Getting the kitchen

Wednesday 7^th March

We awoke to another bright and sunny day, but with very strong winds forecast later. Today was going to be a more relaxing day, with no painting !!.We drove to Pizarra to pick up sink from Pavisan, telling the girl we had already paid for it when we ordered it. On the way back, we stopped at the river to birdwatch….a few white cranes/storks and black winged stilts, with their red legs, silhouetted in the water.

We drove back via Beltran to see if the kitchen was ready, and sure enough it was, and ready to go. The man had partially made up the drawer unit with the drawers, as they are a bit tricky apparently, and the rest was flat packed on a pallet. They offered to cut the 3.6 meter worktop @ 2.08 metres, and we got the sink out for them to cut out the sink hole…..all a bit nerve wracking, as we had planned to double to check measurements.

We loaded up the car with the units, drawers and doors, and drove home to unload, returning for the worktops and sink. We then walked up to town….J to get money from bank to pay Ricardo, and me to check e mails, and to my surprise, they had received my money via Lloyds and were ready to exchange and complete on the Bristol house. I was asked to phone Solicitor about this at 1 pm……it was 12.30 and I couldn’t open the house insurance quote, which needed to be in place.

Off to a better Locutorio with a bright girl who was able to let me download the quote on her master computer. I then phoned up broker and got insurance in place a few minutes before 1 pm. I phoned up, and they planned to exchange contracts and complete in the afternoon ….great as this would end the uncertainty.

Off to Bar El Timon for lunch, where we continued to discuss our unease about whether we had in fact paid for the sink, coming to the conclusion that we probably hadn’t, but were still unsure. We then drove to Malaga for a general walk round Aki and Carrefour, getting some long life bulbs and bits and pieces….more shirts and socks !! Then drove to Pizarra to visit Pavisan to see if we had paid, and of course we hadn’t…..anyway they just charged the 135 € rather than the 159 € with tax.

By now it had got very windy and was blowing a gale. We then drove to Ricardo’s house for tea (strawberrys and chocolate dip) and the ritual of receiving and checking the final bill, taking into account the overpayment of 1,034 € for the tiles last time, but still 2,300 €. J spent an hour querying the bill, and managed to knock off 100 €, but still irritated about a load of sand @ 43 € which is unused and taking up a parking space near the house on the waste ground.

J paid him 1,000 € on account, with the balance next week when she had fully checked the final bill and was happy.

We were then invited to inspect his boat of which he is justly proud….a cross between a speed boat and a day boat which is licensed for 6 passengers. He plans to hire it out together with himself for fishing and water ski-ing trips at very reasonable prices.

We then went home into a fantastic sunset and back into town to check e mails. I was annoyed to have one from the Solicitor saying she hadn’t exchanged contracts as one of the vendors was away, and couldn’t complete till Monday 12^th, I sent a reply querying what happened to the interest in these circumstances as they had all the money.