Hi
You have no idea how close to the truth you are with your first statement

...When they couldn't go to England, there seemed to be no apparent interest, and our local Official State Translator said she had no intention of going to England, and probably wouldn't like it....now she can go, she can't wait!...and she's one shrewd bunny!...She is going to set up in business advising what the Emigre Bulgos what they can claim, and , believe me, when we first came here, a friend advised that the local population are highly talented at extracting money from you!
To say that they are poor is so far from the truth that it re-defines the word "porkie"....They don't pay income tax, and hide a large slice of any income....As with the Greeks, the people have money, and the Government is poor!
Many aeons ago, there was a rather cruel cartoon in Punch, where a tribe in deepest darkest Somewhere were sitting outside mud huts with grass roofs, feet up in rather exclusive furniture , martini in one hand, designer shades, reading the paper, HUGE TV , and a Roller parked nearby, whilst the kids played in complete joy....next scene, a chap on the hill screamed out "Quick, here come the Anthropologists"....next scene they were all sitting outside their huts in a scene of abject poverty......That scenario REALLY applies here!...the EU representatives are shown somewhere suitably squalid
Anyway, back on topic, I do most shopping on line, and it pans out cheaper than buying ANYTHING here...and when you take gas mileage into account, it's even better....NO WONDER the high-street chains say they're not doing business. We now have a local firm who run a Man and Van service from England, and they are cheap enough to buy a washing machine in the UK and get them to deliver it here!!!!!!!!....it kinda shows that folk here aren't that poor, when the white goods are pretty pricey, and huge Mega-stores are full of "poor" shoppers...waving cash rather than show any banking transaction
The purchase I made in the UK....a camping hook-up...no such beastie here!
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.