Not Working: Diary of an English Migrant Attempting Early Retirement in Bulgaria

The summer wine didn’t last, it’s time to open the autumn whisky…

Prepare to enter a new season on the side of a secluded valley in an idyllic Bulgarian backwater.




Graham Field’s lifetime of curiosity to see where the road goes, now led him to discover where it stops. Not Working is a captivating, unconventional and honest account of one man selling up, buying time and investing in a slower pace of life because, much like the readers who chuckle their way through his diary, he is in no hurry to get to the end.




With the 25-year mortgage millstone behind him, the author puts down roots in foreign soil where purpose and contentment germinate, but his dream existence, living on the edge of Eastern Europe soon becomes a nightmare: from floods to explosions, from protection rackets to hospitalisations.




Join Graham as he relocates, taking little with him and leaving the naysayers wondering whether he can:


- Maintain retirement at 50;
- Thwart the thieving gypsies;
- Outrun the bears;
- Survive archaic medical practices;
- Balance on the squat toilets;
- Conquer the communist mentality;
- Exist on his diminishing nest egg;
- Escape another Russian invasion;
- Succeed without friends and family;
- Endure the brutal winters;
- And not return penniless and homeless by Christmas.

★ “Living happily ever after” didn’t come with instructions... or if it did: That Cyrillic alphabet was impossible to read. ★