Well this trip was to see how the builder was getting on with the work that we had talked about on my last visit, and then let him go onto phase two for my arrival in September, however things have not gone to plan! I had asked Bobbie the builder for a price on work for the house, and I wanted it split into each floor, so I could say start ground floor etc. Well Kristina sent the quote and of course it was not split, and I am not the best at maths but he wanted to level 100 sq m of floor and put 120 sq m of tiles on, even looking at wastage where the hell did 20 sq m come from? My house is 200 sq m over three floors, so if I have 120 sq m on the ground floor that only leaves 80 sq m for the top floors and as they are about the same size, how can this be? He even put down the price of my tiles which I think was very good as I have not picked them! I had asked him to replace any broken windows (about 2) and install glass on top floor, he came back with a quote for 44 panes of glass, and I don’t have that many windows in the whole house!

I sent a mail back to the agents with my concerns and with a list of items I wanted doing, back came the reply Bob the builder will not just do part of the quote. I wont knock him for this stance as everyone is entitled to a point of view, I hope he understands my view that its not the builder who decides what work will be done on the house, but the person who pays the bills and as that’s me, he is sacked!

This has now put me in deep shit, but ok things have to be overcome, I do know a builder in the village but as I don’t know him or his work I would have to be on site, but what is the point of paying and looking at a builder work? I may as well do most of the work myself! My plan for the house has been torn up and a new plan is now forming. The one thing about Bob the builder is I did trust him and would have had no problems with him knocking down walls with me not there, however I know nothing about wall supports so even if I was on site I would not know if the builder was doing the right thing, so wall knocking down is out!

My one big concern is the placement of a loo, the ground floor is sorted but upstairs is the problem, that side of the house has a very low roof and the waste pipe from the loo to the down drain pipe would be about 5 to 6ft due to head room, that in my mind is too far so if I don’t come up with a solution I will have to put one in a room on the 2nd floor and box it in.

Another problem I had was I put some money into my GCEN account and was waiting till the rate was higher before transfer to my BG bank. It got higher a few days before travel, so I rang them to transfer it but was then told the minimum amount was now £10,000, I asked for my money to be returned, and at this point they are being very slow. I did draw some money out of my UK account and took it over to change in the BG bank, and I must say they gave a very good rate, that is the way I will be doing things from now on.

On this trip I asked Ann my ex if she would like to visit the house as she likes a nose. I booked the flights with Lufthansa again as I like them and the price was ok, I was flying from Heathrow and she was going from Manchester, with us meeting in Düsseldorf for the flight to Sofia. I also got my National Express bus from Luton at 4.40 am! The bus is nice and comfy and I would have no problems about using them to travel in the UK it’s a shame they don’t go to BG. On this trip I was carrying my normal suitcase full of items for the house, but in my hand luggage I had bought a dinner service and had my coffee pot, milk jug and sugar bowl and lead crystal glass, so I had to be careful with it.

I arrive in Germany with no sign of Ann and she should have got in before me, I asked at the desk if the flight had arrived and was told I don’t know, well thank you Mrs Herman for the help!

Off I go to the cafe for a coffee and smoke, time is getting on and Ann has not passed me, I go back in past passport control and still no sign of her I would have phoned her but she had left her mobile at home, so I asked Mr Herman if it had landed  yes he says and that was a while ago, I look around the terminal still no sign! I then get a thought she has gone to collect her case so I go out of the airport to try and find her. She is not at the baggage collection so I have to make my way out into the airport and I cant see a sign for getting back into the airport, I ask a few unhelpful staff how I get back in, but eventually I stumble across the security and I am behind a woman who is messing about with liquids, its a bit like going to a supermarket and you pick the smallest line and you always get a person before  you who has nothing better to do than fart around. Off I go past passport control again, they must think a lot of English people look like me, down to the gate and there is Ann in the line with everyone starting to board. She did tell me she had been in the loo so that’s when I must have missed her!

We get on the plane only to be held up by a French woman who had problems with numbers, after a while things are sorted, I put my bag in the locker and then find I am sat next to this woman, who has put a large bag where my feet go, and she was surprised that I wanted her to move it. We are now both pissed off with each other, but I don’t understand why she is pissed off with me as she is the one who is stupid. French people should only be allowed to fly on Air France as I don’t use them!

I get into my seat and fall asleep, I wake up a little later to find a guy sat next to me, Ann later told me they had been playing musical chairs after I was asleep. I had been awake for a few moments when they started passing the meals around, well I opened it and found ravioli with like a green mould inside, the World is  turning into a veggie state, I have not got to the top of the food chain to eat grass and a person has spent time and money cooking this crap, but why? What should veggie people do for meals on a plane? Do what I do and don’t eat.

I had arranged a car hire from Sofia as Ann is not very good on a bus and the train takes an age, they are to meet me by arrivals with a sign with my name on, sure they are! Well I pop outside for a smoke or two, go back in read all the signs they are still not about, so I phone them and this guy is stood by the car hire boxes waving at me, but ok least he is here. We go through all the official stuff and he explains the insurance and what I am not covered for, by the time he has ended his speech I think I am only covered for Stalin coming back to life and falling on my car. Off we go to check out the car he goes around pointing out all the dents and marks, after a while I told him it may be good if he wrote them on his damage chart also.

We head off onto the road and I am pleased I have booked a car with aircon as the heat was bad for driving. I had been looking for a map like tomtom for my PDA of BG, but had not been able to find one I did manage to find a very basic one for £2 on the net and to a point it did the job, but to get good detail of how to get out of Sofia it was down to a road map. I don’t know how but we seemed to get onto the ring road the wrong way and it seemed to go on and on. Ann pointed out the 16 lead onto the E79, and that was the next turn off and we are both getting fed up on this ring road. I must say its a very nice route but it twists and turns, and they are doing repairs to it, they have dug the holes ready to put the road surface in, the only thing was it had so many repairs it was just as bad driving on a potholed road. Why they don’t dig a hole then fill it in shortly after I don’t know.

We are driving for a while and spot a cafe so stop for a drink and a bite. Ann decides its her loo time, so we ask where the loo is and they point to a shack up the road, after a while she comes back a little distressed and tells me in graphic detail about this loo. The smell, object on the floor, fly’s you name it this loo had it! Anyways after countless wet wipes everything gets back to normal. After a while I think its time to go the loo, off I go looking forward to my expedition I arrive at the gents and everything Ann told me about was in this loo. When I got back I asked her which loo she had used, and it turns out she used the gents! I can’t see the ladies smelling much better but it may have been cleaner. It may explain why a customer came out of the cafe and had a pee in the stream.

Along the route lots of people sit outside the house by the road selling honey and jam, some villages had everyone doing it, what I cannot understand is who they are selling too as it was very rare to pass a car, and if you did pull up to buy off one what would the other people do, you may have a riot on your hands.

We get to the house and no sign of Mr Aqua which is not normal, after my last visit I had a letter drawn up by a mate in BG, I wont bore you with the full details, however it said if I pay you to do work for me I expect it to be done well and if you keep nicking my water I will kick your arse around the village, however when I got into the house all the walls had been cleared of paper and all cleared up, so I did not give him the letter. I got the cases into the house. I gave Ann a look around the garden and house, in the garden we found an old battered old bucket on a bit of string tied to the well, so a new bucket and rope is on the shopping list. As we were leaving Mr Aqua  turns up on his bike, he must be working as he had a packet of fags, and told him we would be back tomorrow, and it was getting late we needed to dine and book into the hotel.

After the meal we drove to the hotel and its getting late as we enter the hotel the girl behind the desk tells us we have not booked and they have no rooms, I did lose it a little I was going to get the whole EU after them :) But anyway such is life! We drive around the town looking for one, I go into one and ask for a room I was told they have one but no aircon, well ok so its here or the car!

The hotel Boninia was clean but hot. The lift holds a maximum of 4 people, so says the sign, it was more like getting into a small shower cubical and I suppose a very sociable lift. As its late time for bed. The next morning I got to thinking if they have a room with aircon we may as well stay here, thankfully they had so that’s the hotel sorted.

Today was to be an easy day shopping! But first we visit the agent who told me they had not had a mail from me for a while! I then explained that the hotel was not booked and Kristina said I had not asked for one, I now doubt myself as I had no firm evidence with me that I had. Back in the UK I looked at my mails from Kristina and on one from May it says your hotel is booked, but not much point in making a fuss now, but Kristina you owe me one :) The agents also had a light I had bought for Bob the builder to take to the house, but as he is now sacked was still in the office. Nick told me next time I am over he would sort another builder for me, but what I wanted to do on this trip was put my windows in and fill some cracks in the plaster work. Kristina took us around to show me where to get my BG sim card and some putty. Ok I will let her off for messing up my hotel now!

This space is reserved for Ann by the Danube photo when she sends it!

I was told in the shop that I could use putty which cracks or go with a silicon sealant but that would need a very good clean of the window area, now as I only want to spend a day at the most putting in glass it had to be the putty. It’s the same with the cracks in the wall I did not want to spend a lot of time mixing the filler so wanted a ready mixed one. I did see some gas containers in the shop and asked if they do bigger ones for my heating and was told they would be able to get me some larger ones, which is good news.

It was early morning and very hot, so we pop off to buy an ice cream, which is just by the bank, my next port of call! I waited and waited, then it was my turn I wanted to change all my Euro account into lev, change some UK pounds into Lev and take some money out, simple I hear you say! Well I suppose it is but you wait, wait and wait a little more then you get to sign a mass of paper work, then you go and wait by the cashier. I walked out of the bank in a semi coma, I was going to ask for a bank card but thought better of it, better to leave that till I have six months spare!

We wonder around the market and shops, I was looking out for tiles and any others bits and bobs I needed and Michelle wanted her Mum to get some big sun glasses, why she wants them in the UK I don’t know as we don’t get much sun!

A few hours later we stop off for a bite to eat, BG cakes look very nice but I find them very dry and crap. Later on we find a cafe so Ann can have a bite to eat and I can get a drink, and she had a few stray cats hanging about waiting for tit bits.

The days shopping had gone ok, I had my new shiny bucket and rope for my well, a few bits and bobs for the house. I had looked for a strimmer to keep the grass down, the petrol one which I needed I found expensive and to have a electric one I would need a long extension cable, and the last thing I need is a cable that will reach from my house to Mr Aqua's house. I was also on the lookout for a chainsaw but again was a little on the expensive side.

We got back to the hotel mid afternoon, I was hot and tired and in no mood to go the house, they had the new room ready with aircon and it was wonderful, and I was asleep in second’s zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Tonight we are going to the best restaurant in Vidin, which is right next to the hotel! We met a lady called Maya and her daughter Tsvete two very nice people. Maya don’t speak English so her daughter translated, only thing was she did not understand my English, perhaps I had better go and learn some! Strange as it may seem the more wine she drank the better she understood me :) They both helped us with the menu and recommended the chicken. I am not a lover of chicken but ok go with the locals!  The conversation with the waitress was as follows

Ok we will have bread,

No bread but we have toast,

Ok we will have toast

Chips please

No chips

Tomato

Yes we have that

The chicken arrives followed half an hour later by the toast, this is the first time I have heard stale bread called toast before, it was white I even tried to brown some of it with my lighter. As we now had a big bowl of tomatoes and seeing how everyone else  was waiting for meals I offered them around, and got chatting to an English couple who also joined us, I gave them the brits in Bulgaria addy and my web site, so if your reading this, get your arse in gear and get on line!

I don’t think Maya was happy with the restaurant and maybe having words with people she knows. What could have been a disaster night was more than made up by the company, so much so they joined us for dinner the next two nights of our stay.

Maya & Tsvete

Friday is working day on the house, I want to put glass in the windows and fill some cracks in the walls. We drove to the local big DIY store, I can’t remember if it was Praktiker or Praktis as they both sound the same but anyway you can find both on the net www.praktis-bg.com/  and  www.praktiker.bg/praktikerinternational/html/en/. I wanted tennon saw, tennon saw jig, beading for glass, a big tub of wall filler, trowels and anything else I could spot that would be useful.

The shop itself is small by UK standards but in Vidin it’s a large one! The shop is nice and very European in style. I had a look around and they had a good selection of flooring and tiles but none that caught my eye. We wanted wall filler but every tub I looked at was in Bulgarian, as luck would have it Nick from the agents came in, ok his English is not good but he did know I was looking for wall filler, so he tells the assistant what I need the assistant hands me a medium sized tub thinking well I may as well get a bit more so I grab the last two tubs. My troubles started when I wanted to buy a sander and a jigsaw, the assistant disappears into the back, I think he may have mixed up my order and was looking for the Holy Grail and the time he was away he might well have found it! Ok but he is back now and he then decides its time to fart around with the guarantee as it must be filled in and stamped, I am handed a bit of paper for collection from the till in case I steal them.

This day I must have been a glutton for punishment, I had spotted a toilet at a good price and asked the assistant for two, off he goes again and in a short while he came back and said he only had two! Well that’s ok as I only wanted two, he then told us to wait by the till, well we waited and waited, we are then told everything is ok, we got behind a small line of people with one or two things to pay for, we had a small trolley with bits and bobs in. The line moved down very slowly and we are met by two assistants on one till, one reads the barcode the other types it into the till, then they double check it and every now and then they would use the barcode reader that was on the desk! It was like watching paint dry, the line of people was now reaching the back of the shop, and people are now walking out of the shop!

I can’t remember much more as by now my mind had gone numb, but we must have got out of the shop with an assistant following with two toilets! Time was now getting on so my trip back into town for glass was fast going out of the window, plus I had no beading anyway, so ok I could at least measure up for my next trip, and get the cracks filled.

We get to the house and take a few things inside, next thing we hear Mr Aqua shouting problem, well least this time it don’t involve water. He takes us outside over to the side of the barn where I have a row of shelters and shows me some rotten wood on the roof part, well thanks for showing me that but I don’t care if that and the barn fall down! We get back into the house and he spots some empty plastic beer bottles on the floor that he must have had while scraping the walls, Mr Tidy picks them up goes to the door and throws them into my garden! Well thank you very bloody much for that.

I show Ann around down stairs as she has only seen the top two floors, of course with him in tow! As I was showing her around he wanted my old sink unit, why the hell he wanted it I don’t know, it was falling to bits, every hinge had rust on and I would have been ashamed to put it in a council dump back home, but if he wants it he can have it.

You may remember that I have no address in the village, so one day whilst looking at ebay I found my street name, Ann had brought it over with her and I had got my winter shopping hat, so outside we go to take a photo.

 OK I know I need to lose weight

Well Mr Aqua is looking at me as I have lost it big time, but at least I now have an address even if it’s just outside my house. Mr Aqua did know Anfield is the home of Liverpool football club, so he must be interested in football! I wonder if he is a manc supporter because my sign will get him well pissed off :)

We go inside and open the pots of wall filler, well even after a stir it’s like paint! You would have to pour it in the cracks, well we both had a sniff and this was not paint, we did try and fill a few small cracks but it was a total waste of time. Ann decided it was cleaning time so she starts getting all the old bedding, coats and shoes that was laying around, I tell her anything that would do as a dust sheet to keep. I then head outside to fit my new bucket and rope to my well. Mr Aqua gets to the well shortly after, and its a good job as I was going to let the old bucket go down to get some water for my grapes, the thing I did not think of was the handle at my side, which would have given me one hell of a smack on my head, well maybe it would improve things. He takes over as he always likes to do and we get his old bucket off and my new one on. He starts to panic when I head down the garden with his old bucket to water my grapes, he must think I am going to steal it, but all five of my vines get a bucket of water each.

We get back inside and I take him downstairs to clear it out, we grab the cooker as I don’t want him cooking his meals in my place, and of course use my electric! Next was the sink unit we got it broken down only to reveal a concrete plinth under it, I did hope it would be a flat floor, but a little more work to do now. We then start on the furniture on the middle floor, and it’s all going over his fence! The beds I am going to sand down, but they had some old rusty springs, so I took them out and of course they go over his fence, I think I will have to call him Steptoe from now on.

The day was bloody hot so a trip to the bar is called for, and Ann wanted some nail varnish remover from the shop, but since most of the village have one foot in the grave I don’t think it will be a top selling item. We do manage to buy a sweeping brush so Ann is now in her element. I go off to measure the windows and do you know, not one bloody window is the same size! As I look at the windows on the middle floor I find also every pane of glass is just held in by panel pins. I get back to the living room and Mr Aqua starts shouting problem and pointing to an old carpet on the floor, seems I had dropped some wall filler on it, I don’t think this guy has a clue what the house is going to look like once its all done, or if he has even seen inside Western European house.

We get ready to leave as Ann is leaving little puddles everywhere, as the sweat drips out of her marigolds. I open one of the toilets and give Mr Aqua the loo seat out of it, but he tells me I need it for the toilet, I get my solid pine ones that I got back in the UK, so he is now happy to accept it. We pop down the cafe for a drink before the drive back to Vidin, and the most important job of the day! Ann’s nails have changed colour with the marigolds so we need nail varnish remover as she will not go out looking like a bag of shite with dirty nails!

Off we go looking around town, one shop that looks like it will sell it don’t, but I spot a chemist over the road. We enter and spot the nail varnish remover very quickly as that’s what is written on the bottle, shame they don’t do that with wall filler! Being served was two oldish Herman’s and they are taking forever, turns out they are giving Euros and want the change in Euros, but they don’t have Euros in the shop to give as change they only have Lev, which is not hard to understand as this is Bulgaria and they use Lev not bloody toy town Euros. The Herman’s leave without anything, but the shop don’t sell nail brushes. Back over the road we go and ask in the first shop, but no they don’t sell them also, as Ann try’s to convince them they should, I go outside and spot a big scrubbing brush that will do she says and goes into the shop to pay for it, well they thought she was total nuts by this point, but at least we had nail varnish remover and a nail brush.

Saturday was tourist day I had planned a trip to the mountains to a place called Belogradchik its about 8 miles from my house, we had invited Maya and Tsvete to join us and as we were passing the house we called in to show them. Mr Aqua turns up and starts talking to Tsvete in Spanish and the poor girl aint got a clue what he is talking about, so she tells him to talk in Bulgarian! But then again he talks to me in Spanish and I aint got a clue what he is saying. After a tour of the house Maya asks to see the garden as she told me she would do it for me, that is until she sees the bloody size of it! We head back and seem to have a little party going on, on the outside stairs as a few village people turn up and everyone is chatting and showing photos, after a while the village people head off as it must be time to practise YMCA, and I have to give Mr Aqua some work. In Bulgaria if you don’t or can’t work you don’t eat, the state don’t give you a few Lev to get by.

As we passed the well Maya was not very happy and I don’t know if she was telling me off or Mr Aqua, but there is no cover on the well and people may fall down it! My view is very simple if you don’t come into my garden you will not fall down the well, but its on the back burner as a should do. I want Mr Aqua to knock some outbuildings down, clean the barn out, knock part of the barn down and mend a fence. I want building material to be put in neat piles like bricks and tiles, rubbish that will burn in one pile and rubbish that won’t in another. Is that simple or what? Mr Aqua who’s name is Benny is asking where should he put the piles, well I only have about 1800 sq m of land so it must have been hard, maybe I need a bigger garden!  I said it would take 10 days he said 15 but we agree on 13, I pay him 260 lev as its 20 Lev a day (£7) Maya is not very happy with this and says I should pay him 15 lev and get him to work 12 hours a day! Well maybe I have found a Project Manager. He did tell her that I was a nice guy, but he was told I have my nasty side also and if he wanted to find out what that was just don’t do the job properly.

Anyway time is moving on and we still have to get to Belogradchik, it’s a very nice little village that sits next to the forest and the wind contoured mountains, very peaceful and worth a visit if you’re near

Belogradchick

Sunday we drive back to Sofia but this time take the correct road. We get back to the airport half an hour after we said we would and the hire man was not very happy, even if was still paid for, for another two hours. Anyway this is Bulgaria he is lucky I came back on the right day, he did get his ears tickled by me and soon shut up.

Everything was going smoothly till my flight to Heathrow, we all got on board and it was empty, the driver comes on the radio and tells us we are holding as the plane from Moscow is late. A little later they all pile on and the woman who is going to sit in the opposite aisle is having problems with numbers, this is now becoming an epidemic, why has Tony not been telling the World about this and how it should be taught in every school worldwide!

Anyway they all get sorted and I notice a young 20 year old Boris fast approaching me, I am sat on the outside with a Herman woman with attitude next to me and the window seat is his. Boris now thinks it would be good to climb over the two of us to his seat, strange as it may seem I don’t, I have to push this nut back and tell him how would he like me to climb over him! I did hear some personal headsets in the distance sounds like spoons clinking, but they soon stopped and very lucky for them it did.

My next trip in September is the big one, as I am driving over to Bulgaria, so hope you will excuse me while I sort my car out.