The first trip of the year reunited the by now veteran team of cowboy builders that I'm able to call friends (until they read this) and our arrival was heralded by a hurricane that knocked out all services for the majority of our trip. Apart from lengthy visits to the bar, evening entertainment involved huddling around an iPad whose increasingly drained battery allowed us to enjoy episodes of Gavin and Stacey. As I write this, I find myself slightly red-faced at the memory of us departing to our beds claiming that a good night was had by all on the back of a tantalising glimpse of Alison Steadman's cleavage.
We moved onto the abandoned house for this trip. Clearing out the previous occupants belongings would have been fine had they died the day before but nine years of neglect leaves an aromatic aftertaste I can tell you. We burned a good deal of the detritus. The fire in the garden lasted the entire trip and one of our number, a client facing private banker, tended the conflagration almost too diligently and returned to work sooty, smelling of roasted pork and without eyebrows or fringe. Another contributor, decided that his vast experience as a grocer qualified him for the job of demolishing the house extension containing the bakers oven. Standing atop the subject of his destruction, he kicked, pulled, hammered at the stonework and generally bodged the job while subjecting his fragile human flesh to extreme high altitude danger. In the end, the long standing structure toppled and in my memory at least, he leapt rapidly and dexerously to a position of safety like Spiderman desperately needing a piss and remembering it takes him 15 minutes to strip to a sufficiently convenient state in which to do so.
We also dug out the old path to the old house, long covered by the construction waste of renovation works. Knowing that the previous occupant was physically challenged and required wheelchair access, it revealed a story whereby the son built a concrete path to the front door which included two impassable steps. Poor planning or deliberate cruelty? Difficult to decipher in Bulgaria.
The summer trip was for pleasure almost entirely and was brilliant. a bit more time in Sofia than usual and some visits to local places of interest for a change, including the wonderful Shipka Pass, site of a famous battle in the Russo-Turkish war.
The morning after the night before.
Private banker doing his fiery thing.
Rubble. Spiderman survived to make it to the toilet.
Wheelchair access.
After a hard day grafting.
Just liked the photo (taken in Sofia)
The church at the southern end of the Shipka Pass. Rather ornate.
The beautiful nearby town of Elena.
Cherries ripening in the garden.
The place never looked better.
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