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Monday 29 July 2013

NO INTERNET AGAIN (end of month!)

26th July
I'm completely deaf on my left side!!! On a pain scale of 1-10 I'm down to a 6 or 7 today (it was easily a 9.5 yesterday, very, very painful), so hopefully I'm on the mend.

Pam drove into town with us today, so she could ferry us around while our car was in the garage, which was great - usually we sit in the Mitsubishi garage reception for hours on end which is pretty boring (and hot). We were back home just after 2.00 and I went straight to bed, I didn't get up until after 5.00 - I was absolutely shattered.

I'm very happy with some of my China shop purchases today; I bought lots of ribbon and elastic for 5€. I finished my top today and I'm very pleased with it, it's rather 'see thro' but who cares?

We ran out of our free internet, this evening, until the start of next month (5 days) and I thought I'd been really good this month, I've waited, to upload my blog, until we've gone into town and I haven't downloaded any videos (I blame Brett!); so it's back to checking emails and facebook on the Kindles!

27th July
I took 7 pills first thing this morning for my various maladies (I took over 20 total yesterday); Gary is very sneering about me taking antibiotics - I wonder how he would cope with this vicious earache? I can't wait to feel well again, this is horrible; my head feels like the left side is full of insulation foam (I can't hear a thing).

Brett started rendering his back wall and he's making a very good job of it (of course he's not happy with it) It's going to look so good when it's painted. This week we're going to order the windows and doors (so that they should be ready to install on our return).

Mark came around and decanted 10L of our wine; it looks lovely and clear and he tells me it smells very pleasant too (we're going to bring some back to the UK with us).

28th July
I'm feeling really lazy, I know I'm ill but poor old Brett is doing all the work and I feel guilty. This morning he was continuing with his rendering so I steeled myself up to finish painting the gate; I got all my tools and supplies together, went outside to load them into the truck and got sent back home!!! Brett said I wasn't well enough to paint the gate and to go back inside and relax; the problem is relaxing is hard when you can't see (the gate would have looked good wouldn't it?) and hear properly - I can't read, watch a video, listen to music or do any of the other hobbies I do for pleasure.

It was very cool today (probably mid 20s) and then this afternoon it rained - real Welsh rain, and it was jolly cold rain; we had decided to go for a walk when it first started and was just spitting, but even though we didn't get very far (we turned around once it started to get heavy) we still managed to get cold and wet. The rain makes a very musical noise on the metal roof.



Once the rain had stopped I used all the standing water to wash the solar panels and Brett cleaned the truck. After the rain it was muggy for a while, then it went back to being hot, and then we had a thunder storm (lots of rumbling, we didn't see any lightening), then it rained some more (as you can tell this raining lark is a novelty here!) - next week we're back in the high 30s.

Friday 26 July 2013

HE'S A LUMBERJACK AND HE'S OK ...................................

19th July
I posted two week's worth of blogs when we went into Castelo Branco today.

We booked the truck in to get it's emissions sensor replaced; there was a letter at the Post Office, sent in April, recalling our model because there was a problem, which explains the trouble we had a few weeks ago (nothing to do with not driving it fast enough!!!).

Chris and Di texted to say they'd got their van stuck; so we went and gave them a tow (well Brett did, I just stood around and generally got in the way).

We went to P&M's, to use their secure internet, to book ferry tickets back to UK (7th Aug).

Nick is going to order the inverters today .................. flippin' heck I thought they'd been ordered days ago, I've been waiting for him to turn up with one! Ho hum more waiting.

20th July
Ok getting frustrated now - so I must be getting better! Today I resorted to taping my eye shut (which is a feat in itself - there're masses of videos on Youtube so it's not just me that finds it hard); yesterday I was irrigating it constantly (because I can't blink it dries out and then aches), wearing an eye patch and dark glasses. But having only one functioning eye makes everyday life quite a challenge as your sense of perspective is altered - I find it hard walking on uneven ground and steps are a nightmare.

Poor old Brett continued to point the walls, every so often he'd come in with a wasp sting (they nest in the walls and are vicious little buggers) and I'd have to apply vinegar, which works quite well.

Well I must be on the mend; I started making another dress, from one of Debbie's duvet covers, this afternoon!  And I went in the pool for the first time in a week.

P&M invited us over for a barbeque; Pam had made me an eye patch, the one I had been wearing I made out of cardboard and string, so she made me one out of material and elastic and it's soft and comfortable. On our way home we followed a young hare down the track, it had really long ears, long legs and a black tail; and then we saw a nightjar. When we 'googled' "nightjar" and listened to it's call we realised we heard it quite often, at night, and had assumed it was frogs!

21st July
I hate this taping my eye shut business, but it does make it feel better; I tried taping up my droopy eyebrow but Brett said I looked strange (I think I look strange with a droopy eyebrow!). I'm trying to massage my facial muscles, but I don't really know what I'm doing; if we were in the UK I would have started physiotherapy by now - last time the physiotherapist loaned me an electrical machine which I could use to stimulate the nerves on days when I didn't have sessions (initially I was having physio three times a week) so I'm a bit worried that I going to be left with permanent paralysis.

 Brett rendered the back wall of our house - it makes the building look much more solid, less like a shed and more like a house. Next week we're going to order the windows and doors (dark green), they'll come with built in mosquito nets and shutters. I'm looking forward to choosing the paint for the outside of the building; we were thinking of a yellow ochre, but we have seen a rather nice pale green we both like (on a house) so now we have to source it.

I carried on making my 'duvet' dress; I'm making this one properly, the blue one I 'threw' together (and it shows) but it's fine for around the quinta, this one I'm even facing the neck and sleeves. I worked until it got too dark to see (with one eye and no proper lighting).

22nd July
Poor old Brett, none of his jobs are simple............... today he fixed the ridging sheets to the roof; you'd think that would be straight forward wouldn't you? Inverted V shaped sheets cut out (by machine) to fit over the box profile sheets to form the ridge of the roof - the castellation shape is ever so slightly different on the roofing sheets to the cut outs on the ridge sheets, so Brett had to take them (individually) up onto the roof, measure and mark, bring them down and use his angle grinder to recut the profiles, then back onto the roof to fix down.

I finished my dress, it looks a bit plain I've got to think of a way to tart it up a bit. I'll probably add some pockets, with maybe a bit of lace on the front?

23rd July
I just want to sleep all the time, I really have to force myself to stay awake and do stuff' and I really should finish painting the gates.

Brett finished the roof and it looks brilliant.

Then he did some lumber jacking; he took down the dead tree outside our front door, it's really opened up our view (and we have wood for the winter).


Logs (obviously)
View from front door

I started making a top but I ran out of thread, so opened one of the five large new ones I bought off ebay just before we left - it just snapped, it had no strength in it what so ever; I can't use it in my machine, I can't use it for hand sewing, in fact I can't think what I can do with 15,000m of weak white cotton thread!!! I'm very frustrated because now I can't do any sewing either.

Tonight on our walk around the quinta we saw the genet again, though I'm not as excited as the last time I saw it ; I have read the Wikipedia entry for it and it eats domestic poultry - so it's probably a bit like having a pole cat on your land!




24th July
Happy Birthday Claire!!!!
So what is overlocking thread???? Apparently that's what I bought (I had an answer back from ebay) and it can't be used for normal sewing and I have 15,000m of the stuff!!! Now I have to source cotton thread on Portugal (I've got Pam looking for me this morning).

Brett carried on lumber jacking - we already have a good pile of logs for the winter.

I've had really bad ear ache for the past two days (all part of the BP I imagine), it's making me very miserable; I found some old ear spray in the bathroom drawer which states "throw away 28 days after opening" - it was opened, at least, five or six months ago, so I had a dilemma, to use or not to use ............. I used (it was really bad earache)!!! I did do a bit of 'googling' first and couldn't find any good reason not to use it.

P&M came round for dinner (Brett cooked); I haven't drunk alcohol for nearly two weeks now, I just don't fancy it (see I told you I was ill!).

25th July
Back to the doctor today as I have still have a painful ear (and a very noisy clicking sound inside my head if I touch the outside of my ear - weird); she said I had a very bad infection and has put me on strong antibiotics - hopefully the pain should subside soon, I didn't sleep at all last night.

Brett prepared the back wall ready for rendering at the weekend, when the temperature is supposed to drop a bit (26 .


Friday 19 July 2013

IT'S AGES SINCE I LAST POSTED MY BLOG ........

6th July
We haven't been able to get our generator started (we need it to run power tools now we haven't got an inverter that works properly); so we went into Castelo Branco to buy it a new spark plug, oil and petrol. On the way back we bought cherries, peaches and nectarines from a man at the side of the road, 7€ for a big box of cherries and a couple of kilo of peaches and nectarines (there were more but we ate some!).


We have temperatures of 40 + it's far too hot to work, so we spent the afternoon in the pool; we came back for dinner and then went back to the pool until it got dark (and the mosquitoes came out). Another lazy day.

7th July
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LESLEY XXX
We did the pool thing far too early last evening by the time we went to bed we were hot and sticky again; I had a very uncomfortable night with not much sleep. We sleep under a mosquito net with two fans going all night; unfortunately the fans blow the mosquito net towards us, so I spend most of the night retreating up the bed so that the mosquito net is not touching me; mosquitoes can get you through a net (if you're close enough to it) I have a bite on the sole of my foot to prove it which is extremely irritating!

When we went to collect water from the fonte today we passed a man with a donkey and cart with four goats tied to the back of the cart ambling along behind him; I got the camera ready to take a photo on our return - unfortunately we didn't see him but we did see a goatherd next to the river with a huge herd of goats.


We spent the afternoon at the pool - it's the only time I feel human! On our way home we saw a whirlwind it was taking up large clumps of straw and swirling them right up and over the trees - it was very impressive. Pam saw one the other day, between our quinta and her's; when we passed by our neighbour's quinta later that day there was a 10L (I say it was 20L but Brett made me amend it!) metal paint tin, plastic bags and pots, hay and masses of other stuff all dumped in their water tank and the road outside looked like a hay cart had passed by dropping half it's load.

We went swimming, to cool down before dinner; we ate dinner, and heated up again, .............. we went back to the pool before bedtime.

8th July
Nick is looking at the first inverter that we broke (the manufacturers have given him the go ahead), so he says we could have it back by tomorrow; he's also ordering us another inverter from another supplier (for the other building). So today we celebrated by buying ourselves a big fridge/freezer, it'll be delivered on Thursday.

It was rather horrid in the shop, the lady who was serving us was really friendly and chatty; then she tried to sell us an extended warranty - we never buy them, she tried every way to convince us we should have it - she even went to the extent of saying that these models are renowned for breaking down after two years (the life span of the guarantee that comes with the fridge), but as we continued to say "no" she got more and more sulky - she obviously gets commission from selling the warranties, it made us rather uncomfortable (but it also made Brett more determined to say "no"!).

We bought a 1000w inverter (55€) from the Chinese shop; we had hoped it would run our little fridge (about 300w) but it doesn't. We looked it up on the internet - fridges need an initial boost of 1200w to start them, never mind it's good to have a spare (it can run the pool pump once we've sourced some batteries).

Today I saw a bird that looked like a Macaw, it had blue wings and a yellow body and it was about twice the size of the azure winged magpies - they don't have Macaws in Portugal! Mark says it could have been a Roller, but they are the same size as magpies so I'm not convinced. I hope I see it again.

P&M came round for dinner and a dip in our pool, they loved it too (the pool). They took the temperature on their decking yesterday, in the shade it was 46 , that's hot; what would it have been in the sun? Apparently Portugal is experiencing a heatwave at the moment!

9th July
HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA XXX
It's still hot, and we had an uncomfortable hot and sticky night, as we didn't go for our midnight swim.

Brett spent all day building a structure in the other room - but I can't say what it is as Pam reads my blog and we want to show it to P&M when it's finished, we think they'll be impressed (photos will go on the blog once P&M have had their unveiling!).

Because Brett had been busy all day we didn't get over to the pool until after 5.00, it was lovely cooling down at last.

We went to P&M's for dinner and sat on their decking watching a big fire a few villages away from us, every so often there would be a flare as a tree caught fire (impressive and scary) - os bomberios (the firemen) were doing a good job of getting it under control.

10th July
The heatwave was supposed to be declining today - ha, it didn't feel like it this morning. My latest fad is making iced tea; unfortunately I don't have any ice (because our inverter still isn't fixed), but I get Pam to bring some whenever she's over (she has two fridges, well three if you count the travel fridge we're borrowing and would be absolutely lost without) so most of the time it's actually slightly tepid tea! Being tight (I call it being a smallholder) I make it with our used teabags so, apart from a bit of sugar and a lemon, it's free. And now I'm making iced coffee too, I've never had it but it sounds rather delicious; I looked the recipe up on the internet - soak ground coffee in cold water for eight hours, strain through butter muslin (I used kitchen towel!), fill a glass with ice cubes, 1/2 fill with the coffee concentrate, top up with milk and add sugar to taste - they also said, for extra indulgence, add condensed milk (sounds wickedly yummy!). So far all I've done is soak and strain the coffee grounds, so I have the coffee concentrate, which tastes rather bitter at the moment.

Penamacor is a lovely little town, it has a mediaeval quarter, a castle, lots of cafes/bars where you can sit out and people watch - it has a very nice atmosphere, and it's where our nearest supermarket is. We went there this morning and in the supermarket car park was a lady with three children and a truck that wouldn't start; she'd parked forward into the parking bay and the children were trying to push her, uphill, out of the space - they weren't getting anywhere fast until Brett helped them, nobody else had offered any help, we think it might be because they looked a bit like gypsies.

Brett continued with his secret project, I did lots of holding of wood and being a sounding board. The wood here is very rough sawn, every time I hold a piece I came away with lots of splinters in my hands - I kept leaving the job to get tweezers to pull them out. The wood is also very rough measured a 50 x 100 joist means 50ish x 100ish give or take a few mm or so!!!! Which makes it very hard to work with and to keep projects 'square' (very frustrating for Brett who is a perfectionist).



THIS is the end of a joist!!!
There was still no sign of our mended inverter today L and the fridge arrives tomorrow, so we're getting rather anxious and a little bit frustrated; we have all these panels topping up a huge battery bank, so lots of free energy, which we can't access properly and .......... all our food is going off - I bought some carrots Monday afternoon they didn't even last until lunch time today.

We went in the pool this evening and I was decidedly cold!!! So the heatwave is abating, it's only supposed to have been 36   today and it's going to be even lower tomorrow.

I've resorted to 'Deet' (I hate using it) for mosquito repellent and it appears to be working - I've already tried a lot of the natural ones like 'Block Magic' but I was getting bitten to smithereens still; however, for two days now I've used 'Deet' and I don't have any new bites - it makes sleeping so much easier.

11th July
And today it was only 34 , so definitely cooling down (but next week it's climbing again).

Still working on the project which is getting bigger and sturdier.

Our fridge arrived J...................... yay! Our inverter didn't L ...................... pooh!



It might seem sad but we're very, very excited about having a bigger fridge; when we lived in the farmhouse we had a BIG American style fridge which was just the right size for us. Then we moved into the Barn and our lovely fridge wouldn't fit through the door so we had to use the one we'd bought for the holiday lets, an under the counter fridge. Last year we lived in the camper, which had an even smaller fridge (we had all the problems of going off food last summer too). And now we have P&M's travel fridge (which is full of beer!!!). So this new fridge means we can store fresh food, make ice cubes, have lots of different types of cold drinks and it has three freezer drawers, so we can even make ice cream and sorbets ........... and, one of our favourite discoveries (in a Greek beach cafe), we can keep our glasses in the freezer. But first we need our inverter to run it!

We've had our pool for a week now and the water is still sparkling and clear (I can easily see my feet on the bottom), so we must be getting the balance of chemicals right; when we used it last year it had gone green and slimy within a couple of days and we never could see down to the bottom, so we're very pleased with ourselves.

Because food goes off so quickly we are trying to buy fresh food only when we will be using it that day or the day after, which is great if you want to shop daily but we don't. Tonight we had a store cupboard meal - spaghetti served with a sauce made from anchovy fillets, onions, garlic, red pepper, courgette, chillies and lemon juice (plus flavouring) topped with parmesan - was it nice? well it certainly wouldn't have won 'Master Chef'!!! Unfortunately I made enough for tomorrow too!

12th July
This morning was a real surprise, we woke up to dull overcast skies - I even had to put on a jumper!!!! It was lovely not breaking out into a sweat (sorry glow) every time I moved; the sun had burnt through the cloud by 10.00.

Today there wasn't much I could help Brett with, he was chiselling out joist joints, so I made a dress; out of one of Debbie's old duvet covers!!!

We tried another local (2-3 miles down the road) restaurant tonight; we had a couple of beers sitting outside and asked for the menu, the owner shook his head, so Brett asked what there was to eat, he said lots ....... fish, pork and beef. When we went into the restaurant we were given bread, cheese and olives, but still no menu then .............. the owner came in carrying a large plate with half a big fish on it (we still don't know what it was) saying he would cut off a slice and griddle it (Mark opted for the fish). He went away and came back with a big plate with pork steaks and a slab of beef, again he said he would griddle the meat (Brett went for the pork, Pam and I for the steak) - the meat came with chips and the fish with boiled potatoes and beans, and there was a mixed salad. After we had paid the bill (60€, not that cheap for around here but it included the beers and wine) Brett and Mark were given agua-dente (very strong spirit),Pam and I were given cherry liquor (very nice). It was a good evening out.

13th July
Pam and I went to Castelo Branco for the day; we had planned to look at fabric and other interesting things (like Black Cat shop!), but by the time we had done all the shopping we just wanted to come home!

When we came back Brett let Pam see his building project, she hadn't guessed what it was.

Mark has built a barbeque from old bricks and cement with metal cans for a chimney; we went round to test it this evening - it worked well! Another jolly evening with P&M.

14th July
We took the day off and went to Sabugal, a largish town about 30 miles from home: we drove the country route via a couple of large barragems (dams/reservoirs). We could see the route on the map and it looked like plain ordinary roads - ha! You might start on an ordinary road, then you get to a village and are taken up very narrow, twisty, turny, cobbled streets that look like they shouldn't be being driven and are definitely not leading anywhere, then you either exit the village onto a wide, straight, flat, deserted road or it could be a single lane, bendy, mud track that goes for miles up into the mountains through forests of pine trees (and these are both council maintained roads). We didn't see much in the way of traffic but we did see an awful lot of wind farms and you could park right under the windmills which are absolutely HUGE, they completely dwarf the pine trees around them (and they are tall trees).

Sabugal has a castle and museum, we arrived at about 2.00 on a Sunday and had planned on buying a picnic and eating it up at the castle, but the shops were shut for siesta (between 1.00 - 3.00) even the supermarkets. So we went to a restaurant; Brett had Bacalhau (dried salted cod) a Portuguese speciality and I had Pork with sweet chestnuts - interesting. Then we went to the castle and museum and had a walk around the town, it was all very relaxing.

15th July
Today I started a job I've been putting off for ages, painting the front gates; and now I know why I wasn't keen to start! I have never known paint dry so quickly, and this is Hammerite paint on metal, I painted one side grumbling about my finish then went to paint the other side and all the drips (that can usually be painted out) that had come through from the first side had dried hard - I had to scrap them off with a paint scrapper ........ not happy, and it will need a second coat too. So I've done one gate, and am in no hurry to do the second!

Brett carried on with the bedroom/bathroom partitions; he's getting rather frustrated as none of the wood is square and both his spirit levels read differently depending on which way you have them!

16th July
Hot and muggy today.

Brett has been working on the roof; spray foaming the eaves so he can point it tomorrow.

He also made a trolley for the generator, which he's very pleased with; usually he asks me to help him to lift it or he has to wheel it about in a wheelbarrow, so it will be very useful.

17th July
Oh woe is me .............. I've been feeling a bit 'off' for a few days, but then I got a familiar pain behind my left ear, blurred vision with light sensitivity and this morning I woke up with full blown Bell's Palsy (for the third time); we had to go to the medical centre. I had my EHIC ready, so I thought it would be easy (and free) - wrong! It took ages to register and it took two people, and it cost 40.30€ for the consultation (so what does the EHIC entitle you to?) plus 14.30€ for prescription. I was told I had to have daily vitamin B injections for 10 days and use a cream at night for my eye; I was very relieved when the pharmacist said she only had tablets not injections! Though the injections would probably have worked better. I am feeling very sorry for myself and homesick!!!!

18th July
UK has the same weather as Portugal, at last a proper summer (it's been a long time coming).

I spent the day being grumpy, feeling sorry for myself and dribbling!

Brett continued pointing around the bottom of the roof - no creepy crawlies can get in now.

19th July

I'm feeling a bit better mentally today, I'm still feeling sorry for myself though. I let Brett take a photo of my face (so I can judge recovery) and even I can see I don't look nearly as bad as last time I had it, in fact, in photos, if I'm not smiling I don't look that much worse than last week; in real life my eye isn't blinking which looks really odd, but if I move my mouth (talk, eat, smile) then it's very obvious.
Dig the 'Monica' hair! 
I'm trying really hard to smile in this photo, the muscles on the left hand side of my face just don't work.
Poor me!!!!
The worst thing is that my eye doesn't blink, so it dries out, so I have to put drops in it all the time ans wear a patch!!! (I know, I need a parrot!).

Saturday 6 July 2013

WE'RE BACK ON LINE .........

1st July
So I think I understand this free village internet lark; it's either you have limited usage or a limited number of logins and we had obviously got to our limit last month (June) because, 1st of the month, and we're back on line!!!!!! Hoorah!

We went into Castelo Branco to buy a pool ladder - have you seen the price of pool ladders? We came back with an aluminium step ladder, at half the price, which we will adapt.

We followed P&M into CB, they were buying all the fittings for an irrigation system; no more of this standing around with a hose every night, they'll be able to turn on the tap and their pump will automatically send water to a series of sprinklers - once my vegetable garden is up and running I will be very jealous.

Diane & Chris, the couple with the camper van who have bought close to us, are leaving their van at our quinta while they go back to the UK for a week. We invited them to dine with us tonight and asked P&M and Nick around too; seven is quite a squeeze for our one room living (I hadn't thought of that!) but we managed with a garden table brought in and some chairs we had stored in the other building. As it got dark it was much cooler outside so we sat out until quite late and now I'm covered in mosquito bites!

2nd July
Our main job today was finishing off PVAing the floor next door, not a nice job; but it's reduced the dust in the building considerably and it is something we need to do before tiling the floor, anyway it's done now so it's another task to tick off our list.

This evening we painted the second coat of the pool; we had bought a new roller and paint tray, it's amazing the difference having better tools made to the job and it took less time too.

Halfway through the painting there was a sudden burst of wind, a mini whirlwind (dust devil), it blew leaves and debris into the pool AND it blew all the washing off the line that wasn't pegged down (we need to buy more pegs!), including one of my bras which it blew onto the paint tin lid, so it's now black and dappled blue! And, of course, I've ruined another top (but this one I didn't like).

So now we have to stop ourselves from filling the pool too soon, eight days is an awfully long time to wait, especially in this heat! But we have 'googled' it and it says that the drying time is temperature dependant and that they opt for an average of 60, but as we're much hotter three days should be enough - really, truly William we did read that!

3rd July
We tried talking to the lady in our village Post Office about my parcel but she thinks it will be on it's way back to England by now. But she did offer to ring the number for us and find out - and as there is no telephone in the village post office she was going to do this from her own home once she had finished work, how kind is that?  

On our way back home we saw Joao and Ilda (our nearest neighbours) we stopped for a chat, we've been meaning to visit them ever since we returned; I think they were quite impressed by the improvement to our (Brett's) Portuguese.

Brett says I was looking very attractive today with a mixture of baking powder (I don't have bicarb) and lemon juice on my mosquito bites; I looked like I had chicken pox with calamine lotion on the spots - but it does help with the itching, so I don't care!

Still on the subject of my elusive parcel; I emailed the Portuguese delivery people, using Google translate and ............ apparently it's in their depot in the Algarve waiting for me to collect it (hum, rather a long way away); so, using Google translate again, I asked them to redeliver it. Their next email explained everything .... they don't deliver to post boxes as the parcel has to be signed for - so they never ever tried to deliver it!!!! I have given them my quinta address (ha, no way will anyone find me with that!), I've told them that I can meet the driver in the village to sign for it - fingers, toes and eyes crossed!!!

Brett spent the day up a ladder in the house, packing the roof where it doesn't meet it's middle support; a fiddly job but it means the roof will be safe for him to go on now to put the ridging sheets up.

Oh dear, I so wanted to fill the pool ....................... I don't know if I'll be able to last three days!!

4th July
TODAY HAS BEEN VERY EXCITING!
We've been reading up on swimming pools; it's quite a complex procedure keeping them clear. When you first fill a pool it has to be shocked with Chlorine to bring the chlorine up to an optimum level (we didn't have any of the shocking chemical so had to go into Castelo Branco to buy some); then you have to measure PH  and chlorine levels daily, and add chlorine, antialgae stuff and PH chemicals accordingly. You're also supposed to have a pump with filter to agitate the water and filter out bits but we can't have one until we have installed electricity over at the other building.

And speaking of electricity we've managed to do in another inverter; this one didn't blow up but, when we came back from Castelo Branco, our fan wouldn't work, then we tried a light - no; but the fridge (P&M's) was still working and laptops etc were charging - we called Nick and left a message, we feel really bad but we do need electricity.

Then the phone rang, it was the GLS driver - he was in the village with my parcel!!!!! I am now the very happy owner of a beautiful Ewa I Walla silk dress - it's so pretty I feel like a princess.




We decided to fill our pool - hoorah, it's been drying for two days in temperatures of close to 100F so it must be dry. The water from the well is so cool, I got in the pool while it was filling - it's the first time I've felt good for over a week.


We went to P&M's for a couple of hours to meet their English neighbours Claire and Phil.

Poor old Nick turned up around 9.00, he'll be back in the morning to try to sort us out - THEN WE WENT FOR ANOTHER SWIM!!!!!!! It really does cool your core temperature down, and should make sleeping so much more comfortable.

Today has had lots of ups and downs, but we're feeling so much better and I'm sure it's down to being cooler.

5th July
Nick can't do anything for our inverter so we just have to wait for a new one to arrive; meantime the broken one will work the fridge (we'd be lost without that!) and our small inverter from the camper van will do lamps and fans - so we'll be ok.

After Nick had gone we went to check on the pool; we hadn't meant to go in, we hadn't taken swimming clothes - but it looked so tempting ................. we just went in in our underwear and decided to have the rest of the day off. I can see not much getting done over the next few weeks!!

P&M invited us round for a barbeque, we had a lovely evening - I wore my new frock (I love it)!!! When we got home it was so hot ........ so we went skinny dipping, it worked a treat at cooling us down (I love our pool).



Monday 1 July 2013

FREE INTERNET GONE ...............

25th June
We had to sort out the car; so first thing we drove into Castelo Branco. The guy told us it was the emissions sensor, because we only did slow, short journeys; so if we drove fast (110 - 120 kilometres per hour) for 10 kilometres it would clear it - we did, and it didn't!!! And we got toll charges (from driving on the motorway) which we now have to work out how to pay!

We took the car back to the garage at 2.00 and left at 5.30 (we were so bored) - they reset the computer! They didn't physically do anything to the car at all, it was all done by a computer; but the light is off and it's driving fine.

Today was Pam's birthday so we (us, P&M and Nick) went out for a meal, at the restaurant on the way to Penamacor; we had meat on a skewer (Nick had omelette, as he's a veggie) with chips, rice and salad. Mark had made a cake, which we ate as we sang "Happy Birthday" to her in the Restaurant (even the owner joined in); it was a lovely relaxed evening.

We need to buy a torch; when Bret was cleaning his teeth (we do this outside) he heard a 'snuffling' in the undergrowth, he said whatever it was sounded quite large and it wasn't afraid of him (so it wasn't the gennet); I said it could have been a wolf! He's hoping it was a boar - whatever it was he came inside pretty quickly and shut the door!!

Unfortunately we still have no internet; Pam is going to bring her Mifi device over so we can test signal strength on our quinta.

26th June
Mmmm, warm milk on cornflakes ........ not the best start to the day!!! We miss our fridge; well we still have the fridge, but it's now warm and rather smelly and we can't find the source of the smell. I didn't have any bicarbonate of soda so I washed it out with baking powder - it's got bicarb. in it!

The last tiles (largest 1/4 of whole roof, yes I know that's not technically correct) were stripped off by 10.30 a.m. We did have one scary moment when Brett exposed a wasp's nest and about a dozen angry wasps came out - but we both survived without a sting. Our bed is now open to the elements, we'll be able to star gaze if we can't sleep.


Mmmm, warm font water ................ very thirst quenching (not!). But with temperature well into the 30s we have to keep drinking.

So the internet not working wasn't number two - that was the car and number three is .......... my brand new (well six weeks old) prescription sunglasses, I sat on them!!! I'm a bit hopeless when I take them off (to read, or use the computer etc) I just put them down where ever I am, and today I must have put them on the sofa because that's where I found them with one arm twisted at an awkward angle - I'll take them to an optician and see if I can get them fixed (bugger, bugger, bugger!).

We've seen masses of butterflies today, they're actually flying through the open roof into the house; Brett saw one about 4" across (and he doesn't exaggerate!), I didn't see it L.

Brett worked until 6.00 levelling and laying planks; he worked jolly hard today and was really tired when he finally got off the roof. As we had nothing cold to drink we went to the club for a well earned beer. P&M invited us back to theirs for dinner which was brilliant as all we had planned was courgette fritters and spicy tomato sauce, we took that with us. AND then, our fabulous friends, lent us their travel fridge - the one they used when they were travelling around Europe in their Landrover, which will work with the borrowed inverter.

Sunset

Wow, the stars were beautiful; there's no light pollution out here and it was a wonderful clear night. If we actually knew anything about stars I'm sure we would have been able to identify lots of constellations; as it was we just enjoyed the view.

27th June
MMMMMMmmmmm cold milk on cornflakes ........... a much better start to the morning. Having a fridge means that we can buy food (and drink) again and store it, not that we've noticeably gone without! The main thing we missed was cold drinks.


The last six roofing sheets went on today; already we can feel a difference in the temperature inside the building (and we're contemplating putting extra insulation between the roofing sheets and ceiling which should keep it cooler too). All the roof needs now are the ridging sheets, weather board and guttering; then Brett can render, at his leisure, and we can paint the outside - green is our colour of choice at the moment.

Inside the house is an absolute tip, dust and broken bits of concrete over every surface; but we're happy we have cold beer!!! Tomorrow we will have a HUGE clear up and while we're at it PVA the floor, which should decrease the dust and prepare for when we tile. It's all staring to come together now, I'm really looking forward to putting up the plaster board, then it will start to look like a house.

Oh yes, the other thing we have to do tomorrow is pay our toll charge (90 cents); you have to pay within five days, but it doesn't get onto the system for two or three days - so a very small window, I think that's to encourage people to have a box fitted which pays it automatically from your bank.

Pooh, still no internet and no parcel D.

Tonight we went for a walk around the quinta, locking the gates on the way; as we continued back home we saw Louis and his wife collecting hay bales (thank goodness we didn't walk back the way we'd come or we really would have locked them in!), so we walked back and unlocked the gates! We went and said "boa tarde" (good evening), she was right on the top of the cart, on top of the bales (stacked about six or so high) - and she wasn't a young lady either!

28th June
Well we had quite a good start to the day; we went into Penamacor and managed to pay the motorway toll (for some reason it had gone up to 1.32€), at the post office (still no parcel though, it's probably on its way back to the UK by now, so disappointed!) and then get my glasses fixed at the opticians (yay, I can see again) - and none of them spoke English so all communication was in Portuguese.

We went into Minipreço and bought eight sardines for dinner (three for me, five for Brett); the guy weighed them out, printed off the price ticket, then added an extra sardine saying (in Portuguese) that it was for Brett (they're so friendly here and they really seem to appreciate us having a go at the language).

We went to Aguas to get water from the fonte (we have to do this two or three times a week, it's an enjoyable task); we met Nick at the water hole - he lives in Aguas.

Everyone uses the fonte

We still have no free village internet, but then we remembered our Kindles ......... so we're back to accessing our emails very, very slowly and facebook even slower - but it was worth the wait - there was a message from Debbie and David saying they've booked their flights to visit us!!!!! Our first visitors, so exciting , I can't wait; but I'm going to have to as they're not coming until October ......... I am so looking forward to it I'm smiling as I type my blog!

Brett strimmered this morning, while I tidied and cleaned up all the rubble and dust in the house (i.e. our side of the building); then after lunch we PVA'd 3/4 of the floor (the rest had furniture piled up on it), and it really seems to have worked well, no clouds of dust when you sweep the floor (there goes another excuse!).

We finished emptying, and cleaned, the pool this afternoon; now we have to let it dry thoroughly, next it gets painted with the special pool paint (two coats), and then filled with clean, cool, well water.

Louis and his wife came back, to collect more hay, while we were emptying the pool; he said we have "muito bom" (very good) water in our wells, it's fed from the same source as the public fonte which was built by the clerics - hence the name of our quinta 'Fonte dos Clerigos'.

Tonight I watched 'Black Swan' on my computer; it was a bit dark, brooding and sexy (the worst bit was when she peeled the skin off her hang nail - it's still making me wince!) but it held my attention to the end and now I want to be a ballerina!

29th June
We finished PVAing the house, our surroundings are far more salubrious now! Then we went and wire brushed the pool, to get off all the algae and rubbish - and now we have to wait before we can paint it - it appears to be bone dry to me!!! We read the paint tin again, just to check we had to wait 48 hours, yes it says a minimum of 48 hours ......... but then we read "once painted leave for eight days before filling with water"!!!!! Do they really believe anyone can wait eight days with a pool enticing them to fill it and jump in - especially with temperatures in the high 30s? It also said don't apply in temperatures above 30 and not to apply in full sunlight - so we're going to ignore both of those too!

Brett was back to strimmering and I was clearing rubble and dust (the other side of the building) this afternoon.

Pam and Mark invited us round for drinks and, of course, we stayed for dinner - but best of all I got to go in their pool (fully clothed, as I hadn't taken swimwear)!!!! It was fabulous, it cools you down really well, and clothing dries quite rapidly - I can't wait until our one is operational.

When we arrived home there was a big bag of alface (lettuce) outside the door - we're presuming from Louis as he had obviously been collecting bales while we were out; so we'll be having lettuce soup again!

30th June
Today we got rid of our little red Fiesta, we sold it to Josh & Jamie; it's been a very reliable vehicle for the nine years we've owned it, passing every single MOT without fail - I was sad to see it go (but we don't need two vehicles here).

We continued clearing dust and rubble from the second side of the building and PVA'd half the floor.

We left it until nearly 6.00 before we started painting our pool; it was a horrible job! We had two rollers which were both crap in different ways; the first one wouldn't stay on it's spindle (the clip wasn't tight enough) so we got our hands covered in paint every time it had to be put back on and the second roller was too big for the paint tray. Ants and grapes were constantly falling into the pool, and had to be removed; one coat took us an hour and a half to complete. And I managed to ruin one of my new tops, it's now covered in bright blue drops of paint (so I'm not happy). Tomorrow we will apply the second coat, we just hope it goes more smoothly than today.



And to make matters worse we've completely run out of cold drinks and are reduced to drinking warm fonte water!  And then when we took our evening walk there were swarms of flying ants, they were so bad I had to pull the back of my dress over my head - not a good look Brett informed me!