Just found this in the frontier times and thought it might make interesting reading

You might, at some time wonder what it is that drove us British, like lemmings, to Bulgaria. Yes, it is a very beautiful country. Yes, the culture and climate are both fascinating and pleasing.

But the truth is, for those of us coming here to retire;
Bulgaria is a very cheap country to live in, in comparison to the rest of Europe. Which is why we are always puzzled on hearing of young Bulgarians wishing to go and work in the UK. Why? Ok, Scottish mountains are just as beautiful as Bulgaria’s. If you pay us enough, we will gladly dance about wearing any dress you choose. An event that regularly takes place in certain areas of Edinburgh at the weekend, so I am told. The weather, well, that is something completely different I have to admit. Sometimes the sun does shine in Britain, but its reporting is usually confused with UFO sightings, such is its rarity.



The problem in the U.K, like Bulgaria, is the relative cost of living. A packet of cigarettes costs around 15 leva, a glass of beer may cost you anything between 7 to 9 leva. If you want to get an impression of how this feels without actually leaving the country, you can always try ordering a round of drinks in Sofia’s new airport. So how do Brits survive I hear you asking. Well some time ago, in the early 1970’s someone produced the credit card, which meant that everyone who was working could afford to buy anything they wanted when they wanted it. Therefore the producers and manufacturers and the taxmen were no longer tied to fixing shop prices exclusively to what people earned, but rather to what people thought they were worth. The result of this was that prices continued to increase while wages, in the interests of keeping national inflation down, remained rather stagnant. Today when people approach retirement age, they are quick to realise that pension funds can barely keep them out of poverty. One solution to the problem is to move to Bulgaria where the British Pound can still buy a life with dignity.



Hindsight is of course a marvelous talent that every politician dreams to have. I am reminded of an incident that allegedly took place almost exactly twenty-five years ago when an economic advisor nervously approached the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and warned her of an impending severe economic downturn. She in turn pointed out to him that all the indicators showed that everybody was happy, industry was booming and unemployment was at an all time low. The advisor then explained a simple fact of life to her, which was, that it had been twenty-five years since the last economic disaster, and that since the dawn of time every twenty-five years there was an economic downturn because the politicians and economists who had previously learned from their initial mistakes had retired. Now there are two distinct groups of people who move here permanently from the UK. The retiree, who is economically enticed to relocate to Bulgaria and life’s adventurers, such as myself, who seek out new challenges rather than letting them find us.



On my second visit to Bulgaria I found myself once again at the bus station in Sofia attempting to identify the words, ‘Veliko Tarnovo’ and then to match them up with departure and arrival times. I already felt a quickening of my pulse at the very thought of being able to return home to Dryanovo. Over and above the general noise of the busy station my ears recoiled from an unmistakably English voice booming at a bewildered ticket sales assistant. I offered to help. He wanted to find a bus going to Veliko Tarnovo. No problem. When we boarded the near empty bus I went to sit at the back, I settled down to catch up on some sleep. I don’t know if it is just me, but whenever I travel by bus or train the ‘crazy’, who usually gets on last, sniffs me out like a heat seeking missile. There are only two forms of defence, one is the really boring book which you can, in an instant deploy and read. The second is to pretend to be sound asleep. The ‘noise’ it appeared had taken my advice. The elderly Englishman moved effortlessly along the corridor of the empty bus, adopting a shark like movement, scanning each empty seat for his prey, as I shrank further and further into my seat. ‘Hello’, he said, ‘my name is Gerry, thanks for your help’, and with that one-sided introduction he sat heavily down beside me.



It takes nearly three hours for a bus to cover the distance between Sofia and Veliko Tarnovo. During this time he told me nearly his entire life story, one that I have now heard countless times since. Somewhere on the journey he actually asked me a question, “what are those women doing standing by the side of the road?”. “Oh”, I replied, suddenly roused from my involuntary coma, “they are waiting for buses, you see public transport here in Bulgaria is so good that all they have to do is stand there and a bus will stop”.



Some weeks later I met Gerry again, this time he was driving a ‘Land Rover Discovery’, because he quickly informed me, it was the best British car ever, and it cost lots of money. I asked him how he was finding retirement in Bulgaria. Completely ignoring my original question he looked at me and said, “These Bulgarian woman are very talented, I saw one of them recently waiting for a bus so I stopped to offer her a lift, I did not understand a word that she said but I think she wanted me to pay her to play the saxophone”. In one of life’s more peculiar twists Gerry and I have become the best of friends.



Between us we broadly represent the majority of British immigrants that arrive in Bulgaria. Collectively we contribute to the general economy. Not simply by buying properties that would otherwise fall down. But also in spending money in employing builders to ceaselessly repair repairs. What we find endlessly amusing is the fact that once something has either fallen, sunk, broken off or blown up, the next maister will always survey the damage and proclaim that his predecessor was obviously a rogue and a scoundrel and that we should have gone to him in the first place. This statement is usually followed by air being sucked in between their teeth and a thoughtful shaking of the head while, like a conjurer, mental financial estimates are drawn out of thin air.



In a recent research survey conducted by the agency for political, marketing and social studies "
Mediana"
revealed that among Bulgarians living abroad, about 8,000 are considering coming back to the country in the near future. No doubt they have come to realise that like in the brothers Grimm fairytale, the grass is not always greener in other fields. The European Community of which Bulgaria is now a part of is a wonderful idea. One single trading block allowing for the free flow of goods and workers. Unfortunately, many countries within the European family look upon Bulgaria as something of a ‘scarecrow’, they fear that overnight the entire population will relocate to either London or Madrid. Here is truth, in the most recent figures available, the Indian community in the U.K, which is the largest immigrant population, in one year sent back to their families in India (a non E.C member) the equivalent of approximately 1,500 million leva. We, as Europeans, have an important choice to make, we either work together as equals or Europe simply will not work at all.

Just found this interesting read and very surprised it has had no reply. I think its very true in general. I will give some views later as a retiree in this country. Yes, basically, the main attraction is the being able to live the rest of my life here with dignity in company with many of our villagers who are not so lucky to be a retiree due to having loads of work to do in order to survive on their pitiful pensions. My story is somewhat different to most who come here to live and I did not have the rosey glasses on but more on that later if anyone is interested.

Hiya oldun your right this post is very interesting I missed it too :oops:and I would say that I can relate to it to some degree although for me I love BG [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I look forward to reading your story and I'm sure others will too :[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]: