And so it came to pass that there was great rejoicing in the land of Pirin in the kingdom of Miladinovtsi. At 12.20 today, every tap that I’d left on in the house sprang into life and verily, great waters flowed…..Hooray !!!
Of course, it waited until I’d trudged through the knee deep snow with 20 litres of water from the community tap before it came on….but who cares…it’s on !!
I was awake at around 5.30 this morning and could hear strange gurgling sounds coming from the bowels of the house. It really did sound like a great big rumbling tummy, and for a moment I felt just a weeny bit optimistic that the house was thawing down. But I didn’t get too excited, as I’d been fooled by some tap gurglings the other night and that had resulted in disappointment. And sure enough, when I eventually got out of bed, the taps were as dry as a dead dingo’s whatsit.
I pushed those fantasies I was having about a nice hot shower out of my mind and headed over the road to get my days supply of water. I just decided to settle in the house for another day and continue nursing this damned cold I’ve got.
At around 12.15 I heard a ‘Psssssttttt’ sound in the house. Not easy to describe the sound of taps bursting into life, but I’m sure you can imagine it. And it was with great glee that I ran around checking that everything was working, nothing had burst this time and that I actually had hot water as well.
I postponed the shower because I figured if things were on the up, I should duck into Yambol and grab some supplies while the going was good. No such luck….this bloody car I purchased from Phil’s mate Stefan, which is supposed to be such a good vehicle, wouldn’t start….again !! It appears to be a ‘fair weather vehicle’ and will only start if the weather is warm and dry, or that’s how it’s looking to me. Not much use if I’m going to remain in this country where the weather isn’t always perfect.
I had a letter to post to America, so decided a walk in the crisp, white snow being bathed by a warm sun would do me a power of good, so off to the poshta I trundled…you do when you’ve got your entire wardrobe on…trundle I mean.
Now, the letter was in an A4 envelope and was to cost me 10lev and 55 stotinki to send. I couldn’t see the value of each stamp that Maria (the new poshta lady) was putting on the envelope, but almost every square inch of it was eventually covered in them. I don’t know if they don’t have high value stamps here or maybe just the Miladinovtsi poshta doesn’t, but I reckon the recipient is going to be stunned when she sees it. A more colourful and decorative letter I’ve never seen before. 🙂
Tried the car once more when I got back to the house, but to no avail….so I just gave it a good kicking (yeah, I know it achieves nothing, but it made me feel good) and headed back inside for that hot shower I’ve been dreaming about for three days.
Before I got to the shower, I got a phone call from my brother Tony. He’s safely back in Australia and just wanted me to know that he was sitting on his balcony, overlooking the ocean and enjoying the warmth of the Australian sun. Humph!!
I wasted no time at all telling him what he was missing over here …NOT !! God, imagine if he hadn’t left when he did….he would have had to go through the whole frozen house, no showers, carting water experience all over again. Once may have been a novelty….twice would have been a right pain the fundimentals for him I think.
Later: Ah…..that’s better. Once again I’ve drained the boiler dry and jesus I feel great. Scrubbed to within an inch of my life….It’s even made my cold seem less yukky.
Now to tackle the ever increasing pile of washing that’s been languishing in the laundry since Sunday. Gotta get to it while the water remains on and the pipes remain unfrozen.
Tonight I’ll try a quick prayer to the gods of motorised transport and see if I can’t get that damned car going tomorrow. Temperatures are due to fall well below freezing again tonight, so I won’t rely on it too much. Oh, and yes, I will be leaving a tap running tonight…just in case.
Tomorrow, Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, I’ll get out and about and see a little more than the inside of my house and the woodshed
Cheers now
mercer
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