Thursday 1st August

So where did last month go!!  I know I was busy but summer is disappearing fast and it will soon be time to get the winter wood organised.  

Showered, shampooed, washing drying in the breeze, garden watered and all the windows open to freshen up the house after it has been closed down for a week.  It's good to be back.

So the boarding cards are printed and I have the notary's letter that I may take my student out of the country.  His mother asked me if I wanted a copy of his birth certificate and I made the joke that I didn't want to sell him but if the price was right, would she agree!!  He's getting very excited and has worked hard to earn two hundred leva for his trip but I laid the law down that he must be careful what he buys because he has to carry it back somehow.  Now I'm thinking I might book a hold bag for coming back.  I left quite a lot in the UK this time so we'll split the weight between us.  On the way back this last time I asked the cabin steward if he could help me with putting my bag in the overhead since I didn't want to damage my wrist again.  His comment...it is rather heavy.  Maybe I should give that as feedback in the survey I've been asked to complete.  

Gouljan found me in the supermarket at around half past one this lunchtime and I asked if she had finished and did she want a lift.  It didn't take long to convince her that she could go AWOL for the afternoon.  Handed over the necklace I had got her from the UK as a little present and she liked it.  Tuna mayo for lunch and nothing required for this evening.  Still slogging through the same book that I took with me on the Kindle and I know not why....where is the excitement...the previous in the series were good.  Little nap around four...it's been well up in the thirties today but the wind was very refreshing.  Librarian over tomorrow and we're searching for a part for her Hilux.....

So almost nine my time....I shan't be late tonight but feeling very relaxed...it's been a good day.  LN...

Friday 2nd August

Librarian arrived at nine thirty and I was still wandering around in my night clothes so made the coffee and sat around until ten thirty chewing the fat and catching up on her guests and my time in the UK.  Made a quick decision that we would go out for the day and set off for Momchilgrad for a little shopping and lunch at one of the hotels and it turned into a very pleasant day.  Called in at the garage on the way through since my little Beauty seemed to be running hot.  I'd already checked the water but my thinking was that the fan wasn't kicking in but they opened the lid, got me to rev it and in it came so not a problem.  It was pretty hot today and was touching thirty seven.  Stopped off at the supermarket and I got the sudden urge to buy a bottle of gin and some tonic so that I could have a'different' night tonight.

Home for three thirty and settled down for a coffee on the lounge terrace in the shade and at four thirty she set sail for home.  I got my book out and at last there seems to be movement and a little bit of excitement but at seventy eight percent it's leaving it a little late.  Put some chicken wings in the oven, mixed the gin and tonic and watered the garden deciding to water the small wasp nests that have appeared under the eaves and then hoike them off with a stick.  It worked...two down and a couple more to go and I should be without.  I know it was pretty drastic but I decided to eat my supper outside and two of the little beauties decided to pester me and after a hot day like today...pestering I don't take to.

Sitting down with my drink in the lounge and Gouljan and her sister appeared so got out the water for her pregnant sister, juice for Gouljan and it would probably have been laced with alcohol but for her sister being there.  Ten o'clock my time...I have a cat's chorus going on in the garden by the bonfire pit.  I've been out there and lobbed a few bricks in the general direction but I'm thinking that I might need a few 'bombs' to help them on their way.   :-/ :-/

So tomorrow I'm taking three people into Kardjali and one to Momchilgrad.  Pregnant sister wants a pushchair for the new baby and I need the bus tickets for Wednesday.  A couple of hours should do the trick so I'll take the Beast to make sure that we can all fit.  LN....I'm off to bed if the bloody cats don't keep me awake...

Saturday 3rd August

Bright and early this morning and the dogs sang away with the hodja in the jamir.....they love it.  Those cats were obviously scared away last night or I was just to tired to notice.

Sky was beautiful this morning at five thirty and it's been a hot one today.  I didn't have breakfast but should have done but got the biggie out since I was a taxi this morning.  I gave Tommy the bones from last night but tipped them over the fence...I' didn't want any more altercations with him and then sat down with my Avatar, her daughter and sister in law from Momchilgrad and worked out the plan to take them shopping.  Sister in law wanted dropping off at the bus station in Djebel advising me that it was very expensive for me to take her to Momchilgrad.....I told her that it was only a few kilometers and that it would be OK.  So down to pick up Gouljan and her sister by ten....back for the next pick point..loaded and off on the road at ten ten which is good for Bulgaria.  We heaved the sister in law in and she started to pray and I got a little concerned at this but it was pointed out to me that she always prays and is doing the fast for the next seven days.....good girl.

So went to the bus station and have my tickets for Sofia for Wednesday....Gouljan and sister went their own way and I meandered around the shops with Avatar's daughter until we both got so hot that we decided that home was best.  It's been a corker today.  Lay down to read my book after a bottle of German lager from Lidl and yes.....passed an hour really peacefully.  Made a pork curry and rice for tonight and it was hotted up with chilli and ginger...just missed the lime pickle and mango chutney.   Must look out for it next time I'm in Lidl.  Wore my hair down today which is not normal and got complimented by the lady in the shoe shop...she said that I looked like a 'mlada' which is indeed a compliment.... ;)  Must do it more often but not when it's so hot. :-/

Grass tomorrow.  I want to get it done before I go away and the rest of the garden will have to take pot luck.  Avatar will water it but I think she is not so generous with it as I am....her pension is very little so she is extremely careful.  And talking about watering....I've got to go and do it tonight.  I've just seen my hare in the garden....he's so big that he looks like a mini kangaroo....shame that my camera won't do him or her justice.

LN....I have work to do....

Sunday 4th August

Five twenty start with the mosque and the dogs joining in the chorus.  One half of the grass mown and I've just summoned up the strength and the 'enthusiasm' to do the second half.  As Oates said...'this may take some time'... :-/  It's a little warm out there....

Finished it, was perspiring like the proverbial and stashed the lawnmower away with great relish.  Had a shower to get rid of most of it, went outside to dry off dressed in a towel and suddenly noticed that my huge pot on the terrace had got rather a large wasp nest inside it so got the hose and put it inside the pot.  Now this maneuver was ok until I notice how many wasps were now circling and I though it best I got more than a towel round me so back in the house I went.  Filled up the pot and there were lots of disturbed angry wasps around so I sat down in the lounge and settled myself with a book.  No sooner than I'd got comfortable and Remsier's two grandchildren were at the door giggling so I invited them in and the one lives in Turkey so the big one was translating and I got the odd 'no' out of them both in response to my questions but the upshot was...they wanted to play games on the computer.  I told them twenty minutes, I went downstairs and back to my book and true to their word...twenty minutes it was and they put the computer to bed and said their farewells.

Decided that it was better to lie down and read so went up the the virginal couch had just nodded off when Remsier herself was knocking on the door explaining that her gas bottle had finished, she had guests, it was too hot for the woodburner and could I drive her into Djebel.  Ten minutes later we were on our way, gas bottle filled, she offered me money but I told her that I have a cherry tree that needs to come down and her husband can do that for me instead.  A little more free winter wood... ;)

Not into food this evening...it has been so hot today so another beer might just reach the spot.  Nine fifteen my time, it has cooled down a little so after the busy day I've had I should be able to sleep the sleep of the just.  Just as hot tomorrow according to the predictors...the ground is really dry despite watering it twice a day and again it threatens a wind which is so drying that the plants don't really stand a chance.  Collected the hollyhock seeds today and shall be starting them off when I come back.....all go isn't it....LN...I'm off for that beer..... ;) ;)

Monday 5th August

I've got this vague feeling that it was my mother and dad's wedding anniversary today but many years ago.  Happy anniversary to both of you.

Early start, read for a while and played computers and found freeview television on the internet and watched a little bit of home.  Won't do too much though...it wasn't that good.

Watered the garden and took my Avatar's daughter into Djebel to get her return ticket for Turkey but there was some controversy and I think we have to go back tomorrow.  She's going to make a phone call first.  Delivered my tablet to my student and he thought it was a present...no...it's mine but you can borrow it to play games on the bus or at the airport.  How can you deprive a child of this decade from his technology....not easily done.  I left him playing with it so we'll see what new stuff it has on it on Wednesday morning.

Back home for one and sat with my Avatar while she was shelling her dried green beans.  We worked out how many kilos she has and how much water was needed for the quantity generated and I reckon that they are expensive beans.  I think they work out about the same cost per kilo as meat.  Mnogo skupo.

Librarian this afternoon with her son who has just arrived having said goodbye to Britain for the foreseeable future, had lunch and they left at about five thirty,  Made a wasp trap and sited it close to the old wasp nest in my giant pot but the wind blew it over so not much of a success.

Suitcase packed more or less...not much in it this time.  Two weeks away and the boy is very excited....and I'm looking forward to it too...LN...I need my beauty sleep ready for my four thirty start on Wednesday....LN

Wow, lot of traveling being done  Elsa. I'm not keen on the traveling but love it once I'm at the destination!

Just did a week down south with my kids so they could do the London tour. Weather was great but really too hot for sightseeing! :o

Tuesday 6th August

Yes Tabs....it does seem to be all go but this time I'm going to make a holiday of it.  I'll be following in your footsteps with the London tour.

So tomorrow I leave...why is it that there are so many jobs that seem to raise their ugly heads before you can jump in the car and go.  Emptied the fridge, defrosted it since it was looking like a glacier in there and threw away anything that was likely to be out of date by the time that I get back.  The remains of the curry from the other night was disposed of in the burning pit and I watched a cat tentatively tackle it but I reckon it thought that the burning pit had transferred to its abdomen.  There were several pieces of pork left and that's not like the local feline population to leave anything...I suppose in England it would very likely end up in one. :-/ :-/

My student's travelling workbook is finished and I took it up to the shop today but his mother thinks that I should give it to him tomorrow.  He doesn't have to do much, after all it's a holiday but it's more to keep a record so that his parents can see where their hard earned cash is going.  She's packed his bag but said that she has to check it over tonight to see if he has secreted anything extra in there but apparently there are sufficient games on the tablet and most of his games are in Facebook anyway.

Watered my garden, cleaned the house, bed stripped and sheets washed but one of the quilt covers did a disappearing act in the wind.  Despite three pegs it went off over the garden but fortunately it was mostly dry so was rescued and repositioned using four pegs this time.  Avatar is on standby with the garden watering, fuel in the car for the morning and it too is having a holiday down at the garage.  It makes more sense to leave it in their yard so that I've got it for when I come back.  Sheep have wended their weary way home and they were standing at the fence looking longingly at my few patches of green.  There appears to be nothing for them on the hillside...it is just so dry.

Final packing.  I always seem to have difficulty deciding what to wear when travelling.  I think it's because easyJet only allow one bag on and I feel that I need somewhere to put purse, phones and Kindle and if you wear a body warmer you can secrete them in your pockets.  Might just go for the small bag this time that will hide away in the big one.  LN.....I've had a sleep this afternoon but ought to be up and about at four.  I'll report in when I get there...there should be quite a lot to write about...it's his first flight....eeekkksss...LN

Wednesday 7th August

Slept with the light on last night just so that I didn't miss the alarm this morning.  Didn't want to screw it up from the start.  At his house for five, his father took us to the bus station and in the airport for nine thirty.  We got quizzed by immigration on departure but had all the necessary forms to take him out of the country and again when we arrived.  I said that I had a copy of the document allowing me to take him out of Bulgaria but said that it was in Bulgarian and as he rightly said...it could say anything.  So I showed it to him anyway and also the boarding passes for our return journey and he seemed satisfied that I wasn't into trafficking.   :-/ :-/

Train down to the station, supper tonight was a walk over the downs to get fish and chips.  J2O's have become a firm favourite and I'm sticking with my 16 something lager. Not quite Ariana but close.  So walked back from the town...tomorrow we are off to visit my son and family who are camping somewhere in the south east and then Friday has been nominated as a shopping day.....So far ...so good.

We're hitting the sack soon...it's been a long day .....LN

Thursday 8th August

And we're both firing on Bulgarian time.  My internal alarm went off at five fifteen which would have been good for BG but not so good for here and my student joined me at six thirty which would have been good for a  teenager out there.  Breakfast was almost two Snicker bars but I intercepted the second and suggested that we have toast and jam which we did.  I think the second was the pudding.

Ten o'clock kick off this morning....rock climbing gear has been donned and the plimsolls are at the ready....along with the camera....

Thursday continued

Brilliant day....two little and two big climbing up some pretty impressive rocks and one rather fit son organising it.  Age ranges...four and a half up to the two fourteen year olds and despite some encouragement.....there was no getting me in the harness and having me swinging in the air ...I had to remind my little grand-daughter that nanny was old so I took the steps, appeared like magic and told them I had gone up the other side....

I believe the boys had fun and we called a halt to it around two to get into a restaurant for lunch.  Eight of us provided a reasonable lunchtime income and we left with two very tired small ones who had given the slide a good going over as had the big ones but no photographs were allowed to be taken in case we embarrassed them on FB.

Over to my daughters and the boys played a silly shooting game logging up numerous kills as boys do and we caught the bus back to the village since the traffic at that time of day would have meant an hours journey for something that would normally take twenty minutes.  Walked back over the Downs...it's been a good day and brilliant to catch up with my grandchildren again.  So we are both so stuffed.....I'm thinking that breakfast is going to be the next meal that I can face....LN

Friday 9th August

My body clock still kicked in at five thirty but I read for a while and managed to go off until seven.  Very little rumbling from the jungle so made a coffee and headed for the computer and suddenly the house was alive with the sound of a clattering of a keyboard from my son's old music room.  My student was awake and computer active.  Breakfast was delayed until nine but even at that time I couldn't tempt him but we had FB contact with his mother, the friend who has just bought the school and Gouldjan from my village so it was all systems go.  I sent his mother an email with the fotos of the rock climbing yesterday so maybe she was checking that he had come through the ordeal OK.

So off on the bus to Brighton and the intention was to get two new pairs of trainers and anything else that might take his fancy.  He has money in his pocket and despite the fact that I keep putting water on it, it is getting too hot to stay in his pocket.  I suppose the theory is that he has worked for it and so is able to spend it...but there was just so much that he wanted that I had to remind him that he has only been here two days yet.... :-/ :-/  The shoes are purchased...in his room....and the photograph has been taken, .I'm thinking lunch, he's still not interested in food but maybe I am making more of it than his mother would.  

Brighton races on today and we saw the first horses head for the starting gate.  Unfortunately the traffic lights went to green and we missed the off but twenty five years of living here and that's a first.

Down for a coffee...beans on toast I think...Heinz at that.  Catch you later...

Saturday 10th August

I'm late tonight....I've had a super day with the two boys down in Brighton at the amusement arcade and finished with ten pin bowling and a trip to Asda.  We won lots of goodies and tokens in the arcade and CJ had a large mushroom, and my student ended up with a Union Jack money box....silly presents at the end of a silly day.

Ended up with a taxi from Brighton since the bus fares would have been the same by my calculations and goodies in the fridge from Asda but no one is interested.....too busy playing downloaded computer games...

So I'm going to say LN....my other computer didn't want to load my page so we're now having a postmortem as to who's done what to knacker my connection from my main computer here....big LN and wait for the fallout....boom boom Basil.....LN

Sunday 11th August

No one admits to having downloaded anything that would have created a problem with my big PC so I am sticking with this little one.  

The boys have found the game Happy Wheels and we are running over homeless people, appearing to be committing carnage on the roads and blowing up test dummies by the score......I'm washed ready to go to lunch...getting the boys away from their machines and into the bathroom seems more effort than it is worth...boys...don't you love 'em....

Lunch at one.....

Sunday 11th August


Very successful day.....food brilliant...my daughter's husband turned chef for the day and entertainer by night by letting the boys play with his PS3 on the giant screen in the lounge while we chewed the fat at the other end of the room.  Time up...nine thirty....and eventually managed to get the boys to bed at eleven despite loud protestations that they weren't tired.  I was so they had to go....result...

Monday 12th August

I'm showered and shampooed and ready for London...student watering himself down (I think) and grandson sitting next to me on the other PC...there are three pcs working overtime this morning on pogo games, FB and me on this one.  We've decided that a lift into town to the train station is better than paying out parking fees for the day in Brighton or taking a taxi.  We are heading for Madame Tussaud's first off and after that the objective is to get as many ticks as we can in the 'I spy book of London'.  We're on a mission and I'll update you later....have a good day....I'm sure we shall....

Just got back from a super day with my daughter and the two boys and we have had such a good time.  Lots of photos, lots of laughs, plenty of food ending with a picnic on the train home.  Most of the I Spy book is ticked off....might just need one more day in London to finish it off.  LN...I've got one boy to get to bed and the photos will get posted tomorrow when I've sorted them out...between us we took so many....LN....one glass of port and bed....

Tuesday 13th August

So I had to wake up sunshine superman to get him to bed last night....I think I almost walked his little legs off.  This morning was taking stock of the photos that we took and he posted several on FB so that his mother could see what he is getting up.

Today has been a day of rest.  Neither of us got dressed until lunchtime although I'd washed and not dressed and he had dressed and not washed which is par for the course for a fourteen year old.   I think he's been a little twitchy....it's not very often that he stays in the house all day but the weather wasn't brilliant and he has been ridiculing my attempts at playing 'Angry Birds' but I'm a real novice at laptop games.  I intend showing him though that old birds can become very angry birds when fledglings start niggling.  Supper tonight was shepherd's pie with a lovely crispy topping, peas and carrots and runner beans freshly picked from the garden.  

The television is on and the Adams Family is now playing which seems to be going down well.  Lots of blood shooting all over the place and exaggerated acting.  I've come upstairs to recharge my tablet so that I can get some Angry Bird practice in. :-/ :-/

So tomorrow we are going to my daughter's school to have a look round and then possibly into Brighton to take photos that we didn't take the other day because we both forgot our cameras.  This might happen to entail another trip to the amusement arcade....it was fun.  LN....I have tablets to exercise...hehe... ;) ;)

Wednesday 14th August

Lazy start this morning and breakfast was toast with cream cheese and blackcurrant jam topping.....as for my student, it was a cream cheese, ham, tomato and cucumber wedge...result.

Princess arrived at eleven thirty and we went round to the school that she works at with the 'naughty / alphabet children' when they get taken out of classrooms for being disruptive.  She's got a hard job but one of the things that I liked about her workspace was a book of four hundred excuses which she hands to her students telling them that it has to be original since she has heard most of them.  I also like the fact that she has fairy lights and has cards that she hands out to her good students which in everybody else's eyes are not particularly good.  She deserves her holidays.

So next stop Brighton and a shopping expedition to buy the presents that my student wants for his family.  What a good day.  I shan't spoil the fun because his parents read my blog but we have a dilemma....what do we charge to his mother from the things that he has purchased.  Tomorrow morning we are sitting down with the list and deciding.

Back on the bus and I realised that I only purchased a single ticket for my student so should have brought a return one.  I somehow managed to get a concessional ticket despite the fact that I told the driver on the journey into Brighton that my Old Age Pensioner's ticket had expired....should I worry...someone who doesn't consider it 'jobs worth' is to be appreciated these days.

Supper was gammon joint with potatoes and veg and I forgot that a Bulgarian needs the statutory half loaf of bread before they feel that they have had a meal.  I just sink into English fare....but it all ended up as a sandwich.

Time for bed said Doogle...I'm pooped today after steering a fourteen year old through the Brighton shops and the relevant pitfalls.  As I said though, a super shopping trip....his parents will be very pleased with what he decided, with a little guidance, to buy.  LN...the day of reckoning will come tomorrow and he's probably got about fifty pence to see him through the second week....tomorrow will tell...LN

Thursday 15th August

So today we were destined to go to Portsmouth and do the old ships but the weather was looking decidedly grim so it was put on the back burner.  There was an idea that we would get number one grandson and go over to Newhaven and swimming but he's got a new lead for his PS something and wasn't really interested.  I played on the computer for a while, spoke to my student's mum, sent her a link for a sports outlet and she decided that they would take a pair of trainers for her husband and by eleven they were ordered and hopefully they are on their way.  She was really impressed with the service...that's ours not the sports company....we can spend anyone's money with ease. ;)

Being a little lost for something to do I mentioned that we had bikes in the garage and bearing in mind that I'd not really been on one for about five years...we dug them out, cleaned them off, pumped up the tyres, did a test run along the street to the school where my daughter works, rode round the sports field and then decided to set off on an adventure.  My hardest part was keeping my student on the right or rather the left hand side of the street...and there's a little wayward tendency that I have to try hard to curb.  Anyway...on to the main road and down to the village...walked over the main roads and on to the undercliff walk and cycled along to Brighton Marina.  Stopped off at Asda to get a picnic, over to a bench overlooking the boats and we drank our alcohol free and ate tiger bread and sausages.  Unfortunately the mini Scotch eggs were lobbed to the seagulls...we both decided they were unfit for human consumption.  Back onto the route and we cycled down the far side of the sea wall to the entrance to the Marina and it's something I haven't done before despite living here for a good few years.  And where are the photos....you may well ask.  Both cameras, both phones left at home and nothing to prove what we were up to.  Having said that, it was so successful that we shall be doing it again.  My only problem was that a child came to overtake and went to go into me, I braked quickly and the pedal shot down my shin and took off the skin.  There was quite a lot of blood but back home, got out the TCP and it's clean and drying off nicely.  I would load the picture but it's not for the feint hearted.... :-/ :-/

Super over, chocolate on the go, tomorrow unsure what we shall be up to but we might even take the bikes out but with the cameras this time or alternatively it is the Eastbourne Airshow so if the weather is good....we might head for that even though we saw most of the planes over the Marina this afternoon.  I'll say LN....I have to rest my leg if I am pedal pushing tomorrow.....LN ;)

Friday 16th August

My resolve to catch the World Championship at six thirty this morning was achieved at six fifty and I settled in for the morning until breakfast called at nine.  I had company for some of it from my student but his morning was interspersed with facebook games. chocolate pickings and a threat that if he touched my nut and raisin chocolate again he was dead.... :-/ :-/  Eastbourne wasn't on....the weather was so naff that there would be no change of watching the airshow and I wasn't up for standing out in the rain.

Had my first bath for this holiday and it has made me realise that mine should be installed at home,  Showers are all very well but at least you can read in the bath unless you're very tired and you wake up with the book floating upside down and I've lost quite a few  that way.  So bath, hair wash, shopping trip this morning to fill up on enough grazing food,  Came back with another tiger loaf, ham, cheese and rolls for tomorrow, two lots of doughnuts, fizzy drinks and still orange and tomorrow some of it will come with us.  Lidl first and then Asda and he really was like a kid in a sweet shop'  As I've said ....there is so much choice in the UK.

Booked the tickets for Cutty Sark for tomorrow and sunshine superman reckoned that we could go over to Stamford Bridge and watch the football but I advised him that ticket were probably out of his price range and that his parents, I believed, wouldn't dream of funding it.  Just a thought.  I think the Cutty Sark will be enough to take in and there are several interactive areas so I'm reliably informed so at least he will have something to play on / with / at.  

Eight fifteen my time....I watched the athletics this afternoon and such a wonderful achievement by Mo Farah.....double gold and well deserved.....and now I am thinking of settling down with a book....I find British TV...well all TV quite off putting.  LN....I think I hear a custard doughnut calling from the kitchen....hand to ear....yes I do...LN

Saturday 17th August

So all ready with out boots blacked and out of the house for nine this morning....and on our way to the Cutty Sark which I found out was what they called Scottish girls short shift.....and that was news to me.  A full bag of food was there for the inevitable hunger pains that rattle out of a fourteen year old and the rest would do us for lunch.  Angela was ready and thanked me for being early in so much as the hoover was standing and had not been put into action...we waved fond farewells to her husband, on to the 23 and up to the big city.  We lost our way, which is normal, the map came out, the arguments ensued, the car was stopped and we were pointed in the right direction.  Any way as we approached it, since my son and his family had lived near there for a good few years, the pennies dropped and we found our way to the super secret car park next to the Cutty Sark.

Beautiful reconstruction and renovation and loads of interactive things to do for children and adults and it kept us busy for a couple of hours.  On to the banks and found a wall to make the sandwiches and get rid of the cakes that were part of the picnic and to fill the rest of the time we decided that a trip down river to the Thames Barrier was in order.  Very informative but unfortunately we hadn't enough time to go up river to see Westminster although we had only been there last Monday,  Another day was the chorus.  Home, well Angela's home for about seven and we ordered fish and chips and mushy peas which seem to have become a firm favourite of my student, two types of cheese cake to follow with icecream and we left feeling very full and clutching the rest of the bottle of the red stuff that we hadn't managed to finish.

Brilliant day...informative and I think he has loads of memories of the day and playing with Angela's dog while we were waiting for supper....he's a happy bunny...in fact we all are...LN

Sunday 18th August

Six thirty start this morning and washing pegged out rather hopefully that it was turn into a bright day.  Had to tread carefully on the  lawn....there were about fifteen slugs on there and it was very tempting to get out  the salt but didn't know what it would do to the lawn.  Suppose I'm spoiled in BG...we only have giant ones but they are few and far between thank goodness.  Not my favourite of God's creations.

Slow start after that and at ten we decided to go and see the Red Arrows.  The weather was a little iffy but we thought we would risk it but we were a little unprepared for the howling winds on Beachy Head.  Reckoned that we would not be able to park in town so seemed a likely vantage point and paid out five pounds for the parking and off we set.  Back to the car after about ten minutes and brought out everything we could find to keep up warm including a couple of umbrellas to use as wind breaks.

Lots of planes that we could only see for part of the time....there was a very low cloud and of course acrobatics being what they are it is sometimes up and sometimes down but they seemed to spend far more time up than down.  So we made a pact....Red Arrows performance over and back to the car and thinking about food and they arrived right on time but as I said, the cloud made it difficult to follow the moves.

Back to the White Horse for supper, topped up at Tesco and back home, washing in and found to be dry which was a bonus, got changed ready for church but even that didn't go our way.  The visiting woman that was taking the service must have  got lost  in traffic or completely forgot she was scheduled for Brighton and didn't make it.....not to worry....the rest of it went OK.

Ready for bed now...relaxed and considering what to do tomorrow.  I think I'll actually take a rain check so to speak and see what that has in store and now to post pickies.  My camera was out of commission because I'd used up my two batteries and forgot to charge them overnight so relied on my old one....best of a bad job so to speak....LN.....here goes....

Monday 19th August

Five thirty start this morning...down to get coffee...read for a while and closed my eyes holding my coffee and fortunately I didn't turn over and end up with a wet bed.  Out of bed eventually at eight and set the deadline of the nine twenty bus and Stamford Bridge, Chelsea Football ground here we come.  Not for me may I add....my student knows all about them so I thought it would be a fitting farewell and yes, it was interesting.  We did the full tour with a guide that had a sense of humour joking with the forty or so on the tour in several languages.  We saw the journalists area, the visiting team changing rooms and the home team luxury changing rooms.  Apparently it helps if the other team have reasonable changing rooms since it lulls them into a very pleasant and not in the least aggressive frame of mind.  Perfect for failure.

Tour over, picked up the tube for the Embankment and out came the I Spy book and we knocked off Cleopatra's Needle. Millennium Bridge, Oxo Tower, Tate Modern, Tower Bridge, London Bridge and the Tower of London.  Ticking as we went it was amazing what we found but we were still undecided and still are of the whereabouts of Tower 42.......we took photos and hopefully one day we'll wheedle it out.

Found a kebab restaurant and had a chicken with very hot chili sauce and managed to get on the seven twelve from Kings Cross and home at about nine thirty coming in by bus.  Very good day, very tiring day and tomorrow it's sorting out clothes and working out if we can get everything in or we need to book a one way bag on easyJet.  Tomorrow will tell.

So LN...I'm going to get my little head down....I'm whacked...

Tuesday 20th August

Late start...twelve hours yesterday took its toll so washing in, breakfast was English sausages, settled in to pack the hold bag that I had yet to book with easyJet.  Now this would have been a simple task if the booking was in my name but it was my student's mum who booked it and I ended up making phone calls to the said company to arrange the payment.  I was advised to print the new boarding passes and I didn't seem to have access to them but managed it eventually.  The second task was to book the taxi for 4.00am for Thursday morning so today's list is now complete.

A friend came round this morning that I hadn't seen for about seven years and we chewed over the fat over friends that have gone to the other side.  There were a few surprises in there for me and so I sent up a silent prayer....and both younger than me which does bring it home somewhat.  Late lunch of corned beef sandwiches and then into Brighton to take what was to be the final camera shoot but instead it turned into a visit to the new skateboard park in Brighton and a demand for the plans to be emailed to Kardjali offices and a further demand for Euro funding.  That's going to happen.... :-/ :-/  Last minute shopping for presents.....these have to go somewhere in the packing....I'm beginning to think that we need bottomless suitcases.  Now heading down to the kitchen to see what I can come up with for supper.  It's not that I'm hungry but I have a very hungry caterpillar that one day might turn into a butterfly.....LN....I'm on the food run....

Wednesday 21st August

Final count down.  So this morning I could have been in that taxi at four having woken at silly o'clock.  I went down to make a coffee, thought I would watch TV but now that English TV has gone digital I have't a clue about Freeview boxes and the like so the screen remained blank and I went back to bed with a book.  Now that would have been fine but the bedside lamp is purely that so I tried hard with a new Frank Kaffa and gave up in the end, played Angry Birds until the battery died on the tablet and eventually went back to sleep until seven thirty.  I went down and sorted the final washing, went into his room to deliver the said socks and realised that there was a hump in the bed and he was still asleep so I crept out.  Still no sign of life and it's nine.  I think he's as tired as I am... :-/

Thursday 22nd August

One word to say....HOME......and the boy is returned safe and sound to his parents......result.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.... ;) ;)  LN

Still waiting for normal service to be resumed..... You okay Mama? Xxxx :K)

Friday 24th August

Quoted from Princess

Still waiting for normal service to be resumed..... You okay Mama? Xxxx :K)

This is specially for my Princess....I would ask what's 'normal'...I don't think five marshmallows all at once are, and as for the man offering me a 'hug' on the train because I had tears streaming from my eyes, he can't have been but I think he enjoyed the cabaret.  Now enough said!!

Slept really well last night and woke up at seven this morning,  My Avatar came round this morning and we had a big hug.  She was looking a little worried before I gave her a pair of cat fleece slippers as her present in red, white and blue but she almost burst into tears as she related the events of last Tuesday to me.  We walked to the end of the lounge terrace and she pointed out a patch of scorched earth and said that there had been a near thing with three of my neighbour's houses and mine.  Apparently the men from the village were tackling it but the fire engine arrived within ten minutes and doused the flames which were, according to her, really quite high and fortunately there was no wind to fan it. She said that she'd had sleepless nights worrying about it and I only said one word to her....'kismet' or 'luck'.  It wasn't my turn.  At least she had something else to think about now....one pair of patriotic kitty slippers... :-/ :-/  My next visitor was Remsier who saw my car and just called to check that I was OK.

Had a phone call from the Librarian this morning.  What she thought of as 'minor' has turned out to be 'major'.  Her jeep has gone in for repair and she is without.  I went over this afternoon with the intention of bringing her back to mine so that we could have an early start but the request was made for me to stay there.  Normally I would have complied but I'd left my bedroom door open and only fly screen for protection so now I'm home after topping up her supplies in her local town and tomorrow she is making her way to Djebel with her son on the bus and I'll meet them and we'll hit Kardjali together.  I think I'll take the Beast out for a spin,,,there might be lots of shopping on board.

Settling down with a glass of ouzo and water tonight....beautiful evening and looking round my house I'm so pleased that luck was with me last Tuesday...it would have been hard starting again.  LN....I'm off to bed with a book...LN. ;) ;)

Quick update for Kingdom.....I believe you have a roof....

Saturday 25th August

Short and sweet tonight.  I'm sleeping at the Librarian's after we've had a day stocking her up with food due to the absence of transport and I've spent the evening eating it and drinking it. ;) ;)

It's taken me fifty minutes to get an internet connection so I'm not going to push it....it's holding up with only one bar but I've had to 'adjust my position' several times.  So it's goodnight from me and good night from her and I'm posting double quick in case I lose it again....LN and the photos of this morning's glorious sunrise will be put on tomorrow.....LN

Saturday 25th August

Short and sweet tonight.  I'm sleeping at the Librarian's after we've had a day stocking her up with food due to the absence of transport and I've spent the evening eating it and drinking it. ;) ;)

It's taken me fifty minutes to get an internet connection so I'm not going to push it....it's holding up with only one bar but I've had to 'adjust my position' several times.  So it's goodnight from me and good night from her and I'm posting double quick in case I lose it again....LN and the photos of this morning's glorious sunrise will be put on tomorrow.....LN

Hi Elsa, sounds and by the pics you had a ball in UK with your travel buddy. Back to the grind of home now I guess. Glad to hear your house is ok. and you are fine too. Take care. luv from us here in OZ.xxxx

Sunday 25th August

Thanks Linda...as for a breeze with a fourteen year old...think back...was it so easy? but I saw things that I would never have seen like...Chelsea Football ground....given my history like yours...Wolves would have been more appropriate... ;) ;)

So last night sleeping on the sofa at the Librarians and stomach cramps hit at about two am and several trips to the loo were on the cards after that.  I took my kindle to keep me company and eventually got to bed at three thirty.  Only thing different in out diets...i had a Twix that I think had been melted and frozen with the filling lying between the two fingers.  The rest of the diet was the same and no one else had the hebejebes at silly o'clock.

So breakfast was fry up of bacon, mushrooms, fried tomatoes and scrambled egg and by the time breakfast arrived I was absolutely fine.  Out into the garden by eleven thirty so that I could dig up several acacias that had self set or developed from suckers in the garden and I now have six that need planting on my hedgeline.  I think they are so pretty and not solid trees so that you can see through them.  I worked on the garden with her son and we have cleared quite a few of the other suckers that have found their way into the garden.  It's looking a lot clearer now.

Watch the Discovery channel this afternoon while the sun was doing its stuff and waiting for it to cool down but unfortunately the eyelids were heading southwards so it was a quick cup of coffee, downloaded several books for her from the pc to the Kindle so that she has a new supply and headed home forgetting my trusty English fork that is now on her patio.  Caught up with some missed calls on Facebook since it's so much cheaper and you can be far more succinct in the responses.

Supper tonight was a spicy (just for you Princess) sausage fried off with an onion and served with a couple of slices of bread.  Filled the gap and accompanied the beer.  Off to the dentist tomorrow with my Avatar....let's see how long we have to wait and I'll book myself in for a scale and polish while I'm there.  Eight thirty start from here so I better get my head down in a little while... I've had a good day but I'm looking forward to my bed....LN

Monday 26th August

Bloody mosquito again at one o'clock this morning so I was spraying and plugging in my zapper and eventually went off again after reading for about an hour.  Can anyone please tell me what the mosquito was put on the planet for.... :-/

Washing pegged out at six thirty, escalonia and fuschia from England potted up after two days sitting in a jar of water and several other 'bits' that I plucked from trees have been bedded in as well.  Some had roots just showing and others green shoots and they have two chances...either they will or they won't.  My next task should I choose to accept it is to dig out suitable holes in the bottom of the garden to plant up the acacia that I brought back yesterday from the Librarian's.

So for the rest of the morning.  My Avatar was dressed and best suited to go to the dentist this morning and when we got there there was no one waiting which was a good sign.  I knocked on the door, opened it and no one was in the surgery so we sat down.  By this time we were joined by another couple who were obviously wanting attention and when my dentist appeared he spoke to the couple and told them that they were fully booked.  My Avatar got up, I remained seated and he said that he had no vacancies but then they put the landing light on, he recognised me, we shook hands and I said that she was my neighbour and that she required attention.  He found a gap in his busy schedule, she was straight in the chair, ten minutes later she was out, I made my appointment for a clean and polish for the 9th September and back home in quicksticks.  It does annoy me though that had I not been there she would've been told to come back another day which isn't easy when there are only two buses a week from the villages. :-/ :-/  

And now to the rest of the day....Acacia....here I come....the job has to be done. :o :o

Monday continued

Just been over to check on my Avatar and she has a headache so I dosed her up with strong Aspirin and left her enough for tonight.

And so by popular demand the proof that the fire was near the house and likely to have done its worst.  I can only think that it was caused by a shard of glass..there seems nothing else in sight and it has been three weeks without rain here.  Kismet....luck was on my side again...thank you to the higher power.

Supper tonight is spicy ( again for my daugher) sausage with potatoes and onions turned into an omelette....and I'm now down to the kitchen to sort it out...LN.  The acacia are still waiting for planting...it was so hot this afternoon that I got down with my book and my eyelids went skywards for a couple of hours....it's called catching up...LN....I'm back to the kitchen...

Hi Elsa, In answer to your question, They were made for fish to eat in the wilds, till suburbia came and we are their food now...lol

My solution to your problem......they like heat and fresh blood, so u have to have a fan blowing on you osolating of course and make it cool in your room, so they blow away before they can reach the flesh....lol   it might work..... :-/ or spray the room before you go to bed. Or get an electronic zapper......any way few ideas.... 8)

Can you post a pic of the front of your house, as I've only seen the back....???????

Tuesday 27th August

Thanks Linda...it was quite a hypothetical question....I just don't like to be 'food' but at two in the morning I find it difficult to decide the best solution....but now I seemed to have worked it out. ;)  As requested, pictures of the front of the house but the intention was to make it look like the rest from the road and to make the best bits at the back so that  was the part that I lived in and appreciated.

So today has been hot hot hot and I think the most energetic thing that I have done is to plant up two of the acacias and the rest will be done tomorrow.  They are sitting in a bucket of water, looking OK for now but really need to go in.  As I've already said, my garden is so scorched...it was thirty four again today and it has been about a month now without rain.  It's been threatened but to date nothing and I think my Avatar was not as generous with water as I am.

Slept this afternoon...needed rest and recuperation and had phone calls from the UK to deal with.  Now waiting for next visitors from the UK....short and sweet this time in the shape of Kingdom's better half to inspect the work that's been carried out on their roof...I'll have the rope ready to string up the culprits if the work isn't to schedule.

LN....shower and bed...it's a warm one tonight....supper not required but maybe another drink just to replace the moisture.... LN

Wednesday 28th August

It has been one of those days that you just can't remember what day it is.  I've arranged to go to the Librarians on Thursday afternoon so that we can have an early start to Greece on Friday but this morning there was an element of confusion.  I think I've been going at full pelt for the last month and coming down is taking its toll.  Another week or so and I'll be fine but the heat hasn't helped.  It's been well in the thirties again today and all you can do is stay inside and keep yourself occupied once you've watered the poor plants.  Even some of the long standing shrubs are needing to be drenched twice a day and there was a very hot wind which seems to be drying them out even more.

Lunch was a mixture of hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, tuna and mayo.  The tuna was a new brand to me but tasted very 'fishy' so I'll go for the regular in future.  Had a visitor this afternoon...Emaula has come back from Turkey since the work has finished and is here for about twenty days.  I'm not sure if he was looking for some paid employment from me or not but it's far too hot to even think about finding him something to do.

My book has moved on a pace today and I'm now up to seventy two percent and at last it seems to be back to the story and moving well.  I think she get's into the habit of describing things in too much detail as if to pad it out or to tell me what she knows.....so I found I was skipping pages and not losing the plot so to speak.

Cooling down now....the clouds have come over and it would be wonderful if it rained....it's been threatened but no luck so far....I'm just about to go out into the garden and do a rain dance....LN...it's sorely needed.. :-/ :-/

Thanks Elsa, I did assume that from the road the house would be plain, as u have the best view from the back.... so thanks for showing me.  lol  :)

Thursday 29th August

On the plus side Linda...this is the coldest wall and always in shade and to break through the two foot walls to put windows in would have been really hard work and expensive.  Might as well have big holes on the front and fit bl**dy big windows.  Also it cuts down the noise...that's about ten cars at rush house and a couple of tractors a day....oh and I forgot...the one horse and cart. ;) ;)

Five thirty start this morning and out for coffee like a good'un.  It was cloud over this morning but as the sun came up it burnt it off and it's turned into another scorcher.  Emails and stuff this morning and then back to my book and at eighty percent it's still OK.  Stripped the beds and got two loads of washing done so that's one thing off my mind for next week...spare bedroom prepared.

Two little visitors this afternoon...they let themselves in and I told them off for not shutting the fly-screen.  I suppose if they don't have them they don't shut them.  We talked for a while and it was obvious that they had come round to use the computer....so I said that I had only just put it down and the answer was no.  I really don't want them to get in the habit and they go into things that I don't so may be opening it up to wee beasties.

So washing dry and in....passport dusted, euros sorted and I think I have enough to get three cups of coffee over in Greece.  Just need pj's, clothes for tomorrow and bed quilt....I'm on my way to the seaside.... ;) ;)

Friday 30th August

Seven of the clock, boots blacked and we eventually set off at...ten or thereabouts.  Stopped off for fuel, munchie stuff and then....we were off to Greece for sun, sand, swimming and whatever we could find...

I'd been over before but only to one of the villages for a mosque get together but now we were into virgin territory with Terry as the driver, the Librarian navigating using a map of Europe that was useless as the scale could take us from Russian to the bottom of Turkey but as for the detail...not much happening there then.  Over the border...the Greek guys were very helpful telling us that there appeared to be a problem with the car as there was water dripping from it but there is a problem with it in that if you put too much water in the radiator...it escapes.

We'd heard that the road was twisty and by golly was it but we found Xanti from the signposts and then onwards to Kavala and then it came into view...the sea and not only that but the island of Thassos.  This wasn't the final destination for today...we wanted a beach...didn't want to spend too much money in the process and as we drove along the sea front we just turned round, there were these beach umbrellas that we thought we would have to pay for but no one appeared demanding cash and we plonked ourselves down.  We had been sensible...we were swimsuit clad under outside garments so a quick strip job and out for our first dip.  Sandy beach, shingle shelf to get over but then two meters out and it was up to your armpits and stayed that way if you went out another twenty meters.  Absolutely wonderful but if you decided to float you were washed up like flotsam and jetsam and the rough patches on your elbows had been smoothed away by the shingle beach.  There are benefits to a shingle beach.  

So as I gently reddened, the others sort shade in the beach umbrella but I took to sitting on the edge of the beach and getting gently soothed into oblivion.  Went back to the umbrella and there was a gentle snoring from the other two so I stretched out in the sun for a while and then went back to my beach edging.

Packed up about five when everyone came too.  Walked over the road and realised that the huge building was actually a supermarket stocking all of the things that you can't get in BG but at what price.  At those prices I can do without.  We got ham, spread cheese...La Vache qui rie...at in euros no wonder he was smiling,,,and some rolls and back to the car and started on the sandwich conveyor and we were all replete.

What a good day...I feel like I've had a holiday day...and home now via the Librarians and washing programmed to go off in a couple of hours, showered, hair washed and sipping an oozo with water...reminiscing about my day in Greece.  It was the first from BG but it definitely will not be the last...well worth the drive...LN

Saturday 31st August

Very slow day after yesterday.  Washing online at nine this morning, dug up carrots with the intention of having them for supper but forgot all about them and ended up with fish, chippies and peas.

So what did the day hold...not a lot really.  Dug up some of my carrots as I said, the beetroot is still in the ground although I had grand plans of turning that into pickle this afternoon but it all went by the wayside.  Not a lot was achieved.  I found Saturday Kitchen online this afternoon and watched that and Midsummer Murders. I have been away from local TV for a long time but not long enough to get sick of it yet.  I did balk at the idea of the omnibus edition of Eastenders thought...that was too much to contemplate.

Supper was enjoyed and I had a surprise phone call and visit from Gouljan this evening on her way back from a wedding.  I think she likes to call on me to remind me that she is still there.  The friend I did not know but she lives in one of the local villages.

So Gouljan is off to Turkey to stay with her sister and I'm very tempted to catch the bus and go and see Bursa....it would be another experience...and without money...well not quite but it would be at local not tourists rates.

I have my student tomorrow....it's been several weeks because of England and my student....let's see how much she had remembered or forgotten...LN...I'm back to normal...LN