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.