23-07-08

Hello to all, yes I'm still alive over here in the Balkans. Much has been going on & work has been 24/7 since the last blog update.
But now we have a quiet spot in Mostel world, which I know will not last very long as the place grows ever more popular & has been full to the brim with backpackers for the last couple of weeks. I ended up living in a tent out the back which was a nice change until the weather took a turn for the worse a day or 2 back.
The hostel was so full at the time that we had to evacuate the tenters into the dorms, & on to mattresses, it was a bit of a squeeze. I decided to sleep in Stanimirs BBQ since it is virtually a house in itself (with dimmer lights & power points!) threw my mattress down & rugged up while there was a massive electrical storm going on giving me front row seating & great entertainment, fork lightning & claps of thunder which is still continuing as I write (I'm now inside as it's pretty wet out there) It's great to get the rain & cool weather, previously it was 37C now it's 18C which is great to feel!
Tomorrow I have a couple of days off to get to the house & do a bit of work. Ogi & some of his friends will give me a hand to clean the place up a bit. Ogi is one of the guys that works here at Hostel Mostel & his mate has a horse & wagon which we are going to load up with grass & branches which need to be cut back at the house.
Next week we will get the electrician in to quote on a re-wire for the house, & Stanimir is sorting the roof...
Here's a few pics taken over the last week or 2...


One night just after I went to bed there were 2 huge fireballs & a explosion not far from the hostel up on a lookout point. One of the backpackers saw it & heard a lot of yelling & screaming. The next day on the way to the train station this is what I found!










It appears that the LPG cylinder in one of these cars exploded, blowing the roof almost completely off, & another car next to it caught fire as well. You can see in the pic to the right the LPG tank pealed open. If anyone was in the car they would have been seriously burnt, but there was no news of the incident the next day.


This sort of incident doesn't surprise me here when you understand the mentality of Eastern Europeans. I was talking to Assen a couple of weeks back about warrant of fitness regulations & this is a simple explanation of how it works...

Car owner: "I need a WOF for my car"
Inspector: "Did you drive the car here?" (to the garage)
Car owner: "Yes"
Inspector: "Oh, well then it must in road worthy condition! That will be 10 lev please"
& so the car is certified...
Seriously I'm not kidding you here, as I was asking Assen what the deal is just in case I bought a cheap set of wheels to run around in.
Speaking of a cheap set of wheels this is what a couple of backpackers turned up in yesterday.
It cost all of $200, A Citroen 2CV with a 600cc engine producing 18 - 20hp! This is just the machine I could see Jae Carey in! :)
You might laugh but it has a double bed in the back & has been driven across Europe and through Turkey.






A perfect match for my trendy European long shorts eh?





& to finish the show off here's a local crop for the boss to look at...
See you around!