4th December 2023

We woke early to a light sprinkling of snow and a frosty morning. By 9 a.m., when we stepped outside for our now customary amble through the village, the snow had already melted. We collected the ever-waggy-tailed Ritya along the way, who happily accompanied us back to the house for some treats and a good ear rub. She stayed with us for most of the day.

The sky was clear and blue from dawn till dusk, which meant the snow quickly vanished everywhere except in the shady spots where the winter sun couldn’t reach. Our first task of the day was to cut down to ground level the trees we had felled a few days earlier, before sawing the trunks into manageable lengths on David’s huge commercial circular saw.

We had salad and chips for lunch and sat in the sun at the front of the house, enjoying its warmth. Ritya watched on, hoping, like all dogs do, for any crumbs to fall, but she was sadly disappointed.

In the afternoon, David battled his way into the field beside the house, cutting back several bushes that were encroaching on the boundary wall. Meanwhile, I prepared a hotpot for the evening and kept the two wood burners, which had been lit earlier, well fed with logs.

Later, I met Milen’s daughter in the lane. She wanted to speak to David, so I fetched him. They spent about an hour at Milen’s discussing the possible sale of the house. Not long after David returned to the field to continue his battle with nature, Vlado appeared. He had been contacted the previous evening about the leaking water pump and had promised to come by. Once again, I fetched David from the field, and the three of us set about removing the faulty piece of machinery.

It had been four years since the pump was last used, so it was no surprise that none of the connections wanted to budge when we tried to remove it from the pump house. We managed to succeed by cutting through a section of plastic pipe that refused to unscrew and by heating a stubborn metal connection with a blowtorch until it finally gave way.

With the pump still connected to its pressure cylinder, we then had to use an angle grinder to cut through the connecting bolts to separate them. Surprisingly, David had a brand-new replacement cylinder, but much of the piping was badly rusted and would need to be replaced before the units could be reinstalled in the pump house. This meant a trip to Sevlievo for spares was necessary.

Vlado used to work at a hydroelectric power plant. The last time I saw him, but today he arrived in a telecom van, so he must have changed jobs. He is a very useful Bulgarian to know; although his English is quite patchy, he is skilled and dependable, a trait that many local tradesmen here seem to lack.

It was getting dark by the time Vlado left, leaving us facing another night without water in the house and all the usual rigmarole that entailed. We had also run out of beer the previous evening, so David made a mercy mission to Dryanovo to avert disaster and replenish our supplies, ensuring the evening would be properly lubricated. By the time he returned, the sausage hotpot was ready and was thoroughly enjoyed, washed down with a Bulgarian ale.

Jamie and Ruth have returned from their trip to Iceland and, judging by the many photos they shared on Messenger, they had a fantastic time.

5th December 2023

Despite agreeing to get up early so we could drive to Sevlievo, we didn’t. It had been a very frosty night, and the sun was already shining when we emerged from the house, promising a lovely day ahead.

We were on the road by 9.30 a.m., and about 40 minutes later, after parking outside a row of shops selling hardware, a helpful passer-by noticed the pipe we were carrying as we locked the car and directed us to the right shop. Within minutes, we had purchased the replacement. Just a couple of doors away, we bought a can of grease to protect the metal parts in the sunken pump house from rusting and to make any future removals easier.

A short walk then took us to A1 Mobile, where we topped up our internet gizmo with another 30 Gb, more than enough for the remainder of our stay before flying back to the UK.

Returning to the car, we drove to Lidl and stocked up on some more essentials, then ate a banitsa before setting off back to Ritya. The scenery along the way was quite stunning under a clear blue sky,  wooded mountain slopes swept past on both sides, and in the distance, we caught glimpses of the snow-capped Shipka range. The area feels wild, with little farming now taking place, and many of the villages we passed looked sad and run down. Not so Ritya, though; despite the 2 km lane leading to it being badly in need of resurfacing, all but two or three of the properties are now lived in or under extensive renovation.

Ritya was waiting for us by the gate when we arrived, and we rewarded her with the leftovers from last night’s hotpot, an out-of-date dog chew, and a slice of bread. During the afternoon, while David set about cutting back more trees and vines that threatened to pull down the boundary walls, I took Ritya for a walk to the village cemetery.

Strangely, the narrow, broken-walled track leading to it at the top of the village was reasonably maintained and easy to walk along, but the graveyard itself was overgrown with shrubs and trees and seemed largely uncared for. I did spot some plastic flowers placed on one grave. I scrambled and squeezed through the rampant growth to read the headstones and gaze at the photographs set into many of them. The most recent burial was a stately-looking gentleman who passed away in 1998.

Leaving the cemetery behind, I followed the track that led away into what was once fields for about 500 metres before retracing my steps, uncertain of where it was taking me. In the distance, I could hear David’s chainsaw and knew he would eventually need help.

Suddenly, we came across the largest goose I have ever seen waddling along the track towards the village. I don’t think the dog had ever seen one before; she seemed stunned and raced past it, turning to stand and look at the creature, and at me, now on the other side. After a few brave barks, which were met with some threatening hisses from the goose, Ritya backed off and passed by. The oversized bird waddled off into the undergrowth, watched by a befuddled canine who refused to come when I called. I carried on, and she caught up with me as I entered the village.

David and I then worked together, cutting and pulling out the greenery from along the wall and fence at the back of the garden until Vlado turned up. He and the electrician worked until dark, fitting the pump and new parts back into the pump house. Meanwhile, I set a bonfire and burned the debris from our earlier thorny battles.

The highlight of the evening was the jacket potato with cheese and baked beans we had for our meal. However, the euphoria of this five-star nosh was soon followed by bitter disappointment when the England women’s football team beat Scotland 6–0, only to discover seconds after the match finished that the Netherlands had beaten Belgium 4–0, denying England top spot in the league and preventing them from entering a Team GB football team in the next Olympics.

6th December 2023

A very cold and foggy morning persisted throughout the day. We spent the morning tidying the garden, burning rubbish, hoovering the rooms, and moving the mountain of tree trunks and branches that had accumulated at the front of the house to the side of the barn, out of the way.

Once again, we sat outside to eat our lunch, a large bread roll filled with cheese, tomato, onion, and relish. It was bitterly cold, so we soon retired indoors to drink warming coffee beside the woodburner, which had been lit first thing that morning. We discussed the remaining jobs and a forecast of snow for Friday and Saturday. Plans were considered to fly home early or to drive to Sofia and stay for a day or two in a hotel. We agreed to monitor the weather carefully over the coming days.

Our friendly village dog, Ritya, joined us in the garden as soon as we emerged after breakfast and remained with us all day until around 3 p.m., when it became too cold to work outside.

Our final task of the day was to try and get the pressure washer working by replacing its leaking fuel line and expansion valve. After fitting the replacements, we struggled to reassemble the machine with cold hands and under gloomy conditions, so it was put away for a warmer, brighter day (maybe).

For the remainder of the day, we continued tidying around the house, just in case we had to make a quick exit to a hotel in Dryanovo or Sofia, as the lane was likely to be blocked by snow.

For our evening meal, we had a frozen ready meal that was supposed to be moussaka, but sadly lacked sufficient aubergines to give it much flavour. David finished his portion, but I left most of mine for the village dog to devour in the morning.

Before we ran out of internet data last week, we watched the first episode of a Netflix series called Pacific; this evening, we watched the second episode.

7th December 2023

It was another cold and foggy day, but we managed to get quite a few things done before the failing light forced us indoors.

Ritya enjoyed her meal of leftover moussaka, supplemented with a slice of bread.

Before our lunch of omelette and chips, we straightened the post carrying the power cable to the barn, which had been bent by falling trees during last week’s snowstorm. We also cut and replaced the missing tile on the roof and, with more difficulty than expected, replaced the guttering downpipe at the back of the barn in front of the house.

Weather-wise, the afternoon was just as miserable as the morning, yet we kept warm by attacking the unruly growth threatening the perimeter wall. There is something deeply satisfying about watching stubborn vegetation go up in flames after it resists being hauled from its spot, fighting back by stabbing and tripping its assailant. By the time darkness fell, only the section at the back of the house remained to be tamed; inevitably, this stretch was the thickest and most thorny.

The evening meal was sausage hotpot, followed by another episode of Pacific.

After checking the seven-day weather forecast, which predicted a couple of days of snow and freezing temperatures, we decided to amend our departure plans. Instead of leaving next Wednesday, we would leave Ritya on Monday and travel to Sofia. We booked a hotel near the airport for a couple of nights to reduce the uncertainty of driving over the mountains. This would also allow us to see a bit of the capital on Tuesday before flying back to the UK on Wednesday afternoon.