Tim in toast mode :-)
Tim in toast mode 🙂

This has probably bee…n one of the hardest weeks of my life, I was seriously considering going back to work for a rest!!

Paul, Helena, Christine, Dan
Paul, Helena, Christine, Dan

Firstly the Friday night ‘thank you’ to Paul & Jan went a little out of the window as we all got invited to a Russian celebration in the village and collectively gave it the big thumbs up and promptly spent the evening in some lovely company, eating some fabulous food cooked up by Helena and drinking vast quantities of high quality vodka provided by Tim.

Not so hard you may think, but the next day things started to go down hill a little, not only was I nursing a very slight hangover but on one of my normal trips to the spring to collect water (no we haven’t sorted that out yet) I got attacked by two bees…one got caught in my hair the other in my jacket – and due to me inadvertently killing one of them, they called friends and chased us back into the house where we hid for a couple of hours until they calmed down. Said jacket is still hanging out on the wing mirror of the RV just in case 🙂

I didn’t get stung but couldn’t understand the motivation of the bees, having never had a problem before…needless to say I was now extremely nervous around them and as my neighbour has several hives it was becoming a real issue for both of us. We assumed it was because he was working in the hives and had agitated them but even considered moving house to somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no bloody bee keepers…yes seriously we considered this.

18. ElenaWe spotted a lovely place in the mountains near Elena and went to have a look…not a hive in sight and with views to die for. The house was a little too small and the land not perfect, but the location was amazing with a river at the bottom of the garden, it was almost tempting until on the way back to the car I once again got attacked by a bee!!

OK so even the wild bees didn’t like me (or did) so it was definitely my problem not the local inhabitants…three attacks – one on Dan’s eye and two in my hair…common denominator? Perfume! Yes the only three times I have worn my perfume (FlowerBomb – DOH why didn’t I see that coming) were Vlodia’s birthday (the day before Dan’s eye incident), Tim & Helena’s VE celebrations (the day before my first attack) and to go and see the house in Elena…so smelly Jane it is from now on!!

13. BeekeeperJust to be on the safe side though we have now planted mint around our house, changed our shampoo and conditioner, sprayed Fendona everywhere and invested in the next fashion accessory to hit the catwalks in Musina…’the beekeeper’…you wait they’ll all be wearing them at the next Ascot outing.

Wood arrived
Wood arrived

So bees seemingly coped with we ordered our wood for the winter circa £110 for all our heating, hot water and cooking for the year not bad economics…it was due to arrive on Monday evening and in true Bulgarian style was delivered on Thursday morning!17. wood chopped Our local Roma friend worked really hard all day chainsawing it into manageable sizes, whilst we moved it, split it and stacked it – well most of it anyway…still some to do next time we’re bored.

15. the beastOn the same day we had another delivery of our crap from England, including Dan’s BMW which raised some eyebrows amongst the locals…and we finally have sofas but of course nowhere to put them just yet…leko po leko as they say round here (little by little).

 

14. cherriesToday Diesel has been for his first round of injections and was a brave little man, seemingly quite enjoying the ride in the back of the jeep…our cherries are ripening well on our trees and the beans I planted last week are now abut 3 inches high, things really do grow round here.

Work starts on the roof on Monday (today) – rebuilding one part, renewing all the guttering and cementing ridge tiles and someone is popping by to give us a quote on the barn wall too, exciting stuff. Next is plumbing and drainage…couple of quotes in and we make an astounding discovery…a drainage pipe leading to a septic pit / soakaway…more investigation is needed before we invest in alternatives that take us over budget.

22. morning sunJoin us in a week’s time when we will have dug our way into or out of the sh*t…quite literally.

J&D

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