Saturday 11th July


Slept well but was up and about at silly o'clock.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky for a change, it looked like it was going to be the perfect day.  I made tomatoes on toast for breakfast followed by toast and marmalade and I 've had a day of eating and picking at things.  I popped over to see Avatar and to let her know that I would be cooking supper for us both, it's easy enough to put enough chicken wings with veg and roast them in the oven....it also means that she doesn't have to think about food all day and can get on with other things that she needs to do.  She was sitting in the garden when I went over and she said that she'd bough a pack of six buns with marmalade from the morning  wagon and had managed to eat four of them and gave me the other two. I'd already eaten so they went on the worktop and came in handy when I came in from one of my sessions in the garden.

The outstanding grass was top of the agenda but the day marched on and I didn't get round to the trass until twelve fifteen and that's when I started and finished one section but it was too hot to stay out there.  Before I could get going I had to find something to use, everything I'd brought into play yesterday was unfit for use but I tried one of the little mowers and the starter worked so I fitted the electricity cable and managed to clear half of it at the first attempt, came in and watch Netflix for a while and then went out again and finished the rest.  It's pretty rough looking but I shall either fix the old mower tomorrow to invest in a self-propelling model, I'm getting too old for pushing and shoving round the amount of garden that I have.  

Before I could start supper I had to drive into Djebel for a few items.  I needed more bottled water and carrots for the roasted veg to go with the chicken wings.  The store was pretty empty but there were lots of Turkish cars on the road which just seemed to get in my way probably because I was tired from the day's effort to date.  I bought carrots. a red pepper and a pale green one mainly for Avatar, a large pot of yogurt, fruit juice and a very large bottle of water since I seem to be drinking more of it these days.  I peeled vegetables and put them in a very large float tray, put chicken wings in another, left it for an hour or so giving them all a quick shuffle round, served up for both of us and took hers over the road and she was waiting in the hall....supper was served.  I had mine watching the television, she brought the dish back and we sat on the bench for a while in the evening sun and off she went.  I did the washing up and dried everything, put it away and tidied the kitchen...and tomorrow the hut will be on for a reasonably priced mower.  LN.....At least it shouldn't grow so quickly not that the sun has decided to shine providing that we don't get the rain back.....it's been an unfortunate year for weather this year....no real snow. lots of rain  at the beginning of he year, no real spring to talk of and it's still providing us with rain showers in the afternoons.  LN.....Perhaps we are in for a late summer and splendid autumn...fingers crossed..LN

Sunday12th July

So today has been a day of contrasts.  I woke up early enough, had a lazy start but by mid afternoon I decided that I would take to my bed and really have a rest.  It must have been about half one at this point and I slept through until three thirty and felt much better for it.  I am out tonight staying with a friend, she's off to the UK tomorrow and needs to catch a later bus than the one that goes from  her village....we shan't have to leave until nine thirty so that she makes the twelve o'clock bus.

We've just had supper and are expecting a visit from two of her Bulgarian friends but goodness knows what time that will be....it's just before nine now so who's to say. I had my shower and washed my hair this afternoon so straight to bed tonight and for a reasonable start tomorrow.  I've already planned visits to the doctor at twelve and to the dentist to book appointments.  LN....Wish me luck......LN

Monday 13th July

Lovely evening last night, we had a fairly gentle evening, packing done, washing up done, house closed down as my friend was leaving in the morning.  I headed for bed, just about to get settled when I had another nose bleed, so I was out of bed and grabbing for the toilet roll from the bathroom.  I don't know what causes it, it's not a lot but this is the third time that it's happened and tomorrow I will find out....I have my appointment booked for twelve at the Polyclinic with my doctor.  I tried to settle for the night, made a plug for my nose but was more concerned about leaving a trail on the bedclothes so sat up for quite a while until I nodded off and everything was OK.  I had the morning wake-up call at seven, went to the bathroom and everything was OK.  As one could say, just a passing shower...but still concerning.

I got dressed, had coffee, we sat in the garden enjoying the morning, last few jobs and we were in the Nipper at nine thirty and heading for Kardjali.  We managed to find a parking space and did a 'reccie' of the grass mower shop but left it for another day to make a decision...to repair or buy new?  We walked over to the coffee bar near the bus station and ordered breakfast with cappuccinos, there wasn't a rush everything was running smoothly. At around eleven twenty I walked back to the car, moved to the Polyclinic car-park, managed to buy parking through the app. and was early for my appointment and no one was waiting to I was straight in.  I told her about my nose bleeds and my concerns, she checked my blood pressure and that was fine and then I was on my way to a specialist which I eventually found in another part of the clinic, I was seen, everything was good according to the ear, nose and throat specialist, cream and tablets and we'll see how it goes.  I picked up the prescription from the chemist and then over to the dentist, I made myself known, he had done work on my teeth years ago but he remembered me which was good, he wasn't working on anyone so I was shown to the chair, bibbed up and a general inspection took place.  We made an appointment for next Monday and I was immediately shown to where the x-rays take place and the poor lady requested the removal of all my jewellery and feeling very naked I was in for a three sixty x-ray, the jewellery I put into my handbag, paid for the x-ray , stopped at the reception in the poly-clinic and delivered an orchid for the office that I'd bought on my walk back to the car.

Drove home, didn't bother with shopping in Kardjali, it had been a long day and stopped off at my local supermarket for bread since I was out of it and a whole chicken, the last one was very tasty.  Netflix when I got home, watched the sky cloud over and we had a rain shower which has now turned into a calm evening and I've no need to water the plants.  Two jobs off the list, the dentist has the forms that I use for my medical cover and is going to check if some of the cost can be covered by England but I've told him if not, then sorting my teeth out will fall to me...and about time too.  LN.....The trip to the dentist has been log overdue....he spotted the gold crown but if that tooth comes out, the gold is mine ....like it's twin that was taken out a year or so ago.....LN

Tuesday 14th July

Much gentler day today....I didn't wake up until seven which for me is unheard of.  I had a leisurely morning, stripped down my bed and had the sheets and pillow cases in the machine and drying by nine and they were ready to put back on the bed by four this afternoon.  I fried a huge tomato for breakfast and had it on toast and followed it with two slices of toast with marmalade and stuffed to the gills I cleared the kitchen and went out and sat on the terrace with a cup of coffee.  My next door neighbour came round to find out where I was on Sunday night and Monday, she'd not spotted me and I suggested that if she wanted to know to ask Avatar, I share most things with her.  We chatted for a while and said that I had to get on and then the real reason for her visit became obvious, she knew that I had old jars in the little house and she asked if she could have some for things that she wanted to pickle from her garden.  We went to the little house, picked up a black plastic bag and started to stuff lots of them in until I said that she should leave some for my other neighbours.  She appeared to go deaf at this point so I said that she had enough, she picked up a pretty jar that I use for jams and I told her no, I wanted it and I felt sure she had got enough.  She got the message at this point, I'm relatively kind hearted but there comes a point!!  and off she went to get on with washing them.  This was the neighbour that wanted my password for my internet connection which I obviously refused to hand over.

I popped over to see Avatar, she had her grandchildren to stay overnight and I spotted the five year old driving an electric car that had been bought for her brother when he was a youngster.  He's much too big for it now but his sister has soon got the measure of it and was whizzing round the garden on the grass.  Avatar's son used to take the boy out on the road which isn't recommended now, in those days we had horses and carts, sheep and cows and the odd car...now things are much different, it's like Brand's Hatch some days.  We sat in the garden, she gave me a pack of sweet buns that I think the mobile shop gave to her and when I came back I had one of them with slices of ham that I had in the fridge...different but not unpleasant.  There wasn't much to do, I did contemplate getting the hoover out and giving it a go over but somehow it feels like a Sunday so I treated it as such and had a day off.  I had such busy days with the grass and yesterday at the doctors and dentist was also a little frantic, you get the instructions where to go in Bulgarian but you have to know the door numbers on the different floors and that's why help from reception was most appreciated.  

I've just watered the garden, clouds came over this morning and it looked like rain but it didn't happen.  Now it's turned into a really pleasant evening, I've already cooked a chicken and I'm just finishing off jacket potatoes enough to take Avatar a couple over for supper with some chicken but firstly I should check if her grand-daughter is here and the great-grandchildren.  There's not really enough for everybody.  LN....Netflix tonight, the Last Kingdom looks like it might be finishing soon, unless I fall asleep in the middle of it and then I'll be watching it tomorrow.....LN

Wednesday 15th July

Another long sleep in, seven when I got up this morning, made the bed straightaway and tidied round a little, sat on the terrace and took in some of the morning....what's not to like about being here.  I did make jungle juice this morning and took that back upstairs, settled on the balcony with a sudoku which I had great problems with, unfortunately I'd chosen one of the 'tough' ones and I just wasn't up to it so I cheerfully laid it to one side and got on with other things.  I wasn't really that hungry, I ended up taking winter things upstairs to the chest and finding a few more summer things that I could be wearing.  I started putting my long trousers in a heap, since I've lost weight I can get into all the smaller ones that I'd put to oneside and now some of the others have been put to oneside....if I'm not wearing a belt I'm forever tugging at them to stay up.  I also spent quite a bit of time today searching for the rechargeable water pump for the large water bottles.  This morning it needed charging and for the life of me I couldn't find the charging cable.  I know what it looks like it's only about fifteen centimetres long but it wasn't with the other cables so I might be having to buy a complete new unit.  I even popped over to Avatar's house but she couldn't find hers either but looking at her version, it could be a different cable....so back to pouring by hand.

It was too hot to be outside, I was going to Kardjali but changed my mind and carried on sorting out my clothing and I have a whole load to get rid of.  There is a man on Djebel market that sells second hand clothes and it's not that I want to sell them to him, most of mine came from the cheap charity shops so it would just be that they were off my hands.  I've just seemed to have acquired ....'stuff'.  I put Netflix on and finished the series I was watching for the third time and I still found it enjoyable...good acting is like that.  No problem with supper this evening, the remains of the chicken was removed from the bones and they will be breakfast for the cat tomorrow.  I didn't bother with vegetables either, just a little mayo but I did manage to finish the remainder of the tub of ice-cream.  Just caught the sunset and the animals on their way home and I really feel sorry for the calves, they're out for a long time each day.....but I suppose that's their lot.   LN.....There are supposed to be a number of planets lining up on the seventeenth, I hope we have clear skies to try to catch a glimpse and hopefully photograph.....LN

Thursday 16th July

Another day of contrasts.....this morning I had lots of things that I intended to do and by afternoon I realised I wouldn't achieve any of them.....and I didn't.  I was going into Kardjali to buy the grass mower and didn't, I needed to go into Lidl to get a few items that I can't buy in Djebel and didn't.  What I did do is to have a very pleasant day, feel fully rested, sorted out my downstairs bedroom, threatened to hoover the house ....and didn't and a response to an email set about the action that have taken me up nineteen thirty...and blog time.

I fell upon a film by Robin Williams a long time ago, 'Bicentennial Man' and certain things about the film have stayed with me for the last thirty or so years.  Quotes from the film have remained in my memory banks and watching it again this afternoon, all these years later was a pleasure.  I remembered a lot of the script, the key phrases and I'm sure if I'd have watched it with my children they would have remembered them too.  The film slowly came back to me in the watching, the names of some of the characters seemed new and the story line fell into place, the fact that it took generations of the family to reach the end of the line for a one-time robot.  I found it on Netflix and it's really worth a watch.  As for the rest of my chores...they'll still be there tomorrow and achievable...just in different timescales and there's nothing wrong with that.

It is time now to water the plants and it looks like I have to feed cat as well.  It was sitting out on the grass licking it's lips and I remembered that I had the remains of the chicken in the fridge.  As for the plants,  it's been a hot old day and some are wilting a little and in need of a good drink.  Unfortunately that long drink on the hydrangeas  disturbed a sleeping tortoise that had found itself on the terrace so I had to air-lift that down to the garden and it's now nestled under the lavender so should sleep peacefully.  Meanwhile, cat has finished the chicken and licked the platter clean and has now gone to find a suitable resting spot, probably in the garage.     LN....Garden hose turned off, cat dish in the outside sink ready for tomorrow and now to find some food for myself.......LN

Friday 17th July

Firstly must remember that it's Friday 17th and tonight is supposed to be the night that six planets are in line so hopefully before then the clouds will fade away and make it possible to see it.  Of course I didn't read where they're going to be in the sky so I shall have to do a little more research after I've put the blog to bed.  So last night was a horrible night, the blasted dogs in the next village kept me and obviously other people awake, it's not a normal bark more of a bay...they are after all hunting dogs.  For two or three years now I've been complaining to various local mayors that just raise their shoulders, the police say that there is nothing they can do since it doesn't come under their jurisdiction but if not then whose?  I was also advised by a member of the local council that it was in the hands of the local veterinary but nothing has happened since.  My home is at least one kilometer from the house so those that live much nearer are even worse off than me and with so many people being affected, it's a shame that nothing gets done....one man and two villages affected.

Now as for today, I was up early thanks to the dogs....like five.  I tried to go back to sleep but it just wasn't happening so I took to the balcony with a coffee and read for a while until the sun became too strong and made it difficult to read the screen.  I was washed and dressed by seven thirty, did a couple of sudoku and in the car by nine.  I was off to Kardjali  to look again and grass mowers and make decisions as to which one I should get.  I also needed a trip to Lidl, I'd used up the last of the English butter, I'm just not able to get used to Bulgarian butter and have given up.  First call the hardware shop, I walked the line of mowers and eventually settled for a mid-sized one with self propelling motor and mulcher, I need all the help I can get in my advancing years.  A very nice man loaded it for me on a trolley and wheeled it to the checkout, I negotiated the checkout and the payment and started to wheel the trolley out to the car but before it could be loaded I had to remove the beach chairs and umbrella from the boot storage, put the back seats down and remove the headrests, move everything into the space made by the fact that the seats were down which gave me an adequate space for the grass mower to fit.  By this time the young assistant had come out mainly to retrieve his trolley but he was able to load it and I think was amazed by the space that my little Nipper has, you could almost sleep in it at a push.  From there I drove to Lidl, picked up a few things including a steak reduced for quick sale along with some sausages, bread, cream cheese and three packs of butter so I shan't be running out for a while.  I drove home, parked up near the garage, unloaded the machine and put the seats in the correct position in the Nipper, put the mower in the wood store and locked it up.  That was all that was going to happen to it until I'd managed to download a manual in English which I've now done.  It was only then that I remembered that I needed new machine oil, mine is a little old so I drove back into Djebel but the shop and garage were closed so straight back home, car in the drive and then over to sit with Avatar in her garden, I have to report in.  Her grandson came out into the garden from the house and for a nine year old we had a reasonable conversation in English bearing in mind that he lives in Belgium, parents speak Bulgarian and Turkish so the boy does good.....I was very impressed.

I took to the sofa this afternoon, have just had a visit from the lady that helped me a lot after my accident last year.  Her mother lives in the village but I haven't seen either of them for a while.  I've just been to the gate to see her off the premises and there is music in the square down below and I'm told that it's an engagement party of a boy, now a man that I've know since I've been here.  How time flies.  LN....I don't think I shall be tripping the light fantastic without the noise is so great that I might as well be there.....LN

Saturday 18th July

So last night I switched off all the lights, went out on to the balcony to check to see if I could see what I'd read on the internet about six planets lining up and it was possible to see them without visual aids.  Guess what I was out there and all I could see were lots of stars, some big, some small and no way was the promised extravaganza of six in a line very obvious.  I gave up, went back inside and resumed normal activities.  

I was in bed by eleven and snuggled down and had taken the precaution of closing the windows to eliminate the barking of the dogs from the next village but I woke this morning and wasn't aware of hearing them so maybe someone else has had their complaints listened to....but I doubt it.  It must be down to fantastic double glazing.  Yesterday I'd had a visit from a neighbour whose nail varnish definitely needed renewing and I'd asked the question if she had remover, she said that she didn't so this morning I shared what I had left in my bottle into a nail varnish specific container with a place for a pad so that the remover directly goes to the pad.  I found some pads, put them all in a plastic bag and walked down to my friends mother's house and handed it over with some honeysuckle from the garden as I was leaving.  They welcomed me into the house, mother was sitting on the floor eating breakfast and I handed over my gifts and the response was that she had nail varnish remover but at her home in Kardjali but didn't have any here....but now she did.  The honeysuckle she put in water so all was welcome.

I left after around ten minutes and as I walked towards Avatar's house she was already in the garden so she invited me in, we sat discussing nothing in particular and she indicated that Haciber was about to join us and she brought round four plums already washed for us.  Avatar ate one and the rest I enjoyed, I offered one back to Haciber but she said that she didn't like them and she'd bought them for her guests who'd already left.  I left them both in the garden and walked home, put a couple of sausages in the air-fryer and breakfast was on its way.  Cat had the remains of the steak that I'd had last night but left the biscuit topping, as for the sausages, the skins were very tough but they went in the rubbish...not put to oneside for the cat.

The rest of my day has been very gentle, I downloaded more details on my grass mower, I wanted to make sure that it was a 'self-propelling' version....and it is.  I had plans to put it together but it was so hot outside that I concentrated on sudoku, reading and lying on the sofa to do it.  This ended in a really good sleep which made me feel much better.  Watching a series called 'The Big C' which I'm finding very funny in places.  LN.....Hopefully it will be a more productive day tomorrow...fingers crossed.....LN

Sunday 19th July

Another good night's sleep, no barking dogs and I'm beginning to wonder if the effort I put in earlier has come to fruition and at last the law has been carried out.  Maybe having friends in high places wasn't enough.  Even the other dogs in the lower village have stopped barking....peace and quiet rules once more.  I woke at seven, took myself out onto the balcony, the sun was already up with just a few clouds around.  Most of them cleared and we've had wall to wall sunshine for most of the day and I should really have made more use of it but didn't.  Cat was waiting for breakfast and I found some meat that Avatar had brought over a couple of days ago and I'd forgotten about and most of it was gobbled up very quickly.  I'd put the dish down on the grass near the forsythia so that it stayed in the shade and cat was last spotted this afternoon towards the garage in the shade of the Jeep.

I settled for yogurt for breakfast with apricot jam, washed and dressed but with nowhere to go today.  It was Sunday, the day of rest and I certainly wasn't going to do much today.  The grass has slowed down considerably, there's just a few patches of the long grass at the bottom of the garden but nothing that's getting in the way and firstly I have to get the new mower up and running and that is for another day.  Tomorrow I'll get new oil for it and the right type of petrol, I think I have the wrong sort in the can at the moment so it will be back to the manual for me.  I did manage to put the remaining three sausages into the slow cooker with onions and tomato concentrate as an an afterthought cubed up three potatoes and that went down remarkably well around five this evening.  It will go into the fridge tonight for tomorrow if push comes to shove or into the freezer if it doesn't get eaten.

I did manage an afternoon nap, I noticed that the moon was up around four this afternoon but it was almost impossible to capture it.  It was a very small slither and looked almost see through against the blue of the sky but I've just been out again now that the evening is coming in and managed to get a good shot.  I also managed to take one of the farmer's son carrying out modern herding techniques to get the cows in for the night .....on his off-road bike.  LN.......They are off to bed and I shan't be long following them tonight....it's only eight but I feel rested enough to take the Kindle up to bed, relax and have an early night.....LN

Monday 20th July

So up really early this morning and the dogs were barking.  They must have only gone on 'holiday' for the weekend.....perhaps the new owners didn't want to keep them.  It looks like the balcony door is going to be closed for the near future and also the windows. There have been no comments from the neighbours to date but I'm sure some will follow.  So barking dogs aside I sat out on the balcony in the morning sun, I had nothing pressing until ten when I was opting for a shower and hair wash, I had my first real dental appointment after having my x-ray taken of the current state of my teeth and I was looking forward to the results.  I got on with morning chores, I fed the cat with some of the sausage from last night's casserole, it ate the sausage and potatoes but left the onions and gravy so that got shafted on to the grass for anything that wants it later.  I collected up the dishes that were around, pottered in the garden for a while, potted up a geranium that I'd pulled up by mistake and it's looking much better already.  

So at ten it was hair-wash and shower, back out onto the balcony to dry off, I dressed for town and at eleven popped over to see Avatar to see if there was anything she wanted from Kardjali and she said there was nothing.  I spent a while on the computer printing off a photograph that my son-in-law had had composed for me from my wedding photo and a photograph of a biker chick and I really loved it.  It seemed to bring out the sassy side of me so I printed it off and framed it, took the first print off with me to the dentists to show how my teeth were when I was twenty five and now 'please could he restore them and let the new ones look as natural'.  I set off as I thought in plenty of time but arrived in Kardjali parking up on the Polyclinic with only fifteen minutes to spare and had difficulty getting the parking app' to work as it should. Eventually I left it until I arrived at the dentist but the dentist hadn't arrived, apparently he was working in Kirkovo this morning and he too had come to grief with the number of cars coming up from the south.  He managed to pay for my parking with his app just about the same time I'd managed to get it to work on mine so it added my time as a continuance to the one that he'd made and it ran out as I arrived back int Djebel.  

I left the dentist and we have agreed on the rest of the treatment, I'm having a 'bridge' made to replace the tooth taken out but my Djebel dentist and a four tooth bridge lower front...to sort out the overcrowding.  He spent the rest of the time descaling my teeth and when I first went to him years ago he came to earn the nickname of ' Vlad the Descaler' after that well known character from history.  It sort of stuck and even he has been told of it but not by me.  So I walked back to the Nipper and drove to Kaufland picking up a few groceries and another strimmer which I'll be trying out tomorrow.  I stopped off at my local supermarket and bought another few items, I'd forgotten bread in Kaufland, back in the Nipper and started to drive home only to notice that my engine again was overheating so I stopped at the place that I stopped the last time,  phoned the garage, the shop was closed and so was the garage, the family were on their way back from Greece so I told them that I would wait until it had cooled down and would limp home. I opened up the engine and fortunately one of my neighbours recognised the car so turned round and pulled up behind me.  The water was still not turned on at the spa so he drove to Djebel and filled up several bottles and brought them to me, we filled up the overflow bottle and the radiator. the engine temperature had dropped, he went on his way and I started for home and the temperature remained at half way and I was home and parked up without any issues.

So tomorrow I shall be putting the Beast on charge so that I'll have one working at least, I've put the strimmer together already so that's something else I can get on with but the clouds came over this evening and we had quite a storm, thunder, the whole works.  It's all cleared up now, not a cloud to be seen and I've just spotted the moon.  LN.....Perhaps I shall drive the Nipper into the garage tomorrow so that they can have another look at it and hopefully this time we might be able to come up with a solution that works.....LN