OK, so where were we, we must be up to Monday by now. Claire and Peter had things to do with their agent first thing in the morning, so they didn't actually make it over to ours until about 11am. Just enough time for a quick cup of tea, and to decide what they needed to do that day. Their agent had given them some wrong information, and Peter was getting worried about their vignette running out. So once again we all piled into our car and headed off into Gorna. Claire wanted to get some net to put up at the windows, so once in Gorna we split up with Net and Claire hunting for net, and Peter and I getting the vignette sorted out. Both were fairly easy, Claire managed to get enough net to do all of the windows, courtesy of a couple of the many 'second hand shops', and Peter managed to get a year's vignette. Then on to the plumber's merchant just round the corner, for the gas bottle, regulator, rubber hose and jubilee clips. We also needed a couple more flue pipes, and for some reason Net walked out with a free fire scraper.
It was a lot cooler than it had been recently, and there were definitely more clouds being driven across the sky. Time to find something to eat. One of the many 'useful' things that I learnt in the Navy was to go and eat where the locals eat, the food will be good and it will also be a lot cheaper. Just by luck Mum and Dad had shown us just such a place the previous week. Sure enough when we got there we were able to claim the last available table, the place was nigh on full with the lunchtime rush. These places always seem to do a lunch time special, the only problem is deciphering it. Printed cyrillic isn't too bad, but when it is hand written I do tend to struggle a wee bit. I found something on there that looked like it could be chicken, which the waitress confirmed but we couldn't work out what it came with, Net and Peter volunteered to be the Guinea pigs while Claire and I opted for the safety pizza. Net and Peter were both pleasantly surprised by their chickeny thing, and had both finished by the time Claire and I got our pizzas. Over lunch they let us know that they had a problem with the plumbing in their bathroom, they had a leak. Now what I know about Bulgarian plumbing can be written on the back of a cigarette packet, alongside what I know about Bulgarian electrickery. Luckily we know a man who does, and he was in town, the only problem being that the phone numbers were stored on the home phone and not the mobile.
Fortunately, Jo and Nigel came round to ours once they had finished in town, so we were able to introduce Claire and Peter to them. Peter was then able to discuss various bits and pieces with Nigel, and from the sounds of things it wasn't as bad as Peter first thought. Nigel wanted to have a look for himself just so he had a firm indication of what exactly needed doing, and also what tools he would need. So after tea Jo and Nigel followed Peter and Claire out to theirs. On Tuesday we were left pretty much to our own devices, as once again Peter and Claire had dealings with their agent and Nigel was over there sorting out their leaking/burst pipe.
On the Wednesday afternoon we took a drive out there to see how things were progressing. Nigel had found the plumbing problem, a pipe was too short and therefore didn't screw up tight enough, so once the pipes had thawed there was a constant drip of water. He needed a few bits and pieces, so while he carried on the rest of us went into Popovo. Where we parked we discovered there was a UPVC place, so hopefully Peter and Claire could make arrangements to have someone come out to measure up for replacement doors. The woman in there was in the middle of having her hair done, and didn't speak any English, but Claire phoned up their agent explained what they wanted and thrust her mobile at the woman. It was arranged that someone would be out to measure up on Friday, that was today but when I spoke to Claire earlier no one had shown up. Nothing unusual there, but I did have a thought that the agents must be wondering that in the space of a week they are getting X, Y and Z done but they don't know anyone out here.
It is a good feeling being able to pass on all of the help that we were given when we first moved out here. It made the transition easier for us, and hopefully we have been able to make it easier for some others. Sharon, if you are reading this then it's your turn next week, weather permitting, so start making your list of things to do.
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