Bulgaria with Noodles

Yesterday, it was very foggy you could hardly see the wooden bridge from the dining window of our apartment, as the weather was so dark and murky. It reminded me of the time when Peter and I went to see Buzludhza. In case you did not know, Buzludhza, as well as being difficult to spell and even harder to pronounce, is a huge concrete monstrosity on top of a mountain. It looks a bit like a flying saucer and it is enormous. We drove up to it on a beautifully warm and sunny summer's day, but as we came to the top of the mountain we found ourselves inside a cloud. It was very misty and really cold. When we got out of the car at the small carpark, we could not see Buzludhza, but as we walked up some step we saw it, looming ahead of us in the mist. Because it is saucer-shaped, the walls stick out and tower above you, like a concrete cliff that is about to fall on you. Buzludhza is a scary, weird place. You cannot go inside. All the doors are locked, although sometimes people do break in....

Dear Peter,          Wednesday, 3rd December, 2025                                 No, my dear chap. I am really not suggesting that any of the banks in Bulgaria are about to go bust. I think that this is highly unlikely and next year this will be even less likely, as Bulgaria will be in the Eurozone. The other countries in the Eurozone would probably not be too happy if some Bulgarian banks go out of business, so they will make sure that this does not happen. As you have probably seen on the BBC news, there have been rather a lot of demonstrations in Sofia. (President Vladimir Putin will be very pleased with his agents’ work, I am sure.) What are they protesting about? Well, maybe they are unhappy with the EU, which is silly because the EU has done a lot of good things in Bulgaria. Or maybe they are protesting about Bulgaria’s entry into the Eurozone? Everyone has been tal...