(I write this on the 7th November 2022....) Hi folks, well it's some time since I wrote so here goes.... I had a visit from a good friend of mine recently who was a self confessed avid reader of my blogs. I explained that, as a result of my epic train journey across my epic train journey giving so much material it became a daunting task to catch up. My return to the UK at the time of our permanent departure from the European Union rapidly followed by the Covid lockdown and subsequent economic turmoil including the war in Ukraine reduced my frame of mind to mush. I could not bring myself to "blog". I feel especially sad about the Russian/Ukrainian situation as these were both countries I would have liked to visit at the time of my residence in Bulgaria. Sadly the annexation of Crimea prevented this. I was recently looking for a new set of photographs for my TV screensaver when I realised how many of my travels have not been uploaded and reported upon. So why start here,