Monday saw us head into the civilisation of Ruse for some retail therapy. Finery on ( read clean clothes for a change) we spend the day trudging shops but manage to get a chainsaw, bed settee, mobile phones and internet (which is temperamental at best!!). We are also starting to stock up for winter when we are told we will be village bound for at least two months due to the snow.
The chainsaw is a godsend as it speeds up jobs no end. Within just an hour the old animal feed store is reduced to much needed firewood.
In the village is man with a horse and plough, he comes around to each house and ploughs the land for each villager. We were also hoping to use him but we cannot get the horse and plough through the garden gates so we have had to resort to digging by spade and fork. The digging seems to be endless but we are getting there. This is the vegetable plot.
Before
Nearly cleared!!
The facia boards and guttering have been started. The guttering is metal as plastic would split in the cold winter (they even have heated guttering we are told but that is way out of our price range). The guttering guys fashion all the downpipes and corners on site using a gas torch to heat a metal tool that seals the joints together. Holes for the downpipes are cut out using a hole punch and every joint fits perfectly - amazing.
The walls to roofline have all been bricked up and the woodwork has been started. Again everything is done using the most basic of tools. One night we even have to hold torches for the joiners so they can finish their work in the dark!! They all work so hard.
Facia boards and guttering up. Staining in progress.
We now have a bed settee so no more sleeping on the floor. A few pictures up on the wall and it starts to feel like a home. Basic pleasures but little things are beginning to mean so much to us. No internal work has started yet as the builders want to get as much external work completed as they can whilst the good weather lasts.
Thursday night there is a banging at our gates. When I answer it there stands a Policeman. Oh God, now what. He fails to understand me and me him but he seems very interested in our dogs. A quick call to Monica and she sorts it out (as usual!!!). Our next door neighbour has goats that roam freely in the woods. A villagers dogs had managed to escape from their garden and had killed one of the goats. The mayor had decided that the goats owner should be compensated for the loss of the goat so the Policeman was investigating whose dogs had carried out the attack. Once established it wasn't our dogs he was on his way. Monica to the rescue yet again.
Once a week we travel to Popovo, about 12kms away, as they have a lovely fruit and veg market every day and a larger general market on a Friday. We are starting to get a grip on names of food stuffs and the money is getting easier to work with. Today we also buy a washing machine so no more hand washing. Yay. But so far we have not seen a tumble dryer anywhere. Luckily the weather is so good we can dry outside but what will happen as the weather worsens?
So much has been achieved this week but so so much more needs doing. However, we have to remember this is only our second week and we still have so much to learn about life here.
Next week windows will be ordered, insulation will go up and more digging awaits and the weather is forecast to be good for the next week or so. Happy Days.
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