USB Port Faulty

The laptop on at 7:30 this morning as I being to wake up and start another day. I wasn't dreaming when I tried to click into windows and the mouse didn't function. The next twenty minutes I was trying to find out what was wrong with the mouse only to find out that the mouse was fine it was the USB port that was faulty. Out of the frying pan into the fire! there are tow other USB ports that I can still use but the walls are closing in on the laptop.

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Whacked Head From Low Door Frames

Bulgaria is full of short people, especially in the villages and most building's dimensions are built around this. It is no surprise that every so often my head get a whack from not ducking before entering low beams and door frames. Today it happend again, a slight lapse of concetration in my own home and whack, my head hit the bedroom door frame as I entered. I have been living here for nearly four years and it still happens!

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Ants In The Farmhouse Again

Back in the Skalitsa farmhouse we have now a swarm of ants that had invaded the sitting room. tis didn't happen last year. As I surveyed the front of the house, they had access through a previously cemented and sealed gulley as the bottom of the wall. they had systematically made holes in the cement and this now will have to be re-cemented to stop them coming in again. Looks like this will have to be done every two years.

Lada Headlamp Bulb Faulty

The Lada was used this evening and I hadn't used the lights for at least two months. This even we had to travel in the dark and I found that one of the headlights wasn't working. Another trip to the shops tomorrow to buy a new bulb. In true Bulgarian fashion, I won't put it in until I need to use the car in the dark again to save on the wear.

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Another Handbag Pocket Unusable

Another day and another event with my man's handbag. The sown velcro on the pocket must have fallen off somwhere unknown as the pocket now can't be closed. Another pocket deemed unusable. From the original 5 pockets that all worked on the bag it is now reduced to 2 over the last six months.

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Clock Stopped Made Us Late

We had to be up early to get to Yambol this morning as the alarm was set for 6:00. It went off as planned but we decided to spend another 10 minutes in bed. We both fell asleep again and woke to the clock on the dressing table showing 6:10 - Another little snooze and came too to look again at the clock - It read 6:10 again. We realised that the clock had stopped and checked out mobile phone, it was 7:50! We were wide awake at that point and late!

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Unwanted Guest This Time

After a couple of hard working days in bright sunshine on the farmhouse grounds, it was a time to relax in the evening. I was tired, had a headache and just wanted to be alone for one evening. We have had guests 6 days in a row. 7:00 struck and I could see some English people walking toward the farmhouse, but before I could hide they saw me and I had to put up with unwanted guests for an hour. They just couldn't take a hint could they.

Garden Water Tap Broken

Today it was the tap in the garden that broke. It had been dripping for weeks, even with the tap turned closed it stilll dripped. I tried forcing it closed a bit tighter and the threead went olnt he tap. Now the only way it can be turned off is through the main tap in the shaft in the bottom of the garden. This also mean no water in the house as it is not isolated.

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Another Key Fails On My Laptop

Another key just failed to work on the laptop today. A while ago the left control key gave up now the left shift key doesn't work. It all seems to be going wrong of the left side of the keyboard. I just hope that the right control and shift keys remain operative otherwise it's another big expense looming in the wings. Why don't things last forever?

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Failed Barbecued Fish

A Barbecue planned today and fish on the menu. All was going fine until I went to turn the fish over on the iron barbecue grate. As each one was lifted it turned into scramble fish as the skin and flesh had stuck to the to metal. Much of the fish fell through the grate onto the red hot coals and we had to salvage the rest of it and finish cooking it in the microwave. I distasterous result that initially was full of good intentions.

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Playing Catch Up

Everyone back to work today after a long Easter weekend. An early start found that the Internet had been cut off! This hadn't happened for ages and always happens when I had a buzz and enthusiasm to get up and running. It came back on at around 10:00, but that was three hours wasted and playing catch up for the rest of the day.

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Ill Party Cancelled

We had been invited to visit some family on this Easter Monday and got ready to go. We bought small gifts for the children and were about to get under way when a call came though saying that they were ill and that they had to cancel. We were now stuck without food to eat that evening and had to make a call at the local grocers for provisions. Bad luck for the ill party and us.

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Lots of Rain But Only In Parts Of Yambol

It was off to the City farm to water the radish, lettuce and beans today. It is only 3 kilometres and takes about 10 minutes on my bicycle. When I got there I found that this part of Yambol on the outskirts had lots of rain last night and no watering was needed. We only had a little shower overnight back at the north end of Yambol. A wasted journey on this Easter Sunday in Bulgaria.

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Spilt Olive Liquid

It was a simple plastic flip lid carton that held olives that caught me out this morning on the bad luck trail. there were six olives left at the bottom and as the last one was lifted out, the balance shifted to the lid and the carton tip over spilling the black jiquid over the table in the process. You would think that they would have flip lid carton that could stand up with lid open, but no.

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Lettuce Seedlings Battered to Death

I was transporting some lettuce seedling form the house to the city farm and they were on the back of my bicycle in yoghurt cartons. The roads in Yambol are very bad and lots of pot holes and cobblestoned road give a rough ride for all vehicles not least a bicycle. By the time I had got there 70% of the seedling had been battered to death. The remaining 30% were planted and it remains to be seen whether they survive. 2 months of growing with tender love and care wasted.

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Ash Shower

As I went to empty the ashes from the woodburner tray out onto the street this morning a sudden gust of wind took the contents, mainly ash and blew it straight into my face. All the dust got into my hair and over my clothes and a quick shower was needed after this bout of bad luck.

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Car Insurance Rip Off

My car insurance is due this week and is one of the biggest bills of the year. It never used to be, but the moneh grabbing bank and insurance companies are now ripping of Bulgarians with their exptortiate fees for just third party insurance. My yearly fee costs around a quarter of the value of my Lada! Is it really worth having a car at all as I could afford at least 50 rides on a bus to the village and back with the money spend on car insurance alone? That's all I use it for.

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No Blue Work Jacket

As I got ready to do some work in the City farm I had found that the blue work jacket I normally wear had been left in the village farmhouse. Somehow I knew this would happen one day as I have to keep bringing it backwards and forwards to town and village each week. Another week and the warm weather here would have meant would have to wear it, so why did I forget it with just one week to go?

Broken Garden Table

We have an old wooden table which we use in the garden to put drinks and snacks on for guests that frequently arrive. Today we had more guests as we laid the table out with goodies. As I sat down I put my foot on the wooden support underneath and it snapped in half. The table is now unstable and will either have to be repaired in Bulgarian fashion or used as firewood for the woodburner.

Everything Hits My Injured Fingernail

Another day of pain as everything I do seems to hit the finger whose nail was ripped yesterday. Being left-handed the injury was on the left had, everything is done with my left hand, even clicking on a PC mouse involves pressing on that index finger. Eating a salad with a fork amongst many other things. The most pain was trying to swat a fly away and hitting the chair arm, the impact was exactly where I didn't want it! Ouch!

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Fingernail Ripped By Lada Door

Another split fingernail today as I when to get into the Lada car. as I grabbed the door handle my and slipped and caught the metal top of the handle case. My nail was ripped and a return into the home was needed to try and repair the damage, but I already knew that pain was not to be with me right through the weekend and with lots of gardening and crops to grow.

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Clothes Ridden With Weed Debris

Today we went to the cemetery to weed a grave, I wished I had worn my gardening outfit as all the grass seeds and prickly shrubs scattered themselves over my clothes. By the time I have got back home I was itching everywhere some weed debris had flown down my neck and up my trouser legs. It was a shower and ages working on taking out the seed ridden jacket, trousers and woollen jumper.

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Print On A Jumper

Galia had been hard at work on home improvements even though she was still recovering frm another minor operation two days ago. It was a door painting day today as the smell of paint enveloped the house. As I offered to help, I leaned against one of the freshly painted doors and of could William Caxton wuld have been proud of the imprint on my jumper. Being oil based we needed paint remover to get rid of the stains, we didn't have any so it is now a village jumper for the garden.

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Zip Breaks Off My Handbag

I carry a little man's handbag around with me when I go into the city centre and today was no exception. It has many compartments and I have found it very useful for my passport, wallet, digital camera and other bits and pieces. As I unzipped a compartment to get my wallet out the zip just came off in my hand. This compartment is now not available to use, only three more pocket zips to break and I will have to get another handbag.

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Muddy Shoes

The last this I did was water the radish that were growing in the town farm, the reason was it was the last thing I did was I didn't want to tread in the wet ground. Having water them I discovered that I had left my jacket on the other side of the area I had watered. I had no other route to get it other than to walk through the area I had just watered! Muddy shoes where the result.

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