Unskilled Bulgarian labour runs to about 20levs per day. That's about a tenner give or take. Even at that price, I was unwilling and in all honesty, unable to afford too many days of uncertain productivity at a local level. I decided therefore to engage a team of moderately skilled UK based labourers on a short term contract. A long weekend to be exact. I can't recall how I pitched the idea to this small group of unenthusiastic DIY-ers but it wouldn't surprise me if it was down the pub one Saturday night and involved a romantic over-promise of exotic adventure and cultural improvement.
All three of my friends fairly leapt (dubiously in truth and with a deal of huffing and puffing from at least one of them - he knows who he is) at the idea. A trip to celebrate my February birthday in a far off land was thus conceived.
The upshot was a cold, muddy and generally primitive weekend which included barbecuing pasta bolognese in the snow. We fixed a few things, broke a few more, but as usual and with minimal persuasion, ended up agreeing the weekend had been a triumph. The first of many to date.
A road trip from the UK to Bulgaria followed in the summer which saw further progress. It was this trip that really saw the place move from habitable towards homely. The plumbing crashed again and resulted in a naked garden shower under a perforated bucket of water, more creative barbecuing, shaving in a washing-up bowl, failed electrics etc. etc. but it was at least three steps forward and only two back. Progress!
A third trip in October saw the addition of a new element in the Bulgarian equation. I had up until this point heard about, but never come across other Brits in the village. I'd been told it was a popular village with expats but I'd spent so much of my time painting, varnishing, assembling furniture and basically working, I'd never really made it out of the grounds to take a look around. After a brief email exchange prior to the trip, I met with Keith and Angie. These names will crop up again in these pages and always in glowing terms but in short, both Keith and Ang have been a mine of information, great company and help since our first introduction. I'll say no more, I'm not prone to gushing.
BBQ in the snow.
A fairly typical evening scene after a day of grafting. Smurf headgear indoors is a legal obligation in post-communist Bulgaria. The toilet roll on the table is more of a mystery but facilities were limited, so maybe we had to..... no, surely not.
The hot water tank fell off the wall. Just, fell off. Rather than help, I decided to take pictures of the affair.
Chernobyled.
Ta-Daa!
It's a Jungle out there.
I can't tell you how much I hurt getting it into this state.
The beginnings of a home.
No comments:
Post a Comment