Bulgaria with Noodles

Just in case you have not already caught me out, I am now going to put up my hand, confess and acknowledge that I am a guilty plagiarist. Claire Rushton’s splendid blog Auntie Bulgaria is just too good and so of course it has to b e imitated, paralleled and, yes, copied. One of her recent posts, Why doesn’t everyone just move abroad ?, summed up my thoughts about the UK and Bulgaria so well that I simply must repeat some of the points Claire makes. First of all, I did go to university when it was free and it wasn’t just any old Uni. Oxford still has a certain cachet, a cut above yer average redbrick. Looking back on it now, I was amazingly lucky. And then I got my PGCE and that was free too. When I graduated, I did not have thousands of pounds’ worth of student debt hanging over me, unlike many students in the UK in more recent years. As for that perennial topic of English conversation, namely house prices, I think that Claire was absolutely spot on when she wrote about the problems...

Things are a bit dull here in VT. I have had an awful cold for the best part of a week and now Irena has it. I also have to go to the dentist and I am not looking forward to that. That naughty doggie Tina spends a lot of her time looking out of the window, watching the doings of all of the local cats. I had a rather unpleasant confrontation with our Bulgarian neighbour, who does not like it when I park next to his apartment. Usually, I park a bit further down the street, but of course someone else had decided to park there. Good grief! Anyone would think that this part of VT is becoming another town in the UK. Blooming cars everywhere! Well, in the end I could not be bothered to argue with him and so I moved my car about 200 metres along the street. Yes, it is not long to Christmas and the government in the UK seems to giving out a few early prezzies. I t is good to know that my TPS pension will be going up again and so will my State pension, when I finally get it. Here in Bulgaria, th...

Yes, they have finally arrived! The twelve sections of metal fence from PRAKTIKER were delivered today*. We had to make a special trip to Daveri, so that we could accept the delivery. Anyway, we cannot really do anything about this new fence until the spring comes along. I do not actually know what I am doing (what a surprise!) and I have never put up a fence before. But hey, there is a first time for everything. The old wooden fence is about twenty years old, so it has a nasty habit of falling down and then breaking into pieces. What worries me is that of course the fence sections are not going to be exactly the same length as the current old wooden fence. So what are we going to do? Cut one section of fencing, so that it will fit the gap? Or maybe we should build a little bit of extra stone wall at one end, in order to fill in the space. Yes, the Ukrainians have re-taken Kherson, but so far the Russians have not joined up the dots and they do not seem to realize that Putin is a t...

Tina has a new feline friend, a naughty little kitten called Mashka. We have not adopted Mashka. She has adopted us. She arrived at our house in Daveri, making a lot of noise and demanding FOOD. And then some more food. At first, we were terrified that Tina would kill this little kitten, but Tina has calmed down a bit and more or less accepted Mashka. Watching Tina licking Mashka's tummy is rather cute. What else is getting closer? During their long chats on WhatsApp, Mamulichka has told Ira that the war is getting closer. As well as the attack on the bridge linking the Crimea to the mainland. there have been several other attacks. The daughter of Irena's godmother, Tatiana, is an old friend of the family and she is worried about her son and grandson being drafted into the Russian army. Warplanes fly low over the datcha almost every day. Yes, it is all getting closer.

A fter reading the next few sentences, you will probably say, “Well, this just shows that not everything in Bulgaria is perfect after all, Simon!” Things have not been quite so perfect recently because we had a power cut on Wednesday that started about nine in the morning and then the electricity did not come on again until after four in the afternoon. Then exactly the same thing happened yesterday and then again today! Fortunately, the weather has been lovely, so we did lots of work in the garden and my dear wife beat me again at badminton. At lunch time, we have been using our little gas cooker. We bought it for camping, but it certainly has come in useful for the last three days. However, my readers in the UK should not worry and they should not feel that they are missing out on these exciting experiences. I am sure that soon they will be having plenty of power cuts in the UK! Anyway, the pound has lost so much value against the dollar that soon people in the UK will not be able to ...

Yesterday, in the afternoon, I got back from the airport. I think that my brother Andrew really enjoyed his little holiday in Bulgaria. It was the first time he had been here, so it was quite unusual for him. Yes, Andy and I did some of the things that we did when Peter was here, but we also did some new things as well. It was not interesting for me to see Tsaravets, but he really had to see it.  We also went to Emen Canyon and Tryavna, so we could have the excellent Indian meal that poor Peter never had the chance to eat! Savoya Spice is only open for a few days each week. The onion bhajis were particularly good.  Andy also cooked a superb lasagne and we  scoffed that one evening with my friend Adrian.  We also had lunch at a new restaurant in Arbanassi, “The Wine Club”. It is really good and I want to take Irena there. After lunch, we went for an amazing walk with Adrian and Sisi, his doggie, along the cliffs that overlook Veliko Tarnovo. Absolutely incredible view...

Peter took some great photos of our house when he came to stay with us in July. This is a great photo of the "garden side" of the house, with the terrace and patio.  This is a great shot of the front of the house. The old wagon wheels look rather good, I must say.