Bathroom spurt

Wednesday 8^th November

Weather continuing wet , with heavy showers. After breakfast drove to the house , and surprise , surprise, Ricardo was there delivering sand, and Tommy, Sergio and a young lad were there …..Ricardo was apologetic about the flood, and had drained another flood overnight by somehow accessing the new drains…….said we should have called him yesterday !!. He agreed the new roof must be built as soon as possible to stop any future floods, and he would get the materials today.

Also, the electricity system would be started today, with the Electricity Man coming on Friday.. There was no electricity, due to the flood, but he would ask one of the neighbours if he could plug into them. Everything sounded rosy, and we drove to Marbella with great optimism that real progress would happen today, to find La Cañada, which has a huge DIY store… Leroy Merlin

We went round the builders yard section first and then to the main store which was huge…….a DIY hypermarket to rival B&Q at home. Interestingly, about 80% of customers were English. J splashed out……..pardon the pun….. on 2 showers and taps for both bathrooms, kitchen tap and a light for the kitchen.

We drove back over the mountains in a heavy shower and on to the house, where Sergio and the boy were working loading/unloading bricks and starting one of the curtain walls in the front room, behind which were the electricity tubes. These are plastic tubes through which the wires pass, and obviate the need to chase out wires in the plaster. There was no sign of Tommy or Ricardo, and Sergio now seemed entrusted with bricklaying ……learning /practicing on J’s house ??

It was clear that not much progress had been made, with pink aerosol marks on wall indicating where electricity sockets should go ……some of them completely wrong, so another task for tomorrow…..J also very concerned that the walls had not been sealed prior to the curtain walls being built…….resolved to catch Ricardo in the morning to discuss with him + several other issues.

Back to the mountains. It was raining heavily when we went out for a tapas at about 7.45 pm and we had simple 2 tapas each, and wine. There was a torrential downpour while we were there, and had to have another wine before we could leave…honest. !!

Thursday 9^th November

Drove to house after breakfast to see Tommy and show him the showers and taps we had purchased…….”they are ok “. Went to market and J caught Ricardo on returning. She tackled him about the lack of sealant on the walls before the curtain wall was being built, and that the wall had to be demolished…..at no cost….. and the old walls sealed with caucho (sealant).

After lunch, we went to a local light shop to look at lights ……more of this next week. Reviwed the days late afternoon and good progress …..most of bathroom complete with plumbing, curtain walls down and Sergio applying caucho to front room walls.

Friday 10^th November 2006

We drove to the house early to discuss queries with Tommy, who was busy working on the new roof. We drove to Leroy Merlin to change the shower taps and kitchen light, and chose matching shower taps.

We had lunch at an expensive Marbella beach restaurant …..well it seemed expensive to us …..7.50€ for the cheapest lunches…..spaghetti bolognaise and an omelette…..when we are used to bacalao and enchiladas patatas tapas @ 1€ each……..thats 23.80€ for our lunch and drinks on the coast compared with 5.70€ at our local………However, the weather was hot and sunny …..24◦ C in November….cant be bad !! Cooler in the mountains

After walking on the beach for an hour noting the washed out beaches from swollen arroyas (streams) from the weeks storms and broken reeds, went back to La Cañada to explore other stores……..it was far more than this …….a Parque Comercial……an enormous Mall anchored by several Hypermarkets……far to big to do in an afternoon……definitely a day trip designed for shopaholics !!

We drove back over the mountains to the house to review progress, which was impressive…….roof foundations on ready for concrete and tiles, and Sergio still painting caucho on the walls, despite no vodka or brandy …….he really is a good worker!!??!! He seems to get more work done without the drink!!!

Arrived back in the mountains at dusk for a meal, and catching up on the blog.

Good progress this week despite the rain delays.