14th May CASTELO BRANCO

We went to see our lawyer today; she confirmed everything the estate agents had told us about the legality of us converting the building into a house – we had thought that perhaps they weren’t being completely honest as they were trying to sell it to us. She told us most of the work she needs to do, before we can complete, can be done online and she’d get back to us within 24 hours to discuss completion dates!!!

We went to look at vehicles today too; Brett is very keen on a Toyota Hilux 4x4, we were shown a ‘Trial’ which has lots of extras that we don’t need (Toyota ‘touch system’ - built in computer, Sat Nav, reversing camera etc. air conditioning, chrome - skirts, wheels and mirrors; all very flash) for a mere 29000€ (there’s a 23% tax on cars here, they are very expensive) oh yes and this one only had 3 seats, the 5 seater (basic model) cost 5000€ more (the more seats the more tax paid, I don’t really understand) – tomorrow we’re going to enquire about the basic 3 seater. We did look at used models but the 2 – 3 year olds tended to be more (because they had even more extras) and they only started dropping in price once they get to 10 years+ and as we’re not mechanics we want something reliable.

It’s still hot here; but as we’re camped under trees it’s bearable – it must have been 40°+ at the barragem, this is much more pleasant (10.00 this evening and it was down to 26°). On the plus side we’re completely up to date with our washing apart from the bedding which we’re going to do tomorrow; we can’t wait for the day when we plumb in our washing machine (actually it wouldn’t be so bad if we had a mangle, it’s the wringing out that’s hard work).