Bad Brits in Bulgaria

From Novinite News Wednesday, 19th September 2007
Two UK nationals were given 8-month suspended sentences and three years to be served in probation for attacking policemen in Bulgaria's town of Veliko Tarnovo a week ago.

I was going to keep quiet about this but last week I recall an instance where I was walking home to get my daily Bulgarian lunch and reading a topic thread about the same type of thing hit a note.

On a daily basis en route to home cooked lunch, I always pass the police station in Yambol, this is also the place where you also get your residents permits from. This being the case occasionally you hear English being spoken as they make their way there from the town centre or hang around the area at lunchtime as it is closed.

This was one of those days where a family group with distinct English accents were picked up were making their way up the hill toward the police station. I tend keep my mouth shut on these occasions as the lunch waiting on the table at home would get cold if delayed. And in this instance I was very glad I did.

Bulgarian parking systems on the pavements in Yambol mean that I was forced to follow behind the English speaking people in single file whilst walking on and up the hill. This gave opportunity to overhear their conversation on reflection wish I never heard......

It was about get rat-arsed on the previous Saturday night at a stag night on the Black Sea Coast. They went on talking about smashing a window, trashing the hotel room they were staying in and roughing up the hotel manager who had 'the cheek' to complain in the morning.

They spoke with pride in their voices as the laughing followed the description. In the process their limited vocabulary was mixed with an infrequent variety of abusive adjectives. To add to this one of the foreigners was pushing a pram with a child in it - What a future for that child!

Now this is something that embarrassed the living daylights out of me. I just hoped and prayed that they weren't applying for a Bulgarian resident permit as they turned off toward the entrance of the police station. They should really be going there to face charges!

Many or most things that go on in Yambol are pleasant experiences but on occasions something shakes you up a bit. this was an instance but nothing to do with Bulgaria or the Bulgarians but undesirable outsiders who feel they have license to do what they want without fear of punishment.

So when an item of news comes in where punishment is given for this type of behavior it is actually good new but what did they get? In the case that was mentioned a suspended sentence - What is that in terms of punishment? Well nothing actually.

On a final note, this is very rare in Yambol and its surround. The instance witnessed was the only instance in all the time I have lived and worked here in Yambol.

Whatever the future holds with these people coming to Bulgaria the attraction of this region remains firmly in decent law abiding foreigners with a respect for how things are here.

Some Black Sea resorts however will always bring in summer madness from foreigners which is why I am so glad I live away from all this.

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