My last day in UK, back to Portugal tomorrow.
Poor old Will was ill all night and all today (so I didn't get to spend much time with him).
I had fun with Alexandra and Lawrence, when they came home, making a cardboard house and car for 'Mary the tooth fairy' (she writes letters to Alexandra).
Ok so I topped up by £20 (which included a 40 minute bundle to phone Brett) on Wednesday evening (when I arrived six days ago), I had used all that credit by this morning (as soon as my 40 minute bundle went I was paying £1 per minute to call Brett!). I topped up by another £20 (again with a 40 minute bundle), I phone Brett this evening and was cut off after 7 minutes (exactly) and now have no credit ..... Not even enough to phone Orange to complain (costs 25p) and they don't have a 'contact us' email address - I am totally fed up.
14th September
Will drove me to Collumpton, about 1/2 an hour from him, near to where Pam has been staying all week (!), so that Pam could drive us to the airport (it seemed a waste of Will's time to take me).
And then we nearly missed our plane!!!!!! We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, did a little shopping (we both bought new phones - they're unlocked and take two Sim cards at the same time). I topped up and phoned Orange - they were having problems yesterday, I was compensated with the £20 top up (from yesterday), including the 40 minute bundle! So I phoned Brett (to try to use it up), then Pam phoned Mark, then we went for a coffee, then there was an announcement "this is the last call for the Bristol to Lisbon flight" ............ then we had to RUN with our bags to the boarding gate, it seemed like we'd been 'running' (fast waddling walk more like) for miles when we passed a sign '3 minutes to gate 11' - panic, we waddled faster ....... obviously we made it!
Our hostel was interesting, we had bunk beds - I bagsied the bottom (using my 'age card').
We had a relaxing evening, went out for a meal, bought a bottle of Lambrusco and sat, drinking, on the hotel terrace before taking showers.
15th September
6.00 alarm
7.00 taxi
7.10 arrive at station
8.23 train
We weren't going to miss this one! But we did nearly forget to get off (we were so busy talking), the train stopped, I said "isn't this our stop?", we had to scrabble all our belongings together ......
HOME, it's good to be home! But I am so tired, all I've done for two days was sit, but I'm shattered.
16th September
Life on the quinta resumed (last week seems like a dream already). I picked THREE BUCKETS of ripe tomatoes and a bucket of apples.
Started processing tomatoes (passata); clean,chop out core, throw in food processor, strain off tomato water (save for drinking/cooking with), boil and simmer, pass through Mouli sieve (to remove skins and seeds), simmer until pulpy, bottle, water bathe for 30 minutes - done! 10lbs of tomates only fills ONE 2L jar.
Made a double batch of chocolate fridge cake as we're invited to Diane's daughter's wedding tomorrow.
It's cooler 30C, much easier on us AND the solar is working, fully charged by lunch time - thus suggesting/confirming(?) that heat was the culprit for our poor summer solar.
17th September
Made a card, unpacked my glass, invited Christine for lunch on Wednesday (to discuss my FIRST COMMISSION!) - must tidy up studio!
2nd wedding this month: apart from Thomas & Diane we only knew Pam & Mark, which isn't good as neither of us are good at approaching strangers. The bride looked radiant, the ceremony was relaxed, an actor friend was officiating (like Joey), the bride whipped out her phone in the middle of the ceremony???? She had her vows written on it - so modern!
Unfortunately food hadn't been served before we had to leave, to put animals away; we intended to return but, when Pam replied to our text ("is there any food left if we come back?) the speeches had started, so we cooked and relaxed at home.
18th September
Continuing processing tomatoes, today I skinned them first 17lbs took me all morning!!!! Note to self: next year grow round tomatoes for bottling as Costoluto Genovese tomatoes are hard to skin as the skins tuck into the creases!
19th September
More tomato processing; this time salad and tomato sauce.
Oh dear, our tenants have given us a month's notice; a shame as they were good and reliable.
It also means we have to stick to a stricter budget; initially that might be fun, but I'm sure it will pall if we don't get new tenants soon.
Pam & Mark put their quinta up for sale in August (200,000€, they bought at the same time as us for less than us), they've actually had a few viewers. I don’t want them to leave (but at that price I'm not really worried).
20th September
I helped Brett get the roofing sheets up on the roof of his pole barn - I'm going to ache tomorrow.
21st September
Happy Birthday Helen XXX
The morning was spent cleaning and cooking.
I have a definite commission for six panels (transom lights/fanlights above two doors).
22nd September
Into CB to get food as mini-P has shut down for 3 weeks for refurbishing.
We found the craft shop that Karina told me about. I bought some (hobby) glass paint to experiment with until my kiln is working - when I got home I realised I'd bought the wrong stuff, so will have to go back and change it!
I spent the afternoon in the studio practicing glass cutting.
Daft dogs relaxing!!!
23rd September
I'm making a Nautilus shell roundel (I'm doing my version of something I saw on the internet) I cut all the glass today and masked off the centre for sandblasting.
I made chocolate fridge cake as we were invited to C&D's for dinner, Stuart (new neighbour) was the cook.
Brett clad the back of the new barn.
It was a good evening, we ate (well flavored vegetable curries) under the stars (me covered in Deet!), gossiped, drank and put the world to rights.
24th September
We're still harvesting vegetables (even though we have stopped watering)- buckets of tomatoes, the tomatillos have started, aubergines have been good this year, windfall apples (I need to pick them before they all fall off), a bucket of plums, onions
And now I have to process it all ........
25th September
Only one and three quarters x 2L jars of Passata from one and a half buckets of tomatoes! Homesteading is time consuming work.
Feeling a bit rough as I have earache.
26th September
Still have earache.
We visited M&M today at their new quinta; they have added a strawbale extension to a stone cottage, it's going to be stunning when it's completed.
Processing apples (for chili apple jelly and perhaps some jars with other herbs added), also made beetroot ketchup and fruity chilli ketchup.
Brett, added compost to and, rotorvated the garden where we grew potatoes, it's at the top of the veg garden so shouldn't flood, in preparation for winter sowing.
27th September
Earache really bad, I haven't slept for two nights - I don’t want to go to the doctor!
I carried on processing fruit and veg; today I made .... HOT Chilli Apple Jelly, Plum Jelly, Georgian Plum Sauce, Bottled Plums.
28th September
At least I slept last night, ear still painful and deaf (but I didn't go to the doctor).
Today I made water kefir limeade, milk kefir, Brinjal pickle (Brett likes it).
This afternoon Brett suggested we went down (with a bottle of fizzy wine) to introduce ourselves to our new neighbours, we've been meaning to for a while. I looked down at what I was wearing - my favorite dress, but unfortunately with worn holes where my pointy bits are! I searched for something else to wear ..... all I could find was winter clothes and posh frocks, everything else was in the washing. I had to put on the cleanest, dirty, dress I could find; so tomorrow is washing day! Our new neighbours (Margo and Trish) seem very nice.
Brett is working tomorrow.
29th September
Brett went off to work for 8.00 (not such an early start as mornings are darker).
I did the washing, still feeling crap so that's all I did (well I cooked a chilli too, and fed and watered the animals, and swept and washed the floor, so basically the washing was just my extra task of the day) .....
OMG I've just had a message from Pam - they've accepted an offer on their quinta (she won't tell me how much for), I'm in shock!
30th September
Brett working.
My ear doesn't hurt so much but I still can't hear.
I invited Di to lunch as Chris has now been working for 6 weeks, which was lovely.
Then when Brett came home we all (Us, C&D, Stuart and Bap) all went to the bar.
So a nice sociable day.
While we were putting away the poultry we think Lily was stung/bitten on her foot, she was very distressed, we gave her a half tablet of antihistamine. It took her half an hour to calm down.
1st October
And this morning she's 'as right as rain' ...... oooh rain, we could do with some of that!
Less ear pain but still can't hear!
Marc & Mieke and Vince & Lola were supposed to come for dinner, but I postponed until next Tuesday.
2nd October
We dug up the second lot of sweet potatoes, one weighed over a kilo!
We took the dogs for a walk down to the river, most of it was bone dry with a few shallow stagnant pools.
3rd October
We went into CB town centre, I bought some sticky backed plastic from the craft shop (the stuff from Casas China was useless) to use as a mask for sandblasting. This afternoon I had great fun playing (experimenting) with my sandblaster.
Nick is back from the UK I'm hoping he might be able to solve my kiln - generator problem.
Brett dug out the foundations for the shed he's building to house the hot water boiler ..... once it's built we'll be putting in a proper shower!!!!
This evening we had guests for dinner (Vince & Lola and M&M). I cooked some marinated turkey and sweet potatoes in the gas oven, it took two and a half hours for it all to cook, we kept turning it up but all that did was burn more at the bottom - I hate this oven! Apart from that it was a fun evening, except I was sworn to secrecy on P&M's quinta sale, I was bursting to tell them).
4th October
Slight hangover ......
I did more sandblasting and leaded up the roundel I'm making, tomorrow I will solder it.
5th October
Roundel soldered .......
6th October
Roundel cemented (my least favorite job!).
Watch a really weird film 'Kill List', I don’t get what it was all about - I even looked the plot up on the internet and am still confused!
7th October
Happy Birthday Jo xxx
Today was fun, I did a load of sandblasting,
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