Dentist

A couple of days ago I was eating my dinner and had a hard bit in what should have been a soft dinner. I thought it was a piece of filling that had come out, coupled with the fact that when I had a hot or cold drink there was pain in my tooth.
So I plucked up the courage to go and see the dentist.
The night before I went we were in Meggies restaurant and John and Lil our friends were there, Lil said she too had a tooth that required pulling out, but she was too scared to go, so was holding on for as long as she could. I managed to get her to agree to come with me the next day.
Anyway, off we went, Sally went around the corner to Billa a supermarket whilst Lil and I headed off to the dentist.
We had to wait a few minutes while someone else was having treatment, which did not help Lil's nerves. Then it was her turn.........the dentist, Dr. Villie, took a look and said "Ok, it just needs a filling and everything will be fine". Well if Lil was not already sat down, she would have fallen down! She was "made up", total bill was 31 Lev, not even £14, that was with a check up as well!
Then it was my turn, I sat down and told Dr. Villie where the pain had been, she had a good look and said that I had indeed chipped a small piece of tooth off, but it did not require any attention, so she did a check up and everything else was fine. My bill was 6 Lev, £2.70.
I have to say both Lil and I think this must have been our best trip to the dentist ever.

Sally's Bulgarian Cart

Today we see the unvailing of Sally's restored Bulgarian cart.

We call this model a Mark 1, as it has large wooden wheels, the slightly newer ones have car tyres and wheels, but they do not look as nice.

These cart's fetch quite a premium as the locals do not always want to sell them, but Brit's love them. So a cart in good order can cost as much as 300 Lev (£150). We were lucky and got this one much cheaper.

Firstly, it had to be washed down with the jet spray, then taken apart and sanded down with an orbital sander. The colour was an issue, Sally wanted White and Brown, I pointed out the dirt would show more than the paint, so we agreed on Red and Black.

Sally has done this almost all on her own and has done a good job.

It has taken 4 months, but then there was no rush. The flowers do make it look lovely.

Our puppy dog is now 6 months old and is a true Bulgarian dog! She spends most of the day outside and only comes in a few times during the day. This is not how we thought it would be, however she is happy. She even stays out in the garden when we are out. As we leave I tell her to "Guard". I like to think she understands me.

Life is great.

Today is another warm day, the sun is high and the football season has started again. So this afternoon is going to be too hat to be outside, must be OK to watch the footie then!
Life here is as normal, slow, relaxed and freindly. Not so many people around this year as the credit crunch hits Britain. We are seeing some effects over here too, house prices are dropping a little, the smart Bulgarians know they need to reduce the prices, some who are not in any rush to sell are holding out.
There are many other bargins to be had as well, shops here are holding sales, cafe's and restraurants are not so busy as last year.
This credit crunch comes as no big surprise, the boom times could not last forever. If your looking to buy, then NOW is the time to act, do not wait any longer.
I have a very large three bedroomed house with six rooms downstairs and 5340sq metres of land, right on the edge of a lovely village, requiring a samll amount of updating, for 28,000 Euros!!!!!!!!!
How can you go wrong?

Watering time!

In the mornings we have to water the garden, however sometimes you get a little more help than is required.
Check out how Geri our 5 month old German Sheppard puppy assist's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCU2LCsv-Yg

Summertime

The summer is here, and boy do we know it!
A couple of weeks ago we had a lot of thunder and lightening storms, great to look at from the balcony. However we found out that we had a leak in our roof, well it was more like a sieve. We have been here for two winters and no troubles before. Time to call Kahl, he looked at it and took off all the tiles only to find that there were no wooden batons holding the roof tiles in place, so new batons to start with, then he found two places where there was no wood, just tiles keeping the rain at bay!
The roof is now finished, it looks great and hopfully it will last many more years. Kahl and his workers have lovely tans from being up on the roof, maybe I should charge them?
The temperature is now steady at around 33 degress with bright sunshine, so the middle of the day is "indoor" time. Sally is back painting her cart, Geri, the not so small puppy is now a real outdoor dog, chasing anything that comes into her garden including our cat Misty!
Today is market day, we are looking to increase our stock of chickens by another four, this will give us 12 including one cockerell, as we have more people asking us for eggs. It is so nice going out and getting your own fresh eggs. Everyone who comes and stay's with us enjoys doing this "chore".
Must go now, time to work, as it is early and not so hot.

Egg and Bacon night.

We as Brit's take some things for granted, like everyone eats egg and bacon rolls!
Well I have news for you, Bulgarians don't! So when we were down in our local restraurant last week and I mentioned about having one, Meggie and Sasho looked bemused, so I went into the kitchen and made a couple for them to try. They loved it.
I suggested that we had an egg and bacon roll night, they looked at me as if I were mad, "would nanyone come" they asked. So Sally and I made a few phone calls and had 22 people who would come the next evening.
On the night 33 people turned out and we all had a great time, Sasho must be sick at the sight of egg and bacon now. Everyone enjoyed themselves including Meggie and Sasho.
After locking up, Meggie called a friend in Vrliko Tarnovo for a chat, after she had explained her evening, she had to return to the restraunt and make one to take to her friend. She loved it.
Then a few days later we went into the restraunt again only to find Meggie and her two daughters sitting, tucking into an egg and bacon roll each. It's nice to know we can still export something new to Bulgaria.

Geri (puppy) Update

Geri is now 4 months old and has settled in and training us well!

She, I believe, is a true Bulgarian dog, as she likes to spend a lot of time outside in the garden. We used to go out, and come home to a screwed up mat and chewed items in the hallway and even at times some mess! Ugg.

However, for a while now we have been leaving her outside, patrolling the grounds whilst we are away. She likes this, as it does not confine her, we are happy as we do not have the mess to worry about. Not sure how this will work during the winter months though.

Geri has a thing about water, you cannot water the garden with a hose without some "help", she dives right in front of the water and loves getting soaked. So we now have an arrangement with her, I water the plants and she waits until I have finished, then I let her play in the spray.

Both Heidi and Geri sleep indoors at night, in fact these days Hiedi (13 years old) only really goes out to do her "business" and bark at any visitors. She is much happier with Geri outside, as Geri wants to keep kissing her and she does not like it!

Anyway I hope you like the new picture.