A Very Happy New Year to all my family & friends.

It's been a quick year with a lot of changes and hopefully the passage of time in 2010 will slow down a little.

I hope you all enjoy your celebrations this evening, whatever you choose to do and may 2010 bring health & happiness.

Sunrise.

Sunrise this morning was spectacular - so I rushed into the house to get my camera to capure it before it had gone.


Now, I have a complicated camera, which has so many settings and different lenses but I can only use the point and press mode - automatic everything. It's a Canon EOS 400D for the techies (I'm not sure how that should be spelt) reading this.

On automatic, this was the result!






Pathetic! Automatic = rubbish!


I really must get around to learning how to use it properly.

So, I took the bull by the horns and twisted the dial to 'scenic'. This time when I pressed the shutter button it took for ever to click off - and this was the result - camera hand held so a little blurred but much better:



Then I remembered, when Neil bought the camera, he also bought me a mini-tripod. So, I ran inside for that and, after having to learn very quickly how to lock the camera in place to avoid it falling over and breaking, or worse dropping 20ft from the wall!
And this time - result!

The colours weren't as strong because day was definitely dawning, but you get the idea.

Now, what are the chances I'll start to read the instruction book before the next missed picture?

Remote, I think!

A new waterfall.

The past few days has seen a torrential amount of rain, mainly overnight but not always, and hurricane strength winds. At times I have had to force the pups outside to do the necessary, which they have reluctantly done only on the promise of a warm, fluffy towel awaiting their return and some chocolate buttons (doggy chocs of course).

Today the weather has changed completely and we once again have clear, blue skies, warm sunshine and no wind. As I walked down towards the almonds with the pups this morning I heard a new noise. Normally, it is so peaceful that the only sounds that break the silence are the birds and the dogs in the distance, barking their 'Hello's' to Brandy & Brinkley who are always happy to reply.

But this morning as I walked away from the house and down the track to the almonds I could hear running water - babbling brook style running water. I looked down into the bottom of the rambla, which is some 50 feet below and could just make out a section of rocks which has a fall of about 4 feet over which was running enough water to make the sound effects I had heard. The rambla is there to take the excess rain water and melting snow away but this is the first time I have seen it in action. Over the next few months I am sure we will see it flooded and running free but for now we have the sounds of a new waterfall to enjoy as we take our walks with the dogs - I doubt it will be long before it has dried up for now.

I love the nature of this area, every day brings new surprises and it wonderful to have time to enjoy them.

Not for the faint hearted!

Living up in the mountains brings new ways of living and traditions to living on the coast. Here people still live off the land and all over the hillsides you see signs ' Coto Privado de Caza' warning you that this is private land for hunting.

Hunting is mainly done on a Sunday so you are well advised to be wary of stopping by the roadside and taking an unofficial Sunday stroll on any picturesque area with this sign or this one.

We have already seen many rabbits, robins, snakes and mice but there is one other creature up here that is of significant interest to the locals that we haven't seen - the Wild Boar.

We know these animals live in and around the hills and ramblas and our neighbours even saw one wandering along the roadside late one evening about a week ago.

Last night we were told by a Spanish neighbour that the hunters would be on our hills and in our rambla today hunting the 'jabili', the wild boar. The hunters take up their positions in open areas of the pine forests where they can get a good view of the boar and then packs of dogs are released to chase the boars out of their hiding places and towards the hunters.

At about 11 this morning we saw the hunters, carrying their rifles, walking along the bottom of the rambla through our land (everyone has right of way through the rambla)

They walked to the far end of our land and beyond, as our land is not reserved for hunting but the land at the far end of the rambla is. There will be many more hunters all over these hills today. We were told that there would be approximately 100 dogs used in todays hunt. There are various spotters on the hills and there were 2 or 3 loud bangs indicating the start of the hunt. Since then I have heard a couple of gun shots and a lot of barking from the dogs but we cannot see anything as it's all happening over the hill among the pine trees.

It will end about 3 this afternoon, so until then our dogs are being kept inside behind a locked door - for their own safety. The hunters know we are here, we were outside as they walked by and waved to us so I'm fairly confident they will respect our land and keep away - but their dogs may not be so considerate.

Any boars killed today will be cooked and eaten over the coming weeks - it's the way of the land.

For more info on the Spanish Wild Boar take a look here: http://www.iberianature.com/material/wild_boar_spain.html

One-way phone calls!

After 7 weeks in the house we finally had a phone with a dial tone. We can make phone calls but we can’t receive them. Why not?

Because, at the moment, we don’t know our number, so we can’t tell anyone what to dial to call us back. If we ring them, the number just shows up as ‘Privado’ – private.

Along with the satellite dish and modem which has given us access to the internet, we have also bought a router which allows us to plug a normal telephone into it and make calls via the satellite dish. It’s really quite remarkable.

The whole system has not been cheap but it is our only option for a phone and internet where our house is located. Life in the mountains away from civilisation means peace, tranquillity & beauty but also leads to a few challenges.

We have our satellite TV from the Astra satellite and get a very strong signal so I looked for an internet via satellite solution using the Astra satellite as well.

Net2.com seemed to fit what we were looking for. It used the Astra satellite, the initial outlay for the equipment wasn’t excessive, the monthly payments were less than we pay now for the Vodaphone USB system and it meant we were back in touch with the rest of the world.

They are allocating us a phone number with the correct local area number and once that is done people will be able to ring us. It will make life so much easier and now I don’t have anymore need to drive to the roadside to pick up our missed calls and even better, no more waiting at the roadside for deliveries.

The technology is way above my understanding BUT I don’t need to know how it works, just that it does!

Thank you Net2.com!

Finally, we are connected to the outside world.

It took 3 visits and all I could get out of them was that it was a configuration problem BUT we finally have access to the internet from home and I no longer have to sit in the car at the end of the road.

Now all I have to do is work out how to get the phone working and we'll feel as if we have re-join the human race in the 21st century.

How frustrated am I?

Yesterday we finally received the long awaited call from the internet installer, they would be at the house this morning. Finally, we were to be connected to the outside world.

They were due at 11am and I was duly sat by the roadside by half past 10 incase they were early, as I knew they were travelling down from Murcia. Within a minute of parking the car my mobile phone rang and it was the installer asking for directions. I explained where to drive and 15 minutes later they arrived at Km 8. Surely, my next blog entry would be sent from the comfort of my own home.

But No!

The dish is on the roof, the cable is through the wall. They had my laptop on the roof while they started the set up process.

And then all progress seemed to stop.

Half an hour later they brought my laptop back telling me it was now raining so they couldn’t do anymore today and would be back another day, they will call me!

Oh, the frustration. It should have been all sorted today and now I have to wait – again.

I do have a sneaky feeling that they couldn’t actually finish it because I did overhear a conversation between them which suggested that something that should be in the back of the van couldn’t be found!

So, I’m off to the roadside yet again.

A morning surprise.

Winter has been late starting in this part of Spain this year. Only last week one of the locals was commenting how we had been having such a warm start to the winter and the lack of rain was beginning to be a concern but yesterday started with a heavy sky and rain always looked likely.

About 5pm we were aware that it was raining quite heavily. I say we were aware because this house is so well built, with such thick walls of concrete and a very solid roof, that you don’t hear the rain, even when it is torrential – and it was.

It rained all night and was still rain this morning, although a little less enthusiastically. Whenever we have bad weather the satellite signal for the TV can break up and in extreme weather, we lose the signal all together. Last night we had about half an hour where it looked possible we would lose the signal, but it managed to keep it together right through the X-Factor final.

I woke about 7am with the rain still falling, so I made a coffee and went back to bed to watch the news as the dogs would not be in a rush to go out.

About 8am we suddenly lost both BBC and ITV programmes and I assumed the rains had got heavier but it was getting to a time when the dogs would need to go out regardless of the weather.

And that was when I got a big surprise. I opened the front door to let them out and saw this…….

The skies were heavy with snow and everywhere was turning white. Brinkley was out there without hesitation, Brandy was not so keen at first but eventually he too went out.

I quickly put on my boots, big coat and gloves and went out with them. It was wonderful – so peaceful, so pretty and so much fun. The dogs were racing around, exploring all their usual favourite haunts that now looked and smelled so different. We walked across the hills as the snow continued to fall and I could see that there was plenty more to come.

Neil and I needed to go into town to change some gas bottles (we can’t run out with this weather) and to do some shopping. We also needed to collect my car. As we set off there was plenty of snow on the road but within a couple of kilometres, having dropped some 1,000 feet, the roads were clear of snow and easy to drive. Once in town we met our neighbours so decided to go for a coffee and talk ‘snow’ and ‘Christmas’ and ‘shopping’. It was a nice way to pass half an hour before we went our separate ways.

When we called for the little car we were told by the garage that the heather plugs were fine but they had needed to replace the diesel filter and clean some contacts and that it seemed ok now. We will find out when I try to start it in the morning, especially if it continues to snow through the night.

As I type this, the snow has stopped and the hills are looking a bit greener than they were so it has obviously warmed up a little bit but we do have more snow forecast. Tomorrow morning could be another surprise.

A normal weekend doing normal things.

This weekend feels likes we are beginning to live here rather than exist as builders.

Friday saw me at my 2^nd Spanish class, after which I spent some time with Janet & Graham around town. They took me to a fruit and veg shop which is quite literally in someone’s front room on a residential street with no other shops anywhere near it – but the choice and quality is far superior to anything you can buy at the market or at the local supermarkets. We had a wander around town and stopped for coffee in another bar. We sat on some small stools at a low part of the bar and judging by the look we got from an elderly man who came in10 minutes later, I think we were sat in his seat.

Friday night saw Neil and I back in town with Brian (my little Saxo). I had wanted to drive Brian earlier that day but he wouldn’t start. We knew we needed new heater plugs but after sitting over night in the cold he refused to start. By 3 in the afternoon, after sitting in the sun all day he started without a problem so we ran him down to the garage and asked them o fir new heater plugs, not that we knew how to say that in Spanish but we could point to them and they understood and even asked what they were called in English. Brian will be ready to collect tomorrow.

We had a lovely wander around the market in the sunshine on Saturday and then had a relaxing afternoon as both Neil and I are suffering with aching bones and a creaking back.

And now, we are just back from a wonderful Sunday dinner at a nearby restaurant. It’s off the road at km 12 (we live at km 8) although there’s a bit of a drive along the dirt track but it’s well worth the drive. Casa Joya is run by an English chef who had a Michelin star in the UK. We had been told it was worth visit, and we have to agree – the food is excellent. It’s a real delight to have such a good restaurant so close by for when we have visitors and the views from the restaurant are very similar to what we have from the house. Check it out at www.casa-joya.com

So, having enjoyed a good meal and a good bottle of wine we are now about to put up our Christmas tree. Neil has already unpacked a few things, one of which is my singing polar bear – which sings I’m dreaming of a white Christmas – to say the dogs are unimpressed would be an understatement, especially as it now occupies part of their settee.

Somehow, I think it unlikely that we will be leaving them alone with it for very long, I have a feeling they may try to show it who’s boss.

Kangaroo Mice!

While sitting quietly on the front step enjoying the warm sun, the dogs and I were suddenly taken by surprise by 4 small mice literally jumping out of a mouse hole in the ground about 10 feet away. They didn’t just run up and out of the hole, they were at least 10 inches into the air, almost as if they had a trampoline underground to aid with their exit!

This would account for why we have seen snakes near the house – it’s obviously where they go shopping for their weekend meal, and probably why the mice launch themselves out of the holes – they want time to see what’s up here before they are on the ground and running. It maybe that, should there be a snake waiting by the entrance, the mice would actually jump right over them and make good their escape!

So, decision time. Do we set traps? Well, I’m not a lover of killing mice and we don’t have any signs of them coming into the house. Having concrete floors, walls and roof, really the only way for them to get into the house is through the front door – so, maybe we should get a cat to deter them from coming in that way, but how would the dogs get on with a cat when all they have done previously is chase them?

For the time being I think we leave things as they are and continue to enjoy the nature around us…..

But the mice are on the same warning as the spiders – if they stay outside the house, no problem but if I find them inside the house – they are fair game! It seems to have worked with the spiders, since we cleared them all out and we moved in – I haven’t seen a single one in the house!

We've received our first Christmas cards from the UK.

The weeks are just passing so quickly at the moment that Christmas is likely to arrive and we’ll have no idea where December went.

The utility room is on its final stages – having the floor tiles laid. The washing machine is moving around the room at the moment, not because the spin cycle is too aggressive but because we need to tile underneath it and so we have to keep moving it from an area that needs doing to an area that’s been done. It’s not the lightest of objects to move but it does seem to be co-operating.

After waiting a few more days for the internet people to contact us, I finally spoke to someone at Head Office who informed me they we waiting for me to pay the Pro-Forma invoice. What Pro-Forma invoice?

Apparently when I completed the application form on-line it SHOULD have automatically sent me one to pay – but it hadn’t so Andrea, who speaks pretty good English e-mailed another one which I received late Friday. This needed paying at the bank and as soon as they had received the monies they would send out the equipment.

Only one problem that led to further delays – it had to be the Bank of Santander and they weren’t open on Saturday morning and then we have had 2 Bank Holidays together – Mon & Tues. So, I went in to pay it this morning.

Now, the Bank of Santander is not a small provincial bank, infact from bits I have reading the papers and seen on the TV news it’s actually faired quite well through the recession and is one of the more successful banks so imagine my surprise when I passed over the ‘factura’ for payment along with my debit card, only to be told I can’t use my debit card as they don’t have a swipe machine! I would need to take the cash out of the cash point and the go back into the bank to pay it.

Now, I may be a little sceptical on this BUT the cash points at the Santander Bank are one of the few that charge me for withdrawing cash – mmmmm!?

So, I walked around the corner to us another bank’s cash machine who don’t charge me, withdrew the money and then went back to pay the invoice.

I then phoned the internet people to let them know I had paid the bill so that they can send the equipment to the installer and maybe, just maybe we can get connected up next week! Oh, I do hope so!

Last week I went for my first Spanish class here. There were 3 of us in the class but I think I may be more advanced than the others and so does the teacher, so I’m going to keep to this class until Christmas and see how it goes and if necessary I’ll swap in the New Year. I also found out that each Friday night there is a conversation class in one of the bars on town, which is run by someone from the local Language School. Both Spanish and English people attend and they match an English bod with a Spanish bod and you speak English for half an hour and then Spanish for half an hour. Some times they may put you in groups of 4, 2 English and 2 Spanish – so that is definitely one for me to go to. The classes are free – you just buy a drink!

I couldn’t go last week – I just couldn’t miss the final of I’m a Celebrity, but I have no such excuse this week so I may summon up the courage and make an appearance.

I’m not going to make any comment this week about writing my next post from home as I do not wish to tempt fate!

While I was in town this morning I checked for post at the Post Office and we have received our first 2 Christmas cards with letters in them and it was really nice to get them. For my relatives who aren’t on the internet I always do a long catch up of what’s happened during the year and include a few photos because they can’t keep reading about things on my blog and it’s always lovely to receive letters back. I really like going to get my post rather than it dropping through the post box, I can pick it up and then go and get a coffee while I read what’s arrived – it’s a lovely way to pass half an hour.

We have a wall.

We decided we needed a couple of days rest after almost seizing up the day after we had laid the floor in the garage. We have pottered around the house doing bits, but nothing too strenuous, we even found time to go to the market on Saturday morning and have a wander around. It’s a good size market and we will be able to get most of the market shopping we need from there. It’s along the streets in the centre of town and as we wandered along, we bumped into our neighbours and their visitors, who we had previously met, so we all decided to stop in one of the bars for a coffee before going our separate ways for the rest of the day. It was a welcome interlude to all the work we have been doing in the house and I thoroughly enjoyed meandering through the stalls.

Sunday saw us back in our work clothes and mixing more concrete to finish off the front section of the garage floor. This was only 6 loads of cement and we had finished in about 3 hours.

Monday should have been a golf day but Neil woke to find he had tweaked his back and he was a little wary of doing any serious damage. As the weather had turned really windy he decided he would give golf a miss and rest his back as we had planned another heavy work day on Tuesday.

Tuesday saw us up early as today we were going to build the wall in the front of the garage ready for the door and window to go in. Now, neither Neil or I have ever built a wall before and we were quite pleased we would be using blocks rather than bricks. There were a lot less of them and it would grow really quickly. It was a slow process as every block had to be set with the spirit level to make sure it was all straight but we took our time and we managed to finish it before it got dark.

As we stood back admiring our handiwork, I have to confess, I did feel rather pleased with our days work knowing that today would be a rest day because…..

We’ve run out of cement!

So, today we have been into town shopping, trying out another coffee bar and generally enjoying the glorious weather we are having. Check the photo – gorgeous blue skies and temperatures still in double figures. I checked last night and it went as low as 8c during the night but once the sun rose this morning we were back to it being warm enough to walk around without our coats.

One disappointment this week, they were supposed to be coming to install the satellite link for the internet and phone yesterday but they rang me on Monday to say that the equipment hadn’t arrived at the installers so they had to cancel and will re-arrange when they have all the bits. I’m hoping to get a call later this week because it really is difficult without them.

Hey Ho, remember those days of phone boxes and letters – how did we all cope before mobiles and broadband?

I really hope my next post will be from the house – but I’m not holding my breath!

Our next big task is to tile the floor in the garage and we pick up the tiles tomorrow so I guess that will be started fairly soon. We’re trying to get all this work done before the winter sets in and we have seen our first signs this morning.

Over on the mountains far in the distance we have seen our first snow of the winter.

2 Days of Shovelling!

Having finished most of the big jobs in the house, we are now starting to turn the garage into a utility room. The first thing we needed was a floor. We needed to raise the level up by about 5 inches as we need it to be the same level as the house for when we knock the door through from the house. So, we started to make good use of the sand & gravel dropped off to us last week.

Tuesday saw us shovelling this mix by the wheel barrow load for 4 hours. Trust me, that’s a lot of shovelling and is very hard work. By early afternoon we were both covered in dust, as I tried to knock the dust of Neil it came up in great clouds, I felt like the character ‘Pigpen’ from the cartoon ‘Peanuts’ but I needed to get as much off as possible before going into the house as I really didn’t have the energy to start cleaning the house as well.

Surprisingly, we didn’t feel as ache-y the next morning as I thought we would, we’re obviously getting used to this ‘work’ thing.

So, Wednesday was set aside for a day of concreting. The base was laid, the shuttering was in place and we had decided to try and do the whole floor in one day so that there weren’t any joins – whether that would turn out to be a good idea, we would know that evening.

Neil mixed the first load of concrete and I realised that there was very little for me to do while laying the concrete and my day looked to be a serious of tea-making, dog-walking and standing around keeping Neil company.

The first load went down very quickly and hardly seemed to make an impact on the area we had to do. It would be a slow process if Neil had to stop to mix the concrete and then go back to lay it so I asked him to show me how to do the mixing.

It’s not rocket science – but involved shovelling 18 large shovels of sand & grit into the mixer along with the cement powder and a bucket and a half of water to each mix. I felt I could at least do some of this to help ease Neil’s workload and to give him some continuity while laying the concrete –and, it would mean we got the job done quicker.

So, I started shovelling. …..

…… and shovelling…….

…………..and shovelling.

My thought was that I would do as much as I could before my back began to give me problems – and that was the strange thing – it didn’t. Now, if I sit at my desk on the computer for more than an hour I am in serious pain but this – well, my back just wasn’t complaining.

The weather was warm, the hours passed quickly, we drank copious amounts of water – and we finished after about 6 hours, by which time I could hardly raise the shovel high enough to get the gravel in the mixer and Neil could hardly push the wheel barrow full of cement up the ramp to fill in the last remaining square of floor. We were both truly knackered but it was done, time for a sandwich and a laze in the hot tub – trust me, never has the hot tub seemed so wonderful.

As the evening progressed we both started to seize up. I couldn’t grip with my hands, I couldn’t raise my arms above shoulder height and I could hardly walk. Tomorrow wasn’t looking good so I designated it as a rest day – before we went to bed. I wasn’t getting up before my body said it wanted to get up and I wasn’t doing anything that involved holding more than a coffee cup. Neil wasn’t much better and certainly didn’t object.

The morning came and I knew, even before putting a foot to the floor, that there was no way I could do anything more than hobble. I forget that the arthritis has spread to my feet and that if I am on my feet for more than about 3 hours they suffer – 6 hours meant serious suffering. My fingers refused to bend and lifting my arms up to wash my hair in the shower took some real effort. But, my back? Well, surprisingly unaffected – how bizarre!

Maybe pushing to do it all in a day was a push too far but when we went out to take a look it was incredibly satisfying and we knew that was the biggest, single job done. We counted up how many loads of cement it had taken – 20. That’s 360 shovel fulls of sand & grit, 30 buckets of water and 5 bags of cement – that’s some serious work – and it really felt good.

More photos.

The cooker is in and looks fabulous:

The kitchen sink is in properly now instead of being propped up on 2 pieces of wood:

The worktops arrived and are in:

And this will be the cage for the gas tank at the back the house:

So, it's all coming together nicely.

Gas Bottles.

We now have a lovely, warm, cosy house. It’s great getting up in the morning and not having to run to the bathroom and back. It great coming in at night after working outside all day and although it’s only a couple of weeks, it’s seems and age since we had no heating or hot water.

But we won’t have our large tank of LPG for another 3 weeks (or maybe more) so in the meantime we needed to get 4 small bottles of gas to keep us going until the big tank arrives. The problem is over here, we need a contract and it’s not really worth all the hassle for a few weeks.

Manolo, a guy we have been getting a lot of help from at the plumbers merchant, had told us to go to a certain shop in the town, explain the situation and see if they would give us the bottles ‘sin contracto’ – without a contract.

‘No way’ was the answer, and he sent us to another place in town that was a distributor for the company. So we set off to find this distribution centre, with expectations of some sign indicating there whereabouts but there was nothing. We looked all around the area but couldn’t find anything.

We had to drive out to the Poligono anyway, so we called into the plumber’s merchant to see if they could give us any hints. Elizabeth was very helpful and it turns out we were looking for a house, no signage, no indication, no hints – just a house across the road from a bar.

We returned to town and found the bar. Across the road, sure enough, was a house with a large garage at the side. We could see an elderly man through the doorway who seemed to be fixing a chainsaw and beside him we could see a couple of bottles of gas. Either we were in the right place or we were about to ask a senior citizen if we could buy his gas bottles from him.

I politely said hello and explained what we were looking for and he stood up, went to the bottom of some stairs and shouted up to someone. A couple of minutes later a younger lady (probably his daughter) came down and I explained our situation to her, stressing the ‘sin contracto’ part several times. A few minutes later she had made a couple of phone calls and a wagon pulled up outside with our desired gas bottles on the back.

We paid a deposit for each bottle plus the normal cost of the gas and the bottles were loaded into the back of our car. No contract, no paperwork, just a receipt for us to take back when we return the bottles so we can get our deposit back.

Not strictly by the book but at least we’ll have enough gas to keep us going until the tank arrives – you just have to know how to get round the system.

Autumn Colours

Autumn in this part of Spain is quite odd in that the majority of the trees that lose their leaves don’t change colour first. The Almond trees are a classic example, they stay green and just suddenly lose their leaves. When we were living in Terreros a lot of the plants were either Palm trees or Cacti, again – they don’t change colour.

But here we have a couple of silver birches which changed colour a little but the star of the show was definitely the Persimmon tree, it’s leaves changed to the same colour as it’s fruits – and in the sun it glowed.

I can’t say I miss the autumn colours but it was nice to see the contrast of this tree amongst all the olive trees.

Weekly Update

As I still have no internet connection at home I have been writing bits over the last few days and here are 5 entries to enjoy all at once.

Until next week!

Time for a treat.

When we were in Terreros we went out for dinner most Friday nights. Since we have had the house we have spent most Friday night collapsing after another hard days work. So, last Friday I decided we deserved a treat. A night off and a trip into Velez Rubio for a meal in a restaurant – no cooking and no washing up.

I had seen signs for a Steak restaurant and decided we should give it a try. We need to start finding where there are good places to eat so this was as good a place to start as any.

We weren’t early when we arrived there, it was almost 9pm but I had to ask if they were open for dinner when we got there as there was no-one else in. There was a chef and a waiter but no customers. Maybe that should have told us something.

As we sat at our table – one among thirty, I asked if this was normal for a Friday night. ‘Sometimes yes, sometimes no’ answered the waiter.

Having picked up a couple of Spanish menu’s we were struggling to recognise – well anything, the waiter took pity on us and brought us an English translation. There were items on there we’d never seen on a Spanish menu hence our inability to know what to order. In the end Neil started with endive leaves with anchovies and a blue cheese sauce and I had grilled asparagus – both very enjoyable.

The disappointment came with the main course. Neil had ordered Lamb Cutlets and they had to have been from the smallest lamb ever. I had ordered a steak which look good but was actually mainly fat – and, as with a lot of Spanish meals they came with very little vegetables.

Pudding was good, probably the best part of the meal – I had caramel custard and Neil had cheesecake with strawberry jam and both were very tasty.

Then came the second disappointment of the evening – the bill, it was not a cheap restaurant and was certainly not worth the cost – but we were both very tired, it had been really nice not to have to cook or wash up but throughout the evening we had been the only customers, so there was no atmosphere and we won’t be returning in a hurry.

As a little aside – halfway through the evening all service stopped – the waiter turned on the TV for the results of the Euro Millions and all the staff stopped work to check their numbers. I assume that none of them won, as they all went back to work afterwards.

Maybe we wouldn’t have got desert if their numbers had come up!

Sitting by the roadside watching the sun set over the mountains!

Sounds romantic doesn’t it?

Well, it wasn’t. You see, I was waiting for 2 deliveries. In an ideal world it would all work as arranged. In the real world, this was never going to happen.

The 2 deliveries were coming from opposite directions, so in an effort to avoid them having to U-turn on the mountain road I arranged to meet one, we’ll call him A, at Km 8 at 4.30pm and the other, who we’ll call B (no surprises there, eh?)at Km 9 at 5pm (both times suggested by them not me, I would like to add at this point)

So, I was duly ensconced at my first meeting point by 4.20pm and sat back to admire the scenery. By 4.45pm I was on the phone to find out where he was only to be told he was still some 45 minutes away as he had been delayed in Almeria. A quick mental calculation and I realised I had time to go to Km 9, meet the other guys and take them to the house and be back at Km 8 for 5.30pm.

By 5.25pm I was on the phone to B – who I was told had only just set off and would be another half hour. OK, Back to Km 8 to wait for A – who hadn’t turned up by 6pm – another phone call – ‘I’m only 20 minutes away’ he said. ‘Call me when you get there and I’ll come to meet you’ I replied and drove back to Km 9.

6.15pm – no B but A phoned – ‘I’m at Km 8’. ‘OK’, I said ‘I’ll be right there!’

But when I got to Km 8 there was no-one there. I rang again. My husband’s voice answered. I know my husbands voice, I recognise it. But why was he answering the phone of the missing delivery man?

Because somehow A had missed me but managed to find the house! And how could he be on his phone by the house when we don’t have any reception?

I decided not to pursue the phone call any longer but to return to KM9 and await B.

By now, the sun had gone down, darkness was upon us and I was sat at the roadside still, 2 hours after I had first parked up.

15 minutes later I received another phone call – this time from B – to say he too was at the house.

How are they doing this? How can they miss me sat at the roadside in a big black car, yet find the house down a dirt track, hidden behind a hill?

I returned home, stiff from sitting in the car for over 2 hours, cold and confused but pleased that we now had the work surfaces for the kitchen.

After they had all left I asked Neil how they had found the house.

He said he had no idea, they had just turned up!

Most peculiar!

P.S. 2 days later we were sat having a drink when Janet, our neighbour from the other hill walked up our valley and into our house. Her and her visitor had been on a hunt for some kind of mushroom and ended up at the bottom of our hill so decided to stop by and cadge a drink as they had been walking for ages and were both looking as if they had run a marathon.

While they were here we got chatting and she mentioned they had received a few callers a couple a nights ago, when normally they don’t get any. But both had been at the wrong house, they were looking for us and she had pointed across the valley to where we are.

So that’s how the delivery guys had found the house – no mystery, no psychic powers – just gone to the house they could see and asked where the house they couldn’t see was!

So, in future I don’t need to go and sit at the roadside for hours – just tell them to call at the house on the hill – and hope that Janet’s at home!

Window Man

Having been out to get us back into our house, the window man returned that evening to replace the glass. It had originally been in 2 sections but he was replacing it with a single pane.

He was done in about 15 minutes and then went about measuring all the windows for fly screens. We don’t have mosquitoes up here but there are still plenty of flies to keep out. So, there we were standing on the front terrace explaining what we needed when all of a sudden there was a large cracking sound – the new pane of glass had just cracked the whole width across while everyone was standing at least 6ft away.

Ooops! He’ll bring another pane when he comes to do the fly screens – but maybe there was a reason the other window had been done on 2 pieces!

The Cage.

You may be excused for thinking this has something to do with the dogs but you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s to cage in an inanimate object.

Living in the middle of the campo we are lucky to have both mains water and mains electric but we don’t have gas. Out here it’s all bottled or tanked. We had thought that we would be using the large gas bottles from Repsol to run the heating system but during one of our trips to the Poligono we came across another system from Cespa where they do a mini-tank which holds enough gas to do us for about 8 months – much better than having to keep changing bottles every month. So, we asked what was needed and it turns out there were 2 criteria – 1, that the delivery wagon can get to the house to deliver the tank and top it up and 2, that we build a large cage to stop people accessing the tank.

The following day the tecnico came out to assess the access and told us we were fine for the tank. All we needed was a concrete pad 1.5m by 2m enclosed by a cage with an access door. He told us where we could get this from on the Poligono and that was our next job. Once all the licences are submitted it takes about 20 days for the tank to be delivered so that was our timescale for sorting out the cage.

Neil had previously convinced me that we needed to buy a cement mixer as we have lots of building work to do. He got his first chance to use it last week when my washing machine arrived (such a luxury, to have a washing machine again) as we needed a concrete pad in the garage for it to stand on. That was about 1m square so now, we needed a pad about twice the size. So, over the last 3 days we have taken delivery of all the posts, the gate and wire fencing we needed and laid the concrete pad with the posts in place. It has to be said, there is a certain satisfaction in seeing something come together like this – it grows very quickly.

The biggest problem we had was keeping the dogs from leaving their paw prints everywhere!

So, cage in place, radiators in place – bring on the gas!

One week on..........

It’s 2 weeks since the radiators arrived and 1 week since the plumber said he would come and fit them – so, are we cosy and warm at night now?

No, of course not!

For those of you thinking, hang on a minute, Neil’s a plumber so what’s the problem? This is the problem – plastic coated aluminium pipes that need a crimping machine to join them. Neil has used this system in the UK before but here in Spain the crimping machine is mega-bucks and it’s far cheaper to get a plumber in, who has the tools already, than buy one ourselves.

But, the snag is – you need to find a plumber who will actually turn up. To be fair, the one we had used before had turned eventually – and even within 2 hours when we had the leak – but this last week – nada!

It started of with promises that he would ‘maybe’ come, then on the day he was supposed to be here he didn’t answer my phone calls or my text messages, or the day after, nor the day after or even the day after that.

Then we were at the weekend and nothing.

Monday morning saw us up bright and early as we were going to Terreros for the day, Neil to play golf and me and the pups to spend the day with Lucy & Sophie. So, car packed, dogs all harnessed up I reached back and pulled the door shut.

And that’s when the whole day changed.

We have a double lock on our door and as I tried to turn the key I realised that there was a key on the inside of the lock and ……..

We were locked out!

Ooops!

The only option was to drive down to the Poligono to the window & door company and hope we could catch someone before all the workers left for their jobs that day. We hurtled down the mountain road at 100mph, the poor dogs clinging to the back seat as we cornered every bend but we made it in time – the owner was still there. I explained what had happened, mainly in Spanish but accompanied by a few ‘charade’ moves and ended with a huge plea – puedes ayudarnos, por favor?

After a few minutes he decided he could and followed us back to the house in his van. He tried pushing the key into the lock, hitting it with a hammer and ‘jiggling’ it about to see if he could dislodge the key on the other side, but no joy.

Then there was the ‘let’s stand back and think about this’ time after which he announced it would be cheaper to smash the glass at the side of the door then to drill the lock and replace it – so, 2 minutes later we were back in the house minus the long glass panel behind the reja’s. He would come back that evening to replace the glass.

Needless to say we were too late for Neil to play golf so we decided it would be a good day to do sort out the cage.

Oh, and back to the plumber. I half expected him to turn up on Monday because we would be out, but no. So, while we were out organising things we arranged for another plumber to come and fit the radiators and as I type this I have 3 very young, very fit Spaniards in my house (sorry Lucy, none of them are tall enough for you!) and by tonight we should be as warm as toast.

Having arranged for the work to be done by another company of course, the original plumber rang – it’s as if there is a secret network that channels information from one to another. So now I needed to explain that, because he hadn’t been and hadn’t answered any calls or text messages we had now instructed someone else – oh, how hard my brain is having to work these days to do all this in Spanish. Anyway, he seemed to get the gist very quickly and asked if we would be paying him for the work he had already done. Well, of course, there was nothing wrong with his work, he is a good plumber – just typical in not turning up when he says he will – except it would seem when he is due to collect his money – he was at the house less than 2 hours later.

P.S. The team of plumbers arrived at 9am. By 10am, they had downed tools for a break. You see this all over Spain – 10am is official break time and they all stop, sit down with their sandwich boxes and have, well, 10’ses. They then work through to 2pm when they stop for siesta – usually this goes on until either 4 or 5pm and then they work another couple of hours finishing around 7ish.

Photos

The boys made themselves very comfortable as soon as they arrived.

For a while our kitchen sink was suspended on 2 bits of wood.

But our living area was starting to take shape.

An update!

I prepared myself for a long wait by Km 1 as the delivery van with the central heating system was due sometime between 12.30 and 1.30 but barely had I switched off the engine than I saw headlights being flashed in my rear view mirror (not something I look in very often, so I did well to spot him!)

The company in Sheffield had packed everything on a pallet and wrapped it well with clingy-filmy-stuff, mainly because the transport company is called Palletways and shifts things on pallets – well they do in the UK. By the time it arrived here and was ready for unloading, it had been reduced to a stack of boxes, bundles of pipes and a load of radiators, all that needed unloaded individually – so we all got stuck in and I’m not kidding, the radiators weigh a ton – I didn’t even try to help with the boiler!

And so began the long process of checking the delivery against the order, but despite being in a mass of different boxes, packets and bundles , everything we had ordered had arrived. All we needed to do now was install it all.

The last few days have whizzed by. Yesterday we went up to Murcia to collect the cooker. We ordered it from IKEA but it was coming direct from the manufacturer to a warehouse near to IKEA. So, I received 3 text messages from the warehouse company telling me that the cooker was in, how to get there and that we had 10 days to go. So, we set off yesterday morning. Maybe foolishly, we didn’t have a map, we have no idea where it was other than it was on the Murcia-Madrid N30, past the Coca-Cola plant!

Well, of course we couldn’t find it, got caught up I traffic delays because of an accident and ended up going back to IKEA to see if they could tell us where it was. As it happens, the lady who we spoke to when hiring the van was working and she knew where we needed to be and could give us directions which (eventually) got us there with about 25 minutes to spare.

Unfortunately, we had to wait while they dealt with a couple who had obviously hired a van for the trip and they looked as if they had bought an entire house from IKEA BUT who were expecting the warehouse man to load it all onto the van – and this was certainly not in his job description, by the tone of the conversation that was going on.

Ours was a simple task, bring it on the forklift and slide it into the back of the car. Eventually, the chap excused himself from the other couple and came and loaded ours into the back of the car. As we left, it appeared that the other couple had realised they either loaded it themselves or they weren’t going to be taking anything home – and it was already past the time for the chap to close up for siesta!

And so, although the last few days have been incredibly hard work, we are getting there. The boiler is in, the cooker is in and we now have hot water coming out of the taps – how good is that? I tell you, you soon realise not to take some things for granted – we have both finally managed to have a hot shower and it was wonderful.

By the end of the week, we may even have the central heating up and running – oh, I do hope so!

5 trips in a Transit!

It’s amazing how much you can get in a Transit van when you try. After 5 van loads, 10 hours of driving, 3 days and a lot of hard work, we were in.

The first thing I made sure of, was that the bed was made because I knew by the end of the day we would both be totally worn out – seems the boys were too, they went to bed much earlier than Neil and I.

The first night in the house didn’t feel strange, although I thought it would. Maybe we have been spending so much time up there that it feels like home already.

I went out with the pups at about 11pm expecting it to be pitch black because there are no street lamps, other houses etc – but it was actually fairly bright because of the full moon and the clear sky. I could make out the trees and the hills and could still see the pups as they wandered around.

Monday saw a massive effort to get furniture in place and boxes unpacked and before long we had a lounge where we could sit and a table we could eat at. But that didn’t last for long.

On Monday afternoon, while I was through cleaning the villa, we had a call to say that the rest of the kitchen had come in. As tired as we were and as much as we would have loved to have sat down for half an hour in front of the TV, we knew it made sense to go and collect the rest of the kitchen units while we had the van, and so off we set for yet another 2 hours driving. Since then we have been steadily building and now we have a kitchen that almost looks finished.

Unfortunately, they only sent 8 doors, not 8 pairs of doors – so we are waiting for the rest to arrive – but at least we have cupboards to put things away in and we can use the tops of the base units as a work surface until that arrives on Monday, along with the washing machine. I calculate our underwear drawers will be fairly empty by the time the washing machine arrives so I hope it isn’t delayed!

I’ve been doing well with my phone calls this week because we also had a call to say that the cooker that was to be 3 weeks, is actually in stock and we can go and collect that, hopefully, tomorrow.

This morning the man from Repsol, (Spain’s equivalent of Calor) came out to tell us what we need for the heating system so we can be getting on with that and may even have some heat soon.

And, finally – the heating system is arriving this afternoon. I am just about to go and sit by KM 1 in the main road to meet the delivery man.

So, you may think, reading this, that everything is going smoothly – but we have had our panics. Firstly, when we were working on the house but still living in the villa we got into the habit of turning the electric off each night. Needless to say, on the day we brought our big fridge/freezer over, having borrowed cooler boxes to keep our food frozen, we stocked the freezer and then left the house, but not before turning off the electric – as normal. Ooops! What a lot of meat to throw away!

Then today, we set about putting in the shower cubicle. All the cables and pipes have all been put under the floors so it never occurred to us that they would have done something different in the bathroom, but yes – we managed to drill a hole through a water pipe behind the tiles, so while Neil was chiselling out the damaged pipe work I got into the car to drive to the end of the lane and phone the plumber! He saw the funny side of it and within half an hour we were patched up and had water again.

And I don’t suppose that will be the end of the problems before we are finished, but nothing insurmountable and all things we can laugh about over a drink in the evening.

Last night ended with a mass of colour in the night sky as the sun went down, sunsets here can be rather spectacular.

Well, time to load up the car with all the rubbish and flattened cardboard boxes and drive the 8 km to our rubbish bin so I can dump everything and also get a signal to upload this.

More in a few days! And I do have loads of photos but the connection is too slow to upload them now, my battery would go flat before they uploaded - so, they're for another time, sorry!

Manic but Good!

Wow, it's been a hectic few days but we're in. We're in chaos but we're in!

We still have no phone or internet at the house but we do have most of the kitchen and the heating system is in Spain ready for delivery, so it's all coming together.

I'll write soon and post some photos but for now there are a million boxes to unpack so better get back to work.

Moving Day - 2

So, we now know how DFS Settees are made. The hacksaw was to cut off one of the bolts that holds one section to another, on which the thread had stripped. Don't worry, there are plenty more bolts holding it together. Once we had removed the fabric base cover we could see how it all held together and so were able to dismantle it enough to get it through the door and then rebuild it. I do need to get some more webbing for the base - but at least it's in, and it looks fine, and the next time it is moved will be in pieces onto a bonfire! Trust me!

So, we returned back to the Villa to reload the van,this time with the dining table, sideboard etc. That has all gone up to the house this morning and Lucy & I have packed another load of boxes for the next trip later today.

All that will be left for tomorrow are the 2 single beds (that we need for tonight), the small settee (gotta have something to sit on) and the stuff from the bathrooms - oh, and of course - the golf clubs!

Tonight we are off to a Halloween fancy dress party at Pepa's, so a chance to have a few drinks, a good laugh with our friends and a good meal. A good way to spend our last night in Terreros.

Have you ever fancied a large couch in your entrance hall?

Today was moving day. We had concerns about 2 items, the American Fridge/Freezer - could we move it, and the large, no, huge 3 seater leather settee, would it fit in the house?

We were up early, excited to be able to finally go and fetch the van and start loading it up. On the way, Neil got an attack of the giggles - just thinking about this settee sitting on the outside patio because we wouldn't be able to get it into the house.

On the way back, Neil drove the van and following on behind - I got an attack of the giggles. Never mind 'would it fit in the house' - I wasn't even sure it would fit on the van!

We were grateful to see the faces of our friends arrive soon after we returned home with the van and the first item to be loaded was the settee.

And it went in! Stage 1 complete.

Next the big fridge/freezer was emptied and moved and success, it too went in - good omens so far.

We packed more furniture in until the van was full and closed the door. Over the weekend we expect to make about 4 trips, but today was all the big heavy stuff, the stuff we needed help with, the stuff we were grateful for the help from our friends.

An hour later we were up at the house and all the stuff was off the van except those 2 items.

First we unloaded the fridge - it came off easier than expected and we wheeled it in through the front door. Once in the entrance hall we spun it through 90 degrees to wheel it through the lounge door and onto the kitchen. It didn't go through. 'Back it up', they cried and we all pulled it back into the hallway and looked. The handles were stopping it from going through. 'Try it with the doors opened,' so once more we all pushed and pulled and it just fit through, onwards to the kitchen which has double doors and it gently slipped into the space by the window which had been left purposefully for it.

One down, one to go.

Finally, the settee was loaded off the van. The puzzling started - how to get it through the main door - it was too high and too wide. A bit of tilting,twisting, bit more lowering and pushing and it went through - just. We turned it through 90 degrees ready for the lounge door and that's where it stuck.

'Take the feet off' came the cry and I duly obliged.

Still stuck.

'Take the door off' was the next suggestion and very soon the door was off it's hinges and against my newly painted wall.

Still stuck.

We all put the settee down while we thought about options. The cushions don't remove, the arms don't remove. We have no patio doors and all the windows have reja bars concreted into the walls. We only have one door in and the entrance hall is not large enough for us to leave the settee there.

They day was becoming a problem.

The next cry made me shudder -'pass me the large hacksaw'

Day of the Dead!

No, it's not a new horror movie, it's actually a very important festival in Spain which takes place this weekend.

The festival has it's origins in Mexico, but the Spanish Conquistadors changed it to coincide with All Saints Day to try and incorporate it into the Religious calendar.

Los días de los muertos is a day when the departed loved ones of the family are remembered and rejoiced. In Spain it is a time for big family gatherings, for family visits to to the graves of relatives and for family members to dedicate a few moments of rememberance.

Here, in Spain, it is a National Holiday.

We move in tomorrow!

We've done as much as we can and we move the furniture over tomorrow.

We have no hot water until the boiler arrives next week and Neil has installed it, we have a kitchen sink but no base units, so it's propped up on 2 bits of wood,

but it works!

Our cooker doesn't arrive for another 2 weeks and we have no washing machine


On the plus side, we have wardrobes now - from IKEA,

(they look brown but they are actually black/brown to match the drawers and bed we already have).

The bedroom and lounge are decorated, we have curtain poles for all the rooms but no curtains - good job we don't have any neighbours! And, there is a serious concern that the big 3-seater, leather settee won't fit through the door! Could be the most expensive piece of patio furniture ever!

Tomorrow is going to be a long, long day!

Introducing Bryan!

Bryan is my run-around pet-taxi. We got him yesterday and he is for when Neil is at golf all day and I want to run the pups somewhere, or just nip down into town for a bit of shopping or a coffee and a chat. We needed a little 'jalopy' and we called him Bryan to fit in with Brinkley and Brandy's names, beginning with BR.....

We found him on one of the local forums and it's taken a while to get all the relevant paperwork together. After the problems registering on the padron at our new place, I just renewed our padron locally. It appears that if you are already registered on the padron, renewal is not a problem BUT if you are registering for the first time, you now need your residencia certificate. We are due to apply for ours once we have moved into the new house, but fortunately didn't have a problem in getting a renewed certificate.

I then needed to get certified copies of my passport, NIE certificate and padron in order to get the paperwork transferred over at traffico, and also a copy of the car documents. Now, it would make more sense for the seller to get the certified copies of the car documents to hand over at the time of exchange and then it would be all sorted, but no, it's the buyers responsibility - so having been to the Notary once for the first load of papers, we now have to go again to get the car docs done and then drop those into the office, in order to have all the paperwork sent to traffico in Almeria and for the car to be officially transferred into our name. In the meantime we have a copy of the all the relevant documents, including the receipted invoice from the seller showing that we have paid for the car, incase we are stopped by the 'policia'.

So, we have had a bit of running around but we finally brought Bryan home last night!

Rallying the troops!

Someone had mentioned to us in conversation recently that a local car sales place also did van hire, so I rang them. Yes they did, did we want a little van or a big van? Big please, we're moving house.

So it's booked, a large van from Friday morning until Monday morning - at least we have a van.

Now, we need some muscle - time to phone all those friends who told us, when we said we were moving, 'anything you need help with, just let us know!'

So we did.' Are you free on Friday? Can you help us move some stuff?'

We're going to need a lot of muscle to move the American Fridge/Freezer and the large settee, other stuff is fairly manageable. Now the main problem in retiring to Spain is that the majority of other people here are also retirees, albeit early retirees. Many have creaking joints like us - our circle of friends does not run to an army of Schwartzeneger-type men,(more's the pity), so we need to be careful not to overload them.

But, we have willing volunteers and hope to move the large furniture on Friday so that Neil and I can do the rest over the weekend.

So, crisis number 2 averted - surely nothing else can go wrong?

And we just found out that, as Monday is a holiday here, we get to keep the van until Tuesday morning at no extra cost - so, we have an extra day to move.

One of those days!

I woke early this morning and decided to check my e-mail inbox before starting another hectic day. There was an e-mail from the UK, just a simple sentence that was to send us into total chaos.

It read 'Have you arranged a different collection date?'

This was from our Plumbers merchant in Sheffield who we are getting our shower doors and central heating system, boiler, radiators etc from - which should have been collected last Wednesday by a removals company. It had already been delayed from the week before when they had cancelled driving to the UK through Northern Spain because of the flooding caused by the torrential rains.

We have been trying to contact the removals people for the last few days to see when they would be arriving with it, but with no success. But at least we believed the heating system was on its way - so this e-mail was a major shock.

As soon as we could ring the UK, we did and confirmed our worst fears - they had not been to collect the stuff. Now, without this we will have not only no heating, although we do still have the electric oiled filled heaters we used last winter, so although expensive to run, we will not freeze - what we won't have is hot running water. In summer that would not be a problem, but the thought of cold showers now - is not appealing!

So, we needed a quick solution. Neil had previously talked with a company that does domesic sewage systems about shipping one to us in Spain and they had mentioned a company they used - Palletways - so it was worth a shot. I rang them as soon as they opened and sure enough, they could pick up in Sheffield and deliver to us here in Spain, to the door - no matter how remote. All it needed was for the whole lot to be loaded on a standard pallet, no more than 2m high. We rang the Plumbers merchant, and they said that it could be done - and so we set the wheels in motion. By 1pm this afternoon we received a very welcome phone call. They had just arrived to pick up our stuff and it would be on it's way to the Palletways hub in Birmingham. From there it gets sent to the hub in Madrid and from there delivered, by prior appointment, to us - possibly as early as Friday.

If only we'd known about this company 3 weeks ago, life would have been a lot less stressful.

We still don't know what has happened to our removal guys, who previously have been so reliable - but this also meant we couldn't rely on them turning up to move our furniture on Monday.

And so started the second panic of the day - can we move ourselves this weekend?