Bulgarian life
June is over … and so is the stormy season?
The stormy season seems to be getting longer every year. When we first came to Bulgaria, there’d usually be a stormy few weeks in May – lovely warm days, then these great crashing storms in the evenings. Then, within a couple of years, the storms started creeping...
The majesty of Magazin Mania
One of my favourite things to do in Sofia (besides all the eating and drinking) is go to the big Magazin Mania second-hand clothes shop, located in the basement of the covered market (Central Market Hall). It’s even better when we take family and friends from...
Joined at the hip
You can prepare for moving abroad in lots of practical ways. Brush up on the language. Plan a new business or some other way of earning money. Give all your crap to the charity shop… One thing we weren't prepared for – and it sounds really dumb to say this –...
Coming home
I’ve always been happy calling anywhere ‘home’. Bulgaria is ‘home’. England is ‘home’. Anytime I stay in a hotel or Airbnb for more than a night, I start calling it ‘home’. So, yes, I’m home (in Bulgaria) after my long trip back home (in England). The cat gang...
Postcard from the motherland
Greetings from the UK, where, surprisingly, the sun has been shining aplenty and nobody (that I’ve seen) is having angry debates about Brexit on public transport. Weird. I’m here for most of April on a long catchup with family and friends, so there’s not much to...
KAT, cats and glads
Like a lot of Brits here facing the prospect of no-deal Brexit tomfuckery, I had to drag my arse to the KAT office in Sofia last week to do battle with Bulgarian bureaucracy. But, on the plus side, it was all over within 30 minutes (my personal best for a KAT...
Osmi mart and a sunny weekend
Last Friday was International Women’s Day (simply ‘osmi mart’ or ‘8th March’ in Bulgarian). It’s a BIG deal here – easily as big as Mother’s Day in the UK, except it celebrates all women, not just the reproductive ones. Women receive gifts from their loved...
An expensive day out
Enjoying the locals' artwork in Etropole... I suspect I might be tight with money. I mean, the list of things I refuse to spend money on is growing longer all the time: new clothes, a better car, furniture, the latest phone (or gadgets in general), haircuts,...
Spring tease 2019
We’ve had our afternoon coffee out on the back terrace for the past three days, and it's been heavenly. Sat on the bench, against the sunny back wall of our house, it was baking. I can’t remember ever having coffee breaks outside in short sleeves in...
The increasing Westernisation of Bulgaria as demonstrated through avocado availability
Kaufland didn’t have any avocados the other day. Just typing that sentence makes me realise how much Bulgaria has changed since we first came here in 2011. I don’t think I saw an avocado in a local shop until … maybe 2014? 2015, even? I mean, you’d see them...
Too many mad people
Well, now, that wasn’t too bad, was it? January, I mean. Not too snowy. Not too cold. We managed to go swimming at the Pravets hotel a few times (our winter treat). Did lots of yoga (om). Ate lots of veggies (if only to offset the entire pack of butter we...
Blue Sunday?
I’ve always suffered from Sunday Blues. Even as a child, I remember feeling this little nugget of anxiety on Sundays, coupled with a demented compulsion to try and enjoy myself, to make the last moments of the weekend count. (As anyone who’s ever felt anxious will...