I’ve made it…at last…and what a strange first night I had here in Miladinotzi….felt a little like I’d been dropped in from another planet.
Before I came out here, one of the agents guys, Vanko, took me shopping so I could stock up on the basics….things you can eat when you don’t have a kitchen. I’ve stocked up the fridge with the most delicious looking fruit and veges, cheese, bread, yoghurt (which is divine here), plenty of vino, three different salamis (again, divine here..I may become the queen of salamis) and cooked chickens, which they do on huge rotisseries (sic) which are set up in the street and they are unbelievably good…So, no chance of me fading away then 🙂
Got to the house and made sure the water was actually on before I unpacked anything. It was, and boy, was I excited.!!!!
So, that’s me…in the big hoose…..finally.
Basically spent the evening trying to find the bits and pieces I figured I’d need to manage until I get a kitchen…you know the stuff, knives, forks, a cup, a plate, corkscrew (very important), wine glass (even more important)…note the vegemite on the table…very pleased to find that 🙂
Oh, and some bedding. It was all very well getting my bed constructed and getting the mattress on…..but the search for sheets, pillows and a towel was another thing….jesus, I should have followed the movers around and made a detailed list of everything in each box…..
As you know, I have to change all the plugs on my electrical gear…which I’ve been doing as I come across it…and so far it’s been a very successful exercise and everything is working just fine….I’ve got music, I’ve got coffee..who could ask for anything more..
BUT!!! Lesson 1 – never try and change the plug on a phone charger !! I did, and I knew what I was doing was wrong…but I was tired and not thinking straight and forgot that a phone can’t take 240 volts, hence the transformer in the charger……Well, it let me know it wasn’t happy with a loud BOOM !! and a rather bright flash of blue light…..I’ve melted my phone..and I suspect everything in it. I guess I should be grateful it wasn’t me that got zapped and I didn’t blow the fuses in the house…haven’t quite figured out the electrics yet..
And here I am today….no mobile, no landline, no internet and no chance of leaving the house as I’m waiting for a few things to arrive that went missing in the move from Sofia to Miladinovtsi……a small moment of isolation…..
Anyway, by about 7.30 I’d recovered from the big boom and kinda had myself set up, so was able to make a wee bit of dinner and knock the top off a ‘butilka vino’ ……and then I sat back sipping wine, watching a rather lovely, soft sunset
and absorbing the sights and sounds around me…the village bringing in all their animals for the night, the donkeys and carts bringing folk home from wherever they had been working.
There’s a lot of harvesting going on around here just now, (sunflowers, wheat) and about 8.30 a couple of massive harvesters trundled up the road. For the Australians…there’s none of the bans on movement of vehicles when the weather is blisteringly hot here, no fire bans..they just keep on working. I haven’t found out if they suffer from bushfires here..I hope not, because my backyard jungle would go up like a tinderbox….
And water….what a difference that makes….last night I christened the loo and the flushing sound was music to my ears….I christened the shower, and it’s a burster..nice big shower head, lots of pressure and I splashed about in the hand basin…just ‘cos I could…Ah, the simple pleasures in life :o)
I was so excited about having a working loo that I failed to remember the glass house I’m living in when I sat down to christen it……and yep, I dropped my tweeds, turned around to sit down, looked up and was staring straight up the street towards the village centre…in full view of anyone who might happen down the road….I did what I had to do and then sort of slid sideways off the toilet seat onto the floor so I could pull my trousers up without the village seeing my bits…..I also realised at that moment that I couldn’t use the shower either until I’d covered some of the windows…..straight to the boxes for anything that I could use as curtains and just now I have a sheet hanging on one side of the room and an old sarong covering the others……
Jobs To Do….must buy blinds :o)
I eventually trundled of to my bed about 11.30, excited about my first night in my own bed, in my own house……..jumped in, turned off the bedside lamp and lay there gazing out into the night. ..and because 50% of my bedroom is glass I had a clear view of the sky. God, what a sky….it looked like a piece of black velvet that had been splattered with silver paint. There’s no reflective light here, so the sky was just a huge blanket of twinkling stars…..a sight most of us rarely see nowadays, a sight I haven’t seen for years….it was stunning.
I must have lain there for over an hour just looking at the sky and familiarising myself with all those night noises that you hear in a new, strange place……local dogs having a bit of a bark off, house noises I wasn’t used to and the occasional word from a local donkey somewhere in the vicinity…..and then the total and absolute silence………eerie, after living in noisy Leith for nearly seven years….no more sounds of karaoke drifting up from Swanny’s Bar.
It’s not as hot in this house, so last night I even had to pull a doona over myself at some stage…no need for air conditioning here just now…which was nice. I’m much more your open window kinda gal….and I’ve certainly got plenty to choose from.
The day started very early (still dark)with the sound of roosters….first one out of the starting gate was either very young or a bantam, making that strange, high pitched strangulated sound they make. Eventually a few, much more big & butch sounding roosters joined in and the morning chorus was underway. Fortunately, I don’t seem to have any too close by….these cock–a-doodlings were coming from somewhere away in the distance..and I soon dozed off again.
I was re-awakened around 9am by the sounds of Miladinovtsi….geese giving it the best they’ve got, donkeys protesting about anything really, sheep bleating, chickens doing what chickens do……a couple of chooks seem to have adopted me already and are down in the front garden scratching the buggery out of everything……as they do :o)
Had a quiet, contemplative breakfast and then decided to set up my computer….getting a bit old here and figure if I don’t write things down as I experience them, the memories will just disappear….
Just now I’m sitting, typing away, listening to some relaxing classical music and taking the odd moment to gaze out the window at the view from one side of the house….and asking myself, how can I be this lucky ?
Mind you…even paradise has it’s downside…..F***ing Mozzies !!!!! They’re as bad as they are in Australia. Anyone coming to visit, arm yourself with repellent…and anyone coming from Australia, please, please, bring me a stock of Mozzie coils…..
Priorities: get the mozzie net up over my bed & get the house flyscreened.
I’ve received the quote for re-doing the roof and rendering the house…..20,000lvs, (£7,000 approx)which might sound a lot, but when you look at the size and height of the house and take into account that all the tiles have to come off the roof and then be re-layed after the repairs are carried out, and I’ve opted for the smooth render rather than the rough (which is cheaper), AND I want it pale pink, Oh, and all the balconies have to be rendered as well, so I think the quotes OK……I always knew this part of the work would take a large slab of my budget and I’ll just be happy to have it all done.
And for all of you who are saying’ PINK!!! What the hells she thinking of’…remember a lot of buildings in Europe, especially eastern Europe, are various shades of pink….at least I’m going pale and not bright… :o)
Apparently some of you haven’t seen the house, so here it is..and I think it puts the quote into perspective. And imagine it very,very pale pink with black wrought iron ballistrading (sic) on the balconies… :o) ….imagine being the poor sods who have to go to the top and carry out the extensive works, including removing the turret….I’m not going to be able to watch that going on….too scary for me.
I’m currently sitting on the second floor up, gazing out the windows on the front right hand side of the building :o)
Below me, life carries on…I’ve just watched a couple of fellas, look to be in their 50s, helping an man, who looks about 80, into a wheelchair, watched by a little bent old woman of equal age, that I’m assuming is his wife…..and then an even older, even tinier, even more bent over looking woman emerged from the house waving her walking stick and, I’m guessing, offering her advice. They’ve just headed up the road with him…perhaps to the café for a wee Rakia…. :o)
I’d love to take pics of these happenings, but don’t want to intrude on these peoples lives……
OK….enough gazing, time to get on….got some walls that need cleaning down and painting…did I say ‘some walls’ ? Bloody dozens of ‘em, in fact…..first I have to find my painting clobber…another foray into the land of boxes…
