Week 6

Monday was spent pottering in the garden. The weather is cold at night with sunny, warm days. We are starting to get to the point where we have done as much as we can in preparation for this winter and for next years planting. The builders are now preparing the walls for painting by sanding all the joints in the plasterboard.

Pamela takes a well earnt rest to enjoy the sun

Tuesday was spent pottering again until Monica paid us a visit. We spent a few hours chatting and drinking coffee in the sun. Borko has said that he may have finished upstairs by next week so we have to go off to Ruse tomorrow to choose bathroom fittings. The rest of the afternoon is spent playing with the dogs in the garden and writing our shopping lists for tomorrow.

Marple keeps watch from under the gate

Wednesday is the big shopping day in Ruse. At Practice, the large DIY store in Ruse, we are greeted by the store manager as he knows us so well now!! He has even brought deliveries himself to our house so he can see what we are doing. It takes us a couple of hours to choose the bathroom suite, accessories, some edging etc for the laminate and a few other bits that we needed. Then off to Technopolis to purchase a new stereo for our car. We don't use the car that much but with the current stereo each time you go over a bump in the road the stereo cuts out, so annoying and I did not realise how much I love my music in the car until it was not there. No amount of fiddling will get it to work again until you hit another bump when it will spring into life, sometimes. What I really like about buying electrical products here is that they remove the item from the box and plug it in etc to ensure it works correctly before you leave the store. On the way home we drop into Jumbo. This store is huge. I have never seen so many toys and Christmas decorations in my life. Coupled with the Christmas tunes blaring over the tannoy instore and in the car park it really starts to feel like Christmas is coming at last. Sadly we only have an hour or so here as it is getting quite late in the day. We plan to return for a full day trip another time. Our last stop on the way home is in Dve Mogilii to buy some taps and a new shower.

Thursday we decided to clear all the old shrubbery and grass from the front of the house. The plan is eventually to make parking spaces for our guests but there is a lot of levelling required as the land at the front of our house slopes quite steeply.

The clearing begins

 

Ready for levelling next year

 

Friday we drove to Popovo for our weekly vegetable shopping trip. As Borko thinks the upstairs is nearing completion we pick up the tiles in readiness for the bathrooms downstairs. We may get snowed in in the next few weeks so want to make sure we have all our supplies ready (Borko says he and his men will get to us no matter what the weather). In Popovo we also manage to pick up some fresh tuna steaks, a real treat for tonights tea. That evening we feast on griddled tuna and jacket potatoes baked in the log burner served with sweetcorn.

 

Saturday Pamela works some more on the top orchard thinning out saplings and clearing dead leaves. I decide to paint the garage doors to match the new windows, not an urgent job but I like things to match. I even replace a couple of missing glass panes with some left over Perspex from the potting shed. Trouble is the main gates don't match now so they are really going to bug me. I feel another shopping trip coming on..................

 



Before

 

After

 

Sunday we wake to a harsh frost so everywhere is white and crisp, but it looks very seasonal. The sun rises quickly and it turns into a lovely warm day. Pamela and I go for a good stroll around the village exploring roads that as yet we had not been down. We also get to meet a few villagers we had not seen before which was great. Borko and his team are fitting the laminate flooring and the kitchen today. The walls and ceilings are painted, the bathroom tiled and the electrics finished. They are working early morning to late into the day to get finished next week although it is a self imposed deadline, we just want to have a cooker for Christmas. It is all coming together now and actually looks like a home. Can't wait to see the work finished next week before it all starts again on the downstairs.

 

Here are a few interesting vehicles we saw on our walk around the village this morning.