Day 211, 31 January 2013, Bansko, Bulgaria. It's Packing Day! The contents of the exploding luggages needed to be corralled, sorted, culled and consolidated before we head back to London for a couple of days. As it is we have our two backpacks being minded by a friend in London and whilst we plan to ship the ski gear to Berlin, still need to turn 3 large bags into two. A reverse "loaves and fishes" if you will. We accomplished 90% of the packing but had to stop after lunch because the guesthouse had our skis stored securely and Mama, aka "Senior Management", (in the loosest possible sense of the term) had left the establishment after breakfast. As it turns out more or less for good. We were chasing Daughter, aka "Junior Management" at 7 pm still trying to get our skis out of storage. Sometimes travelling is easy. This wasn't one of those times. Having had three weeks to buy a couple of pairs of hand knitted socks from the market we did of course try to do it today. Today when the winds were wild, flinging power and phone lines around. Today when the rain was driving icily into our faces. Today when Siberia came to town. Today when all the sensible stall holders had hidden under their rocks, not to be seen for love or the minimal amount of Bulgarian money we had to be rid of. Bought some glorious baguette sandwiches at the French cafe instead. Then had barely enough cash for the socks. But we managed - and so good not to leave with a few euros worth of pesky levs. Funny old evening, time warp wise, once the skis were released we finished packing and tried to go to sleep at 8 pm. With the alarm set for 1.30 am (11.30 pm London time). James acquitted himself well, me, not so much. Lay there contemplating oversleeping until the alarm was about to go off instead. Our cab turned up 15 minutes early then broke the land speed record to Sofia Airport - 2 hour 30 minute trip in just under 2 hours. Wow. All that speed came to a grinding halt and lots of sitting around the world's least amusing airport ensued. Eventually on the plane and en route to London at 6.40 am / 4.40 am London time. Arrived around 8.30 am. And we collected up our tired eyeballs just in time for Friday to begin. YAY LONDON!
PS - today's picture was from a walk on a FINE day - amply demonstrating why Bulgarians (and us) all wear thick fur hats - you just don't want one of these cracking your skull!