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.