Visiting The Fang Mechanic

Well today I finally bit the bullet, and paid a visit to one of my least favourite institutions. No, not the KAT Office in VT, although that probably runs neck and neck in the popularity stakes. My better half has been, friends have been, but if I can find an excuse to wheedle my way out of going I will do so. I am of course referring to the Dentist. I did venture into one a few years back, and although the treatment was OK, it did feel a little odd being treated in a glorified garden shed. I have to admit that I was even slightly nervous making an appointment for my better half the other week, even more nervous when I took her for the appointment last week, but absolutely bricking it when it came round to my turn today. Sometimes having a sweet tooth can mean that I am my own worst enemy, even more so when a liquorice toffee pulls out a filling. The toffee wasn't wasted though.

I guess that I might have a bit of a phobia about these people. Even walking into a dental surgery I get a mental image of the Dentist in Marathon Man. I have to admit that it has taken a while to find a fang mechanic that we are both 'happy' with. Maybe happy is the wrong word where I am concerned though. It is only a small dental practice, but it does seem to be quite popular. The good news is that it looks and smells clean, with that strange antiseptic type smell hitting you as soon as you step into the waiting room. There is no receptionist so everyone just sits there patiently, waiting their turn. People even turn up for emergency treatment without an appointment, and with no receptionist people are in and out speaking to the Dentist while she is carrying out treatment on a patient.

So today was the day, the boss lady was due to have the final fitting of a crown, and I was 'persuaded' to let the Dentist have a look at my teeth. I knew full well that I needed treatment, but I have been putting it off, and off, and off. I can safely say that I haven't had any aches and pains from my teeth, but if the boss lady is having treatment then apparently so am I. We got there about 10 minutes before our appointment, and the waiting room was quite packed, and there was a man in the chair being treated. So there was me thinking, "that's not so bad the Dentist is busy, so I can make an appointment for another day." Just as I thought that she finished treating the bloke in the chair, and we were spotted. I was like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a farmer's Land Rover, frozen to the spot.

I did have a stay of execution, as one of the women sat in the reception had come in for some emergency treatment, so she was next in the chair. The Dentist told us that it would only be a few minutes, and then it would be our turn. Twenty minutes later, and two nervous cigarettes, the emergency treatment was finished. The woman walked out on her own, and there had been no screams of pain, so things were looking up. On the downside it meant that my turn was getting ever closer. Net was now in the chair and the Dentist was wittering away, too quickly for either of us to fully understand what she was saying. Bless her, she has got a translation programme on her mobile, so she is now speaking into her phone and then showing Net the translation. Unfortunately Net's glasses were in her handbag, and that was out in reception with me, so I was summoned into the inner sanctum. With a bit of charades, pantomime and the translation programme we actually worked out what the Dentist was trying to say. So I was back out into the reception room while the treatment was carried out.

The waiting room was starting to fill up again, two women and two children. I started to think that with appointments running over that I might be able to escape, but once Net had finished I found myself sat in the chair staring up at the ceiling. I guess that the Dentist had worked out that there was a good change that I would make a bolt for freedom. Net certainly had as she was stood in front of the door, and that was the only exit that I could see. The good news with Net guarding the door, it also meant that no-one could burst in and speak to the Dentist. So it was time for me to pull up my big boy pants and try and get through the coming ordeal. There was a bit of prodding and poking, and me trying to speak round what felt like a mouthful of tools, and eventually the Dentist decided that I would have a temporary filling done.

I didn't notice any roadwork signs going up, but it felt like a pneumatic hammer was being utilised. The drill turned out to be even smaller than ones I have previously used working on printed circuit boards, but it felt huge. The temporary filling only took about 10 minutes to do, and I was instructed not to eat for 2 hours. So for the next 2 hours I had a strange antiseptic taste in my mouth. Something akin to a cross between a Victory V lozenge and a Fisherman's Friend, neither of which I am a big fan of. Perhaps I had accidentally licked the surgery floor or something, my mind does go numb but I am fairly sure that I would have remembered that.

So I now have another appointment for next week, to get the temporary filling made permanent. Perhaps I could get away with wearing a mask like this. For today's treatment, it cost the princely sum of 90 Leva, and that was for both of us. So even given the state of Sterling at the moment, that works out to be round about £40. Everyone we have spoken to rates this Dentist highly, and even though I will be nervous next week I don't think that I will have to be strapped in the chair like a victim of some Medieval torture. Maybe as the time gets closer that may well change. So spare a thought for me next week, and wish me luck. I'll try not to be a big girl's blouse, although does anyone know how long a temporary filling can last? Truth be told, the dental work that I have had done here has been so much better than that in the UK, although most of my UK work was carried out by the military so perhaps that is not too surprising. The good news is that the rather odd antiseptic taste has now disappeared, but I have yet to give this temporary filling a liquorice toffee test drive.

    

Anyone Can Be Cold

Welcome to the first blog of 2017, I hope that you have all had a good Christmas and New Year. As you can see from the image to the right things are going to cool down just a little, particularly overnight. It will all prove to be a good test of the changes we have made over the last year, so far things seem to be working but the mercury in the thermometers hasn't plummeted that drastically so far. We managed to get through Christmas with it being fairly mild, but things certainly look as though they are about to change. We shouldn't complain as the previous two winters have been unusually mild. Snow has been constantly falling since last night, and the trenches I dug this morning I have had to dig out again.

So what changes have we made here? We have tried to keep as much character to the house as possible, but we decided to finally do away with the old internal doors and windows. None of them really shut properly, even after I had planed them down. Planing them did give other problems, as various gaps appeared. Holding a hand up to these gaps a draught could be felt. So we took the decision to replace them all. The new doors and windows might not be in keeping with the character of the house, but they do now actually close, and none have to be held closed with hooks and eyes. When closed there are no longer any draughts, whistling through non-existent gaps. We have also put extra rolls of insulation up in the roof space. So in theory we should not end up trying to heat the village via our attic space, even though the roof now has a thick layer of snow to provide even more insulation up top. Down in the cellar we have a new wood burner. The old one worked fine but had a smaller door, so we were limited to the size of logs we could actually feed onto the fire. With this new one it has a massive door. Anyone who splits wood out here will be aware that there are often problems, some logs you end up nibbling bits off and that seems to be it, even if a splitting wedge is used. Now with the generously sized door I can even fit a stump from the black swamp inside, even with those awkward roots which always seem to grab hold of things.

The main change that we have made has been the insulation on the outside of the house. We have also insulated some of the internal walls, then wallpapered over the top. I've seen other people do the same to the outside of their houses and it all looked quite simple. Don't be fooled, it isn't as easy as it looks. I didn't think that sticking insulation to the walls would be that difficult, so I was just going round sticking up sheet after sheet while trying to get things as level as possible. Gaps were carefully filled in, and I lost count of house many sheets of polystyrene I went through. I can safely say that I got fed up with the sight of those little white polystyrene balls, as initially I was cutting the sheets with a kitchen knife (but don't tell Net). It was then suggested that I might find a gas soldering iron easier to use. It did cut down on the amount of balls floating around the garden. I thought that I was doing so well that I carried on sticking sheet after sheet to the wall. Bulgarian weather had other ideas, and the sheets I had stuck up in bright sunshine the adhesive must have dried out too quickly. As one morning I spent chasing round the garden gathering up sheets of polystyrene which had blown off. I then had to work out which sheet went where, it was a bit like trying to do a jigsaw without the box lid. I have since found out that I should have used the plastic pegs as I went, but we live and learn. More by luck than judgement I didn't, as I would have put the meshing on incorrectly, as I would have used the central pins to hold the mesh in place. Fortunately we have a friend who knew what he was doing, and he did all of the meshing and plastering for me. Even the fiddly corner bits, and around the doors and windows. Thanks Dani.

Things are going well so far, as we are now down to -8C and indoors is warm and cozy. So -8C outside, and indoors it is a comfortable 23C, so it would appear that our endeavours are already paying dividends. It might also have something to do with the fires being lit, a stomach full of beef stew and a pair of Granddad slippers on my feet. The dogs are sprawled out in front of the fire in the little lounge (even though they often smell like they have lived on a diet of Sprouts for the last month), two of the cats are sleeping on the furniture and the other one has laid claim to one of the dog beds. We might just survive this winter comfortably, without having to touch the extra firewood which we stocked up on. The freezers are still full as are the cupboards. We have plenty of dog and cat food, torches and candles are in convenient locations, and mobiles, laptops and kindles, not to mention the all important Internet dongles are all fully charged. I hope that you manage to stay warm and safe too. Before I forget, the blog figures for last year went past 200,000 hits, and that can only be down to all who have accessed the blog. Very many thanks to you all, especially to those who have shared the blog links with friends and family. People have been very complimentary about these blogs, but they are only ever as good as the people who read them. Stay warm, stay safe and please accept my wishes for a happy and healthy 2017 for you and your loved ones. Remember that Spring is just around the corner.

    

Size Can Be Deceptive

Those who have read the previous blog article will be aware that we have now got a new car. As with anything new there always seem to be a new set of problems which will accompany it, and the car was no exception. Although the problems didn't arise from the car itself. It is a bit wider and longer than we are used to. We knew that the wooden gates on the driveway would have to be dug down, as they have sagged a bit in the middle. I know that feeling, so I can sympathise with them. So we did that, and the gates can now open fully, to allow the new jalopy entrance to the driveway.

Being a bit wider and longer, also seems to mean that it has the turning circle of a small bus, or could that be because of the Carlos Fandango wide wheels? So the driveway itself has had to be dug out and widened, including the corner up beside the house. The dogs were eyeing this newly exposed area of fresh earth with anticipation. They do seem to like getting muddy feet before they come indoors, and no matter how often I tell them to wipe their feet, it always falls on deaf ears. As a short term measure plastic sheeting was laid down, fortunately it wasn't a windy day otherwise my neighbour and I would have had a bird's eye view of the village. A longer term solution was to get more gravel delivered, so we ended up with 12 tonnes of the stuff at the bottom of the drive. This then had to be moved by wheelbarrow to the designated areas, where it could all be raked out level, burying the plastic sheeting beneath it. Although the dogs seemed rather put out by all of this, the cats were giving the operations their close supervision. Their supervisory skills must have worked, as the car goes up and down the drive, turns at the end of the house and parks up under the barn. It will even go through the open gates without us having to breathe in. Shifting 12 tonnes of gravel is hard work, so very many thanks to friends and neighbours for their help, and I am glad that it wasn't done in the heat of Summer.

We also decided to give the kitchen a bit of a new makeover, by the way this is not our kitchen either before or after the transformation. As we were getting a new cooker our neighbours asked if they could have the old one, being dual fuel it is ideal for the periodic winter power cuts. So that was carefully lifted out of position and taken across the road, complete with gas bottle and the relevant connections. The fridge is rather noisy, but that was my beer fridge from up under he barn, so that migrated back there. We were getting a new fridge freezer, so we asked our neighbours if they also wanted the old freezer, so that also made its way across the road. Thank heavens that these village roads are not busy. We had arranged for the new white goods to be delivered, and they were after a fashion. The van turned up, and everything was unloaded into the middle of the road.

Just at the time of delivery the Kmet was walking past, so she decided to get involved. Rather than unpacking everything inside, she decided that everything should be unpacked then and there, and then it could go indoors. The new cooker went through the garden gate, in through the back door and into the kitchen without any problem, the same with the cooker hood. The fridge freezer was another matter, as it is the size of a small Tardis. Various ways of measuring were attempted, including guesstimating and the Kmet using some of the nylon strapping as a more accurate means. The Kmet announced that because of the post box the fridge freezer wouldn't go through the garden gate, but would have to take the scenic route through the driveway gates. My attempt to point out that it would only take me a couple of minutes to remove the post box were ignored, and a procession of people lifted the fridge freezer up and carried off as directed. The next problem was attempting to get it through the back door and into the kitchen. In the end the back door was dismantled, and access gained. It was then like Billy Smart's Circus trying to get it into the kitchen, with suggestions and counter suggestions winging back and forth. It only needed to be stood upright and swung through the door, which we did while heated discussions were ongoing. It was in the kitchen and slid into position, surge protector connected and plugged into the mains. There were so many sticky labels plastered all over it, which I started stripping off, my neighbour stopped me removing half a dozen bar codes, as they were to do with the warranty.

So the new fridge freezer was in, the cooker was in and carefully hidden away in its box was the cooker hood. The back door was almost back on, thank heavens we're getting a new one fitted in a couple of weeks, as with the new gaps the hallway could also serve as a wind tunnel for testing aircraft. I went back out the front to remove all of the debris caused by the enthusiastic unpacking, but like the Kmet it had disappeared. So the fridge freezer was working, and time to turn my attention to the new cooker, the gas jets were easy enough to change from mains gas to bottled gas, but there was no adaptor supplied to convert the feed, and it was too late to visit my favourite plumbers merchants, so that was put on old. The current rating meant that cooker should be wired on a separate breaker on our fuse panel. Luckily we know a friend who was able to do this for us. To cut a long story short it is now fully, and safely, fitted, and has been fully tested (I now have the stomach to prove this).

 The cooker hood should have been easy, as the new one was bought from the same store as the old one so it should have been a simple matter of one out and one in. How wrong could I be? The standard size seems to have changed, and the new one was now 6mm too wide to fit between two kitchen units. Apparently 6mm can make all of the difference. Armed with a tape measure I did some market research, and the new ones were all that size. Bugger!!!! I was told that I could not chop chunks out of the kitchen units, so I did the next best thing. After carefully measuring I took 3mm off of each side of the new cooker hood using an angle grinder, a steady hand and fingers crossed. It now fits perfectly, and due to the careful measurements you would hardly notice unless you look inside.

I am now hoping that the new windows and doors fit, and we don't have the same fuss and palaver getting the new 3 piece in. As the old saying goes though, "Where there's a will, there's a way", hopefully it won't involve the Kmet and a piece of plastic strapping this time.

 

Back Again :)

Well after a longer than expected break from writing the blog, it is now back. Thank you for all of your words of encouragement, especially to those who said that they were missing the blog. I did take a break as I was worried that I would end up repeating things that I had previously written about. It also gave me a chance to tackle some of the jobs which needed my attention over the Summer months. Anyway, enough of the excuses, and on with the blog, some of you might be pleased to know.

Regular readers might remember that we have been having a fault with our car. Various bits have been replaced, and it is still there, the fuel tank has been removed and steam cleaned to ensure that it was not dirty fuel causing the problem. We have had her on diagnostic testing at least half a dozen times, and not once has a fault shown up. It was getting so bad that even a shopping trip had to be planned around where we could safely pull off the road and let the car cool before it would start again. We have got used to travelling everywhere with our Kindles though. So if you have ever passed a car with people busily reading, that might well have been us. Through unfortunate circumstances we gained a sum of money, enough to enable us to get another car, and finish doing what we want to on the house. Now despite being male, what I know about vehicles can be written on the back of a postage stamp, in large letters. My better half is also in the same boat, so we asked a friend for advice. He and his good lady wife spent an entire day ferrying us round to various used car lots, so once again a very big thank you to the pair of you.

We drove past one and looked through the fence, but nothing really ticked any of the boxes. Living out in the middle of the back of beyond we feel the a 4x4 is a practical choice, and they didn't have any. So it was on to the next place, which seemed to have a larger selection. We stopped and had a nose round, there were plenty of vehicles, including some of the previously mentioned Chelsea tractors. Unfortunately they came complete with rust, dodgy bodywork and some even had cracked windscreens. It was like looking in the bathroom mirror. When we mentioned about the cracked windscreens, we were told 'Nyama problem, 100 Leva VT, fix,fix'. Needless to say we beat a hasty retreat from there, and went up to the next pair of car lots.

The next had nothing that really grabbed our attention, however the one next door definitely had a few potentials. I was quite taken with a Toyota in there but we were shepherded away from that and shown a VW instead. It seemed tidy enough, but they did seem overly keen to sell it. Under the bonnet looked tidy, with no signs of any perished rubber hoses, the bodywork looked ok, they did have to get a power pack out to start it so it had been sat there for a while. The interior was showing plenty of signs of wear, So I let the boss lady do the haggling to get the price down, which she did. Not wanting to appear too eager we said we would go away and think about it, as we had other cars to see. We also arranged for a test drive later that afternoon. Nothing else stood out at the other car lots we visited so it was time for lunch and a serious discussion.

I was rather concerned by the eagerness to sell, and the way they ignored the Toyota. We decided to go for the test drive with an open mind. Our friend in the passenger's seat to listen to the engine, and us in the back to ensure it was comfortable and to listen out for any irregular rattles and noises. For some reason the car lot staff do the test drive for you so you have no real idea how the car handles. All he was interested in doing was showing us the speed of the thing, questions about previous history and servicing were ignored, but it did go into Sport mode. Back to the car lot and I tried to get the price down a bit more, but I was quoted the full price, so we walked away. We missed out on a car, but they missed out on a sale.

The next day I remembered seeing another couple of car lots, so we decided to go and have a look at them. Initially the first place we looked didn't look promising, but there tucked away in the corner was something that definitely ticked the boxes, and it was even cheaper than the VW of the previous day. I made what I thought was a cheeky offer, and that was ok'd. It was very tidy inside and out, with less wear and tear than I expected for the mileage and age, and it started first time without the aid of a starter pack. We asked if we could have a test drive on the Wednesday, which would give us enough time to sort out the finances at the bank, as we had to transfer money from the UK. Sod's Law meant that we got a pretty poor exchange rate, but still enough to get the car if all went well on the test drive. Once again the test driver tried to impress us with speed, but our questions about previous ownership and servicing were all answered. One thing I have learnt about Bulgarians is that their personality changes behind the wheel of a car. They dislike being behind another vehicle, and will overtake in the craziest of places. Psychic driving must be part of the driving test here, as I have no idea if overtaking on a bend is a safe thing to do. We pulled back into the car lot safely and as we were discussing whether to actually sign on the dotted line, someone else pulled up to show an interest in the car. Whether this was a ploy or not, we will never know, we were the first clients so it was our decision. Even though it is a slightly bigger engine than we are used to, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, so we said that we would take it.

The negotiations were conducted in Bulgarian, English and German. Had it not been a Wednesday we could even have had it registered that afternoon, as it was all part of the service. Knowing how frustrated I get at the KAT Office in VT, that was definitely a plus point. We left a deposit and arranged to be back there at 9 the next morning. Sure enough they were good to their word and at 9 the paperwork was started, and by 10 we had arrived at the dreaded KAT. I was told to sit there and if I was needed I would be fetched, remember have Kindle will travel. The morning's fog had burnt off and I was sat in a nice sunny spot. Why can't all visits there be so uneventful? Everything was done and the various forms submitted just before all of the windows closed for lunch, and I had hardly had to move apart from joining one queue. After lunch we were able to pick up the new registration documents.

If only every visit there was as pain free. Back to the car lot to drop off the man who did all of the running round for me, and that was it the car was all mine, well ours. As it is an automatic, my better half can also drive it, and as it was previously registered in Austria it is also left hand drive. The first time I tried to start it on my own was a bit overwhelming as everything seems back to front, and in German. Eventually I got myself sorted out, and deciding that it was my lucky day decided to try and get the municipal tax sorted out that afternoon. I went to the right door or the right office only to be told come back next week. So I headed off home, and it was so nice not to have to plan my route by potential stopping places, even if I did have my Kindle with me. Our neighbours knew that we were getting the car that day and gave us one of those lucky charm things which hangs from the rear view mirror. I did get told off a bit as I had managed to get mud up inside of the wheel arches.

So there you have it we are now the proud owners of a new car, well new to us anyway. Now all I want to do is find a keyring which says 'My other car is a Lada.' The previous couple of years have been a bit limiting on where we can go and what we can do, but now we have a reliable car the old one can go into the garage and get sorted out once and for all. What's the betting that the problem has been caused by something so simple and obvious, that everyone has overlooked it. At least when it does get fixed we will have a car for 'Sunday best' and one to do the fetching and carrying.

    

Two Steps Forward .........

It has been an odd few weeks. I know that plenty has been done, but it doesn't seem as though we have managed to achieve much. As the old saying goes "two steps forward, and then one step back". Even my computer seems to be suffering from a similar malaise. Either that or it just has a mind of it's own. I know that the recent weather, which has had a few big thunderstorms, can affect the Internet. Sometimes it will post things two or three times, and at other times it will refuse to post anything at all. Sometimes trying to e-mail people in the UK I get the feeling it would be quicker to walk there and hand deliver the message. It does get a bit frustrating though when you are trying to keep abreast of important things, such as the latest football scores. Very important at this stage of the season.

I have finally got round to joining the 21st Century, and my old mobile phone has been relegated to the substitutes bench. I now have one of these 'new' smart phone thingies. I am almost through War and Peace (AKA the Instruction manual) and nearly know how to drive the thing. I'm sure that it also makes tea and coffee (as it seems to do everything else), but I haven't found that chapter yet. I have managed to make and receive phone calls and texts, take photos and load them onto the computer when it was behaving. I have even managed to set the different ring tones for various events. I did have to take it back into the shop to find out how to find out my own phone number though. Nothing is easy when you have fingers like bananas, and two 'buttons' get pressed at once, but you do get some surprising results.

With the weather once again we have had a field deciding to migrate into another field. Unfortunately it had to cross a road to do so, whilst on the road it decided that it liked it there and so stayed there until the village tractors decided to help it on it's way. So for a while one of the routes out of the village was impassable. It seems to be a yearly problem now, ever since they started to strip back the shrubbery between the fields and the road. At the moment it is clear again, but who knows what might happen come the next big downpour. Hopefully we can manage to avoid them, and with any luck the sun might be making a more regular appearance, at the moment it is definitely feeling more like the English weather we had hoped to escape from.

Our water meter, which worked and didn't leak, has recently been replaced. Admittedly the old one had more arrows and dial than a 1950's power station, and the new one is just figures so that even I can read it. I even gave Nikolai, our village water man, a hand to fit the new one. Washers were selected and rejected until he was happy with the fit. Unfortunately when he came back to read the new meter a couple of weeks later it had developed a drip. Fortunately for me it was on the union before the meter. So a couple of hours later he turns back up with his bag of two spanners and a couple of wrenches, and a handful of what might well have been horsehair. He was happy enough doing whatever it was that he was doing, so I left him to it as my assistance was not required at that point. I have to admit that from the first time I met him he has always reminded me of Mario, he even wears a little cap at times. He is a quiet unassuming man, and always willing to offer help and advice. He does speak quickly though, and mumbles a bit, which can make understanding him a wee bit difficult at times.

The garden is enjoying this erratic weather, and even though the hosepipe is out I've not had to water anything yet. We are being plagued by the EU dandelion crop though. The rain finishes and I give it a couple of hours for the lawns to dry and the mower is out, ready to do battle with the next wave of them. I get the main lawns looking neat and tidy, and then overnight there has been another sneak attack by them. I eventually had the chance to break away from the main lawns, and attempt to tackle the wilderness out the front of the house. Which is what I was doing when Nikolai arrived to fix the drip. The grass was still too wet to cut with the mower so I decided to strim it. All was going well until the strimmer started smoking, which is never a good sign. Our neighbour decided that he would have a go with his electric mower, which started well until it tripped our power.

That was just after Nikolai had finished fixing the drip. So he is then out the front supervising the two of us. After mumbling something he goes off carrying his bag of tools. To prove it wasn't the leads they were plugged into the neighbour's house and everything works. I was just checking our trip box when Nikolai returns with an electric screwdriver and a multimeter. He then proceeds to check the leads (which we knew were working) and gives them his official seal of approval. He then wants to see where the leads had been plugged into indoors. So he is then prodding test leads and his screwdriver into various sockets, before pronouncing that my very short extension lead is kaput. Once he has done this he was back outside supervising the grass cutting, and I took the chance to replace the blown fuse in the adaptor. With power restored I was ready to start strimming again, while our neighbour got on with cutting his own grass. The strimmer had to be inspected too, and I was told it needs two strands of strimming cord and not just the one I was using. I know that he was being helpful but he did remind me of a certain TV character.

Meanwhile the car has been to the garage again. I tried to book it in the other Friday, but was told that couldn't happen as it was the Easter holiday. So I said the following Monday, which was OK. So on the Monday I drove to the garage only to find it shut. Tuesday I repeated the journey and explained what I wanted doing, which would hopefully cure the on going problem. Ignition coils are expensive here 550 Leva each (about £230), but none are available anywhere in Eastern Europe. They are about £65 in the UK so we now have to wait for them to come through the post. The bits that were changed have made a bit of difference, as the fuel economy is much better. So hopefully next time round matters might even be solved. While they are doing that they can also sort out the clonking noise from a worn bush on the front driver's side wheel, which has since developed.

As the vegetable has finally been rotorvated we thought we would go to the market at Kamen, and stock up on tomato and cucumber plants. We've already get the Butternut Squash in ready. Once we'd got there I needed the loo so we headed for a cafe. As we were there it seemed rude not to have a coffee. We met some friends there and by the time we had finished catching up and general nattering the market had closed. The next option was to try the fruit and vegetable market at Popovo. It was a sunny day so we thought why not. The plants they had on offer there looked limper than the lettuce in a British Rail sandwich. So we had a mooch round the town and a bite to eat before heading home, still without any tomato or cucumber plants. There are always the markets at Polski or Gorna to try.

Going home we noticed the sky getting darker and darker, so perhaps it was wise not to get any plants. The rain which followed shortly after we got indoors would have battered them to pieces. It is just a shame that the same thing doesn't happen with the Dandelions. It looks like myself and the lawn mower will have to continue our battle with them. We will prevail.

An Early Start

Thursday morning was an early start in our house. By early I mean OMG it's early, a bit like daft o'clock in the morning early. It was 3AM, and another trip to Sofia airport loomed. It seemed like everything was being done on automatic pilot. Fortunately, we had planned ahead. Bags and cases had been packed, bus and plane tickets were to hand, passport too. Even the car was parked in the lane outside so that our neighbours wouldn't be woken up by creaking gates, or security lights coming on like a breakout from Colditz castle. Even the kettle had been filled, and mugs for tea and coffee were ready and waiting. We had even prepared something to eat for the journey, so that only had to go from the fridge and into a cool bag. The biggest problem was trying to persuade the dogs and cats that they had had enough beauty sleep. They just raised their heads as if to say, "If we wanted to get up at this ridiculous time of day we would have woken you." Eventually we managed to persuade them that it really was a good idea, although they were probably not totally convinced, as it was still dark outside and a there was a persistent drizzle. Fenny, our Boxer, was not impressed, and as is his way started puffing and blowing, just to make his disgust known.

What probably finally persuaded him was the promise of an early breakfast. He does enjoy his food. Now with it being dark, it meant going from the house to up under the barn, and possibly stepping in something that I would rather not. The easiest way around this is to use a head torch. So there I was like a demented Dalek, shepherding dogs and cats through different gates so that they could get to their breakfasts. By the light of the head torch I could see that not only was there the drizzle, but also a mist. So maybe getting up quite so early was not such a bad idea after all, and it certainly helped to bring me round to full consciousness. That all important first coffee of the day also helped. Bags and cases were quietly taken out and put in the back of the car. A final loo break, and a check that everything was locked back up and we were ready to start the first leg of our journey.

Given that I had noticed the mist we decided to start out slightly earlier than planned. It wasn't until we got to the next village that the mist soon became a fog, and living in a rural area the roads twist and turn so we slowed to a crawl. They have also been stripping out the undergrowth and vegetation at the sides of the roads, which is great when you can see where you are going. There are normally silver leafed plants, which the headlights pick out, so you can tell where the road ends and the verge begins. Because they had been stripping things out they were no longer there, how inconvenient. Not only that but the machinery that they had been using had spread mud all over the road making things twice as difficult. Fortunately we didn't have any other traffic, or suicide Badgers, to worry about this early in the morning as we crawled along. Eventually the fog once again gave way to mist, and we could once again see where we were going without looking like a pair of Japanese snipers peering through the windscreen. Our route takes us across four level crossings, and we had to stop at two of them to let trains pass. It was a good job we left that bit earlier, and we eventually arrived in Gorna to a steady, but light rain.

Another part of my preparations came into play when our taxi arrived to take us over the hill into VT. The bus now goes from the South bus station, and not from outside Hotel Etar. The bus station has recently been refurbished, and it was light, dry and warm. Apparently the loos are good too, and I can personally vouch for the Cappuccino, even if it comes from a machine. Our bus turned up out to the front of the bus station, and once the cases were placed in the baggage compartment, and we had located our seats, the next leg of our journey could begin. It was still dark.

As the morning slowly got lighter, the rain seemed to get heavier. There was a film playing, but it was at least the 4th time that I had seen it, so I was spending most of my time nosing out of the window at the damp and soggy countryside. As we approached the series of tunnels and bridges on the motorway, it started snowing. Big fat flakes being driven by the wind. So far we had dealt with drizzle, mist, fog, light rain, heavy rain, and now snow was thrown in for good measure. We finally arrived at the bus station in Sofia, where I joined in the scrum to reclaim the cases and bags. Next it was a taxi out to the airport, to join a queue which didn't seem to move for the check in desks. Finally we got to the head of the queue, and Net was checked in, all that remained for her to do was go through the security bit, which is where we parted, and I could do the morning's trip in reverse.

As usual I decided to get the Metro back to the bus station, so that meant waiting for the shuttle bus to go from Terminal 1 round to Terminal 2. When we got out of the taxi I hadn't really noticed how windy it had got, as we had gone straight into the Terminal. I soon realised as I waited for the shuttle bus, the wind was driving the rain under the canopy too, and it felt more like winter. The trip round the airport, and on the Metro was uneventful, and after the usual change I arrived back at Central station. I was even able to get a bus ticket on the next bus which was due to leave in 20 minutes. There were queues everywhere apart from the loo, so I had to forego my usual coffee and go back outside to wait for the bus to take me back to VT. Once again the same film was playing, even though it was a different bus. Back into VT and it was still raining, and from the size of the puddles it had been doing so all day. I got a taxi back over the hill into Gorna, and for once the hill hadn't made any difference to the weather, as it was still raining there too.

Our neighbours had asked if I could pick them up a pizza on my way back. Pizza sounded good to me too, so I had a quick wander round Kaufland and grabbed a couple, one for them and one for me. Finally back to the car, and the drive home. I must have been tired, as I couldn't remember where all of the potholes were in the various roads, as they were hiding under puddles. I found a few though, which reminded me where they were. Back into the village and I did my Domino's bit, by delivering the pizza to our neighbours. Then I could finally get indoors and sort out the four legged welcoming committee, and eventually myself. There is definitely something to be said for finally being able to relax, indoors with what was only my third cup of coffee that day.

Yesterday morning, and Polly decides to get her own back by wanting to be let out at 6 o'clock. It was still cold, and though not raining everything felt damp and soggy. So yesterday the fire was lit early, I think that I earned some bonus brownie points from the various cats and dogs. I've yet to tell them that the clocks change tonight, so they will get an hour's less sleep.
A few weeks time and I have to do it all again.