Bulgaria with Noodles

I am still not well. The cough has gone onto my chest and I am feeling a bit weak. On the Internet I found these photos of a snowy Veliko Tarnovo and I thought that you might like them. Well, now it is 1st of January, 2025, and a Happy New Year to all readers of my blog. I am still not feeling good and this infection is on my chest.

I have been quite ill for the last ten days. Nothing too serious, just a nasty cough. Gradually I am recovering and beginning to get out and about.

Dear Ben, A voice from the past! Yes, of course I remember you, a nice ginger-haired boy. Weren’t you one of my ace reporters for “The Windlesham Weekly”? Or maybe were you a keen robot-builder? Like you, I was absolutely shocked by Michael Green’s crimes. I just could not believe it. In some ways, I still find it very hard to comprehend that he really is a criminal and he did dreadful things during the time when I was teaching at Windlesham. No one ever said a word to me about “Greenie” that suggested that he was doing what he did. The Maldens, especially Elizabeth-Anne, seemed to think that he was wonderful. Lots of parents even invited Greenie to their homes! My friend Peter was teaching at Windlesham longer than I was and he was the person who told me about how Green was put on trial and ended up in prison. As I understand it, Green has been given two long prison sentences and therefore it is very likely that he will die in prison. As he pleaded his innocence at his trials, it seem...

One of the big advantages of moving back to Veliko Tarnovo from Daveri is that every Wednesday I can go for a walk with the VT Walkers. Most of the VT Walkers are expat Brits, but recently we have also had some Bulgarians coming along as well.  This Wednesday we started at the monastery north of VT, on the Ruse road. It was quite a long walk through woodland then along the top of a cliff. There were some splendid views, mostly of a huge sewage farm.

Today it occurred to me that I have hardly written anything about Veliko Tarnovo, aka VT. It is a lovely, charming and quirky city. As the former capital of Bulgaria, it certainly has some old and rather quaint bits. Not surprisingly, VT has more than its fair share of tourists in the summer months. Dominating the city is Tsaravets, the fortified city up on the hill, with the Yantra River on two sides as a moat. Tsaravets really dates from the Middle Ages, but I suspect that quite a lot of it was rebuilt in more modern times and the chapel on the top is a later addition.   There are some amazing panoramic views from the steps outside the chapel, on top of the hill. I really do not like the wall paintings inside the chapel at the top of Tsaravets, as they are all in depressing blacks and gloomy  browns, with some bearded old men who look as they have not had a hot meal for a month or two. "Welcoming" and "cheerful" are two words that do not apply.     I thou...

The results of the American election were such a shock that for several days I did not want to watch TV or read the BBC and the CNN news on my computer. Then I remembered that I do not live in America, I am not an American, and in fact I live in Bulgaria. At the moment Irena and I are living in a part of Veliko Tarnovo called Assenova, a world away from Washington DC. Located more or less half-way between the two fortresses of Trapezetiya and Tsaravets, the region or district of Assenova is next to the river, close to the old wooden bridge. The bridge is called "Vladishki Most", the bishop's bridge, and it dates back to the Middle Ages. You can find lots of padlocks fixed onto the wires on the bridge, many with red hearts on them, so some people call it "the lovers' bridge".  On a less romantic and more practical note, there are two little houses or towers at the Tsaravets end of the bridge and I think that these used to be tollhouses, as you had to pay a fe...

Back in 1980, Isaac Asimov wrote A Cult of Ignorance . Trump's re-election seems to underline the truth of Asimov's thesis. He wrote: "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." Dear Peter, Well, I was rather hoping for a reply from you that would perhaps be a little longer, more detailed and informative. However, I completely agree with your sentiments. I don't understand how it is possible for the majority of the population in America to have re-elected that scumbag, that liar and fraudster. On the other hand, someone once said to me, "Never underestimate the stupidity of Americans." I mean, Trump becoming President again just about proves it, 100%, and so you do not need any more of those YouTube v...