Ceiling and tile talk

Wednesday 29^th November

Again awoke early to a fantastic sunrise. After breakfast, drove down camino road to house, arriving early to meet Ricardo at 10.00am.

We discussed the neighbour and his wish for the boundary wall to be raised, and Ricardo’s view was that J did’nt need to, and it did not contravene any planning regulations. Tried to meet neighbour but he was out or not answering door.

Then off to buy tiles. Whisked around shop with a girl taking our order……lucky we had spent so many hours in the shop, but there were still problemos ………the terracotta floor tiles for the kitchen and downstairs bathroom were a bit too light for J’s liking, but Ricardo’s said not to worry as they would not be exactly the same colour…..each order was slightly different.

The other problem was that the edge tile for the upstairs bathroom did not match the grey floor tiles we had chosen for the other edge tile. However, soon found a matching grey tile which should be fine. Then went on to sinks and toilets………Ricardo and the girl spent about 15 minutes going through catalogues looking for small sinks with a tap hole in…….and then took us through to the warehouse, where they had a large stock of small sinks with no tap holes, but with the facility to punch out a right or left tap hole……….another decision to be made ……..tap on right or left of sinks ???

Ricardo bought the sinks on the spot for 20 € each and ordered 2 toilets which were not in stock, but needed to be collected from the yard in town.

Back to Ricardo’s house via the river bed road, while he calculated the latest bill, which included the tiles @ just over 1,000 €. He dropped us off at the house , whilst he went to get the toilets (rather expensive @ 132 € + vat), and J and I went to bank to get latest instalment of 4,000 €, covering work to date excluding the electrics.

We decided to give them their Navidad presents, as the beer was being severely shaken on the camino road twice a day. All were surprised and pleased with unexpected presents, particularly Sergio with his bottle of Russian vodka……..nod nod, wink wink. J gave Ricardo the money, and we left them and went for lunch of bacalao etc..

After lunch, popped back to house, as J still wanted to see the neighbour about the wall. Discussed the height of the wall, and agreed on 50 cm higher…..other options discussed such as building across the other neighbours wall…..getting complicated.

Then went shopping at Mercadona for wine, and on way back to car, met Tommy with a spade looking for gravel in the street for making coarse wall cement……..ordering system seems to have gone awry…..

Back home, J did schematic diagrams of both bathrooms to indicate location of edge tiles, sinks, mirrors in relationship to each other.

Went out for a drink at our favourite bar and had a few wines, and got chatting to a local chap who we had seen in the other bar…..always pissed , with others locals having a laugh at him, rather than with him. We had heard that he had been a successful restauranteur in Marbella, but had succumbed to alcohol, and ended up in the mountains. We had also heard he was gay, with his favourite saying ….”I like Elton John”…….not that he liked Elton John , but that he was gay, like Elton John.

The Mother invited us to have a drink with her, and told us that her husband had died 2 months ago in September…… C put his foot in it by asking if he was asleep, as she made a sleeping gesture whilst explaining this, but he hadn’t heard or understood her say “muerte”…… Our gay friend said C was very handsome, but J said …”he’s mine, no doubt muttering under her breath……you can have him !!!”

Thursday 30 November

Awoke to a cloudy sunrise, and after breakfast drove down to house via camino road. Sergio was putting the trompe d’oeuil in place and building up the curtain walls. Went up to bathroom to check out ceiling light and shower, and asked Tommy to join us for an impromptu site meeting ……3 of us squeezed into the tiny bathroom.

We debated the shower, which we had previously explained should be fixed in the wall, with the mixer taps below, already plumbed in. However, Tommy understanding was at odds with this, as there were no pipes from the tap points to a shower head point. Eventually established we would need a flexible shower pipe and head and bracket, rather than a fixed head and pipe (already purchased and discussed previously).

The ceiling light discussion was similarly difficult…..Tommy has wired the electricity feed to a side wall by the toilet, blocking light to the sink. This problem led on to a discussion about the ceiling….or lack of it. We had assumed that they would build a suspended ceiling …..as the room is so high…..and that the light would be appended to it. Apparently, Tommy has never built a ceiling in Spain……they are all concrete or unfinished terracotta blocks……the latter as in the upstairs bathroom and porch roof.

Needed a break after this discussion, and went to the Thursday market at the bottom of the road…..C bought a shirt and top for S. On to a coffee and bocadillo mixto , and then half hour on to Locutorio catching up on e mails.

Decided to go to Marbella to look for plasterboard for a ceiling, and a shower head and bracket. Quickly found some placa carton-yeso (2500mmx1200mmx10mm) ie about 3 square metres @ 9.11 € per placa. …….very reasonable.

Back to the house for 4.00 pm, to try and see rich neighbour , but Ricardo had come and gone. Saw next door neighbour and gave her her Navidad presents, and asked her to come up to the 1^st floor to talk muros (walls)……..big mistake, as she did’nt really understand a word .

Problems with the neighbours

Monday 27^th November

Awoke to a lovely sunny day. After breakfast drove via main road as camino closed for building work. Took pics of Rio Grande Vivo protest banners…….more of that on a separate post. Met with Tommy at house, but he was uncommunicative as to the days work plan……..walked up to town to TV arial shop to try and get an indoor arial…..had a broken one which he might be able to fix…….or something like that.

After a bocadillo, drove to Malaga to near the bus station to look for a hostel or hotel to stay Sunday night prior to flying home Monday. Parked in multi-storey with the excellent idea of green lights for vacant spaces in a rather dark car park. Walked to Tourist Information to get a list of hotels, and walked around to find one …..nice hostal outside new railway station @ 50 euros ……….better than some of the more seedier ones.

Drove to Carrefour and spent 70 euros on presents including barrels of beer for Ricardo and Tommy and vodka for Sergio. Drove back to house and went to collect ariel @ 20 euro and collect suitcase from house after shopping at Mercadona.

Tuesday 28^th November

Awoke early to see a beautiful sunrise, and briefly spotted a falcon. After breakfast, we drove to the house down the camino road. Met with Tommy and the plan for the day was to cement the outside walls of the bathroom and wall facing the ruin. We asked him to speak to Ricardo about ordering tiles.

Tommy not happy with his latest problem, trying to cement the wall overlooking the neighbours patio. The neighbour who owns the orchard and big house then spoke to Tommy , about building up the wall overlooking the orchard. Tommy didn’t say much other than to translate roughly what he had said, which was to the effect that the wall was not “sympathetic” to his property.

J then asked to speak to Ricardo on Tommy’s phone, and explained the discussion with the neighbour, and also made arrangements to meet him at 10.00 am tomorrow to agree buying tiles.

We agreed last thing we wanted to do was irritate neighbour, as her might go to the Ayunmiento (Town Hall) and report us for infringing building regulations, or overlooking his property, which we think is illegal.

Back to house and had tea, followed by trying to sketch plans of how the new wall and railings should be designed. C found a photo and sketched rough ideas with “paintbrush” on the laptop to show neighbours, and give them options.

Weekend and Teba Castle

Saturday 25^th November

Weather dawned overcast and rain in the air. Updated blog after breakfast and then drove to town via camino ….no hoopoes. Bought TV from auction shop, but arial did not come with it ! Then on to the coast to the market and J spotted a marble table for 25€ but quickly knocked down to 20€… bought it on the spot.

Walked around market which was closing down, but no portable arials. Collected table and took back to car. Then on to wifi bar for lunch and upload blog…..a few problems with pics, and didn’t upload any first time.

Went to Bookies but no luck this time …Ross Com @ 37/1 in Hennessy came nowhere ! Back to café for blog upload and managed all pictures except 1. On to Hippocor but no arials, so back home for tea and reading prior to eating out at our favourite bar. Baqueron came uncooked and J had prawns, so still not cracked all the tapas.

Sunday 26^th November

Weather bright with high cloud. We decided to drive to Teba about 15 kms north of Ardales, which is quite a nondescript white village, but with an interesting and unexpected history. High above the village stands an impressive ruined Moorish castle built on Roman foundations, with superb views over the surrounding countryside.

It was on the plains below the castle that Sir James Douglas, on his way to the holy land via Spain (….the long way round) on behalf of Robert the Bruce, got involved with the siege of Teba in 1331, when King Alfonso XI recovered Teba from the Moors for Christian Spain. Douglas was killed there in battle, and a plaque made of Scottish granite marks Teba’s illustrious connection with Robert Bruce and the exploits of Douglas in the Plaza de España.

We climbed the steep ramparts and walked around the castle and surrounding ruined walls….entry is free as it is completely un-restored, ….. there is evidence of the start of restoration, but we were the only visitors…….

Then walked back into town and had lunch ……a large rancion of some sort of fish, described by the proprietor as mucho bueno……it was not very appetising, but turned out to be very expensive at 9 euro !!

On to the Teba gorge, where the Rio la Venta cuts through the limestone gorge. There was a small car park below the bridge, but several hippy types were hanging around, so we parked up near the road and walked to the bridge.

The gorge is a nesting site for the Egyptian vulture, Bonelli’s eagle and black kites, and we saw 2 huge birds circling high above the gorge on the warm thermals, but could not identify them. Then drove back via the lakes which are very low……must be only 10% full.