Bulgaria with Noodles

Okay, here comes the good news. The Bulgarian Minster for Education has wisely and judiciously decreed a week’s holiday for all of the students of the schools in Sofia because of the influenza epidemic that has hit schools all over Bulgaria. (What a good and sensible chap!) Yes, I know that this might seems a bit crazy, dear reader, as I have only been at St. George’s since the beginning of January and now we have ten days of holiday. That is not bad, eh? Yesterday I was terribly busy, even though it was a Saturday. Yes, we had the Sofia round of the World Scholar’s Cup at St. George’s. Justin Kilcullen-Nichols, my new headmaster, looked very pleased as he welcomed hundreds of students (and their parents and teachers) from all over Sofia. I must say that St. George's new theatre looked super-swanky and very impressive.  I was one of the judges for the junior and the senior debating competitions. In a nutshell, you have two teams making speeches about a particular motion a...

This is part of an angry e-mail that I wrote to the BBC. The steppe, just outside Mamulichka's datcha in the Crimea I am fed up with the BBC's inaccurate, false and dishonest reporting of the so-called "occupation" of the Crimea by Russian forces. Why don't they also write a piece about the British Army occupying Aldershot? Or the American army invading West Point? The Crimea is part of Russia. It always has been. The Tsar had his summer palaces in the Crimea. Thousands of Russian soldiers died defending the Crimea during the Crimean War. It was the same in WW2. Have you ignorant and stupid people at the BBC never bothered to open a history textbook? Most people in the Crimea speak RUSSIAN and think of themselves as RUSSIAN. Sevastopol was (and always has been) a major Russian military base.  I was in Yalta thirteen years ago, when the Crimea was still part of the Ukraine (thanks to Kruschev, who was half Ukrainian) and it was a MESS. The useless govern...

Getting to school in the morning is quite a ritual. Two pairs of socks, then the second pair of trousers, lace up the boots, scarf, coat, hat and gloves. Then take it all off again at school and change into a soft pair of shoes. Yes, snow in the city is a pain and just walking along the slippery pavements can be slow and tiring. In the huge park across the road from our apartment, the snow can still be pretty and a lot of fun. Sledging is popular with the youngsters, although dads and even some mums seem to be glad of an excuse to have a go with their children.  Even when it is cold and the wind is biting, my dear Irisha still looks lovely. I am going to miss her next weekend, as she is going to Bucharest, to stay with her friend Inna for a few days. Innichka and Irisha became friends becase they always used to walk their dogs in Parcul Herastrau. And in the distance, you can just make out the looming mass of Mount Vitosha.

At last! The famous "Ladybird" series of books for children has published something to help the children (and maybe the politicians as well, but perhaps that's the same thing) to get ready for BREXIT. Now I do not want my readers to think that I am in any way biased or narrow-minded. No, I did not actually vote in the BREXIT referendum because I was in Bulgaria at the time, having just returned from China. Anyway, how could anyone in the UK be so silly as to vote to leave the European Union? That just would not happen, would it? Oh dear. They did in fact vote to leave the EU, by a narrow margin.  The only little problem is that now just about everyone in the UK is beginning to wake up to the fact that BREXIT is going to be a disaster for the UK and indeed for the whole of Europe.

Irena the Elf meets another Microwave Woman As you may or may not have guessed from some of my posts on this blog, I am a great fan of the European Union. This is, of course, why I think that BREXIT is such a disaster, both for Britain and for the EU.  In Bulgaria, the EU has done a lot of good things: discouraging corruption, stimulating the economy and providing funding for new infrastructure projects. It is mostly thanks to the EU that the Sofia Metro (MTR) system is really good. Before Bulgaria joined the EU, the MTR system was much smaller and a lot more antequated. Not surprisingly, there is even a metro station called "European Union". Inside the Vitosha MTR station Our nearest MTR station is Vitosha, about five minutes' walk from our near apartment in Sofia. Vitosha station is also the very latest station to be opened, so it is very clean and modern. At the top, you can see a photo of Irena the Elf buying a ticket from another Microwave Woman. Alt...

Sofia's Covered Market is one of my favourite places. Irena and I have been going there for years. In fact, I think that we even visited the Covered Market before we bought our house in Kalotina. That must fourteen or maybe fifteen years ago, when we first visited Bulgaria.  The Covered Market is a great place, located slap bang in the middle of Sofia, conveniently next to its own car park and the Serdica II MTR station. It is also just round the corner from the Ladies' Market, so Irena and I often arrange to meet each other there. There are lots of interesting little shops selling yummy foodie things like olives, as well as a branch of our bank in Bulgaria, FiBank. I like the little place that sells the funny leather bags and the handicrafts place. The things on sale are mostly carved out of walnut, and it was there that I bought our chess and backgammon set. There is also a great cafe, Tosca , and many other places, like the key cutter who made some spare keys fo...

Merry Christmas, dear readers! Well, the last few months have been rather interesting, what with my new job and our move to the new apartment in Sofia. It really has been quite hectic and we have had to make several trips to Kalotina, in order to collect all of our bits and pieces. The new apartment is now looking less empty and a lot more like home! We even brought some logs from Kalotina, but so far we have not lit the fire because the apartment is wonderfully warm, thanks to all of the electric radiators. I am glad that we will not have to pay the electricity bill! I was very impressed that my old friend Peter Adams somehow managed to get a Christmas card to us, with a bit of IT ingenuity. The card arrived on our doorstep in Kalotina a few days before we left for Sofia. It caused a lot of laughter in the village. Yesterday we went for a little walk in the park, even though the weather was bitterly cold. It is a lovely park. Yes, maybe we did not see it at its best, but Mou...