Time Flies in Bulgaria, My Mum, Pool

It is true, time here is at double speed! I have no idea why?
The months since Christmas has flown by for my mum who is still not used to the speed in which time goes here. I used to think it was due to being busy, but no, even in these times of doing nothing it flies by, far quicker than in England. I have come to the conclusion it is due to being happy deep in our souls, that sense of belonging somewhere that even when we are not in a state of joy, in fact for me times of terrible blackness, in the past, there is still that inner knowledge of being home.
My mum is so happy here. She is in constant terrible pain due to a hernia of the bowel, but this does not take away her inner peace of belonging in Bulgaria. I'm so happy or her and I'm pretty sure we would have lost her before now had she been left in England, to be sure she would have been forced into a home.
Mum has been sitting on the new decking sunning herself, looking at the gorgeous view and wondering at how fortunate we are to be able to live with this.

Her life has been hard on a personal side and work wise. Mum is a worker, all her life from the age of 14 when she left school.
Most of my life growing up my mum would work 3 jobs, minimum 2. She is very artistic and creative, wanted to pursue a career in Window dressing in the West End of London, and was indeed an apprentice when this was cut short due to being called up during the war to work in a munitions factory, doing her bit. This is still a sadness of lost opportunity for her and she is always wondering how her life would have been if only.....

After the war the women were cut loose in favour of the returning men she continued to work in factories but this time behind a sewing machine. She has made mattresses underwear and became a fantastic seamstress. People would cut pictures out of magazines and newspapers, mum would make a pattern from looking at the pictures then make them a copy. As a kid mum made my outfits including smart suits with hats, coats, dresses etc. I loved my quilted head scarves in the 60's, so very Hollywood and in the 70's hot pants! I would strut my stuff in them when no one else had them, so on trend.
On Sundays mum would go to London to buy wholesale items to sell on at a profit, this money would buy Christmas and Birthday presents and my memory is of waking early to a cup of tea with Bourbon or choc coated biscuits with mum saying goodbye, me crying as I didn't want her to leave and her saying, Ill be back before you can say Jack Robinson.
Once home we always had a roast dinner at 3pm and then an evening tea. Mum would then either work in the local pub in the evening or be running up an outfit for someone on her treadle sewing machine.
Once I  went to secondary school mum was free to stop working in the pub during the day and pursue a 9 to 5 job in town. Mum got a job in the post room working for Bulova watches. Very shortly after her starting they held a test for every employee for use on new computers, the room full of floor to ceiling type where information was input and was on a card. She was one of two people who were promoted to work on this, and so started a great period of work and better pay for my hard working mummy! mum still worked in the local as well as the over 21 club, she was a good barmaid, very social and it was her love of socialising, holding dinner parties that got her known in her work life which led to her being employed at times to cater for work do's. When she eventually became a civil servant, working in the Home office Croydon, in the immigration dept, she became well known for her amazing baking and cooking skills. This she inherited from my Nan who was an upstairs/downstairs cook. So was born yet another string to her bow! Mum made my wedding dress for me when I married in 1980 it is still one that could be worn today.

 I remember these collars

 My wedding dress, and two dresses I had made (not the beach wear LOL)

 Mum's wedding outfit

 My beautiful dress

I love this photo as we have lost my brother who gave me away.

I am so happy I can spend these years looking after my mum, in  a country she loves with plenty of sunshine, a comfortable house with great outside living, she deserves this, has earned it and its my thank you for looking after me in  times she really should not have had to.

So I promised photos of the new safe decking.....

 The railings will be painted with Frenchic alfresco paint.

 Jon made a hand rail for mum, I will be painting this soon

 The pool edging has been repaired but will probably need replacing next year

 The wooden joists were also rotten in places.

We are so happy with the result and the wonderful workmanship by Jonathan Lamb (find him on facebook) who works in the Burgas and Yambol regions.

This contraption suddenly started to go up during winter. Typical no warning.
As far as I can make out is is a garage for buses but not for passengers to get them, a bedroom if you like.
Its a bit better now it has a roof on and the shrubbery has grown back.

There has been what I thought was a piece of roof lining hanging out from where the birds are nesting, just outside my kitchen. The above photo is the area. It was Jon who pointed out to me that it was in fact a rather large snake skin! We tried to pull it out but only part came away the rest is stuck there.  I am really hoping it has moved on after winter.

I am getting really excited now. The new pool pump is being picked up today and my friend Norman will be fitting it over the weekend, the other one burnt out last year

It was expensive, double what I had been quoted last year but had to be done, no pump no pool.
I went to the pool shop in Burgas and seemed to  get across my needs even though it was in pigeon Bulgarian and no English. There was a choice between two, one from Spain and one from China. After going away to think and discuss it with my friend Sarah & my man I have plumped for the Spanish make, no contest really it was a matter of price against quality  and quality won! They were lovely people and after buying the chemicals for the pool the owner gave me a pool thermometer as a gift. The pump will be ready for collection first thing in the morning.
So I will be undertaking the cleaning of it and hoping to get it up and running for next week.
My real excitement though is my new man is arriving back in Bulgaria for a few weeks summer break. He will be here Monday, so looking forward to seeing him again, its been 2 months now. We talk on the phone every day for hours and now he will be meeting Mum.

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.