Bulgaria with Noodles

We had to go to Veliko Tarnovo for a few days, as I needed to take the car into the Toyota garage. On our way back from the airport, we had a small accident. The Toyota people reckoned that they can get it all sorted by Friday afternoon and that was good news. On the way to the garage on Wednesday morning, some of our neighbours were pointing at the bumper and so I stopped the car. The bumper was nearly falling off, but fortunately the neighbours found a piece of wire and fixed it on again. We have been watching some things on Youtube, as here in VT we have a "smart TV". Well, the one we have back in Daveri is a very stupid one, as the only things that I watch are CNN and DVDs. We have started on "Down Abbey" again, all thirty or maybe forty DVDs. Perhaps normal TV programmes will become a thing of the past, just like VHS replaced Betamax. Although my old friend John Cann has had his hip replacement operation, he has found it pretty tough going. He has had to go...

It was nearly ten years ago that we left Qatar, but I still get e-mails and other messages from teachers who are interested in teaching there. Dear Simon, I hope all is well with you, the wife and the dog.  I have been following your blog and the badminton 'court' looks great. You probably don’t remember, but I was due to go to Haileybury, Almaty with my family before Covid and then Hangzhou this year.  Hangzhou didn’t happen, as the school could not get visas for the kids, so we have ended up in one of your old stomping grounds, Qatar. To say we are underwhelmed is an understatement.  Both Qatar and the school area are major disappointments. The positives about the school is that it is truly international and our two primary-aged kids have settled well. We were told that the school was one of the better schools in Doha and had a good reputation.  If this is good, I wouldn’t want to see a bad one! From a teaching perspective, it is tough.  They have the lo...

Recently I had some WeChat with Angela, who used to be one of the board members for Shenzhen International Fellowship. This gives me an excuse for including lots of our old China photos. Hi Simon, I hope you and Irena are well! I was hoping for your feedback. I’ve submitted an application to Green Oasis as a Year 2 teacher. How was your time there? Is it a place you would recommend? Dear Angela, hooray! Yes, I did indeed teach at GOS for five years. On the whole, I really enjoyed it. POSITIVES? The school paid the rent on our two-bedroomed apartment, next to Lianhuacun Park, the students were lovely, the school was fairly well resourced and the hours were okay. Some very good colleagues. NEGATIVES? The food was horrible, ditto the dining room and some parents could be too pushy. The school follows the English curriculum (more or less) and that might be an issue for you. Also there were too many MEETINGS. (I hate meetings, in case you had not guessed). On the whole, I really enj...

Yes, it is the return (yet again!) of the Gardening Bore.  The red peppers, tomatoes and pumpkins are all coming along well, although a drop or two of rain would not go amiss. Perhaps the asparagus and the artichokes will do something next year. I have been reading about the fuel shortages in the UK on the BBC website. (Unfortunately, we only get CNN on our TV here in Daveri). It seems to be pretty bad and the government does not appear to be doing much to improve the situation. As for gas prices, yes, they have gone up a lot and probably they will continue to rise. Germany is building (or has already built) a new gas pipeline, in order to get gas from Russia, but I do not think that the UK is part of that. Here in Bulgaria, I think that hardly anyone uses gas for heating. If they are in the countryside, then people either use wood (logs) or wood pellets. In the cities, most people have apartments and they have some sort of electrical heating or maybe an oil-fired boiler.   I ...

It is a beautiful sunny morning here in Daveri and I am listening to some Beethoven as I type this to you. I have just taken a fat little doggie for a walk in the lovely Bulgarian countryside. For once, she actually came back to me when I called "Tina!" That was because I had some food with me. Bribery usually works. Yes, I am all on my own and my dear wife will not be back for two more weeks. The men are supposed to be coming tomorrow, to fix the roofs on our outhouses. It might take them a while. Probably the old plum tree next to the "summer kitchen" will have to go because I cannot see how they are going to repair the roof with that thing in the way.  I am continuing with my painting and I am hoping to get all of the wooden fence painted with the old engine oil before my dear wife Irisha returns on 1st October. It is a long and very boring job, but it has to be done. The fence is about eighteen years old, so the wood has dried out and it is very brittle. While w...

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...