Living In A Dream

Well we have done it, moved away. No more looking over my shoulder when I am out, no more worrying about bumping into ex and his woman, freedom at last!

First we went for a 3 day stay in Sarafovo. I booked an apartment on booking.com for mum, Venelin (Marko), Angel and myself. This was because stupidly I had to meet the solicitor one day, then go to notary the following day before moving in, Bulgarian bureaucracy. Have to say I was really happy about it when we arrived. We had a really lovely apartment overlooking the pool and the sea, the bed was sooo comfortable and the area was great. We had some lovely meals out at Bulgarian restaurants and a fun time with the boys.

A van was hired from  burgas to start the many trips back and forth moving across my belongings, while mum and I tried to settle in. For the first two nights we slept on the sofas, and boy did we sleep well. By this time I was completely exhusted to the point of not being able to even think straight.
I did have a look around to find mums furniture, check it was not damaged and also to get the outside table and chairs onto the terrace. Unfortunately I could not find them along with other outside chairs, a bird bath, among other things and two huge glass dressers!
I contacted the transport guy, who insists they were delivered so I can only come to the conclusion that the previous owners stole said property! I did find this difficult to believe but since then I have paid our first months bills and found I had to pay two months due to them lying in front of the solicitor saying they were all paid up to date.
I am always sad when people (especially English) turn out to be nasty robbing gits!!!!
On top of this Vivacom has been a complete nightmare, after 6 weeks I still dont have a satellite tv. The internet has also been a nightmare but apart from Vivacom everything is now sorted with a new cable fitted, and I now have super fast internet connection. I have taken it all in my stride, I think :-)

So we have been very busy. An upstairs shower room was disgustingly filthy and very very smelly. There was no way around this except to rip it all out and start again. I wish I had taken before photos of this, but I am a soft belly southerner and can't take the smell hahaha. Marko came with his wife Djelan for 10 days and did lots of work for me, this being the first job. We have kept the tiles and smartened it up for mum.

I wanted mums rooms to be sorted first, so her bedroom has also been done.
Wwe have also added a conservatory to one side of the terraces. This is to house mums furniture fron Bali which is made from banana, we will get the cushions recovered next year. The floor has been re plastered and painted black and will be tiled later this week.

Mums Here For Good

Wow it has been such a long time since my last post!
My huge apologies to all who read this blog for my lack of attention and the feebleness of its content. My life is a bit limited now with no car usage but I will continue to try and incorporate as much Bulgarian life as possible. I find myself either doing things alone or with other expats right now, but then expats are part of the Bulgarian experience and boy are they an experience just on they're own!
Where to start.......
I went back to England to pick up mum and bring her over to live with me, last August. I was a day late due to my flight being cancelled as a storm broke out just as they were due to land. We were put up in a beautiful hotel but I didn't get into my room till 3am so it was wasted, and my week there became very short with all that needed sorting, but sort it I did.
Mum loves Bulgaria, she used to come over to Sunny beach before most people had ever heard of it. She saw it grow each year into the monster it has become.
Living in the countryside is completely different but she adores it.
Summer was spent in the garden or out and about eating :-) socialising with expats and Bulgarians.

 We have some lovely Bularian friends here in my village as well as some expats but we all get along with no problems. I am not one to foist myself on people and like my own company, also I hate the expat clique thing, ugh, they invariably turn into a bully playground attacking other people. "Look at my face, am I bothered though" for me I extract myself from these people and then have at times become a target. I just laugh now as how sad there internal lives must be to talk about me? All very strange!

Anyhow I digress.... My life has changed enormously now but it is full, we have lots of laughs and yes some stresses as mums memory gets worse.
We had a lovely little holiday in Pomoria. Lovely hotel with a one bed suite. Shame the weather was not brilliant but it was a nice rest. One day I took mum in a wheelchair with a friend to find the center, hmm well that was an adventure. With the state of the pavements I could not of handled it alone and it nearly tipped over a few times, never again. I have to say I would never recommend this resort for a holiday the town is shit. If you want a lovely hotel on or overlooking the beach and will not want to leave, then if it is a good price fair enough but I still fully recommend Sozopol, gorgeous place.
So on the way back home via Dimitar and taxi, we went to view a house for mum. I had seen it in the spring and loved it. It literally ticks all the boxes and much more with an amazing view I knew she would love.

Mum loved it, it is a big house, so family and great granddaughters can come and stay, with a proper swimming pool which has a Jacuzzi end, she will be able to enjoy her last years here. Today we find ourselves just a couple of weeks from moving in and although stressful we are very excited.
Getting mums Tramadol here has been a flipping nightmare. She is on the strong stuff so has to go to the hospital every month to get a prescription. The Dr decides what they want to charge so it has been from 3 lev, which is normal for an appointment to 20 and 40 lev, haha every day Bulgaria. I have now found through a very helpful chemist a tramadol and paracetamol mix which I can get over the counter and will be buying this in future but doubling up. The other problem is her stoma bags. These cost almost 5lev a bag, so right now we pay almost 300 lev a month plus two trips into Gorna Oryahovitsa one to order them and one to collect and pay. After moving we will be registering her and getting with a specific Dr so then she will get one free bag per day! People in UK, you dont realise how fortunate you are!
I will post pics of our new house once we have moved in, it would be rude to while owened by the sellers, an invasion of privacy.
I will post more to get up to date.....