Bulgaria with Noodles

The Philadelphia Church in Veliko Tarnovo had a service as usual on Sunday morning. Yes, it was all in Bulgarian (no big surprise) but it was good to worship with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Ivelina's daughter, Lizzie, was singing in the worship team. And in case you were wondering about the car, our old Nissan X-Trail, the Toyota garage in VT did a very good job of repairing it. Now I am waiting for the fire department's insurance company to pay for the damage.

One of the good things about being back in VT is that we can go for a stroll with the VT Walkers every Wednesday.  Last week we also had an evening meal with everybody and that was great. The pizza was good too, but I could not drink because I was driving. Bother! The other smashing incident happened a few days later, at about midnight. There was a car on fire at the end of our road (and yes, it was a hybrid). It really made a jolly blaze and nearly set fire to some of the houses! Anyway, the next morning I had been taking that naughty Plovdiv dog for a walk and I was just coming home for breakfast when I discovered the damage. It was a bit of a shock! The fire truck that smashed into the back of my old Nissan X-Trail. I reckon that the truck must have been going quite fast, as it did some serious damage to the bumper. I suppose we should thank God that it did not break the petrol tank as well. That could have been rather interesting. Later there were a couple of policemen in our...

Dear Peter, Yes, the article you sent to me really confirms what I was thinking about the government pension, namely that you must make sure that you have paid all of the National Insurance contributions, in order to get the fullest possible amount back. And yes, the article made the point that whatever you pay, you should get it back in three years or less. The article also underlines your point that the state pension is linked to inflation, so it is bound to go up each year. In fact, it is supposed to be going up by more than eight per cent in April! Well, I have written to the pensions people, using your address, so there ought to be a letter back from them in a week or two. One of the things that I asked in my letter was what I should do if I am unable to access the pensions online thing through the government gateway. Yes, I have my passport and my NI number, but that still is not enough. Talking of passports, Irena's passport will need to be renewed next year and mine the fol...