Mucho Problemos

Thursday 23^rd November

We awoke to the cries of the falcons and a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. After breakfast, drove down to the house by the camino road …..no sign of hoopoes, and arrived about 10.00am, and Ricardo’s range rover was there …..excellent, or so we thought. Sergio told us he was arriba …at the top, and there we found him on the new bathroom roof, embroiled in a big problemo with Tommy. They had laid 2 rows of tiles (from the bottom), and it was clear that if they carried building up at that angle of pitch, the new bathroom roof would be above the drainage holes from the roof terrace……Ricardo joked that when there was a problemo, they had to call in the expert ie himself….Tommy felt there was no problemo …..anyway, lots of swearing in German, explaining the problem to us, spirit levels indicating the problem, taking up a row of newly cemented tiles…….etc etc…..

Eventually, we left them to it and walked around the market, buying only a large jar of olives and garlic and a shirt for C. Went back to house, and all was fine., Ricardo had gone, the roof was finished, and Tommy was plastering the bathroom. The roof looks a bit uneven….but then …..this is Spain……as long as the water drains off ok.

Then drove to Malaga to AKI to buy a mirror for the downstairs bathroom, and Carrefour for Navidad (Christmas) presents for all our neighbours……..mainly special packs of sweets and biscuits, with our immediate neighbour getting the best , as she has had to put up with a lot of noise, shouting, drilling, piles of gravel and sand, the constant sound of the cement mixer outside her house for last 2 months, and slight loss of light in her patio from the new bathroom etc etc……

Friday 24^th November

Weather a bit cloudy today but still warm. After breakfast, drove to the house via the camino road, but no hoopoes. Tommy had another big problemo trying to fit a junction box in the rear foundation wall, which was crumbling to dust as he drilled out huge chunks. After discussion with J, he continued drilling, and we left to choose tiles. We each chose 6 tiles as a shortlist, and narrowed them down to the final 3, and then took pictures against the terra blanco wall tiles and then against a new grey floor tile.

Back to house about 3.30 pm…..when Tommy was just about to leave, The big problemo was not resolved, but the bathroom was plastered outside, and a step formed leading down to the vestibule, wet cement C trod in, but otherwise not a lot of progress. Ricardo had seen the wall, and it would be resolved Monday. Drove home and had tea on the terrace, and put short-listed pics on laptop to make a choice for the upstairs bathroom edge tiles……the last tile decision to be made…….famous last words. We agreed on a striking grey and white tile with swirls rather than diamonds, which is the downstairs design……

It turned chilly quite quickly at dusk ……lots of falcon cries but not 1 to be seen. C made a nice olive, tomato, garlic and cheese nibble as a pre-prandial, prior to going out for a walk and boqueron frito tapas (anchovy) with chips at