Mexico 86 at Eagle’s Nest

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

This post is part of the series about communist Bulgaria between 1979 and 1989. I already posted about my cat, ice cream, TV, elections, and bags.

I see you’re reading these so, allow me to take us on a journey back to 1986. Turn on the imaginary Sepia filter, because it’s both time and location appropriate.

Football was very big at the time, partially because our team played fine, but also because we didn’t have much else to do. Kids would collect photos of strong teams, cut out of newspapers, and adults would gather near the park to agressively discuss games. We also played it, many of us, even some fathers.

1986 was a World Cup year. The same World Cup that Maradona dominated and eventually single-handedly decided by scoring a dubious goal with an arm, the Hand of God, as he said.

The World Cup was during the summer break, and we were not at home. My grandfather booked a 20-day vacation with the kids in a mountain hut-like “resort”, called Eagle’s Nest, where there was supposed to be a TV. I was excited to go there because it was close to two very famous places – Shipka and Buzludzha.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Eagle’s Nest was affected by the electricity shortage, common for the Communist Bulgaria. It had no power most of the time. No electricity meant no TV, and no World Cup. We had other fun things to do, like preparing oil lamps.

Thankfully, the adults discovered that the nearby hut Temenuga somehow solved the problem, perhaps had a generator. Their TV worked. We could be their guests.

So every day with games, a large group of adults of all ages, their children and grandchildren, would walk to the other hut, now closed, to watch the games. We would gather around the CRT TV, and watch players with colorful jerseys, exotic stadiums, and listen to commentary that sounds like coming from a tube.

Bulgaria drew two games and lost to Argentina, which made the championship a bit less interesting but then we rooted for Argentina because, if we lost, at least we lost to the World Champion.

I had lots of fun at these late evening trips through the forest. My memories for the individual games are gone. But the forest stayed with me. I’m sure I’ll find the paths between Shipka, Eagle’s Nest, Temenuga, and Buzludzha even today. I can close my eyes and be there.

It took decades for me to discover that the World Cup was a month after the Chernobyl disaster and we should’ve stayed inside. The dark forest wasn’t safe.

Shipka, Photo Credit: Vislupus, CC BY-SA 4.0.

I need to show this place to my kids one day.

Spring is Coming

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

ChatGPT roasted my draft post for today and even cutting half of it didn’t help much. A few cats came to the rescue. The temperatures today were above zero and they crawled out of their shelters, giving me plenty to share.

Green

~ Veselin ~ 6 Comments

I’ve been having trouble taking photos of cats this January. They hide from the cold, and so do people.

Here’s a European Green Woodpecker instead, taking a snow bath. It was the first time I’d ever seen this bird in my neighborhood. I had no idea we even had woodpeckers.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

~ Veselin ~ 7 Comments

My expectations for this book weren’t very high. I bought it because it has a hole in the cover and I’d never seen a book with such a cover before. However, it pleasantly surprised me, turning out to be a fresh and optimistic page-turner. It was great, a clear 5*, and gets the honors to be the first review for the year on my blog.

The world is destroyed and turned into a giant maze, where the last living humans are forced to play a video game. It’s like Diablo but with living humans. That could’ve been an apocalypse of epic proportions, but despite the billions of dead, the game can be won. Carl is the right person for it – he has experience. The problems? He’s with his cat who suddenly started talking, has no shoes or pants, and and elderly lady keeps showing up with no intention to level up in the game. And of course, the game is full of exceptionally difficult mobs who want to complain about their existence.

I got a signed copy from the publisher, although there was no book signing, so I didn’t get to meet the author. Kudos to Pro Book for the cover, not sure who came up with the idea but it works very well.

A great find. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Snowstorm

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

Climate change has brought softer winters to Sofia. It is the first time we’ve had two days with snow this season, and the snow barely hides the grass. It was, however, very windy, so the few snowflakes and the modest -2°C felt quite unpleasant. We could call it a snowstorm, in the absence of a real one.

I also managed to see a protest against our mayor. Equal parts protesters, journalists, and police stared at a tiny pile of trash. I walked by piles larger than this on my way to the center.

From left to right:

  • The National Library, which I’ve only visited once in my life
  • The anti-trash protest with the modest pile of trash
  • The Levski Monument, with a photo that deserves a post in the Communism series because of the iconic Serdika Cinema
  • The Church, with a bit of the Square 500 gallery to the left
  • Sofia Tech Park with one of the surrounding office buildings

And in all the photos, the sky, wondering why anyone would go outside on this dark day.