Bulgaria with Noodles

The garden is not looking too good at the moment. In the middle of the day, temperatures are around 35 C and there does not seem to be any prospect of significant rain.  Yes, we did gather about four kilos of cherries from the trees at the very far corner of the garden and they were yummy.  As for the artichokes, Keith and Lorraine did not eat them after all. By the time we came back from Greece, there was a big flower and the bees were very happy. The tomatoes are coming along were, despite the heat. Yes, some of the leaves on the tomato plants are looking decidedly shrivelled, but the actual fruit (well, yes, tomatoes really are a fruit) are looking pretty good.  As for the lawn, there is more bad new. The tractor mower, my pride and joy, is hors de combat yet again. As there has been so little rain, the soil has dried out and so an old tree root was more exposed than usual. One of the blades on the mower seems to have been damaged and so Garden Max are going to give me quite a heft

Yes, we went to Greece, yet again, for our summer hols. Driving from Veliko Tarnovo to Thassos took eight hours, with the Shipka pass the most difficult bit. The sea crossing only took about forty-five minutes.  The Pegasus Hotel was okay, more or less. Our room was fairly small and did not have much of a view, but the pool was nice. Being in Thassos Town, aka Limenias, meant that it was easy to have a wander along the quayside and through the "souk". 

As usual, I have had an online chat with a South African lady called Sonelja. She and her husband are thinking of making the move to Bulgaria. As usual, my comments are in italics. Hello. Yes, I think that moving from South Africa to Bulgaria is a great idea. You can read a lot about starting a new life in Bulgaria by going to my blog. The real problem, however, is how to do it, if you have a SA passport. Sorry for taking so long to read your message. Facebook doesn't alert me of messages if they're from someone I'm not friends with. No problem. Let me know if I can be of any help. I think that moving from South Africa to Bulgaria is a great idea. I have never been to SA myself, but I have had quite a few friends who came from there. The situation in SA does not seem to be getting better. Someone told me that “load shedding” (we Brits call them “power cuts”) happen almost every day in SA and they often go on for most of the day!” We're considering moving to Bulgar

I have ordered the DVDs of the American version of  House of Cards , as I already have the British version. I am planning to watch it again with my old friend, Peter. I am sure that this excellent BBC drama series will deepen his admiration and respect for the Conservative Party. Instead of buying Waitrose blueberries at £3.50, we will shortly be enjoying lots of our own organic blackcurrants and redcurrants for free! As well as making homemade marmalade, Irena has also started producing mayonnaise. This is perfect for our tomatoes and lettuces. Irena also grows a green leafy thing chervil, which has an interesting, lemony flavour. The bad news is my dear lady wife has been slaughtering me at badminton. She is too good for me! The other bad news that Bulgaria is already HOT. I mean, here in Daveri it is getting uncomfortably close to 40 C in the middle of the day. I do not suppose that it will be much cooler in July. Is this climate change? Well, there seems to be quite a lot of freaky

It was great to have Lorraine and Keith come over for lunch. (As you may have guessed, L & K are members of the VT Walkers.) It was quite a drive for them to get here, as the normal road from Veliko Tarnovo to Elena is still closed for resurfacing and the only way to get here is to take the road to Stara Zagora when you come out of VT. The road is quite narrow in places, with lots of twists and turns. Tina was very happy indeed to meet and play with our visitors. Keith was keen to have a go with the tractor mower. The bad news is that Lorraine likes our country house so much that now I think that she wants one too!  Lorraine is also a keen horse fan, so she was very interested when I told her about the riding stables near Elena.

I have written to HMRC again (this might be the third or fourth letter) and I posted it this morning, together with another letter, to none other than the one-and-only Nicholas Armfelt. We were back in VT for a few days, sorting out one or two little matters. My dear wife now has a new UK passport and it is blue. (Not surprising, as we do have a Conservative government.) What with fees for DHL each way, the total cost came to nearly two hundred pounds. Although the NHS is a flipping disaster, at least we now have blue passports. On the subject of the NHS, my friend John Cann’s surgery seems to have gone fairly well, at least so far, and the surgeon attached two of his vertebra to metal rods. It all sounds horribly painful. Mud wrestling, bungee jumping and the tango are out and he can only do a little bit of walking, at least for the time being. They seem to have done quite a good job, but John’s overall impressions of the NHS hospital were not good. Now that we are under the Bulgarian