It’s the most glorious autumn here right now. It was about 30 today and the sun shone wonderfullyon the fabulous colour of the trees. In my new role as public broadcaster for Voditsa, you can now see a bit of this if you go to youtube and look up Voditsageordie – sorry I cant work out how to get the right link! Having an untech day today! I’m going to start taking short little videos of life in this village -its endlessly fascinating and I want to share it. The fact that interesting people have now started to buy property here and getting it together to come and live here, its becoming even more interesting. In my other role as property agent, I’ve just had a couple of emails from people who are just sick of life in the UK and want a new challenge. Its very exciting…and my friend Jo has decided to throw in the towel and move here in the spring with her partner and thats great news. We’re not trying to take over the village but its on a downward spiral right now in terms of depopulation and the only way to change that is with an influx of new people, new energy and new ideas. People here don’t want to leave but there is little opportunity right now in villages like this.
Back to the weather….i spent the day today digging – reclaiming a bit more of the field every year; strimming – the weather has been so great the grass is growing again; planting loads of garlic and picking waluts – all intersperced with long moments of just staring at the magnificent view ….I am so lucky to be living here.
Of course winter is just around the corner (first of november should be the first snow) and as I was very slow in deciding that I was staying, I’m now the only person in the village with no wood. This is a hassle, however I am now an expert on how the whole wood thing works here and I’m going to be on the ball next year and get a huge stash in, in the spring. Apparemtly there is a window of opportunity for getting your wood sorted and it finishes on the 15th October– I have an extention for a couple of days but this is only a part of the hassle. I have to find a guy with a chain saw and a helper to go and cut the trees and stack them. Then I need two guys and a tractor to bring it all down. Then I need a guy and a circular saw to cut all the trees and then I need someone to chop it all into fire-sized logs. I have a volunteer coming later to do the last bit but all the rest has to happen this week. I’m so glad I have Jordan to help me with all of this, but I’m also learning loads. Next year…….
Using an email blog is a great way to keep in touch with people but when you don’t keep it up, you loose touch with a lot of people too. I’ve missed hearing where everyone is up to in their lives so I’m hoping that after this email, you’ll hit reply and tell me how you’re doing. By the way, I don’t understand how gmail manages my contact list yet so if you don’t want to get this blog, please let me know…and …sorry.
I have neighbours! Ed and Jess have been here over a month now and its so great to have someone literally just down the road to pop in for a chat or glass of wine. We’ve had great discussions on what to do with a million peaches, the intracasies and mysteries of Bulgarian electricity systems, plumbing and drainage; rooves of course, getting sucked into drinking rakia with the neighbours, how to get manure…..and of course we’ve shared lots of good food. I’ll miss them when they go – in 2 weeks.
I’ve just had some really great volunteers – Jonathan and Christine – escapees from America. They did loads of work, were really great guests and I hope, will be neighbours one day. They fell in love with a cute little house on the hill but their timing was a bit wrong as the American economy took a dive. The whole “credit crunch” and general crisis in the world economy is kind of passing us by here. Well, it passes me by because I don’t have TV or radio (in English) nor do I have easy access to the internet so I just don’t hear news. This is my head in the sand approach to the rest of the world right now and it doesn’t appear to be harming me. So, its true….you can live without news! But it also passes by much of life in this village. There’s inflation of course, and people are seeing their money go less far but so much of life here is not about the money economy. Yes, of course you need it but keeping up with the whole yearly cycle of making sure you have enough food for you and your animals for the winter, just caries on, regardless of the world economy.
(there is no spell check on this ancient computer by the way…
My life has been taken up this week with peaches, pears and grapes – too much of all them. The soluntions – bottling, chutney and jam; perry, wine, rakia and grape juice. All sounds great and will taste great but… it takes ages. I don’t mind those things in august when its too hot to move around anyway, but right now, I also have loads more digging to do, trees to prune and plant, the compost to sort, loads of manure to wheel barrow in, peppers to pickle, do something with a bacsket full of green tomaotes, dry and sort the 2million walnuts on the barn……and all the other little but important things to finish before its suddenly minus 20 again.
My biggest mission at the moment is to get the internet in. You would think that people who have internet companies would be glad of the business but it doesn’t seem to work like that here. But I need to spenc lots of time marketing my ideas –especially “rent my field” – this would be a lovelyplace for a family gathering, or a group of friends to get together and celebrate a birthday, or for a club (what kind of club??? – bird watching? Folk singing? Rambling? Pepper picklers??) to have a mini festival. I aslo need to find publishers for my books – note that is now in the plural – more on that later.
And of course, having the internet would mean that I could listen to the Archers and Desert Island Discs and I could phone people on skype……we’ll see what happens.
RED CROSS ALERT – as I am staying here for the winter again, I’m realising that I’ve read almost all of the books here. Do you have a book that you’ve read recently that you think I might like? Please send me books – anything – just slip one into an envelope and nip out and post it. I’ll love you for ever of course – thank you.