God it's good to be back home again….

One day Perth…48 hours later, Miladinovtsi.

I only got as far as Turkey when I had my first realisation that I had most definitely done the right thing. I stayed at a place called the Naz Wooden Inn and was completely exhausted when I arrived. After a quick feed, I hit the sack and crashed.  I woke at 6.30 and got ready for my trip to BG,  The guy at reception called me and said I could go and have an early breakfast if I wished…and I did.

I loaded up my plate without so much as a thought about what I was doing..I was too busy gazing at the view of the Marmara Sea. Halfway through I realised that I was tucking into a plate of juicy, tasty tomato, black olives, feta cheese, a boiled egg and a large doorstop of warm crunchy turkish bread smothered in yummy creamy butter……after two years of toast and vegemite, cereal and the odd plate of bacon and eggs, I had slipped straight back into the ‘old ways’. It felt so ‘normal’ and god, it tasted good

Rolled into Miladinovtsi about 6pm last night and felt like I’d never been away. The two years just seem to have melted away. Hristina was there to meet me and a few of my close neighbours came over for a very big hug and an equally big hello.  Am I staying forever ? they asked…I can only hope so

Though I have returned to a site of complete chaos.

Ivan seemed to think that I was supposed to ring him just before I arrived so he could get the water and electricity on at the house.  I thought we had organised this when we spoke a week ago….Ah, I love a language barrier.  Anyway, Hristina turned the water on when she heard I was coming and of course, after the extreme winter they had, a few taps had burst…..so off went the water again ! So first night…no water.

On the way home, I stopped in Burgas to do a little stocking up for the house…..put my card in the machine and noted with great concern that my life savings had turned into 7.76  lev….not quite the largish sum I had transferred a few weeks previous. Tried to contact the bank but was just a little late…so that’s first night, no water and no money.  I wasn’t exactly over the moon at this point, though I was still very happy to be back home.

Ivan came by quite late with my car…and I had to run him back to Tenevo, 30 odd Ks away, where his sheep are kept.  We headed off in the middle of the night only to find half the road missing.  Bulgaria, along with half of Europe had an extremely harsh winter with up to two feet of snow remaining around for a long time.  The roads took an awful hammering and some of them are just unbelievably bad, including the one to Tenevo….so cross country we went !!  bloody hell !!!  I reminded Ivan that I had to drive back to Miladinovtsi and my night vision isn’t exactly great…feeling nervous already.

Anyway, I was glad I went because I got to catch up with Penka and Choko and got the grand tour of all the work Ivan has been doing upgrading his sheep operation.

We drifted into Tenevo and I got to have my first Shropska salad and rakia…Ah, it’s good to be back home.

but too late to pick up my girls…

Tuesday:  It is with great relief that I write this tonight…I found my money !!  It had been transferred into the wrong account…you have no idea how relieved I was when Sneja (Snowdrop…isn’t that a lovely name !! ) at the bank showed me the computer screen showing it was all there…Phew !!

So then it was cleaning of the car, buying a vinyettka ( road tax disc) buying as many dog bones as I could find plus a very large bag of bickies for them and then heading to their temporary home to get them. Good grief, you should see the size of Mia..I shall take some happy snaps of her tomorrow and post them,  but I’m a little concerned about my Gina. Her condition isn’t as good as I would have hoped and clearly I have some work ahead to repad her bones.  She’s certainly not as bad as when I first got her, but she’s way to thin…looks like lots of yoghurt and fresh milk ( and a few special treats) for her to bring her back up to condition…and they both need a damned good bath, which should be very interesting, given that Mia is the size of an elephant !!

And Gina….well, she sulks when I go away and come back and get her, so what did she do today to pay me back for leaving her the last time….she pooed in my car on the way home.  I chastised her for it and she just gave me her most jaundiced look, something she’s very good at, and stuck her head back out the car window and enjoyed the rest of the journey home. She is such an old bitch, so to speak, and she really lets you know just what she’s thinking, especially if things aren’t exactly how she thinks they should be. I have of course forgiven her and she seems to have forgiven me.  Since I got her home and gave her a good feed of biscuits and a nice meaty, juicy bone, she’s been very affectionate…which isn’t really how she is at the best of times. I think  because of her previous ill treatment, she’s a little stand offish, even with me.  Anyway, she’s curled up in the garage just now in a nice soft warm bed of hay…and she looks as happy as Larry…I reckon she knows she’s safe again.

And Mia, my great escapologist, is looking for a way to break out of the garage and go wandering around the village, which is NOT going to happen.  God, the villagers would be terrified of her.  I doubt she would hurt a fly, but she really is very big indeed and that would put the fear of the devil into anyone who might meet her in the street.  I’ve had quite a few ‘mnogo gulam kuche’  (very big dog) comments from my neighbours and friends already. Some can’t believe it’s the same dog that was here 8 months ago.  She’s still the beautiful natured creature she was then AND she still remembers the ‘sit’ command, so there’s hope for well behaved dogs yet…well, one anyway.  I suspect Gina intends to live her life precisely how she wants.  I am but a mere human who loves her and gives her nice things to eat and lots of cuddles.

And the house ??  Well, Hristina, the small guardian angel that watches over me, has been keeping things under control for me and the house was so nice to walk into last night, but it’s still going to have to be a complete strip down…walls, ceilings, drawers, cupboards, floors, the lot. I’ve actually managed to clean one cupboard and two drawers so far ..and yes, I know that doesn’t sound like much but every time I open something or move something I find  another cleaning job that must be done….I think it will be a good month before I’ve washed every surface, every container, every damned thing in the house ! but it will be fabulous when finished. The table in the kitchen had nothing but a vase of flowers on it when I walked in the door…half and hour later, it looked like this…

and that kinda carries through to anywhere I’ve been in the last 24 hours…..but it will all get sorted and maybe, just maybe, it will all be a little less cluttered in the near future.  I am also having a clean out of ‘stuff’ right through the house.  New start, new broom and all that sort of thing  🙂

It’s already late.  I’ve got out of the habit of these wonderful LOOONG spring/summer nights.  It doesn’t get dark until  about 8.30 – 9pm ish , so I was merrily working away thinking the night/day was still young and suddenly it was 10pm and dark and now, I’m hungry, so I shall take my leave and prepare myself for a HUGE day of cleaning…interspersed with moments with my girls.  I still can’t resist them and keep going outside to give them some great big Karakachan hugs…even though they both stink to high heaven  🙂 Not smelling too great myself just now, but tonight I have water !! so a nice long shower is next on the list after dinner….

leka nosht…