Bulgaria with Noodles

Dear Malcolm, It is by no means certain that I will be going to Ukraine at all. Yes, we are having a fundraiser on 16th, but maybe Martin will not need my driving skills. Perhaps he has already chosen someone else. I do not know. Whatever happens, the van will just be going a short distance into Ukraine, in order to deliver humanitarian supplies (mostly medical things, clothing, soap and so on). Yes, lots of countries are supplying weapons to Ukraine, but that is nothing to do with us. Martin has made this trip several times, so I hope that he will know what he is doing. Much though I love my dear wife, I cannot agree with her and I think that she (and the tightly-controlled Russian media) are wrong. Yes, of course it is true that each side is using the media and that Zelensky is (or was) a professional actor, but the reality is that the Russian forces have invaded Ukraine. It wasn't the other way round or even fifty-fifty. The Russian invasion has done terrible damage to the Ukrai...

When a horrible war and ghastly suffering are going on just along the coast of the Black Sea, the best thing to do is to learn Bulgarian. The computer-based learning program called uTalk is a good way to do that. If you are interested in starting a new life in Bulgaria, then you simply MUST try to learn some Bulgarian words and phrases. You will find that many locals are a lot more helpful and friendly if you make at least some attempt to learn the lingo. And when you mispronounce things, it will give the locals something to laugh at! One of the best ways to make a start with learning Bulgarian is a computer-based language learning program called uTalk. uTalk allows you to record you speaking (or trying to speak!) lots of Bulgarian words and phrases. Your efforts can then be compared with a real Bulgarian person saying the same words and phrases. Yes, that could be embarrassing, but hey, we all have to start somewhere. The program has about forty or fifty different topics, ranging from...

The news re. Ukraine has been so depressing recently. No, I am not going to repeat all of the stories about the bombs, the refugees and the wrecked apartment blocks. No, in these troubling times let us please turn to something much more amusing, light-hearted and positive, Auntie Bulgaria, even if it does have quite a lot of cats. Even though it is full of cats and I am definitely a doggie person, Claire Ruston's blog is a great read and the photos are nice too. It is funny, quirky, full of lots of yummy posts about food (no, I am not a vegan, but I might become one if I keep reading this blog) and it has a happy  joie de vivre. As for wine,   I also have the strong impression that Claire likes the odd glass (or three). No, I am not quite so keen on the endless cats and her use of the F-word (no, not felines) at least two or three times per post, but hey, let us enjoy Claire's blog for what it is, namely a happy celebration of all things Bulgarian, plants, food, and of co...

War memorial in Simferopol, 2018 According to the legend, Stalin was more than a bit surprised when the USSR was invaded in 1941. For quite some time, Uncle Joe just could not believe that it really was happening. Yes, his intelligence officers tried to warn him that Hitler was going to attack and Stalin dismissed their fears. So it was not quite a case of history repeating itself when Putin's soldiers invaded the Ukraine. As readers of my blog will already know, I saw a lot of good things that have happened since the Russian takeover of the Crimea back in 2014. Way back before we were married, I also had the opportunity to see what things in the Crimea were like when the region was part of the Ukraine and under the authority of the government in Kiev. What a mess!  But whatever good Putin may have done in the past is far outweighed by the disaster that is unfolding in the streets of Kiev, Kharkov and towns and cities all over the Ukraine.   With Albert, my father-inlaw, and Y...

Tovarich Lenin is still around The big news is that it hasn't happened. The Russian military has not launched an all-out invasion of the Ukraine. Mr Putin has said that the Russian forces have already started returning to their bases, but NATO says that they haven't. Hmm. There are supposed to be 100,000 Russian military personnel on the border with Ukraine and Belorussia, so maybe it might take some time for all of them to pack up and go home. When I was in the Crimea in 2018, I definitely had the feeling that most people there felt that Putin is doing a good job. They had a lot of respect for their president and that is not something that most Brits feel about Boris Johnson. I think that Joe Biden is a decent sort of chap, but it seems that most Americans think that he is a disaster and that Donald Trump would do a much better job. In the centre of Simferopol, my dear Irena's hometown and the biggest city in the Crima, you can see these statues. A young and rather sweet-l...

The business of taking that naughty little dog for her daily walk becomes rather more serious during the winter, especially when we have minus temperatures during the day. (Any Canadians reading my blog will probably stop reading at this point, in total disgust at yet another Brit's complete wimpishness.) Unlike the Fox Terrier we used to have years ago, Zoika, Tina actually seems to like her special doggie coat. In the winter, the Bulgarian countryside somehow seems much bigger and even more devoid of people.

My brother Andrew has started doing some promotional videos, in order to promote his first crime novel, DEAD DRIFT. You can watch the whole video by going to this link  https://youtu.be/T6SuHuUQcyY