Another Bulgarian Door

Well its been quite a while since my new Bulgarian door had been fitted onto my Skalitsa Farmhouse but the project still wasn’t completed true to Bulgarian form. Mind you it wasn’t paid for at the time anyway

The month of May brings about much warmer, or even hot, weather and with this the flies have come to life. With this the problem is keeping them out of the house. The only way in is through the front door as all the windows have fly screen fitted – one of the great inventions of modern day living here.

It was the intention to have the fly screen fitted when the original door was put in but nobody got around to doing it. We now had time to get this organised, especially with paying guests now regularly staying and some due in the next few days.

So off we went to see Kosta, the manager of the Skalitsa based metalwork factory opposite the mayor’s house.

Kosta wasn’t there but we saw a worker and gave instructions for the door to be made up and fitted before out guests arrive. A slight worry came over me as he said, ’No Problem!’ as from much experience this comment usually is the signal for problems.

The next day the were two cars that pulled up outside my house, one driven by Kosta the other by one of his workers that had a fly screen tied tot his car roof. Within 10 minutes the door had been fitted and an explanation given to its workings.

The door had been secured on the existing new door but couldn’t close due to the handle protruding. With this only one door could be opened at any point. So when the front door is shut the fly screen has to be left open and when the fly screen is shut the front door has to be open. This was a design fault but being Bulgarian it still does the job of keeping flying insects out.

The job was done and Kosta the boss insisted that he didn’t’ want any money for the job as it was a gift. I couldn’t accept that and literarily forced a 20 lev note upon him.

As the front door had to remain open when the fly screen is shut the door had a problem not slamming against the wall if he wind catches it. To solve this Galia suggested a Bulgarian solution of sticking brillo pads to the wall! This idea although a strange sight seemingly would work so it was off to Maria’s shop to get a coupel of pan scrubbers.

With the items bought we used glue and stuck them to the wall and very proud we are of solving a problem Bulgarian style. What would our English guests think of it though?

So we have a working system in place and piece of mind that flies will not become an inherent problem in our farmhouse during this long summer. That is if we remember to shut it each time.