Week 47

Hi all, we left you last Sunday afternoon just before a massive storm hit us which lasted for most of the night. Thankfully no lasting damage but a few people lost their internet for the next couple of days, although not us.

Rain covered tomatoes. A theme over the next few days

Monday was 15 degrees yet yesterday it was 35 degrees so seems really cold. Autumn really has arrived. In the morning I took the car off to get its oil and filter change and since then the car has been playing up, yet again if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it. Could just be a coincidence of course. Whilst I was out Borko came round to look at the cess pit and it turns out we need a new one, not a cheap job but a necessary one. This is turning into a great day. Not. Everything is sodden from last nights deluge so we cannot do the gardening we had planned on doing today so we take K & C to Ruse so that they can see where the shops are. We visit all the main stores they are likely to use then head home as it has been a long day. We have our evening meal outside but soon have to go in as the evenings are getting too chilly to be out for long. That night we have more heavy rain.

Trying to find the problem with our cess pit

Tuesday we are off to see the Mayor as we have to get his permission to put our cess pit outside the boundary of our house. He turns out to be a really nice guy and even agrees to us putting some advertising boards for our business up in the village, we only wanted one but he said we could have three. That all sorted we nip off to Popovo to get the money to pay for the new pit. Back home everything is still too wet to work on so I spend the rest of the day on the internet, joining new forums and groups trying to promote the business in any way I can ready for next year. We join about 20 groups and the response so far has been amazing, lets hope it all translates into bookings. Emma and Anthony (Pammi's eldest daughter and her boyfriend) set off from England today hitchhiking their way across Europe to come and stay with us for a while. Day one and they have made it to Dover from London. They are seasoned hitchhikers and have traveled a lot in Europe but never to Bulgaria and with no set route as they will never know where the next lift will take them. Lets hope they have better weather than us as there is yet more rain again tonight. For the first time in months we have to eat a meal indoors and it almost feels claustrophobic!

Don't care how cold it is, in England this temperature would be a good summers day.

We will make summer last as long as possible!!

Wednesday morning Borko and the guys are here early to start digging the new cess pit. After a few hours of digging down they come across a water pipe so have to abandon that hole and start another. About three metres down the next hole they come across a telephone wire pipe but are able to circumvent that. Unfortunately a little deeper they come across another waterpipe that they cannot avoid. After a bit of discussion the best way forward is to now have two pits. We feel so sorry for the guys, it is pouring of rain and they now have to dig a third pit. Whilst digging they came across a penknife whose shaft was made from the shell casing of a Kalashnikov rifle. Meanwhile Pammi is indoors sorting out a huge bundle of wool ready to start knitting some gloves for the winter. I spend the day again on the internet advertising and researching more avenues of getting us 'out there'. After our evening meal we take a stroll around the village but less and less people are sitting outside their homes now as the temperatures drop.

Pit number 1 has a water pipe and has to be refilled and another pit started 

Pit 2 has a telephone wire pipe and then another water pipe

Work starts on pit number 3

Thursday is a mixed bag of rain / sun / rain. We are still having breakfast outside but are needing long sleeved tops as it is definitely getting cooler now, but we want to drag summer out as long as possible. Borko and the guys finish digging the pits and as it is a national holiday here to celebrate Independence day, they take the afternoon off. Their village is having a football match and everyone seems to be playing. Our day is filled with Pammi cleaning the meditation barn whilst I spend yet more time on the internet. E & A have now reached Austria.

New dran pipes going in

The guys found these a few metres down

Friday the sun returns at last and is quite warm which makes such a difference. Borko and the guys finish cementing the pits and also, whilst they have all the kit here, put us in a driveway at the front of the house. It was a job we were going to do next year but having seen how long it took to do using a cement mixer, it is obvious I could never have done it myself by hand. So I try to make myself useful and help the guys move the mixed cement which felt good to do something so productive again. It is another national holiday today so as soon as they have finished they are off for the day. Yesterdays football match was a 2-2 draw by the way. Pammi has spent the day cleaning and meditating. The good weather continues into the evening and Baba B, Dora and Danni pop round for a while. Although it soon becomes too cold for Baba B and they have to go home, we are able to sit outside till quite late. E & A have hitched as far as Slovenia and love it so much they are going to stay there on the way back.

New driveway going down

Nearly finished

Saturday the sun is beaming and is really quite warm so I strim the lawn (read weed bed) at the front of the house and rake level the land that they have been working on the last few days. It is starting to look quite tidy at last. Pammi meanwhile has been harvesting tomatoes and peppers which just never seem to stop coming. We also collected our first walnuts today as they are falling from the trees now. We have three large walnut trees in the top land which will hopefully provide enough walnuts for us to eat and some to sell. After strimming and whilst Pammi gets all the kit ready for more preserving, I take the car down to the spring and give it a good wash. We then both spend the rest of the day, and well into the evening, preserving today's harvest. We usually like to have a nice meal and a 'special' night on a Saturday but it is so late by the time we finish that we have veggie sausage sandwiches in the courtyard before it really does become too chilly and we retire inside to watch a DVD. E & A hoped to leave Slovenia today and hitchhike to Serbia next.

More peppers, chillies and tomatoes

Walnuts drying in the sun

Just the odd jar of sauce, relish and chutney ready for the winter

Sunday is a pleasant day, warm but with clouds threatening showers. Today K & C have been married 45 years so we take them out for the day, first to the medieval village at Chevren then for a meal. They are having their house renovated so must get home, Pammi wants to meditate and I have the blog to write but it was a lovely few hours.

Looking out over the ruins at Chevren to the valley

Sun trying to peep through the clouds

Hopefully Emma & Anthony should arrive with us next week so should be a good week. Take care all and have a good one.