Stove

Well, you remember the little brown art deco stove that we bought in February - it needs new glass for the window, so yesterday saw us trailing around Zafra to crystalias asking for glass for the window. Everyone said the same thing and that was it would be difficult as it is slightly curved.

Steeped in gloom we headed home and I suddenly remembered the website where we'd seen the same stove for sale in the UK. So I found it, got in touch with them and they quickly replied saying we can easily replace the 'glass'. It's not glass it's mica! Apparently we can just cut it to shape with a pair of scissors and it clamps into place which will pull it into a curve. The lady was very helpful and explained how we would do it (and gave some handy hints such as using a heat proof glue to help hold it in place and seal it) - and she also said that our stove was very sought-after and it is unusual to find them for sale.

So hopefully we'll have that sorted soon - how exciting!

Happy (Belated) Christmas!

Christmas is very quiet here. Father Christmas or Papa Noel is regarded with suspicion as being a bit of a pretender. Everyone knows that the three kings bring the presents on the 6th Jan - not some old (American) geezer dressed in red. It is interesting how some of the traditions to overlap however. Children who are naughty get given coal instead of presents. Families also leave out some nibbles for the three kings' camels.

The big meal is on Christmas Eve or Buena Noche (good night). The traditional meal is fish, followed by more fist with fish to finish. There is a midnight mass which is referred to as the rooster mass. Everyone - young and old (but not British) then ends up at Disco Tony's.

This weekend is the really big shopping weekend and we found it strange that we got flyers through the door this week about buying presents. We both commented that they'd left it a bit late, until we realized that people would now be getting ready for gift buying.

I think it is safe to say that we would have been the only ones having a traditional christmas on the 25th. Well, if we had a traditional Christmas that is...

With no real kitchen our festive feast has been based around bread, cheese and eaten off of plastic plates. We did have pasta last night however.

Our plan had been to make glass beads on Christmas Day. However, yet again we were foiled. This time we had the wrong regulator. One day perhaps we'll get there. It was a shame as we'd really enjoyed making jewelry last Christmas and we'd been looking forward to doing something similar this year. Unfortunately by the time we'd got all the glass making stuff out, played around with the regulator, consulted the Internet to find out what was wrong with the regulator and sulked, there wasn't much time left to have any fun activity so instead we trimmed the dogs. Quite a feat and we managed to blunt a newly sharpened blade in record time. Mainly because the dogs are caked in cement dust and debris which was tough going. Yesterday Ian was working on his website and I was spinning some camel fibre.

So, back to normal now. The company that I did the writing for in November have commissioned another 8 articles which I will do today and then I have some catching up of other stuff to do. I've asked for extra articles from one company that I write for as we're trying to gather together the necessary readies for finishing the house.

Talking of which, our builder has recommended that we have a new drainage pipe put under the house. At the moment there is a brick drain which leaks water and this is part of the damp problem. So he is suggesting that they take up the middle three rows of the tiles in the hallway and put in a pipe. I don't think that this will be too big a job - just messy. However it makes sense to get it done now.

Weather

The weather has been glorious over the last few days. It is very cold at night, but is over 20c during the day.

Naturally with our house being so well insulated, we don't feel any of the benefits of the heat and it is markedly warmer outside than in. I reckon that yesterday there was 20 degrees difference!

This mean that every time we go out we nearly expire as we wear so many more clothes indoors than we need when we are outdoors!

I can see that this will become a favorite time of year with us (eventually) as there are lovely days and we'll have our stoves so we are nice and warm in the evenings.

I also realise that my premium bond idea may be flawed as the number of prizes decrease too when interest rates go down. What will happen if it goes to 0%? Will Ernie simply pack up and hibernate for a while?

Making Our Million

Well, I read something about someone who hadn't checked their premium bonds for years and checked them to find that they'd won several thousand pounds.

So, off I went scurrying to find our 'important paper file' which was buried under what appeared to be several hundred 'very unimportant paper files' to look for my premium bond numbers. Low and behold I'd won 50 pounds that I didn't know about.

I did a few double checks to make sure that they hadn't missed a few zeros off the end.

Anyway, a quick calculation showed that this was a 10% return on my investment. Admittedly I've had them for years, so this isn't a true return, but it got me thinking...

As I mentioned before we're not transferring any more sterling to euros at the moment. This leaves us with money in the bank getting next to no interest. I have toyed with taking it out and keeping it under the bed as this would also stop us worrying about banks crashing.

So, I think I will take the money we would have transferred and put them into premium bonds. We won't be any worse off and if we win our million we need never worry about exchange rates again!

We went Christmas shopping yesterday. We went during siesta which meant that there was next to no one around. We went to the big supermarket in Azuaga where there is at least a tiny selection of ready meals. We just bought some tortilini pasta and sauces for our Christmas meal. Not having a kitchen sort of hampers our culinary creation opportunities! The only holiday is Christmas day so we don't need to worry about stocking up on food. We'll go to the cheese shop, however, and treat ourselves to a festive selection.

Interesting(ish) Fact

The Spanish word for the tiled walls that we have is the equivalent of 'skirting board'. You either have tall or short. The half way tiling like we have in the hall is tall, the small tiles that we have along the floor in other rooms is short.

One room almost finished...

Above: This is looking to where the sink used to be.



The old kitchen / new bedroom is within a gnats whisker of being finished. It does look good. While we weren't 100% convinced by the white tiles, now they are finished we have both agreed that it was the right thing to do. Colored or patterned tiles would make the room look small. Although it is not tiny - it does have doors on three sides and a window on the fourth! So it does have the potential to look cramped.

I now understand what the problem was with the window. Because of the gradient of the wall inside the window, the windows would not open right the way back (the windows open into the room). A bit of the wall sort of curved which meant that the window came to a rest on this - a couple of inches from the wall. So poor Manuel has been chipping away to get it so it opens fully - and this has meant that he now has a funny shape to tile around. I don't think that the old windows would have opened fully either. Quite honestly it wouldn't have worried us as it was only a couple of inches - but, of course, we are delighted that he is doing it properly.

You can see where the exposed bricks are going to be. Manuel is going to hook out the old plaster and re-grout them.

The cheap door has arrived and I think it looks great. We were going to paint it, but now I think that we might stain it the same color as the windows.

How Did That Happen?

Well, how frustrating! We've gone from quite a good financial situation to not a very good financial situation, due to the pound to euro exchange rates, in what appears to be the blink of an eye!

We still have the same amount of money - however because of the exchange rate it shrinks when it gets here!

We have enough money here in euros to finish the work that we've planned. But we're going to draw a line under it then. We do have more sterling, but I don't want to transfer it at these rates - everything is just too volatile. Transferring any more money now will make our work here proportionately more expensive and no longer good value. It will use up any safety net that we have as it won't go anywhere near as far.

Luckily we'll have all the main building work finished, including the front of the house. We'll make sure that we have the guest room finished so we can offer bed and breakfast.

The main things we won't be able to do are the fancy bits like getting the rest of it decorated and reupholstering the furniture etc. Not forgetting of course other essentials such as investing huge amounts in light switches and buying new towels. (I may have given the impression earlier that I was disparaging of our decrepit old towels - what I now know that I should have said is that I love our vintage towels!

However this isn't the end of the world and we'll have got all the main things done. I know we could do the painting ourselves, and we might do the plain white outside walls, however I really want to use a professional for the inside.

So we have set ourselves a challenge of completing the work, and indeed living, off of our dollar and euro earnings rather than transfer any more sterling.

On the plus side, it is quite good to really focus on funding the rest of our work from our earnings - and we'll be in a good position eventually when the financial situation shakes itself out. It also means that we'll have a bit of a breather before getting the rest done so we can really decide what we want in the way of decoration etc.

Building Update - Old Kitchen

Tiling in the new bedroom. This has been a bit of a trauma and has taken a couple of attempts before he has been happy. The issue has been about how he handles getting the inset bit central. We were aware of quite a few smashing tiles and swearing coming from the old kitchen!



The new tiles are going around the wall and will follow the same design.



Yey! A new window! This is the first that has been fitted, however it might need to come out. We're not happy with the fit. The window recess actually has quite a large gradient from the inside to the outside, which means it looks fine from inside, but not quite right from the outside. We'll leave it in the hands of our builder. If it is not perfect - he won't allow it to stay!



This is a new hole in the wall and is where the pipe for the stove will be going. In the meantime, we have a new place to get drafts from!



The door upstairs where our new cheap door will go. The old door literally fell out today. When you look through the pictures at the old door - and also look at the quality of Manuel's work, you can see we were fighting a losing battle trying to keep the old door!! We were only keeping it to save money so our cheap door really is a great alternative.

Building Update - Pics

The ceiling has been repaired above the door.



This is from what will be the new en-suite into the new bedroom (old kitchen).



This will be the 'window' from the new ensuite.



This is the old kitchen soon to be bedroom.



Main Bathroom

Invited to Matanza

Our builder is flitting to and fro from our house to his family's matanza today. A matanza is the killing of a pig where family and friends get together. They start the day with a live pig and end with sausages and jamons and just a small pile of skin and teeth left as everything gets turned into something! This all takes place in a garage, in fact, it is taking place in garages all round the village as this is the time of year for pig killings.

We were invited to join them and he seemed a little surprised when I declined. Ian might go later, however.

Door

Well, our builder packed us off to look at cheap doors yesterday with strict instructions to ask for puerta muy barrata (a very cheap door). We went in and couldn't see anything remotely cheap, so we had to ask the man behind the counter and it was as if we had said a magic password. He took us through the store and out into the back, past some fork lift trucks and, behind a screen he had the cheap doors! So we bought a very basic door, the cheapest we could get. However when it is painted it will look fine. We also bought some fittings and found some excellent handles, which we both liked immediately we saw them. The total amount was 112 euros - which for a wood door here was very good.

We're glad that we got a new door. I was thinking that I'd make a curtain to hang over the old door, however this is much better.

Anyway, this is our new favorite shop! It's unlike anything that I've seen before. It is open to the public and isn't a tiny carpentry, however they sell loads of unfinished furniture. Not flat pack, this is furniture that is unvarnished and unpainted. Lots of very traditional furniture and very good prices. I was beginning to despair a bit, as we will want some more furniture and with the dearth of charity shops and junk shops, our choices are limited. They certainly had a couple of chest of drawers that would be perfect for what we want. We can paint or varnish the furniture as we like - which'll be perfect!

Ian Returns

Ian returned from the UK via the super fast train from Malaga to Cordoba. This train goes at the speed of light, cutting the journey from over three hours to under an hour. Well, it might not actually be the speed of light, but it is jolly fast! He then got the bus back to Villagarcia direct from Cordoba. This meant that he was home at 5.30 which actually wasn't bad going.

I think that he was pleased to see how the building work has progressed. The main bathroom is almost finished and they are working on the new bedroom. We've asked for a few extra things, which will add to the time a bit, but it makes sense to do them now. Although I think that we'll be looking at few extra weeks, what we're doing is going to make the difference between something that is just 'nice' and something that is 'great'.

We're going to have the bathroom sink set into a piece of marble. While this sounds expensive, it won't be as it will be an off cut from our local marble workshop and this will means another small wall in the bathroom so there'll be a wall either side of the sink.

We've also asked him to make a feature of what was the door between the kitchen to the workshop. This is going to be blocked in, however it will be blocked from the the workshop side and we'll have a recess in the bathroom. He's going to put opaque glass tiles in here which will give a little light and will also make a make a nice feature.

We're also having a new boiler, so we'll have two boilers one for the new kitchen and one for the bathrooms. These will be housed outside the house. We're also having the piping put under the ground rather than running it along the side of the house. This will look much neater and also will be safer from damage. These are just small bits and pieces but they are going to make all the difference.

We've decided to get a new door to go up under the stairs. We weren't going to, but the builder is strongly recommending that we do as the old one does look pretty awful, but also it is drafty. He has suggested we get a really cheap one now, and we can replace it in the future with a better one. He has had a really good idea. Wood is expensive here, so to save money, lots of people have a sort of mesh across the inner panel of the door and put curtain material behind this. This will be ideal and should only cost 100 euros or so.

Lastly, we are going to ask him for a price to take the wall thing down in the yard - the wall the incorporates the well. We were planning to do this in the future, but I think it might make sense to do it now, when we have builders on site with all their stuff and the fact that there'll be loads of stuff to clear, so this can get included with that. We're not decided on this yet, it depends on the price.

Hopefully that will be all for now! I will certainly be glad when this is complete - but it'll be worth it (hopefully!!)

Best Made Plans

Today, being the first Saturday in the month should have been the Badajoz flea market. So, bouyed by our success last week at the jumble sale (yes, I know I said I'd write about it, however to sumerise - 2 bedside tables, 6 very Spanish looking wooden chairs, a wash stand and 36 forks) we headed off. Only to find that it is another fiesta and again EVERYTHING was shut. There is less of a frenzy at this time of year, as presents are typically exchanged Jan 6th, so it isn't quite the same as having all the shops in the UK shut 3 weekends before Christmas.

Even so, we had planned to go to El Cortes Ingles, Carrefour as well as stock up on junk and we certainly hadn't planned to stand there miserably looking at shut shops.

However, a little light bulbed flashed and we thought 'Portugal'. So, we nipped over the border and did the shopping we needed in Elvas. Today is Constitution day, which is, of course, unique to Spain. It's a bit strange though, people who normally work Saturday get the day off - people who don't normally work Saturday get Monday off. So the shops will be open on Monday but offices are closed. Actually, thinking about it, that probably works quite well.

Anyway, when we were heading into Portugal I just happened to notice a chair that had been dumped. it is a wooden framed armchair and perfect for rennovation. So, we stopped and popped it in to the back of the car. It is, however, in appalling condition, with bits of tree, leaves and general debris hanging off it. We looked even more like gypsies.

And I am sure that this is what the Policeman thought when he pulled us over.

On the way back, we thought we'd go to Talavera. There were three big battles or sieges here during the Penninsular War. There was the Battle of Albueara (These glorious fields of grief - Byron), the Siege of Badajoz (which if you have seen Sharpe, you will know that Sean Bean won single handedly) and the Battle of Talavera. So we thought, as we go past the road to Talavera we'd go in and have a look. There was a siege at Talavera, however there are no signs of any city walls left. We were looking for any reference to the battle and took a turn down a one way road. A nice policeman was sat in his car watching, and pulled us over. I think he wished he hadn't, and it all got a bit confusing. Particularly when we thought we were supposed to follow him as he led us back to the main road, and judging by the panicked way, after we had been following him for while, he eventually waved us on, I don't think that this was the case.

Good Bye Kitchen

Any guesses what this is? It's the ceiling above where the shelves were in the kitchen. Look at the size of the stones! When they pulled the ceiling down, a load of wheat fell on them - a huge amount. No idea as to whether this was insulation, or left over from when the upstairs was a granary or some other strange reason. I didn't get a picture, however the floor was several inches deep in wheat!

The kitchen - the cupboards have been knocked down.

More pics

Our ex-kitchen soon to be bedroom.

This is the cupboard under the stairs. This is where the washing machine will go and will lead into the main bathroom (the door is to the left of the glass 'window'.
This is where we've set up our temporary kitchen! This was the guest bedroom.

Windows

Just a quickie to say that the windows arrived today.

Ian and I nearly cried when we saw them - because they look so good, not because we were disappointed. It was quite an emotional moment after all this time! Even the fittings (that we didn't choose, just 'arrived') are perfect. The quality is excellent. This was our biggest risk as it was a large investment, but they do look great. Of course, they are not fitted so at the moment they are just looking wonderful while propped up against a wall and we still have our festering windows that are held together by mould and spider's webs, and duct-taped into place. But we're heading in the right direction...

The builder has bought a laborer in to take the tiles off the kitchen wall. Sadly he sings. It isn't just that he sings, he signs flamenco tunes (wailing) and more than once we have thought that there has been some horrendous accident in the kitchen.

The jumble sale at the weekend was good and we personally contributed about a fifth of the (very small) takings. But, you can never have too much junk.

The weather is horrible - grey and very cold.

Tea

In our current spirit of single room living, we now need to move the kitchen somewhere on a temporary basis. Luckily, as we have spent three years with basic facilities, we won't worry too much about being any worse off! However, as we'll now be living, sleeping, working AND cooking in one room, we're obviously not going to be having too many cooked feasts for a week or so.

Therefore, to be fully prepared, Ian is cooking a couple of light meals to tide us over....

Told You...

If you remember, in one of the photos of the bathroom I said that you'd soon be looking at a wall - well, here it is! So the bathroom no longer leads of the kitchen - weyhey! The photo that I was referring to is click here - third one down.

Christmas & Upholstery

Our builder was saying he'd be finished by 'Navidad' - which is Christmas. However, we suddenly realised that this wouldn't be the 25th, this would be the 6th January!! Also, only Christmas Day is a holiday, so he is likely to be working on Boxing Day. Not that this would worry us at all, but could have been a bit of a surprise if we weren't expecting it (I remember our first Boxing day when the electricity man came to read the metre at 8 in the morning!!).

Of course, this won't be 'finished' finished, as we will still have to get the painting done and then start deciding on where everything is going to go, and what we need in the way of bits and pieces (mirrors for the bathroom for instance).

The small bathroom is now finished and it looks great - AND it s so nice not to have a toilet that wobbles! The new cistern is tiny too, so no more waiting for hours for it to fill.

I'm now planning our upholstery projects. I did go to classes many moons ago, and I am sure I have some tools somewhere - but I think they are long lost. So it is really a case of starting again. I did take a look at eBay for old tools (Ian is heading back to the UK in a week or so and I am sure he will be delighted to bring back the odd upholstery hammer or two!). I've been sending Ian links to upholstery books as hints. He's not very good at that sort of thing though, if the hint isn't prefixed with I WOULD LIKE... he doesn't seem to get it!

We've got quite a lot of upholstery projects - I think that I bought most of our chairs and things with that in mind. I think that this will take me most of next year!

We ran out of Sam's rice and meat a couple of weeks ago, so we started giving him normal dog food again as he'd been having such regular fits, it didn't seem to be doing any good. Anyway - immediately his fits stopped. He'd been having one every day or couple of days so it was quite noticeable that they had stopped. Sadly, he had one today, but only a tiny one. It does seem odd that when we change his food his fits appear to stop. I guess that is all it is - an oddness - however it does seem strange.

We're getting very blase about his fits now. I think because he appears to spring back to life so quickly and it is obviously much more distressing for us, than it is for him. I don't know what goes through his mind when he comes round, I wonder if he just thinks he fell over?

The weather turned cold yesterday. It was rather strange. If the wind came from one direction it was bitter, and if it came from the other direction it was warm. The big contrast in temperature really emphasised this. It was worth standing outside just to experience this!

Cuddling Cats

Sky

Weather

The weather is glorious at the moment. The temperature is up to mid 20's during the day - and falls dramatically at night. There has been a touch of frost a couple of mornings over the last week. The house is cold though, but what a difference the new windows and a door with glass in it will actually make - and the fires. The window has almost fallen out completely in the front which gives a nice draft!

Well, the reason why I am mentioning this is because I was looking through the old blogs from last year as I was trying to remember when we found Sam. I found that I had commented last year on the weather in November - and on the massive 20+ degree swings in temperature. Every morning we are waking up to see bright blue skies and sunshine on the roof. We've not really noticed this quite so much before - but having the bed in the back room we really see what is going on. This will be an extra bonus for when we move into the new bedroom (current kitchen).

The bright blue skies at this time of year actually have a name, they are referred to as 'Portuguese skies'. I have no idea why. I think this must just be a local thing as I can't find any reference to it elsewhere. The skies are a deep turquoise, so is this a reference to the color used in Portuguese pottery or is it something to do with the sky over Portugal - don't know.

I also noticed that our plants are wilting and remembered that I had forgotten to water them . I noticed, when I was reading the blog, that I had done the same last year too! Rain is forecast for next week, however, unfortunately for the weekend which is the annual jumble sale in Elvas in Portugal.

Pics

Well, at long last I've posted some pics. Remember that if you click on the pic you'll see them full size (for what it's worth!).

We've been talking about all the things we need to buy - and are getting quite excited! Hopefully we'll have enough money left to do some of the 'nice' things. I'd hate to think after all of this we were still using the towels that we have collected over the years. I think that most of our towels are vintage! I'd also like a new saucepan set to go in our new kitchen - oh and of course new bedding - and we will absolutely need new lampshades - and we need to recover all of our furniture to go with our new rooms - and not forgetting curtains ....

.... but luckily we have bought 5 antique electric switches.

Ensuite

This is a sneak peak of the ensuite - this is the shower. I was looking forward to using it, as he's plumbed it in temporarily today - however we ran out of gas. TYPICAL!

The sink will be directly ahead - you can see the holes in the wall and the wc will be to the left as you look at the pics.

This is the ensuite from the bedroom. So the shower is to the right.

Pics (at long last...)

Hallway - complete with the new doorway.



This is from the new door way into the bathroom. This goes under the stairs.



You won't see this for much longer - this is the view from the kitchen to the bathroom and you can see how the new bathroom has been formed. The shower in the main bathroom will go where the door the kitchen is now, so in a few weeks, this photo will be looking at a wall.




This is taken towards the cupboard under the stairs. The pink line is where the glass blocks will be - the door is to the right as you look at the picture

A Picture Tells 1000 Words

This is what happens when you live, sleep and work in the same room.

OK - what does this picture tell you...

• The cats are appreciating having the bed in the living room,
  
• We've been trying to take photos on the table (hence the work lights and the tripod by the table)
• Ian has been using his phone (head set behind him)
• I have been scanning stuff (scanner by the table)
• We've been buying posh wine (hence bottles not cartons)
• Ian can type with his eyes shut
• er...
  

A Picture Tells Another 1000 Words

• I get the vacuum cleaner out "what do I do with this"
• Yes, the dogs are living in the living room too (dog cages)
• The dog cages are being used as a wardrobe (clothes on top of the dog cages
• This room will be pink (see the color paint under the top layer on the wall) - we will be putting it back to how it was....
  

Another Update

Well, there's still not an awful lot to say. We are delighted with the way it is going and find it almost impossible to fault anything. His work is top quality and yet he also works quickly and long hours. Ian said that the only way he could think of improving things would be by cloning our builder and we'd rent him out! Today he has been tiling the new guest bathroom and it really looks superb (yes, I will take some pics). He has chamfered the edges of the tiles so they butt up neatly to each other on the corners. The tiles look great too. In fact they look so good, that we are wondering if we ought to have gone for these in the other bathrooms too - however I am sure that we'll be equally pleased when these are done.

I think we'll start to see things coming together now. While it hasn't been great not having a shower, it's not been for too long. The plumber is also going to change our water pipes so our new shower will actually be a shower and not a dribble. He was pretty stunned by our low water pressure, and then looked at our teeny tiny pipes and suddenly understood! He is going to replace them back to the mains. As this will be replacing lead pipes it sounds like a good idea - and in the overall scheme of things it certainly makes sense doing it now.

Our builder is also going to sort out getting our electric supply upgraded - hoorah. He agrees that our supply is too weak now for house of this size. We would have got around to it ourselves - eventually!

There's still a few more weeks work as they are going to do the outside too - quite honestly given the quality of the work that has been done so far, I can't wait to see what they achieve with the outside!

Given that we normally are followed by mayhem and havoc, it is nice for things to be going so smoothly. I do feel that I am cheating you and this blog is getting very boring to read.

So....

Yesterday I fell over when walking Henry and Sam. Not just one of your little trips, or tiny stumbles. This was a mega - arms flaying - dancing-up-the-road trying to get my balance before face planting in the lane. Right by the builders who are building the car park for the sports hall. And the farmer. Oh yes, and the shepherd and his sheep.

My problem was that I tripped in slow motion and then couldn't decide what to hurt! I was trying to keep my weight off my ankle, but this was all slow enough that I was also thinking 'not the hands'. Which is why I ended up lying face down with legs and arms safely behind me. If it hadn't been for me being prima-donna-ish about my hands, or concern over my ankle, I really think that it would have been a tiny stumble.

And of course it looked so much more impressive than it actually was.

I think to (all the many) others it must have looked like I had at least a swarm of wasps inside each shoe which was causing me to leap around, before - for some unknown reason - I decided to jump inexplicably in the air before doing a massive belly flop onto the lane. By the time I got home all my aches had gone, but I was still covered in enough road-debris to give Ian a bit of a shock - oh, and for something else for the village to talk about....

But be assured - nothing injured other than a bruised ego (again...)

Shower

We went out for lunch today, which was unusual - and a little bad timing as we've not had a shower for a week! Anyway, we linked the hosepipe up to the hot tap and had a shower outside. Well, more of a hose than a shower. It was actually very nice - so nice in fact that we're going to ask the builder if he can put a shower outside. It shouldn't too big a job, and it could go outside the new kitchen. The weather is very nice at the moment, cold over night but 20 or so during the middle of the day.

Our tile shopping trip went well. We picked some really nice tiles, including mosaic ones for the main bathroom. We purposefully went for tiles that we not super modern and were fairly low key. I can't remember if I have mentioned our change of plan...? We're going to have the bath in the main bedroom ensuite (where the cooker is now) and just have a shower in the main bathroom. This is so we can have a big shower in the main bathroom. It is all going to look very nice. Ian and the builder have come up with a plan that makes excellent use of the space. It is very exciting.

Interestingly, we both commented today that we've started using the new door to the bathroom rather than the kitchen door. This is good as it shows that the new door is in a place that is intuitive to use. The builder has moved slightly the new bathroom door from our original plan and this has meant that it can be the same size and style as all the other doors. This means that the new door won't stand out - in fact I don't even think you will notice it as new as it look so 'right'.

Bathroom

The work has started on the Bathroom, which means that we only have temporary facilities. Ian's eyes lit up yesterday, when the builder suggested opaque glass bricks, both on the wall of the new en suite and in the new door (these won't be plain glass -so no worries about privacy). The glass bricks will be high up in the new en suite and will let light through, which we didn't think we'd get. There will be a row of glass bricks down the side of the new bathroom door that goes from the bathroom to the cloakroom (the cupboard under the stairs) before the door to the hall. This will let light into the cloakroom and it will all look pretty good. Ian and the builder are very much on the same wavelength and we're really quite confident in letting him get on with it. It is getting very exciting!

It's actually not as bad as we had thought, living through the building work. I think that this is due to a number of reasons. Firstly he works in just one or two rooms at a time, so it is not complete chaos. Secondly - he is very tidy! It is a tad embarrassing that after pulling tiles off the wall and knocking holes in the wall, he manages to leave it tidier than before he started! Lastly, I think we were bracing ourselves for complete mayhem and therefore anything else is a pleasant surprise.

Tomorrow we are going with our builder to look at tiles. We're going to put plain white tiles under the stairs in our new cloakroom, and perhaps look for something a little more special in the bathrooms. We don't want to cut corners - but neither do we want to blow our entire budget on tiles!

We do have a video. It started as a video for Alicia, however it quickly turned into a record of our building work. There is 26 minutes of it - we just need to upload it, you lucky people.....!!

Picnic

I finished all my writing by lunch time today (hooray) so we decided to go to the supermarket in Llerena rather than in the village and stop for a picnic somewhere on the (scenic) way back. We headed off out towards Guadalcanal and noticed that there was a 'mirardor' which is a viewing point. So we headed up to take a look and we could see for miles. Next time we must take a compass and map so we can see what we are looking at...

We had our picnic in a proper picnic spot that was full of families also picnicing. One family even had flameno music playing, which gave a nice atmosphere to our lunch.

Quick Update

Well, another week over and more building work complete. We are still really pleased with how it is going - very pleased. We're also glad that it is just the one builder and that he has not got jobbing builders working with him. He has a very high standard and we can't fault what he's done so far. We're not even in as much mayhem as we thought. Because he is doing two or three rooms at a time we are able to decamp into the living room and just bunker down there and let him get on with it.

Mind you, it is not without its problems. Ian and I are spending a lot of time in very close proximity. We have even been sat on the sofa working on our respective laptops. I found Ian's mutterings as he works distracting - and he had the cheek to say that I type too loudly - type too loudly indeed! Given the choice of a gentle tap tap on a key board or someone's maniacally mutterings, I know which I would prefer...

Needless to say we are now working at opposite sides of the table, which is as far apart as we can get seeing we have a bed plus everything else in the living room.

Next week work on the bathroom starts. Then the kitchen and finally the living room. Hopefully by that time one of the other rooms will have dried out and we can move into there. If not, there's always my workshop.

I know that I am due to post some new pics and I will do so over the weekend.

More Flowers

We're very excited at the moment, the builder has found some painting under the paint in our bedroom that will be salvageable. It is similar in style to the ceiling. We're so pleased with our builder, he was as excited as we were and has been explaining how we can clean it up. It will look a little shabby, but I think that shabby-chic is all the rage.

The only disappointment is that this is the room that Ian said could be pink and rococo in style - I'll need to start sewing the seeds of another pink room (although saying that, buoyed up by our success today we've been scraping paint off all over the place and I think the back living room was originally pink...

I think that we'll probably wait until this first part of building work is done before we decide on how we'll use the rooms, every day seems to offer new possibilities (and changes of plan...!)

Our New Doorway

Under the Stairs

This is the new hole for the doorway into the bathroom and the cupboard under the stairs. The washing machine will go here. He has taken the tiles off the shelf as he has said they are very old and we ought to reuse them elsewhere, this will just be plastered over, although the wall will be tiled.

Ian in the Hall from the Bathroom

I could wave to him from the toilet (if I wanted to - which of course I don't). The sheet in Ian's hand is to hang over the new hole in the wall to stop animals from getting in there and leaving their mark.

Door Frames

As of Thursday the front three rooms have been finished (with the exception of the windows) - just need the doors fitting.

New Site

I've just launched a new site - MakeForChristmas - it's the same concept as MakeForBaby and FreeNeedle ie a directory of free craft projects. There are currently links to over 200 crafty projects - most of which are excellent.

MakeForWedding will be next - but will probably not start that until next year now.

Good Morning Builder

I was going to take some pics this morning before the builder arrived, however, I woke up to find him already at work.....

(and no, i wasn't having a lie-in!)

Reviews

I forgot to say that last week a huge box of spoken word books for me to review. I don't know how many - may be 15? The great thing about this is that it is something that Ian and I can do together - which meant that we were both in an utter state of confusion after trying to work our way through the first. As we have found before, my computer seems to play things on shuffle, so we listened to two hours where the plot was going all over the place. Shame that we had forgotten this - it wasn't until Ian said that he was getting a head ache through trying to follow all the flash backs that we realised what was happening...

Big Boned

Poor Bob. With the building work going on, the dogs spend quite a lot of time going in and out though the windows. Sadly, how ever hard we try we can't get Bob through the window (through the bars). We've tried all the removal-man techniques of holding him in different angles and he still stays steadfastly unable to pass through.

Today, in a scene reminiscent of Winnie the Pooh, Bob got completely wedged. Luckily we got him free, however not before we started trying to translate our dilemma into Spanish.

Blankets

I found this picture when I was looking for fabric to reupholster our furniture - this chair is covered with recycled wool blankets. Which I think is a tremendous idea (although if I went to the trouble of doing this - it would definitely be animal free!

So - I am now on the hunt for old wool blankets. They need to be wool and it doesn't matter if they are damaged or worn (as long as there are some unworn bits). Therefore, perhaps the next time anyone is at a car boot sale, car boot sale or jumble sale (sigh... how we miss them) then perhaps you could keep a look out for blankets. That will be fun bringing those back in my case!

Fly Swat

Ian is still enjoying zapping the flies.

Wall Flower

Yesterday the builder found some flowers painted on one of the walls. This was around the door frame of the room with a whole in the wall. Sadly, they are covered with plaster that is bad, so we couldn't save them even if we wanted to. The builder is getting on really well. He works non stop and starts early. Next week he says he is going to work in the afternoon too (after siesta) so he'll be here more than he's not! As he lives round the corner at least he gets home about 20 seconds after work!

Actually, I think we can say that we are delighted. He clears up when he finishes and yesterday even washed the floor down. Of course we can tell he's here - half the rooms are stripped of plaster! However everything is left as clear as it can be when he's finished. So far so good!

Things are really buzzing around here. Who was it that said that tales of their demise were grossly exaggerated...? Well, I think that you could say that around here - everything continues to be very buoyant. There is a severe property crisis in parts of Spain - mainly on the Costas - however here this is far from the case. We went out for a walk yesterday and three other houses in our road are being renovated. These aren't being renovated to sell - just for expanding families. I think the difference is that there is no speculation here, properties in essence have no value other than homes (think of the farmer who keeps his sheep in a house) - houses are not seen as investments. I bet mortgages are an unknown concept!

Door Frames Come Out

At the moment he is just working on the front two rooms.

House

It was raining today, so Manolo started work in the house. The front dining room was being knocked back today and it will be the front guest living room tomorrow.

We're going to have to make some firm decisions soon - however if he is starting at the front and working back we have a bit of time before we finalize arrangements for kitchen etc.

I've got a new writing commission. It's to write the content for a website - about 40 or so articles over a month. This time it is for a UK website. I am not sure whether it will extend over the first set of articles - so I won't give up anything else yet. This will be a thousand pounds or so, which on top of everything else, will give me my best month money-wise for years!

....which is just as well, as apparently a drain has collapsed at the shop - which no-one is taking responsibility for - which is annoying as about half a dozen properties drain into it - so, as I seem to quite often say - easy come, easy go!

Wall 2

Wall 17th October

Wall

Thursday morning...

Well...

When I come back from a visit to the UK, I often feel that it is inappropriate to start my blog post by saying that a good time was had. However, to say otherwise doesn't seem right - particularly this time when Mum and I had a good time buying a potters wheel. I know, though, that everyone who reads this will appreciate the context.

I wasn't really sure what to pack for this trip. As everyone knows I like to travel light - let's face it, I have to as I need an empty case if I am to carry all my 'treasures' back with me. This time I thought I would just wear a jumper and jeans and pack my large wool wrap and a couple of tops and I'd be fine. I had pared everything down as I had bought Ian an antique book for his birthday. I knew it was heavy as the dealer wouldn't deliver it here because of the weight of it - and I thought it would be nice for once to travel reasonably lightly back. However the book was very big.

And it certainly was heavy.

As indeed was the job lot of tartan material that I won on eBay - oh, and the 48 crumpets that I accidentally bought from (I was expecting 12).

...ah - and the three skirts that I bought at a charity shop for one pound each - and yes, so none of them actually fit - however if I put on or lose weight I am bound to have a skirt to fit.

...and not forgetting the super-duper fly zapper that I bought Ian (Mum has this leathal weapon that is like an electrified tennis racket - I knew that Ian would have to have one too!).

So the long and short of it is - I had to wear all of my clothes home which meant I was in danger of over heating on the coach. I felt like Ranulph Fiennes.

After checking my case in and being reprimanded for being slightly over weight - I then had to disguise the fact that I had more than one piece of hand baggage. This entailed wearing a rucksack under my wrap and this made me look like a turtle. I also had to stuff my pockets with things and wear my knitting which - because I had to take the needles out - meant I had a ball of wool in each pocket.

It took me rather a long time going through the x-ray machine. I felt I was doing the dance of the seven veils, taking off layers of clothes, bags etc.

As I feared - Ian acknowledged his nearly 200 year old book about the Penninsular War, while treating his new fly zapper like a light saber. I eventually had to prize the fly zapper from his hands yesterday as the house is now full of little nuked fly bodies and Ian, quite frankly, was getting dangerous. Anything that moved was becoming fair game...

When I got home Wednesday night we sat outside and had tea. I think it is safe to say that we just don't know what 'normal' weather is. On Wednesday we were sat outside in t-shirts at 11 and yet today it was quite overcast and cool.


Oh yes - I got four of my six dull articles written, which happily will give me the other two to look forward to writing this weekend...!

Potty Person

OK - I should be catching up on writing assignments. I have 6 incredibly dull articles to write today - and true to form - I thought they could just wait a few minutes while I do some other very important things. This entailed eating crumpets (long story - more to come later) and taking a picture of our wall at the back (ditto).

Anyway - on my list of things to do to avoid writing dull articles was finding this. This is a picture of the wheel that Mum bought - well, is buying. It is coming from France and is a neat little wheel that will sit on the floor or on a (sturdy) table. It is an electric wheel, very quiet to run - and orange! What more could a potty potter ask for...

Enough procrastinating - dull articles and replying to emails must be done.

Nice Surprise

It's nice when nice things happen. Today I was surprised to see in my PayPay account that my balance had gone up by 10%. Sterling has fallen back against the dollar, and as I get paid in dollars and I hadn't exchanged some money I had a windfall of a couple of hundred pounds. Hoorah. Sadly, the car failed the equivalent of its MOT today, so I guess that this windfall will go towards that. Easy come - easy go!

And then I was surprised earlier this morning when the builder came round. We were expecting him next week! Luckily he was only asking for a key to the back yard so he can bring his materials and tools round. Just as well, as needless to say, we haven't actually finished our plans yet. But this will focus our minds. He also said he'd start with the wall at the back and then the front of the house, I think that my slightly paniced expression might have put him off asking too many questions about our plans for the rest of the house.

We're getting an autumn feeling, its getting cooler in the morning, but still hot in the afternoon.

Poor Bob is running around with a lampshade on his head and jacket on as he has a sore patch on his neck that he's been scratching and the combined effect of jacket and lampshade stops him getting at it. The best bit for Bob is that he can just stick his head on top of his food and no one else can pinch any. The builder did a double take though when he saw him!

Buddies

Sam and Blackbeard

English

I'm still helping That Child with his English.

And I am constantly learning new things myself - how did I ever learn English? It's so bloomin' complicated!

Here's a new one that I never knew that I knew - adverbs of frequency always go in front of the verb with the exception of the verb 'to be' - where they go afterwards. So..

I always go swimming
I never eat chocolate
I sometimes read magazines
I am always on time
I am never in a bad mood
I am sometimes tired

At least I am learning something, even if he's not...!

Feria

We went to the Feria today in Zafra. It was very good, you could buy anything from a quail to a prize bull or an egg cup to a crane - or flamenco dress to leather chaps, paella stove to a olive crusher or electric churros maker.....

I think the best way to describe the Feria is this - an X rated Bath and West! A pavilion featured top 6 hunting dvds and we could have purchased hunting hawks as well as a singing canary. There was lots of bull fighting things, a massive amount of hunting parafanalia - and quite frankly the meat tents were not for the faint hearted! However I had to smile at the juxtaposition of hunting knives on one stall, next to the widest range of dusters I have ever seen on the next stall! There were stalls with tables of hunting knives laid out on the table in the front so passers by could feel the sharpness of the blades - I am sure that this must be an unusual sight!

The cheese stalls were interesting and we're getting to know a lot of the names and there were some fantastic breads - massive loaves, the like of which I've certainly not seen before. Really, we could have done with going around twice - we left the feria empty handed and we ended up going to Carrefour and getting some bread for our lunch.

There are entertainments every day, and it appears to be open for 24 hours (with a break for siesta of course). It's free to go in so I imagine a lot of people dip in and out during the week. When we arrived this morning there were healthy crowds of people tucking into unhealthy breakfasts of churros and chocolate.

My only disappointment was that there wasn't any sheep fleece. I know that there is a livestock class for merino sheep and I felt sure that there would be wool available. I thought they might have show fleece, even if it wasn't marked for sale. But sadly, no. On the plus side I did sneakily get the info of a flock of brown Merino sheep.

In the afternoon Ian was helping someone get their Internet up and running so, we had a picnic lunch before this. Although it was Carrefour and not the Feria, we bought bread and cheese and sat in the shade under a tree. Ian has coined a phrase for our lifestyle which I think is pretty good. Since we've been getting a more regular income we treat ourselves more often - however our treats may not be particularly treat-like in the eyes of others!! They are things like nice cheese rather than the cheapest, and a bottle of wine that is a couple of euros rather than a few centimos. Anyway, Ian said that he felt we lived like humble Kings and I thought that this summed us up pretty well.

Onions the Size of Balloons

Ian came back from the shop with onions the size of small balloons. He said he hadn't picked the really big ones! We stuffed them for tea, and this was quite a success. They were so big that Ian had to carve them. I'd be interested to know how they should be cooked - probably not stuffed with lentil surprise I guess.

It's the 555th annual feria this weekend in Zafra. This feria (similar to an agricultural show) is very famous and people from all over Spain go. We're going to try and go on Monday, however seeing that it has been going for over half a millenium, if we miss this year then I guess it will still be going next year!

Azuaga

We needed to get Sam some more food and sausages so, instead of going to Zafra, we went to Azuaga. This is on the Cordoba road past the wildlife place at Berlanga. We haven't been for a long time - in fact probably the last time was when we went with M&D when we just bumped into a parade of children dressed as chicks. The previous time it when we had to turn back when we planned a trip to Cordoba because of fog. Anyway, when we drove into the supermarket car park we were surprised to see the country side. We drove back across country (on purpose!) and for the first time we really got the impression of how high we are here. Although we are on a large plateau, naturally you feel that the hills are above us. However driving back from Azuaga we reached the end of the plateau and almost looked down onto hills. It was like coming to the end of the world!

We then arrived in Berlanga (this was not quite as on purpose) and this was a very nice town. This was the first place that we've visited since we've been here (other than the widely impractical places we plan to retire to) that we actually thought we would like to live. It's OK - we're not planning to move! Here is a bit about the history - as translated by Google Click Here.

Sam had a seizure the other night. The pattern is completely different to last time.

Nowhere to Sit

Sam

I woke up this morning to find that Sam had not only got into the bed, but he was led on his back, with his head on the pillow and his front paws peeking out over the duvet. How on earth did he survive in living rough - with no duvets to keep him warm or pillows on which to rest his weary head - I asked Ian. Ian pointed out that it was probably Sam's quickness to learn that meant that he did survive. He certainly does appear to be adapting to a life of luxury! I do have to keep thinking back to how he was when we found him as he really is a different dog now!

He hasn't had a fit since last Saturday, nothing has changed other than Petal is no longer in season and we've increased his food to try and get his weight up a little. His fits didn't get any where near like they did last time, when they were coming within a 24 hour period. As always, there's nothing we can do other than keep an eye on him.

Bob is sulking as we washed Baby. In fairness, he'd left Baby outside for a week so I didn't think he'd notice if I popped it in the washing machine. He did. And he's not happy!

Well Water

Of course, other exciting things happened too last weekend. Not least the fact that we measured the well. We've had a dry summer (until last Sunday, of course) so the well must be at a low point. We were delighted to see that there was still plenty of water. The water is about 12 feet down and there is about another 12 foot before you hit the well floor. We're going to sort out a pump as this will be excellent for so many things. The water pressure is quite low at the moment so it would be great to be able to use our well water. Jim worked out what sort of pump we would require so - soon - it will be all systems go! A can feel a pond coming on....!

We've also thought again about the building work. Ian has worked out that we ought to be able to run a waste water pipe from the living room to the drain without having to dig up the yard or the living room floor. This means that turning the living room into a kitchen could be feasible as it won't cost too much extra.

We've spoken to the builders and sent the a copy of the latest plan so we'll get a final quote for the work taking into account the latest developments and take it from there. The first priority will be the walls and windows and bathroom, so the rest of it will take shape later. We're not in any rush so as long we get the basics in place, everything else can slot in as and when.

How exciting!

You're not going to believe this...

So, we were heading towards Seville to take Jim and Viv to the train station when, just outside Monestario, the car made a funny noise. Ian pulls over and takes a look under the bonnet and finds the remains of the fan belt.

Deja Vu anyone...?

We drive - slowly - to Monestario. Ian found a garage and we headed in - thankful for the fact that we left earlier than we needed to. We got to the garage at about 1.45 - and they would be closing at 2 for siesta.

This time the fan belt snapped because the alternator had jammed, so although we had places to go - the car was staying firmly put. The nice garage man informed us that no, we could not hire a car and no, there were no trains. But happily there were buses! He kindly said he'd take us to a bus station - this was a slight exaggeration. He took us to a bar with a bus stop outside.

However, things actually worked out OK. The bus came about an hour later and whisked Jim and Viv to Seville. We waited another hour and got the bus to Fuente de Cantos. J&V got a taxi to the Seville train station and the rest of their trip went to plan. We got to Fuente and found out that the bus to Villagarcia wasn't for another three hours - however we rang Mike who had us home within 15 minutes!

Phew.

However, this probably won't be the thing that J&V remember the break for, as they started it in style by having a case stolen from Malaga train station. When we met Jim at Seville all he had was what he was stood up in - literally. The only slightly positive point was that they didn't get his passport - but they did everything else. So, on Friday we'd planned to go to Badajoz anyway - and just as well. Let's just say that there are at least two shop assistants whose day - week - or probably month was made by the mad 'Ingleses' wandering round El Cortes Ingles trying to work out the sizing to buy Jim an emergency wardrobe. Luckily one of the ladies rose to the challenge - dressing him in the store to make sure that everything fitted.

Naturally things don't end there.

The Malaga and Seville police were less than enamored at the thought of writing a report - but luckily, accompanied with Adelardo who wasn't going to take no for an answer, the police in Llerena were happy to write up the report. Ok - 'happy' is a slight exaggeration - particularly as it took the best part of two hours to get a very detailed report.

Oh yes, did I mention there was a fiesta this weekend - how that pales into insignificance!

This morning I switched my computer on to do some work as we'd taken the weekend off and I stared at the screen in surprise - I was amazed that it was only four days ago that I'd last logged on - it felt like months ago!!

J&V got home safely!

The car will be ready tomorrow - who will be next for Will-We-Get-Home Roulette...?


Click here for a bigger map
Press the small 'x' to close the white marker that is in the middle of the map.

Prickly Pear Scrumping

We went out prickly pear scrumping today. Based on the fact that our Aloe Vera has grown like a triffid this summer and we see them growing wild locally, we thought that perhaps we ought to look at other native plants, rather than trying to get BizzieLizzies to grow. The fig cuttings that I took earlier in the year have grown well too - so we settled on the other plant that we were certain that we saw a lot of - the prickly pear. Our plan was to find some and take a few cuttings which (should) be easy to root. Armed with leather gauntlets and Ian's (asparagus) hunting knife, we set off on our adventure. After an hour or so of driving around we the only prickly pears we saw were too close to a village to be able to start chopping cuttings off.

We did, however, find a lake - well, a reservoir.

We also wondered what these sheep were doing in the field - as they were walking exactly like they are in this pic, in formation. They were all in shadow from each other - except the poor sheep at the front of the row. They're not daft!!