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Fire and Rain
If Stevie Wonder had lived in Equatorial Guinea, he’d probably still have thought there was nothing hotter than July in Bulgaria. Here’s one hundred words per day to describe the last fifteen days of a very sweaty month.
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Violetta Are You Better?
If Stevie Wonder had lived in Bulgaria, he’d have realised that there’s nothing hotter than July. Here’s one hundred words per day to describe the first sixteen days of a very sticky month.
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While My Guitar Teacher Gently Weeps
Words of apology to anyone who has ever tried to teach me to play a musical instrument.
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There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Engels
Dyado Petr, Baba Stefka and Todor Zhivkov are/were real people, the earthquake and appointment of a new head of state really did happen, and the places I’ve mentioned really do exist, but much of the rest of this tale is a fig leaf of my imagination. However, it describes an event that could have taken place in my part of Bulgaria seventy years ago. Superstition is so strong and diverse here that it’s possible to make it up and get away with it. Maybe I did make it up and maybe I didn’t.
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The Fox and the Elm Tree
For Julia and Robert. And for Coral and Sarah.
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Shedding
Posted on Sat, 11 Jul 2026
You say Shedim, I say tomato. You say spirits, I say rakia.
More than fifty years ago, a kid in my class at school in Leeds told me that he used to go shedding. I had no idea what he meant so I asked him to explain. He said it was what...
Read full commentPosted in walking over my grave.
Sticks and stones
Posted on Sat, 11 Jul 2026
Aye, I'll 'ave 'em... which is an easy thing to say from 3,000 kms away.
My thin skin grew thicker. Folks can say whatever they want these days. It's like sticks and stones off a duck's back.
Read full commentPosted in And the consequence was
See my baby jibe
Posted on Sat, 11 Jul 2026
The durty skite! Did you not jibe back? I would have done. Tell me who it was and I’ll jibe for you.
But I do know from experience how receiving a bad jibe can distress the mind.
Read full commentPosted in And the consequence was
Intolerant mess
Posted on Thu, 09 Jul 2026
There are horror stories coming at us in all directions Jane. Ukraine is a good example as the Ukrainian refugees that came to Bulgaria are generally different to the ones that went to Western Europe. Ours are the Russian speaking Ukrainians who...
Read full commentPosted in Misplaced Person Seeks Pomegranates
The Troubles
Posted on Thu, 09 Jul 2026
During the Troubles in Ireland there were indeed different brands of Christians fighting each other but they weren’t fighting over religion. The problems in the North always have been about the lack of civil rights of the Catholic / Nationalist...
Read full commentPosted in Misplaced Person Seeks Pomegranates
That gardener
Posted on Thu, 09 Jul 2026
Ah you made me do LOLs multiple times. And I too am a perverted gardener, but I love the hot sunny days, as long as I'm allowed a siesta. I expect the professionals aren't allowed that luxury. Poor you!
2013 was a long time before my time...
Read full commentPosted in On Sizzling Days (repost from 2013)
Ignorance
Posted on Thu, 09 Jul 2026
I wish I knew the answer Kat, but I'm not sure there is one.
It's something that's always gone on but it seems to have become significantly worse in the last ten years, stoked up by social media access to the hate speech of the likes of...
Read full commentPosted in Misplaced Person Seeks Pomegranates
Two Tribes
Posted on Thu, 09 Jul 2026
"War breaks out and nobody turns up..."
Read full commentPosted in Misplaced Person Seeks Pomegranates
Lambeg
Posted on Thu, 09 Jul 2026
Exactly Kat!
If only our villagers had actually met an Indian family.
My elderly mother would never eat 'Paki food' when she came to our house so we'd tell her it was Malaysian and then she'd be fine with it. And then she...
Read full commentPosted in Misplaced Person Seeks Pomegranates
Immigraniada
Posted on Thu, 09 Jul 2026
Thank you very much.
You're right about that word migrant. I'm a migrant and so are the people on the boats fleeing war and famine. Skin pigmentation is the key feature that sets us apart. And then there are the migrants here who try to...
Read full commentPosted in Misplaced Person Seeks Pomegranates
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