One Man in Bulgaria

Emerging from my burrow on the first day of March 2017, it has been a long hard winter. Temperatures are still pretty low and a cold wind blows however there is a blue sky as the sun struggles to bring forth spring. It is Baba Marta day once again. I wrote in detail about this annual event in my blog last year. Once again stalls have been selling martenitsi in the lead up to this celebration and will continue to do so until the end of the week. You can see a friend of mine in the photo. with her mother many weeks have been spent making these. The best are made from local wool and beads. This year I receive seven, worn on my wrist, from my increasing circle of friends. 'Pizho and Penda' are hanging on my door. Text messages are exchanged with distant friends containing images of cards just as we would once have sent cards through the post in my youth. New decorations have been installed at the "Compass" on the way to the sea garden. To celebrate I have lunch at ...

We had Unification Day earlier in the month, now we have, in theory, a four day holiday celebrating Bulgarian Independence. Bulgarians have had to work the previous two Saturdays to make up for this extended holiday however I was to discover that most shops and service outlets remained open because they need the income. Indeed the low wage economy took this post in a direction which I had not intended when I set out this morning. The Varna website was sadly lacking in information so I went down into the town centre in search of parades or events to mark the occasion. I was either in the wrong place at the right time or the right place at the wrong time. Inevitably I found myself in the Sea Garden as this is where many of the monuments are. The sun was shining with a temperature in the low to mid 20s, a pleasant day to stroll around and the same thought had occurred to most of the population here in Varna. Those not working that is.  Instead of a photo album of parades and other f...