Blog
168. July roundup
The first half of July was dominated by the World Cup and a visit from family. If you’re wondering how Guardianista snowflakes like us who live nowhere near a proper English pub watch the footie, it goes like this: Watching the match on the sofa while eating...
167. Out in the garden
Veg garden recovery The courgettes, rhubarb and beetroot are springing back to form after the heavy storms. It always amazes me that really delicate things like dill and asparagus ferns are totally unharmed by bad weather, while the big ole brutes look...
166. Things I do during a(nother) power cut
My 'oh goody, ANOTHER power cut' face. Just as VAR is fast becoming my favourite thing about football (the drama as the ref jogs off the pitch to look at that telly!), electricity is fast becoming my least favourite thing about Bulgaria. Today we had no power for...
165. Early harvests
The garden is ramping up and feeding us regularly, despite last week’s epic storms. In fact, we’ve eaten (small) beetroot, (even smaller) courgettes and (lots of) tomatoes from the garden every day this week. Our early Latah tomatoes, and spoils from the...
164. Before and after the storm
I say ‘the storm’, like there’s been just the one. But we’ve had storms almost every day for weeks and weeks. It’s normal for this time of year in the mountains – we have beautiful hot, sunny days followed by stormy evenings – and we never usually mind. One storm...
163. June!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but it’s June. Already. June of 2018. Yesterday it was 1998 and I was sitting my a-levels, driving a knackered orange Fiesta with a broken speedometer, and planning an award-winning career as a foreign correspondent (or stage...
162. Budapest
Armed with a bumbag full of plasters and my one foreign language (which unfortunately isn't Hungarian), we trundled off to Budapest last weekend. We’ve always wanted to go and our upcoming anniversary (12 years – I’m not sure which one of us deserves a medal...
161. Shit we’re growing this year
I do hope you like lists as much as I do, because that’s basically what this post is all about. What did you expect? I am a literal Gardening Bore. So, *cracks knuckles in anticipation*, this year in the veg/fruit garden we’re growing: Tomatoes and basil –...
160. Back in the Bulg
Here I am! Back from the UK* to a gloriously warm Bulgarian spring. Man, the garden shot up while I was away. I was only gone 10 days and I swear the perennials have grown by a foot. This is the best time of year for a gardener, I think. You’ve got all the promise...
159. Gardening Bore 2018
Not much to report on lately, so here are a few pictures from our early 2018 Gardening Bore efforts. Reliable rhubarb. By the way, isn’t rhubarb just the best word? Try bellowing it when someone says something you disagree with. ‘RHUBARB!’ It will put them...
158. Rando
And so we arrive at the ragged, arse-end of winter. That time when the weather teases you saucily one day with sun and warmth, then slaps you in the chops with more snow the next. Last year this tiresome bait-and-switch behaviour went on until the end of April....
157. My commune dream
There’s a walk from our house that goes up above the start of the village to the tiny hilltop hamlet where our neighbour grew up. Long ago, everyone from this hamlet (I say ‘everyone’ – we’re talking about six houses) moved down into the village and the place is...