Tuesday 29th June 2021

A month of crazy weather has now more or less settled into normal hot conditions, which see me working for a couple of hours then snoozing in a shady spot for a while before returning to work again. Most of June saw constant heavy rain and pretty cool temperatures though I resisted the urge to light the fire, opting to snuggle under a blanket instead. The final madness came on Saturday night.

Late in the afternoon it became cool and overcast as I pottered about with the garden. Looking up I was shocked to see the weirdest cloud formation covering the sky. I took this little video though I don't think it properly shows how it looked.

The clouds were all hanging in lumps, which I believe are known as mammatus clouds. They looked quite scary and a quick Google informed me that they are often the harbingers of a severe storm. Yikes!

Weirdly though, half an hour later the sky was just normal flat grey cloud cover again, so I presumed it must have passed off. Little did I know.

About 8pm an almighty wind came roaring across the valley causing all the trees to whip this way and that, and various things to be blown around. Nasty low black clouds were now also scudding across the sky, and fearing maybe something as mad as a tornado (one hit the Czech Republic mere days ago) I managed to gather all the animals indoors and dashed round shutting windows through which the wind was howling.

A huge crash revealed that part of the grapevine frame had been pulled away from the house wall, bringing part of a drainpipe with it. As gust after gust smashed against the garden, I managed to wedge some of the fallen poles, and hoped it wouldn't all get lifted again, potentially causing damage to the walls.

The electricity went out, so we all sat by torchlight, watching sheet lightning flash behind the clouds as wind and now rain continued.

The electricity came back on after half an hour or so, and the wind subsided a lot, as did the rain. I went out with the torch to have a quick look round, but amazingly, apart from some sections of fencing blown flat, there was no other damage, and all the trees and plants seemed okay, apart from several sunflowers which were laying flat. Next time I see those sorts of clouds I'll be battening down the hatches straight away!

All the wet weather with the rising temperatures has brought a lot of the veggies on nicely. The pak choi, which I've grown for the first time, came up well, but have now gone to seed, so I'm starting off another batch. They were really nice just shredded and lightly sautéed so will make a great addition to the stir fry collection along with courgettes, spinach and chard. I've also got kohlrabi swelling, so I'm going to pick and eat one soon to see what they're like. I've never eaten one before, let alone grown them, but I'm hoping they'll be an easier alternative to swedes or turnips to add bulk to soups and stews.

Last year my spindly little sweetcorn plants all got completely savaged by jays, so this year I've encased them all in mesh netting. It's meant for protecting plants from hailstones, but hopefully it will serve to keep the birds out without causing any problems to them. It should be visible enough that they won't get tangled up in it.

I decided to have a bit of a clear out of all the old seeds I've had loitering around in half used packs, and this was the resulting mix:

It'd make a very pretty bean soup if it was edible! In a moment's madness I decided to scatter them all over the heap of grass clippings in the compost heap, either for creatures to nibble or to see if they'll grow. I'll be gutted if they make a better crop than all my carefully nurtured babies.

I'm glad I got those three big water containers because they're now nicely full of water ready for when the proper hot dry weather begins. Initially I just cobbled together old bits of drain and flue piping to channel the water into them, but I've since ordered a load of plastic guttering bits which I've started fitting together to direct the water more neatly into the tanks.

Originally I was going to buy lots of cheap wooden planks to box the tanks in, to keep the light out and stop the water turning into green sludge, but I've now decided I might just use those corrugated bitumen sheets that I used for the big barn roof. They're not that expensive, and they'll be a lot quicker to fit together. At the moment I've just got some old grey floor runners draped all over the tanks.

One thing I need to sort out before next winter will be an overflow channel to take unwanted rainwater away from the property and out into the street. At the moment I've dug this little ditch which could potentially lead round the side of the toilet and through a ready made hole in the wall.

Unfortunately, next to the toilet, there are several pretty hefty slabs of stone, plus the enormous 2.5 by 1.5 metre piece blocking the way. I've started pulling out smaller rocks etc and am currently trying to formulate some kind of plan whereby the giant slab can slowly be lowered to a more horizontal position, because then I might be able to shift the stones that are blocking the exit point for the drain.

My mad idea is to have a stack of bricks either side under the huge slab, then to knock out the wooden supports so the slab rests on the bricks, and then to wack out one brick at a time thereby making the slab drop a couple of inches at a time. Maybe I'll take out some life insurance before embarking on that plan of action.

I'm very excited to announce that the upstairs electrical work is complete! Hurrah! Well, almost. The electrician has just got to put up the ceiling light fittings, but he's said he'll do that after I've finished plastering and decorating. This properly spurred me on to tackle the last two rooms up there, and now the living room is finished. It looks lovely, all clean and white, and the double aspect windows mean I get a great breeze coming through.

The final room will be my bedroom, but that's the room which was most damaged by roof leaks and cracked plaster. Consequently I'd kept putting off doing anything because it seemed like such a mammoth task, but now that I've started it's not so bad. I've decided to do a little series of progress videos just to show how something that looks completely run down can be transformed into a bright clean little room, and without needing an army of professionals. That's one of the things I adore about these old wattle and daub houses; the walls are so lumpy and bumpy that you can have a go at renovating them yourself without your efforts looking completely out of place. Anyway, here's the first video, links to the others are all in the descriptions.

I popped up to see the Bulgarian neighbour who has bought the top section of the big field next to my house. He's already planted several rows of fruit trees there and plans to do more. Well, between our two plots of land is another small triangular section which he thought belonged to the council. When he went along to enquire about buying it, the council told him that it's actually privately owned, so the question is, by whom?

My neighbour suggests that it could be part of my property, even though it's not shown on the skitsa I received (a diagrammatic plan showing land boundaries and the position of buildings), or that it still belongs to the previous owner of my place.

Over an enormous slab of cake and a hot coffee topped by a big scoop of melon flavoured ice-cream ( cal-horrific but delicious) he showed me a website where all plots of land are shown, and told me where the office is in Gabrovo where you can enquire about land ownership. So, on Monday, if I'm feeling brave enough, I plan to go along to said office, and see if I can find out who owns that bit of land.