After arriving in Sofia and having a quick drink in a swanky bar (if you can call a smelly converted barn devoid of electricity and a name a swanky bar) we headed through the fog on our way to Gabrevo - Mark and Sam's home. Gabrevo is the most eastern block of eastern block cities I have ever been to. When I say block I mean tower block, and my first impressions weren't great when we pulled up to Mark's parking space below a decreped, depressing high rise tower. However, the following morning relaxing on the balcony with a cup of tea things looked very different, and what appeared to be the type of place in England where you get mugged by hoodies for your chewing gum turned out to be a real thriving community, centering around the local home made gossip bench.
My relaxation was short lived as we left Gabrevo to drive to Mark and Pete's renovation project to begin 3 days of hard graft. On the way we picked up the mandatory salty cheese filo pastry accompanied by 6 litres of grease and drove through the superb dramatic countryside that makes up the central plateu of Bulgaria.
It is difficult to describe the house. The photos on the blog don't really do it justice. It is also impossible to compare the work involved to that required to renovate a house in the UK. I think Mark has been rather modest in the descriptions of the labour required. For starters it would certainly of been easier to build a new house than renovate the existing one. Secondly to their credit Mark and Pete are attempting to recycle as much material as possible, which makes the simplest of jobs time consuming, for example instead of sawing a new straight piece of wood you need to spend half an hour searching for an old warped piece scattered around the site, that you can make straight. Thirdly, there is still no electricity on site, so all the work has to be done by hand using equipment which on the whole is pretty shite - digging a 10 metre trench with shovels rather than spades being an example. Finally and probably the biggest obstacle is the language, Bulgarian is tough, not only is it difficult to pronounce it is impossible for a novice to even read as the alphabet is completely different, this coupled with the fact that no Bulgarians speak English has meant that Mark and Pete have needed to learn fast in order to deal with contractors and suppliers. Being forced to overcome these obstacles has resulted in Mark and Pete learning DIY very quickly and I will not hestitate in employing Wels on his return as a general handyman.
Apart from working on the house during the day we also took on the responsibility of caring for a kitten that decided to make the house her home. Mark as we all know is not famous for being an animal lover, however Gary (it was a female but I liked the name) soon melted Mark's heart, he couldn't put her down, he made little beds for her our of his workman gloves, fed her filo pastry and cheese along with sour yoghurt and was overjoyed to find her waiting for him at the beginning of each new day. Sadly the last I have heard is that Gary is probably dead, as she hasn't been seen for days but maybe this experience of pet ownership will influence Mark to buy a pussy on his return to blighty!
Like many things in life the ultimate goal is not the most important thing but how you get there. Although the house is far from complete and may take a few more years of hard work, I don't doubt that the experience Mark, Pete and Sam have had simply living in a very different culture and learning the skills required to overcome the many daily obstacles (like goat herders blocking the road) is the greatest thing they will take away from the experience, and I envy them for having the courage to leave the security of 9 to 5 life and do something that everyone should at least try once in their lives.
Anyway enough bullshit philosophy for one day. I had a great trip with the exception of it being freezing and wet. Some highlights included getting pissed in the local bar while playing backpacker, followed by a 4 hour debate on the state of the welfare system in the UK. Seriously poor Wels did a great job mediating the polar views of Sam and myself which became quite heated as we drank over half a bottle of whisky. The next day Sam spent the day in the toilet and I spent it in the rain so I am not sure who came off best. Gabrevo nightlight was once again also a surprise with more swanky bars than Leamington spa and delicious food such as the wonderful "meatball fantasy" dish that I tried. A word of advice if you are ever offered cheap meatballs on individual skewers with cold cooked mushrooms and cucumber - give it a miss.
However one of my favourite moments that I am sure will always be remembered and exaggerated on by Wels was the 2.3Kg pizza challenge. To set the record straight the pizza had a diameter of 1m and no matter how much Wels bitches about his half being thicker than mine, I finished first!
Finally as Wels mentioned in his earlier post he has been distilling some rakia, here are my "official" tasting notes for his fine must try spirit.
Welsby's Homemade Plum Rakia - approx 45-50%
Colour: Real Lemonade
Nose: Lots of esters and fruit aromas, floral with elderberry, confiers, damsons and gooseberries all evident, in the background underipe plums
Palate: Fresh and fruity, distintive citrus notes early on the plate, follwed by nutty tones, very green (young)
Finish: Smooth, warming with a light floral fruity finale.
Enjoy it while you can before Welsby gets round to burying it!
Thanks again Wels and Sam for the great weekend can't wait for your next crazy adventure. All the best Clays.
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