Week 12

Winter has well and truly arrived. Snow has continued to fall heavily and we awoke to a temperature of minus 19. Coupled with no electricity today could be interesting! We contact Borko to let him know there is no electricity so they cannot work, despite 25cms of snow we know he will try to get here. So the day is spent with Pamela making curtains and me clearing snow off the flat roofs. The snow lays as fast as I can clear it but I am not sure whether the garage roof will support all the weight of the snow. It takes me the entire day to clear the snow. Pamela has finished writing her training programmes now for her Reiki students so I proof read them for her. She has worked so hard on them and they are very comprehensive. That evening we are back to watching Only Fools and Horses but Pamela has started to call me a plonker so maybe time to stop watching them!!

Getting deeper

My ancient homemade snow plough

The local farmer snowploughs our lane

Slightly chilly start to the day

Tuesday and the electricity is back on. There are villages that have not had electricity for days so we count ourselves lucky. Borko and the guys battle through 50cms of snow all the way from Ruse to carry on the work here. Crazy. Even some of the main roads have been closed and the village roads we think are even too dangerous to walk the dogs on. Another day of clearing snow for me as it is still snowing heavily. I clear our neighbours paths for them but hope that that does not encourage them to brave walking out their houses as I would hate to see them injured as the ice is treacherous.

Borko and the guys are nearly finished on the ground floor. Just a few finishing touches to do so I spend the next couple of days erecting furniture in the bedroom, a bookcase in the hallway and cleaning grout from the tiles in the bathroom. Pamela has finished nearly all the curtains for up and downstairs so just bed throws and a few cushions left to make.

Good work Pammy

Thursday's drama (there has to be at least one a week, but this week we have two) is that we have no water. A very cold trip to the spring to fill water bottles then for cooking and flushing the loo. When I get back we discover that strangely we have hot water but not cold. So the guys end up removing the new tiles in the bathroom as they think the pipes may have frozen despite all the insulation. It has been on average minus 16 for over a week now so maybe they have frozen. Luckily they remove only four tiles before discovering a ball of ice is blocking a pipe. The rest of the pipework is running freely. Strange. But the investigation work could have been so much more damaging so we are relieved and we are so lucky to even have running water. Many houses and villages have none.

Amazingly life seems to function as normal in the village despite the ice and snow. The village shop is still getting daily deliveries of bread and the local bus is running. There are fewer people around but considering how icy it is underfoot that is understandable. The temperatures although not getting above minus 7 every day do not feel that cold. It is a dry cold with no wind and glorious sunshine most days. You can walk around with only a few layers on once the sun is out. My feet on the other hand are suffering badly as you are constantly in ankle deep snow and now my boots have split. We must invest in some snow boots when we next go to Ruse.

Monica came to visit us on Friday and we all went to her family house in  the countryside. It is adorable. A real chocolate box cottage and the views are stunning.

Monica's hideaway

Monica & Pamela

On Saturday Borko brought Ani to our house. The guys have a few bits to do downstairs but decide to make a start on what will be the holistic barn. Within a couple of hours the ceiling if emptied of all the items that have been stored there. We find a number of oak barrels that will make great tables and a few items that we can use for storage and gardening. As usual there are boxes of clothes, sacks and sacks of corn husks (they are used as fire lighters here) but nowhere near the amount of debris that was found in the house. Within the next 24 hours the ceiling is removed, a new wooden floor installed in the upper barn ready for being concreted to make a tranquil lounge area eventually, the upper parts of the walls have been insulated and made ready for plasterboarding and the floor level is being dug out. Unbelievable.

Ani knocking icicles off the grapevine

Now that's an icicle

Victor and Borko starting to clear out the holistic barn

Ceiling down, makeshift woodburner in place

Sunday morning we wake to temperatures of minus 20 although we later find out that a local village had minus 28. Even Ruse recorded its lowest temperature for 10 years. Despite how ridiculously cold it is Borko and the team still turn up for work. They have installed a small woodburner in the barn with a makeshift chimney stuck out the window. It is still freezing in there though.

Now that's cold

New floor going down on the upper part of the barn

Happy Borko!!

Keeping warm

The temperatures are forecast to rise in the coming week but that may bring more snow. Hopefully downstairs will be totally finished this week and we can move in. We also plan to get our resident permits as the car insurance is due this month. And the rate Borko and the guys are working they will have finished most of the barn!! So much achieved and this is only our 12th week here.......

Week 11

Thankfully, after a few hours, I managed to rid the laptop of the malware and there seems to be no damage done. Fingers crossed.

Monday we went into Ruse to do a last big food shop. The weather forecast for Wednesday onwards is plummeting temperatures and snow so we are stocking up on dry goods just in case we cannot get out of the village. Whilst in Ruse we also get the hardware for making the stair rails this week. Our evenings are spent having a nice meal together, a couple glasses of wine then a DVD or two. We have the complete collection of Only Fools and Horses so tonight starts our marathon viewing of the entire series over the week.

Tuesday sees sunny but cold weather so I decide to build the staircase rails for the second floor let whilst Pamela continues to write her Reiki courses. So off to Opaka to buy wood which is so cheap, although twists and irregular lengths are common. I cut the lengths I needed in the woodyard and loaded the car (read overloaded - van scenario again - I'll never learn) to save on delivery costs.

The builders are doing an amazing job as always and are tiling the groundfloor bathrooms today and sanding down ready for painting. No photos yet as I want you to see what an amazing transformation and in such a short time they have done.

Before

Completed

On Wednesday a neighbour who has no transport needs to get into Ruse to get food ready for the big snow shutdown so we take her in our car. Whilst there Pamela purchases some more fabric so that she can make all the curtains. This morning before we left there was no water from the mains in the village so I had to go to the spring and fill some water bottles. Upon our return from Ruse it had been restored. This is the third time in 10 weeks this has happened but is just one of the quirks of our village life.

By Thursday I have completed one side of the stair handrails and just manage to finish the varnishing as heavy rain starts to fall. They don't look too bad considering I have never made anything like it before. It has been too cold for the snow that they have forecast for today. Pamela is doing some computer work and then makes a new apron out of a vinyl tablecloth.

Making her new apron

New apron finished

On Friday I set off for Opaka again as I am building a set of  rails for the other side of the steps now. The rest of the day is spent making the rails whilst Pamela sews the new curtains. That evening though we are totally fed up with Only Fools and Horses so time for a film instead. Thankfully we have a good film library.

Saturday is varnishing day despite the cold weather. A few hours later and the stair rails are totally finished. They look good and have given me the confidence to tackle the building of the new steps at the front of the house. I have been researching how to make them on the internet and just now need to resource the materials which may be harder than it sounds. More research is needed. This afternoon the snow started. Today was also our wedding anniversary. We are both so unaware of days, dates and time now we both forgot and it was only a post from my sister on facebook that reminded us. Luckily we had a bottle of sparkly in the emergency rations, as you would. I cooked us a Chinese, almost successfully, and we had a nice evening with a glass or two. Later that evening the electricity went off. Hope it is not for too long as we only have a small electric heater for upstairs.

Anniversary bubbly

It snowed very heavily overnight and we had about 20cms of snow. The electricity is still off so we go downstairs and set up the new chimney for the log burner so that we can get some heat and will be able to cook jacket potatoes in the fire. Yummy. Putting the chimney together was a task and a half. Only four lengths of metal tubing that slide into each other. Each one was less than a millimetre out but enough to cause a nightmare sliding them into each other. Nearly an hour later and they are fitted, just as the electrics come back on!

Snow covered grape vines

Must clear the snow from that electric cable

Winter Wonderland

Our lane has already been snowploughed twice today but is still thick with snow

I had cleared this doorway an hour earlier

I spend the rest of the day clearing snow from the flat roofs and the potting shed. At least it is not too cold, only minus 3, and the shovelling keeps me warm. A local farmer has a snowplough attachment on his tractor as is keeping the village roads as clear as he can. It continues to snow really heavily all day and by lunchtime it is knee to thigh deep. In the drifts it is waist high. The internet is down for most of the day and seems more of an inconvenience than the electricity being off!! We rely on the internet for so much, communication and translation being the most important. The dogs however are having an amazing time playing in the snow.......

Maizi and Marple having fun

Up to Maizi's belly

My ball is here somewhere

Marple in a sea of snow

The snow continues to fall heavily and temperatures are forecast to drop to minus 16 this week. Fun times ahead but not sure how long before the novelty will wear off!!

Stay safe and warm everyone.

Week 10

Winter is finally here but heavy snow for the last twenty four hours means at least the temperatures have risen slightly. Minus 14 every day was not fun!!

Looking back down the track in the woods

Soon the snowploughs come and even our village roads are cleared.

Our house

Maizie having been rummaging in the snow for her ball

We had 30cm of snow on Monday but still Borko and his men managed to get here! We reinstall the woodburner downstairs so that we can get them some warmth and so that the plaster dries out. The new shower upstairs has sprung a leak from one of the seals on the shower tap already so Borko and I go to the shop to replace it, as thankfully it has a warranty. The warranty however turns out to be repair only. The unit will be sent for repair next week and will take at least 30 days to be returned!! No way. We cannot be without a shower that long so we leave the tap to be repaired and head off into Ruse to get a quality tap from Borko's supplier. The village roads are thick with snow but everybody here has winter tyres on their vehicles and Borko gets us to Ruse with no problems. Borko tells me that only when the snow gets to 1 metre deep does it become a problem to drive!! He drives back from Ruse on roads that I would not have walked on but we get home safely and he, as always, just takes it in his stride. 'ah no problem' as he would say.

Despite us both having colds we still play out in the snow

Pamela in the garden with the dogs

Work for us outside has stopped so we spend our days doing computer work. Pamela is writing meditations and finalising the Reiki courses ready for next year. I am designing the website and stationary for the holiday lets as well as designing the new stair rails for the outside stairs. I have a design but whether my carpentry skills, and I use that term very loosely, can make it reality we will see next week when the weather is supposed to get better again and I attempt to construct them.

It has been so cold that the washing machine has frozen. I lag the pipes even more but I think it is the actual machine. For two days we have an electric heater in the palace but still it does not work. Back to hand washing then.

The builders are doing an amazing job. They have nearly completed all the boarding and plastering. The boarding around the beams in the bedroom is so time consuming but worth every minute. The new bedroom window is now in, as is the new PVC door for the shower room.

The beams in the downstairs bedroom will look amazing

Ice road up to the shop

Borko's family come to play with Maizie & Marple

Marple being cute

Ani made a snowman

Marple enjoying some sun

The snow has stopped now and consequently the temperatures are falling again. Everywhere is turning into an ice rink. It is far too dangerous to walk the dogs, us or the dogs will end up breaking a bone. As everything starts to thaw the outside tap seal cracks and water is pouring out. Water costs money so it has to be fixed straightaway. No choice now but for my first taste of driving in the snow and ice on winter tyres to get to the builders merchant for a new tap. Despite my fears the winter tyres are amazing and I get home safely. All but very minor roads have been cleared of snow and there is zero disruption to daily life. To fit the tap is another story and it takes a blow torch and three of us pulling on wrenches to free the old tap. Today the temperature has risen to 7 degrees so I try defrosting the washing machine with a hairdryer. A couple of hours later and it works again. I earned a few brownie points for that from Pamela.

Extra lagging on the washing machine pipes

Sunrise from the kitchen window

Pamela and I still have colds so Monica sent us this package. It contains herbs for an age old remedy that her grandmother gave her. I don't think we have ever met anyone as kind and thoughtful as Monica. We are so lucky.

Preparing the herbs from Monica's recipe for the herbal tea. When brewed the tea was amazing and you could feel it working instantly, it was so menthol.

As the snow melts we are now able to take the dogs up the woods again. On the way this morning we met Stefan who gave us some apples. Every time we meet someone we know they give us a gift or invite us for a drink. Bulgarian villagers are so kind and we cannot wait for next spring when most of the repairs will be finished and people like Stefan who grew up visiting our house will be able to see the restorations and enjoy a glass or two in the courtyard.

 

This morning my computer was infected with malware after I tried to download some manuals  from the internet, so as Pamela continues to write her courses, I will try and fix the laptop. You have people like Monica and our neighbours who help you without you even asking and then people who deliberately try to cause mayhem. Thank goodness for the Monica's of the world.........

Week 9

Due to the festive season, New Years Eve and New Years Day are both holidays here, there is less to report than normal. The week started off with the usual frosty nights and sunny days. The temperatures are forecast to drop significantly this week with snow by the weekend.

Most days this week we have been pottering around doing odd jobs. On Monday Pamela has a go at rebuilding the foot of the chimney. It is made of sandstone and a number of blocks are missing so we use some of the rock freed up from making the hole for the window in the basement bedroom for the repairs. Not a perfect job but looks good and fills the crevices.

Pamela repairs the chimney

Marple with a toy, waiting to see who comes through the gate first to play with her

Tuesday and off to Ruse for furniture shopping. As Borko and the guys are getting on so quickly downstairs we need to order a kitchen and some bedroom furniture as delivery dates are uncertain. It is a cold miserable day and we see our first rain in about 2 months. Monica and Borko meet us at the store and it turns out the furniture will be ready within a few weeks. Whoops. We were expecting a month at least, so now will have to do some restacking in the Holistic Barn as all our other available space is already full of furniture ready to go into the new rooms. Whilst in Ruse there is a light fluttering of snow.

Wednesday sees the weather turn even colder. Daytime temperatures are around minus 10 dropping to minus 14 at night. Despite the temperatures it is still sunny. First thing in the morning I pop down to the local shop to pick up some fresh  bread and eggs. I meet the local turkey  herder who invites me for coffee and Rakia. So kind of him and a nip of Rakia will help keep the cold out. I am gone a good hour and Pamela thinks I have been kidnapped!!

We can get a few jobs done outside but it is starting to get uncomfortable. We have had some post recently so I decide to make a postbox out of odd bits of wood. When it is warmer I'll paint it properly.

Crude but functional

Pamela has developed a stinking cold, the first she has had in years so is wrapped up on the sofa watching DVD's. As she has not had the opportunity to do self Reiki recently we think this is why she has now caught a cold. The builders have finished plasterboarding the downstairs but it is too cold to plaster so work is going to be slow for a while now.  Here they do not plaster the whole boards just the joints. It seems to give a far better finish than skimming and is also a lot cheaper. The Palace will almost definitely have to wait till spring to be finished but that is not a problem as the washing machine and dryer are both functional. 

Downstairs living room looks great. Shame we had to cover all the beams though

Despite double glazing and inches of insulation ice still forms on the inside of the window

at minus 14

Thick ice on the inside of the garage

Maizie keeps herself occupied. She takes her ball to the top of the steps, drops it, then chases after it. She spends hours doing this.

New Years Eve and the guys have a day or so off now. It is nice to be on our own but also very strange. If we ever get this project finished we are really going to miss the builders. Maizie and Marple definitely will. Pamela is still really ill so we have a very quiet evening watching films. We have a few glasses of wine and an early night. Midnight and the village is lit up by a large number of fireworks. Far more than we expected but it does seem to be an important celebration here.

It feels slightly surreal to be here in Bulgaria at the end of the year. We spent three years planning this and are finally here living our dream. Happy New Year.

New Years day is again spent on the sofa wrapped up against the cold. We watch a TV series on YouTube called 'back in time for dinner'. It is about a family who experience mealtimes though 1950 to present day, even the house is changed to reflect the year the meal is in. We can totally relate to the 1950's experience they have on the show. We only eat what we can get or is in season from the market. There are no mod cons in the kitchen, everything is functional and robust. Most importantly we sit at a table and talk over a meal, making it an event. The family in the show reflected that as food became more convenient so family unity was affected. It was really interesting for us to note that we do not miss convenience foods or the consumerism of our previous life. We have never watched much TV and do not have one here but it highlighted how that also affected the family unit when they were invented. An interesting few hours entertainment.

The snow has finally arrived. We woke this morning to a light dusting but as the day is progressing it is snowing heavier. It is forecast for all week now. The local shop has never been so stocked up and they have a few local fresh vegetables. We get a few kilos of each so at least we can make soup to keep warm. We suspect they stock up like this just in case we get snowed in and no supplies can get to the village. We'll see, although we have seen plenty of snow ploughs around and they are obviously well prepared for these conditions. Pamela and I are each wearing our thermals and have about three layers on. Even so the air is cutting and stings any exposed flesh. We both have stinking colds now!! Even Maizie and Marple have decided it is too cold to play outside and have curled up in front of the electric heater. I have found a couple of old wooden sledges in one of the barns, cannot wait for the snow to be deep enough to try them out. Hopefully I won't get arrested or break any bones!!

Early morning walk

The church

View from the kitchen