Bulgaria 09/12
And so the BTK sage continues………found out today that because the phone is in my business name, BTK won’t send my bills to the Miladinovtsi poshta…and I can’t put it in my own name, because I don’t have permanent residency….and it gets better…..I can’t set up a direct debit unless I set up a new business account with a direct debit facility…and no, they won’t take a direct debit from my personal account until I have permanent residency. I have my 12 month residency, but that’s just not enough……sigh…….
So sometime between the 25th and the 30th of each month, I’ll have to go to Yambol and pay the phone bill so I don’t get the phone cut off….again….still, I guess one visit per month to Yambol isn’t too bad….a lot better than every couple of days.
Once I’d sorted the phone bill out, I had a very fruitful day indeed. With my appalling Bulgarian and my ever trusty phrase book, I managed to get a big fat envelope of Australian stamps to the fella at the post office that checks large parcels. If you remember, he collects Australian stamps and was very interested in the ones on the parcel I received from Kate last month. I contacted my old mate Peter Watson, currently MLA for Albany, but previously Post Office Manager, Albany, and he very kindly sent me a veritable swag of Aussie stamps. (thanks Pete, you’re a wee star) Let’s hope the guy in Yambol remembers me and looks kindly on any further large parcels I receive..if indeed I ever do 🙂
I then found the material shop of dreams, and after much ooo-ing and ah-ing, I walked out with metres and metres of the most gorgeous linen fabric..and what am I going to do with 10 metres of fab fabric ? I’m going to cut it into lengths and nail it to the windows in the spare bedrooms so that my guests can have some privacy. In this house of glass, you can feel mighty exposed sometimes, and as I can’t make up my mind what to put on the 5 millions windows in this house, I’m just going to make temporary ‘curtains’…miles of fabric and a box of nails…what more could I possibly need ? Well, some nice bits of ribbony stuff to make curtain ties with…and I got that as well. Oh, and lets not forget the really pretty Christmas table centre piece…got one of those as well. Though I was a bit sad to see that it was made in China and not in Bulgaria….still, it’ll look grand on the Christmas table.
All this set me back a grand total on 105 levs……
By the way, just in case you’re getting too relaxed about Christmas…..it’s only 15 days away !!!!! 🙂
As always, I took a trip to my favourite market place…..when the world is a pain in the arse, all I need is a vist there. I only went there for eggs and came away with a pile of other stuff…I just can’t help myself 🙂
I got a mountain of Christmas decorations…but not for me this time. I’ve making some doorway decorations. I’m going to give one to to Bill and Leslie so they’ll have some Christmas cheer in their rental property and one for my neighbour Christina, because she’s so good to me all the time…….I just hope that Bulgarians decorate their houses for Christmas and I wont be committing some terrible faux pas.
And I got a length of chain, which was needed to hold the shower rail up…and now I have a shower curtain…hooray !!!
Now, this may not seem much to you, but after four months of wet floors, this will be heaven…especially with the weather turning a wee bit cooler.
No more rivers running through the bathroom….. 🙂
As Christmas draws ever closer, I still haven’t found a leg of ham and though I’m told they’re ‘everywhere’ I’m just not spotting them, no matter how hard I search.
I looked for the words in my phrase book…leg is ‘krak’ and ham is ‘shunka’, but will that work if I go into a shop and ask.? I thought about going to a butchers, patting myself on the thigh and asking for ‘shunka’….but I’m a fairly substantial woman, and I’m a bit concerned that they might fling me on the butchers block and carve me up!! Mind you, back in the old days, the New Guineans used to call us ‘long pig’, so maybe a leg of ham and a leg of man is more than similar. 🙂
Called in to see Doncho…not about my cupboards and shelving, but to buy a mirror. There’s none in the house and I have to stop going out looking like I’ve been dragged backwards through a hedge. The good news….he has my wardrobe, chest of drawers and bedside cabinet sitting in his workshop AND he tells me he’ll be out here next week with the shelving and bookcase…should I get excited ?????
Got home, and bugger me, if I don’t have some roof tiles on the over specified shed….it’s starting to take shape. Perhaps I should risk it and order some more wood…or would that be plain stupid??
God, between the shelves and the tiles, the excitement is almost too much for this old girl 🙂
Time for my bed…tomorrow I have to tackle miles of fabric with a large pair of scissors and hope I don’t make a dogs breakfast of it..
Leka nosht
Mercer
Sue Mercer,
Bulgaria 2005
©
