Delivery,14th Jan2008.

No pictures from 2008 so i have added these recent ones for you

This week we've had groceries delivered again,and the went with Sonnie and Mike to

Yambol for some diy things.They have a 4 wheel drive so have no prod in snow.It was a nice few hours the roads were awful with thick ice and snow piled high,glad we haven't tried to go out in the van we would have gone sledging again in a lot bigger way!!

We saw the most amazing thing on the way an Eagle just after it had caught its pray yuk!you may say but what a wonder to see in the wild snowy countryside seems to fit perfectly fantastic.That was the second amazing thing ,Yesterday i saw an eagle swoop down just outside the garden,these unexpected treats make up for some of the Borden we are feeling at pres.

New Camera!! 10th Jan 2008.

This week being a little board we have been doing some photo taking of wild life,well some birds anyway,Woodpeckers,sparrows,blue tits,and CATS! that spent more time sat in our makeshift bird table eating everything we put on it,rather than mousing.This place is vast with Forrest's and fields all round us ,the budding David baileys heaven(not)we haven't seen hide or hare!!!! of anything else no deer, or wild Boer,this leads us to the conclusion that the Bulgarian Hunter Gatherers namely our friend Louba and co have scared them into a game of hide and stay hidden,ah well the old cat and dog will have to do tryed the mice too fast!

January 8th 208.

Another day stuck,the snow is not moving very fast even though the sun thores it during the day the minus temps freeze it again at night and our poor van comes to a swift halt give or take a slide or 2 3 4 on anything with a hint of water in it.Our friends Sonnie and mike come to the rescue again bringing us food supplies from Yambol,but it is getting a bit of a drag being stuck.h

Have put the tiles down and have been out chopping wood,David has however hurt himself feeding a cat out of the window he slipped on the tv wire knocking his ribs on the window frame and rendering himself unworkable for a while.he is in quite a lot of pain at the mo poor love.

Never the less when Viloo needs help getting the Russian car out we both went .Did I mention a Russian couple own next door?they only come in the summer hum is this a case of mad dogs and English men.Viloo lookes after the house for them,and the car,and sky tv,etc,etc,etc,we look forward to meeting them.

January 7th,2008.Stuck.

Looking at the situation it is quite obvious we are ain't going any where for a while and joy of joy's the leki keeps going off,what fun.David has made a snowman on the window, sill it looks like an alien and he's stuck silver paper foil on it for eyes which is all very well except I peep out of the curtains and the bloody thing nearly gives me a heart attack.

January 2nd 2008

Well its happened again the snow I mean about 2ft in parts of the garden which may I say is pretty much a disaster if your a little dog wanting a wee,one look out and with no hesitation Jaz retreated back to bed amazing how long he can hold his er..water in a difficult situation.

January 1st 2008,Night out.

Fun in the riverside Hotel go for it Sonnie!

Yes very merry by the look of it!!!!Pictures of New Years Eve GREAT!!!!!

What a good night out we had last night,thanks to our friends Sonnie and Mike.They took us to the Riverside Hotel in Yambol. Sonnie and mike.

We had a salad starter followed by pork and vegetables and then cheese cake this was served from8pm and by 2am we hadn't had sweet takes a long time to eat here.
The dancing was great fun and the drink flowed very freely I'm very fragile today.

CHRISTMAS 2007!!!!

Yes its here again can't beleive how fast the years gone,the first Aniversary of my dads death,god bless much loved and missed.

December 25Th.Love the tree!!!!!!

Well its been a very quiet Christmas day not really like Christmas at all,which is just as well cos it takes our minds off home and kids a little (who am i kidding)anyway we had a nice dinner,talked to Paula and Emma and yes you've guessed it carried on tiling.

Hurray! today Sunday the 30Th we have complected the kitchen floor,the petchka area,and the hallway oh how clever we are!!!about 24 sq Mt's in all only 20sq Mt's of room to go HELP of course we have still a kitchen to fit and the walls to do.

No more to report at pres so Happy New Year to all our Family and friends.

December 17th 2007.

I'm a bit late with this entry we're always so busy and time goes so fast,it is may I say bloodi cold -7ish started to snow on Friday night Saturday morn.I had of course to go out and take photo's we have got about 6"of snow and we haven't ventured out in the van just been using the local shop,were we practice our Bulgaski!with some success they understood.The cold has stopped us in the garden and the sand's frozen anyway which is a first for us,so we carried on tiling oh what fun(not).Nearly forgot a few days ago we went to Yambol for some tile cement and other things while paying for them we tryed asking if they sold tile cutters,a customer stepped in to help they didn't but he new a shop that did.Off he went David in tow leaving me and dog in the van,the chappie took David down the road into his bar,showed him round,then took him via the back door into a shop introduces him to the manager and then proceeded to show him the tile cutters.David in the rush hadn't taken any money from me and was as you say caught short but in true Bulgarian style the chap (name we forget)lent him 20lv cant believe these people. We have decided to visit his bar for a meal when the snow lets us out.

Ivan's return 24/11/2007.

Ivan finally came back after leaving us windowless,because clever us never thought when taking them out that he would miss 2 days.Off he went to start,David and I watching none too happy.(very frustrating when you don't know how play pop in Bulgarian)
Now for our next trick,last night the bloody van got stuck in the mud hole we call a drive so we decided to leave it until we could see which would be the best way to get the old girl out.We put stones and sand under the wheels,Ivan and assistant saw our plight and promptly downed tools(again am I ungrateful?maybe)to help by towing us out with his trusty Lada(great machine)but it didn't happen.then Damita our new next door neighbour turned up all smart in black jacket and trousers did he care no got stuck right in,so there we all were 5 trying in vain to unstick the unstickable! the van was going deeper and deeper into the mud,Lada no good,ah we need a tractor so Ivan's assistant went to find and sure enough he returned with a tractor plough and 2 more unknown assistants.Everyone got busy tying the rope and off the tractor went no good the rope snapped never mind Damita went for a steel rope,meanwhile David had looked under the van to find it wedged on a tree stump,after some discussion the jack was called for and the van was up, stones were wedged under the wheels and the tractor was off again! she was out.You had to see this to believe it fantastic what can you say I must admit I was a little chokes to say the least,after shaking hands and many thankyou's all went back to there business,how do you give a stuffing to a window fitter(not)who has towed your van or tryed to and dug the wheels out etc.Well its simple you can't !!!!

Pictures of our garden,david on the drive,and so called road to home.

Strange happenings.23/11/2007

Well November seems full of strange happenings, today Friday Laina called with some pears,and I gave her some fruit from what the locals call the Mush moo tree,they look a bit like large rose hips or crab apples as you can see from the picture and they ripen at Christmas time,they go brown inside and soft i think they are a bit like a date not bad David thinks there disgusting!Laina asked if we had TV(only got our portable and it only has a picture no sound here so its on the wardrobe in the room with the bed as we are sleeping in the room at pres and don't have time to watch anyway).In a strange sign language she got the message well almost,after doing summer salts with the aerial and trying to persuade our woodcutter to climb on the bed and mend it (thank goodness he was in work gear or no dought he would have )She finally gave up and trotted off with her bag of fruit.The woodcutter had called to Finnish some logs and get paid,but after hearing about our TV prob insisted that David go home with him so he could show him the aerial needed,so off they went.I waited and waited and waited finally the hero returned worse for were due to a VERY potent drink called Raki. The lads mum had made him a cup of tea,his dad gave him Raki followed with tomato juice sounds YUK! David said it was really nice,he had a ball on Tuesday they are going for Bull sat TV cost 100 lv set up 12lv per month that's like £35+£4 per month.Mind you we only wanted sound!

(later I found the Ariel was not in the TV so Laina was not connected woops!)

Davids new toy.(24/11/2007)

The monster.(not David the saw)

Ah the new toy,i forgot David has a chainsaw!a fearsome thing needed to cut our supply of winter logs.Lack of the lingo lead us to think someone was going to chop them up so we waited,and waited of course the weather was crap and 20lv the lot about £8 would I cut it no way.So we arrived home with this thing and so did the bloke to do the logs (sods law)really nice lad shows David how to us the saw safely and both get on with task at hand David doing the labouring and occasionally using the said weapon,we chat when there finished.His name is Crashmere and he is taking English lessons,he asks if we have children,he now wants to marry our Paula!!not a bad days work.

Baba Dinka collars David to cut her some wood for her fire(organ)as usual she's dead suited and we come home with a bottle of vino (oh if i only liked the stuff)She seems to be all seeing and hearing crafty crafty lady.Think we are already getting known people wave at us as we pass mind you we do have a strange habit of picking them up at the village bus stop if there going our way"mad Brits"

22nd November 2007.Will Ivan return (NO)

At last today is the day Ivan the distroyer and his little helper plus his secret( a sledge hammer)should return to put the upstairs windows in ,we intend to try and voice our complaints about the leaks etc (we dont hold out much hope)he delivered them last night so we were up at 8am to take the old windows out hopefully to put the sledge hammer out of action,doing well three frames out the rest loose 12.30 no Ivan so we have lunch after we place the new frames in,looking good only one problem the opening handles are not opposite each other,one is a good 2" above the other .We are not happy,no Ivan,old windows out and in peices new windows no good,cant do anymore so we look upstairs and find something else to do............

The house with its new windows at last!!!

Nov 19th 2007 The return!

Hurray!!!!!the van is returning today and the Corsa hire car goes back.We haven't really used it because the rain has fallen for 4 days and its stuck in a swamp which was our drive.Outside the garden there is now a gushing stream and the village has water rushing through in all directions!!!The hire car people arrive and begin the struggle to retrieve their sorry looking car in the peeing rain,and then offer to take us to Yambol to pick our trustie steed up,rather nice considering we got in their brand new cream interior ed BM Dub,in muddy shoes and soaking clothes(no prob's love these people) On arriving home our Bulgarian friend Vilou had us put the van in the Russians drive next door great considering there was no way she was going in the swamp.
Mick and Sonnie called on there way home to see if we wanted a sheep for the freezer (dead of course sorry Paula and Emma our family veggies).Hope the picture of David dissecting it doesn't offend.
All the rain has done little for the house,the room window is piddling in rain at a rather unhealthy pace and the door isn't fairing any better(Ivan the destroyer is in for dist ruction!!)but the Petchka and room stove are keeping us nice and warm,the fridge freezer is full and even in the rain the misty mountains are something else.

The Van.(15 Nov 2007)

The strangest an most annoying thing this month has been the van which up to now has been totally faultless ,anyway last week the oil light started to come on when the van was turned off very odd.Then when the ignition was off and the keys out it started up,and because it was in gear set off up the garden,luck had it David was still in and managed to stall it but only because the battery went flat.After taking it off we rang the RAC which be prepared don't expect much help abroad not without a fit!!!Eventually the sent a truck to take it to the garage.Off they went David and van .At the garage they sort of checked it, put a new battery on (not the problem)charged 160lv and said ok.David all smiles returned and parked up no problem,then we decided to put the van in the drive and yes you guest it wouldn't turn off.David decided to run round the block hopping it would help,well faithful dog and me waited,and waited,then round the corner came a mad man totally breathless shouting for a fire extinguisher off he went me following after locking dog in house.As I arrived watched by crowds of bemused villagers Mike and Sonni pulled up we found David looking in the engine poor van she smelt very hot and unwell,starter motor shot!After been towed home Sonni said she would ring the garage and David rand the RAC! again in a more than harrest mood.So now we are van less and waiting for a hire car.

On a lighter note I went round to Baba Dinkers and she showed me the art of bottling pears, from our tree's cutting them up into jars with sugar and water we had a good conversation what about I've no idea who cares!

Yambol.

A few events since my last entry,Toni our interpreter from the company we bought the house from took us to register with the police which you must do within the first month .What a going on you need a bank account,to get a bank reference for the police,passports ,driving licence,then you find there shut for lunch .God!it took all afternoon.

Still no more windows or wood for winter nothing arrives on time.We've met some new Neighbours Mick who's Irish and Sonni who's Bulgarian seen nice have offered to take us round Yambol and help with the language if ness,they are having a house renovated and have an apartment in Yambol.Where not 100% sure about them what a suspicious lot we Brits are,but better to be safe than sorry we shall see.(please note registering with the police and certain other Bulgarian red tape has chanced since 2007 when I first wrote this diary thanks)

4th Nov Anniversary.

Its a very special day our 35th wedding anniversary!!!not that we remembered until late morning .Lubo (the Hunter0 had arranged for a friend

to give us an estimate for windows and being happy with price etc we were waiting for there arrival little did we know what was in store for us.We waited and waited and then finally there here yippie!!!oh 2 windows 1 door bugger,things are slightly lapidaisy here.Anyway Ivan alias Ivan the (bastardizer)excuse the french started to unload from you guessed it a LADA? with Davids help cos he must have been 60 or so with amusement I watched as the Master of the aluminium window and his new assistant set to work,not that David or I had in mind funny old world this Bulgaria.During the weeks that followed the rest of the windows arrived ,but not before we had started to cut wood for winter the windows were in the house still waiting Ivan was no were to be seen.

Just a normal day.

Every morning See's the same routine,first the sound of a bell as the lead goat wanders alone followed by a heard of goats and sheep and an old Shepperd chatting to them.Out side our house is a track where all the animals meet before the herdsman takes them into the fields for the day.

Then the cows arrive herded by Villu (driver)to us because we mimic driving the van and point to the cows"da da da"!we have a great laugh with him he is also village security for the foreign owners of holiday homes.Today baba Dinka calls with some milk for us( goats milk an acquired taste)after the usual understandable chat about our fig tree i think,David puts his hand into the tree and produces an orange the old lass nearly had a fit she found it very amusing it was one of those unforgettable moments.After the visit we set off to Yambol which brought us down to earth with a bump!as we Arrived in Chargan the next village to Tarnava a large pig was in the process of becoming Sunday lunch etc this you have to except as part of village life animals are for food most seem well kept during there short life some consolation maybe.Them as we returned home a goat was in the same unfortunate predicament.No I'm afraid I couldn't keep a goat take it out to grass talk to it pet it then eat it! not me not me at all(but you never know given the circumstance's.

Speedy Days.

Sorry no pic's of the old boiler this new one gives a idea just imagine RUST!!

Gollie the days are going so quickly,so much to do and try to say(hard language)Damita our new next door neighbour has arrived to do some winter tidying he and his wife whom we haven't seen yet stay in Yambol through winter and spend summer here in Tarnava which makes me wonder how bad winters are !!.He was an officer in the army and she works in a bank.David asked him about our boiler old knackered thing not David the boiler,3 hours later he had it working speaks a little English too lovely man.(we are neighbours so we help each other I help you you help me) that the way to go!!!.

Sometime in the morning

Oct 13th,sometime in the morning.Driving to Yambol for a few things the roads are a bit of a nightmare think its going to take a bit of time to recover,can't really believe we've driven 2,000 plus miles across 6 country's and got lost in England.
Road into Yambol,and the Yambol Rams which represent  town.It is quite a large town,not very pretty has some nice buildings but also some Eastern block concrete blocks looks a bit daunting to a westerner.

The First Day in Turnava.(Търнава)

9.30 Оct 12.woken up to a lovely day having plenty cups of tea,before surveying the domain don't know when we'll get going still jet lagged if you can be driving.Wont do much today,waved to the neighbours spending day exploring.

4.30pm,met Laina and Lubo(the hunter)they brought us some honey(met)fresh from the hive very nice tastes different from the usual shop bought.Lubo in his younger years was a Bulgarian Champ at hunting very well respected here not our cup of tea hunting but very nice people.


Our House in Tunava,and the village shop.