Bulgaria with Noodles

Dear Peter, It was even more splendid than usual to get an e-mail from you, old fellow! I was a bit worried. As for me, you will not be surprised at all when I tell you that I have NOT been working hard. Yes, once or twice I have turned on the computer and maybe I have played NAPOLEON: TOTAL WAR for a few minutes. But I have also found the time to get beaten at badminton by my dear wife and to play ball with that naughty and rather smelly little dog. She definitely needs a bath (the dog, not my wife!) Irena is due to fly off to the Crimea on 3 rd September and she will not be back until 1 st October. That is, of course, assuming that she gets a negative COVID test in Veliko Tarnovo before she leaves and then another one in Simferopol, her hometown, before flying back. If she gets a positive test while she is in the Crimea, then I suppose that they will not let her get onto the plane. Then her Russian visa will expire if she cannot fly back to Sofia. Oh the joys of international...

Well, I am very sorry that, once again, you could not join us for breakfast this morning. As usual, we did our scoffing on the terrace. The view was wonderful and that naughty little dog was up to her usual mischief.  We have had a dreadful time with Irena’s Russian tourist visa. It has been a complete and utter pain, as well as taking flipping ages and ages. I mean, it is bad enough that she has to even apply for a visa to visit her own blooming country. Have you ever heard of anything so totally crazy? As well as the actual visa, you also need medical insurance. The application form takes a long time to fill in, as there are so many pointless and repetitive questions. In addition to the visa application form, there is also something silly called “a Russian tourist voucher”. We had to go to Veliko Tarnovo, in order to go to some tourist agencies. The only problem was that these agencies did not know anything about this stupid voucher thing, so I had to buy one online. The next hur...