Week 7

Monday was the now usual harsh frost followed by a warm and sunny day, it really does not feel like the week before Christmas. The Bulgarian ski resorts are officially opened this week and although it has been forecast for snow a few times nothing has materialised in our village. The day was spent clearing the area which will be the dogs compound and play area. This will be a massive job so will probably not get finished this week. Pam collected a big basket of walnuts from behind the vineyard.

Sunrise viewed from the vineyard

 

Washing walnuts in the garden kitchen in the sun

 

During the day the local dogs are all going mad, even our two growl at the front gate which is very unusual for them. I go out and take a look and get a glimpse of what may have been a wolf. Borko comes out with me and go looking for it. This photo shows what we saw.

 

 

 

Tuesday and Borko is true to his word as he finishes the first floor holiday let. It looks amazing and we are so happy with it. They have done an amazing job in only a few weeks.

 

From this...........

 

........to this

From this.........

 

......to this

 

A real dining table at last

 

Wednesday and the guys take a day off so that we can move all our belongings upstairs before they begin work on the ground floor. We will still be living out of boxes, as we have done for the last 6 months, but everywhere is now clean and feels like a real home. It is so nice to have a shower where you come out cleaner than when you went in. We are still sleeping on the bed settee as our new bedrooms will not be ready for delivery until January but at least we can leave it made up now.

 

On Thursday Monica dropped in for her weekly coffee stop. Borko and his wife also turned up and we were all able to sit in the kitchen and have coffee together - a first. We then headed off onto Ruse to get materials for the next phase of the build and to have a good look around Jumbo, the biggest Christmas and toy store I have ever seen. On the way we get a text from Monica to say that the Police have set up a check point in the next village. Just as we catch Monica up we both get instructed to pull over at the checkpoint. All our papers for the car are in order so no dramas and we are soon on our way again although all we have to do is mention that we know Borko and we will be fine (everyone including the Police all know Borko). We then go and visit the site of the house that Monica and Vlady are having built just outside Ruse. The plot is lovely with stunning views, it will be amazing. Next stop Jumbo and a good hour spent exploring all the aisles. Then off into Ruse where we spend an hour or so choosing fabric for all the curtains before hitting the DIY store. All shopping done we head back to Jumbo as the curtain poles we need are so much cheaper there. We also picked up a pizza in Ruse for our traditional house warming meal of pizza, garlic bread and sparkling wine.

 

Friday I spent clearing the dogs area and Pamela cleaned the house before putting the Christmas tree up. The builders are back, hard at work on the Palace (laundry room) finishing off the walls and laying the floor tiles.

 

Its starting to feel like Christmas

 

 

Hard to believe all this just for a laundry room but it is amazing

 

Saturday and I am still clearing the dogs area!! All the broken roof tiles I drag down to the garage and have started to fill the inspection pit with them. Four hours later and the pit is a quarter filled and the dogs area is starting to take shape. I tidied all the boxes that we still have stacked in the garage. Unfortunately it is quite damp in there so I put all the boxes on old wooden doors and recover with tarpaulins, so far it seems the damage has been minimal. That done I can now get the car into the garage but first it needs a good clean as the country roads are filthy. So I drive it down to the natural spring at the bottom of our road. The water comes straight off the hills so is freezing but is free and the car starts to resemble a car and not a tractor in no time. The builders are cracking on with the ground floor and by the end of the day have ripped out the old ceilings, made a hole for the new bedroom window, ripped out the old sink, floors and have enlarged the doorway as it was hobit sized. All in a day. Amazing.

 

We were hoping to clean and leave the beams exposed but that is not going to be possible. Shame.

 

Old flooring out. We found a number of dead rats and mice under here.

 

Opening for new window being made

 

Sunday and another gloriously sunny day so we take a stroll around the village to explore other parts that we had not previously visited before. The electrician is onsite today putting all the cabling in whilst the builders grout the floor of the Palace and prepare for the plaster boarding to begin on the groundfloor. We have also been told that our bedroom furniture will be delivered on Tuesday so we have to rearrange all our storage boxes as we are seriously short of space to store everything. The rest of the day is spent with the dogs in the garden.

 

Borko takes time out to play with Maizie and Marple