Friday 1st November

So I woke up at silly o'clock this morning, read for a while, slept for another hour or so and then surfaced around seven thirty and went down to try to complete a Sudoku which never got completed.  My daughter was off to the dentist this morning so we planned dentist by nine fifteen and then shopping in Newhaven town.  It's the sort of town that time has forgotten, there's a small trading estate with Lidl, and Poundstretcher and a very large garden centre, Paradise Park where she was determined to find a Christmas dinosaur reduced as part of a campaign and eventually we found it and it's now sitting on the shelf in the lounge.

Next stop was the cafe in the garden centre where there were bacon and sausage baps calling out to us and we were very controlled in that the chocolate cakes with a big blobs remained on the counter and not on our tray.  We moved back into the main store and then into the garden centre and managed to stop ourselves from putting anything in the trolley...today we were good.  

We were home for around three, my grandson was home and it was good to catch up with him.  I managed another Sudoku, supper is in the oven and tonight we have a square hamburger made in a baking tray and I thought what a good way to do it.  Add the onion, spices and gravy granules, mix it all together and into the oven with it and it will get served with chips and more baked beans so I shall have to keep on the move tomorrow.

The photos from today are on the phone and so they won't be posted tonight.....Home tomorrow morning to hopefully see the young gardener that left me a message that hopefully he will be well enough to give a quote tomorrow.  LN.....Packing tomorrow but some clothes will stay here for Christmas....saves taking them backwards and forwards .....LN

Saturday 2nd November

Ten  minutes to four start this morning and I think my daughter came out in sympathy.  I didn't manage to get off to sleep again but she did apparently, I lingered until seven when I went down stairs to make coffee, settled in the lounge and carried on reading my Kindle.  I think I'm getting near to departure and my body clock is aligning with BG already....the house came alive and everyone was dressed and ready to jump in the car, I said final farewells to my grandson and he went back to bed complaining that the house was like living in a zoo with all the noise going on. We set off for home, my daughter and SIL headed in to Brighton Marina to get the weekly shop, my agenda was to get back home to hopefully meet the youth who might be looking after the garden and was potentially calling round to give a quote but as it happened, he didn't.

I sorted out my clothes that I'm taking back, unpacked my bag from the nights away, assembled everything that needs to go back in the bag and put my travelling gear all ready to jump in to.  My son phoned to confirm an approximate time that the train will be arriving near to where they live and just to confirm that the plan still stands that he is taking me to Stansted for a very early flight and I'm so grateful for that.  They only live about one hour from the airport but it makes such a difference for me to get deposited there.  I had a bath and washed my hair and if the weather in the morning is as unsettled tomorrow as it is now, I shall be calling a taxi.  The original plan to get to church and then walk to the station has been shelved.....the focus is on getting a train. I had a bath and washed my hair, a final small load of washing in the machine which should be dry already and I was in my PJ's by four.  Relaxing after the morning activities I settled down to watch Brian Cox's space program and the more you learn, the more your mind gets blown away by the sheer scale of things.

Strictly tonight and unfortunately it will be the last I see of it until Christmas when it's the final but in the interim I have Outlander, the last of the books, now about to start on Netflix.  That should keep me busy as we head into the cool months and I shall probably have to get a few good fires going to heat the house up to base temperature since I've been away for three weeks.  I haven't check on the temperature fluctuations in BG....I'm hoping it's been OK there.

Not very special photos tonight.....we have Dinosaur that is yet to be named and unfortunately taken in the shade and the skies as I waited for the bus to go to my daughter's house yesterday.   LN......Back home soon and hopefully back to normal routine.....I might not manage to post tomorrow.....I shall probably be having an early night ready for the four a.m. start.......LN

Sunday and Monday, 3rd and 4th November

The last two days have been a little jumbled so bear with me...I'll try to get it right.  Sunday was a panic morning trying to get everything done that I wanted to, the gardner hadn't appeared yesterday so I hoped he would contact me today but didn't so I'll be trying to sort it out in emails not face to face.  I'd given up the idea of going to church on Sunday at eleven and instead booked a taxi to take me to the train station to go to my son's house to spend the last evening with the family in London.  I'd never done the journey to his town before, the taxi dropped me at the station and I felt sure that I'd just put down a downpayment for his taxi....the fares have really increased.  I avoided the ticket payment self serve and chose the 'personal' touch of which there were only three working and long queues.  Having said that, the train was standing on the platform and I was in Victoria in good time and after a fair walk went to another platform for the onward journey.  It was a slow train and the stops were easy to follow, I arrived and my son and grandson were waiting on the platform which was a lovely surprise.  We went shopping for clothes for my grandson, food for supper and back home, it had been a few years since I'd been there and I admired the work he's done on the place.  His wife had been on a birthday gift cruise and arrived back and was picked up from another 'point' on the map and this was another good catch-up.  

We took to our beds fairly early on so that we could get a few hours in before he took me to the airport.  I managed a couple of hours,woke up with cramp, head going crazy and managed to get off again waking suddenly since I'd slept with the phone close to my ear to minimise the risk of waking the others at three thirty.  The alarm sounded, I woke up with a start, tried to get up through the wall, lost my balance on a soft platform bed, realised I was falling but couldn't stop myself and crashed down on my front to the side of the bed.  My son heard the noise, came in to check that I was OK and will full bravado I said that I was, I dressed, put the  last few items into my hand luggage and we got in the car.  I didn't really know how I felt but everything was shaken up inside and it was beginning to hurt.  It didn't take too long to the airport on the shuttle bus, through security and into departures from gate eighty eight, more or less the last one there.  Not long to wait before the flight was up on the board, took our seats and up and away.  By now I was concerned that I may have made the wrong decision about flying, every move hurt but eventually we landed in Plovdiv my first flight inbound.  I walked to the car in the long term, found the keys from my bag, the car started first time so I  locked it up and went to the cafe to pay for the long term parking, back to the car and set off for Kardjali via my mountain route in complete agony changing gears and negotiating the beds but eventually I made it and had made a decision to go straight to the hospital for an x-ray to make sure nothing was broken, it sure felt like it.  The parking spaces in the main carpark were full, I found a spot and dumped it, went to emergency, produced my residency documents, received an injection,  my blood pressure was taken along with an ECG, x-ray and examination and the result was that nothing was broken but the pain was to be expected falling face down from about a metre in height.  I was given a prescription for painkillers, walked back to the car to see a young WPC putting something under my wiper blades which turned out to be a twenty leva parking fine which I shall pay at some point.

Drove to Djebel, popped into the shop which is next door to the chemist to say hi to my student and his mother, and fulfilled the prescription for just over four leva.  Home, removed the padlock from the gate, Nipper into the drive, doors opened once I'd found the keys from my bag, electricity plugs reinserted, water turned on and hot water boiler timer switch put to the right time and bag contents away.  It was a day of lots of messages on the way down to settle my son's  mind, he made me promise to tell him what the hospital guy said and was relieved when nothing was broken.  More phone calls this evening with my daughter to put her in the picture of the day's events and pleased to say that everything is good.  I shan't be going far for the next few days, I intend catching up on rest and recuperation and settling back in.  I do need to get some new season firelighters, the old ones are dry as a bone and no way will I light a fire with those which I proved tonight.  LN......It might be a Cadbury Dairy Milk night cuddling my hot water bottle tucked up in bed.......LN

Tuesday 5th November

'Gun powder treason and plot'.....and not a lot of that will be going on on my hillside today.  I slept well and woke up at seven thirty hardly able to move.  The rot has really set in and I ache in places that I never knew existed despite it being a beautiful sunny morning that raised my spirits but not my pain wracked body.  I rolled out of bed and made coffee, fortunately I have my kettle and coffee on the upstairs landing, I'd brought the cup up from the night before and the water was available in the bathroom.  I went back to bed, read for a while, checked overnight mail, mainly rubbish and by ten I was ready to go to sleep again so did.  My head was not really working in conjunction with my body, it seemed to have a life of its own so I was holding on to anything solid to get around.  

I made toast with apricot jam for a very late breakfast, washed up from last night, more coffee and then back to the bedroom to the most comfortable place that I know when all the upper bones of the body ache.  I don't think I've ever been is so much pain and the painkillers from the hospital don't seem to touch it.  Around four I found a pot of Arnica salve and liberally lashed it all over where I could reach at the front, the back would have to wait.  I'd foolishly last night put on a long overhead dressing gown that I'd slept in since I had returned to a cold house and that was a challenge I faced, getting it off, and managed it after steeling myself knowing that it was going to really hurt.  As I said, the sun has been shining all day but has just gone down, the solar lights have just begun to flicker and are lighting up the outside and time to put on the lights inside.  The old firelighters are still in the woodburner so I thought I should make a few twists of paper into coils and found the wrapper from an almost empty printer paper wrapper, brought it downstairs, went to the woodburner too quickly and realised that it was too much too quickly so decided to do the blog then take to my virginal couch upstairs.  The fire can wait, it's not cold in the house, twenty two degrees and that will manage me until the sun comes up tomorrow morning but I shall be wearing something that is easy to get on and off, not into.

Silly accident but it's made me realise that it's very important to take care of the body that you have and I realise that it's going to be a slow healing process that I have to accept and that football is out for a while.  LN......I'll keep you updated.......LN

Wednesday 6th November

Quite a peaceful night last night.  I woke at six thirty, lay in bed trying to work out where it hurt the most and gave up.  From the waist down down I'm fine, anything other than that I'm still really not sure.  Standing up the head was on spin mode and I was groping round the furniture and made sure I had both hands on the stair rails when I went down to start my day.  The first part was easy, I have the kettle upstairs, coffee and cup and was able to take it back to bed with me.  I took one of the tablets and lingered for quite a time in bed waiting for it to kick in and around eight thirty I took the washing downstairs and got it underway, made beans on toast for breakfast, washed up from last night but suffered for my sins later.  Very typical, I'm pushing myself and shouldn't be.

So for the majority of the day I've been on the sofa watching Netflix, I've finished Outlander last book written and the final is not out for another year or so so it's a bit of limbo.  Apparently the new series covers the book that I've just read and some of the next so it's going to be a bit disjointed but hey. I'll let you know how closely it resembles the book when it comes out....but much further along the line.  I checked on the parking fine I have to pay and tried to pay it online but don't think there is the facility.  I shall probably be OK to drive towards the end of the week, fortunately the head seems to have settled down today so just have to get it off the list by next Monday.

I decided to light a fire this evening when I'd just finished the series I'd been watching and season two is ready to view but I decided it can wait until later.  The fire was set with old fire lighters which refused to light so I made a couple of twisters last night but it was just too painful for me to get down there and move stuff around into the right position. I put them in place today, went to the woodstore and half filled one of the log carriers and pulled it into the conservatory which hurt but not enough to stop me.  The fire got going eventually. the water has made its way via the radiators and the house has had the chill taken off it and that was what tonight was all about.  I't still twenty two inside but I wanted to test the system.

No sign of any bruising yet but I shall be putting another layer of arnica on tonight to help it on its way.  I'm thinking clearer which is great, yesterday everything covered in a flimsy layer of confusion and I was waiting for the clouds to roll away.  Reasonable sunset tonight and a beautiful moon and it doesn't feel there is a sign of frost in the air yet so hopefully it will stay warmish until I need to get more logs in to warm the homestead. I attacked a packet of biscuits this afternoon so no need for supper tonight, it's going to be my last tablet around eight and to bed with a book.  LN.....Better start sorting a new series out......LN

Thursday 7yh November

Bit of a disturbed night, I was reading from three am until five and then back to sleep until eight this morning,  The lip was swollen and the side of my face and I realised that I'd had a reaction to the tablets that the hospital had given me so I took a antihistamine waiting for the swelling to go down but it was a slow process. I switched the computer on downstairs and printed off the patient guideline and sure enough it was warning against taking them if you had the symptoms that I was experiencing.  Simple remedy, stop taking the tablets and the swelling goes down and if I go to the doctor she just raises her shoulders and says that she doesn't know how to treat me.  Best treat myself and put up with the pain. So on with the day then...and as I moved by the little window in my bedroom I noticed a small group of cows that obviously hadn't made it home.  The were all nestled down but suddenly one greyish one got up, a few of the others lifted their heads but there really wasn't a lot of activity from the group.  Strange they weren't missed.

I took the cover from the light quilt from the bed, found the fleece zebra quilt covers from the downstairs chest and the quilt is now back on the bed underneath the winter weight one.  It was down to zero degrees this morning.  I carried it down to the washing machine with the rest of the washing making sure that I held tightly to the stair rails, mainly to stop the jarring on the shoulders and also to ensure that I didn't go base over apex.  I started the washing machine, made beans on toast for breakfast and sat at the table in the stairwell.  I hadn't got much to do so I took to the sofa, enjoyed my second cup of coffee and then cleaned out the wood burner from last night's fire knowing that I'd need it again tonight.  Next job was to lay the fire for tonight and then go to the wood store and get a few logs in and I was making sure that they were OK to lift.  From the waist down I'm fine, the problem comes when I'm lifting and turning carrying anything, my back twinges and so do my shoulder blades.  

It was now getting on for two so I put Netflix on and picked up a film and then the electricity went off for an hour or so towards the end of the film until the power was restored and I spent a while finding the end of the film.  Washing on to the airer, found a new film and now it's time to find something for supper, fire lit, it's going well and the temperature in the house is acceptable.  LN.......Six thirty so kitchen duties call...likely to be fish finger sandwiches tonight.......LN

Friday 8th November

Another beautiful start to the day but then the pain kicked in.  This is my first full day without painkillers and all I can say is that fortunately my legs and everything below the waist works perfectly so I was able to get on with the things that I need to do out and about but changing position from horizontal to upright from the bed or sofa is horrendous.

So I went to bed around ten, was aware of trying to avoid turn over in my sleep, woke at four, read until five and slept through until seven thirty.  I'd managed to put my zebra duvet cover on the light duvet and at five had to take the heavy one off, it was hurting my bones and felt more comfortable.  I made coffee and took it back to bed, checked the phone and deleted junk and picked up the Kindle and started to read again The Greatest Show on Earth' by Richard Dawkins.  It really is high-brow stuff and I stuck with it until the thought of a bacon sandwich popped into my head and slowly headed for the kitchen.  I'd got the bacon out last night, used the frying pan to cook the fish fingers last night so lazyly used the skillet which worked out well.  The brown sauce is down to the bottom dregs, I'm sure I've got some stashed away in one of the cupboards but climbing up on the step ladder seems a precarious proposition in my current state of health.  

I was Netflixing for the afternoon finishing off one cheesy series and going back to another one that I somehow abandoned around series two episode four but I managed to pick it up again and by episode five remembered the rest and now I'm settled with it.  There's lots of flashbacks from mother's drug days to her becoming a caring mother at the age of sixty or so and it's nicely tangled with a very firm childhood friendship that's moved into adulthood.  At four it was switched off, I made tristers to light the fire, cleared the ashes from the burner and removed them to the container in the porch.  Putting the ash collector in place was a very painful exercise having to hold a weight and bend my legs to get the angle right....not recommended but eventually achieved it.  Next step was to get small logs in from the wood store and that was easy with the log carrier, laying the fire was painful, the twister didn't want to light so I got a t-light from the container by the fire, lit it and slid it into place under the twister.....improvisation is one of my stronger points.  Low and behold it is a go-er and the radiators are warm already.  One thing I did notice today from my upstairs bedroom, one of the last yuccas to be planted has thrown up a spike that may or may not come fully into bloom but at least it's trying.  Total of flowers from the yuccas this year is seven....amazing and three still hanging in there and one to come.

Time to move downstairs and go back to my series.  I toyed with the idea of going into Djebel on the bus this morning but I'm hoping that by Monday I shall be OK to drive, I have until then to pay the hospital parking fine and go and see my own doctor for some painkillers.  LN.....They would make the healing process more bearable.....LN

Saturday 9th November

So I was awake at three and couldn't get settled in bed, just didn't know how to lie to get comfortable so I got up.  I read for a while, walked around the house, made coffee and went back to bed.  It was now six thirty so not much point in going back to sleep. put Netflix on and carried on watching my current series and at eight washed and dressed, had a bacon sandwich, I'd made my mind up to go into Djebel to test my driving, get some Ibuprofen tablets at least that would give me some pain relief.  I need a good night's sleep.  

I headed for Djebel and everything hurt when I changed gear and turned the wheel but I carried on and got there safely.  I didn't manage to park outside the car shop so carried on to the main car-park and walked back to the shop.  My student's mum used to be a nurse so I went to mainly pick her brains and eventually we settled for Ibuprofen as being the best but somehow I came away with same type but different brand but with 'Forte' tablets which I reckoned would serve the purpose well.  I also found out that they had an Easy Pay facility in Djebel which I didn't know about, the shop was closed today but it will be open on Monday to pay my parking fine of the equivalent of eight pounds.  I called at the chemist and bought the tablets and some Repairil gel used by athletes or so I'm told to put on the parts that I can reach.  Back to the shop for firelighters so this evenings fire went first time and is 'brewing' nicely.  I stopped at the supermarket on my way back home and did a top up shop and for a change chose brown seeded bread and some spicy sausage to have for breakfast...I think I'm getting back to normal.  

I was watching tele and about to nod off when my first student's  mum who lives in the next village arrived with a present for me from her daughter in Germany.  She was almost as excited as I was and I think we tore the Sellotape off it together and it was a pottery candle holder full of chocolates.  I took four of the chocolates out and gave them to her mother, she ate one and was obviously going to take the others home with her for her husband.  It's surprising how well we communicate, she speaks pretty good Bulgarian though Turkish with the rest of the family and neighbours but we kept going for about thirty minutes and I'd don't feel self conscious speaking Bulgarian.  We understand each other.  I saw her to the gate, she wanted to get home before it got dark, I offered to drive her down but she was having none of it.  

So back to my tablets and I've taken one and I'll see tomorrow if they have an adverse effect on me.  I've read the literature and apparently the odds are one in ten in a thousand so hopefull I shall be OK.  LN.....Nothing to do tomorrow and hopefully a restful night and pleasant tomorrow......LN

Sunday 10th November

Seven on the nose when I woke up this morning and it appears I'm back to normal on timing at least.  I'd slept OK but on first impressions I still had the aches in my body and it was confirmed when I rolled over to get out of bed and hauled myself out.  My bones ached, my back ached and generally I felt that I'd gone eleven rounds with a heavyweight boxer but the day was here, not much sun to show for it this morning but it looked promising enough and it didn't disappoint.  It's five degrees out at six this evening and twenty five degrees in with a fire that was only lit at five.  I did take the new painkillers at ten this morning and it's kept the pain in abeyance just as long as I don't press down on the chest, I think there are lots of nerve endings that don't take too kindly to it.

I made bacon and egg for breakfast and went out to feed the cat who has adopted me and it now sleeps near the wild plum under the low wall hidden by the winter flowering jasmine.  I made my clicking noise and it sleepily came out, finished one tray of food and then asked for more like Oliver so I topped it up.  Now the nights are getting cold I shall have to think about making it a sleeping place so shall ask my student's mum for a largish box, she said that she has loads and maybe the garage is the place for it behind the Beast.  I put the food bottle back in the porch and walked the garden and was surprised to see flowers that had just lingered in the new bed by the wood store terrace.  They had sprung to life, no flowers yet but I'd thrown seeds down and not expected much but they were about nine inches tall.  Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees at the bottom of the garden and I really should be collecting them but the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak..maybe next week.  I got washed and dressed, put a  huge shirt on that didn't need manoeuvring into, settled on the sofa and caught up with the end of the series that I'd slept through last night.  

I didn't do much this afternoon, I slept for a couple of hours on the sofa, set the fire and went out to the wood store and filled up one log carrier with big stuff and another with the small stuff from my pollarded trees.  The oak give the warmth and the other pads it out.  I did spread a liberal finger load of my Repairil gel on the sternum area since it soothing and anti-inflammatory and will assiste a damsel in distress. It was coffee and biscuits this afternoon, I didn't mean to do the packet but it really wasn't that big but I don't think I shall be needing supper.  Nipper to the garage in the morning for a rattle near the exhaust, the anti freeze needs checking and I need to pay my parking fine.  LN......I fear my doctor in Kardjali, might be on the 'to to' list, I value her opinion over the doctors at the hospital.....LN

Monday 11th November

Better night last night but still very painful getting out of bed.  Morning was calling, I had to pay my parking fine today so that the cost didn't go up.  I went out and fed the cat and noticed that the water by the side of the dry food container was iced over with quite a thick layer so I poked my finger in it just in case cat wanted it.  My turn next so I made scrambled egg in the microwave and put seeded bread in the toaster which I burnt and the eggs weren't cooked enough....failure on both counts so the cat had that to follow the breakfast already eaten.  Washed up the breakfast things and then set about putting the spicy sausage with baked beans, onions and a chopped tomatoes with chilli flakes into the slow cooker...lunch or supper would cook without any further effort from me.

The Nipper was white over so I decided to go into Djebel in the Beast.  It doesn't get a lot of exercise, it is automatic which would take the pressure off driving the little manual.  I moved the little one out of the way, drove the Beast out of the gate and onto the spare grass outside the wall realising just in time that I had got the angle wrong and was very near the wall so tried again and this time....perfection thy name is Peters.  I was a little nervous but by the time I got off the lane and onto the main road, all was good.  I parked up on the overspill car-park since the town was heaving because of market day and walked to the Easy Pay shop.  I handed over my ticket, she played around on her computer and said that she couldn't process the payment, it wasn't in the system and suggested that I went to the police station.  It was a morning for walking, sun was shining and all was quiet and the officer managed good English.  I handed over the notice, said that Easy Pay couldn't find it in the system and provided that I had a Bulgarian payment card, it would be processed.  Another officer was on his shoulder assisting him but eventually they decided that they needed a third with a manual terminal to process the payment.   It was getting better.  My details could not be found on the terminal so we reverted to the computer, two of them processed the eighty percent payment by card, sixteen leva, three copies of the receipt processed and I had to sign all three, the pen failed on the second and the stapler ran out after the first.  Eventually I had my receipt and his parting shot was that it would have been easier if I had Bulgarian paperwork so then I gave my explanation that it was Bulgarian documentation but the system wasn't made to accept it....situation normal.

I carried on down to the garage and had the antifreeze checked in the Beast and it was 'perfect', I drove back to the town but didn't stop to shop, everywhere was busy so drove home and put the Beast back in the garage first time without any forward and backward adjustments.  My next door garden neighbour came to speak to me and asked if she could have the fallen leaves for her cows, she collected the ones that had fallen outside the wall and I did the inside and bagged them up for her and off she went.  She returned the bag so now I have a daily job added to my list...collect leaves.  I managed a bowl of the contents of the slow cooker, slept this afternoon and felt much better for it, lit the fire at five and now the house is cosy and warm.  So far so good with the Nurofen, no allergic reaction so I'll finish the packet and hopefully won't need the doctor again.  I might take the Nipper in for a check-up tomorrow but so far, nothing else on the agenda.  LN.....Feeling eighty percent OK...only twenty to go......LN