A Ship-Bed
Published: 2016-03-27
Translation
This is a translation of a Bulgarian-language post. It conveys the content faithfully but is not the author's original English writing.
I want to share with you something beautiful that we created this winter in Sofia.
This was to be the second winter our family would spend in the centre of the capital, and after our experience last year, I was firmly resolved to change the setup with the children's comfort in mind. To create a space sufficient both for play and for sleeping in our Sofia micro-den (24 m², 32 m² unfolded), a.k.a. "the Sector", is, to put it mildly, a challenge. But when I recalled how, for most of the winter, because of the bad weather, neither we nor the children went out much from the darkened studio and we literally tripped over one another, the task seemed imperative.
The room is narrow and long, but it has high ceilings to make up for it. It is on the ground floor and, although it does not have much natural light, it can boast an enviable history — in this house the first German-Bulgarian dictionaries were written, by Nikola's great-grandfather, back when Bulgaria was a monarchy. Later — in communist times — his grandfather ran an "underground" printing house, and it reached Kole in the form of a cellar full of useless junk and parts. He took it on, cleaned it out thoroughly, and turned it into the underground shop "Sector 10", cult for its time, known among DJs and manga fans; later the first goods imported from India also appeared in it!! Now, during the warm seasons, we rent it out to tourists and backpackers from all over the world.
Anyway — very conveniently for the little monkeys, in the living room of the hostel on the upper floors there is always a TV switched on, and they were constantly inventing reasons to go upstairs to grandpa, Maria or Kosyo… forgetting to come back, and I would find them zombified in front of the screen with children's programmes. So, in my effort to avoid this scenario this winter too, the children and I decided there should be something fun to play with at the level of their beds; and since we are a family of pirates, we came up with the idea of making a ship. We drew it on a sheet of paper, and from there the role of shipbuilder was taken on by Radko, a long-time friend and schoolmate of mine from the art high school. He worked for a long time in scenography and lately specialises in making wonderful wooden toys and furniture for children. I use this post to thank him for the creativity and love he put into the project, and also to recommend him to you for carrying out all sorts of wooden wonders, of which he is definitely a master!
Photos — Mitko http://bmx-bg.tumblr.com/
Baby Kan (in the little basket under the ship) was born right there, in a small pool that stood where the sofa is.
Notice the details!!! Unfortunately only part of the anchor — made from a wooden coat hanger — is visible.
And so, with sails always billowing in the wind, the new Miladinov brothers and the whole family of pirates cross the seas.