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Other entries in Bulgaria

VERONICA'S DIARY

VERONICA'S DIARY bevanjones_v@hotmail.com

21 May 05

10:00   Left Carmarthen without breakfast!!! Finally stopped just before Pont Abraham. Weather cloudy and spitting with rain. The car is so full I only just managed to get in the car again, I have to hold on to a few things going round bends. Still cannot not get hold of No 1 son (Mal) who was working late last night.

10:55   Just left Pebbles (No1 Daughter's hairdressing salon) after saying a final farewell to Alice, her husband Craig and the staff, N0 2 son (Eric) could not make it. The M4 near Cardiff is choca with traffic (its English cup final day!!)

19:00   Arrived Bedford and made it into the bar for 20:00 Met up with Liz, Barry, Barb, Billy and a few others. We slept in the caravan to try it out before the journey.

22 May 05

10:00   We set of after a leisurely breakfast.

12:00   The wheel came off the caravan before we got past the first services. Met a very nice policeman who was most helpful and we got recovered back to Ampthill Caravans who took one look at the caravan and said it was a write-off, having seen the mess we made this did not come as a surprise. The guys at the centre where most helpful, sold us a trailer and off we set again!!!

21:00 Arrived Maidstone Travel lodge that let us park our very full car and well laden trailer where it could be watched by security - we slept well!!

23 May 05

12:15   Sailed as booked and on time with Sea France

and drove straight through France. We had an unscheduled stop in a small village in Belgium as a result of a blown top hose the Belgium's we met were all most helpful especially the Nissan mechanic who performed a modification* to the hose until we could get to a proper Jeep garage where we found we would have to wait two weeks for a spare, apparently Jeep garages don't hold them (this was the case not only in Belgium but also Germany and Austria). Stayed in Konigswald - Germany overnight in a little traditional German hotel. The landlord was a much travelled man as the artefacts in the hotel proved.

24 May 05

08:00   Typical German hotel breakfast and off we went again, the weather was wonderful! We took a beautiful route through the heart of Germany into Austria. In Austria we stopped at the Landzeit Autobahnrestraunt near Krossalm. As we had a trailer now not a caravan decided to go directly to the Hungarian Border, wonderful Hungarian border officials made the entry into the country painless - there was more red tape getting out of Britain! We had a couple of hours sleep near Budapest and off again. We wanted to hit the Romanian border and drive through in one go in daylight. As with all good plans it did not quite go that way!!

25 May 05

08:00 The Hungarians wished us a pleasant onward journey on the border, 100 Meters later we met the Romanian customs after convincing her we were not going to sell anything in her country and paying the usual taxes off we set, first encounter with the dreaded bureaucrats was not so bad!! Just south of Sofia we had a puncture on the Jeep!! John was very reluctant to unload the jeep to fit the spare, then came our first encounter with the natives in the form of a lorry driver who promptly jacked up the car, took off the tyre loaded john into his lorry and drove off!! I locked all the doors and waited and waited and waited. Finally the tow reappeared with the tyre repaired, John was told with a temporary patch* John told me later, he had had to pay twice as much as the original bill as he did not have small enough denominations and the "vulaniser" did not have enough change so the whole thing cost us a massive £8!

26 May 05

01:00 An easy exit from Romania, and a changed my mind about those I met. The Rumanian officials smiled and wished us a pleasant onward trip, I think they knew what we would encounter next, the road was earthworks with a 4ft drop on one side, no lights and mad oncoming drivers on full beam!!! over the Danube and into Bulgaria with premature relief!! I will never use that crossing again!! Stop and get a form, pay some money, stop and get another form pay some money, get sent back to the first place because we haven't got the correct form. It seemed to go one for ever. I must say here we have crossed back and forth in Bulgaria since and found them wonderful so can only assume we met the "B" team in Rouse.

10:00   Met the property rep from BULGARIAN PROPERTIES in Velico Turnovo who seemed not to know we were coming despite many calls to the Burgas office over the two months before our departure. Once over their surprise they sprung into action, notified the rep and had him meet us at the property. The house was as we expected, in need of some repair J

Then came the first of a string of problems!! The property was almost half the size we had been told L there was no vehicle access as we had requested for our caravan, in fact trying to get the jeep onto what we thought was part of the property we caused quite a bit of damage to the underside despite its height and it got stuck!! Thank goodness for a Russian engineered truck and a lot of Bulgarian ingenuity!!

We spent the first night in a hotel!! Several "romantic nights" with no electricity and an outside toilet with a rotting floor, that got the heart racing!!  Fortunately two of our friends in Burgas came to the rescue, one offering to put us up in her flat while we resolved the matter the other providing lots of support and help over the coming month.

28 May 05

11:00 Spoke to the boss of the Burgas office of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES who blamed everyone else and told us he would have the problem resolved within two weeks. Two weeks ran into one month and after much to-ing and fro-ing between Gostelitza and Burgas, once again our friends came to our aid once again. We found a lovely property in a wonderfully friendly village (it is actually a small town) Kermen boasts several cafes and general stores, a restaurant and a resident artist!

13 June 05

We moved into our new house!! On day three having already been greeted by our neighbours, they decided to take us in hand, one arrived with his donkey and ploughed my land, his wife and another neighbour provided me with 30 or so tomato plants and as many pepper plants and helped me plant them correctly. Over the next few days they coached me in the correct way to stake them out and tend the side shoots and offered much "over the wall" advice on the correct way to look after my garden.

I have now built my own irrigation system using the borehole on the property and a submersible pump; I can now sit back with a glass of rakia and watch the garden being watered. I also have help in the local sheep who stand on hind legs and prune the lower branches of my mulberry trees, turkeys from our neighbour who come into the garden and sweep it for insects, by night we are visited by some very large toads who much to Veronicas disdain not only sweep the pathways but also attempt to check the house for tasty morsels.

THE MAYOR CAME TO VISIT. The mayor in Bulgaria, much like the French system has real power and responsibility unlike in Britain. A friendly man who, once we managed to communicate via our friends, proved a real help. We met the following day in the café by chance where, he told off the telephone workers for not getting our telephone connected quickly enough! Knowing the importance of the mayor, I had purposely waited until I could communicate using basic words; best laid plans and all that!

26 June 05

Having been in the country for a month we visited Turkey, Here both the Bulgarian and Turkish officials were professional, friendly and even helpful. We had decided to visit Istanbul, find a hotel and do some sight seeing. On arriving in Istanbul, we came to a roundabout, having seen several hotels along the road decided to turn right thus avoiding the Turkish custom on crossing a roundabout, right again and go back to them on the parallel road only to find the road blocked by a traffic accident, the only one we saw despite the driving habits. We came across the Hotel Salda www.saldahotel.com , a three star hotel well worthy of those stars. The staff wonderfully friendly, most of the guests seemed to be German but being no pool to hang their towels on, we got on well with them. That night, we visited the most wonderful fish restaurant we could not afford to eat there every night but well worth every Euro.

27 June 05

Back to Bulgaria again we met with friendly professionals who made our exit from Turkey and entry to Bulgaria uneventful. The road to Burgas, wonderfully picturesque.

29 June 05

Back home!! The builder came to show us his plans; we have decided to have a bathroom and indoor toilet with plumbing, Veronica also felt she could benefit from hot and cold running water in the kitchen J - John

04 Jul 05

The builders started!! What a difference from the British ones. They arrived at 07:20 sat outside talking quietly until the boss arrived. Went to work after the usual introductions. Lots of quite friendly banter amongst themselves they seemed to even enjoy the work and shot around like ants with a purpose. Their boss a friendly efficient man spent about 15 minutes briefing us at the end of the day on progress and how he would like to proceed. The workmen left with a friendly wave!!

During the day we visited a solicitor, Dilian Dimov from a law company in Sliven to try and sort out the BULGARIAN PROPERTIES mess. The solicitor, a speaker of English, made the legal problems much simpler, though a junior partner in the company ( www.advdrcholakov.com ). He immediately called the Burgas office of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES who told him the problem would be resolved within one week. I expressed my surprise and pleasure, arranged to meet them when the transactions were completed.

04 Jul 05

We decided to get out of the way of the builders who are still working with the same enthusiasm. We visited Sliven a beautiful town in the centre of Bulgaria. Well worth a visit for the adventurous, lots happening if you look for it and a very sophisticated lifestyle. We met our first two Brits, Alan and Susan, a couple about the same age as us who were also looking for property. They seem not to have had much success, but had also been using the Burgas estate agent we had previously discharged. We gave them the contact details of the company we had used successfully and after an aborted attempt to get to the chairlift to Blue mountain, left them to travel back to Burgas. The heavens opened, thunder and lightening and the worst rain in living memory!! The centre of our town was flooded! We came across lots of banter about English weather. The grandmother of our friend Radost blamed us for sending the water from our end of the village to flood her potato cellar, she now has the cleanest potatoes in Kermen!!

09 Jul 05

Despite the fact that the town was not geared up for a flood, not a regular occurrence, life has more or less got back to normal. Our regular haunt has got back to normal, we spent some time on communication with difficulty with the inhabitants but usually manage to make ourselves understood with a mixture of single words and expressions and strings of words that would have any teacher of language cringing. Over the next few days we intend to explore the nearby towns, spas and monuments, it gets us from under the feet of our friendly building team.

13 Jul 05

Met up with Alan and Sue the Brits we met last week, they were with our Radost and Sylvia our two friends looking at property in the area. A lovely restraunt in the spa region provided a good setting for their visit and it poured with rain, I am convinced they brought it with them from North Wales!! On arriving back at our Town, we found again a flood, the ground, still wet from the last one meant the rain just ran off the land, our road turned into a river. Our builders sitting in what will be our bathroom having given up trying to mix plaster in the rain.

The electrician arrived to do some more work as the rest of the team had gone. We left them to it and went to the café!!

16 Jul 05

Second visit to our solicitor Dilian who is trying to sort out the BULGARIAN PROPERTIES mess. He was very surprised that such a large company should behave in the way it was. I seems the Burgas office have once again changed the goal posts!

18 Jul 05

Seems a puppy has adopted us! She (I think) as barely six weeks old and quite timid but has a beautiful character, once again our friend Ginka stepped into the breech and offered to look after her while we went to Burgas.

19 Jul 05

Off to Burgas again! And as usual something is happening in the town as we leave!

A form of harvest festival, some of the town ladies came to the cornfield at the back of our house in traditional costume, sang and danced as they cut the corn by hand, tied it and loaded it onto a donkey and cart. I was invited to help but elected to try the rakia and bread (somewhat like Yorkshire pudding) they had brought with them as part of the celebration.

In Burgas, we have to photo copy the whole of the company docs for the Burgas office of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES, they have lost their copies it seems! I have to go to the courthouse to get certified copies of the change of manager, they never gave me an original or copy and seems they also have neither! Or is it another move of goalposts or delaying action to give them some bizarre pleasure? As we have to wait a day for the court to process the papers, we are going to Turkey tomorrow on our monthly pilgrimage

21 Jul 05

Collected our documents from the court, a job made easy by both our friend and the court officials. I copied the docs, gave a copy to the Burgas office of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES who had originally made them out. It seems they have changed the name of the company, an unusual move for a successful company; they now seem to have two companies in the same office one called BULGARIAN REAL ESTATE Ltd, one called BULGARIAN PROPERTY ADVISORS Ltd. While being no "Master of business" I am surprised that a company changes its name in the middle of the busy season unless there are problems with the original name! They have a nice office on the second floor (Brit numbering system) in the centre of Burgas, just off one of the two main café areas. Having told them we were leaving Burgas at lunchtime it was frustrating to receive a call at 16:00 asking us to drop by the office at 16:30 to sign a power of attorney but not being able to give us details of what the document was to be used for!

On arrival back in Kermen, we found our puppy a changed animal! Lying under a pallet guarding the workmen. On seeing us she gave a bark, wagged her tail and was no longer scared to be picked up. That night she was good as gold, no longer crying and only barking at the frog that had invaded her personal space.

The Workmen have been busy digging the foundations and pouring cement almost finished the bathroom, and been generally very busy, what a team.

22 Jul 05.

Off to see the solicitor Dilian with the papers from Burgas. The solicitor from the property company was supposed to fax the power of attorney documents for signing but this seems not to have been done! We will see if they arrive on Monday when I have another trip to the dentist L I must say he is doing some wonderful work, much better than any I have found in UK. If anyone needs dental treatment then maybe they should plan a holiday to Bulgaria.

24 Jul 05.

With a little help from John and a steel rope found in the barn, we pulled down a dead, termite infested Plum tree found on the property, the wood peckers and other birds seem not to find them appetising enough to clear them for us. We pulled it onto a prepared fire and so said goodbye to more than a few termites!! Not the sort of thing I would have done in UK, I was far too squeamish for such a job. We celebrated by having a shower in our swimwear using the garden hose. The water was comfortably warm due to the sun on the pipe. Solar energy at its cheapest!

26 Jul 05

Off to Sliven yet again to visit my solicitor re the BULGARIAN PROPERTIES / BULGARIAN REAL ESTATE Ltd / BULGARIAN REAL ESTATE Ltd or whatever they are calling themselves this week. They have finally faxed the power of attorney allowing Nedyalco Nedelchev, who we have given the nickname nyama problem (no problem). As expected, it was worded that the company could sell my property in Gostelitza to themselves for one Euro and give me the proceeds if they should so wish. Having given Dilian his instructions, he promptly called Losev (their solicitor) and Nedyalco (the manager) agreed to the original agreement, to return the money. I do not know if the saying "pigs might fly" translates into Bulgarian but if it did then I might be tempted to use it! Looks like another trip to the court house in Burgas may be required. Oh yes that reminds me, our cesspit has been dug and the workmen are busy building the walls, I did not realise it had to be so deep or so big!

We took our "foundling" for her second trip in the car, much less scared now; she climbed over onto the backseat and sat down very quite so as not to be noticed. We pretended not to, the perfect diplomatic solution. On arriving home, John asked her what she was doing on the back seat; the look was that of a child caught in the act, it was all we could do to keep a straight face! Once in the house Malko had a mad five minutes chasing round the furniture until having reached maximum velocity, she then decided to conserve her energy and go to sleep under one of the chairs.

We have just heard the good news; we have purchased the property next door. The house has not been lived in for some years and in need of more than a little repair. We decided to buy it for the children and friends when they come to visit.

It will also distract John from his other project, buying a Trabant, renovating it, and in his words modernising it with a new 1400cc engine, real brakes etc. It is his ambition to get a speeding ticket on the autobahns of Germany in a Trabant! He also wants to put the biggest sound system he can find, drive round behind all the young ones who have the music up loud in the nearby towns, playing the most boring classical music he can find - "suggestions please to j_mitch@hotmail.com "

27 Jul. 05

Now being retired and not having to go anywhere we had a lie in. Even Malko seemed to find the last few days tiring; she did not want to go out to answer "the call of nature" until just before 7:00.

We had our first visitors, neighbours at 07:30. Later I intend to pick some of the plums to make jam thus preventing the neighbours from showing John how to make rakia! Malko, having got every one up, has gone back to guarding John's chair, an easy job she can even do it with her eyes closed!

30 Jul. 05

Building work has stopped! The builders poured the foundations today and they need three days to settle. Misha the boss asked John to use his water pump to keep them moist and avoid cracking. Malko our dog had a wonderful time playing with the hose and trying to bite the water. Misha was most impressed with our diligence at keeping the base moist!

01 Aug. 05

Off to Burgas yet again due to BULGARIAN PROPERTIES / BULGARIAN REAL ESTATE Ltd / BULGARIAN REAL ESTATE Ltd!! I was speaking to a friend back in UK last night, they told me about another woman, Pamela who has also had problems! I now know of at least six people having the same trouble as I am. In Borgas, I discovered another firm he appears to have an interest in. BULGARIAN FURNITURE, quite what this company does, I am not sure.

03 Aug. 05

Bulilding work has restarted! Misha the builder came round with the bricklayers and after a quick briefing set them to work. My goodness how they do too! I  think by UK standards, health and safety inspectors would blow a blood vessel, have a heart attack or commit suicide!

Safety boots are replaced by flip flops or sandals. The scaffolding, for ease of movement replaced by pallets balanced vertically on bricks and topped with real scaffolding planks! However, they seem to work so fast, up and down the "scaffolding" as the rows of bricks mount, they don't have time to fall off! Malko, our Bulgarian dog seemed not at all impressed and went back to guarding our bed from underneath, a nice cool spot!

04 Aug. 05

The Mail arrived! A box, the size of two shoe boxes arrived from our last given UK address and posted only four days before arrived at our local post office. Being too heavy for the postie, in the good old style, we found a little card asking us to collect it. John duly presented himself to the counter of the post office five minutes after lunchtime closing. Despite this, the postoffice lady opend up, presented him with a book to sign and gave him the package with a smile.

05 Aug. 05

Having attended to all the priority mail such as applications for more credit cards and insurance in the usual manner, the bills sorted, we settled down to read Johns Saga magazine. I have never subscribed, feeling too young however, I do love reading it!

Today, we get our bathroom and kitchen back from the builders! This is not the place to describe a Balkans "outdoor privey" Most of the readers who happen across this webpage will be of far too delicate a nature! I do however have photos for those of a stronger disposition!

08 Aug. 05

The builders are working like demons, walls finished and wooden shutters for the main concrete posts being built. No 30ft lorry arrived to bring the stell "skeleton" for the posts here. Instead of making them in a multi million pound facory, using all the latest (and expensive) technology and transporting them all over the country. The workmen cut the steel, bend to the correct shape using the simplest of tools and weld the pieces on site. A joy to the ecological side of me and funnily enough, no delays because the lorry is stuck on the M1!

The builders have been no bother, always polite and always seem to be happy. No pot bellies or builders cleavage on this site. UK builders should visit a site here, they have a lot to learn from their Bulgarian counterparts, I can see this team being much in demand when they join the EEC in two years time. I heard a UK builder complaining that his laser levelling thingy kept being broken by the workers, no chance here! Misha the builder does the levels himself and instead of having one of his worker carry an expensive piece of equipment around the building site, used one of his workers to hold one end of a simple length of clear plastic tubing filled with water! And checked the levels himself, no one to put the blame on, on this site. No batteries to go flat on his equipment J. The site meeting! John and Misha discussing materials and how the work is to proceed is quite something to see. Misha speaks no English and John's six Bulgarian words do not stretch to technical terms, today he learned another two words, both printable but not on this machine, it has no Cyrilic keyboard!

09 Aug. 05

Cement poured yesterday into the cladding ( I am sure that's not the correct technical term) today, the cladding removed and re-used elsewhere more cement mixed on site and poured. The temperature up around the 40C mark meant once started they could not finished until completed!

10 Aug.05

It is cold today! The temperature fell during the night to 20C and by mid-day had only reached the 25C mark. Being very busy cleaning the kitchen after the builders handed it back meant I could take my cardigan off around 11:00. A break for lunch at 13:00 I decided to make a "shopska" salad using John tomatoes and peppers (and a few other ingredients). After lunch and not feeling at all like work, I turned my mind to planning the dinner on Saturday. Dencho and Georgina, our neighbours are going to be the first guests to try out our new kitchen. The silence only broken by the builders pouring yet more cement whilst discussing the forthcoming Liverpool v Sofia football match. It sounds to me like they are hoping for a nice hot day to slow Liverpool down a little!

12. Aug 05

Exchanged contracts on our new house. I wish it were that simple in UK. We all trooped off to the Notary, a very pleasant woman and not at all what I expected. We made some official comments, she took all the details she needed and dismissed us for one hour while she had the documentation produced. After the appointed one hour, we trooped back in, signed all the documents and the two happy parties left the office, the simplicity was amazing! What a wonderful team, our estate agent and the legal body were.

16. Aug 05

I am off to the dentist yet again for more treatment. John is going to the tax office to register the house and pay our dues. Misha our builder says he is not going to start the roof today, as it looks like rain. It does too.

LATER  Ohh well it did not rain! It seems like the tax process is more painful than the dentist. Having queued for two hours in the morning, the tax office closed at 12:30 "until about 2" we were told. Arriving back at the appointed hour, a policeman like person inspected our attempt at the paperwork and told us to go to the bottom of the class. The tax form is not only complicated by being in a foreign language "beurocarasies" as we are not allowed to own a property but the company can none of the questions make sense! I am sure if I managed to evade the security on the door, I could find a friendly official who could help!

17. Aug 05

My goodness, having helped John, with some fencing when we got back home, the farm variety not the sport. I slept in until woken at 8:30 by the builders taking the roof off the house! No rain today then! By 16:30 not only was the join between the old house made, the tiles replaced but also the roof on the new house completed! They worked with such speed, throwing the tiles to each other; I could hardly take any photos!

19. Aug 05 

The workers seem to be on afterburner! Half the team plastering inside, the electrician having arrived at 19:00 last night to do the wiring! The other half cleaning the area, attending to the 1001 details, all make Misha our builder a happy man. The carpenter has arrived and the posts for the veranda erected.

20. Aug 05

Its that time again! Off to Turkey, we were hoping to look at some shops and see what is on offer but fate lent a hand. The journey was a little eventful when a bus decided to change lane while we were overtaking. A little bounce on the central reservation allowed us to pull in behind the bus, pulling over to the inside lane to try and avoid the rear end was frustrated by the bus also changing lane and braking. Fortunately our brakes were in better order than that of the bus. The delay did mean we hit the border at lunchtime, not the best time to cross over to Turkey! We had decided to try the bigger nearby crossing point hoping things would be smoother, no such luck! The list of the six processes listed defied the actual process. That together with the customs officials searching all the vehicles crossing meant we had almost a two-hour crossing! The return trip looked nearly as bad so we elected to just go back home. The problem on the Bulgarian side we found to be made by people joining the wrong queue, foreigners in the Bulgarian lane, non-EEC types in the EEC lane etc. Despite this we found the Customs and Police on our side of the border were not jumping up and down nor pulling their hair out, pleasant and polite as their counterparts along the border once out of the traffic jam we were processed with ease and sent on our way!

Photos / videos of "VERONICA'S DIARY":