8th October 2013  A glorious sunny day, fit for shorts and T-shirts. We didn’t surface until 9 am, and with only a few forlorn grains left in the coffee jar, our “morning brew” ended up being mostly life-giving honey with a whisper of caffeine. By around 11 am (scandalous by our usual standards), we finally… Continue Reading

7th October 2013 Another bright, frosty start to the day. Woke at 8 am, revived myself with a strong coffee, and took Banjo for his customary trot down the lane. On our way back, we bumped into Mark from across the way, striding out on his morning constitutional. We exchanged a few words about the… Continue Reading

6th October 2013 We woke late to a morning of frost and bright sunshine, a welcome change from the usual gloom. After a strong coffee to shake off the chill, we managed to coax our now thoroughly wheezy car into action and headed into Dryanovo. First stop: the garage, where David was due to pick… Continue Reading

5th October 2013 Another bitterly cold day, but with supplies running dangerously low, we had a mission to Sevlievo. Work clothes were reluctantly swapped for something clean, warm, and only slightly wrinkled, almost like going on holiday, if your idea of a holiday includes dodging potholes and negotiating for wood. The journey was grey and… Continue Reading

4th October 2013 A cold but mercifully dry day greeted us, merciful in that it hadn’t turned the garden into a quagmire overnight. We spent the morning securing the last two supporting pillars under the sagging beams of the pool barn. Miraculously, all went off without a hitch: the car jack behaved like a champion,… Continue Reading

3rd October 2013  Another delightfully grim, rainy day greeted us, reliable as the Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace. In the morning, it was back to the loft, where I set about laying insulation in one of the side sections. Naturally, this involved first clearing rubble, filling a few overly ambitious sossal holes, and then covering… Continue Reading

2nd October 2013 We woke to a cold, dank, miserable morning that just begged us to stay under the covers. After a cautious check of the loft for any leaks, given the downpour overnight, we found it was as dry as an Arab’s tent. David put on his “sun hat” (a beanie, given the lack… Continue Reading

1st October 2013  The day was, in every sense, a washout. It rained when we woke, it rained while we ate, and it was still raining when we finally gave up and crawled into bed. Not the sort of hearty downpour that feels almost cleansing, mind you. No, this was the dreary drizzle sort, accompanied… Continue Reading