I've entitled this blog waiting as it seems to sum up my life currently. Firstly I am waiting for my funds in the UK to reach my bank a/c here so that i can 1)Pay for my extensive double glazing to make life so much warmer and cheaper. 2)The same funds will provide for jeep insurance and winter tyres as necessary - need both before travelling to Uk on 28th November. 3) For Stan to provide his billhead for the repairs to Yunets and independant assessment that they have been completedThen the insurance money should come. 4)For Monday when I will [View Full Entry]

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We arrived early in the morning for our fist port of call, Varna, a seaside resort town on the coast of Bulgaria. After booking our cruise I checked out the cruisecritic.com website and was fortunate enough after a few e-mails to have a private tour at every port of call with a group of 6 for five of our stops and along with those same 6 part of a group of twenty for two other stops. Oscar (along with Debbie) organized all our stops along with Keith and Debra (from Canada). Oscar and Debbie (both retired) travel every 6 months and [View Full Entry]

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I hope you enjoyed the few photos that I loaded last time.There are lots more but it will have to wait till I can acess broadband speed .Probably Sam's. Still I now have a computer with an intact battery which means I can also access free wifi outlets at stores and cafes in Dobrich and Varna.! I also am using the printer scanner Sam and Stu purchased here (many thanks).Already it has enabled me to print off all the ferry bookings for Dec/Jan at home!I will be leaving here on the 28th afternoon Nov and all being well will catch the [View Full Entry]

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Here are some of the photos taken when the kids were here. Among others from visits to Balchik'palace',kamchia,stone forest and rusenski lom park. [View Full Entry]

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Our stay in Varna has essentially been 10 days of down time, a welcome break halfway through this trip. It's just a shame the British weather came to greet us as we were looking forward to lying by the pool and getting a tan. We were met off the bus by Rob who we worked with in Azerbaijan. He kindly invited us to stay at his house in the hills above Varna. Our first full day with him was glorious and we basked in the sunshine making the most of his swimming pool. Sadly that was the last we saw of [View Full Entry]

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Much has happened since my last entry.Kids visit went very well, enabling me to be a tourist again and also passenger in my own car most of the time.Thanks Stu. Dog had a type of mildly virulent mange and has progressed well after a series of vet visits and medication.travelling to there in car was messy BUT EVENTUALLY WITH PERSEVERANCE WE MANAGED A TRIP TO kAMCHIA,YUNETS AND BOYANA IN ONE DAY with only dribble to contend with!Will aim to take her on small' pleasant' runs in the future from time to time to keep conditioning going whilst maintaining her semi-wild status. [View Full Entry]

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I'm ashamed to say I spent most of my final 2 days in Istanbul in a pub, watching the cricket. I think culture is over rated anyway. Had so much fun it was unbeleivable though. Started off with a pub of about 40 aussies and 5 brits and ended up with the complete reverse! Met a lad called Andy who notcied my Cuths day tshirt. Turns out he was a cuthsman and was with a mate from Aidens. Pretty small world! I did see a few sites, including the blue mosque which I finally got to outside of prayer time. It [View Full Entry]

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Well, Burgas... There's not too much to report as most of our days followed a similar pattern - get up late, get lunch, go to beach, get dinner, go to festival, go to bed etc. However, we shall endeavour to elaborate as we can... On the first full day we actually decided to go and arm ourselves with some reading material. As usual, when you find an bookshop with English literature you are somewhat restricted to the Penguin/Wordsworth classics. So, between us we have two Thomas Hardy novels - Far from the Madding Crowd and Fair Blue Eyes... a good old [View Full Entry]

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Finally, another blog update - it seemed the recent lack of entry rather concerned someone (Mother Bywaters) as to whether we are still alive - but I can safely say we are. The lack of updates is mostly due to the fact that for the past few days, we have been chilling on the beach and going to the festival at night, leaving very little time/energy to write anything. Plus, using internet that is about as fast as dial-up is mental torture. So, where we left off was in Bucharest - anticipating our ridiculously early start for the bus to the [View Full Entry]

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At least I think it should be upwards.Looking forward to family visit - not long now and have devised possible excursions to use time wisely.Travelling will have to be early am or later evening as in between is a nightmare with our weather. We are in the process of laying down plum Rakia for winter cold offsetting! Never fear there will be some for Belfast at Xmas and Cornwall in June!! Even we can't drink 50L of plum and of course grape to follow.Gillian and Peter got good weather with some nightime storms and we have had the odd one since [View Full Entry]

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