Week 4

Unbelievably we have been here a month this week. So much has been achieved but so much more to do.

This week has been incredibly busy with so much being completed. Autumn has finally arrived with most days being cold and wet.

Monday we finished the potting shed. Whilst trying to erect some shelving in the new shed I discovered that English claw hammers and Bulgarian nails are not compatible. The only way not to bend the nails is to use a 3lb lump hammer on them and they go straight in!! Pam and I struggled to get the roof panels on as they were each 5m long and it was pouring of rain, but I wanted to finish it as the forecast is rain all week. Coupled with a set of really slippery homemade ladders we had a few comedy moments We are really pleased with the result despite none of the barn walls being straight nor having the tools we needed for the job. Not to Borko standard but good enough!!

One disused out building, a few days later.....

 

........becomes the new potting shed

 

Tuesday the new windows went in so we spent the day in Ruse city looking for a car as we are selling our van to Borko our builder. The roadworks in Ruse meant that we had hours of fun trying to get 1.5km to where all the car dealers were. In the end we gave up and went shopping for light fittings instead. As we still have no kitchen we are cooking by camp stoves but are having real trouble finding gas bottles that fit our cookers. We only have four left and are getting through them rapidly. We manage to find a stall on the market that has some but we get ripped off as he charges us almost £2 a bottle. We have no choice but to get them as we have no idea when we will have a kitchen or if we can get the gas anywhere else.

 

By the time we got home all the new windows and the exterior doors were all finished. Borko had recommended that we have two huge windows put in the gable end of the laundry room. This amazingly was a cheap option and looks stunning.

 

Love these new windows

 

 

Wednesday Pamela spends the day knitting whilst I make a few last minute adjustments to the potting shed and restack some of the house moving boxes in the garage as the ceiling is leaking quite badly. Not sure yet how we are going to fix that as the roof is the floor of the old barn whose roof we have taken off. That was a mistake!! Between heavy rain showers I tidy the community rubbish bin area. Each street has it's own rubbish dumpster rather than each house having a bin. If the lid is not closed the local wild cats will scatter rubbish everywhere. It was driving us mad seeing all the rubbish strewn along the street but now it looks so much better.

 

The builders have started work on the upstairs holiday let.

 

Ceilings exposed before being treated for bugs and then boarded

 

The amount of dust created when they took down the ceilings was horrendous so I offered the builders some face masks so that they did not breathe all the dust in. They looked at me like I was mad. Bulgarians aren't into health and safety then!!

 

Doorway cut for new bedroom

 

 

Thursday was spent on the internet looking at vehicles but when you have no idea what you want it is a long process. Still we continue to look........

 

Exterior insulation finished and rendering going on

 

Work carries on despite the rain

 

The exterior is now totally finished and has a resin finish that never needs painting. Ummm we'll see if that's true............

 

Friday was Black Friday so we hit the shops in Ruse. We managed to get all the kitchen appliances for the holiday lets  and our home, and some excellent quality laminate flooring at a super low price. From Ruse market we bought two plum, two cherry and a peach tree for the top garden. We also took the opportunity to stock up on vegetables and other essentials (read vodka and wine) as today our van goes to Borko. Whilst we were out Borko cut all our wood for us as a present. We could not thank him enough as there should be enough wood for a couple of years and still we have another woodpile to cut yet.

 

All our wood cut and ready to store

 

 

Saturday Pamela, one of the builders and myself spend the day in pouring rain stacking the logs. The builder decides it would be more efficient to use an old cattle trough to carry the wood to the woodstore. Him being 23 and fit, and me 50 and not so fit, he nearly kills me but we manage to get most stacked before torrential rain made it too slippery to work. Pamela stacks all the wood that is too wet to use this year in the entrance to what will be the holistic treatment barn.

 

A good idea but boy was it heavy.......

 

The rest of the builders crack on getting the internal insulation and plasterboarding done upstairs whilst all the new electrics are being installed. Note adherence to health and safety Bulgaian style.

 

 

Sunday morning and we get the last of the logs stacked. A job well done! The electrics are finished upstairs but as a consequence we now have only one socket that works downstairs. It should only be a week or two before upstairs is completed and we can move in there whilst downstairs is completed.

 



All logs away but the lawn is a quagmire

 

Woodstore 1

 

Woodstore 2

 

 



Tonight we will celebrate our first month with some almost quality wine (our usual tipple is only £1 for 3 litres and vodkas is only£2.50 a bottle!!!!). Happy days...............