Getting ready to go back to Bulgaria

This is what I miss when I'm in the UK  , in Bulgaria views like this are everywhere, this is about 2 mile from Vetren on the road between Yulievo and Maglizh, Sunflower fields are everywhere, with the Balkan mountains in the distance. Temperatures on this day were close to 40C, the thing about when I am in Bulgaria is that I miss nothing about the UK

 This is the house lizard....not from one of my houses, it lives at the one I rented in Yulievo, It seemed to live on the wall outside the house and given a chance its inside through the window or door like a flash causing mayhem, At the house in Vetren I've seen no lizards at all, plenty of snakes.....but no lizards

I'm back in the UK now, and I have spent the last few days getting ready for a trade show in the UK so not much time for planning the return trip, I know its probably next week but could be next weekend...., I don't plan much ahead! , I tend to suddenly decide to go and book a ferry online on the cheapest crossing.

I'm trying to decide on what to take with me, last time I took a lot of tools with me but this time I think I will go to somewhere in Bulgaria like Mr Bricolage for a strimmer and similar items , I'm taking a rotorvator over I just haven't decided which rotorvator....mine here is a bit small so I might get a bigger one.... I must make a decision soon as I need it delivered before I leave!

The plan is on this trip is to get as much done as possible.....I`m planning the next trip to get it ready to live in over Christmas so insulation will be going in as well,

The roof although it looks bad in some places dotted with stones to hold slates on etc...it doesn't leak but will be re tiled next year when its dry ( and ive read up a bit more on doing it!) , this year i plan to sort out the few tiles that have slipped, before the winter, I have checked the roof and the main structure is fine, the wood has no rot and shows no damp even in the rain, rock hard wood that looks like oak is used for the beams.

Ive had someone check it all out for me and structurally its fine

The tree next on the road next to the house has to go....or needs serious chopping at least as its banging on the roof and knocking tiles off, i need to get permission to chop it, i may just trim some off for now...but its close to the main electricity wires so I'm not happy doing it myself.

Rendering is being repaired.....I should redo it all with new render all over but most of it is sound and has no hollow sound when tapped so for this year ( and for practise rendering! ) I will render the gaps and then give it a coating over the top with a plaster flicker gun I've just had it delivered this morning...

Window frames will have to come out and be sanded and coated with linseed oil based paint ( colour or clear...probably clear ) , new glass , and an internal set of windows fitted to give old fashioned double glazing, along with a set of mesh fly screens

All the electrics are to be re done, its the wires all over the outside that have damaged the rendering, I will do the electrics as I've done it before, I'm going to get it checked over before I use it!

The inside is to be stripped and painted, new kitchen and bathroom, wooden floors sanded, concrete floor tiled and the tilled floors re grouted and cleaned

Loads more things also to do, but I only have around a month in Bulgaria and I`m also supposed to be doing some work on the machines in the factory  , then its back to the UK again...I'm trying for 1 month UK, one Bulgaria and so on,

Ive been back in the UK for about a month and a half and I feel it really is time to go back, in the UK I live in Liverpool near the city center....so noisy and busy, no wonder i want to go back to Bulgaria

This is the view looking down the road at the Balkan mountains, this is the land the village goats and other animals go to every day to graze

Another view taken from the end of the road, about 30 seconds walk away

This is what we had nearly 2000sqm of growing in the garden. It took some time with the brush cutter to chop it down and it will probably come back its Southern European elder....not as bad as ground elder but still hard to kill, I don't want that much elder, some is fine , 2000sqm not a chance!

The garden after a rough chopping with the brush cutter

Another view of the garden, weed stack in the center after cleaning the elder up a bit, Balkan mountains in the distance, when the elder comes back I think it may need weed killer iof some sort, probably vingegar, something I've never used ( weedkiller or vinegar! ) but this may need it once to get shut of 20 years of weed growth

Some fruit from the market in Maglizh, about 10 minutes drive away, fruit in season is very cheap here and tastes so much better than in the UK, all the fresh food tasted better.

A local Roma `village` near Maglizh our local town, about 20 Km away

Lake Zhrebchevo

The drive takes about 20 minutes from Vetren to lake Zhrebchevo , I have a video of the mountain road the GPS took me on to get back, much slower than the other route but more fun and better scenery.

http://youtu.be/Yfia2AVyN_c

Its all this that makes me want to go back, once the factory is running full time I intend to try and move most of the year to Bulgaria.