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Only been here two weeks (well I was when I started writing this… now a month) – it feels more like two months. Everything is very different.

I haven’t wasted the last two weeks however: I can now tell you that I live in a run down shack with no roof in the village of…. Wait for it… Burja (Bur-iya). I say live, I really mean squat, on a temporary basis, between spells in hostels, Pete’s van (see below), mad artists houses (see below) and semi complete renovated houses, lent kindly to us by Tony (aka the tone ranger… yeah I know Broomhill posse there can be only one).

The village itself turns out to be really nice. It has a population of about 300, 2 shops selling the basics (tomatoes, cucumber and salt) a small bar and a big bar, which doubles as a disco on Friday and Saturday; a bit reminiscent of junior Madison’s in Daventry, but with more remixed folk music and less sick. Sam has described the dancing style as screwing in light bulbs which I think is fairly accurate.

I am pleased to say that the village is great; mainly due to the people. We have made friends with a few neighbours namely, Ivan (aka no-teeth ivan who’s sister, it turns out, used to live in our house, which may partially explain why he feels comfortable coming and going as he pleases; Hristo, who speaks a little English and used to work for Karl Ziess, he has kindly let us use his water supply until ours is installed; Minka (aka minky) who has decided that Sam needs to have showers and we need to eat walnut cake on as regular a basis as possible to ensure survival. Between them and a few others who’s names I cannot remember, we have been plied with eggs, honey, jam, the odd beer and plenty of Rakir (grape brandy) which we understand is probably better as a mozi repellent than a drink.

It’s fair to say that our initial visit to the house came as a bit of a shock, it’s a bit of a of state. Thankfully Pete warned us to expect the worst before we arrived. It’s not that it is any worse than it was 2 years ago – it’s just that now it is real… very real. Since our first trip, we have done a bit of clearance work and now feel much more comfortable about it. The roof needs a fair amount of work which we are contemplating having done for us… we will see. We are also working on getting water and electricity hooked up so that the place is a bit more habitable.

Despite the generosity of our neighbours and the success of the solar showers (would definitely recommend them) the lack of facilities has taken it’s toll. All plans of roughing it for 4 months have gone out of the window and Sam and I have decided that toilets are not luxuries afforded to only to the rich and famous. She and I are now renting an old ladies flat in a nearby town called Sevlievo – you’ve probably heard of it – which is ‘dobre’ (which means either “good” or “ok” depending upon how excited one is when one says it) and only costs £50 per month all in… so not breaking the bank just yet. It has a shower , toilet and tv showing dubbed versions of popular American daytime tv (loving the hanging with mr cooper re-runs).

Anyway, enough for now, as we have a few things to get on with! I’ll leave you with a snap I took of Veliko Turnovo from the window of our hostel. Ciao ciao