If it's a good curry, what does it make you do?  Sneeze!!  And what happens when I sneeze?  I hurt like hell....not a wise move on my part.  So here we go with the water again and tonight's tablet.  I need a good night...LN

Thursday 6th September

Six thirty start this morning, got up, watered the garden, made my breakfast of fried tomatoes on toast and sat out in the sun with a coffee.  Very pleasant morning and suddenly remembered that I had rearranged with my student for ten this morning so phoned his mum to check that he would be up and not lingering in his bed....and he wasn't.

Assembled the rubbish from yesterday, old bottles etc., got it into Beauty and set sail for Djebel sounding like a brewer's dray.  This became a tad embarrassing when one of the lads from the next village walking along and not exactly thumbing had to curve his legs round the bag in the foot well to get into the car.  Rib number seven stopped me from being able to hoick the bag into the back seat....oh well, he still got to Djebel.

Student over by eleven thirty and went towards the park to find student's mum, ended up in a cafe with her and the little one, learnt a new Bulgarian phrase and watched as it was applied to the child.  Apparently it's all to do with ears and listening to what's being said and the little one was being a pain.  Suddenly she grabbed his ear and twisted it and did he screech....and it worked.  I commented that I had never seen it done before and she said that it was common practice...pinch the ear and it seems to work better...more receptive so to say... :-/ ;)

Home after a little shopping, tuna mayo on really fresh bread for lunch with fruit juice but I was let down by what I thought were chocolate eclairs ...but they turned out to be cake.  One out of five nibbled and the rest will go to Tommy tomorrow.

Really hot today and thought I would have a lie down at about four thirty.....and woke up at eight thirty hence the late update but I suppose rib number seven and a tidying day yesterday left the poor body depleted.  My only concern now is that I shall be up at silly o'clock without a good book to read so roll on Kindle.....I heard yesterday that it's coming via USPS and I'm hoping it doesn't get held up in customs in Sofia...I received the tracking number and there was no joy with it 'in that location'.... :-/ :-/.  That's Bulgaria for you...they're probably working out the import duty as we speak.

LN...it's almost time for bed now and not an ounce of sleep in me...let's try and find something that I haven't read. LN

Whoop whoop my ''Chunky'' bench is still alive!!  :P

Thought it might have been fire wood by now!

Friday 7th September

Now how could I do that to you Mikey B after all the love devotion, sweat, blood and tears that went into.  And they were just mine ;) ;)

As I suspected, five of the clock and wide awake and rib number seven seems worse this morning but I did have three gigantic sneezes when I got into bed last night and thought I'd got away with it...I suspect....wrong.  Gently does it today.  Knocked off several games of Sudoko on my DS and the word scramble but I hate it when it comes back with 'a little tired are we' and if I was tired I would be asleep and not playing silly games. :-/  So six forty...off to Kardjali with the Librarian today to get something 'legal' sorted with her car.  Something about re-registering it since the permit has expired.  Must look at mine...I could be illegal too.  

Coffee, garden, sun coming up....all's good in this neck of the woods...catch you later.

Friday continued

So we went to Kardjali to do the dastardly deed and it was all....closed up for the four day holiday for the Unification of Bulgaria.  If the police had stopped us there probably would have been questions asked but that's where you turn into being very English....not much unification there then. :-/

Found some new shops and made some purchases...new trousers and warmish top for the winter (well it was cheap), new pair of black comfy shoes for the holiday for whizzing round the cities on route, bought some more plants for the garden from my little lady by the market and had chicken and chips lunch while we were there.  Stopped off at Lidl on the way back and we were accosted by a couple that had arrived two days ago with the intention of looking for a property here.  I seem to be surrounded by them at the moment,,,maybe I could become and estate agent.....a leva estate agent and not in Euros like most of them seem to think that the currency is.  I reckon they make the offer to the local in leva and immediately convert the said agreed figure into Euro and hope that nobody notices....cute cookies and when they say that we use cookies on this site.....they're normally the ones that show you round the properties. ;D ;D

I sat around with the librarian in the garden and we chewed over the fat and drank tea and coffee.  So that's another day that alcohol has not touched my lips and this is getting serious.  Got the washing in, she went back home at about six thirty and then I decided to have a fashion show to try to get some idea of the things that are going in the suitcase......well I only have one month to go now and I have only booked hand luggage.

Clothes hung back up, still non the wiser what I shall be taking, number seven has been playing up and I think it was down to those three massive sneezes that I thought were not so painful.....they might not have been last night but they certainly cut to the quick today.

Time for bed Zebedee....pain killers taken, need a glass of water to get into bed with, a few games on the DS and that's it.  The couple that we met yesterday are visiting tomorrow.  He did ask me to record on his phone how to get to my place but I made him spell it out and type it up.  All these maps on phones...what are the younger generation coming to.  They can't seem to stay away from the phone for two seconds at a time.  I almost did record it and use my Tom Tom voice....and some of you will know what I'm talking about.....but I don't know them well enough yet.....but it's bound to happen......LN....the computer is going to bed too... ;) ;)

Sorry about you accident and that your ribs are giving you trouble - hope everything is all healed up for your trip, still very much enjoying your journal, thanks for keeping it up. :)

Saturday 8th September

Thanks for the sympathy Tabs and for the comments on my journal...much appreciated.

Not a bad night's sleep last night but the drone of a mosquito woke me up at six o'clock so I jumped out of bed and couldn't spot the wee bastard.  Down for coffee it seemed a sensible thing to do and then into tidy mode.  All the things that I left off coat hangers last night are all back in place and tidily stacked for the great decision process.....yes I know a month to go...but I want it to appear seamless.  Went down and caught a glimpse of the glass panel for the cooker and realised that that hadn't been 'got at' for a while so out with the stainless steel cleaner and it removes grease in a flash and just as quickly as flash would if I had any.  It now sparkles.

Had a shower, washed my hair and sat out drying it in the sun with half a slab of fruitcake and a coffee.  Then back upstairs and sorted out filing which had somehow accumulated into a heap but now all the receipts are stapled onto the appropriate sheets of paper and into the plastic envelopes.....I now feel that I can find what I need to find.  Decided to write a letter to my very good friend Yvonne updating her on my escapades.  She doesn't have internet so appreciates the odd letters and my golly are they odd.  

With impeding guests, I cleaned the loos....well just to put a sparkle round the bowl...put all the bonfire rubbish into the burning pit and received a phone call from them saying that they were held up because they had a diesel leak from the filter and had to have the hire car changed.  Eventually arrived at about three thirty, they loved the house, picked my brains about starting here, and then heading off for the Black Sea.  Went into the wreck to show it off and there sitting by the door of the tool store was the....shepherd's bloody great kangol.  I stayed calm, told him to go....he didn't move for a while so my commands got louder and I could sense that my guest was a little perturbed at the size of this big dog.  Eventually it got up and meandered down the garden and out on to the hillside...windows will be a great improvement I think...that'll stop him. ;) ;)  They are only here for another couple of days and I get the impression that because they wont spend enough time here....it will all blur into one.  So dependent on the Sat Nav...off they sailed into the great beyond.  

Got on to the internet and applied for my Australian Visa and filled in my personal details for the cruise line.  Didn't find the box for inside leg measurements....I thought it was necessary information.. ;) ;)  Supper for me is spicey sausage when I summon up the enthusiasm to get started...must water the garden first...it's been another hot day.  And guess what...I'm still on water, juice and coffee....this is a first.... :-/  LN....I've changed my mind...I've got fish fingers to fry....LN

Hello sugar
your inside leg measurement is vital to national security as is your lea hall welfare club affiliation No, and your intended intake of RED CABBAGE , so .how much red cabbage ? !! and does the insaid leg start at the top ?the bottom? or the lowest point of your Turkish trousers  ;) your afiliation No as allways is embroidered into the rim of your flat cap next to your ferret breeders badge  :X
we are setting off tonight should be in BG wednesday ,,all being well ,we will let you know when we arrive MOS xx

Sunday 9th September

My MOS update:

My inside leg measurement is vital to national security ... you sure about that?  I'll measure it from the lowest point of my Turkish trousers...

..as is your lea hall welfare club affiliation No, .....and as we speak I am already embroidering this onto the rim of my flat cap along with my passport, visa and Bulgarian residence permit numbers so I shall be busy until I get on the plane.

My ferret breeders badge is polished and ready to be applied to the said head gear as soon as the embroidery is complete...  

Looking forward to you getting over here and have a safe journey.


                              .............................................................................................................................

And now....six of the clock this morning, garden watered by seven and the second cup of coffee on the go.  Now some wee beestie got me as I was sitting at the computer and I just saw the back of it disappearing...My arm came up in two large welts so down to the kitchen for the anti-histamine cream and it went down as quickly as it came up...must remember to pack some along with the tablets. :-/ :-/

Breakfast was tomatoes on toast and I decided to process the rest of them and I now have a saucepan full of what could be described as tomato soup or pasta sauce and I think I'm going to freeze it not bottle it.  Everything seemed to come into play.  I skinned them, cooked them up with onions adding cider vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar, blended them and realised that there were so many seeds so I put it thought my local mouli thingy that took all the rubbish out of it and left it smooth as a baby's bottom.  Just in to finalising it when my mobile went and it was my Gouljan looking for peace and tranquility for a few hours so that she could read her book on child development.  When she arrived she came bearing gifts of one melon and two cucumbers so she went back tonight with the same cucumbers and I could have given her some of mine, a bag of pears from the tree and old bread for the dogs and chickens.  I also gave her the little dolls plastic shoe that I found in the garden.  As you probably know I call her Cinderella and when I dug it up I immediately thought of her and she was so pleased with it.....it is to have pride of place in her room.

So I played on the computer while she went from sitting up on the sofa in the lounge to fully stretched out with a couple of large pillows under her head.  I like it when she makes herself at home.  After a while I got round to making lemon tea for her, coffee for me and served with a couple of packs of biscuits but the honey waffles were pretty dangerous where teeth are concerned.  Better to break a chunk off and insert rather that trying to bite into it...not a good move.

Seven thirty now....she left about thirty minutes ago.  Apparently another catalogue outlet has opened in Kardjali and has some half decent stuff in there...maybe worth a visit on Tuesday after I have given my lesson.  Not really in to supper but I should eat something before I get to taking my overnight tablet....it's one of those slow release ones so I'm led to believe.  My Visa for Australia was confirmed by email last night....and PDQ it was too.  Beautiful night tonight...breeze got up this afternoon and I thought my washing was on its way to Greece but the pegs held and now all is safely gathered in.  LN....about to raid the kitchen to see if there is anything I fancy....LN...

Monday 10th September

Up and five thirty after deciding that there wasn't an ounce of sleep left in me as I went to my virtuous pit at about nine last night.  Flitted around, watered the garden and noticed that I had left the key in the door and nothing was taken and I wasn't attacked in my bed so I'll do the same again tonight... ;) ;)

Well what a surprise this morning...just finishing off dipping my soldiers into my eggs and clearing up, put a further five eggs on to boil so that they are there to nibble should I feel in the mood later and who should turn up but my librarian with a cheery good morning.  She was off to Kardjali to sort out the documentation for her car now that she had applied for her ten year residency.  The previous five year one had expired and the car permit runs parallel to it.  So a temporary residence permit has been issued and this carries the number eighteen which is not the national insurance type number required.  The proper one will come through when she picks up the new ten year on the seventh of October.

They closed for lunch telling every one in the queue to come back after lunch so we went into Kardjali, found a kebab shop and thoroughly stuffed ourselves.  Walked to a new second clothes shop and I found a pair of brand new leather shoes for ten leva with heels that will do for high days and holidays....result. Back to KAT or car registration to continue the process.

We stood in the queue, when we eventually reached the desk and were sent to get the appropriate form from the next office.  She paid over her three leva for the form but there seemed some confusion when it came to the temporary permit and the number printed on it.  Anyway she seemed to frig the system and the form was printed and we went back to the first desk clutching the print out, handed it to the assistant and now we had to go to the bank to pay over ten leva fifty to carry on to the next stage.  Now this is very reminiscent of 'pass go and collect two hundred pounds' but they were the ones collecting or we were expecting...'go to jail'!!  over passport, temporary residency permit,  So now we thought since the computer had been fooled, we were in with a change of completing the process but no.....we went back to the first lady after the bank and the computer said 'NO'.  It was as I suspected...without the residency with a full registration number we could not complete.  I explained to the lady behind the desk that she was due to pick up the permit on the seventh of October and now she has to go back after that date with the residency.  Note to self...mine expires on 2014.....I think I'll start the process off in 2013 just to make sure that all runs smoothly but the Beast is registered to the company so we'll see if that makes a difference.  I'll just take my company stamp along and stamp it wherever she tells me and if I have problems, she might just have the company name on her forehead...

On the way back the car exhaust was rattling like a good'un so we called into my garage and they fixed it with a new weld stating that the previous repairs were rubbish....it's all back together again at the cost of ten leva.  They are always happy to see me with new customers for them.

Tomato stuff boiled up and put into jars tonight.....had a couple of boiled eggs since I' still full as a little tick from lunch but needed to eat something to take my evening tablet.  Still on the water and this is getting serious.  I think I'm beginning to dry out..... :-/ :-/  LN...It wont be long before I hit the sack....but I was only jesting...the key is already on my side of the door... ;) ;)

Tuesday 11th September

Autumn is here and we had a dusting of rain and that about sums it up.  I was out watering the garden after what looked to be a sunny start with just a few dark clouds about but they accumulated as the morning wore on and by ten it started.

Breakfast this morning was two hard boiled eggs on toast and it's still my own diet that I'm following...a little and often for me is the secret and if I don't feel like anything in the evening I don't have it.  There is the saying, breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord and supper like a pauper....sounds good to me and I've taken out the one of 'drink like a fish'....these tablets have a lot to answer for.  A weight loss of around six pounds already.  I sat outside in the sun for breakfast but I was wearing a sweatshirt...this morning was colder.

So into Beauty this morning at nine fifty for my student at ten and put in the key and turned it....absolutely nothing.  A few bahh and humbugs and some that I know that the automatic bad language moderator on the site will remove or change to something that I would never write and out came the Beast to get me to the lesson on time.  His mother was rushing around finishing off bottling tomatoes when I arrived and the big one was teasing the little one and it took me back to parenting and I didn't envy her one little bit.  I think they are all waiting for the return to sense and sensibility when school starts on the seventeenth.  No way in my state of health could I push Beauty it to get it in a position to jump start it  from the Beast.  I need a strong man or two so I'll look around tomorrow.

Missed the post office by about ten minutes but couldn't be bothered to wait around in Djebel for an hour or so so headed home.  Played on the computer for a while, lunch was a toasted cheese sandwich and then my eyes were heading southwards so at three I took to my virtuous pit which undoubtedly I shall resent come the silly o'clock morning start.  Six when I woke up and couldn't understand why it was so light and realised that it was still day.  Took a few pictures of the evening sky...very dramatic over Smolyan to the west.  

Off to get a cold drink and a couple of biscuits to have something for my evening tablet to rest on....but feeling pretty rested and chilled after my afternoon sojourn....LN....healing the body me thinks.... ;) ;)

Wednesday September 12th

Five thirty start and I wouldn't got out of bed but there was the tssss of a mosquito so I was like a bullet out of a gun and I didn't manage to spot the winged intruder...well it saves swearing.

Down for coffee, tidied the kitchen and back up to play on the computer and noticed dawn breaking.  I love my mornings here...just a pity that it was a little early this morning but hey...I had a good sleep yesterday in the afternoon so I can't complain and what's the point...nobody to listen if I did.  Decided that I wanted tomatoes on toast for breakfast but one snag...all that I had were bottled and stored but then I remembered that I had some in the garden and managed to salvage about eight of the beauties.  Into the frying pan with a little oil, salt and pepper and out to the garden with the plate and saw Gouljan's mother with a cow on the end of a piece of rope.  I waved, she carried on but was sitting in the sun when she came back down the road and it transpired that the cow had been given to the bull and she was walking it home and no it didn't have a silly grin on its face but I did check.

Been out doing a little gentle digging but realised that I have put one flower bed in the wrong place.  It was supposed to be over the first toilet pit that was dug but I missed it by about three feet so another one needs to be dug but the ground is so hard.  It will have to wait.  I wanted to see if I could get a couple of the shrubs in containers that I have into the open ground before I go away but I suppose I can over winter them in the other house...so what to do next?  Let's see what gentle exercise I can get up to....

Wednesday continued

Must admit I didn't get up to much.  Didn't want to push number seven too much under the circumstance, the bruise has almost gone...and the tablets seem to have done their stuff.  Trouble is they don't appear to be much in the way of pain killers but having said that...would I have rested as much if I couldn't feel the pain...I think not.

Well I received my case for my Kindle from a new postie that I haven't seen before. It's a little thank you for putting up with...sorry...putting up...one of my guests.  I've told him that his beer and whiskey is safe with me for the next few weeks.  Unfortunately I shan't be here when he visits next time with his lovely lady...so it will be after Christmas when they arrive next time.  I also mentioned that I had tried to track the Kindle that was wending its way over the pond for me (another pressie) and I suggested that it was probably in a shed in Sofia and they were trying to work out import duty on it....and that could take some time.  Here's an update....apparently it is in Kardjali at the post office but I have to have, a power of attorney (notary signed) and a copy of a EORI number (issued by Bulgarian customs).  Otherwise I should release the shipment at regional customs office Kardjali 6600, BG.  Now I don't know what this document is so tomorrow I shall make my way to Kardjali with my passport and then it's down to them whether they release it or not.  I'm assured that all monies have been paid but knowing the way that it works here...I reckon Shylock will want his pound of flesh......present or no present.  I should now be singing Vera Lynn's song...'Wish me luck as I go on my way'....

Supper was a chicken curry with rice and very nice it was too.  Intended opening the melon but forgot all about it so I'll be having it for breakfast.  Weather kept good all day and I had to water the garden this evening.  Poor plants don't know what's hit them...I have new seedlings starting already.  Funny old summer it's been.

So off to my bed...water to wash down my tablet and hope tonight is as good as last night.  LN....student tomorrow and text already prepared...result. LN.

13th September

Well it wasn't ....I was awake at two thirty this morning and ended up playing Freecell for an hour...no sleep in me.  Went back eventually and just after four and managed to sleep in until seven twenty.  Now that would have been brilliant apart from the gap in between.

It was cold this morning...autumn is back.  I left in the Beast to go to my lesson with the intention of heading off to Kardjali to try to get my Kindle from UPS.  I went to the post office...wrong place but they were so helpful and told me the address of the office that I had to go to.  Off I toddled, knocked on the door and nobody at home so another kind lady phoned the number scribbled under the sign (I didn't spot it bus she's obviously local) and then it started.  They didn't have it in the office, no it was still in Sofia, I had to pay duty on it because it came in from America and was told that I had to blame Europe for the paperwork.  The man drove me to the Customs and Excise office which appeared to be half way back to Djebel and I had to provide my passport, Bulgarian permit to live here and copies of the emails that they had sent via the one who had purchased the 'gift' for me.  Went to another office and they provided me with the form, took this to the first office and handed it over and now we had to have another form make out just to have the 'pressie' released from Sofia,  I have to present myself tomorrow at the office at eleven and hopefully it will have arrived from Sofia and then I have to go to a designated bank and pay the duty and then back to the office to collect the item.  Good egh.....I hear the way round it is to put the value as under thirty leva or mark it as a gift and then it might get opened...it might not.  So hopefully tomorrow I shall be the proud owner of a Kindle...worth it's weight in documentation and import duty.... :-/ :-/  I would just add...thanks boys....it would be quicker in future to shop at Amazon UK.... ;)

The head of the department has to sign everything and official stamp it.  He had his full insignia on his shirt as did they all and he kept telling me that it would take five minutes, and five minutes later another five minutes and he even went to the man processing it and asked him why it was taking so long.  I could have told him....too much information and this is where I wondered if the inside leg measurement would be taken by him, the form filler or the secretary....Tomorrow I shall take my camera....that should make them smile....NOT. :-/ :-/

I forgot to mention...I arrived in Kardjali round about twelve thirty and back at Djebel at just gone four thirty.  It was a long four hours and silly me parked on a one leva an hour car park thinking I would be an hour....total bill ...five leva but the man did apologise....

Fish fingers and chips for supper which hit the right spot.  I also lit the fire to take the chill off the house and remembered to shut all of the doors and windows.  It's toasty....first time this year and my pj's are warming on the bathroom radiator.

Twenty after eight my time.....I'm going to curl up in front of the fire and read a book....leaving it as late as I can to go to bed...I don't want a re-run of last night. LN....now to find a book and get comfy....with a glass of fruit juice...still being a good girl....LN

Friday 14th September

Didn't curl up for long last night...my little eyes were going so it was a goodnight from me at just before ten and went straight through until seven so it was a result.  Picked the last of my tomatoes for breakfast, washed hair and showered ready for my eleven o'clock appointment at the Customs and Excise office.  

I arrived in good time....not a UPS representative in sight, started to take pictures of some kittens playing in the yard and realised that I was being viewed suspiciously by a lady and was approached as to what I was doing there.  I tried to explain in broken Bulgarian so she telephoned her boss and I explained that I was waiting for a man who obviously wasn't coming.  So into the office I went, the man from yesterday said that I had to release the parcel from customs by letting them know the details of the forms that I had received yesterday and by this point I am very close to tears with sheer frustration.  I was then shepherded up to another office and no one seemed to know the process but UPS didn't have a very good name by the sounds of things.  The lady came out with the phrase that the men downstairs were like Tikva....like no help and translated means...pumpkins....so now I have a new insult ;) ;)

So I thanked them for their help, went back to my car, drove to Kardjali, shopped for a while and then went round to the UPS office and let them know that their non-show was not very professional so I asked them where my parcel was and they said that they didn't know.  Now I thought giving an item a tracking number meant something...wrong...do you know how badly UPS are performing in Bulgaria?  And I hope that a Google bot picks this up.  The outcome....it should be here by Monday so you'll have to come back...looks like that's me sorted.

Popped into Lidl and back to Djebel for two o'clock so went round to Gouljan's office and had a few minutes with the girls.  It appears that the head of department has a new job as a headmistress of one of the local schools so Gouljan is headless.  Decided to get my head down for a short nap and it was short.  There was a banging and clattering and a bloody cow had squeezed itself between the house and the small stone wall and headed for my little barn.  I was out of bed like a bullet from a gun, headed it off, found it in the barn and smacked it round the backside with my cow stick.  I'd opened the gate thinking it would take the easy passage....wrong....it clattered over the wooden fencing.  So in place I've put some of the bricks from the heap and just now I heard it again....it's my sheep farmers and one of my neighbours is now chasing it down the road.  I think I'm going to get my bangers at the ready.

Now this neighbour on her way back told me that she has a new calf and there was so much love in here eyes.  So I went round and took a few shots of it passing my Avatar's grand-daughter complete with face mask so I nonchalantly asked if I could take her photo.....all she did was giggle and run off so I took it as being a no.

Supper is belly pork slices with potato wedges....just on my way to start it now and it will be followed by vintage bottled water..........and no aperitif while lingering over a hot stove.....LN...I have work to do.

Saturday 15th September

So last night one confused cow, and it wasn't me....although after the antics of UPS it could well have been.  It appeared in the dusk and viewed the newly constructed Berlin wall and made an attempt at the other end of it with no joy may I add.  I opened the bedroom window and told it to go away and it headed for the bus shelter...oh well...any port in a storm.  I've got the distinct impression that it now believes my little barn is it's home so hence the confusion.  No...it is mine..it might look like a cow stall to you my little love but it has the makings of a workshop for me.  About half an hour later when it was really dark it was back and all I saw this time were its cow eyes so I yelled again and eventually it sodded off and I haven't been troubled today.

Again yesterday one of Gouljan's cousins who is known to imbibe came round while I was watering my garden and offered help with the fences, the garden and anything I wanted.  He asked to sit down but smelling the faint odour of rakia I declined and said that I was busy and was cooking supper so off he tottered.  Blow me down...eleven at night he was knocking on the window and I'd adjourned to my virtuous couch but was suitably attired to answer the door.  This time he was asking if Gouljan was here only this time there was more than a faint aroma.  In no uncertain terms I told him that she wasn't here and he was to go.  It's not the done thing to go visiting at that time of night.

Bedtime was not so good...two o'clock I was not comfortable so read and played a few games until five this morning and then managed to get my head down until seven twenty.  Not much of a sunrise...it's been cloudy on and off most of the day, still no rain but that's due tomorrow according to the local weather reports.  Got really hung up on Freecell 617 and after about two hours I Googled the solution which got me more frustrated because it still wouldn't come out but suddenly...inspiration took over and out it came.  I had similar problems with the Daily Mail Sudoko....another bastard which really put my deductory skills to the test. So head down for a few hours....I might suffer but am I catching up to making up?  Now that is the question.

Not in the mood for supper....I'll look on it as a fasting day apart from a couple of rice cakes so that I can take my tablet...not quite bread and water...which is what I say after paying a large bill but then you might just be able to afford a little onion and a tomato if you have any growing...that's austerity for you.   So it's goodnight from me...and if I have any late night visitors....it definitely wont be a goodnight for him...LN...rice cakes call.  

Sunday 16th September

Dull start to the morning but fortunately I saw nothing of it until twenty past seven....so yesterday's nap was catching up.  Down for coffee, breakfast was scrambled eggs on toast and while I was in the kitchen I thought it prudent to get supper into the slow cooker so that I wasn't thinking about it later.  Got the rest of the belly pork out, fried it off with onions, carrots and then added honey and tomato paste and just finished it with pasta...well not finished exactly, there is enough for tomorrow.

Now I've been pretty quiet about number seven but the bastard has been giving me gyp.  I get the feeling that it is just about to knit one but then I sneeze and all that hard work was in vain and the process starts all over again.  Went out into the garden and got the tomato plants up and fed them to the sheep.  They never did put really deep roots down and my ground has been neglected for years so I really need to get bucket loads of animal droppings on to it but with number seven as it is...it's a big no...no.  Also removed the bean poles and generally had a tidy round taking out quite a few of the hardier weeds but spotted the sunbed and thought ...why not.  I spent a couple of hours out there with my book and even got my swim suit on but kept my trousers handy in case visitors...can't shock the locals you know.  Heard the telephone while I was out there and yes...my men are working tomorrow.  It's a pity that it has forecast light drizzle for tomorrow afternoon so that should please Bekir but not poor Sally.  I wonder if he'll be wearing his new teeth...the locals wont recognise him... ;) ;)

Gouljan's mum appeared with a bucket of home made yogurt just as I was finishing watering the garden.  She's indicated the seeds that she wants for next year and we sat down and had coffee and biscuits.  She was heading back to milk the cows and make some butter...I think she takes orders for it and sells it in Djebel along with her eggs and cheese.  She's a busy little bee.  I mentioned that I had had a visit from her 'little bit drunken' nephew and she apologised for him.  I just told her to explain in any language that he might understand that I require no visitors at that time of night.

Supper finished, Sudoku was a doddle today and in record time for a three star. It's pretty cloudy over the hillside, the wind has got up and it looks like there is a storm brewing.  I really hope so, as I said yesterday, my garden really needs it.  Time to batten down the hatches and get into reading mode,  LN.. I think the bed looks a safe bet for this evening's comfort zone...LN

Monday 17th September

Boots blacked and ready to fetch the workers this morning by seven thirty and was praying that Beauty's battery was fully charged and it was.  The men were outside the cafe waiting but they didn't get off their bottoms until eight on the dot and with Bekir in new overalls and Sally with his new teeth.  We sauntered the estate....and without a f** packet in sight we worked out the plan for the little barn and that will be roofed before i go on holiday.  The materials will be ordered tomorrow, the site has been cleared and let the work commence.  I've had a burn up of all the rubbish that they thought we should use at some point and didn't and I ended up putting water on it because I was taking them home.

But now I've skipped a bit.  I almost lost the will to live...I got the message from UPS that they had the parcel in Kardjali and could I meet them at eleven.  I was there and they eventually turned up and writing up the paperwork on the bonnet of the car.  The import duty was calculated, the transport documentation paid for, another tax that I still haven't got a clue about was paid and it cost me six leva to pay the money ...IN.  I think it would have been cheaper to refuse the package and send it back to the states and probably wiser but big thank you for the gift...they don't seem to know what the word means over here.  I was told that you are allowed a gift of 50 dollars and no more so I said I should be paying the import tax on anything greater than the fifty dollars...a lead balloon and there were others believe me,  It is charged, I don't have WiFi so I'll have to be paying a visit to the free connections at the well and do my business there.

Men did really well today.  The site is clear, first day back and we can see where we are going and I reminded them that they have been here three years on and off...Not a bad record of employment and they still keep coming back so I can't be that bad to work for... :-/

Quick update...it started raining at about seven this evening and the thunder is rolling about so I'm not on here for long.  LN...I know my little plants are very thirsty so drink up for free lads and lassies...LN

Tuesday 18th September

Two of the clock start, played silly games until four and then got my head down until seven thirty and awoke with a start.  Ten minutes to get up, washed, teeth, and didn't even manage time for a coffee in this mornings performance and then off to get the men,  Down to the materials yard and I am not the proud possessor of lots more metal, twenty bags of cement, more hardboard and roof bitumen, lathes for the roof and several hundred concrete blocks for building the wall which came into play today.  I was going to take a photo tonight but by the time that I got home it was heading for the dark side of the block so to speak.

A couple of visiting friends came by unexpectedly today and we are looking at houses tomorrow with them.  I've got Bekir out for the negotiating if it gets to that stage and Sally for the technical wizardry and he does know the inhabitants of one of the villages extraordinarily well so it might be an advantage.  I'm not just any old English woman...I'm one of them.

Student has learnt all about the London buses and it's surprising what I learn while I am going thought it will him and I never knew that it was legislation that forced the closing doors instead of the platform and the one man operation instead of the two.  The things you learn when you are supposedly educating others.  His opinion of my kindle is that it looks like a toy.... I managed to get it registered at the free WiFi by the well and so I shall be able to download any books that I purchase there.  I still don't know how to get the ones that I have on disk and on my pc over and I think that might mean reading the book.  I thought I'd sussed it last night but it didn't work so back to the drawing board Mildred.

Taking the men home tonight was fun.  My Avatar was over here and she told Bekir that one day she was going to see where they lived.  Bekir told me so I managed to persuade her that tonight was the night so she put her stick in the bus shelter and off we went.  She hadn't locked the door so I had this vision of her neighbours thinking that she had been abducted by aliens since no one saw her get in the car and Tommy home alone.  We almost got her into the cafe but she only had her little rubber shoes on and said that she wasn't dressed for the part so I didn't push it.

So supper tonight was a toasted cheese sandwich with brown sauce and I've got a coffee with the milk and sugar already added and I notice that I need to get some more.  It's the little packets that I leave for the men when I'm out and about.  So early shopping in the morning to refill before I have more guests to drink me dry....LN...I have Freecell to play and pictures tomorrow... ;) ;)

Tueday night Wednesday am update

Not an ounce of sleep in me and don't know the reason why...  Just gone for the cocoa and keeping fingers crossed.....

I'll suffer for this I know. :-/ :-/

Quoted from Elsa Peters

I still don't know how to get the ones that I have on disk and on my pc over and I think that might mean reading the book.  I thought I'd sussed it last night but it didn't work so back to the drawing board Mildred.

Plug kindle into the PC using the USB cable, open windows explorer and you will see the kindle as a drive letter, there are four folders on the kindle and you need to drop the books into the correct folder :)
The folder is called Documents just ensure the books are either mobi or azw format and not epub or some other weird file type:)

Wednesday 20th September

Thanks for those words of wisdom...I'll give it a whirl tomorrow and again, thank you for the gift... :K)

Sorry for being so late tonight....visitors, a bottle of wine and good food and lots of lovely chat.  I'll post my pictures tomorrow and I have some photos of the houses that we went to see today. My guests are just hitting the sack.

Men have had another good day and we are now up to the concrete pillar part of the project.  We've discussed roof lines but I think that cigarette packet might need to come out again.  LN...I'm off to bed...I've got men to pick up in the morning...Sleep tight everyone...LN

Hi Elsa.
I would recommend downloading a program called Calibre. It will convert between different formats and also manages your  ebooks. Kindles can also manage to display Mobi and pdf format books as well as their native AZW files. Their are tons of sites where you can download free books that are out of copyright - http://www.gutenberg.org is a great one. Also amazon occaisionally has the classics and others for free as a sort of promotion type thing.

Thursday 20th September

I would ask where did the day go...it has seemed non-stop from morning to night.  Just got in from Gouljan's birthday treat and she insisted on paying and it's a first....I let her.  

Had to rush out today to get the chimney bricks so that they could build it into the wall and it was all down hill from there.  Late for my lesson, late for printing off the text for my student because of the chimney bricks but I've managed to acquire the concrete water thingy that Star Mush insisted in removing from the lane and depositing in his garden.  I am now the proud possessor of the said concrete thingy.  I do promise pickies tomorrow and I am not just saying that.

My guests are sleeping, I'm clattering on the keyboard on the landing so I'm going to say goodnight and get my little head down...I'm feeling very sleepy but at least the air has cleared with the mother of all thunderstorms tonight and lashings of rain so I'll see what's left of my garden in the morning....  LN...my bed calls.... ;)

Friday 21st September

Woke up at seven fifteen this morning and thought...lazy morning...guests sleeping in...but then suddenly remembered that I had to be on my bike to get the men.  Had a coffee and realised that those twenty minutes had flown so off I went to get them.  There with their little rubber shoes blacked into the car and second coffee underway and out for bread from the other van so that we had fresh for breakfast and saw that he also had cheesy bread on so it was three of those, one for the men to share, one for breakfast for the takers and one for pickies when the librarian came round later in the day.  So only the female of the species sat down for breakfast and almost ten, fresh fruit salad and Hacibar's home made yogurt followed by the cheesy bread which formed a good base for the rest of the day.  On their way by ten forty...Librarian arrives at eleven so down again for more coffee and cheesy bread picks and eventually headed for Djebel to meet Gouljan for lunch and the three of us had chicken soup with bread for just under five leva.  Had a bit of a shopping spree...into one of the local cloths shops and got some of their special trousers and gave my Librarian a pair as a present and when we got back. we threaded the elastic in them and I believe she is refusing ever to take them off.  I've got myself a new pair only this time with a top to match and they are going out to Australia with me ;) ;)  I also came back with a carpet for my bedroom so that it is warm to walk on the tiles now that winter is approaching. We've had a very girlie afternoon and both put the trousers on to test them out on Bekir and Sally and Hacibar was walking by the gate so I suppose it is all over the village now...just a normal day in my village.

Bed stripped and washed and having to air it inside...it has gone cold tonight.  The fire is lit and making the house feel warm and the librarian offered to take the men home for me since it is on her way.  I'm not into food tonight...I'm coffeed out and the soup is still doing it's stuff...perhaps a little later.

So the men have had a good day....I've had a good day and I'm settled in for a snug night.  Off tomorrow to friends in Elhovo so there might not be an update....I'll see how it pans out...LN.....I'm showering and getting stuck in front of the fire...

Sunday 23rd September

Sorry, didn't do the update last night but a full update when I get home....Good night last night, no alcohol involved and home to bed with only one black jumping cricket in the bedroom as company...catch you later.

And here we go....had a good journey over there and took me about three hours but I stopped off and managed to get some strimmer chord...two lots of it...so now I'm ready for next year.  Can't see me getting much use out of it before then.  Good to see my friends again and new ones from the area....picky bits for lunch and then it was...let battle commence in the kitchen to prepare for about sixteen guests all descending on an adjoining property since there was more room there.  Potato and coleslaw with local Shopska salad, barbecue bits and some lady even came along with a corned beef and potato pie and I think it was by popular request since it is a very English enclave.  Mid forties to sixties and various reasons for being out of the UK...interesting.  I did make the comment that I would have difficulty finding that number of English in my neck of the woods.  

The barbecue was turned into an open fire after the food had been tidied away we sat around but by ten thirty I was getting chilled despite a sweater and we were ready to head back to the bungalow.  I must admit that a little brandy and hot water with sugar did pass my lips and I slept in my sweatshirt but it was a combination of different bed and the jumping cricket that didn't bond well for a good night's sleep so at eight I was making coffee ever so quietly until the rest of the house came to.  

Checked out my new (secondhand) knitting machine and I have also acquired a new slow cooker which I unfortunately forgot to bring back.  We sat around in the sun, had more pickie bits and eventually I realised that if I didn't want to be travelling back at midnight I ought to get my skates on.  Set sail at just before six, driving into the sun for most of the way, arrived back just before nine and couldn't get in my gate.  My lovely Avatar had tied it up with string and that would have undoubtedly slowed down any invaders/intruders as it did me.  I ended up pushing the gate open as far as the string would allow and ducking under it to get into the yard.  

Unpacked my bag but have left other stuff in the car until the morning.  I'm feeling very weary and am looking forward to getting my head down tonight in my little bed.  Ten twenty my time...those pickie bits are still sitting being digested so no food for me tonight.  I must admit though that there is a glass of beer in front of me, it is going down very slowly and it's very necessary tonight.  I've really got out of the habit of driving long distances...Edinburgh to Brighton I used to manage without a pit stop...not so easy these days.  

So...about to get ready for bed...thank goodness we don't have the plague of black leaping crickets that seems to have descended on their area.  Goodness knows how they were getting in but they were everywhere.  It got so bad that the hoover was brought into play to get rid of the blighters.  LN...men tomorrow and over to the wood yard to get that organised along with a few more roof timbers for the barn....a woman's work is never done....LN ;) ;)

Monday 24th September

Slept really well until six, dog dozed until six fifteen and thought I might as well get up and get coffee and see what was happening in my world.  The sky was very red this morning just before dawn and there were lots of stars in the sky.  Cold morning....the mist began to form in the valley and then I was off full pelt to get my men but forgot all about clearing out the knitting machine from the back seat so rearranged the car when I got to the pick-up point.

Down to the woodyard and after a little discussion we have to go back tomorrow.  Supposedly there is another 'drop' tomorrow.  More roof timbers have to be bought so that they can go full pelt on the roof.  Today has been a day of metal workings but I nearly had nothing to work with.  Apparently my Avatar chased  a couple of men out of my yard Saturday night.  They had done a pick up of metal from Star Mush' kushta and decided that they would survey the grounds full of ill intent but my Avatar was straight out to put them right.  Makes it all the more necessary to stick a padlock on the gate when I go away.

Found out what the shouting was all about Friday night.  Metal removed from Star Mush kusta on Thursday and Friday, grandson thinks that he is entitled to some of the cash for his hard work, grandmother things that he is not....families :-/ :-/

Tomorrow looks like being a concrete day and Bekir has asked Emaula if he wants to earn some money.  I get the impression that he doesn't....he might do it for Bekir but he certainly wouldn't do it for me..that's the youth of today for you.  Up to Djebel, got my other pair of trousers, Gouljan's mother was in Djebel since it was market day so gave her a lift home...she asked how much and I told her twenty leva so we laughed and it cost her big fat nothing.

Men home....phone call to ask if I would visit the other house again with my guest and so tomorrow after the wood yard I'm back house hunting.  Supper tonight was pork skewers honeyed and tomatoed with chippies.  Delicious and I must admit that there was a glass of beer to wash it down.  LN...I'm feeling pretty tired after the weekend so I'm off to my virginal couch.  Tomorrow will be here pretty soon. LN...

Tuesday 25th September

Last night I was really tired and I took to the virginal couch at nine-thirtyish and so at four thirty this morning I had woken up prepared for the day.  Did the loo trip and back to bed with the Kindle and DS and decided at six that I would get my head down for another hour and dog dozed gently  until seven.  Quickly on to emails and Facebook and went to Djebel before I picked up the men so that I had enough money to pay for the wood should it arrive and petrol for the trip to Benkovski and home again.  Men were in the car before eight, down to the woodyard and no wood was delivered so we had the promise of an afternoon delivery which never happened but we went on the the farmers markets so that Bekir could see his mates and Sally could tag along.  They had cows, calves and goats and I've been advised that most of these wont see Christmas since there is the Muslim festival in between,  Lovely goats though and I'm almost tempted to have a couple next year...they could always run with Bekir's sheep.

Emaula is now working for me again.  I thought he was going to Turkey for pear picking but he said not so it looks like I've got him for the rest of the week.  As I said it's a concrete day today so the shuttering had to go up and they've been up that ladder with their bucket more times than I care to think.  Went off property viewing today and measuring up one of the properties.  Lunch in Kirkovo and the restaurant there has really improved.  The chief of police and the rest of the force were eating at the table next to us...obviously a job that pays well.

Out to my student this afternoon and by this time my energy levels were on the down.  Back home, washed up cups and delivered coffee for which seemed like the millionth time today but that could be a slight exaggeration on my part....took them home at almost seven o'clock and Emaula fancied the ride home with them.  Bless him but he never shuts up and it was almost like wanting a cloth to put over the parrot.  Watered the garden tonight since it has been in the thirties and just about finished when my Avatar arrived with a take away which went down very well.  I was thinking that I was having to summon up the energy to become creative and there it was...my vibes to the universe got through.  Kitchen tidy, heading for bed with the Kindle but not really getting into the book that I'm reading and keep trying to turn over the pages...doh.  Perhaps that will wear off.

So LN....warm night but the wind is getting up a bit so the balcony door might have to be closed soon.  Three workers again tomorrow...LN...I'm sipping beer.

Wednesday 26th September

Three thirty start again and I have felt rough all day.  A little bit of reading but I really need to get my head down...I'm thinking these tablets are not doing me much good and the pain has been on and off all day.  Come in number seven, your time is up.

Men ready, Emaula's birthday today and I spotted it from Facebook.  He was intending going back with the men tonight and having a wee night cap but my librarian came round and has taken the men home for me.  Lunch was what I could find in the fridge and was sparse but if I'd have known she was coming I'd have baked a cake and put some candles on it for Emaula as well.

Beautiful day today....the wood is still coming after lunch but as for which day, no one let us in on the secret.  We ordered sand/ballast and that arrived this afternoon as promised.  I just love that man...he never lets us down.  Took lots of pictures of butterflies this afternoon abounding on my zinnias and it was a real hive of activity.

The men have been filling the wooden shuttering with concrete today and it is looking good.  The plan to leave a gap between the end of the garage and the garden fence so that you can see either side of the tree has worked out well.  From the lounge you can still see the mountains whereas if they had built the wall you wouldn't have been able to.

Food for me is not on the menu tonight...I'm off to bed now and if I wake at midnight I am staying there until dawn.  I just feel so knacked.  Need to get my strength up.

Thursday 27th September

It worked...I woke up at midnight and not a sound from the pavement so went back to sleep and got up at five fifteen.  My golly I needed that.  I think the sleepless nights with number seven and getting up and picking up and delivering at the end of the day is taking its toll.  Ah well, holidays soon.

So what have we been doing today?  The phone call came to say that the lorry with the wood was ten minutes away so two hours later it arrived and not sure if it had gone via Sofia or not.  Two men unloaded it onto the road...the question was asked if they could bring it into the yard and that was answered with a big 'no' but we had winter wood, roofing wood and metal.  The wood came in about one meter lengths but I'd like to add here that you get more for your cubic it you take it uncut and not cut.  Last year I had ten cubic of Accacia from the forest and this year eight of oak and beech but there is more this year than last.  Admittedly I was paying thirty five leva per cubic last year and this year it's double the price but I've already filled the small house bathroom from window to door and the drive is still full.  We borrowed my Avatar's son's chainsaw and could have it on condition that Bekir used it and no one else....so he was nominated from a short list of one while Sally finished off the metal work for the other support for the roof and Emaula was on the wrong end of both an axe and wheelbarrow while I drew the short straw of stacking it in the bathroom.  I now have wood to come back to in December.

Driving the men home and I saw Gouljan walking along the road.  Emaula was with us and I decided that we were taking him for a birthday drink since my Librarian took the men home last night.  Met up with quite a few of Bekir and Sally's friends and I suddenly remembered who one of them looked like....it was the Count who did the Italy Top to Tail on the BBC.  He's a cross between that fellow and Andrew Bochelli or whatever his name is.  Driving home and saw Gouljan waiting in the bus shelter so picked her up and dropped her off ..back home and omelet for supper...quick and easy..posting pictures and then to bed with a book.  I still try to turn the pages over but I suppose I'll get over it eventually.  So LN...I'm hitting the sack.

Friday 28th September

This morning I was a photographic studio but I actually laminated the pickies and didn't frame them.  Five of my four women since Bekir wanted one of them as well and one of my very sweet guest who was over the moon with his picture.  There is still a lot of wood to be cut but my old bathroom from last year is full to the gunnels where as last year it wasn't so eigtht this year is definitely more than ten last year.  

Decided to take to my bed at lunchtime in the heat of the day with my Kindle and think I lasted about twenty minutes before it was laid on my chest and off I went.  Woke up to the gentle hammering of an axe on wood but went off again and it was four before I opened my eyes sufficiently to go down, make the boys some coffee and be sociable to crava mush who was sitting pretty.  I thought my lousy coffee would see him on his way but apparently he likes it...got that wrong didn't I!!!

Emaula paid so wont see him for the weekend but the boys have realised that they only have seven working days left and want to do tomorrow and who am I to say no.  Had to go into Djebel to fill up with benzine ready for the off and went to my restaurant for cheesy chips, chicken wings and salad and ended up bringing home what looks like a lemon drizzle cake and some home made fruit concentrate now sitting in the kitchen.  Took a picture of a model in local dress by a bicycle but reckon she wont get far on that... ;) ;)  Food for tonight...ten leva ...so not bad for a night out.

Off to bed now...it's been a very hot day and it takes it out of you.  Pictures of my homeward journey and Djebel by night..LN...sleep tight.

Saturday 29th September

What a day.  I decided to tidy out the porch of the little house yesterday and sort out the wood so that it was tidy for when I come back.  It will be winter and presumably cold but there again...it got up to thirty four today and I have men sweating their little socks off.  Fairly early on found out that Emaula couldn't work today, he had work to do with the cows but five minutes later Bekir's phone rang and the windows cometh.  Well let's put it like this...the frames came and the glass comes on Tuesday.  It would have been Monday but there is one wrongly measured door and it's short in height.  There was talk of brick infil but it would have meant a step ladder (exageration on my part) to get on to the terrace or a row of bricks on the top throwing the top of the windows out of line.  So I said that I wanted a new door.  We found their measurements and the new ones that we had been over to sort out with them and they were wrong.

Had a very poorly Semile declaring that he wanted really cold water and I'd just started to defrost the fridge so chipped him a block off and presented him with a jug and a glass.  One happy bunny!!

Got the beer out for the lads at about five and managed to get Sally off the walls at six fifteen and they were in the car soon after that and heading homewards.  I didn't see the transaction but there were several carriers of stale bread for the dogs and some pigeon food on the way back...I've decided that I must paint my little car yellow and get a taxi sign.  Beautiful night last night.  The moon was full and I sat out with a couple of candles going, only the kitchen light on and Jaques Lousier belting out in the background.  

Sunday 30th September

Slept until just before eight this morning and felt very lazy all day.  Walked the estate, fancied tomatoes on toast for breakfast but then realised that I had only one in the kitchen so back outside and managed to find two growing on the last remaining plants.  Straight into the frying pan with oil, salt and black pepper and dolloped onto toast and enjoyed.  Checked out the vegetable drawer and found some beetroot that I had forgotten about but I really couldn't be bother to start the pickling process off so that has been delayed until tomorrow, a pile of washing sits on the landing and that can also wait.  

Really hot again today so took to my bed this afternoon and got my head down for an hour or so.  Back to the Kindle and finished my first book... only about two hundred to go.  I felt that I should be doing something about packing away summer gear and checking out the winter stuff for when I get back but the thought went as soon as it came.  Last week was pretty hectic and I think I need to come down from the ceiling and they're back tomorrow realising that they have only six days left to get some sort of roof on.

Had a brief spurt of energy and now all the clothes that I'm taking to England before I'm off on my travels are ready to be packed.  I'm sort of going from summer here to winter in the UK and then spring in Australia and into their summer.  Now I'm back to my Kindle....the moons up, doors to the upstairs terraces open and the crickets are singing their little hearts out or wearing out their little legs.  Rice cakes for supper...that should do the trick and I've managed to take off that half a stone that I wanted to remove before my holiday.  I've done OK saying that I've had my work routine diminshed due to number seven making a lot of activity painful.  So now it's computer to bed, me to bed and I've really enjoyed my day of doing very little...LN...this might call for a little drink...