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Sunday 28 October 2012

27th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Hoorah the gates are hung; and the posts have been filled with 6½ mixes of concrete; which Brett had to mix by hand, in a wheelbarrow with an enchada (the wonder tool), he said it was much easier than mixing it with a shovel. We spent ages with bits of string dangling down the centre of the posts trying to position and attach bits of metal to the hinges (to set in the concrete thus increasing the strength of the posts and hinges).

Our entrance looks very grand now; unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to paint the gates before we leave as more rain is forecast for much of next week.

Tonight we watched a harrowing film ‘Emotional Arithmetic’ about the meeting up, after about forty years, of three of the survivors from a holding camp, near Paris, from which Jews were shipped off to concentration camps during WW11; it wasn’t a very cheerful film, but it was very well acted (Susan Sarandon, Christopher Plummer, Gabriel Burn).

26th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY Lawrence!!

Wow what a horrendous night; we had torrential rain, at least 2” in eight hours. Brett is now busily working out where he’s got to dig ditches. The studio/gym shed has leaked but we’re not too worried as it has still got to be rendered on the outside and the ditch Brett dug will be concreted; the bedroom shed seems to be completely dry and the kitchen only has a little seepage along the back wall, which again can be fixed.

We didn’t get a lot done this morning, as it was still raining; but this afternoon there was blue sky so we decided to hang our gates. It took quite a while to transport everything, tools, generator, gates etc. We got one hole drilled out for a hinge and the heavens opened and we got absolutely drenched and that was the end of that little venture. It continued to rain for the rest of the day and we are starting to get ‘stir crazy’ being in the camper continuously.

But on a good note our wells are filling up pretty rapidly!
And so is the river, which was completely dry a couple of weeks ago!

 

25th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS



We were up before the crack of dawn to meet Mark in Fundao; first stop was to go and look at the windows and doors he’s having made (we’ll be having ours made by the same people when we come back). We had originally decided on green windows and doors (there’s a very limited palette available) however Mark has had some burgundy ones made up and they are really rather nice, so we might be having a bit of having a rethink – we’d just need to choose another colour to the yellow ochre we had thought of for the house, which is quite traditional in this area.

Then we picked up (well Mark did in his big truck) our kitchen beam; it’s very chunky 240cms x 160cms x 7m, and is going to look great with lots of stuff hanging from it (hams, pots, washing!!!! etc).

This afternoon it poured and poured; we didn’t want to leave the camper, it was very miserable outside which makes us look forward to coming back to the UK more.

24th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


An absolute nightmare of a Portuguese class today; Pastor Allen had written some sentences, with gaps in, up on the board and then proceeded to conduct the whole class in Portuguese; people were chiming in with answers and he would occasionally write these up in the spaces. I had absolutely no idea what was happening and, according to Brett, he nearly walked out! It definitely wasn’t a class that was appropriate to people who have had a mere twelve hours of tuition – I think he forgets that this is supposed to be a beginner’s class. We take a bit of the blame on ourselves as we have been less than diligent between classes; in fact we only look at our work if we have homework. So we have made a resolution; when we are back living in the Barn we will have a language lesson (probably 10.00-11.00) everyday; we have several books and CDs, so hopefully we won’t fall behind the rest of our group.

I couldn’t get blood, fish and bone meal, I don’t think they have it; there are lots of proprietary brands of fertilizers and feeds on the shelves but not the basic ingredients to mix yourself – so I’m doing without! We have lots of compost from the chicken and donkey sheds, I’ll use that.

We’ve booked our ferry back to the UK, Santander to Portsmouth, on 10th November which means we leave here two weeks tomorrow, how exciting. We now have lots to do to organise ourselves before we go.

How frustrating, I’ve been reading a James Patterson book on the Kindle and I’d got to 86% of the way through it; the lead detective’s suspected murderer had been killed, she was being congratulated on a ‘job well done’, when she discovered the dead guy didn’t have a tattoo so couldn’t be the murderer and .................. the Kindle changed to a completely different book (about baseball) for the concluding 14% - so I’ll never know if her father was the murderer or just a ‘red herring’. And I can’t complain to Amazon as it was an illegal copy of the book!!!

23rd October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Today Brett finished rendering the studio/gym which means that we now have somewhere to camp out when we come back, while we get the house habitable. Our solar should have arrived by then too, we should be able to put together a basic system so we can have a few lights and perhaps a couple of other electric luxuries (fridge, gadget (mobiles and computers) charger etc).

I dug holes for the fruit trees we bought yesterday; I didn’t plant them as I want to get some blood, fish and bone meal to mix in with the soil, hopefully I’ll get some tomorrow.

And I did some weeding in the vegetable garden; since the rain the vegetables have all shot up, but unfortunately the weeds have too!!! It all looks very green and lush.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

22nd October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


We went into Fundao and paid for the beam for our kitchen (215); Mark (and Glenn)’s going to pick it up for us on Thursday.

Then we went to the market to buy some fruit trees; we bought three cherries (black, red and white varieties- 5 each), two lemons (20 each, we were extravagant we went for the more mature, three years old, more expensive trees as we want fruit asap) and a lime (10, there wasn’t a choice) and because we’d spent some much money the lady on the stall threw in and apple tree. We want to get lots more fruit trees but we’ll see how these ones survive first (especially as we won’t be around to give them any TLC). I’m very excited about having my own lemon and lime trees. While we were at the market I bought some broccoli plugs which I planted in the troughs that I created the other day – it looks just like a proper Portuguese vegetable garden!
We propped our gates up to check the height of the posts - I think they look fantastic
We watched ‘Witness’ with Harrison Ford; it was quite nice as he was hiding out with the Amish, their lifestyle is very similar to ours no electricity, television, phone, washing machine etc.

21st October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


We were reminded that it was Sunday as we were woken to the sound of gunfire at 6.45 (it was still dark!); the bloody hunters were back.

Brett did three mixes of rendering; he’s only got another day down the gym/studio.

I started tidying up outside in preparation for returning to the UK.

We watched ‘The Artist’, a modern black and white, silent movie; it was an easy film to watch -I liked the dog!

20th Oct FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Brett went off to dig his ditch around the gym/studio as more rain is forecast next week; and, as the sun was out, I did the washing.

Washing clothes by hand is not much fun anymore! I have to wash them in the van with hot soapy water; then take them down to the water tank, where we have filled a barrel with clean (jolly cold) water, which has to be decanted into another vessel, bucket by bucket, for rinsing the clothes in. It took me an hour and a half to do the washing, and it was only one line full.

On Wednesday we’re going to book our ferry crossing back to the UK; hopefully for the first week in November, so we’ll be rather busy for the next week or two organising our move.
Our new cooker

19th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Our sixth Portuguese lesson; and I did have to read a sentence out loud in class! But it wasn’t as bad as all that, and I was no worse than anyone else.

Before we went home we went to pick up our new cooker (‘Rayburn’ type); it was put into the back of our truck by a fork lift truck – it’s jolly heavy. Mark (& Pam), Matt (workawayers) and Gary came to help us lift it off the back of the truck; it all went very smoothly and much easier than I thought it would and I love my new cooker!!!! I can’t wait to have a proper kitchen to put it in.

It didn’t rain today; but it was very cold this evening, we put an extra blanket on the bed.
Weird cloud foundation tonight!

Friday 19 October 2012

18th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


It rained all night and continued to rain all day. Poor old Brett had to force himself to go over to the damp, dark gym/studio to carry on with his rendering. By lunchtime he had finished the studio; so he’s only got the high part of the gym left to do.

I stayed behind in the camper to do my Portuguese homework; we have to learn five new verbs and ten new nouns and then put them into sentences. I made mine pertinent to me by looking up all the verbs relating to gardening - cultivar (to grow), colher (to pick), plantar (to plant), semear (to sow) and regar (to water); the nouns I chose were also gardening related – mangericรฃo (basil), salsa (parsley), tomilho (thyme), hortelรฃ (mint), erva (herb), culinรกria (culinary), medicinal (medicinal – obviously!) fava (broad beans, as in ‘Silence of the Lambs’), ervilha (pea) and semente (seed). Unfortunately I have no idea whether these verbs are regular or irregular so I’m just guessing at how to conjugate them (a few weeks ago I didn’t even know what conjugate meant, so I’m actually learning English too). And I really, really, hope I don’t have to read any of my sentences out loud, at class tomorrow, as I find the pronunciation so hard – but of course that’s how you learn. I have to force myself not to let Brett do all the talking when we go into shops; he’s really getting the hang of the language.

17th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Happy Birthday Dee!!! XXX

It rained nonstop today; it was proper heavy rain, like we get in Wales! And this is forecast for the next ten days minimum – I can’t see us being here for much longer, it’s not much fun living in a campervan in the rain.

Brett was back to rendering the gym/studio today, he’s determined to have it finished before we return to the UK.

I pottered in the camper; washing up from last night, cooking lunch (French onion soup) and attempting my Portuguese homework.

I walked down to the gym/studio, to take Brett a flask of tea, and got soaked even though I had an umbrella and wore a cagoule – it was very heavy rain!

When he came back from the gym/studio he wasn’t very happy as water is leaking into the building at ground level, so he’s now got to dig a ditch around it before we go too. There’s all this work that he’s having to do as I’m not physically able to do it; the rendering because I’ve never done it before but he has rendered and plastered two buildings back in Wales, so he’s good at it, and the ditch digging is with a pickaxe into rock which I just haven’t got the strength and stamina for – so I’m feeling a bit useless at the moment; especially as I can’t even garden as the ground is to wet and claggy.

Tonight we went to Pam and Mark’s for dinner; they have moved into their middle room. They have tiled the floor, put plaster board on the walls and insulation on the ceiling so it looks like a house rather than a shed. And they have a wood burning stove and a lovely rag rug (which I helped to choose)!!!!! It was so snug and cosy with the fire lit and candle light and it was so relaxing listening to the rain outside while we were warm and comfortable inside – I’m so jealous, but we will have a home like that next year.

 

 

16th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Happy Birthday Malc!!! XXX

Brett didn’t need any help constructing the gate posts, occasionally he would come and get me to help him measure, but apart from that it was a one man job. So as Pam and Mark were coming to dinner I spent the day cooking.

I thought I had devised a simple menu: Mixed olives with sweet pickled garlic and lemon for nibbles (made up recipe, but it was rather tasty), Pesto tagliatelle with salad, and quince fool. I started with the quince fool (one of the recipes Joyce sent me in her letter); it seemed straight forward quarter and core quinces, steam until soft, sieve, add sugar to warm pulp when cold fold in cream. It was the sieving part that took so long, I’m used to using my food processor for everything, and it made my arms ache! I didn’t know what to expect of the quinces as I had never eaten them; they were a nice surprise, their flavour is very like apple while their texture is more like pear – they would work in a crumble and for making chutney, so next year I’ll do lots of experimenting.

Then it was onto the pesto; I have so much basil, growing in the garden and in pots, which is why I chose to make it; but once again I would usually use my food processor – it took me two hours to chop all the pine nuts and basil!!! I could have used a pestle and mortar but the one I have in the van only holds about ¼ pint. It made me realise how much I rely on modern appliances and electricity.

We had a nice relaxed evening entertaining our friends in our living room (shed!).

Rain is forecast from tomorrow for the next ten days – that’s as far as the forecast goes. We’ve started to look at ferry crossing to return to the UK; it’s getting quite cold now and daylight is getting shorter and we both feel we’re ready to come back for a while.

15th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


After all the hard work he’s been doing Brett needed a day off today so we had a trip into Castelo Branco. I went into the Post Office and asked (in Portuguese) for five stamps for England (I had worked out exactly what I was going to say, and practised it so that I was word perfect); the woman behind the counter had turned away and was reaching for the stamps before I had uttered the first couple of words – but at least I got five stamps for England, so I got that right!

The ready mixed emulsion paint in the stores here is in vile colours; very bright, loud, pinks, green and yellows, not shades or tones that Brett and I would chose for our house. However today we came across a paint shop where they mix paints (like in B&Q) and they had just the colours we wanted for a price, between 60-90€ for 15L, but I’m happy that we don’t have to compromise on colour otherwise we would have probably gone with white.

While we were in the paint shop we looked at ‘Hammerite’ paint for our gate; it was on special offer reduced from 28€ to 15€ so we bought the traditional green colour. Hopefully I’ll be able to paint the gate soon; we’re going to start the gate posts tomorrow.

 

Monday 15 October 2012

14th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


We were woken up about 7.00 (it wasn’t even properly light) by gunshot – hunters; we couldn’t tell exactly where they were until about 9.30 when I saw men with guns and dogs walking a couple of metres from the camper van (there were about a dozen men in all walking around our quinta)!!!! In Portugal hunters have an automatic right to hunt on your land unless you have notices up, all around the property (as they can approach your land from any boundary not just the entrance), which state they need your permission to hunt (like we have, but they’re are old and faded) though most of the time they just ignore them or, when challenged, say they didn’t see them; so you have to have high (over 4’) boundary fences which deters them a bit. We’ll make sure we’re well fenced next year once we have animals, and register that we don’t want hunting on our land. One of the most annoying things about the hunters is that they just throw their spent cartridges down on the ground and the land gets littered with bits of green and blue plastic which we have to collect up.

So today it was back to concrete mixing for the foundations for our gate posts; we did seventeen mixes today. All the time we were doing it we could hear the hunters shooting in the quintas around us, it was rather unnerving.

We watched the ‘A Team’ tonight; it wasn’t the same as the series we watched when I was younger – I’m sure there was never any killing in it and it wasn’t so frenzied.

13th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Today has been a good day!! The wine is absolutely fine, with not a hint of vinegar; as it’s still young it obviously isn’t ready to drink but we had a taste test and it’s quite fruity and already dry, but there’s none of the harsh tannin taste that I associate with red wine (it’s quite a light red, but darker than a rosรฉ). We now have around 135L wine; we had about 15L of sediment (bottom) and scum (top), but the wine itself looks quite clear.

Pam showed me how to dig the troughs in the vegetable garden with the enchada; so this afternoon I had another bash at creating some and I have to say they were much better than my first effort, I will crack it, the idea is that you flood water into the trough and it penetrates the soil, rather than sprinkling it on the surface and then having it evaporate away.

We’re constructing our gate posts tomorrow so Brett spent the afternoon digging the foundations for them; he had to dig an 18” x 18” trench the width of the gates (10’) plus two gate posts, hard work as the track is very compacted.

I’ve been reading my “Growing Healthy Vegetables in Spain” book and to give it it’s due there is some useful information on planting dates; for instance peas and mangetout are planted late autumn/early winter (rather than spring) – so I shall get some in before we come back to the UK. And another thing I’ve learnt from it is that you don’t water watermelons at all and don’t need to water melons much – which is not what I would have expected, I quote (this is about melons) “If there is no rain, water moderately every two weeks while the plant is growing. The less watering the sweeter and better keeping the fruit.”;  so that’s all good news.

12th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS

Brett was off early this morning, with Mark and Matt (workawayer), to go and load the lorry with the telegraph poles we’re buying. It was jolly hard work and the lorry could only carry 21 poles which was fine until the driver wanted paying; we’d been quoted between 50-60, he wanted 150 (slightly more, well two and a half times more). But he did manage to drive all the way to Pam and Mark’s which was brilliant as we had thought that he would dump them at the start of their track (unfortunately he also managed to nudge one of their gate posts, which now needs rebuilding).

I spent the morning with Pam and Angie (workawayer); first of all I was down on my hands and knees sponging grout off the floor tiles in their middle room, it’s getting very comfortable in there now – I’m jealous! Then we went to explore the Termas and it was open; we conducted a conversation in French (Pam) and Portuguese (receptionist) and concluded that it wasn’t a luxury Spa where we could go to get pampered but a Spa for medical treatment. It was full of (sick) old people and apparently you had to make an appointment to consult with the doctor before you could have any treatment.

We went into the Post Office to check for mail and I had a letter from Joyce; it was so nice to receive it; I wish more people would write to me! Joyce sent me some recipes for all the quinces we have so next time Pam and Mark come over I’m going to make some Quince Fool; it should be interesting, I’ve never eaten quince before.

The broad beans, garlic and onions have started to germinate; hopefully, as grass and wild plants are starting to grow now, the rabbits won’t be as destructive as they have been through the summer when the only lush growth is in my vegetable garden.

Tomorrow Pam and Mark are coming over and we’re racking off the wine; I do hope it isn’t vinegary!!!

11th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


It was very cold and overcast this morning I put on tons of layers which I had to strip off as it warmed up and I started dripping!!!

Brett continued to render the kitchen whilst I weeded in the vegetable garden.

It rained this afternoon, which meant we didn’t have to water the garden.

Pam texted to say my gardening book “Growing Healthy Vegetables in Spain” had arrived; so we went straight over to pick it up. I’m so disappointed; it’s more or less a beginner’s guide to growing vegetables with a couple of pages that are relevant to growing vegetables in Spain AND it obviously hadn’t been proof read I’ve found so many errors in it – perhaps when I’ve been here a few years and learnt how to garden in this climate I’ll write a book for vegetable gardening in Central Portugal aimed at expats who already know the basics of gardening.

10th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Our fifth Portuguese lesson and the hardest one yet, obviously: I’m actually convinced that we’re attending an intensive course and not a beginner’s!

After class we helped Pam and Mark buy rugs and throws from my favourite shop in Castelo Branco ‘A Loja de Gato Preto’ (The shop of the black cat); I’m actually quite good at helping someone else spend their money, especially as they have such lovely things in there.

Then we went to look for a ‘Rayburn’ type cooker; all the shops seem to have them in at the moment but they are mostly rather tinny, flimsy and poorly made. Last week we saw a couple we rather liked in Bricomarche but they had both been reserved; Pam said there were some in Agriloga so we went to look and were quite taken with one that cost 1500 (which is a really good price, but we didn’t really want to spend that much). We went to Bricomarche, and the ones we had liked were gone but this assistant came up to us and said (in Portuguese) that they would be having one or two delivered in the next couple of days so if we wanted to pay for it we could reserve one (how did he know? I think he got us mixed up with Pam and Mark as they had enquired when new ones were coming in – we don’t look alike but we’re often seen together) – anyway we did, 599€ (approx. £480) and a saving of 900€ on the one we had been contemplating (that was decisive, no mulling it over, we just went for it!) and I’m so excited.

We went to Mark and Glenn’s to pick up some scaffold tower, so Brett can render the top of the walls; we stayed for dinner.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

9th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


It was jolly hot in the night and we didn’t sleep well; at the moment there are these tiny gnats type insects that can get through the mosquito netting and they spent all night irritating us and keeping us awake too.

I took the bottles off the radish seeds to water them this morning and they are already through – 3½ days, the bottles worked a treat (now they’ll get chewed off overnight by the rabbits!).

Brett continued rendering the kitchen and, as I was so bored, I cleaned the camper; it really is physical labour when you haven’t got modern tools like vacuum cleaners etc, I had to beat the carpets before I brushed them and I was down on my hands and knees washing the floor – it was sweaty work!!

Pam texted to say they were going to ‘Moviflor’ (a bit like Ikea) this afternoon, to shop for a sofa bed and quilts, and did we want to come too. We did and we watched in awe as Pam bought a sofa bed, within minutes of entering the shop, followed by duck feather quilts and throws – she was so quick and decisive, not like me I “hum” and “ha” wondering if I can get it better/cheaper elsewhere.

8th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


When I go to bed, if I don’t sleep, it’s often because I spend the night with problems going round and round in my head; last night was such a night, I was trying to think of ways to keep the rabbits off my vegetable garden. By this morning I was convinced I had come up with a solution; suckers grow around the base of the olive trees which need to be pruned, I could weave these suckers making low fences around the vegetable beds and the rabbits wouldn’t be able to cross them – rabbits can’t jump very high, at the farmers markets they are just put in cardboard boxes without lids, they never seem to escape. In my head it all looked very ornate and neat – I was so excited! In reality it looked a mess; the suckers have branches all the way along them (and they were really hard to prune with my secateurs) and when I wove a trial hurdle it wasn’t tight and compact, a rabbit could just push its way through it – so that was a couple of hours wasted! We’re going to look at chicken wire/pea netting next time we’re in town.

Brett started rendering the kitchen; he moaned a lot because the walls weren’t very flat (someone appears to have haphazardly thrown render at it at some point!), but he still managed to make a very good job of it.

I’m feeling rather dejected at the moment; Brett is all fulfilled doing his rendering, which is going really well, and all I’ve got to do is the garden, today I planted out seedlings (oregano, sage, thyme) to start a herb bed, which I enjoyed but I know it’s pointless as the rabbits are going to destroy everything as it grows. Brett said I could help him by preparing the walls before he rendered, chipping off the bits of mortar that are sticking out – yeh, thanks that would really give me a sense of purpose!!!!

I was in bed by 9.15; oh yes, and it’s gone really hot again (36°C)!

7th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


We, along with Pam & Mark, went to visit Nick to see his solar set up, water tower, bore hole i.e. all the stuff we might be doing in the future. We’ve now ordered our batteries, charge controllers and one of our inverters (we’re going to try this one out on my kiln before we purchase a bigger more expensive one, Nick seems to think this will do the job). The solar system all seems pretty straight forward – well Brett seemed to understand it all.

This afternoon we went for a long walk down the track past Joao & Ilda’s; we crossed a ford with 4½ft high (in the middle) stepping stones, to cross a river which is dry at the moment, but we walked up the river bed for a bit and found some water with fish trapped in it. Brett held my hand while I crossed the ‘river’ via the stepping stones; considering most Portuguese are quite short the stones were rather far apart (I wouldn’t have liked to try it without Brett’s assistance, it was even quite scary with it!).
Stepping stones viewed from track
Viewed from the 'river bed'

When we came back we continued to construct our wall and then I sowed 154 broad beans – thank you for the seeds Pam! They should be growing whilst we are back in the UK (hopefully there will be some rain here!!).

Tonight we went for a walk around our land and a snake wrapped itself around my foot, twice (Brett says I trod on it, but I don’t think I did) – I squealed quite a bit!!!! It was too dark to see the snake properly, Brett went back with a torch but it was long gone.

6th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Today we went to the new supermarket at Penemacor; Brett wasn’t as impressed and me and Pam (until he found the cheap beer, 99 cents a litre, about 80p!!).

As we have now purchased our gates we spent the day shifting stones (well Brett shifted and I advised!); to make the approach to the quinta more appealing we’re constructing a bit of a stone wall, it’s looking rather impressive (it’s a ‘work in progress’).

We watched ‘Clash of the Titans’ tonight – it was quite entertaining, if you like computer generated monsters!

5th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Brett continued to render the gym/studio and, as I’m writing this blog in retrospect, I can’t remember what I did!! I know I sowed a half row of radish (which are covered with 2L plastic bottles, cut lengthways, to deter the ants)
It doesn't look pretty but it could help!
 
and a long row of carrots (which aren’t protected as just the short row of radish used 14 bottles);  I picked a large bunch of carrots,
Straight carrots
French beans and courgettes (I had started making courgette fritters for dinner); then we got a text from Pam & Mark “Pizza tonight?”, so of course we went there (we took the courgette fritters with us as a starter).

4th October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


 Brett continued rendering the gym/studio while I did some gardening. I tried to use the enchada (hoe thingy) to dig troughs to plant into – I was absolute rubbish at it. Manuel (Pam and Mark’s seller) can prepare a large area for them, to plant cabbages and lettuce in, in minutes – I want to go and watch him next time he’s working in their garden. So I ended up planting onto a flat bed; about 115 cooking onions, 90 red onions, 60-70 white onions, 24 shallots (I bought 2 bags but lots were rotten, I’m going to take them back), 60 garlic cloves and 20 lettuce, which are wearing plastic collars to, hopefully, deter the rabbits.

 
My next job will be potatoes and broad beans – the seasons here are so different to Wales.

3rd October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Our 4th language lesson and it was hard!!!!! We learnt er and ir verbs, irregular verbs and reflective verbs – which I don’t understand at all. For a beginner’s course it’s progressing really fast – far too fast for me; Pam has ordered a language course from Amazon, Michelle Thomas, she said she learnt Spanish really well using it – unfortunately her parcel was sent to Germany, so she hasn’t received it yet.

We bought our gates; only 199 (about £160), they’re 10’ wide (2 x 5’) and 6’ high. We’re really pleased with them.

Brett dug over a large area of the vegetable garden with an enchada (the hoe they use around here for everything, he’s actually using one to mix his render) so that I can plant onion sets, shallots and garlic.

2nd October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Brett continued rendering the gym while I cooked.

Today was one of the workawayers’ birthday so Pam gave him a surprise party; I made some savoury tartlets and she made a chocolate cake and we all sat around drinking beer in the afternoon sunshine.

1st October FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


Girl’s day out: Today Pam and I had a trip into Castelo Branco; ostensibly to buy a wheelbarrow, find some tiles for their bathroom and measure wood for the platforms for their tepees – but we still managed to do some girlie stuff! We tried on and bought some clothes – I bought socks; Pam did a lot better than me (skirt, tops, socks and necklace), I was egging her on – I’m good at helping other people spend money! We had lunch out and did a supermarket shop; we were shattered by the time we got home, but it was a good day.

Brett started rendering the studio; I knew he’s done a good job as he wanted to take me down to see his work when I got home – it’s brilliant it makes the building seem so much less like a shed now.

Tonight Pam and Mark came to supper in our sitting room; it was very cosy and quite pretty with lots of candles for lighting.

30th September FONTE DOS CLERIGOS


It doesn’t get light until gone 7.00 nowadays and it definitely feels autumnal; we’re starting to think it’s time to return to the UK, we just want to render the inside of the studio/gym first. So this morning we went into Castelo Branco to get ‘render mix’, stuff you put in to render to make it waterproof. While we were in Bricomarche we noticed the gates we look at last month for 250 are on special offer for the next fortnight at only 199, fantastic!

Although it’s cool in the mornings it still gets quite warm in the daytime; we went for a drink, and sat outside in the sunshine at the club, with Pam and Mark and their workawayers this evening.

29th September FONTE DOS CLEROGOS

Today Pam and I went to explore the Termas (Thermal Spa) at Aguas; first of all we went to Penamacour to check her post box – unfortunately the Post Office was shut as it was Saturday. But while we were there we found out that the new supermarche, Minipreรงo, was open; what excitement, we’ve had to travel to Castelo Branco or Fundao for supplies now there’s a supermarket just down the road! While we were there Pam saw this woman who she said looked English so she says “Hi” to her, the woman just smiled, I cracked up – you had to be there it was quite funny at the time.

We went to the Termas; it was also shut! There was a notice on the door which we translated as saying it was open every second Saturday, but Pam took a photo of the notice too so we could check.

Meantime Brett continued to fill the holes inside the gym/studio.

This afternoon we decided to go for a walk and explore; we were going to investigate the path that goes  past Joao and Ilda’s but there were people in their garden and as we didn’t want to get into conversation with them (perhaps when our Portuguese has improved) we went the other way but, low and behold, Mr Luis was at his son’s house, so we had to turn around again, so not much of a walk then.