A 2000 Year Old Trick

With some family over here from England for a short holiday it was a time a bit of a get together one evening at the farm.

Everything was prepared and set as seven English folk and Galia was the only Bulgarian present looked forward to a long night of eating drinking and not least talking. But the most memorable part of the evening was a big joke set up and administered upon one of my family.

The person who was set up is probably the biggest practical joker there and we were about to see the tables turned as the evening begun.

A few days before another one of my family had a joke played on him. He went to the Elhovo, with a swarm of expatriates now resident there and visited an antique shop. There he was very excited when he found some roman coins for sale. He was under the impression they were real couldn't believe his luck then bought a handful on impulse.

At 10 leva each, they weren't expensive as far as he was concerned. Galia and I just knew that they were copies not only from the price, which we thought was overally expensive, but also by the composition of the coins. They were excellent copies and great as a curiosity and souvenir, unfortunately that was all they were worth.

Still convinced these coins were real, we thought we'd conjure a trick on the practical joker of our family. We weren't too sure how he would react having a trick bounced on him, but went ahead anyway.

The plan was to make out that the roman coins were found in his Bulgarian garden. All the food and drink and trick were prepared as we started the evening.

On a trip to the bathroom one of the family ran back to the party all excited, muddy hands and his fist clenched with muddy roman coins. He was shouting, "Look, look what I've dug up in your garden! All the party was in on the joke as we got the new "owner by rights" to look at the coins. He was now so full of when he personally took control washing the coins in the outside tap getting more and more excited as each coin revealed itself to be 2000 years old. Plans were already being made to sell them for astronomical money in the UK as the pound signs in his eyes started rolling round.

When all the coins were cleaned it was a rush back to the garden with a garden fork to look for more before it got dark. It was the gold rush set in as he started digging away at the site where they were 'apparently found.'

In the background was stifled laughter as we tried to hold back our amusement. The joke had to end there as the fork began to work the land. It was even more laughter held back when he said that he couldn't believe they had been found as he'd dug this land over a few months ago and never found anything.

So the joke was revealed and the reaction was total reservation and a big congratulations to everyone as he had fallen for it hook line and sinker and this was one of the best tricks of all time!

It was back to the party all-high and in full swing now. Later the original coin buyer, who still thinks they are real coins got a big toad put down the back of his collar to get a little revenge for the trick. 'That's not the last of it' he said as we wait for more trickery as payback.

And what did Galia think of all this as a Bulgarian? She was in fits lf laughter all the way through the evening, lovely to see this, as she now has to get used to English humour from my side of the family.

Skalitsa Village -The Facts

The village of Skalitsa is located in Southeast Bulgaria. Its nearest towns are Yambol and Elhovo both around 30 minutes drive from the village. Both these towns are thriving and continue to be rejuvenated by popularity and investment from many foreigners and Bulgarians.

Skalitza is one of the larger and more important villages in the area and is an up and coming attraction with available investment from Europe into the infrastructure and facilities there. There has been a major clean up and fresh look in the village with the school having been renovated and money other public building having been given a face lift. There is also brand new theatre/concert hall that opened in the village centre last year that attracts National and International artists and performers from around the world.

It has everything you need in the village including two garages, post office, a doctor and dentist surgery, two veterinaries, a chemist, a variety of grocery/food stores, a clothing shop and a beautiful orthodox church which celebrated its 150 anniversary this year. During the summer months, (and there are many of them) there is local produce sold from stalls in the village centre park - yes it has a big public park in the village centre as well It also has a unisex hairdressing shop many bars scattered around in and around the village as where you can get snacks.

Skalitsa also has its own bakery, window double glazing factory, metalwork factory, wood-processing factory and around the village many new vineyards have been planted from private investment. Bus and taxi services run regularly from the village centre.

It is not widely known but Skalitsa is famed for its healing stones which are geographically positioned at a point where two magnetic fields cross. There is only one other place on earth where this happens! Research has been made on the site along with media attention all which presents evidence of the stones having healing properties for arthritis, rheumatism and various other related and unrelated ailments.

There haven been two sets of film makers in the village this year, one film crew from Hollywood USA, choosing Skalitsa for its magnificent setting on a raised rock base within the Thracian Plain. Skalitza actually mean little rock. This was chosen over other Balkan countries including Croatia, Romania and Former Republic of Czechoslovakia, the Skalitsian scenery could not be compared with!

www.ourbulgarianworld.com

www.bulgarinarealestateonline.com

Why not spend some tie there in my farmhouse in Skalitsa which is for rent.

www.self-catering-breaks.com/Properties/Prop42149.htm