Finished Shower + Big Shop

Saturday 7^th April

Weather bright and sunny but still cool. I removed excess grout from the shower tiles and polished them, as J’s fingers raw and very sore from grouting. I also tried to silicone the leaking kitchen sink drain, before going out shopping in town for J’s shoes and bag for L’s wedding. Found a stunning pair surprisingly quickly with a matching bag. Last minute shop for odds and ends for the house and picked up the blind that had been sent away to be cut as too big…..surprisingly no charge, even though it was our fault..

We then drove to Fuengirola via the Garden Centre to get some more of the lavender pottery, and went to Aki to get tubos for the roof terrace drainage holes and also got some decking for the plants on the porch. Then on to El Corte Ingles….the high quality department store with personal shop assistants, where I splashed out on a sky blue suit (320€) ….with a 64€ tie thrown in as a “present”, and a nice blue and white striped shirt (65€). J got a hair slide (2.60€)….she could have had what she wanted but chose not to !!

Then downstairs to Hipercor to get a few gift items…..and a white jacket (75€)…..Spanish wardrobe now complete for the year !!

Back home late afternoon. and I built up bed frame from scavenged pallets. Dined at Chinese before what we thought would be the re-scheduled Easter parade, but obvious that it was not going to take place. Police notices say roads must be clear between 9 am – 4 pm tomorrow 8^th , so maybe its re-scheduled for Sunday.

Watched the Thursday Green Church parade on local TV….not sure how we missed it !!

Sunday 8^th April

Easter day dawned bright and cool with continuing partial cloud. Just after 8 am, the town was rocked by mortar thunderclaps, presumably designed to wake the faithful to go to church.

Thunder & Lightning !!

Good Friday 6^th April

J spent the morning and part of afternoon grouting the shower, and rubbing her fingers to the bone…..almost literally !!. I mopped the roof terrace, porch and patio (inc Arabic tiles) with a 33% solution of agua fuerta . I took a robust approach to the sink drainage system and glued every joint with Roberto’s plumbing glue, and refitted the system. I also espuma’d the roof terrace drainage holes to prevent water entering the wall via holey bricks.

After lunch, there was a big thunderstorm, and I had to pierce holes in the espuma (polyurythane foam) to prevent the roof terrace becoming a swimming pool. Tested the sink drain later, and it seemed ok when the water was running, but …………a small leak appeared later that evening !!

From 7 pm onwards, loads of people streamed past the house on way to Blue Church confirming that the big parade was probably at 8 pm. We walked up the road, and sure enough, there were huge crowds lining the route for the Virgin float and marching bands. As 8 pm approached, the sky darkened, and it started to rain, and about 8.20 pm,the crowd started dispersing……it was clear it had been postponed or cancelled altogether…..the 50^th Anniversary Santa Semana Parade !!

We asked a Policeman , who confirmed it was “feenished”, but would be on tomorrow at same time. Disappointedly made our way home….rained all evening !!

More Finishing touches

Maundy Thursday 5^th April

Continued heavy rain across the whole of Spain including here, with more serious flooding. J worried about the trip home – as she does!! We both spent the day doing our respective tasks, including J touching up the stairs, painting TV unit, cleaning first lot of mosaic tiles, whilst I had another go at the sink drain, painted the porch behind the gutter and touched up the tiles arriba …at the top of the front of the house.

Heard bands in the evening and learned on Saturday watching local tv that we missed a good parade, including carting the virgin around the town.

J puts her foot down

Wednesday 4^th April

Continuing rain over Spain with numerous rivers breaking their banks. I got up early and soaked off the brown paper off the tiles. I was concerned that the cement was still very soft, and that there was no need to grout the tiles as they were full of cement, and that water could get under the tiles and lift them. J was also concerned, and we discussed the option of ripping the whole lot up and starting again, dependant on the swimming pool shop being open…..as it is the day before the long Semana Santa holiday…..and tiles being in stock. If it was shut, we would have to live with it.

We decided to do all the shopping in one go, and first stop, we were in luck….swimming pool open and tiles in stock…..1 square metre (9 tiles)…1,521 mosaic tiles !!....bargain @ 16.75€. On to Barrionuevo to get grouting mortar….another bargain @ 1€ for a 3 Kg bag……surprisingly, we had sufficient tile cement, as I had started with a 25 Kg bag (4.40€ if I recall), so another indication of cheap building mterials in Spain.

On to Beltran to get wood cut to repair tv cabinet, the ferreteria to get another u bend to repair kitchen sink drain, garden centre to get a bit more of the nice pottery, and a big holiday shop at Mercadona.

After lunch on the porch, I hacked off the tiles and put them in a bucket of water to be cleaned off and reused……mosaic table perhaps…..and scraped off the cement, most of which was still quite soft. I layed out the tiles ready to cement and J then took over to fine tune the design and do the cementing. I made up a 1/3^rd bucket of cement which J though would be sufficient, explaining the notched trowel, the purpose of the 4 mm notches being to control the depth of cement……..mmmmm……that’s where I went wrong !!

J made a fantastic job of the tiling and the step, my main role being to cut mosaic tiles for the edges and make tea. During a mid afternoon break, we fine tuned the reticulation system to equalise water flow to each pot.

Dined out at our favourite restaurant, where I choked on my red wine as we laughed about the shower fiasco (not funny at the time). J conjoured up the image of someone using my shower and wading in cement and getting out with concrete boots, whilst I suggested them getting out with tiles attached to their feet and tap dancing on the floor !!.....its the way you tell them I guess lol.

Plato de Los Montes

Tuesday evening.......

Dined at Garage and had my last favourite Plato de los Montes, a traditional local “Mountain Platter” …..loin of pork , fried egg, chorizo, roast peppers and chips !!.....not very healthy but much needed after a hard days labour !!

What a Shower !!

Tuesday 3^rd April

Continuing rain across most of central and northern Spain with serious flooding in Navarra and Arragon. Today saw the laying of the tiles in the shower. Each tile consists of “mat” of 169 (13x13) 2.5 cm“mosaic” tiles stuck upside-down on brown paper (to keep them in position)…….they are mainly used for lining swimming pools. The advantage in a shower is that they can be easily moulded and adjusted to the correct levels for water flow to the drain.

J and I discussed the layout and process of laying the tiles, and she left me to it. I made up a large bucket of tile cement and let it stand for 5 minutes as per instructions. I then started laying it, and found it was only enough for 2 tiles. J looked in and was horrified at the amount of cement I was using. I was spreading it on with the gardening trowel and making ridges with the notched trowel, but had difficulty controlling the depth of cement to the requisite 4 mm.

J remonstrated with me…..she measured it with a match @ 15 mm…… but I said I was doing the best I could, and she left me to it, and returned to fine tune her reticulation system. After 2 more buckets of cement, the tiles were finished and I was ready to start the step that J had designed it by using some left over edge tiles and a line of mosaic tiles in between. After laying the bottom layer of edge tiles and the line of mosaic tiles with copious amounts of cement, it was too much for J to bear, and she took over making the step……with much reduced amounts of cement.

The job was finished mid afternoon, and although it looked ok, we were uneasy at the amount of cement I had used. We went over to Tourist Information to try and get details of the Semana Santa parades here and Malaga, but they only had details for Coin.

Car Serviced

Monday 2^nd April

Another day of rain forecast with more thunderstorms. I went to see Antonio the Metalica man to ask him to make some sink brackets to my design, which he was happy to do….ready tomorrow evening. Then drove to Fuengirola to drop the car off for a full service prior to the trip home. Walked into Fuengirola to the wifi café to do e mails and picked up car at 1pm…..a very reasonable bill of 184 €.

Popped into Hypercor and El Corte Ingles to buy expensive shirts and top quality olive oil from Baena. Spent the rest of afternoon painting metal struts of porch whilst J continued with her reticulation system.

We drove over to Coin late afternoon to find Tourist Information to try and get times for Semana Santa processions , but they were closed. Shopped at Mercadona , which was packed out with shoppers going mad for the Semana Santa long weekend …Thursday – Sunday inclusive……just like Asda at Christmas at home.

Buy notched trowel !!

Sunday 1^st April

Another rainy overcast day. I spent the morning building the computer desk……rather a lot of spare bits left over. J cleaned the tiles in the upstairs bathroom with agua fuerta ….the only stuff that would shift the ingrained cement. I popped over to La Trocha in Coin to the Sunday market and bought a plasterer’s notched trowel for the shower.

After lunch, I fitted the front bedroom light and extra shelf bracket, whilst J rebuilt her reticulation network with the proper mini nozzles we got from AKI.

The drain just about coped with a thunderstorm mid afternoon, but not torrential, so remains a problema during winter storms.Thunderstorms and heavy rain overnight

Boat ride

Saturday 31^st March

J touched up the stairs and painted the dining room cupboard whilst I caught up with blog. After dumping stuff at Punto Limpio and going to see Antonio about making kitchen sink brackets, booked car in for servivio at Opel garage in Fuengirola, and then on to market. Ricardo phoned to invite us out on his boat tomorrow, but the phone cut out.

Got a few things such as a useful handy dandy tile cutter and water jug. Then on to wifi café to post blog. Midway through eating, Ricardo phones to say he was on the water and waiting for us at the Porto, so we agreed to meet him in 30 minutes.

Weather overcast and a strong wind, and sea very choppy. Waves got bigger as we went up the coast towards Marbella, and a lot of spray. Ricardo turned the boat and accelerated, nearly tipping J out of boat, and sped down wind putting boat through its paces….very fast.

After mooring about 3.30, went for a milk shake with R and family, and then back to wifi café to post blog. J unwell after milkshake. Home via Aki to get uplighter and bits , and garden centre to get a large pot to take home, and Mercadona to get food and wine.