POOH, NO FREE WIFI ATM!!!!!

22nd June

We couldn't prevaricate any longer, we started the other side of the roof today. By 11.30 a.m. the tiles had been stripped from half the second side (the first hour of the day's work had been erecting the scaffold tower); it took the rest of the day to chip away the concrete and lay and level the planks - all done by Brett, as I'm not allowed on the roof, for this part of the job I'm only allowed to 'fetch and carry'!

As we knew it wasn't going to rain we quite happily left the roof uncovered over night.

23rd June

It was rather breezy this morning so we didn't think it was worth taking the risk of handling the roofing sheets in the wind; they're hard enough to handle as it is.

Booted Eagles are a common sight over the quinta (yawn!) but today we saw two Black Vultures - they are one of the biggest birds in the world with a wing span of 8.5' - 9.5'; we were very excited, they're just such exotic birds to see in the wild.

By the afternoon the wind had dropped slightly and Brett was raring to go; so we cut two sheets and carried one round to the front of the house ........ BIG problems. Firstly, because the building is built into a slope, on one side the eaves are reachable (the side we've completed) on the other side you need to be at the top of a ladder. Secondly, in front of the building there are grape vines and peach trees which make it nearly impossible to get a ladder close.

Anyway there we are with this heavy roofing sheet which we have half heaved onto the roof, at this point Brett needs to get onto the roof to pull it up, .......... so he says "can you hold it there?", "no" was my straightforward answer! So we took it down and tried to think of a practical solution; mine was simple - let's ask someone to come and help. And then we heard "Hello?", it was Nick; he was a brilliant help, he did what I couldn't and we managed to get four sheets up, so now we have 3/4 of a roof completed.

Bastard as vespas!! (wasps): I was standing, minding my own business, when I got attacked by wasps - 3 stings (hand, elbow, waist) and they're bloody painful (even Brett says so; he says, and I quote, "Sandra is not exaggerating for once, they are bloody painful, they're like a red hot needle being slowly pushed into your skin"), fortunately I didn't go in anaphylactic shock!!

We went for a lovely walk this evening but when we came home the lights were off (we'd left them on), then we heard it, the noise of the inverter spitting and sparking, it had flames shooting out of (Mark stop mumbling "what do you expect from China"). Nick is coming round with a replacement inverter first thing in the morning; he's had a few problems with them which he's in the process of sorting out, so fingers crossed it should be sorted soon.

24th June

So Nick came round with the replacement inverter and ........ it won't run our fridge, it's not a pure sign wave (I don't actually know what that means!) and it's not as powerful as ours; but it's all he had, he'll get a proper one to us as soon as he can.

I'm writing this down as, as the saying goes, 'these things come in threes' and I don't want any more major disasters; all day yesterday and today we haven't been able to get on the internet, it says our password or username is invalid - but it's done that before, I think the modem has to be turned off then on again, but it is very inconvenient. So please let that be number two, as three could be another biggie!

We went into Castelo Branco this morning to buy supplies (we even bought paint for our 'pool', so I was quite excited). Coming home the car started slowing down and an orange light came on, we stopped and looked at the manual it looks like it's the emissions warning light (the manual is in Portuguese), Brett thinks it's been caused by the fine sandy soil from the quinta that gets everywhere. We managed to get home, but of course now we have to get the truck to Mitsubishi and get it hooked onto their diagnostic computer

We went to P&M's, to use their internet; phew, the losing power is an automatic response when the sensors detect a problem ('limp home mode'), the engine is fine now!! The light won't go out until it's been checked though, so we'll be back in Castelo Branco tomorrow.

I'm so disappointed my parcel still hasn't arrived and my response from Royal Mail was less than helpful - it was obviously a stock reply with no reference to my query at all, what's the point of a tracking service that doesn't track and a customer help line that doesn't help customers?

It was 33.5^◦C (that's 92.3F!!!!) inside today AND WE HAVE NO FRIDGE!!!!!! Which means we have no cold drinks and we can't keep food fresh so we'll have to shop daily, we are not happy.

We started to empty out the water tank (the one we used as a pool last year) this evening, it's got 11 cubic metres of water in it (which is quite a lot) so we were only able to empty about a 1/3 of it out (we used it to water fruit trees) - especially as some of Louis's hay is downhill from the tank and we didn't want to get his bales wet. Once the tank is empty we'll scrub it out thoroughly, let it dry completely and then paint it with special swimming pool paint (blue) which has an algaecide in it. Then when it's dry fill it up with nice cold water from our well - we can't wait!!

25th June

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAM!

Still no internet access; we're getting a bit fed up Now, Brett's mumbling about getting TMN (Pam has it with a MIFI receiver and it works very well, at her quinta), I don't want to pay 30€ a month only to find out it works no better than the free village internet. So we're back to uploading the blog at Jumbo, once a week or so!

HAY BALED

21st June (Longest day of the year)

Happy Summer Solstice

Bummer; we went to the Post Office in Penamacor the lady behind the counter said that no parcel had been, or had attempted to be, delivered for me; we're to come back on Monday.

We went to pick up some more wood for our roof; our roof ladder has paid for itself over and over, it's so useful, there's no way we would have been able to pick up any wood this length without it (we even managed to bring some wood for P&M).

Louis came with his wife and a friend to bale the hay; we reckons he's got nearly 300 full size bales, so that was worth his while - and the quinta looks so much better now, very well maintained; we walked around and took loads of photos.

P&M came to dinner; they went into Remax today and came away with quite a bit of gossip including the fact that they are about to get new English neighbours who have 32 Serra da Estrella Mountain dogs - they are HUGE and can be quite aggressive. Brett was chase by three when he was riding his bike the other day - fortunately he was faster than them! We also know (we really know them, it's not hearsay) two lots of people (expats) who have had their dogs savaged by these dogs (no, not the same ones who chased Brett!), one dog died, the other had very expensive vet bills; before I heard this I really wanted one.

They're used for protecting sheep from wolves

ONE SIDE OF ROOF COMPLETED

20th June

Happy Birthday Mrs Brown!!!!

We woke up to blue skies and sunshine, again (Ha ha!!!!); this means Louis's hay is drying out nicely again (phew, why do we feel responsible for it?), every morning we have to remember to open the gate just in case he turns up, it'll be a relief once he's baled it and taken it away.

12.10p.m Hoorah, half a roof completed!!!

It looks very tidy, as they say in Wales. I'm hoping the second side shouldn't take as long as we've already worked out how to do it.

I'm expecting a parcel from the UK, it's being delivered to a PO Box inside the Post Office in Penamacor; it has a tracking number so today I looked to see where it was, the information read:

A delivery was attempted for your item with reference RJ830206521GB in PORTUGAL before 09:01 on 20/06/13.

If redelivery or collection is unsuccessful, the item will be returned to the UK

The Post Office opens at 9.00 a.m. do these people not have brains? How can they attempt to deliver it to a Post Box when the Post Office is shut? And how on earth do I get my parcel? Frustrated!!!!! Tomorrow I'm going to the Post Office to try to sort it out, this will be a real test of my Portuguese communication skills!

This evening we saw Louis baling the hay on his little plot of land; this evening, when we walked to shut the gate, his tractor and baler was parked inside our quinta, so he's obviously going to bale tomorrow.

WE'RE GETTING THERE AT LAST!

19th June

Today we work very hard from 8.30 until nearly 7.00 but it was worth it; we have sorted out the roof profile (hoo-bloody-rah) with lots of packing/spacers (3" in the centre)

Look at the difference between the old and new roof levels

and what we finished today looks excellent. 

Guess the leveled end!

We now have half a roof on the building but only half of that has been levelled, hopefully we'll get that done quite quickly tomorrow (Brett reckons 2 hours), now that we know what we're doing. Brett is really looking forward to rendering the outside of the building, so it won't look like blocks anymore.

Gary came around this evening; the second kitten has died, very sad but not unexpected, he reckoned it was only about three weeks old - it couldn't even have been weaned.

P&M were going out for a meal in Penamacor, they invited us - but we were too tired (I can't believe it!!!), we didn't even have the energy to drive.

Oh dear, I put my hair in plaits on Saturday, when we started the roof, I hadn't taken them out ................ when I went to wash my hair tonight I had dreadlocks, I couldn't get a brush through it!

We've been finding lots of stick insects in the house; Will and Hen used to keep them as pets, it seems strange finding them wild (Will maybe Alexandra and Lawrence could take some home, when you come to visit?). 

This one was on my pillow when I went to bed!

The people we met driving along our track in a campervan came to visit us the other day - they are buying the land they showed us, and sign tomorrow (it's ridiculously quick here to purchase land and houses).

IT'S NOT GOING TO PLAN!

16th June 

We just didn't want to get up this morning!!! but we did and we were back on the roof by 8.30 and it was just as hard as yesterday! Those bloody tiles hadn't got any lighter overnight. One of our biggest problem is the way the old roof sags The weight of the tiles has actually deformed the shape of the beams, the roof profile looks like a 'W'; we're (well Brett's) having to chip away the high points to help the sheets lay flat.

By 6.00 we had covered just over 1/2 of one side (i.e. a quarter) of the roof with the new sheeting, so only six more days to go! And once it's done we can think about plaster board and tiles.

Gary visited with his kitten - it's so sweet!!! And then he told us he's found another kitten "on a rock" which he'd taken to the vet, and if it survives he'll be adopting it.

We were so shattered that we couldn't be bothered to eat, we just drank beer!!!! Thankfully the weather is cooling down for the next few days.

We walked up to lock the gate about 8.30 but Louis was just arriving with a tractor, to turn the hay - we were too tired to even try talking to him.

17th June

We shut the gate after 10 last night, it was dark and there was no way Louis was still working (was there?). This morning at 8.00 we could hear his tractor; how did he get in? The gate was locked (we went and checked, yes still locked), he must have left the tractor at the quinta overnight (or we locked him in!).

What a difference a day makes; we're wearing long trousers, sleeves and moaning about being cold - it's 20^◦C!

We had a bad day today the sheets didn't want to lie flat, they're not very forgiving; it's all to do with the 'W' shape roof profile. So we have decided we need to finished stripping off the tiles this side of the roof, then take off (or if we can, just slide down and support) all the sheets we've put on so far (3/4 of the roof), then pack the beams so that we have a level (ish) profile - it's never easy!!! but we're happier now we have worked out how to overcome the complications. Our next problem, today, was the weather forecast - rain tonight and tomorrow!!!! We borrowed a tarp from P&M to cover the gap (where old roof meets new); that was great fun, trying to stretch a huge tarp across the roof with the wind blowing (the tarp thought it was a kite) and Gary and Betty were here 'helping'.

Gary's second kitten has survived and he will be getting it on Wednesday; poor old Betty (his dog) is already jealous of the first kitten, she's not going to like having two cats!

We have no usable kitchen area, so we 'cheekily' asked if we could cook for P&M at their quinta - oh dear, it ended up with us providing the food and Pam cooking - "that's the way to do it" (where on earth is that quote from?); it's the first proper meal we've had since we last ate at quinta P&M.

When we came home it was raining quite heavily, but none of it was coming in - we're very worried about Louis's hay though!

It was very cold in the night, Brett had to get up to fetch extra bedclothes (I was trying to motivate myself to get them, but he beat me to it!).

18th June

Yippee a day off!!! We slept in until 9.00; then I felt guilty in case Louis wanted to get in to do something with the hay, so I got up to open the gate (I have to admit I drove!).

And, as it was cold and damp and we were tired, we decided it was a 'video and sweets' day, so we drove to Minipreço and bought chocolate!!! We watched 'Men in Black 3'; it was quite entertaining.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day; we hope to have one side of the roof completed by the end of the day.

WE'RE ROOFERS

14th June

Well we might not have the fastest internet provider (I don't care it's free) but this morning I posted my blog and then downloaded a Magnolia Pearl video (Magnolia Pearl is one of my favourite clothes designer, lots of layers and lace) so I'm very impressed.

We had to wait in for the roofing sheet delivery; first thing, after I got up, I walked to open the gate (about 10 minutes away) and secured a map to it, so the delivery man could find us.

I made a mosquito net curtain for the front door; it works much better than the one we bought from China shop!!!! It means we can have the door open during the day without flies getting in - it keeps it much cooler.

Brett was up on the roof measuring, in preparation for the building work; the tiles were very 'hot to the touch', so was the scaffold tower, so was the ................ in fact it would be quicker to note what doesn't heat up - nope can't think of anything!

I made a chilled lettuce soup (with the lettuce from Louis) to take round to Pizza night at P&M's. We had a lovely evening; eating, drinking and star gazing (they are very welcoming hosts).

Old sagging roof

We were up bright and early (for us) and started work around 8.30 a.m. to try to beat the heat. We're working in 2.6m sections, the length of the boards that we're putting in (ridge, middle and bottom) to secure the roofing sheets to. First off two scaffold towers were erected, one inside the building (to catch Brett if the roof gave way!) and one outside alongside the section of roof we were working on - this was where I spent most of the day.

Then we stripped off 2.6m of heavy (really, really heavy, I could barely lift two together) concrete tiles, no wonder the roof bowed. Next we had to chip away all the high points of concrete, so the boards could lay flat (and the concrete here is really hard - moan, moan, moan).

Then we secured the three boards, and then it was lunch time (1.00), we took a half hour break. The sheets had to be cut to size with an angle grinder; first the inside layer (flat) then the sheets had to be turned over (without resting them on the ground, bloody awkward), then the top layer (ridges and troughs) and finally the sandwich (insulation) was cut with a knife. Then the exciting bit; laying the first sheet ........ we now have two sheets on

and that was us done for the day (3.00 p.m. - so we didn't beat the heat!!!) I spent the rest of the day hot, bothered and aching and am not looking forward to tomorrow.

P&M called and we met them at the bar for a drink, which was a nice way to end the day.

PHEW, WHAT A SCORCHER!!!!

WASH DAY!!!

12th June

Ha ha, we're back to washing everything by hand; which isn't actually that arduous as we can do it outside and we hardly have to wring it out as it dries so quickly here.

We're going to build a chicken house from some of the wood we ordered the other day; we bought proper wood for our beams and decking but we also got a tonne of the trimmings; bark and bits left after trunks have been made into planks (sold as firewood) P&M have used it as railings, it's the 'pretty' bits! - if the shed works well we might even build a wooden structure for humans.

While I washed Brett strimmered a section of scrub land, for the chickens; just a perimeter so we can put up a couple of electric fences (though we are trying to find out if we're allowed to use them here, Nick thinks they're illegal because of fire risk) - it will be quite a big area. Unfortunately we can't have them completely free range because of the wolves!!!!

Oh what luxury .............. I had a proper shower at P&M's this afternoon!!!! I can have a solar shower here but I have to wear clothing, in case someone turns up, this one I had naked!

Today has been the hottest day so far, even the leather sofas were warm (did I say warm? They were HOT!!!) before you sat on them, it was like sitting on something that's alive. We brought our big pedestal fan with us, it's been a godsend. I honestly don't know how Brett trains in this heat.

Our wood was supposed to be arriving between 6 and 7 tonight; Cesar (the woodman) was going to drop off P&M's order first, as he'd been there before, then we would lead him to our quinta. So we arrived at P&M's around 5.45 ............. we had a drink ............. we had another drink ........... we stayed for dinner (thank you) .............. we had another drink ............ 9.00 he arrived!!!!!

He was a fabulous man; he spoke very good English but was willing to let us speak to him in Portuguese. It took nearly an hour to unload the wood our end as he was busy giving us a Portuguese lesson, he didn't get to leave until 10.30.

13th June

We went into Castelo Branco for supplies and stopped off at Mark (and Glenn)'s to pick up his scaffold tower, in preparation for our roofing work next week. The new ladder rack on the truck was very useful (as were the tie points Mitsubishi!!!).

On the way into town we pulled up at a junction behind this truck with it's hazard lights flashing. In the back it had, what looked like, several old oil drums; and around these bees were buzzing. The driver got out of his cab and directed us around his truck across the junction; he was dressed in full bee keeper's regalia ( but his headgear wasn't in place, or he couldn't have seen to drive!). After we had gone past he started to brushing his hands vigorously through his hair; our conclusion is that the oil drums were full of the honey, he'd been collecting from various farms and he'd stopped his truck because bees had got into his cab and were attacking him.

Today was another scorcher!!!

HAVE WE GOT WOLVES???

11th June

Yesterday the shops were closed; I found out from Google (the opening page doodle thingy) that it was Portugal Day and therefore a bank holiday, which probably explains why there were all kinds of activities happening in the village over the weekend - nothing we went to, as we didn't know what was going on!

Today we ordered the sheeting to renew our roof (very exciting): it's a box profile (terracotta colour) with a sandwich of insulation bonded to it, it costs 18.80€ per metre squared. We would have gone for the profile that looked like tiles but that cost 30€, which is significantly more, and as Brett pointed out, we can buy a log burning stove with what we've 'saved'. Having the insulation will make a big difference to the temperature inside the building; at the moment the tiles on the roof (heavy concrete, not in the least bit attractive or worth reusing) are really soaking up the heat.

We had our first fruit harvest today - loquats, a sweet and sour flavoured fruit; I've never seen them for sale in the UK.

Louis came back this afternoon, to cut more grass, and gave us a carrier bag brimming full with lettuce (how many does he think we can eat?!!); he is very friendly and likes to have a good natter, Brett seems to understand him quite well and it's very good practice for him/us.

When we walked around our perimeter this afternoon we found a sheep/goat's leg (just a young one) and it definitely wasn't there yesterday; we think it was probably a fox, but I have read that there are WOLVES in Portugal!!! Or it could possibly be something to do with wild boar, it was quite close to some fresh digging - we keep hoping to see boar on the quinta, so far we've only seen the track, where they access our land, and their digging, under acorn trees.

Once Louis had gone we took another walk around the quinta; he's cut much more grass than we expected (perhaps a quarter to a third), the land looks so much better maintained. He has a funny little machine it looks a bit like a tricycle with an allen sythe (finger mower) at the front - so he sits on in and steers with bicycle handles; he can get into quite small spaces too.

FESTIVALS, TEEPEE RAISING AND GENET GLIMPSING

9th June

Well I certainly got lots of driving practice today; I offered to drive Pam to the festival (Salva a Terra) which we thought was at Idanha a Nova; well it wasn't, it was in the municipality of Idanha a Nova, but nowhere near the village of the same name. I ended up driving for nearly 2 hours to get there!!! We stopped and asked for directions several times, and everyone gave us different instructions, it was mad - but very good practice for our Portuguese language.

When we got there we were so disappointed .................... apart from the fact there was practically nothing there we were far too early, we stayed a couple of hours then drove home - I don't think we'll bother to go next year!! Fortunately we didn't pay to get in.

10th June

This morning we helped P&M erect their teepee, it's quite a complex procedure; first you tie three poles together at the top and raise these to form a tripod, then three more poles are introduced at each of the three apexes of the original three poles, then you have to wrap the canvas around the poles (after folding and tying it along a pole so that it can be easily unfolded) - suffice to say it's a skill!!!! Anyway it's up, and we left P&M fastening it down to the platform.

On our way back along our track we came across an English plated camper van driving towards our quinta. It pulled off the road; so, being nosy, we stopped for a chat. It was an English couple who were coming to have a second look at some land that they might buy. So we went to have a look at their land, then they came back with us to see our quinta and have a cup of tea - and that was our day gone (it's a hard life).

Louis started cutting our grass this afternoon, the land just below the building we are living in; Brett went off to train and I spent the whole time he was away hoping that Louis wouldn't come and try to speak to me, I'm far more confident when Brett is with me, and I don't want to resort to miming again!!!

This evening we went round to P&M's for dinner; we noticed that the people we met earlier were 'wild camping' in the village. When we drove home through the quinta we disturbed a creature we have never seen before, we think it's a GENET (no I've never heard of one either), we didn't get a clear view of the body but the tail is quite distinctive.

No we didn't manage to take a photo! I got this off the internet.

CHEESE & GRASS

8th June

We had coffee in Fundao with Diane and Tom, a couple who are planning to buy in this area. They live in Abu Dhabi at the moment, but also used to live not far from us in Wales (they won't be able to move here permanently for another year). They were very like minded people; they want to keep pigs, goats/sheep, chickens and perhaps a cow and be self sufficient.

Our 'new best friend' Louis came around this evening with a large cheese he had made from his sheep's milk (it was delicious); 

Then he started talking about cutting our grass again but .................. if we understood him correctly (and I hope we did) he's going cut it, bale it and take it for his sheep - and it won't cost us anything, and as he said it will make it better for us when we're ready to get animals. We explained several times that we haven't got money to spend on having the grass cut and he kept saying we didn't have to pay, so fingers crossed we understood one another, we're convinced!!

I think he said that he sells the meat, from his sheep, cheaply to friends - which he implied we were! He speaks very fast and doesn't seem to understand "fala mais lento, se faz favor" (speak more slowly, please), he tried to phone someone, he says, speaks English, but they were at work.

He says that our land is good for growing vegetables and that once he's cut the grass I should plant some seeds - I then mimed ants stealing the seeds, but for some reason he didn't seem to understand me!!!

6th June

It was a bit windy and cloudy today; which was actually a bit of a relief after the heat of the last few days, I haven't acclimatised yet.

Pastor Allen (our language teacher) has closed his classes for the summer (they had finished before we returned) so we are going advertise, in the village, for a teacher; we're doing our Michel Thomas CDs quite regularly, but we have questions with no one to answer them. If we do find someone Pam and Mark will join us, as they are keen to learn too, and hopefully a few of the other expats in the area.

This is our track through the quinta

We walked Brett's track this afternoon and took some photos, which don't do it justice as the sun wasn't out. 

One of the things I want to do next year is catalogue all the wild flowers and grasses growing on the quinta; I'll take photos, press and even sketch them - I will start this year but quite a few are already gone to seed. Today I noted:
Hypericum/St John's Wort

Dog Rose

Cistus/Rock Rose

Allium

Poppy

Lavender, more Lavender and even more Lavender (we literally have acres of Lavender)

Chamomile

Ragwort

Lupin

Sweet Pea

Honeysuckle

Thistle

Broom

Scabious

Toadflax

Foxglove

Convolvulus

Blackberry

and a whole host of ones I couldn't name.

And then of course there are all the butterflies, I'm rubbish at identifying them (but I have seen Swallowtails).

Oh dear, there was this man wandering about our quinta about 9.00 this evening; it turned out to be the man who let us drive through his land to get our camper van on site last year (Louis?). Anyway he kept going on and on about how we need to cut our grass, as it's a fire risk (and, surprise, surprise, he has a tractor) we kept asking "how much" but didn't get an answer (the Portuguese tend to think that expats are rich/ripe for the picking, they charge about 35€ an hour and it would be a good few days work - we can't afford that). When he left he said "Até amanha" which we're hoping is a way of saying "bye" rather than it's literal translation - until tomorrow. We kept saying, in our best Portuguese, "we'll think about it", so now we're hoping he doesn't think we've agreed to anything!!! We're keeping our gates locked for the next few days, so he can't cut it when we go out!

7th June

We were woken up again, by what we thought was the inverter alarm; this time Brett thought it might have been coming from the walkie talkies, but they were switched off, so we're none the wiser. Brett has tightened all the connections on the bus bars, in case they had worked loose (I stood around with my eye on a pile of wooden coat hangers in case he needed rescuing!).

This morning we lashed giant bamboo poles at P&M's; they bought them (not cheaply either) to erect their teepees on and they're splitting, which is annoying as it means they'll need replacing next year. It had turned quite windy, so we postponed putting up the second teepee.

Tomorrow we are going to meet a couple who are in the process of buying a quinta in the area; they contacted us via the expat forum - they used to have a smallholding in Lampeter, Wales (small world) and they want to do the animal rearing here, like us.

It rained quite a bit this afternoon and has been rather cold all day; if I had had the opportunity I would have lit a fire this evening - instead I put on extra clothing and socks, and cooked a curry!

FURNITURE ARRIVED TODAY

5th June

Well our furniture arrived 'safely'; I say that in inverted commas as one chair had two legs off and a cupboard had a door broken off - fortunately we're not too precious about our possessions, they will mend and be fine.

Ian, the removal man, had forgotten to bring the keys, to the padlocks on his trailer, so they had to be opened with a hammer! Then we thought that the back doors on his transit wouldn't open and that we'd have to try to manoeuvre the dresser base out  through the side door, but with a bit of persuasion they opened - it was all rather chaotic (but, as I keep saying, his vehicles got down our track).

Brett and Mark went off to order the wood for our roof and they came across Ian blocking the road ........... on his way back down our track he had scraped his trailer along a stone wall and had only just bothered to stop to fix it - he'd practically ripped his tailgate off!

We went back to Pam and Mark's for lunch; mainly because I wanted to see their new marble worktop - it's lovely and was really cheap. It's called rose marble and is threaded with a pink/brown/orange colour;  it's made up from two pieces of marble (L shaped) approx 2m and 3m, and cost 160€, what would it have cost in the UK?

On Friday we are going to help P & M put up their second teepee -should be interesting! They have built fabulous platforms to stand them on.

This weekend Pam and I are going to a festival; Salva a Terra (Save the Earth), in Idanha a Nova, a nearby village where lots of things take place, last year it hosted the Boom Festival. Brett doesn't want to go, it's not really his thing and it's rather expensive, 17€ to get in.

Another day in Paradise .......

3rd June: BRETT'S BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Brett!!!

We took a day off today and set off to explore some of the surrounding countryside; we ended up at Monsanto (voted the most Portuguese village in Portugal), where we had lunch - a typical Portuguese meal, griddled ham and cheese toastie with hot sauce and onions, it was HUGE and delicious and, with drinks, cost a mere 8€ (about £6.50 'real' money).

As Brett needs nothing, and I couldn't think of anything to buy him (that he wouldn't sneer at, like his Christmas present ..... a wind-chime made out of a coconut shell in the shape of a goose!!!), we agreed that his birthday present was getting his gym set up and being able to work out again. So he had a workout while I prepared dinner.

Pam and Mark came round for the birthday meal: toast topped with black pudding and mango puree (we had it as a tapas in Spain, it was delicious), sticky lemon chicken (a staple, but so tasty) with rice, followed by cheesecake. Between the main course and the pudding we did a lap of the track Brett has been strimmering around the quinta - it was a lovely evening with a beautiful sunset.

We had the fan on when we went to bed and were woken up by the inverter alarm (it goes off if the batteries are getting too low and things need to be turned off). Brett tested the batteries, they were fine, so don't know what that was all about (Mark I can hear you muttering ....... "Chinese, what do they expect").

4th June: BRETT CONTINUES TO STRIMMER

We went into Castelo Branco to buy a new head for the strimmer and a few other bits and pieces; but we were home for lunch and Brett spent the afternoon widening the track he's strimmering, (1)  so we can drive around it (it's a lovely drive through the olive groves) and (2) to act as a bit of a  fire break.

We had an email from Gary inviting us down to his quinta this evening to meet 'Pinky', the kitten he rescued from a skip. He found him last week, in a skip, tied up in a plastic bag and his back legs weren't working, so he took it to the vet and had him X-rayed - the poor little thing had been shot, three times, and had pellets lodged close to his spine; the vet took the pellets out and Gary picked him up yesterday.  This evening you wouldn't have know he'd been through all that trauma (apart from his bald patches and stitches) he was playing just like any kitten of about six weeks old - thank goodness Gary found him.

We timed our walk around the quinta this evening, 20 - 25 mins, and so far the track is only halfway round our perimeter! When Brett was strimmering this afternoon he called me, on the walkie talkie, to ask me to bring him some  petrol, I couldn't find him for ages (I went the wrong way!).

The rest of our furniture arrives tomorrow, so it's going to be a busy day.

Sitting on my sofa using FREE village internet!!!

31st May

This morning the village wifi signal was strong so I tried an experiment, uploading my latest two blog posts along with a photo and it worked!!! It's very hit and miss and we can't use it at the same time, but, as it's free, we can't really complain.

Today I seem to have lost motivation, our three most important tasks (solar, water and toilets) have been completed and we are already far more comfortable than when we were living here last year. The next task is the roof, and we're both rather hesitant about starting it; well I suppose hesitant is the wrong word, we haven't decided yet whether we're going to replace the (heavy concrete) tiles or just insulate under them - it all depends on the eucalyptus trunk which spans the two rooms (30 foot+), there are carpenter bees nesting in it so we have to decide whether it needs replacing and if it does we'll replace the tiles at the same time.

We attached a ladder rack to the truck, which took most of the morning as we had to cut into the load liner. For some reason Mitsubishi gives customers a choice of either tie points, load liner or ladder rack; so, as we wanted all three, we've customised our load liner, it looks pretty smart now.

This afternoon Brett set up his squat rack, so he's happy as he can workout again.

This evening we had a lovely stroll along the tracks around our quinta; we were assessing how visible our buildings are to neighbouring quintas, but we're actually quite well hidden apart from to our immediate neighbours.

1st June

We were sitting eating breakfast when the light went out, then the inverter started popping and flashing and burst into flames!!!! We phoned Nick and he came round with another inverter, so we're up and running again, phew. (Mark and Glenn don't read this last paragraph!).

Our next lot of furniture (the stuff that was transported in February) is coming on Wednesday, so we spent the day organising the buildings, it all looks a lot tidier.

We've seen a few mosquitoes around so have bought a curtain (from China shop) for the front door, to try to stop them getting in, it's absolute rubbish; every time Brett walks through it it catches on his shoes and is pulled down landing over his head and around his neck, then he gets all cross and tries to walk it off, but as it's nylon it doesn't break, so he gets more and more caught up in it (quite funny to watch!). Then I walked through it and it caught on my trouser buttons and the cane it's threaded on snapped in half - hmmm, perhaps we need a rethink.

Another lovely walk along the tracks this evening; the bee eaters don't seem to be back in force yet, I have seen a few perched on telegraph wires - very colourful.

2nd June

Hoorah, Pam came back today!!!!

We have been very lax about learning Portuguese since we've been back, apart from using it in shops; when we were in the UK we had one or two, one hour, sessions daily  and it has definitely improved our grasp of the language and our confidence to have a go. Today we decided we needed to be more disciplined so, this morning, we did an hour of revision - we mean to do a session 'todos os dias' (every day).

Today I conquered one of my phobias; driving on my own, in Portugal, in a left hand drive car. When we first started travelling, last year, I had only just had my hand out of plaster, after breaking my thumb, I had no strength in the hand and was in a lot of pain; this meant that Brett did practically all the driving, of the camper van, while we travelled around Europe and that continued well after my hand had healed,. When we bought the Portuguese vehicle we had just got into the habit of him driving most of the time; occasionally I would drive but I didn't get enough practise to feel confident enough to drive on my own. Anyway today I made the decision to stop being so pathetic and drove to the supermarket (8 miles each way) to buy the ingredients for Brett's birthday meal (tomorrow). And while I was in the supermarket I had to address one of my other phobias - shopping in Portuguese; unfortunately the butcher thought he was helping as, instead of replying in Portuguese, he said "I can speak English"!

Anyway I managed to get everything on my shopping list (or a Portuguese approximation), so my afternoon task was making a cheesecake, Brett's favourite (it's a no cook cheesecake, so lots of whipping and beating of ingredients, and then left to set in a the fridge overnight ............................... easier said than done when you're 'camping' though. First off I didn't have a cake tin or anything else I could put the mixture in to set, so I made a collar out of the cardboard, from the back of a sketch pad, and staples. Secondly, I had no bakewell/greaseproof paper to line the collar with, so I cut up an (unused) plastic wallet (fingers crossed it will peel off when the cheesecake is set). Next, .......... well even I'm getting bored now, suffice to say, it's in the fridge (lots of other food which was in the fridge had to be taken out to make room, but the beer was still in, until we drank it!!!)  and my fingers (and toes) are crossed.

We bought walkie talkies while we were back in the UK and Pam and Mark have some too; we can actually use them to communicate between quintas. Pam got back this evening and used the walkie talkie to invite us over for drinks. It was lovely to have her back.

Yay, the cheesecake has set!!!

Ha ha, I thought I'd put on some photos of our living conditions (just for you Will and Gill!!!!); don't forget our outside space is absolutely fantastic and the inside can only get better.

'Kitchen' and 'Dining area'

'Sitting area'

Bed

I can hear you laughing!!!!!!