VT Walkers


I have discovered a group called VT Walkers on Facebook. One member of this group of expats described them as "drinkers with a walking problem", as their forays into the Bulgarian countryside usually end at a pub.
 

Most of them are retired Brits and doggie people, so of course a pooch or two comes along for the walk. I went for a walk with them on the other side of VT, when we met near the art gallery and then went for a long walk in the huge park, the one with lots and lots of steps (and then some more). 

Today we were walking around Arbanassi. Tina wore her red doggie coat, as it was decidedly chilly. During the walk I had an interesting chat with a lady who has a house near Cambridge and she has recently returned from the UK to Bulgaria. Why is the UK such a flipping miserable place at the moment? (Regular readers of my blog will know that this is an issue that Claire has raised in her excellent blog, Auntie Bulgaria.) Maybe the UK has always been a total dump and I have never noticed.
As I have noted before in my blog, yes, it is true that often British expats take a certain perverse pleasure (I think that the Germans call this Schadenfreude) in discussing all of the problems and the miseries back in Good Old Blighty. But sometimes the impressions and the reality are one and the same thing. The situation in the UK really does seem to be pretty blooming awful. The NHS was already in crisis, but now the nurses and the ambulance drivers are on strike. You cannot even go away on holiday, as there is chaos at the airports and many trains are not operating. Prices for just about everything are going up all the time. A recession is coming, or else it has already arrived, and there will be plenty more of the same for the forseeable future, as a General Election is still about two years away. 
All of these UK-related problems seemd to be far away today, as we strolled around Arbanassi, the Belgravia of Veliko Tarnovo. Most of the walkers also visited a convent, but alas I had to stay outside with Tina. 

It was VERY cold, but the company was good. As predicted, the walk ended at The Wine Club, what is becoming one of my favourite restaurants. And yes, there was a big log fire and I did have schkeme chorba, yet again.


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