First topic message reminder :

Hello all from here in UK where I am adapting to life back in Britain. The longer I am here the more I realise how much I have learnt living in Bulgaria. The so-called poverty stricken and old-fashioned ways of village life are have been a good lesson for me. It astounds me how spoilt people in Britain seem to be and how they moan about being financially strapped for cash. Every new gadget seems to be essential and cooking now means filling the store cupboard with exotic herbs and spices that the family will probably not like ever again. I can easily live on my pension if I shop around and being happy with caravan life which seems to be the cheapest way to have a roof over your head, bills are no problem.

I don't understand why so many Brits insist on turning their new Bulgarian home and garden into little England. Watch and learn the Bulgarian ways and stress levels will drop. Why shop around for hours trying (and probably not succeeding) in finding something which is not on the Bulgarian wish-list? Why go to live abroad anyway if you can't adapt and integrate. The benefits of learning and adapting to a new life far outweigh the disadvantages of not having all British mod cons.

Of course I am generalising and if people get a buzz out of overcoming problems the British way, good luck to them. I should mention that I arrived in Bulgaria having lived in a very primitive Greek ruin with no inside toilet and using a bucket of chemicals before a friend dug me a soakaway and installed a toilet but still outside. I learnt Greek, managed a business and had many Greek friends before retirement and the EU meant that I needed to move to elsewhere. To actually have a proper house, even if it was primitive by British standards, was a wonderful luxury and was quite happy to learn everything the Bulgarian way including the language. That is why my FB friendship list is still 90% Bulgarian and we all keep in touch.

Soooooooooooo - my life abroad has stood me in very good stead here in Britain and even though I have my thoughts on life here, I am continuing a life of adapting.

paddy wrote:

that's good Bernie,
hope you did not mind me contacting Richard I normally leave it for a while but I thought you might need help and I am not in Bg but if I were I would have been there for you, unless of course peter was giving me directions lucky for me Romania is Romania in any language so I would know if I've gone to far, if need help I am here.
also how about a whip round for all your hard work and see how much we can raise to buy you your septic tank what do you think?

Ah Paddy you are a little Gem so much for your concern it is always good to know there are people like yourself, Richard and others always looking our for us, not only for the charity work but personally as well. We are very lucky people.

No Paddy :Thank you:again but no to a whip round, as this is nothing to do with the orphanages or our cause. You have a heart of gold bless you. Now all you need to do is consentrate on getting me a bigger sat dish please.

waiting for the sat dish here soon, off to Gibralter today as promised then i can start my plans for Bg also have decided i will not be driving over this year as i have to many work committments so will hire car from airport as normal and i will bring dish with me some how if not i will DHL it as i know they are all over Bg. enjoy the rest of your day and buy some steel toe cap boots, and threaten to use them on the builder once he sees them he will know you mean business, and hopefully he will go yes boss.

paddy wrote:

waiting for the sat dish here soon, off to Gibralter today as promised then i can start my plans for Bg also have decided i will not be driving over this year as i have to many work committments so will hire car from airport as normal and i will bring dish with me some how if not i will DHL it as i know they are all over Bg. enjoy the rest of your day and buy some steel toe cap boots, and threaten to use them on the builder once he sees them he will know you mean business, and hopefully he will go yes boss.

Don't worry about the sat dish Paddy until you are driiving over - We can wait honestly. Have steel cap boots so off to see were they are nw

yes ok Bernie,
but if i can i will, get it to you. before i drive over.

paddy wrote:

yes ok Bernie,
but if i can i will, get it to you. before i drive over.

You spoil me you know

Our friend Steve left here to return to the UK a few weeks ago and we miss his help and advice dearly. He was here for six weeks and he and I tackled a mountaneous task with the work in hand. Because we are both a couple of old codgers who could easily be starring in "
Last of the Summer Wine"
we had good days and bad days, according to what muscles were aching from the previous days activities. Our work was mostly busy renovating and improving our property while the weather enables us to get on with things. We both woke in the morning to various aches and pains and each day was modeled around our afflictions!

He suffers with a bad back and we seemed to be mixing and laying cement every day, this doesn't help either of us of course. I had a stack of wood in readiness of the work involved before he arrived and very little is left now, so a good bit of woodwork had been going on as well during the six weeks. Four doors were erected whilst he was here amongst other things and Steve hand made two of them, whilst watching him doing carpentry work I learnt a lot and have done quite a bit of it now myself. My woodwork teacher Mr dler at Beverley Boys School would have been more than surprised if he had seen what has been achieved by me here, although I say it myself of course! During my lessons by him a solitary wooden coat peg was produced by me and presented to my father, for some reason best known to himself it was never fixed to a wall or used to place a coat on, I suppose the coat would have got dusty if the whole peg had fallen off the wall!

Our cement mixer was put through it's paces and proved to be very useful, spades full of sand, ballast and cement were loaded and spun until the mix was right for pouring into ground which was pre covered with old broken tiles with shuttering around the edges. Then a good tampering with Steve and me on our poor old knees working at the oozing cement until it was pronounced perfect, getting off our knees and onto our feet was a feat in itself, can't remember which one of us was standing erect first because the back had to be straightened with great strain before we were pronounced upright!

Ah bless Itchy sounds like you had a whale of a time, won't be long before Steve is back again so relax for little while. It is amazing nothing is wasted here in BG everything is kept and used for someting else.

Yes Oddie - certainly nothing is wasted. After 9 years we were still using gardening tools left by the previous owners which still worked wonders on the garden. Here the tools seem very instubstantial in comparison and certainly won't last as long. Then everyone buys new here like everything else. Mind you, the gardens are mostly very small! My Hero is still coming home with unwanted stuff from skips and work. He says his mates are intrigued with the things he says and does which we find now so natural. He is so used to re-cycling everything in Bulgaria its a habit difficult to stop.