Ooh La La

Those of you who have been following our ramblings (thank you) may recall a friend inviting us to France, in fact she went as far as to pay for our travel.   How could we refuse the opportunity of our first trip away together, not just since the fire but since we moved to Bulgaria nearly 3 years ago.

Well even though our friend was paying for the travelling I was still determined to find the cheapest way possible which wasn't via Paris but Stanstead.     What kind of crazy world is it when it's substantially cheaper to fly into another country and then take another flight, rather than fly to capital city of destination country and take the train?     We also investigated bus and train from Bulgaria to France, again both were more expensive, than flying, and in addition took days rather than hours.

So drive to Bucharest, leave car in offsite carpark, fly to Stanstead, on to Dinard, spend 5 days in France, with friend, before returning by same route.    It sounds so simple.


Drive to Bulgarian/Romanian border was accompanied by drizzly fog but otherwise uneventful, although we did forget to stop in Ruse and pick up some spare tobacco.    we stopped at a supermarket on the Romanian side of the Danube and although the Bulgarian version sells tobacco, the Romanian one only stocks cigarettes, but we did manage to get some ingredients for an 'as we drive' breakfast.      About halfway to Bucharest we passed a plain white car with it's engine running, without a second thought - until we got pulled by the police about 4 kilometres up the road we get pulled over by the police who informed us we entered a 50 kph area at 71 kph.  Paul's passport and driving licence handed over we wait for 30 minutes watching them pull in other cars in between dealing with the paperwork.     Eventually one of the police officers returns with passport, driving licence and a piece of paper, all in Romanian, that he wants Paul to sign.      From what we understand of what he said it was notification of a 195 leu (about £33) fine but he gave us no directions on where or how to pay!!!     Anyway forward ho!    The directions given to the offsite carpark were brilliant and even though we arrived 2 hours earlier then expected the staff were great at transferring us to the airport and explaining that they would pick us up at departures, rather than arrivals, as that way they didn't need to pay to enter the area.     Nifty tip for when we need to pick up visitors from Bucharest Airport.    Flight to Stanstead was uneventful but we got a shock on arrival when we found it wasn't a transit airport.     We would have to take the transit train to the arrivals hall go through passport control and then go through security again before our next flight.


This wasn't an issue on the outward journey as we had 13 hours to kill but only an hour   between landing and the gates closing for our 2nd flight on the journey home.  The 13 hours were occupied with speaking to airport security, about our return flight,   they responded that they advise 3 hours to reach your departure gate after landing - Ouch.   Next we spoke to the airline staff who informed us that the gate actually closed 10 minutes after the time on our boarding cards and  we should be able to make it if we ran, but if we missed the flight it may be cheaper to buy fresh tickets rather than pay the transfer fees.  The on to the people manning the Fast Track service, who informed us that we would be allowed to use that option but it normally only saved 15 minutes over standard departure security.  15 minutes may make all the difference.   Now we'd done all we could regarding the return flights we settled down to read, people watch and snooze.   Stanstead airport have removed most of the seating to persuade people not to spend the night there - it's a perfectly good place to spend the night, if you have an early morning flight AND something to put between you and the cold tiled floor.

Dinard airport is very small, even smaller than the one at Limoges, so no problems spotting our friend as soon as we exited airside,  with her was a German girl who we later learned was there Helpxing.  Luckily friend is as much a coffee addict as we are so the hour long drive to her home was interrupted by a coffee stop in a small village, one of the things I love about France is the availability of coffee and the friendliness of the people, even to strangers.

Friends home


The day after we arrived  was our friends xmas eve, followed 3 days later by her birthday celebrations (she moved both events back a month due to work commitments).    Most of Friday passed in a catch up session interspersed with not a lot else, other than much admiration of a bowl Paul had made, and taken as a present.     Saturday I was asked to make something with a pile of pigs lights for the lunch event a number of locals were coming to the following day.    Taste wise I was happy with the finished article but would have preferred access to a food processor to make the texture smoother.   

Pork Lights Dish




Paul and myself also helped Lisa make a scarecrow to put at the entrance of the driveway.    We didn't giggle and laugh at all when building Scarey, Honest Gov!

Scary ready to welcome guests



Sunday was not our type of thing, really, but I still feel a bit of guilt about escaping to the kitchen, with Paul after about an hour.   Most of the guests who attended were ex-pats who had resided in France for upwards of 6 years, with one French neighbour, who spoke no English, present.   Lisa, the German girl, not the most popular nationality in Normandy, was the only person present who made a real effort to communicate with the French lady.    One of the reasons I escaped to the kitchen is my French is too basic to small talk and it was embarrassing to listen to all the ex-pats talk to each other excluding the French person, simply by their choice of speaking their native tongue.  Makes me more determined to improve my Bulgarian language skills.




Monday we had a trip to the coast, not Monmartin-sur-Mer or any of the typical Normandy landmarks but a smallish fishing town.    Lisa came with us but preferred to do her own thing rather than accompany Paul and myself, whilst our friend when to visit someone she knew in the local hospital, arranging to meet us 5 hours later.    When we arrived the tide was fully in so we started with a wander into town for a cashpoint as we were out of tobacco, this lead us to finding the fishing harbour, but unfortunately it was too late in the day for buying catches fresh from the boats.  We then had a lovely, if gusty,  walk around the peninsula finding some evidence of the defenses used during WW!! as well as fantastic scenery and that lovely sea air smell, which I miss living so far inland.    Unfortunately the cameras batteries had died and the spare ones hadn't been charged.   As it was a bit chilly on the cliff tops we decided to find a cafe and have a late lunch in town, this led to a wonderful talk between Paul and a young local lad about all kinds of subjects and ended up with us being shown the lads website and Paul being asked for input on business plans.    I think it's just as well we had Remi/Julie and Guillaume/Pauline staying with us last year,   I hadn't realised how much Paul's french had improved.  After a typical French lunch, about 2 hours we went back down to the coast to do some beach walking and foraging.   Muscles were collected for eating, and we filled a couple of the daysack's pockets with empty oyster shells for an idea I'd had for friends birthday, the following day.    It was so nice to have a full day of 'killing time'  and seeing Paul relax for the first time in a couple of days.    For those of you who hear killing time as a negative it isn't in our world, it's an opportunity to relax, think about everything and nothing and generally go where the day takes you.    We don't seem to allow ourselves enough killing time days, and to be honest I don't envisage another one for some time, but that is our choice at this stage of our life.     One thing that did surprise us both was the number of closed down businesses and those who were opening for part days. The retail industry in France seems to be under more strain than it is in Bulgaria, if you go purely on the percentage of empty retail outlets and the number of signs in shop windows advertising 70% discounts off previous selling prices.

Tuesday was our last full day in France and the local town had a market on, it is also renowned for it's copper industry so we were looking forward to a saunter around the market for a while in the morning, a leisurely lunch followed by a museum visit or 2.      Unfortunately the day did not go to plan as just before lunch time Paul got rather ill, it wasn't as a result of me dragging him around the market - he actually bought more than I did.    Thankfully we knew a car was returning to our friends village shortly after he took ill so were able to cut the trip short and get him back to the house.  Unconnected to Paul being unwell we had both realised we were looking forward to the following day and returning home.   It seems a horrible thing to say after our friends generosity but we both realised we were more comfortable in our own surroundings and nice as France is, it's not home

Following morning was an early start to the airport for the journey home,  after farewells at the airport, and provisional plans to revisit in 2019 we tried to get our seats on the plane changed to ones closer to an exit,  desk staff told us this was not possible although once on the plane the stewardesses found us seats very near an exit and we were the first off the plane in Stanstead.      Luckily we had landed at the terminal which contained passport control so didn't need to wait for the transit 'train'   a rapid trot meant we arrived at a passport control empty of passengers, although they did seem a bit suspicious about our intentions.   Because the flight, from France, had landed early the gates for our next flight had not yet been announced so we took the opportunity to nip outside for a smoke before going through security into departures.   Flight into Bucharest was uneventful, the car parking company picked us up about 10 minutes after we phoned them.    Unfortunately the flight time meant we hit the centre of Bucharest in rush hour traffic,  even at that time going through the centre is much quicker with better quality roads, than using the ringroad.    Once we cleared we started discussing the speeding fine and decided that they would probably make us pay it at the bridge, as this is where they check you do have a vignette for driving in the country, so must be computer linked.     Nope we left Romania with the fine unpaid and have since spoken to a friend who has a collection of unpaid fines in his vehicles glovebox,  from his frequent trips over the border.   The weather was atrocious but it was nice to be home, or at least an hour away from our actual home.   When we arrived at our house the cats mobbed us, although the other animals didn't seem to have noticed our absence, when we let them out the following morning.

 

Looking Forward

New Years Eve in Bulgaria is a noisy affair with many fireworks and gunshots and whilst in past years we may have watched the displays this year we welcomed the new year snuggled up under the duvet.    Thinking about it, ending a day, let alone a year, cuddled up to the person who loves you and you love in return is a pretty cool thing to have in your life.

New Years Day morning is not such a personal time.  The village children come with the survachka, a branch is decorated with all kinds of coloured threads, dry fruits, peppers and popcorn, and and chant a verse chasing away evil and bad things that have happened so you have a happy and prosperous new year whilst lightly being tapped on the back with the survachka.  This tradition, called Survakane, was originally performed by young boys and men, rather than children, and we've been told it is still conducted in cities, although in that case only family members receive the blessing rather than neighbours.   In return the children get money and sweets, although I prefer giving fruit to sweets.     Later that day Paul and myself indulged in my first attempt at pulled pork, not as good as I remember from mums birthday trip to new York, but worthy of tweaking the recipe .  

(Survachka, a picture found online)

During the month I also experimented with cottage cheese and orange cupcakes (variation on last months cottage cheese and cinnamon ones) and banana and coconut cake.    The cottage cheese and orange will be a regular occurrence but the banana/coconut recipe is on back burner until I want to experiment more with it.

Because we were uninsured for last years fire our savings took a bit of a hammering so we have a new financial policy this year ... cash only purchases and all purchases to be recorded on a spread sheet.    This is currently a temporary measure until we can stop concentrating on the house and start generating an income again but if it highlights serious areas of frippery it may become part of everyday living. 

We received a summons to the house of the neighbour we animal sit for as the English speaking neighbours were in the village.    Despite our limited Bulgarian and his non-existent English we can normally  occupy a large amount of time and communicate enough for rakia and coffee conversations.   The summons suggested he wanted to communicate without confusion, he did but it was nothing serious and more an  excuse to ply us with coffee and wine.     We ended up agreeing to animal sit for another weekend whilst he went to visit his daughter and on his return got plied with bottles of cornoil, packets of cigarettes and bread vouchers (for the village shop).   This was much more than normal thanks, but we accepted as we thought he felt he was thanking us for the 3 weeks he'd been in America. as well.     The male half of the other English family in our village was also at our neighbours, for wine and coffee, and I took the opportunity to ask if he would feed our animals for us while we were in France.   I didn't want to ask Illiya because of his age and health, although I suspect I may owe him an apology for not asking.

A friend who was leaving Bulgaria offered Paul and myself a double bed, and a single bed for mutual friends who live reasonably close to us.    As we would need to take the van for the double it was just as easy to collect the single at the same time.     Unfortunately the night before I decided it would be a good idea to poison the pair of us...I knew there was a valid reason for me rarely cooking English food, mince and dumplings is just too fatty and stodgy, especially when served with pasta because you're ran out of potatoes.     Thankfully by the time it came to depart, for friends house, our bodies had excavated most of the nastiness.   

When we delivered the single bed it gave Paul a chance to look at a bandsaw and thickness/planer that were surplus to owners requirements.    The downside of the delivery trip is his workshop needs to move up the priority list, if I want any of my cellar to be useful in it's original guise.   Although an upside is the workshop will be attached to the barn so that may be rebuilt and housing sheep and/or goats sooner than anticipated.


Although this winter has seen little 'proper' snow it has seemed much colder, this feeling in confirmed when water coming out of taps like slush makes teeth cleaning an interesting   experience.    A few days after cleaning teeth with slush we found the bathroom pipes, including the hot water supply, frozen solid.   No problem - light the petchka (woodburner) pipes will defrost and then we can each have a nice hot bath in a warm room,   mmmm it took over 10 hours for the pipes to defrost but we were lucky as the the room stayed warm overnight and prevented burst pipes which a number of friends experienced as the temperature dropped further.

Tracey's second trip, within a month,  to Veliko Tarnovo was another lunch appointment although this one was tinged with sadness.   A friend whose past year has been tinged with much misfortune was returning to the UK ready to start work at the end of the month.  12 females and one slightly drunken male attended the farewell lunch, which seemingly got much more interesting after the group from this area left, with the remaining females managing (deliberately) to lose the male.   
  The mild weather, i.e. not under a metre of snow, meant our gamble of not rearranging things so we had a winters worth of pre-chopped and stacked wood piled close at hand paid off.    Sunny, warmish, days found Paul chainsawing both bought wood and those rafters which are too badly damaged to repurpose.  As Paul loaded the sawhorse with the next batch of logs to cut Tracey  bagged the sawn wood ready for lugging over to the area we're living in.     The use of female logic meant Paul moved most of the bagged timber whilst Tracey made coffee, a system that works well.


So last week of the  month approaches with a mad hunt for passports, they were where there should have been, a place we obviously didn't check as we're both terrible at returning things to their rightful place.


 Not sure why we haven't taken pictures this month but we'll try to improve on that in future posts.


 

Paul showing the first effects of cabin fever?

Ok its cold and I’m in semi hibernation which gives me time to trawl you tube.

I happened across a link to The Citizens Hearing on UFO disclosure.   This is where people who have had experiences and interactions with things not of this planet have the floor to deliver their statement under oath to a panel of retired congressmen and women and ex senators in the Press Hall near Washington.    I believe they in turn will take that information to the senate and congress to try and get full disclosure of UFO encounters etc.

http://youtu.be/SgucayRlc-U 

A few months ago I researched an encounter in Rendlesham Forest after watching a film called Hanger 10 , as interesting as it was I passed it off as just a film.   However since watching the video of   The Citizens Hearing on UFO disclosure in which  2 USAF officers disclose first-hand under oath what exactly they saw and experienced, I'm not so sure.   Aside from the possibility of there really being 'something out there' there was a much more important issue arising from this hearing,  that was the admission by the panel that the President of the USA is not in charge of the country!

They admit that there is a secret financial/military/oligarchy which rules the USA.   For many years I had heard the term Illuminati and assumed that that title covered just about anyone in the halls of power, again, now I'm not so sure.

I'm not sure if I am going insane now that I’ve seen that video, but the more you look the more things start to connect.   Mentioning UFOs usually makes people switch off or start mocking, however if you leave out the whole UFO part of the debate, you’re left with a huge information hole of secrecy which separates the ordinary members of congress and President from the people who really run the USA and maybe the world.

Its a long video, in fact the hearing lasts a whole week , but this one in particular is worth watching to illustrate my point , consider that there you have the panel who have served the US government watching in awe the things they’re being told.

Please comment on this page as to what your views are, for the sake of my sanity  :)
Thank you.

Cakes and Cars

It's the last day of 2014 and I know many expect us to be saying good riddance and hoping next year is a better year.   We're not,  2014 was a GREAT year.    Yes we had some hiccups but those hiccups gave us  a fantastic opportunity to rebuild our home, even better.   They restored our faith in the goodness of people, friends and strangers and showed us that together Paul and Tracey are a great team.


In the spirit of team-work December has been a month of weight gain for me as the experimental cakes I've been making to feed Paul's sweet tooth have been shared equally.    It took many attempts but the recipes for Peanut butter cupcakes, Cottage cheese and cinnamon cakes, Choc and ginger cupcakes are now perfected although the Chocolate and Banana Juice cakes need more work as the banana flavour wasn't strong enough.    Oh I forgot the coffee and walnut cupcakes which by now have become my fallback 'need cake' bake.    I made a double batch on one occasion so I could thank Baba Bonner (lives across the green from us) for the terlitsi she made us.   The gratitude with which she accepted the cakes, with some goose feathers she'd requested, was humbling after all the things she has done for us this past year.

Terlitsi (yes I always wear odd socks)
  

Paul and I went out for a day of builders merchants and supermarkets and it was only a few hours after our return that I realised I hadn't felt a sense of pessimistic dread on the approach home.    previous trips out have resulted in a stomach sinking and general tensing up in the last few miles  expecting to see our home burnt to the ground.  Illogical I know but it happened and I'm pleased to be over that stage.

Following a flippant comment I made (do I make any other type) about a friends heart shaped Yorkshire Puddings a trip to Ruse and shops was arranged so she could increase her kitchen supplies.    As our cats seem to enjoy eating silicon cake moulds I thought it a good opportunity to obtain some replacements,    The tray, bread tins, cork sheets, board game and a few other pieces all magically jumped into my hands as I was walking around the store and refused to be returned to the shelves.    During the trip on of our friends mentioned that a friend of hers needed a house sitter over the holiday period, the money originally offered seemed low for such a last minute request for a time most people want to be with their families.  The possibility of earning some money for building materials did hold some interest, so I mentioned it to Paul who had no objections to us being apart over the festive period.    Negotiations over financial reimbursement started being conducted via email, the outcome was not as much as I think it should have been but it meant we could obtain 120 square metres of good quality insulation materials without dipping further into savings.


We had an enquiry from a Taiwanese guy via Helpx who needed a host on fairly short notice.    My initial response was 'sorry, not this time of year' but after I mentioned it to Paul my decision was over-ruled and we contacted the guy to say he could come for a few days to give him a base whilst sorting out a longer term host.    It kind of went wrong from the start with Paul not taking a phone with him when he went to collect and then the potential helper had decided to get the train not the bus (stations miles apart) but it wasn't a disaster and we ending up hosting someone who found jobs to keep himself busy for a couple of weeks.    I do think if we hadn't specifically requested him to move on he would still be here but my mindset wasn't   geared to having others around.   Winter is Paul and Tracey time - little work gets done but we play with ideas, chop wood,  potter with numerous small jobs and generally just live.


Mid December some of the 'ladies' I know organised a lunch in Veliko Tarnovo and although I didn't want to go I did want to go.  I'd missed the previous two through either being busy with the rebuild or too injured to drive the 90 kilometres, each way.   A couple of friends in the area mentioned they fancied going so I volunteered to drive, this would prevent me from finding a last minute excuse for cancelling. I''m pleased I did 'con' myself into going as it was a great relaxing, and fun, time.   However, the day before did witness me having a major 'hissy fit' when I found mice had nibbled at clothes which hadn't been protected by cinnamon sticks.  We arrived in Veliko Tarnovo early as we knew there was a seasonal market on and I'd managed to get Paul a pair of long thick socks at last years, which unfortunately got burnt - he ended up with 4 replacement pairs.     Driving back wasn't great, getting used to this scenario,   thick fog meant the last 16 kilometres took me just over an hour to drive and I didn't see a pothole which meant I buckled another wheel rim.   Thankfully Paul's judicious use of a club hammer sorted the buckled rim.

The Ladies in front of Veliko Tarnovo Market

A couple of days before me leaving to do the house sitting a friend in France video Skyped us, a conversation that reduced me to tears.     Because she is always busy with work at the end of December she celebrates her birthday and Christmas a month late (we have crazy friends what can I say) her birthday present to herself was going to be airline tickets for Paul and myself to help her celebrate.    We accepted her statements that we needed a holiday away from here, together but also knew that money would be better spent rebuilding or home, and therefore live, here.    Initially we didn't want to accept, what we saw as, charity but the fact that she said she wanted us there, made us swallow our pride and accept the offer.      A deciding factor was the fact that she said she wanted to see us, she's as stubborn about admitting attachment to people as I am.   So, weather permitting, we're off to northern France end of January for a week.     We still need to find someone to feed the animals for us whilst we're away but that shouldn't be a major problem.

Paul and myself had a day to ourselves between the helpxer leaving and me going off to house sit.    I have no idea what we did other than enjoy each others company.

House sitting was uneventful and slightly boring, although I did manage to do some crochet and read 3 books.      I often believe that we do not do as much as we should here but being put in a situation where the only thing that needs doing is dogs walked and dogs and cats fed made me realise how much our pottering does achieve and satisfy me.    The lady I was house sitting for must have thought I was an idiot with my questions about when her wood burner flues were last cleaned, but I'd noticed straight away she had no fire extinguishers, or fire blankets.     Initially she had been planning on getting a bus to her daughters, about 4 hours away but because of the quantity of stuff to take decided to drive.     When I contacted her on the 26th to enquire about the time she expected to be returning the following day I was very surprised to learn she was returning via Sofia, as the weather forecast was not good.    

I left there on the 27th about 1730 hours not looking forward to the drive back in the dark and snow - although I knew once I got out of the valley a friend lived 15 minutes away and had told me to go there if the conditions were too dangerous for getting home.    Desire to get back to Paul may have clouded my judgement but once out of the valley the drive home looked as thought it would be easy, unfortunately conditions deteriorated about 15 kilometres down the road.    In addition to the (heavy) snow fall I now had fog to contend with, logically I was closer to friends house than home but ...   Anyway I drove on, at a snails pace, but it wasn't long before Paull got the first of a few 'phone calls   I passed a road sign for a place name I didn't recognise so became convinced I'd taken the wrong road.     With the help of Google maps Paul was able to tell me I was on the right road and also told me upcoming landmarks.   I went back to my plodding along and luckily nobody else seemed stupid enough to be one the roads as I didn't acquire a queue of traffic behind me.     Eventually I got to roads I was familiar with and started feeling more confident about reaching home,  oh dear, that confidence was misplaced as I swerved to avoid a big pothole and went into a skid.    This, obviously,  resulted in me phoning home again not because I expected Paul to come to my rescue but as I'd stopped inches from a ditch I needed to talk to Paul in order to calm myself down before attempting to reverse back onto road.      I was a bit naughty as I told Paul I'd phone him once car was on the road but because there was now traffic around I took the opportunity of a break in the traffic to continue the homeward journey.   He did get a 'phonecall about 30 minutes later when I needed to stop for a wee break, and spotted a layby not covered in deep snow.

It was nice to get home, even though Paul did complain the meal he'd prepared for me was burnt and probably tasted awful - it was great.        The following day I unloaded the car and was pleased that despite the work they require Paul liked the lights I had acquired at a reasonable cost.     They will end up costing us more than new lights but the shape and style will go well with the vaulted ceiling.


The large one was one of a pair, unfortunately t'other one didn't survive the fire .   The 2 smaller ones are the new purchases.

I know those reading this have seen numerous pictures of the roof from inside but thought you might like the picture I took earlier this month showing the new roofline from the road leading to the house.

I hope some of you, at least, will return in 2015 to peruse my ramblings and in the meantime we wish you all the best of years.

Competitions and weather

So Paul finishes working away and arrives home unexpectedly to find me having cereal for dinner, as it's not really worth cooking for one.     I blame the friends he was working with as they had vehicle problems and the plan was for Paul to leave our van with them and me collect him the following day.    But never mind the telling off I received Paul is home and after a few days rest, for him, we can get back to work on our home, a can we discuss a proposition we have received.

Since 17th October we have been going around to the neighbours to feed his dog and cat, which enabled him to visit his son and grandchildren in New York.     I know our Bulgarian is not as good as it should be but we were definitely told 15 or 16 days.   Three and a half weeks later! neighbour returns having had a great time and most grateful to us for animal sitting.  The fact that he returned with gifts and then offered to pay us for looking after the animals (he bought the food and we refused his money) made me feel mean for getting frustrated about his delayed return.    His pleasure at seeing his family also made me think again about a quick trip to France next year to see my father, not a snowballs chance in hell of him visiting me, here.

 Pops place


 After Illiya returned we decided to have a trip to Ruse in the van and stock up on building materials for winter projects.    Unfortunately Paul damaged his back moving out old kitchen petchka  (which I had sold) so we ended up going in the car, as it's more comfortable.    this meant we didn't get plasterboard and more insulation but we did manage to buy a set of ladders that fold down to a sensible length but fold out to enable us, actually Paul, to access the roof easily.     Much to Paul's delight I also managed to locate a set of metal wood planes in one of the DIY stores.  We also added a new DIY store to our Ruse trips making a trip there consist of 4 DIY stores, a Chinese meal and very little else.


We were approached by researchers, for a channel 4 television programme, who had been given our details and after reading our blog wanted us to agree to Kevin McCloud spending a week here in January or February.   Much as we like Mr McCloud we felt that the stated purpose of the programme was not appropriate to having a film crew here during 'hunker down' months.    We also felt that anyone agreeing to appear on a 'inspirational self-sufficiency' television programme would be setting themselves up for a lot of back lash from some elements of the ex-pat community.    It's not even as if they pay for the inconvenience - if they'd offered to finance a new barn roof they MAY have received a different answer.   teehee

I manged to find a couple of very good condition preloved single beds for sale at a  good price, and whilst not a double they'll be an improvement from Paul having a mattress on the floor.  We can always push them together.


It's said that 'good things happen to good people' what a pile of crock!     Some friends of ours, two of the nicest most generous humans around, had a major house fire in which the husband suffered bad burns trying to save one of their rescue dogs.    Mutual friends  discussed whether Paul and myself should be informed,  I love them for being concerned enough to have the discussion but would have been so annoyed if they had kept the news from us.   I understand they wanted to protect us and if I was going to return to being a blubbering wreck it wouldn't help the friends who needed help now.     We couldn't drop everything and go when we heard but did manage to get to see them a couple of days later when we found out what they may have need of over winter.    Following day we sorted out loaded the van with tools they had loaned us, after our fire, blankets/rugs and curtains ready to go help with the clean-up the next day.    They have a house to live in, less than 50 metres from the fire damaged property, and when we left it was well on the way to having many life enhancing features, such as a woodburner and beds, ready for them to occupy.   

We'd already 'stolen' some of the EPS (expanded polystyrene) boards from our extension for insulating between the beams in the main house and after seeing how our friends house, which was timber construction insulated with EPS went up, we are now stealing the rest, for ceiling insulation, and only using rockwool insulation in our extension.

Insulation between beams

As mentioned in the last update the staircase needed repositioning, otherwise Paul  knocking himself out on a beam was going to be a regular occurrence.    We cleared floor space so we had lots of 'wiggle room' and proceeded to play 'where will the stairs fit'.      They've ended up about 4 inches (100cm) from their original location and in their original orientation.    Oh well at least we now KNOW the other half a dozen possibles wouldn't work long-term.    

Some of the staircase reject positions


The walls behind the staircase location have been deplastered, ready for a new finish to be applied, and as I was on a roll the hallway also got deplastered.       Whether we do any work in this area during the next couple of months will depend on the weather,  we may just use winter as an excuse for planning, designing and working on small projects near a woodburner.    The Bulgarian sunshine, which we normally see most days even in the depth of winter seems to have gone on holiday.  I'm not sure if it's the lack of sunshine, replaced by miserable UK type grey skies, or just general tiredness that has produced too many slobbing days.     Lots of lists have been produced of things we need to do to move the rebuild forward but as yet none of them have been translated into completed tasks.

 Partially deplastered hallway


I also won in two competitions.     First one was a new tattoo, which I'm not ready for yet but the owner of the tattoo saloon (https://www.facebook.com/pages/117-Tattoo/1506529302909200?fref=ts) agreed to me donating the prize to another friend who is addicted to getting tattoos and was our mainstay back in June/July.     The second competition was ran by a UK friend, to get her crafts FB page (https://www.facebook.com/PoppyCameToo?fref=ts) to a hundred 'likes'.   My middle sister tried to get me to chose things she wanted, yeah like that was going to work - I've got a home to decorate.


22nd of November we felt the earth move.    Wayhey     Initially I thought it was one of our kamikaze cats trying to jump through a closed window, but even they don't cause that much disturbance, an 11 litre water bottle was definitely wobbling.    Google search showed that there had been an earthquake about 300 km north of us in Romania (5.3 on some scale or other), no damage caused here or elsewhere as far as I know.     One good thing about Bulgarian house insurance (yes we have some now) is they don't refuse cover for acts of some mythical being, so earthquakes, floods, lightening strikes, etc can all be insured against.

In other news my mobile is on mute with friends contacting us via internet or Paul's mobile.    It seems some sad individual is having problems sleeping so 'phoning us at silly o'clock,   FYI  silly o'clock is anytime that is too early to let the animals out for the day.     The first couple of times, before we muted the 'phone it was great as we achieved so much in the extended day provided.   Paul has been having problems getting to sleep due to injuring his back so after a couple of days early morning wakeup calls started taking their toll and the phone was muted.    If it's someone who wanted to build bridges but hadn't built up the courage to talk they will have other ways of contacting us, if it's just a sociopath no doubt they'll get bored of not getting an answer.

In the past few days we have also updated our profiles on workaway.com and helpx.com so it is more reflective of where we are now.      Since June we have just been adding updates which made the profiles very messy and confusing, not sure we're happy with the finished article but as we are unlikely to have any helpers before March we have plenty of time to fine tune.

Reluctant update

OK I can't put this off any longer otherwise I'll never get back to giving you monthly updates.     The last post from us was Paul in England for 10 days (mid August) lots and little has happened since then and as I'm still excessively emotional apologies, in advance if this posting is more disjointed than normal.

The helpxer who arrived just before Paul left for England gave me peace of mind regarding bee stings, or other accidents, by his mere presence but despite telling me I shouldn't be doing so much whilst injured never thought of offering to feed the animals, or us.    He was very aware of social injustices and unnecessary consumerism but hadn't yet made the jump to adjusting his own requirements preferring to comment on others failings.    To be fair I think when younger we are, nearly, all selfish idealists gaining insights on personal change and compromises as we age, and learn living in this world isn't as simple as we'd like it to be.

I deglazed, stripped, painted and reglazed what seemed like, hundreds of window frames (actually only 10 frames with 20 panes) whilst Paul was away although with hindsight it wasn't a clever move.    I should have either left the glazing or cobbled together a lower work surface as the reaching up to press down, for the putty, aggravated my back injury.   I also managed to lose the only immobiliser fob thingy in town.   Luckily I had been meeting a friend and she drove me back to the village, but that meant for 4 days I had no car, phone, internet or other means of contacting the outside world.







When Paul returned we were able to repay, in a small way, some of the help we received immediately after the fire.    Although we had always said we wanted to do all the work ourselves we had to accept that sometimes you need others to take some of the pressure off you.   One of the couples sons has been training to become a plasterer and although he hadn't done a full wall, let alone a full room before we employed him to work on our home.    Dayle lived with us during the week, and was a pleasure to have around, I have eventually stopped referring to him as a Stepford child.

As we now had electric decided it was time to pop into the Vivacom shop and let them know our 'phone line wasn't working an we may have burnt their box.     Anyway engineer comes out, none of the boxes on the back wall were anything to do with Vivacom and we just had a problem with our base unit.   One new base unit later we can talk with our family, back in the UK.    That seriously made me feel better, I don't need to see them often but keeping in touch is important to me, although if they managed to join the 21st century and used Skype that would be so much better.      Talking of Skype, when we'd originally had internet put in they had taken the cable to the pole in front of the house and just thrown a load of cable over the roof to feed in through the living room window.    Luckily although the fire had burnt (obviously) the centre part of the cable there was sufficient at either end for Paul to splice said cables together and get us internet access back.   Wow at this rate, electric, hot water, phone, internet we may become civilised once again, then again this is us ...


Just as Dayle was finishing the plastering another friend, a carpenter, informed us that he had juggled his work load to come over and help us put the extension roof on.     This was great news as David was enthusiastic about our ideas to reuse some of the old timbers in the roof, something the builders who did the main house roof had refused to do.     The old timbers weren't to be used as part of the main structure, although they would add strength their main purpose was to tie the post fire property back in with it's past.   Oh yes and look beautiful.        Dayle was asked if he'd like to stay on for another week, for 2 reasons mainly we hoped it would lead to him getting more work (it did) and secondly I had to be honest about my limitations and accept I wouldn't be able to work on this project.    Hell I was still having problems walking more than a few metres.   As you'll no doubt be able to tell from the excess of photographs I am so happy with the roof.

I'm also very proud of Paul and the mezzanine he put in, with a LITTLE bit of help from myself.   

At the end of September we visited a chiropractor, in Veliko Turnovo, that a friend had recommended..   There is no appointment system just queue and wait (4 hours) but on the upside if you decide to visit the builders merchants after a couple of hours people keep your place in the queue for you.    The chiropractor relocated my hip and a spinal disc or 2 but then told me no work for a couple of weeks and to take painkillers/anti-inflammatories.      I did rest, as much as possible, for 2 weeks and even now I listen to my body much more, although I'm still inflicting pain to myself - the work won't do itself and Paul is still doing more than his fair share.


We had a couple of days snow towards the end of October, which although earlier was nice as it showed us where our winter preparations were lacking,  apart from the obvious not having 3 months of supplies in the cellar.     This winter is going to be a challenge as we are living in the (unfinished) main house for the first time and we still have much work to do to finish off the property.     Although in all fairness to ourselves, I think the fact that the extension has NO heating in it means we will do minimal, if any, work on that until March concentrating instead on getting a couple of rooms in the main house decorated.     If we don't feel like work we may just hibernate and start afresh in spring, although I do have a couple of pieces of Bulgarian, furniture I want to refurbish and we've put a petchka in the temporary  workshop  (main house spare room).

Before the really cold weather arrives we need to relocate the internal staircase that Paul, the genius, built.     Luckily we didn't fix it into final position because using it, unfixed it's THAT good, has uncovered a siting flaw.   This is nothing major and fits in with our ethos of living with ideas before making them fixed in stone, or wood in this case.    The final positioning of the staircase does effect the kitchen design though, so we need to sort it so I can have a 'proper' kitchen again.  Field kitchens, or corner of living/sleeping area kitchens, are all well and good but I miss creating proper meals and treats.

I mentioned earlier that Dayle helping with the extension roof led to more work for him it also led to work for Paul, helping on a building refurbishment.    Unfortunately this meant he was away Monday morning until Friday night for a couple of weeks,   Miss Independent I Can Do That  had been taught it was ok to ask and accept help only for her 'teacher' to abandon her.  Boohoo.    It was a sad time but also I realised how much I had learnt about my own limitations, we had some MORE windows that needed stripping down and sanding and much as I love playing with power tools the size of these windows made them hard work so I did little and often.  My favourite Bulgarian expression at this time is leko po leko (literally it means "slightly slightly" but tends to be used as English speakers would say "little by little")


Reading back over this post it has a definite negative feel about it.  I apologise for that but will admit to having lost my mojo recently, as my strength returns it'll return and hopefully lots of little projects will be completed over the hibernation months.   In between looking after the animals

Five weeks with someone else's teenagers

13th July -  a month since the fire and I arrive home with Paul's youngest 2 children who are staying for five weeks.    When the flights were booked 8 months previously we started making a list of places to visit and things to do with them.   Unfortunately all plans are null and void as rebuilding our home HAS to take priority.   However it was Jim's 13th Birthday the week they arrived and we couldn't let that go unrecognised, so a trip to Ruse it was.   First off Jumbo, which I thought was just a toy megastore but it's actually a home wares shop as well, Jim picked up some plasticine and as it was his birthday how could we not get it for him.    Then no trip to Ruse is complete without a visit to at least one builders merchants so a flying visit to Mr Bricolage was followed by a leisurely lunch in Ruse' main square.    

 

Paul choose the establishment based on the food would appeal to the kids, not only because of the length of the waitresses skirts/belts­, at least that's his story.     After lunch we had a wander around and Jim decided he needed to check the water temperature of each and every fountain/water feature.   

 

 Luckily he didn't want to check the water temperature of the Danube when we went for a walk along it's bank.  

A couple of days later and the builders are all finished, off site and we can start on the other jobs that will make our house home again.   Not many teenagers get to work with mud plaster and mix cement during their summer holidays but thanks to help from a neighbour, Ruby and Jim Paul managed to get the concrete ring beam done so work on roof 2 could begin when out master carpenter friend was available to oversee.

You may have noticed I wasn't involved with concrete  making - the month since the fire rudely reminded me not only was I a 'mere female' but I was also getting older.   As I'd ignored the warning signs my body was sending me I managed to cause some back injury and dislocate my hip.    The hip dislocation provided some light entertainment as Paul relocated it for me - along with my ankle and knee doing sound effects as each one popped back into place.

More light entertainment was provided when a neighbour told us that Dencho (our Kmet [mayor] who had driven past when the fire was blazing) didn't realise we still had no electric and if we took our customer number up to his house straight away he would get on to the electric company on our behalf.   Within 2 minutes Paul, Ruby and Jim are walking up the hill to Dencho's house when he drives past them and waves when Paul tries to flag him down.   The kids were less than complimentary about him and he is now to be referred to as The Kermit. 

Despite my concerns about the holiday not being what had been 'promised'  both Ruby and Jim coped with the situation very well, with only the odd moans about not going anywhere/doing anything.     Paul did take them to some local water falls one day, a couple of our friends also tagged along and seemingly they had a nice time with a 'supermarket picnic' lunch.   An international music festival had been organised in a village about 30 kilometres away so all 4 of us went to that, with Ruby and Jim staying longer and getting a lift home with a neighbour, as Paul and I needed to get back for the animals.  

 

   We also went to a carboot sale further afield although the main purpose of that trip out was to visit bigger, and quite beautiful, waterfalls.  

   I know at least Jim was disappointed that we didn't get a visit to the coast and I think both Ruby and Jim would have had a better time if we had been able to put the pool up for the summer, but we would have needed electric to run the pump.

A week before Paul was due to fly to the UK with the children we had a last minute enquiry through Helpx from an Australian who wanted to come stay.    After ensuring he was fully aware that we were still living in very basic conditions we agreed to his coming to help out - if nothing else it meant that I would have assistance around the place for heavy lifting whilst Paul was away.   Least said soonest mended.

Paul drove up to Bucharest airport for their flight to UK and I drove back to Bulgaria.     We had been told that it was quicker to use the ring road although Paul doubted this so drove straight through Bucharest.     On the drive back i was in 2 minds as which route to take,  but despite never have driven there myself decided to go through the centre as the roads were in much better condition than the ring road, and I was in a bit of pain at this point.    Even though I took the scenic route, once or twice, I think Paul is correct and it's much quicker than the ring road.    Once back in Bulgaria I decided to stop at the builders merchants in Ruse to have a walk around and stretch my muscles out, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.   Visits to Baumaxx, Praktiker and Mr Bricolage resulted in me returning home with some twin and earth electric cable and some new light fittings - luckily Paul approved of my purchases on his return.

So now I have 10 days before Paul returns and although I think 5 weeks was too long for a visit off Ruby and Jim,  especially this year,  the house is weirdly not right with them not here.   Only consolation about them not getting the holiday they expected is they got to experience real life, with all its problems, and spend some quality time with their dad seeing what an extraordinarily talented guy he is (even highlighting his daughters hair, with help from his son).