Week 15

Borko and the guys have now finished and so Pamela, the dogs and I are left on our own. It feels so strange not to have them around but at the same time the house feels 'ours' now.

The weather has been stunning this week so we have got lots of jobs done.

Monday I wrote the blog whilst Pamela spent most of the day cleaning. Having a log fire creates so much dust and Marple is shedding fur by the bucket load! Maisie has managed to graze her tail and as she wags it A LOT our house resembles the Texas chainsaw massacre. We end up bandaging it.

Poor Maizi

In the afternoon I go off to the builders merchant to order materials. It is a big order and the guys in the shop don't speak English so it takes a good few hours to ensure I have everything using charades, google translate and google images. I need a 150 nuts, bolts and washers and 100 screws and we have to count them all individually in the shop as they don't sell them by the box. Customers in the shop end up helping us count them as it is taking us so long. On the way back from the shop I get stopped by the Police for a defective headlight. I thump the headlight to see if it will work knowing full well that the bulb has blown. It makes the officer laugh and he says that that is the Bulgarian way to mend things!! Anyway no drama and he lets me on my way.

Tuesday I changed the headlight bulb, I am bound to get stopped again if I don't. But it cant be on the side of the car where it is easy to access the bulb, no, I have to remove acres of plastic just to get at the bulb holder. Anyway it is done now.  After that there are a couple of odd jobs to do when my drill burns itself out. The world hates me. It is the most crucial tool I need for the upcoming jobs. So Pamela and I have to make a evening dash into Ruse to pick up a new one.

Wednesday and the materials are delivered. Time to try out my super new drill then. Only to discover that the drill chuck is not compatible with my drill bits. Told you the world hated me. No way am I going into Ruse again today so I just potter around the rest of the day.

Snowdrops in the garden

Thursday I put up new fencing in the garden. Both the dogs are getting far too inquisitive about parts of the gardens that they are not allowed into. Also our neighbours have chickens that roam around their garden and we are sure our dogs will take a very keen interest in them. I have never erected chainlink fencing before but it is fairly easy and the posts mainly go in with ease. Apart from one that has to be set into a concrete path. With only a hammer and bolster I eventually make a hole big enough for the post but it took ages. At least now the garden it totally secure and we can relax when the dogs are running around freely. In the afternoon I began to pimp the garden sink.......

Friday is off to Ruse again to get the correct drill chuck and get the final bits and pieces for the holiday lets. A full day as usual. It was nice though to drive back in the dark and with two headlights actually be able to see the road.

Limousine we saw in Ruse

Saturday and Pamela does a full spring clean of the holiday let in preparation for repainting the walls. We want to be sure that there is a good coat of paint everywhere so that it remains looking good for as long as possible. I start cutting the tiles for pimping the garden sink. I resent paying nearly 50 leva for a tile cutter that I may never use again so use a disk cutter instead. It is so easy and cheap. The weather continues to be amazing with hot sunny weather. The temperatures are more like spring and are forecast to be in low 20's by next week.Tonight we are having homemade blue cheese and carrot sausages so I make some bread rolls which for some reason turn out a bit too doughy. More experimenting needed. The sausage Pamela made tasted good but the texture was not quite right so the meal was not as successful as we would have liked. Next time hopefully will be better.

Homemade hotdogs

Sunday is Valentines day so we have a nice breakfast of mushroom omelette out in the courtyard. Pamela then spends the day making chutneys ready for the summer. We had searched all over for malt vinegar but could not find any so she used white vinegar instead. We'll find out if in worked in a few months time. She then made homemade bean steaks which were lovely.

Whilst working in the garden I can hear drumming and music with occasional singing coming from the village square. I run up there to see a procession of men going off into the distance....

A few hours later and I can still hear the music but it is getting louder and seems to be going up and down every road in the village. They eventually reach our road.....

It is a festival that celebrates the vine and wine makers of the village. The most prolific wine maker is chosen as the wine king and parades the village with his wine bestowing good wishes for the forthcoming wine season. We are invited to join them but we have so much to do and want to make the most of the good weather. As the day goes on the music and merriment gets louder and is accompanied by large amounts of gunfire. Alcohol and guns. mmmmmmmmmm

Pammies chutneys

Valentines meal of bean steaks

The garden sink before it was pimped

Work begins.........

Next week the weather is forecast to be even warmer which is good news as the jobs I want to do are all outdoor. Hopefully we will see some big changes in the garden over the coming weeks.