Spanish Plumber bucks the norm.....

.....and turns up when he said he would.

I spoke with the plumber, Juan, on Friday and explained we had some work we needed him to do and could he meet us at the property on Tuesday morning? All done in my best, rehearsed Spanish you understand. Well, after a bit of 'tuning in' to his voice I managed to understand that he knew where we were and would see us during the morning.

Now, knowing the electrician was a day late, and knowing we wouldn't be at the house today I decided I would text Juan yesterday morning on our way to the house to tell him we would be there between 9.30 and 2.30, but of course I needed to text in Spanish - Neil's phone, although a Spanish phone, is set to English and so predictive text created a complete load of garbage. Eventually I worked out how to re-set the phone and message sent, all we could do was wait and see.

But, much to our amazement he turned up about 11ish. We had drawn a diagram of all the pipework that needed connecting up and then I had to explain that we have a heating system coming from the UK. His face was a picture - 'por qué? he asked, obviously confused why we would be getting the system from the UK when they have them in Spain.

I rapidly tried to think of something that would not offend that I knew enough Spanish words to explain. I told him Neil had been a heating engineer in the UK and preferred to work with products he was familair with and that I preferred the look of english radiators (trust me, Spanish ones are not attractive) and he gave a wry smile and we moved on. Then we got on to thermostatic radiator valves, hard enough to say in English, let alone Spanish - but there was a lot of nodding and pointing and he was writing things down.

And so it went on for about half an hour and we think we have an agreement for the work he will do, what Neil will do AND the work they will do together! Now that will be a fun day!

Today has been a rest day. Neil has played golf and I have been taking gifts to my Spanish teachers to thank them for doing so well with me over the last year. It is thanks to Michelle and Amelia that I am managing to understand phone calls that tell me our chosen lights have come into stock, that the plumber is turning up and when we get the boxes home they actually contain the kitchen cabinets we want.

And I can't help but feel a little bit pleased with myself!