Is Winter Just Round The Corner?

Well once again it has reached that time of year, and people are preparing for the onset of winter. It seems difficult to believe but the temperatures were in the 20s last week. Not so long back people were saying just how hot it was. Depending on who you give credence to, the coming winter is either meant to be the coldest on record or it is going to be freeze and thaw with the coldest weather in January. This will be our sixth Bulgarian winter and each one has been different. So far records have been broken, but that has been for the highest temperatures at this time of year. If you look at the forecast shown here you will notice a couple of things. The temperatures are expected to continue with their downward trend, and the dreaded s*** word is being mentioned from tomorrow onwards. The wind is now coming from a more northerly direction, and has a bit of a raw edge to it. We do know that something is going on with the weather as all three dogs and six cats are now indoors, which is surely a more reliable source of information.

So maybe today is the final day of sunshine, but who can try and second guess what the weather has in store for us. It is like the other day we were enjoying bright blue skies and sunshine, we had to nip into Polski Trambesh to get something for Yolanta. The weather was fine until we got to the other side of Orlovets. Then it was like driving into a cloud, and with the dampness the temperature plummeted. Fortunately we have got into the habit of carrying jackets with us in the car wherever we go, we even had a spare for Yolanta. We got our bits and pieces and had a coffee, but on the trip back the cloud of doom had reached Vinograd. Later that same evening that same cloud had swallowed the hilltop, and it was as though everything was wrappedin damp cotton wool. No wonder the animals wanted the fire lit. We are not doing too bad so far this 'winter' we have only lit it 3 times, and the rest of the time we have just used the gas fires to take the chill off.

When the fog eventually clears we have enjoyed blue skies. These have enabled us to continue doing the final few jobs ready for winter. There has already been one 'fatality' that I have to report, and that is my splitting axe. After more than five years of faithful service the head is rather loose on the shaft. I am still able to use it but I have to keep stopping and wedging the head back in position. I tried sealing it in position by using glue from a hot glue gun, but that didn't work too well, so I will have to devise another method of securing the two parts together. I do have an emergency backup axe, just in case my running repairs keep on failing. One thing you do learn is to try and plan for various scenarios, and how you will attempt to overcome them. One thing to bear in mind is that the sunshine will return.

Today has been a baking day here, and we have made sausage rolls, cheese and bacon puffs, apple turnovers and an apple crumble. Most of these are destined for the freezer, now that they have been officially approved by the chief taster. In case of power cuts they can be brought out and placed on a cake cooling tray on top of the petchka and heated up that way. We also have a camping kettle which will also fit there so we can always have hot drinks. It is quite surprising what you can learn from other people and how they cope, all too often they are simple little things that you hadn't even considered. One thing to keep in mind is that the Bulgarians have survived much harder winters than we would have been used to, and they did so without many of the modern gadgets that we take for granted. So we can all learn from our neighbours, which is one of the best things about small village life, there is still a community spirit. So everyone seems to look out for everyone else.

In the last week I have noticed that I feel more and more like hibernating, or is that curling up with a good book? Maybe it is just the thought of winter looming on the horizon, or the still lengthening night times. Often the night time sky is so clear that it seems as though a handful of diamond dust has been scattered on a black velvet cloth. Out in the middle of nowhere there is very little light pollution so it is easy to watch satellites and stars, it just gets a wee bit chilly. So for all of the readers of our blog I hope that your plans for winter are all on course. If you do have elderly neighbours, or those who are on their own, please keep an eye, or at least an ear, out for them. One of my next tasks is to make a seed cake for the local birds, I always used to buy them but this year I thought that I would attempt to make my own. Fortunately the cats have lost interest with trying to catch the pork skin that we have hanging up, so if I am lucky they will do the same with the seed cake. We have also said that during winter we will try teaching our nearest neighbours some English, they will also try to improve our basic Bulgarian, so wish us luck.

We have already posted these small posters on the village website to start gettng people used to the different languages. Whether it will help or not remains to be seen.

A Walk On The Wildside

It is with deep regret that we have to announce the sad demise of Summer. Greatly loved by many, and will be sorely missed. In recent times Summer has defied the prognosis by experts and has lasted much longer than originally predicted.

Yes folks it seems as though the gypsy summer has finally come to an end. We shouldn't complain too much as it has lasted until nearly the middle of November. I dare say that many of us could only dream of such a thing happening in the UK. In the last few weeks I can only remember a couple of frosty mornings and they haven't been recent events either. I have to admit that we have had to resort to the gas fire a couple of times but we have resisted the temptation to light the wood burners.

The past couple of days have been rather gloomy looking with grey skies and no real hint of sun. I think that the official term is 'claggy'. Even today it looked as though we had a touch of mist up on the hill. When we went into Gorna we discovered it to be the top of a cloud. We couldn't see down over the hill towards Polski, and it was getting thicker the lower we went. It made me quite glad that I had decided to go for my walk round the village on Sunday afternoon, as this would appear to be the final blue sky day for a while. I was going to head off towards one of the lakes, but as it was only me I changed my mind and decided to see where a farm track heading off towards some woods would take me. I even kept my ears open in case hunters were out and about, in which case I would have revised my plans again. Fortunately I didn't hear anything apart from the sounds of children playing somewhere in the village.

I was quite surprised to see that both bees and butterflies were still out and about. Maybe they were doing the same as me and enjoying the last of the summer sunshine. In one way I will be quite glad for the temperature to drop for a few days. Mainly due to the fact that I have at least one wasp nest up in the attic, and I am hoping that the cold will keep the wasps sleeping while I remove their nests. I don't really fancy trying to do what some people might think of as dance moves or a ninja workout in a restricted area under the roof. Maybe I will be lucky and they will have all have left home, although I somehow doubt that.

Anyway as I was wandering about it suddenly struck me that over the past few days all of the leaves seem to have been stripped from most of the trees. So everything is looking very autumnal, and getting themselves ready for winter. The various forecasts have been murmering about how this winter will be breaking records. They haven't actually said which records, but to my knowledge they have also said the same for the last few years. This will be winter number 6 for us, and all of the previous winters have been different. We can certainly say that it will be cold, there will be snow, but we can't say just how much or when, or even how long it will last.

It is surprising the things that you stumble across when you are just out wandering around. This structure was at the edge of woodland overlooking the village. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the villages water supply as I have seen Nikolai the waterman returning from  this direction on occasion. Looking at the state of it though it seems to have been there for quite some time, but with the breather tubes it might be the villages emergency water reservoir. Although an old cold war bunker complex sounds just as likely. One day we might be able to find out more of the village's history, and others have also asked about this in the village's Facebook group.

Even the other day I found out that some of the woods round the village were part of an experiment to find out which planting method, and which trees, returned the best yield. I think that looking at the regimented planting here I might have found one of the trial areas. Even though there have been some trees which have fallen over the years no one seems to have ventured there to acquire them. Maybe that might have something to do with the fact that it would be quite difficult to get a horse and cart up to that area. It was nice and peaceful up there in amongst the trees, with the only sound being my own feet moving through the dry leaves.

Round about this time the sun had started going down, and as the sun went down it was taking the temperature with it. So I headed out from between the trees and out onto the heathland and headed for home and a coffee. Others must have noticed the temperature change as I could see smoke starting to corkscrew up from quite a few chimneys. The good news is that Summer will return, we might have to wait a few months but it will be worth it.

Tales From The River Bank

A Visitor

European Tree Frog

Firstly a word of thanks from me. Earlier in the year I set this blog a target of 25,000 hits by Christmas. Well here we are just into the beginning of November and we have already exceeded that figure. This is all due to you having taken the time from your busy schedules to read my ramblings and musings. The number of people who follow these blogs has also increased,  so a very big thank you to these kind people.

November is always a busy month as the work getting ready for the winter continues. Our firewood has now all been cut up into 'cheeses', we have been out splitting a fortnight's supply. It might sound a bit odd only doing enough for a fortnight, but during the depths of winter splitting more wood gives me some exercise every day. So what was previously split will have dried nicely, and will be replaced by the freshly split stuff. I don't know if this is the best way to do it but it seems to work for us.

The garden has been stripped, and made ready for the winter. The veg plot has all been turned and fed, the garden has been weeded and partially turned. The majority of the trees have finally shed their leaves, and now look so bare. This has meant several bonfires, especially with the amount of leaves which always seem to accumulate. I have even been up ladders sawing branches down from a walnut tree as they could potentially have damaged the power lines coming into the house. I even checked that it was ok to do so with the Kmet. Normally E-On would have done this but since they sold out to Energo Pro our village seems to have been ignored for such matters. While stood out the front talking with one of the neighbours and the Kmet, it got round to the internet and they both seemed surprised that we also use Facebook. They were quite eager that we sent them friend requests, I did enquire if there was such a thing as a village Facebook group. There wasn't, but there is now and it now has over 60 members. Mind you I haven't a clue who half of them are, but they do seem to know the village and like the photos which have been put up. We do try to post in both languages. Maybe not everything we post in Bulgarian is grammatically correct, but we do get plenty of Brownie points for trying.

However, we have still managed to find time to get out in the fresh air and enjoy the countryside. The weather, up until today, has been glorious. Supposedly it has even been breaking records for temperatures in November. So we make the most of it when we can. Several of us decided that it would be nice to go out for a Sunday afternoon Ramble. We had often passed a track on our way into Polski Trambesh, and so we decided that would be a fine place to explore. Despite the fact that we haven't experienced any rain for a while it was surprising the amount of water which was still sat in some of the potholes. One of the good things about walking alongside a river is that the going is normally quite flat. Also rambling gives you the chance to see things that you might otherwise have missed, like dragonflies. Although Sod's Law did mean that by the time I had my camera sorted out they had buggered off. Unfortunately we also got to see several piles of building rubble spoiling the countryside.

So to make up for it here is a photo of some cows, who were also enjoying the autumn sunshine. Fishing is definitely a popular pasttime over here, and you will often see them lining the river banks, or fishing from the various bridges. The people that is, not the cows as they seem more content just mooching along eating grass. I don't know if anyone else has noticed but herds seem to be getting bigger here. Not only cows, but also sheep and goats.


For the most part we were able to enjoy the silence, apart from three lads who passed us on a quad bike and a couple of trail bikes. Thankfully that noise was short lived, but we did see them when we drove home coming down from Orlovets. So there has to be a way through to there, maybe we will discover that another time. We were all quite happy to enjoy the peace and tranquility. The gnats and midges we could have done without, but they are to be expected along the rivers. Heading away from the river there was plenty of sun scorched yellow grasses climbing the gentle slopes of the hills. This surprised me as I didn't think that this summer had been as hot as last year. Mind you, for all I know this grass is possibly meant to look like this.

At the top of a hill there was a rather curious structure made from wood. Have American Indians decided to pitch their teepees in the middle of rural Bulgaria? Perhaps Giants have been using it as an easel. Or perhaps it is just something to do with hunting. Whatever its purpose none of us really felt like traipsing up to the top of the hill just to have a closer look. Idle speculation seemed a much better idea.

Once the sun started sinking the temperature soon begins to drop, so all to soon it was time to retrace our steps and head  back to where the cars had been parked. None of us had over exerted ourselves, but we all felt much better for having a little bit of gentle exercise in the fresh air. We enjoyed it so much that we have decided to have another similar ramble at the weekend. That is providing that the weather picks back up, which it is forecast to do. Temperatures in the 20s during November are not to be turned down, and although the shorts might have been packed away the t-shirts are still in use. Some of the things that we saw made me wonder if Mother Nature wasn't a bit confused by this warm weather. So is it Autumn, or have we bypassed Winter and gone straight into Spring?

 

The Stone Revisited

Wild Cyclamen

Some of you might remember the beginning of the year when some of us brave 'explorers' scaled the heights of the stone overlooking Gorna. This is the large ridge of rock which seems to stand as sentinel over the town, it is even floodlit at night. The last time that we made this journey we didn't have a camera between us. Well this week it was fine walking weather once the morning mist had burnt off, and armed with camera this time we decided that we were going once again climb the stone. We parked up and began our ascent, at least this time we had more of an idea about where we were going. It is surprising just how many Bulgarians there are also walking up and down the road, even with it being midweek. Apparently it gets even busier at the weekend. We decided that we were going to make the ascent without oxygen or climbing aids.

The Early Stages Were Quite Easy Going

Initially the going was easy, and then we got off the road and started heading off between the trees. All was going well at this stage, and no one was feeling the effects of oxygen deprivation as we began our ascent. We did express our sympathy for whoever had gone before us with their pots of paint. The first time that I had seen these markings I thought they might have been poor attempts at Spanish graffiti, but the Indian pathfinder had done quite a good job. Sometimes it might have been better if some of the marker points had been closer together. It was nice to see some good size clumps of wild cyclamen poking up through the blanket of fallen leaves. Even though we haven't had rain for a while the mist and fog had left some areas a little bit slick underfoot, which could catch out the unwary.

The Start Of The Stone

For a while we even had a Bulgarian couple following us, but that was short lived. maybe they felt that we didn't have a clue where we were going. We just had to follow the trail left by El Painto. Unfortunately they caught up with us just at the time when we had found a wide gap in the trail markings. With a little bit of perseverence we soon picked up the trail again and we continuedour assault on the big rock. It was surprising to see some of the big gaps under and between some of the rocks. They were big enough for bears to hide, or from observing the contents left in them the local wine and beer appreciation societies had recently held meetings there. It really is a shame that such areas of natural beauty are spoiled by rubbish being left strewn about.

Starting To Get Steeper

We continued our climb up through the trees, hopping from stone to boulder, and boulder to stone. It really does pay to wear some proper footwear when you are making these ascents. We could notice that the trees were getting less and less, and the sun was getting hotter. Beneath my backpack I was starting to sweat more than the last chicken in Colonel Sanders back garden in Kentucky. We burst through from the trees into an area of bushes and scrub. Fortunately it was a bit of a convenient passing area as an old man was coming down with his newspaper. So we moved to one side to let him pass, and then we continued ourselves. Even Chris Bonnington would have been proud of us as we reached the summit.

The Airport In The Distance

There are some stunning views looking out over the town of Gorna. The Bulgarian couple also appeared at the top at the same time, they didn't look as sweaty or as disshevelled as we were, so they must have found an easy way up. Unfortunately with the farmers burning the stubble off in the fields there is a bit of a smoggy haze which seems to be a permanent feature for this time of year. This view makes it all worth while, and on a really clear day it is amazing the number of villages which you can actually spot and name. The air was so still and quiet that we could hear the siren of an emergency vehicle in the distance. We think that it might have been between Yantra and Pravda but we couldn't be certain. I had carted the binoculars up there but no one could really be bothered to use them. It was enough to just be up there and looking out over the land below.

Looking Out Over Part Of Parvomaysti

Unfortunately we had another appointment so it seemed that no sooner were we at the top of the stone then it was time to start on our way down. This actually proved more problematic, as there could be small twigs hiding under the fallen leaves. Fortunately no one fell into the wine appreciation areas, and everyone made it down unscathed. All joking aside for anyone else thinkingabout attempting this climb, on a dry day it is really worthwhile. On a wet day perhaps it might not be so good. Always remember that a good pair of boots or walking trainers are much better than flip flops. Most of all don't forget to take a camera with you to record those views. This time of year is wonderful, especially with the autumn colours.

  

Your Nuts Sir

As quite a few of you actually know me, it will come as no surprise to find out that I like a nice bit of cake. At this time of year what goes better with coffee than a slice of cake, unless it is another slice of cake. I have to admit that I am rather partial to Net's coffee and walnut cake. The thing being if I want a cake it is down to me to collect and shell the walnuts. The first part about collecting the walnuts is quite easy, especially after the strong winds that we have been having, and we have three mature walnut trees round the house.

I can remember the first time we saw the locals wandering round with great big sticks. I thought that maybe they were doing something like beating the bounds. I was wrong they were intent on beating 7 bells out of any walnut tree that they could find. The daft thing is that they don't even let the walnuts ripen before they start to collect them.

You can see them going round the village with sacks, bags and buckets. In fact anything to carry their treasure home with them. They collect as many as they can beore the market traders start to come round. You hear them in their small vans, with the loud speakers mounted on, calling out "Orehi, Orehi". The locals have to strip off the green outer husks to get to the recognisable walnut underneath. It almost seems to be a family concern, as every member of the family will look like they have been helping do oil changes on the village tractors. It isn't even as though the black washes off straight away, it stains the fingers for weeks.

Anyway I have collected my own bucket of walnuts, and now all I have to do is remove them from their shells. At least they don't have their green husks any more. Now I don't know about anyone else but I have never had a great deal of luck when it comes to getting walnuts out of their shells. Brazil nuts no problem, Hazelnuts are simple as are Almonds and Sweet Chestnuts. Walnuts however are a different kettle of fish.

I have tried the traditional nutcrackers, slowly cracking round and round the nut. Eventually they will go crunch in the crackers, all too often pinching the ball of your thumb somewhere in the proceedings. Then it is a matter of trying to fish out bits of shell from the flesh of the nut. There are also the bits of stiff membrane stuff which seperates the nut halves. If I don't get them all out, Sod's Law dictates that I will find it in the cake. Normally when it spears me between tooth and gum. Along this same line I have tried pliers, Mole grips and Various wrenches from my tool boxes just in case I had more luck with those. I have even tried one of the typical wooden Bulgarian walnut crackers. They are ok but the nut does tend to get jammed inside the recess, and once again there is the problem with sharp bits of shell.

If you get your grip right you can even crack the nuts in your hand. Even some of the old Babas can still do this, they must have a grip like a hydraulic press. There is something rather disconcerting about passing them outside of the Post Office and hearing them cackle away as they crack nuts. I'm not really sure why they worry about walnuts as they can't have a full set of teeth between them, and instead make strange sucking and slurping sounds. But good luck to them all, they seem to enjoy what they are doing, and I wish them many more years doing it, but I would be grateful if I wasn't there when they did do it.

Then there is the old favourite, also from the toolbox, of the hammer and a flat stone surface. I tried that one last year with varying levels of success. I also tried squashing fingers and thumbs, not to mention frightening Billy the cat half to death. I couldn't have had the walnut flat on the stone, or I must have hit the top of the nut off to one side. The long and short of it is that the walnut shot off and narrowly missed Billy Bonce, so he made himself scarce. Mr Cat decided that then would be a good time to practice his football skills, to this day I still have no idea where that walnut ended up. The good news is that Billy has now forgiven me.

This year I am trying a sharp knife and a twist. So far it seems to be working as I am getting much bigger pieces of nut out from the shell, and we now have a bag of nuts in the freezer. At least doing it this way means that I am not prodding around in the shell, like a Winkle lover on a day trip to Margate. The nuts have been coming out in quarters and some have even come out in halves. It is still quite an oily job, and my fingers  feel strangely smooth.

Did The Earth Move For You?

Quakes in the last 24 hours

By all accounts in the early hours of this morning there was an earthquake. It was over the border in Romania, but apparently quite a few in Bulgaria also felt it. Especially those in towns along the Danube, and also some in Pavlikeni also claim to have felt it. We were not in that number, even the animals didn't seem to notice, but it did get me wondering about earthquakes and seismic activity here in Bulgaria. The main quake from this morning seems to have registered at about 5.3 on the Richter Scale, with subsequent tremors and aftershocks in the region of 2.3 to 2.7 on the Richter Scale. It just goes to prove that anywhere in the world can be subjected to a quake or a tremor, but some areas are more prone to them than others.

World Seismic Areas

As you can see from the Seismic hazard map, Bulgaria falls in such an area. Many people living here will tell you that they have felt tremors. I thought that I did once, but it turned out to be Sirrius having a scratch and rocking the chair. We have been told about keys jingling in a door lock during a local tremor. There are also others who claim that the area is overdue for a big earthquake. Last year there was one, of a similar scale, near to the city of Pernik. Reading up on things, even though they might be of a similar magnitude, it is often the depth at which something occurs that causes the problem. There have been many earthquakes that have affected the country, and more importantly for me, they have happened quite locally.

We are between the Turkish and Romanian Hotspots

In 1986 there was an earthquake which registered 5.5 on the Richter Scale. The epicentre was near to the town of Strazhitsa, which is only about 10 miles away from us as the crow flies. For anyone who might think that there are no really serious quakes here, this one caused 3 fatalities, more than 30 injuries and left more than 3000 homeless. Power and water supplies were disrupted in the town and the surrounding area. It was estimated that over 80% of the buildings in the area were damaged, with 1370 homes either destroyed or severely damaged. Many Bulgarians were rehomed as a result, and the town having a newer look to it than most others in the region. In a populated area a quake of scale 5 can cause considerable damage, one of scale 6 can cause severe damage. This isn't the biggest quake to hit the immediate area either, but that is further back in history.

I told you not to smoke after eating beans

Some say that the quake that struck Gorna Oriahovitsa way back in 1913 was somewhere between 7 and 7.5 on the Richter Scale. Whatever the magnitude it certainly made a bit of a mess, as can be seen from this old black and white photograph. So with all of this seismic activity I checked on our insurance policy and we are covered for earthquake damage amongst other things. Not something that used to really concern me back in the UK. Something else that you wouldn't really think about in the UK is how you would go about surviving such an event. If you are indoors the easy thing to remember is Drop, Cover and Hold. The following is a link to Geology.com and is a more comprehensive guide to what actions you should take if you do get caught up in one. Which we all hope will not happen.
http://geology.com/articles/earthquake-safety.shtml

As I said in the opening piece, the Romanian quake of this morning didn't even wake us up. So do not let the 'possibility' of an earthquake put you off of a potential move to Bulgaria. Yes there are tremors, but for the most part you might not notice them, and we have yet to experience a full quake in the back of beyond since we have been here. I shall just say that our house was built in 1928, and is still standing and showing no ill effects. The house next to  us in the UK looked worse as bomb damage from the war had cracked a lintel over one of their windows and it was still standing when we left.

A Bit Of A Do

As some of you might be aware there are various ExPat ladies groups throughout Bulgaria. The majority seem to have their own group pages on facebook, and one such group are the LaLa's. I am told that they are not limited to just ExPats, but are quite pleased that they also have Bulgarians within their number. Every so often these ladies groups will meet up for lunches. Yesterday saw such an occasion for the LaLa's as they held a lunch at the Hotel Palmira in Arbanasi. As far as I am aware this is the first time that they have ventured into a hotel for one of these occasions. The ladies came from far and wide, and it was an ideal opportunity for them to actually put faces to the names that they have previously been chatting with. Some stayed in the hotel overnight and some were hosted by some of the local ladies.

We played hosts to Jenny, so our Sunday started bright and early as we had to pick her up in VT. So there we were waiting at the bus station, a bus went and nothing else happened, nothing else came in. We gave it a further 10 minutes but there were no signs of any other activity, so we thought we might actually be at the wrong bus station. So we went on to the next one which seemed more promising as there was a lot more activity. People were sat there with cases, buses were coming and going, however not the bus we wanted.  So I had to go inside the bus station and try to find someone who could tell us if we were in the right place, if not where we should be. It turned out we were at bus station south and we should have been at bus station west. So onto our third bus station and sure enough there was Jenny waiting for us. So after our tour of the bus stations of VT I was definitely in need of coffee. Over coffee we had a decision to make, should we stay in VT for a few hours and meet the next couple at the bus station or did we go home and then come back in a couple of hours later. We decided that it was possibly bbest staying where we were given the problems we had trying to guess the right bus station earlier, why a city like VT can't have a single bus station is beyond me.

Anyway we eventually managed to pick everyone up who needed picking up. As we have dogs and cats to feed we thought that we would go via home, I could feed the animals, Jenny could drop her luggage off, coffee could be drunk and the facilities could be used if necessary. Once all of that was done we could then head over to Mrs M for the next stage of our journey and lunch. We were spoilt as there was a full roast meal waiting for us including roast lamb. It was a great evening spent catching up and having a bit of a laugh, the only downside being that we had to drive home in the wet and the dark. We eventually got to bed about 1am. Then it seemed as though it was up again as soon as my head touched the pillow. Everyone fed and watered then it was over to Polski Trambesh to act as guide getting those from that way to the hotel in Arbanassi. It might seem a bit of a weird and convoluted route but we managed it all. People were turning up at the hotel and luckily we were going to be eating in the dining room as it was a persistant drizzle with low flying cloud outside.

There were even 4 of us brave men who had decided to brave the occasion, and not one of us had a posh frock on, fortunately. We did have our own table out of the way. It was closer to the kitchen, which meant that we got served before the ladies did. The meal was okay, even though it wasn't what was actually arranged when the venue was booked. There only seemed to be one waitress doing all of the work, there were other staff there but I think she was the only one who spoke English. In the end everyone was fed and all in all the lunch went off without any major snags. There was certainly a lot of chattering coming from the tables with all of the ladies, so I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. Even when the lunch had finished and people had started to drift away there were still about eight who stayed behind nattering.

To my mind it was definitely a good do, and it did give me a chance to put some more faces to names. I am also pleased to welcome Sarah as one of the new followers to the blog. Even once we had left and returned home to sort animals out we still had another trip over to Mrs M's to make for a buffet and more talking and laughter. The weather hadn't improved at all, and even the drive home was wet, even when I got stopped for a document check near Polski. I guess that with the weather they wanted to feel like they were doing something useful. I think that I got to bed about 2am this morning. Maybe I am getting too old for all of this party lifestyle, and I am becoming a daft old fart. However, there is much to be said with the old saying, "That you can't expect to soar with the Eagles if you have been out hooting with the Owls."

How Does A Lala's Lunch Affect You?

So ladies a very big thank you to all who braved the weather and managed to attend, and even for letting us men join in as well. I don't know if anyone actually took their swimming cozzies with them, but I didn't notice anyone brave enough to actually take to the water. Although it was touch and go when someone almost dared someone else to take the plunge.