The birthplace of Lidl

Bulgaria is growing on me, especially as the past two days have been gloriously sunny. Spring here takes the form of peach and apple blossom in gardens and on every street, violets on the hillsides, and tulips in the borders. With its pine-clad hills and its chair lift, Sopot, the paragliding capital of Bulgaria, could be a rather parched Swiss ski resort. Yesterday, the Peas' dad and multitudes of other paragliders made the most of the gentle thermals to swoop above the town, eventually coming down to land like grotesque, brightly-coloured birds.

We get stared at wherever we go for looking different, but one can't help wondering what people would make of a group of Bulgarians plonked down in the middle of a British city. Their clothes and hairstyles would shout: "Former eastern bloc country!" A combination of bad leather jackets, shell suits and cheap hair dye. What passes for a supermarket here is reminiscent of Lidl. It's what one imagines supermarkets were like in Moscow circa 1972, albeit with slightly fuller shelves. Lots of obscure items in tins and jars, barely any fresh vegetables and UHT milk only.

Despite the lack of anything particularly appetising to eat it's still possible to overindulge, and my diet has more or less gone the way of Fatfighter1's in March. Last night, for example, I polished off an entire packet of a rather cheap version of those German biscuits that have one side coated in chocolate. And I had chips for dinner, which I rarely do, not being a big fan of them unless they're swimming in brown sauce. But when I was told that the dish I ordered came with potatoes, I innocently assumed they'd be boiled.

The last word must go to a Bulgarian delicacy called mish-mash, which we were advised to sample by the Peas' father, a big fan. It's described as fried tomatoes, cheese, red peppers and eggs. So far so tasty-sounding, but it would be closer to the truth to describe it as a tin of tomatoes with all the other ingredients stirred in and cooked for a couple of years. One word sums it up: yuck.