Christmas Traditions

Believe it or not, today is Christmas Eve and I am sat here wearing a t-shirt, no jumper or jacket. The fire isn't lit, and even the gas fire is sat idle. We seem to be having a little bit of a warm spell at the moment. The last cold days that I can remember were at the very start of the month, it has been otherwise damp and foggy, up until about a week ago. Now we have sunshine and clear blue skies. The only ones making use of my snow shovel at the moment are spiders using it to hang their webs from. To say that the weather is a bit odd is an understatement, it is nearly as odd as one Christmas spent in Florida when it snowed for the first time in over a century. Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.

I have seen Bees trying to hunt for any available flower, but they seem to be in quite scant supply. Every so often you see a fly drift past, and you think that can't be right. Here we are as the end of the year draws closer and insects are still out and about. Until I had seen the weather forecast I was slightly concerned that these mild temperatures might have meant that we would be inundated once the summer months get here. I think that we can safely say that we are not going to be getting a white Christmas this year, the New Year might be a different story.

In the meanwhile all we can do is enjoy the weather, the firewood pile is slowly going down but nothing like in previous years. All of the stocking up we did in case of bad weather is still there, so we are still fully prepared should we have to face a prolonged cold spell. Who knows I might have to evict some spiders before the year is out, as I might find it necessary to once again wield the snow shovel. The dogs are enjoying the sunshine, as they drag their beds and blankets round chasing the sun. They still head in front of the fire as soon as they come in, even though it hasn't been lit. The cats, especially Billy, will soon move them out of the way if they feel that there is a dog where a cat should be.

Anyway I digress, today is Christmas Eve, although in many traditional Bulgarian homes it signifies the start of three days of celebrations. Today goes by the name of Бъдни вечер, and depending on who you listen to some say badni vecher while others say budni vecher. At least everyone seems to agree on the vecher part. Not only is it known as Christmas Eve, but either Little Christmas or Incensed Eve can smetimes be used too. All too often the preparation work for the meals which are an important part of the traditional celebrations got underway yesterday. On the table itself you will often see both pine and ivy, and underneath it you will notice straw has been laid.

Tradition says that the dishes laid on the Christmas Eve table should be an odd number, and they should be meat free. Many of the dishes are made from the crops which the villagers grew themselves earlier in the year. You will see various dishes with beans, stuffed peppers, stuffed vine leaves, fruit and nuts, garlic and onions, quite often honey and ritual bread. Perhaps many ideas hark back to more pagan times. For instance honey is meant to symbolise a sweeter life, garlic to drive away evil spirits, nuts and seeds for health and luck and the fruit to symbolise fertility. Also a lot of the dishes are used as they swell during preparation and cooking, this is also something else used to symbolise fertility and pregnancy.

Perhaps more so in villages, this is a time for the family gathering together. You will often find many different branches of the same family in just the one village, although some have now moved away to seek a better life for their families. If they can make it back they do so, as this is an important time for families. The festivities start early with incense being burned thoughout the house, this is also meant to drive away any evil spirits. Once the table has been incensed and blessed the oldest member of the family breaks the ritual bread. Traditionally this is homemade and often decorated with crosses, circles and flowers, a coin is also baked within the bread. The first piece of bread goes to the Virgin Mary and the families ancestors, the next goes to the house, then to the animals and the finally a piece of bread is given to each family member from oldest to youngest. Whoever gets the coin will be blessed with health and luck for the coming year, should it be in one of the pieces given to the Virgin Mary or the house then everyone will be healthy and fortunate. On sitting at the table everyone moves a place to their right which is said to leave room for family ancestors and benevolent spirits. Even when the Christmas Eve feast is finished the table is not cleared away. There are two thoughts behind this, there is always something to offer an unexpected guest, and also it is these for those departed ancestors.

They do say that there are two different groups who come round to the villages houses singing Christmas songs. The first group is made up of boys who go round during daylight hours, once nightfalls the men take over. As you might expect for doing the difficult job of blessing houses and households certain small items are passed their way. However if you are in a small village such as this everyone is busy with their own families, so marauding bands of carollers are something which we have yet to witness. Many say that the Christmas Day church services are worth attending, but when you have a village priest responsible for several villages it can be difficult to know where such services are being held. Maybe we will just get the bells this year, and when the church is only a stone's throw away they can be hard to ignore. So the celebations often continue onto what we would call Boxing Day, or St Stephen's Day on the 27th. There are some familiar traditions too, such as the Yule Log (badnik), which is normally Oak and is placed on the fire on Christmas Eve, and is supposed to keep burning until Christmas Day, the ashes are then gathered and used in rituals in the coming year, as is the straw from beneath the table. 

Finally all that remains is for me to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas. Also to pass on my heartfelt thanks to you all for your support of this blog. At the start of the year it had been accessed 30,000 times, which I thought was no mean achievement. Now come the close of year that figure has moved up to 90,000. None of which would have been possible without people reading these blog articles. Thanks to you all, this blog has far exceeded my wildest expectations. 

So once again wherever this blog may find you I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the coming festivities bring you all that you need, and some of what you wish for.

  

Surviving Winter - A Dozen Helpful Hints

Perhaps you have noticed that along with the days getting shorter, the temperatures are also dropping. With this persistent damp spell that we are having at the moment it perhaps feels a bit colder than it actually is. You can rest assured that the temperatures will continue to decrease going into the New Year. Hopefully it won't be as harsh as some years, and maybe it will be just as mild as last winter. One thing that we can safely say though is that in the time we have been here no two winters have been the same. Supposedly we have experienced both the coldest and mildest winters on record. We are still here to tell the tale, complete with all fingers and toes, so if we can survive the winters here then anyone can. Hopefully some of the things which we have learnt along the way might come in handy for others, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and what might work for us might not work for others. As the adverts tell us all, "Every little helps".

1. Leave taps dripping when the temperatures drop. It is harder for moving water to freeze rather than static water. Just think the surface of a lake or pond will freeze before a stream or river. If you have water supplies for animals outside try floating a couple of tennis balls in their water troughs. I did read somewhere that a couple of drops of olive oil on the surface of the water might also help. Its also worthwhile finding out where your water pipe run, just in case you do end up with a frozen pipe somewhere. Try increasing the ambient temperature in the relevant room, that should help thaw your pipes out before you end up with a burst. If you are going away during the winter, drain down all waterworks before leaving.

2. It is worthwhile sorting out torches and candles now, rather than when you actually need them. Every year there are reports of villages without power for days on end. So it is also a good idea to stock up on spare batteries too. If you do end up losing power can you still cook and make yourself hot drinks? One of the first things which we were advised to buy was a dual fuel cooker, two of the top rings are electric and the other two run off of bottled gas. Some of the villages are quite remote so getting work crews there to fix the power supply problem can take a bit of time. For those who dislike silence might I suggest a battery radio, even if it is just on in the background for noise.

3. Many of us, certainly those living  in villages, seem to adopt a bit of a siege mentality. Villagers were busy jarring and bottling at the end of the summer. We do it the easy way we buy extra tins, packets and jars as part of our normal shopping. When we were cooking we did extra, this was then frozen. As a result we have full freezers and cupboards. Extra basics have been bought and put away, such as flour and other bits for baking bread. One good thing about village life is that there is still a sense of community, and everyone looks out for everyone else. No one is in danger of starving, even if the local shop fell down. Don't just stay indoors, even if you just go for a walk round the village or checking up on elderly neighbours, you are seeing as well as being seen. Not a lot escapes the watchful eyes of the village Buba network.

4. Check for draughts, before we put double glazing in, this house was like living in a wind tunnel. Breezes and gusts of wind were easy to detect but the smaller draughts were more difficult. We found that joss sticks were ideal for this, as a slight draught would disturb the smoke plume. It also has the added benefit of making the house smell nice, fortunately neither of us felt inclined to play finger cymbals or chant Hare Krishna as we searched for draughts. We also found that putting insulation up in the roof space really made a difference. I have to admit that getting it right the way to the edge of the eaves was a pain in the backside but it was worth it. One downside to eliminating the majority of draughts is that it can make your fire harder to light, so sometimes we have to vent a door or window to slightly open to increase the airflow.

5. When we first got here we found it really difficult to get rock salt for the paths. We also discovered that salting paths degrades the concrete, and we ended up with ours cracking up and faling to pieces. The next year I watched the villagers, and they use the ash from their fires. If you intend using ash I would strongly advise keeping it in a metal bucket, as there is always the possiblity of a red ember being thrown out when you clean your fire. At least a metal bucket won't burn or melt. You do end up with ash footprints throughout the house, as no matter how often I show them the dogs and cats stillhaven't got the hang of wiping their feet. With the ash being a darker colour and sunshine is absorbed by it faster and so helps thaw out paths, steps, driveways and roads. If you are using it on the last two try and make sure that there are no nails from the firewood, before you spread it round.

6. Everyone knows that metal conducts heat, but few consider that it will do the same with cold. Think of those metal door handles on an external door, they have a metal bar which connects the two handle portions. So -15C outside is also brought indoors too. Round about that temperature skin sticks to metal and you can get cold burns. To get round this we wrap out kichen cloths round the inside handles, as its fair to say that my brain doesn't want to fully wake up first thing in the morning. This is also one reason why we don't leave keys hanging in door locks overnight. Another reason is that if your car keys are in that bunch, the chip inside the keyfob bit can be killed by the cold. Any padlocks are sprayed with WD40 to displace any moisture which might freeze.

7. This probably isn't as much of a concern for those not living in villages, but what would you do if the front glass cracked and broke on your wood burner. It wasn't a concern for us until someone tried to combine the temperatures of Mount Vesuvius erupting and the Towering Inferno. As Sod's Law dictates this happened when the village was cut off and nothing was getting in or out for two days. Fortunately we do have alternate heating, but as a consequence I now hold spare glasses for both wood burners. The Prity fire is the easiest of the two as in their spares catalogue the dimensions are given. The other fire is a mystery fire with no maker's name on it anywhere, so the only way to get that replaced is to actually get it measured. You've already guessed which glass broke, to get it measured it was a case of getting as many pieces as we could and try and make up a jigsaw. I also had to make sure that it was fire resistant glass, or what I would call Amber Glass, just in case Junior Assistant Arsonist fancies re-enacting Krakatoa erupting.

 8. Whilst I am mentioning fires always keep a supply of both firewood and kindling close at hand. Somewhere that it can remain dry and out of the weather. If the weather does turn bad overnight at least you will have a ready supply to tide you over until you can go and replenish your come in handy stock later in the day. At least by the time you have moved firewood and kindling over from your main supply your house will be nice a warm.

9. Something which might seem obvious is all too often overlooked. We often get snow here in Bulgaria, and to enable ourselves to continue to move about we need to clear snow away from paths, steps, driveways and roads. To do this many of us use a humble snow shovel. The first time people want to use it, they discover that it is still in their shed. So they then have to wade through knee deep snow to get to their shed, where they have to clear the snow away, so that they can get in there to get the snow shovel. If the snow shovel was kept somewhere close at hand it makes digging these various snow trenches so much easier. It might not look wonderful propped up against the side of the house, but not only does it mean snow clearing operations can start much quicker but it also provides a handy perch for some  of the local birdlife.

 10. If you do have to go out and about chances are that you will be confronted by ice. We might not be allowed to use studded tyres here, but we can sometimes find these devices which slip on over shoes to provide additional grip. We do have to remember to take them off before going into a shop or a cafe, as they prefer not to have perforated floors. Another method, which is popular in villages are the oversize wool socks. Again these are pulled on over your normal footwear and provide some extra grip. As an added bonus they don't mark floors, and are probably easier to find than their modern day counterparts.

11. A lot of people jokingly refer to their mobile phones as their lifeline. During the winter, in a village, they can be exactly that. So it is worthwhile making sure that you know the phone numbers for the various emergency services, better still stire them in the phones memory. Also it is important to make sure that while power is on that you ensure that your mobile phone has a reasonable amount of battery power. We also have an in car charger too, so that in an emergency the mobiles can be charged that way.

12. Finally what can we do to help keep ourselves warm? It isn't necessary to put on one thick heavy coat and look like the Michelin Man, layers of thinner clothes will probably work out just as effective. This is because layers of warm air get trapped between the different layers of materials. Wool hats, gloves and scarves are also important, as even when its wet wool will still warm. The tips of the ears are very thin skinned, and don't have a great deal of blood supplied to them so keep then tucked up inside your hat if you have short hair. My winter shoes and boots are bigger than my summer footwear, and this means that I can comfortably wear eaxtra socks. During the winter I tend not to shave every day, and sometimes I look like a cross between Stig of the Dump and Santa's deranged cousin. If I do shave then it is done of an evening rather than in the morning.

Hopefully someone will find at least one of these hints helpful. If you can think of any more then please make a comment below. Remember anyone can be uncomfortable, but it is up to us to pass on information to help each other.

Stay Warm, Stay Safe

The other week there was talk in the Facebook group about fire safety (cheers Ian), and what people actually knew about it and tips that they could pass on. The only downside to something like that is that all too soon it disappears as new topics come up and push it further down the page. As it is such an important thing I thought that perhaps it might be worthwhile putting something like that in here, where it is easier to find. As we are approaching the winter it is possibly more important than at other times of the year. The days are getting colder, the nights colder still, and in an effort to keep ourselves warm we try to heat rooms in a variety of ways. Unfortunately with the heating attempts there is always the possibility of fire. Most of us have seen news reports about the devastation which fires can cause, but how many of us realise that we can actually take steps to help ourselves prevent such a mishap.

As many of you know we live out in the middle of nowhere, and if we did suffer the catastrophe of a fire by the time that the alarm had been raised and a fire crew had arrived on scene all that would be left of our home would be some charred timbers and smoking rubble. To our minds that is certainly a very valid reason for getting the house and contents insured. Hopefully it is something which we will never have to claim on, but for peace of mind it is a necessary expense each year. As I previously mentioned there are various steps which we can take to help minimise the risks. We do have the wood burners, but they are not our sole means of heating. We also have gas fires, oil filled radiators,electric fan heaters and circulatory fans built into most of the ceiling lights. One of my first jobs in the autumn is to make sure that everything is clean and that it works properly. If it has got a power lead, the lead is checked to ensure that mice haven't been taking bites out of it or that it is not damaged in anyway, paying attention to the plug. For the gas heaters the connection units are tested to make sure that they work properly, and in turn they are used to check that they cause the valve units om the gas bottles to open and close. The flexible rubber hoses seem to go a bit porous over the course of a year so I replace them and any worm drive clips necessary. The ceiling fans get switched over so they are now pushing the warm air from the light bulbs down into the room.    

Like many people though our prime source of heat comes from the wood burners, we have them at either end of the house. Every year I dismantle the flue pipes and check them, especially along the seams. If I am even slightly dubious they get replaced. The whole run gets thoroughly swept and cleaned, paying particular attention to the 90 degree bends. Bearing in mind that these flue pipes do get hot it is worthwhile taking your time when deciding where they will run. Even though it looks close to the wooden roof beam in the photo, there is about a two foot gap. Anyway I dismantle the flue pipes and clean them on roughly a six weekly cycle, depending on what I am burning, and how often the fires are lit. Talking of which try not to burn rubbish (especially plastics) and green wood in the fires.

People might think that wood is wood, and that it all burns the same. Fresh wood still has a lot of sap and resins in it, which is why you can smell freshly split timber. If you burn this fresh wood the fire is not as efficient. For one thing a lot of the heat is used to boil off the sap so that the wood becomes dry enough to burn. The resin and gases are carried along the flue pipes of chimney until they start to cool. At which point they will start to stick to the sides as a tarry creosote type substance. If you do that often enough and then burn good dry seasoned wood it is possible for the creosote to then catch fire and you end up with a chimney fire. Green wood is also harder to light and produces more smoke. It makes sense to get smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors fitted. Personally I prefer the battery powered ones as opposed to mains powered, as you never know when you are likely to get a power cut. Test them on a regular basis and keep spare batteries in stock. We can count ourselves as very fortunate in that twice we have been woken by them going off to find a house full of white smoke.

Its easier to see the funny side of it looking back on things, but at 3am wearing only a bathrobe and a pair of flip flops with all windows and doors open at -18C it was a definite sense of humour failure. Now we don't put any more wood on the fire after 9pm, and at bedtime all of the embers are raked together and then all the fire's vents and doors are closed. The good thing about our lounge being down in the cellar is that the stone walls are 2 feet thick and act as a night storage heater. Many of us live in traditional Bulgarian village houses which we have modernised. Perhaps the fitting of double glazing has cut down on a lot of the draughts which used to be there. Apart from being a pain in the backsides these draughts used to help start the fires with a constant air flow, now sometimes I have to open the cellar door or a window to create that airflow. Another reason could be that it is getting towards the end of my six week sweeping cycle and there could be a build up of soot. I now have a complete spare set of flue pipes, so in half an hour the old run is dismantled and the new lengths are fitted. I can then do my Black and White Minstrel audition up in the barn where its out of the wind and snow as I clean the old flue pipes at my leisure. If the glass is blackening then that could be another indication that you are in need of having your chimney or flue pipes swept.

When you look at one of these wood burners you can see that all they are is a metal box with fire bricks inside. Ours in the cellar also stands in its own metal tray. The heat is conducted down the metal legs and starts to warm up the metal tray which in turn warms up the ceramic floor tiles. No wonder that area is so popular with the dogs and cats.The heat from the metal sides radiates out and helps to warm the room, and due to convection the heat also rises straight up and the travels across the ceiling until it starts cooling. So that is how your room gets heated. Hopefully you can see why it is a good idea to keep flammable things a safe distance away from your wood burner. Logs might look good stacked up alongside in photos, but unless you are constantly moving and rotating those logs radiated and conducted heat are constantly drying them out. Logs are flammable, which is why we burn them in the first place, so always try and leave a sensible air gap between the fire and any combustable material.

You might even have heard about the traditional brick built Djamals, and how wonderful they are. They are very efficient burning at temperatures of something like 1000C, so there is not even any ash left, the bricks just act like a night storage heater. We have some Djamals in our house, and when we moved in we were told that they are perfectly safe to use. The one shown was in our kitchen, and we wanted to increase the size of the kitchen and let more light in so that wall and the Djamal had to go. Now I have no doubt that originally it was wonderful and probably provided all of the cooking and heating needs. However when we took the wall down we found so many burnt and charred timbers that it kind of put us off lighting any of the others, so now they are kept purely as part of the charm and history of the house.

The purpose of this article is not to cause worry, but hopefully to point out a few steps which we can all take to help make our winter evenings a bit safer. It is up to the individual how much attention they pay towards fire safety, and the steps that they take. We might well be the exceptions rather than the rule, but we also have fire extinguishers and a fire blanket up in the kitchen. Although we don't do fire drills we do know safe evacuation routes just in case the worst should happen. It always pays to plan ahead.

On the cold dark winter nights the wood burners do come into there own. There is so much rubbish on the TV that it kind of makes sense curling up in front of the fire with a good book. If the animals will actually let you get anywhere near to it.  

 

Enough To Drive You Crazy

I was speaking to a friend back in the UK the other day, when the conversation got round to the state of the roads. Both over there in the UK, and here in Bulgaria. It was also mentioned that previously I have mentioned about changing our UK Driving licences for Bulgarian ones, and getting the car sorted out for its MOT, but I haven't really said what it is actually like driving out here. So here are some of my observations from across the years, hopefully most will nod their heads wisely and have seen the self same things.

Firstly the roads get a lot less traffic than in the UK. There are the main arterial routes which are plagued by Turkish HGV drivers. They seem to totally ignore other road users, and their sole object in life is to get from A to B as quickly as possible. The roads here were probably not designed to deal with these huge trucks, and you will often notice wheel ruts running in great lengths in the road surface. Once your car's wheels are in one, it must be something like riding along in a Scalectrix car, as it will guide you round bends. That possibly doesn't sound too bad until you want to turn off somewhere, or you are confronted by half a shredded lorry tyre. During the height of the summer it isn't so bad as large HGV vehicles are restricted from the roads during the heat of the day.

On the whole the Bulgarians are very polite and well mannered. However, this all changes when they get behind the wheel of a car. I often think that they lose their common sense at the same time. I have lost count of the number of times that I have witnessed them overtaking in dangerous places. Blind bends and the brows of hills are popular, and weaving through the closed gates at level crossings. Often done at the same time as talking on their mobile which is clamped between their ear and shoulder, which allows them to swig from a 2 litre bottle of water. A worrying statistic which came out recently is that a lot of young Bulgarian men actually think that a few drinks makes them better drivers.

If you are out driving and someone coming the other way flashes their lights at you, there is a good chance there is a speed trap coming up. Or they might even know you. Just recently there has been various reports about some traffic police taking financial incentives to issues warnings rather than issue penalty fines. Even the Prime Minister has issued a statement saying that these practices will be clamped down on. Obviously one motorist didn't hear that bit and on top of his traffic fine now has another charge of trying to bribe a Police Officer.

Hopefully you will remember me saying about the early snowfall that we had. It was the wrong type of snow to quote one of British Rail's famous excuses. It was a damp heavy snow, and stuck to things, especially branches. This caused various branches to snap and to then hang partially across roads. Even a month after those early snows have disappeared it is surprising just how many of the branches are still about to cause potential hazards. These are not confined solely to the back roads, but can also be found on some of the major routes too. Unfortunately many of them seem to be about windscreen height, and I have yet to see anything like Autoglass round this way.

If I can I try to avoid driving on snow and ice, even with winter tyres. I might have preempted the conditions, but I can't say the same for everyone. I have even seen tyres which were so bald in the winter, that they could have been used as racing 'slicks'. Supposedly all vehicles are meant to carry snow chains during the winter months, but apparently 4x4s with Winter tyres don't have to. I am guessing that individual regions will have their own understanding of that bit of legislation. Every vehicle is meant to carry a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, warning triangle and high visibility jackets, along with spare bulbs and anything else they can dream up. Soon each vehicle will need to tow a trailer just to cart all of these items round.

The weather does play havoc with the roads surfaces. In some areas there is more hole than road. Many rural areas were earmarked for road repairs this year, but due to various floods damaging roads elsewhere they have slipped back down the pecking order. The rains cause just as much damage as the freezing temperatures. Kerb stones and drainage are often not used, so if you glance at the side of the asphalt you will often see what looks like small dry stream beds. Not the kind of thing you want to put your wheel down into on a dark night. What road markings there might once have been will have long since disappeared. Often this is the reason why people drive along the crown of the road, rather than on the right side.

Potholes are another reason, and often when you follow someone it is almost as though they are on a slalom course. Following someone on an unfamiliar road is helpful, as at least you know roughly where the worst areas are. You just have to hope that there is nothing doing the same thing coming the opposite way. During the drier months it is not so bad as at least you can see just how big an obstacle it is going to be. In the wet it becomes a whole new adventure.

The camber on the road is often not as you would expect it to be, which tends to push surface water every which way. What might look like an innocent puddle, might hold a nasty surprise for the unwary. Potholes like lurking underneath puddles,and the puddles are often like a muddy soup. With more hedgerows being removed, more fields are moving into roads when it rains. This is great for concealing a pothole which is just waiting for an unsuspecting motorist. The pothole might be six inches deep, or for all you know it could be the birthing pool of either Jaws or Moby Dick. You will be in the middle of a potholed stretch of road before you see the first road sign warning you about the 'Uneven Road Surface'. The majority of road signs seem to have been placed as after thoughts, and the only people who gain any benefits are the hunters who use them for target practice.

Living out in the countryside you have the added joys of goats, sheep and cows being driven across the road, often adding to the 'mud'. Then there are the flocks of Geese and Turkeys, and not to forget the packs of marauding Chickens, along with sundry dogs and cats which have been let out to forage. Dark nights and foggy days can also give rise to the problem of the locals in their horse and carts, none of which have lights, or even a reflector on. In towns you have people acting like Lemmings, they walk behind your car as you start reversing, they will walk in the road when there is a perfectly good footpath, they will try crossing the road without looking, and many will ignore a pedestrian crossing to walk 10 yards further up the road and cross there. So driving here you need your wits about you, a revolving head (constantly in motion) and the eyes of an Eagle. Patience comes in handy, I always leave a large gap between me and the vehicle in front, although some see that as a challenge to find out just how many vehicles will fit into that gap. As I don't really have to be anywhere by a certain time I just let them carry on and smile when I see them stopped at a speed trap. So driving here is an experience, but with the quieter roads its not too bad at all, and once the Bulgarians have reached their destination and stepped out of their vehicle they revert back to the happy smiling polite people we know them to be.

That Time Of Year Again

It has reached that time of year when the weather is predictably unpredictable. As is often the case we have had our first snow, although I am glad to report that it didn't hang round for too long. It was here long enough for me to break out my snow shovel and reacquaint myself with how to use it. Maybe its a bit like riding a bike, in that its a 'skill' that you don't really forget. The only problem with the snow and the rain, was the mud that got left behind in their stead.

Halloween has been and gone for another year. Luckily that awful habit of trick or treating hasn't made it out into the villages yet, but judging by the amount of bits and pieces being sold in shops, perhaps its only a matter of time. One of the heads of the Eastern Orthodox over in Varna was calling on people to turn their backs on this unChristian celebration. Although to my mind the church has no room for argument, as how many religious festivals have their roots in old pagan celebrations? Which were adapted slightly so new converts would still have the partial familiarity of their old ways. In certain groups Samhain is given a higher priority than either Halloween, or even All Hallows Eve.

Once the snow and the rain had cleared away, and things had slowly started drying out we had the usual thick fog. During the day it isn't too bad, but it isn't very pleasant driving home in it after dark. Fortunately we are quite used to the ridge road home, so we have quite a good idea about where the bends are, how sharp they are and the direction that they take. As luck would have it they have carried out quite extensive road repairs, so there was no requirement to try and second guess where potholes might be lurking, waiting to jump out on unsuspecting motorists. There is one area which has been cleared of undergrowth for quite a way, and that does throw a bit of a spanner in the works with judging your position.


This time of year also means that the car is due for its annual roadworthiness test. To a certain extent it is the equivalent of the MOT which we have all had to go through in the UK. Once I had arranged a time and date I then have to make sure that I have all of the required paperwork to hand. You need your identification, both the big and little vehicle registration documents, a valid insurance certificate, both bits of the old MOT certificate and the one that I always have to hunt for proof that you have paid the municipal car tax. So on the required day I left home, through the final mist patches as the sun warms the ground up causing mist wraiths to slowly spiral up into the air. Fortunately the sheep in the next village were well away from the roads, as they have no road sense, and it possibly isn't a good idea to go for your MOT with a startled sheep sat on your car bonnet.

On getting to the test centre, I just hand over all of the paperwork, make sure that everything is there and that they know where the first aid kit, fire extinguisher and breakdown kit are stowed then go and find a coffee. Everything is done on CCTV now so in theory all vehicles on the road should be roadworthy and legal. Maybe the test isn't as strinent as the MOT in the UK, but every other year I get the car fully serviced before the MOT. Its mainly for our own peace of mind. To kill two birds with one stone this year I asked to have the new winter tyres put on as tyres are one thing that does get checked in the test. The other things are steering, axles, wheels lights, emissions, brakes, and safety equipment. So now we are running on Pirelli Scorpions for snow and ice. Not only that as they are dedicated SUV tyres they are also rated for mud, which is a definite plus when you live out in a village. We do tend to find ourselves driving through more mud than we do snow and ice anyway, as if the roads look bad I do the same as the villagers and get the bus. The word from my mechanic is that with a 4x4 and winter tyres there is no legal requirement to carry snow chains, now watch them change that ruling.

One thing that I don't really miss from UK life at this time of year is bonfire night. Maybe it has something to do with me having bonfres in the garden throughout the year, and the locals setting off fireworks to celebrate name days and birthdays, births and marriages. It just doesn't seem the same, also the animals appreciate the peace and quiet. They are much happier sprawled in front of one of the fires indoors, with maybe a louder piece of music to disturb them. One thing that I was pleasantly surprised about was, the amount of my Bulgarian friends living in the UK who are familiar with the traditional bonfire night rhyme. Not just the opening verse, but also the other ones too which I had long since forgotten, it must be an age thing, or at least that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

One thing that I do miss is the service of Remembrance. The only really organised one which I know of over here is with the British Embassy up in Sofia. There is a meeting of various ex forces members going on in VT this year, and hopefully that will become a regular thing and maybe spread to other cities. In years past others have come up with the idea of observing the two minutes silence at their nearest war memorial. I can never work out whether to observe the silence at 1100 in Bulgarian time, or to use 1100 UK time. To solve my dilemma I do it for both time zones.