I was over in Bulgaria or most of July looking at what needs doing to a house we bought, its not that bad to do

But...theres a cherry tree, growing out of the pavement going right outside the upstairs window of the house ( so easy to climb up and in....), one of the 2 main branches is over the roof of the house, just touching it, with weight of snow in winter it will press right down on the roof....about 2 inch clearance!, the tiles just under the branch have moved around so it is hitting it (a bit)

To fix the roof its going to have to go, but theres another problem ( or i would just get the chainsaw out and do away with it ! ) , the electric cables down the road run right through it so if i chop, down come the wires

I could climb up close and chop a bit at a time to remove the trunk over the house, but the wires kind of block the way, so im a bit worried about getting fried by them!

How close can i get to the wires, will the electric jump from them or are they insulated , the ones going to the house look possibly insulated but the problem down the road ones look like bare metal?

Is there an easy way to get shut of the tree ( ok...so being Bulgaria its not going to be that easy! ) , all the other trees that used to grow out o the pavement have been chopped down at some point, theres just this one left

Would EON chop it as its damaging there wires? or is it safe to climb near ( about 1/2 a meter ) away from the wires?

dont attempt this on your own. get permission from the mayor , we cut back an overgrown tree which brought a large number of neighbours round to watch this event.
as the wood fell to the floor they scooped it up and left. then a bulgarian told us it was a protected walnut tree oops.

starlite wrote:

then a bulgarian told us it was a protected walnut tree

They take chopping down of trees very seriously! We had to have one removed and a neighbour came round at 02.00 am and quietly removed it branch by branch and slipped away into the night to dispose of the evidence!

I agree with Star, check with the Mayor, he may be able to get the guys that work on the local commune to come and take a look, and if deemed dangerous, remove it for you.

Absolutely right when it comes to this kind of thing always check with the Mayor they are the ones who decides if it can be removed and in some cases may even get it moved for you.

I've had this problem in the past as well..I called the electric company[EVN down this way] and they handled it all. They outrank the mayor and he does what he's told. In the end it cost me 50 leva and a couple of beers for the boys when it was done..and that was for two walnut trees and half as dozen very big plum trees. Total cost was about 55 leva and I ended up with a half a ton of firewood and a tiny mess to clean up later.

Ive just checked and its EVN here as well ( id only glanced at the bills....i thought it was eon! ) , so i might be able to try and contact them about it if i can work out enough Bulgarian, im trying to learn a bit.....

Ive not come accross the mayor yet ....i dont think so anyway! , so many people kept turning up to see what was going on and to ask i they could have some elderflowers for tea before i mowed it all down

i was trimming some branches off a pine tree in the garden by the house and they all told me one after another i could not and should not chop it down ,one man who spoke some english said it was a traditional tree for christmas, in the past the man who lived there had decorated it for local children at christmas many years ago, they seemed happy enough when they found out i liked the pine tree, i just wanted to be able to walk past it!

will666 wrote:

so i might be able to try and contact them about it if i can work out enough Bulgarian, im trying to learn a bit...

Still check with the Mayor, ask for the kmet (кмет) which is Mayor.

Take something with you to show your address and then tell them you have a problem:

"
Имам проблем с едно дърво.Той е в близост до къща и електрически кабели. Можете ли да помогнете, моля?"


If you're not confident speaking, write that down and show it to the Mayor, it's a bit rough and ready, but he/she should get the idea!

If you want to try and speak it (if you don't read and speak Bulgarian), then it goes a bit like this:

Imam problem sus edno durvo (I have a problem with a tree). Toi e vuv blizost do kushta i electricheski kabeli (it is near the house and electric cables). Mozheti li da pomognete, molya (can you help please?).

As I say, it's not brilliant, but you'll certainly get by! Plus. they'll be glad you made the effort.

Chris wrote:

Still check with the Mayor, ask for the kmet (кмет) which is Mayor.
Take something with you to show your address and then tell them you have a problem:
"
Имам проблем с едно дърво.Той е в близост до къща и електрически кабели. Можете ли да помогнете, моля?"

If you're not confident speaking, write that down and show it to the Mayor, it's a bit rough and ready, but he/she should get the idea!
If you want to try and speak it (if you don't read and speak Bulgarian), then it goes a bit like this:
Imam problem sus edno durvo (I have a problem with a tree). Toi e vuv blizost do kushta i electricheski kabeli (it is near the house and electric cables). Mozheti li da pomognete, molya (can you help please?).
As I say, it's not brilliant, but you'll certainly get by! Plus. they'll be glad you made the effort.

Thanks, thats great , i will try that , im back there in 2 weeks for another month or two so i will try and see if i can get it sorted then

Excellent advice from Chris

I got it sorted last September, it was great to watch!

The man over the road speaks fluent english as he works as a doctor, I asked him one morning where I should go to get the tree cut down, he told me were to find the mayors office,
Next day at lunch I hadnt been to the mayor, he came and said he knew I hadnt been to the maayor and said he had asked another man to come to fix the problem
An hour or so later a man who im told is in his 80s came on a bike, with a chainsaw and a carrier bag containing a lemonade bottle of petrol and one of rakia
After offering the rakia round, he got info from us on how much tree to chop down,
He borrowed our ladders, stood on them , drunk some more rakia, he then jumped from the ladder and hung from the tree, shinned up it ( kind of upside down) swung the right way up, started the chainsaw and started chopping bits off from the top down, every now and then he would stop for some more rakia

it was a bit worrying as he stood , one foot on the tree, one on the house roof, right next to the power lines drinking rakia with a chainsaw in his hand!

Result, most of the tree is now gone, its now nowhere near the house about 6 foot tall stump with small branches, it will take years to grow back that high ( someone will probably cut the rest down anyway now! )

He then cut all the wood up into little pieces for the stove and stacked it in the garden

All this and it was the hottest day we had, over 40 degrees C

Asking price 8 Lev , took him about an hour and a half

Your experience of Bulgarian workmen sounds exactly what would happen here. A word with our BG friend "
Bernard"
and he would have someone, albeit maybe not 80 year's of age, but a BG willing to help. They have their own ways of sorting out problems and if you have a BG friend there is no limits to what they will do for you. They have their own version of logic and it has nothing to do with what we are used to in the UK.

But their hearts are in right in the place and they are there to help you. Bless them!!

Bulgarian folk are just like everyone else in that respect..they too, get that warm fuzzy feeling when they know they've helped someone overcome a problem. And it helps you fit in more..because you asked THEM! I can almost see the puffing out of the chests from here.

Thanks for the update, it's really nice when people take the time to come back and talk about the ending and how things got resolved instead of just melting into the background.