I’ve always been happy calling anywhere ‘home’.
Bulgaria is ‘home’. England is ‘home’. Anytime I stay in a hotel or Airbnb for
more than a night, I start calling it ‘home’. So, yes, I’m home (in Bulgaria)
after my long trip back home (in England).
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| The cat gang missed me terribly and were really excited to see me. Not. |
Christ, but it’s a readjustment, coming home (Bulgaria)
after spending several weeks at home (England). It’s lots of little things,
like how small our house feels (even compared to my folks’ terraced house in
Portsmouth) after being away from it for so long. Or how strange it is to come
downstairs in the morning and be swamped by cats, after staying in a pet-free
household for weeks. Or how long it takes to boil a kettle on a gas hob. Or,
you know, our quirky plumbing. Every now and then, I stop and think, oh right, this is how we live.
Then I go outside, sit on the terrace, and
absorb the quiet, like it’s vitamin D. I can’t hear any sirens, or trains or
traffic. There’s no one around, except the cats playing under the rhubarb and
the neighbour quietly fussing over his tomatoes. And I think, yes, this is how we live.
It takes a while to pass, this ambivalent state
of being both pleased to be home (Bulgaria), and missing the ease and convenience of home (England). But at least there’s plenty to keep my poor
confused mind busy, both in terms of actual work and the mounting list of
garden jobs.
As a result of the chilly-ish April weather (we
even had a frost about a week ago), and because Rob’s been holding the fort on
his own for so long, we’re way behind where we’d normally be in the garden by
this time of year. We’ve only just sown squash and courgette seeds (not much
point sowing early if it’s not warm). I’ve hardly sown any flowers beyond sweet
peas. And I’ve not sown any of the direct-sow veg seeds like beetroot or
parsnips. Oh, but the dahlias and gladioli that we started forcing indoors are doing
brilliantly – more than ready to go outside, providing we don’t have another
frost…
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| Gladioli watch: look at these ridiculous whoppers! |
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| Nice, bushy dahlia ready to be planted out. |
Elsewhere in the garden, everything shot up in
the time I was away. When I left in early April, the garden and surrounding
countryside was still a bit brown and bare. I came back to green trees, fat
grass, and flower beds that look like a crazy, neglected cottage garden on
steroids.
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| Really need to get the flower borders under control. |
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| Alliums getting ready to flower. |
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| Unusual tulips. Can't remember the variety, but aren't they nice? |
