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Hi
unable to post thursday and Friday's blog as some error I can't rectify. However, it may cure itself ....had same problem with the first post.

End Week 4

Thursday 26^th October

Popped over to the house first thing to tell Tommy about the location of the Lavadero (washing machine), as we’d noticed there was no waste pipe for it with the current drain layout.

We wandered round the local market for 20 minutes and bought C a pair of trainers for 8 €. Then went for a walk through the town and found another tile shop …..browsed there awhile and took a few pics of border tiles.

In the afternoon, went to Malaga and found Aki a huge DIY store selling very cheap lights , and browsed the whole store and came away with a list of prices covering 3 pages. Walked over to the other Carrefour and looked around……J saw a 6 piece suite she liked for 399 €…….tempted to buy it – but didn’t!!

Good progress on house on inspection……the gap is no longer there ….cemented up and kept in place by metal pillars while it dries out, with a soil waste pipe embedded in it. Also, the kitchen ceiling over the patio had a small square hole……the start of the patio , revealing the structure of the roof with concrete struts, so it will have to be removed carefully. They have obviously mucho trabaja today….Sergio in particular ………as the peach brandy had gone !!

Friday 27^th October

Awoke to a pleasant cloudy day with occasional sunshine – about 16 C. We were summoned to the house about 10 am by Ricardo phoning the house, and went straight over. However, he wasn’t there , but Tommy had a question for us about the location of the kitchen sink drain, as it was slightly wrong.

We took the opportunity to show him the sketch plans of the kitchen and upstairs bathroom, which were helpful as he is the main hands-on builder ……” I like plans” he said, clearly accustomed to working without them.

We went up to the first floor to look at the proposed bathroom layout, now that the gap had been cemented up. J went out on the first floor for the first time, and quickly saw the design plan was too small once walls are built. She and Tommy came up with a solution making one wall slightly diagonal, and allowing 1-2 steps to be built to enable access to both the bathroom and veranda. We asked him to speak to the neighbours if the bathroom extended past their wall and potentially encroached on their light.

It started raining as we left, we got drenched walking back to car……the one time we did’nt have an umbrella. Stayed in all afternoon, as rain set in for the day.

The rain cleared late afternoon, and we decided to walk into town…. 50 minutes trek…and inspected the house. Not much new other than patio floor concreted, and house tidied…….a misunderstanding as we had offered to do this over the weekend !!

The kitchen is very dark now the gap is concreted, and the lighting plan will be important.

Walked home after a couple of wines and shopping for supper …..45 minutes downhill, watching a fantastic sunset ….360^◦ around us so difficult to capture a picture. ^{Tripped over a cake left on the doorstep........someone's birthday ......? will find out tomorrow.}
All in all, a good week , with a lot of progress. We have started to plan our trip home for Christmas.

Jeffri

Wednesday 25^th October

We awoke to a blanket of thick mist with only 100 metre visibility. After breakfast, went to punto limpio and then on to the Locutorio for an hour catching up on e mails….. Candy likes my vignettes of life in Spain.

Then a brisk walk to edge of town and back for an early lunch at our favourite bar ….enchalada patata and bacalao tapas + coffee and chocolate.

Walked back past house at about 2 pm, and as it was locked up, so checked on progress. Most of downstairs pipes were in position and concreted, inc patio drain, loo, bathroom wash hand basin and shower, and kitchen sink.

Jeffri, the neighbours dog, came to visit and wanted more attention than usual, as he has injured his hind leg. Ricardo arrived with the new boiler which he had picked up cheaply for approx 200 euros.

Did some measuring after he left, primarily where to locate the boiler, which is quite large @ 40 cm diameter and 80cm high. Went back to house and back to the plans and decided boiler too big, and would like a square one to fit in better , ideally where the old one was. J texted Jeff her plumber in Bristol for advice on boiler size, and he suggested 120 litres, so we knew we probably couldn’t have a smaller one!

Real Progress

Tuesday 24^th October

Weather very overcast today with a lot of rain in the morning. J buttonholed Ricardo about the lack of down-pipe, but he had wanted to check where we wanted the loo located……..which J had told him before, so he is fallible……

Early afternoon, we saw an owl sitting on a fence, and flying about looking for rodents. We then saw 3 more in the olive grove, flying between the trees , and foraging on the ground.. J managed to get a few pics to confirm they were in fact owls (buhos)…….a whole parliament (parlamento) in fact. I never thought that I would ever need to write the collective term for owls …… Two of them were mobbed by flocks of agitated gold finches , who eventually saw them off.

Good progress on the house today …….the kitchen walls built up and step knocked out, and cuba no. 5 in place …..empty, other than some new building bricks …..saves on delivery charges. Checked on the peach brandy, and surely enough it had gone down from half full to a quarter……..obviously mucho trabaja by Sergio.

Day off and start Week 4

Saturday 21^st October

We spent a leisurely day at the coast, posting the blog, checking out the market which was closing, reading on the beach, and a late tapas lunch in the Plaza Mayor, with a BBQ in the evening.

Sunday 22^nd October

As the weather was fine and sunny with occasional cloud, we decided to have a “day off” and go on a day trip.

We drove to Antequera and parked up near a cemetery which appeared packed with relatives tending graves and shrines of loved ones …..quite a traffic jam, and visited the nearby dolmen of Menga, which comprise of huge stone slabs built into an igloo-shaped dome with an entrance corridor. There were 2 such dolmen on site and another 4km down the road which we didn’t visit. Quite impressive site and free !

Walked up through the town to the Alcazaba and huge church of Santa Maria. Unfortunately, the Alcazaba (Moorish Castle) was closed, as it is being renovated, but we wandered round the church and below the ramparts. Good views of the City with its numerous churches and white houses.

As it was still fine, we decided to return over the mountains via El Torcal, a huge limestone escarpment rising to over 1300 m (4,000 feet). J is not too good with winding mountain roads (!!!!) so this was not easy driving. We reached the summit and walked to the mirador (lookout) for spectacular views over the valley below.

Monday 23^rd October

After breakfast, Ricardo phoned up to ask us to meet him at the house, to discuss the latest small problemo. This was the crumbling wall adjacent to the newly formed arch to the new first floor bathroom. It was part of the old wall and so we agreed it needed hacking off back to the solid stone.

Ricardo then invited us to spend the morning looking at 2 of his other projects… a large 3 bed new build in a nearby town, and a huge 2 story extension el campo, about 3 km from his house, but accessed via a dry river bed only negotiable by his 4 wheel drive. The riverbed was overgrown with huge reeds over 4 metres high, making a canopy through which to drive. Once out of the river bed, we were on un-made dirt roads , although they had road signs and sign posts , but no-one in their right mind would tackle them in a standard car.

First stop was the extension, and Tommy and Sergio were working there. Ricardo gave us a tour of the building (just a concrete frame with a newly formed concrete roof. Sergio, the Russian wanted a quiet word, the gist of which was that he had drunk some of the vodka and whisky at the house, because of mucho trabajo (much work). I said that was ok, and he shook my hand ……mucho gratias, and gestured for me not to tell Ricardo, as I guess he would be sacked. J was not happy, but agreed not to tell.

Then on to the town house, which was nearly complete, and had taken about 8 months to build. It was a 3 bed house on a steep hill …..as most houses in white villages in Spain are, but it was of a high standard, and we were impressed with it.

Back to his place via the Extension el campo and the river bed route.

We visited house late afternoon. Not much progress other than waste water pipes in position on ground, and downstairs soil pipe concreted in place, but no sign of upstairs soil pipe to junction.

We noticed the vodka and whisky bottles had gone, but oddly the peach brandy was still there with a bottle of white sauvignon and a bottle of rose ……..obviously Sergio not a wine man …..we will observe the peach brandy. I should say at this stage these remnants of spirits were not ours, but left by other visitors to the house over the years.