Thunder in Bulgaria
I'm sitting alone in an apartment in Bulgaria as thunder is cracking and lightning is flashing outside.
This is the result of from my ill conceived idea of a holiday.
Usually, I jealously hoard my holiday allowance, tacking on extra days to bank holidays and specifically allocating precious time off for trips and holidays. We have to use up our holiday by 30th September each year and I never usually have more than a day left.
This year I saved up five days expecting that Les and I would have a week away somewhere late in the summer.
But I realised far too late that him being under probation for his new job meant he hadn't yet accrued any annual leave yet so wouldn't be allowed any time off at all. I found myself with holiday days to use up and no plans to use them.
I spent some time at home, I visited my grandparents, I visited my brother in London and at the very end of September, I finally planned a holiday somewhere sunny with my friend Katy.
Katy lives in Istanbul but for my next trip there I really want to take Les, so I suggested instead a Bulgarian Black Sea holiday resort, as she could travel by bus and meet me there. We would get some late summer sun, drink some cocktails, catch up.
All good plans except that since my second day here the weather has been TERRIBLE. It's been grey, cloudy, raining. This place is called Sunny Beach and is all set up for holiday makers and but it is now well and truly shut down for the season and there is absolutely nothing to do. There is street after street of empty hotels, closed down bars and shut up shops. Quite depressing surroundings!
Thankfully, Katy and I are very good friends who go back a long way so were able to kill time by going for walks, drinking and mooching around supermarkets. I couldn't have asked for a better companion to while away the time in a less than exciting location so on the whole I think I'll actually look back on this trip with fondness.
In around 2006, I was working as a secretary for the Express & Star newspaper in Wolverhampton and Katy was a trainee reporter for the Chronicle. As we both kept LiveJournals and were based in the same city we found each other online, became LJ friends, then discovered we actually worked in the same office. The first time we met was an awkward chance encounter in the ladies loos!
We have been good friends since and been on many adventures since, despite not living in the same country for most of it. She is someone I know I can be myself around, which is a lovely thing indeed. It's been a good holiday for our long overdue catch up, if nothing else.
Katy's bus back to Istanbul was this afternoon and my flight home isn't til tomorrow so got some time in the apartment to myself til then. The apocalyptic weather has deterred me from spending any more time outside but I've got pasta and TV and loads of books - could be worse!
It's also meant I've updated my LiveJournal for the first time in forever, which is nice.
This is the result of from my ill conceived idea of a holiday.
Usually, I jealously hoard my holiday allowance, tacking on extra days to bank holidays and specifically allocating precious time off for trips and holidays. We have to use up our holiday by 30th September each year and I never usually have more than a day left.
This year I saved up five days expecting that Les and I would have a week away somewhere late in the summer.
But I realised far too late that him being under probation for his new job meant he hadn't yet accrued any annual leave yet so wouldn't be allowed any time off at all. I found myself with holiday days to use up and no plans to use them.
I spent some time at home, I visited my grandparents, I visited my brother in London and at the very end of September, I finally planned a holiday somewhere sunny with my friend Katy.
Katy lives in Istanbul but for my next trip there I really want to take Les, so I suggested instead a Bulgarian Black Sea holiday resort, as she could travel by bus and meet me there. We would get some late summer sun, drink some cocktails, catch up.
All good plans except that since my second day here the weather has been TERRIBLE. It's been grey, cloudy, raining. This place is called Sunny Beach and is all set up for holiday makers and but it is now well and truly shut down for the season and there is absolutely nothing to do. There is street after street of empty hotels, closed down bars and shut up shops. Quite depressing surroundings!
Thankfully, Katy and I are very good friends who go back a long way so were able to kill time by going for walks, drinking and mooching around supermarkets. I couldn't have asked for a better companion to while away the time in a less than exciting location so on the whole I think I'll actually look back on this trip with fondness.
In around 2006, I was working as a secretary for the Express & Star newspaper in Wolverhampton and Katy was a trainee reporter for the Chronicle. As we both kept LiveJournals and were based in the same city we found each other online, became LJ friends, then discovered we actually worked in the same office. The first time we met was an awkward chance encounter in the ladies loos!
We have been good friends since and been on many adventures since, despite not living in the same country for most of it. She is someone I know I can be myself around, which is a lovely thing indeed. It's been a good holiday for our long overdue catch up, if nothing else.
Katy's bus back to Istanbul was this afternoon and my flight home isn't til tomorrow so got some time in the apartment to myself til then. The apocalyptic weather has deterred me from spending any more time outside but I've got pasta and TV and loads of books - could be worse!
It's also meant I've updated my LiveJournal for the first time in forever, which is nice.