Well maybe not as exotic as it sounds, as tomorrow I’m off to Norn Iron for a week! Just on my own this time – Peter will be busy at home doing loads more little jobs around the house, the ones that really need done but you keep putting off, and then realise once they are actually done that they’ve made a huge difference to the house. At least, I hope that’s what he’ll be doing! With any luck there will also be a new fireplace built in the sitting room. He’s finishing off stripping down a big beam of a thing back to lovely pale wood which will then become the mantelpiece. He’ll be doing a lot of picture-framing and hanging as well, I like the walls fairly covered as I think it looks more homely, and we have loads of pictures, art work and photos. I’m expecting to see a LOT of changes when I get home next week! In the meantime I just can’t wait to see Laurie and the children, roll on tomorrow! Love this photo, it makes it look as if Marshall can walk on water…!
My gardening hasn’t been the most amazing success, all my wee apple tree seedlings gave up the ghost and having tried a couple of times I’m not going to bother any more. I did also plant some tomato seeds which have come on brilliantly but I’m not sure they’ll ever amount to very much either. I’ll just concentrate on my orange and lemon trees, and vines, which are all doing very well. Joaquin is coming back this week to check our vines for us and make sure we’re looking after them properly, they seem to be flourishing at last in the lower walled garden. They’re starting to really fill out now and every week sees a blast of new growth.
Our almond trees have got lots of almonds appearing, it won’t be long before they’re ready to be harvested, then it will be the turn of the olive trees to produce.
One of the things we’ve learned when renovating an old house is to take plenty of “before”, “during” and “after” photos, as it’s all too easy to forget what the place used to look like before we tackled it! I have a stack of photos from just before we bought the house, and then during the start of the renovation process, as well as where we’re up to now. As it’s not finished, the album is not ready to file, but so far we’re actually amazed at how far we’ve some, especially when there are days we thought we were getting nowhere. We’re really looking forward to getting all the photos together when we’re just abut done, to compare what the journey’s been like so far. One of the many original features we love is the door from the kitchen through to the bodega. Funky or what? And such thick walls in this house! They keep the heat in during winter and keep us cool in the summer.
Some wee snippets now of life in Spain….I was in a lift at the health centre recently and saw this sign inside. Whose lift is it? (Not too difficult to work out)!
I absolutely LOVE doors, and find that many of my photos taken out and about seem to be all doors! Err…see our bodega door, above! Well here’s another one well worth a look, our farmacia in Fortuna, isn’t it lovely!
A quick note about my sort-of-okay baking skills. One of our favourite restaurants locally produces the most delicious three chocolate tart. I can’t describe it, it’s simply fabulous. Biscuit base then layers of dark, milk and white chocolate sort of thick mousse. I found a recipe and had a go, and it turned out really well, I surprised myself! I have to wait until we’re expecting visitors, to make it, as we couldn’t eat a whole one ourselves, could we?!
This fabulous liqueur is the same flavour as the delicious Portuguese custard tarts. Now I can make the custard tarts, they’re a bit fiddly but they are very more-ish. That liqueur comes direct from Portugal, very quickly, and it’s like drinking the flavour of the weenie tarts. Just lovely! As for the tarts, here’s some….along with shortbread and apple crumble, I kind of went a bit mad on the baking practice! Oh, I’ve just realised that the photo of the liqueur includes some custard creams in a jar, can you tell I love custard?!
Yes, the husband managed to demolish half the apple crumble fairly quickly!
I did mention last time how important it is to have good neighbours, and really, by neighbours I mean that extends to everyone where you live. When the town hall wants to address its residents, it starts the message by using the word “vecinos” which, literally translated means “neighbours”. Very inclusive, I think, makes us all feel part of the same big extended family, where we hope we all look out for each other. On the basis of you tend to get back what you give out, the other day I was at our local filling station where the staff are really helpful and friendly, they’re also a parcel delivery point which is great when you live in the middle of nowhere and delivery companies won’t come to the house! Anyhow, I was on my way home after filling up the car when I got a message from Antonio to say my bank card was at the filling station. I was surprised as Antonio hadn’t been at work when I was there, it had been Raul there that afternoon. I turned round and went back to the filling station, where Raul handed me my bank card. I’d accidentally dropped it on the ground beside the car without noticing. Now, Raul didn’t have a phone number for me but he knew that Antonio did, so he called him and Antonio called me. Lovely, lovely thing to do, I was so grateful and I’m really happy to know such lovely, caring people!
We went over to Lorca not so long ago, it’s a lovely town but was hit badly by a 5.1 earthquake in 2011, and is still recovering. There were eight fatalities and much structural damage to buildings. We do get earthquakes here in Spain from time to time but thankfully they are usually small and leave little to no damage. You can check out where and when they strike on http://www.ign.es then click on the box that says “Terremotos”. We had never really had a proper look round Lorca, and were delighted to find an artisan outlet, which is stocked by various artists and craft people from the area. They have an amazing range of goods, from ceramics to jewellery, to fabrics, to art works. There’s also a great castle and Parador hotel in Lorca, and a good range of galleries and museums as well as other shopping outlets and, of course, great restaurants for tapas and more. Well worth a visit, so much to see! There are often similar artisan centres to be found in many towns in Spain, we love to just wander round and admire the work, and we rarely come away empty handed!
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I have a whole list of things to tell you about more happenings to do with our lovely life here in Spain but time is running away with me and I need to check my packing is in order for my trip tomorrow so got to go and get ready!
Well I think we might start with the bad, as I’d hate to end this blog on a negative note! Bureaucracy. Specifically, bureaucracy in Spain.. If those of you who are in the UK or elsewhere think that the administrative red tape is bad where you are, you ain’t seen nothing till you experience it in Spain! They do have a bit of a system which means you can get a digital signature onto your computer/phone/laptop etc which allegedly allows you to access your information via numerous government departments such as the health service, traffic branch and so on. It’s bound to be a vast improvement on the previous/current system. For example, the last time I was in the traffico office in the city to change an address for driving licence and car, we had to take a numbered ticket and wait. Eventually our number was called and we went to the desk where a “computer says no” type glumly started putting the information into her PC. Finally she told us to take a ticket from a different machine and wait till it was called. So, more hanging around in a room full of people, with limited seats. Every time someone’s number was called and they stood up to approach the counter, there was a rush and a scrabble towards the vacant seat. A bit like musical chairs for grownups. Finally our number was called and we approached the desk. Right next to the one we’d just been to. The previous member of staff reached over and handed a paper to her colleague, where we were waiting. The colleague typed something on her computer, printed it out, and we were done. Good grief – the staff don’t talk to each other so how can we expect the computers to do so?! Anyhow, I gather that with a digital signature thing we can do all this sort of stuff at home now, online, in the middle of the night, in our jammies. Let’s see if it works!
Meanwhile….
One of the most difficult beaurocratic elements I’ve encountered so far is via the Correos Aduanas, or customs. In short, when you order something from a country outside the EU you may be required to pay import tax, administration tax, and either your right or your left arm – you choose. Well, maybe not the latter, but the route to freeing up that parcel of lovely cosmetics you ordered from USA, for example, is going to cost you severely in time, energy and money.
I’m not the most stupid person on the planet, but even a para legal I went to see couldn’t understand what it was that the customs department actually wanted, and that’s their job! Eventually, with the help of a friend who is fluent in Spanish, we managed to work out exactly what information was required by Correos/Aduanas,and sent everything off via email.. Then came the instructions as to how to complete the next set of forms. Guess what? They wanted all the information again, in spite of having previously recorded it on their system.
Well I have read all the information, and it seems there is no difference between wanting to “import” lipstick and eyeshadow, and several tons of office equipment/live animals/plants/whatever. I have now lost the will to live and I reckon Correos Aduanas can just bleeping well send the stuff back to the seller and I will get a refund somewhere long the line.
It’s really not rocket science – for small personal purchases it would be so much easier for the customs gnomes to just look at the package, write out how much they want you to pay, have you pay and collect it at the post office and then the post office can forward the money to customs. Far too complicated a plan, don’t you think?! It would make everyone’s life so much easier, including the lovely staff at our local post office who are always more than willing to help.
Next on the “bad” list is this. See that photo, above? That’s genuine water running from the tap in the ensuite bathroom. I’m bringing it to your attention because it can be a bit of a hit and miss affair here, that is, getting any water at all to come out of the taps! We’re the last house on our road, at the top of the hill, or the first, depending on how you look at it – the house used to be number 1 but is now number 14, the first shall be last and all that! This means that when anyone on the road below us is using their taps there isn’t enough pressure to shove the water on up the hill to our house. It usually only means about ten or fifteen minutes of nothing coming out of the taps but you never know when it’s going to happen and how long it’s going to last. We have a kind of an idea most evenings if Carmelo from the house down below our driveway is watering his plants, as he tends to have a bit of a routine so around the same time every evening for about fifteen minutes. Since the next two houses down the road from us have been renovated for holiday and weekend use, the demands on the water system are now even greater. To be honest it’s not the biggest problem in the world but when you have the washing machine or dishwasher on and go to empty them and find they’re flashing “H2O” it’s a bit of a pain because it means there’s no water getting through. Same if you’re in the middle of a shower or whatever – suddenly there’s no water, or it’s such a little trickle that it’s not enough to fire the boiler, so it’s a wee cold drubble need to get the shower gel and shampoo off. AAAARRRRGGGHHH! We really just have to put up with it, it isn’t the biggest hardship in the world, just a real pain in the posterior. Never our lovely neighbours’ fault, it’s the antiquated water system. We live in an old Roman spa area and I know the Romans were able to make water flow uphill, but the method seems to have been forgotten! Maybe some day they’ll install a better pumping system round our way.
Here’s one that’s really ugly, really bad, and then turns into something much better…it’s very tempting to buy from advertisements you see on Facebook,especially as some of the clothes shown are just beautiful. However, you need to be aware that about 99% of them are from rogue Chinese companies and what you will receive, if anything, will bear no resemblance at all to what was advertised. I have ordered things a couple of times but got bitten the last time, over a coat which was just gorgeous. It came, well, something came but it certainly didn’t look anything like the one I’d ordered! Very cheap, flimsy material and very poorly stitched together. So, contact made with the company, great apologies from them, oh yes I could return it but I would have to pay postage (err, I don’t think so!), so instead of all that fuss, and because they’re so sorry I was disappointed, would I be willing to accept a refund of 10% of the order and keep the goods? I flipping well would not, as the “coat” actually cost me €80 including postage, so “compensation” of €8 wasn’t going to touch it! Eventually I made the claim via Paypal, and within an hour got a message to say the full amount, including the postage costs, would be refunded to my bank account, which indeed it was, 3 days later. I did complain to Facebook but actually they don’t care about shady practice or downright criminal activity as long as they are getting paid for the adverts.
So, the moral of this tale is always, ALWAYS pay via Paypal. If a company doesn’t offer this option – don’t buy. In fact, don’t buy anyway, chances are you won’t get what you think you ordered. I left the coat into a charity shop – I’m sure somone will like it and it ended up costing me nothing after all.
Facebook is full of these kind of adverts, and the worst are the ones pretending to be from genuine, high-end companies. Here’s an exmple including their blurb about why you can buy everything at Zara Home with at least 80% discount – err, don’t think so, very fake picture! Around Christmas you will be swamped with adverts for things like the Chanel Christmas calendar – a big box of full-size Chanel items to open, from 1st to 24th December. They are offered for sale for around £9.99 but you have to ask yourself, would Chanel be selling these? Of course not! Another example of frankly criminal behaviour which Facebook not only doesn’t ban, but actively supports by charging the rogue companies for advertising.
“Due to a significant decrease in profits in the previous quarter, we have decided to adjust our sales strategy for the next quarter and close some stores. To clear the inventory of these stores, we will sell them at a 80% discount. This is a rare opportunity, don’t miss it.”
Of course it’s all nonsense – don’t be fooled into parting with your money. Facebook won’t help, and if you DO order, please at least make sure you pay via Paypal so you can get a refund.
Okay, now on to the good stuff! Our list of jobs to do around the house is gradually shrinking, at last. There are only a couple of major things to finish off, like building the new fireplace, finishing the electics, ripping out the old downstairs bathroom and fitting a new one. The little jobs actually seem to take up more time and effort. Like a new handle for the back door. Seems an easy task, but the handles need to be small enough so that the shutter on the half door can open and close properly. It is a hatefully frustrating thing to try to find, for some reason, and it looks like we might just give in and source via Amazon as I’m sick of driving round places with no result.
The next room to get the makeover treatment will be Peter’s art studio. It’s currently a repository for things we have no “home” for, but is also full of art materials in great numbers. We have bought storage units and need to now choose basket things to hold brushes, paints etc so we know that everything is at hand. The flue from the log burner in the snug goes up through the floor of the studio and then through the ceiling and the roof, and fitting the flue, cementing it in, waterproofing etc all took a bit of time and made the sorting of the studio a lower priority. We’ve been trawling Pinterest for ideas as to how to make the most of the fairly decent space in the room, and websites like the one above are great for inspiration. The only problem is that once you get into Pinterest you can’t get out again, it’s the best “rabbit hole” in the world!
Here’s something I hope will make you laugh, a drink I found, but haven’t tried yet, called “Heave”. Now I also read it like “Eh-a-bay” as it would be pronounced in Spanish, I’m just used to doing that after all these years here, but if it’s pronounced in English the way it’s written, well, I only hope it doesn’t do exactly what it says on the tin!
A bit of the ugly coming up….mainly to do with local online forums. I am a member of a couple of these, as well as Facebook. The local ones were initially very useful when I came to Spain, as there was plenty of good advice as to where to find things, who to use for different services and so on. In recent years forums seem to have attracted more and more of the less desirable types, that is, those who simply join in order to stir up trouble for other people. They must get some kind of pleasure from it but I think it only shows the rest of us how sad, jealous and unfulfilled they really are. I know I’ve written about this before but I feel so sorry for them, they have unhappy lives and can’t bear anyone else to be happy. One irrelevant little nobody made a comment, on a public forum, about when we bought our house. The comment was “I really admire people who buy and try to do up old cheap houses”. Since most of us have been well aware of this person’s inability to say anything nice about anybody at all, we all knew it was a not-at-all-disguised barb. The thing is, every time we now hear the words “old”, and “cheap” we instantly think of them! Makes us laugh, anyway! It also beats me how those who scream the loudest telling others to “Be kind” are very often the same ones who make nasty little comments about everyone else. Dearie me they’d all be better just sorting themselves out and trying to make their lives better instead of staying jealous of others. Sad little people, aren’t they? As I’ve said before, the answer is to never respond to eejits like this, “silence is the best response to a fool”. Really we just find people like that are to be pitied, we do feel sorry for them. When they get really angry it’s a bit like watching Rumplestiltskin stamping his little feet, makes us all laugh even more!
To change to much better news, we were out for lunch last week with our friends David and Violet. We always meet up when they come over on holiday to Guardamar, and we have a great lunch in an excellent Chinese restaurant. The craic was mighty, as usual, and we sent a very pleasant time eating, drinking, sharing photos and generally putting the world to rights. It’s always lovely to meet up with friends from home and hear all the news. Err, I think you can tell what a feast we had! Just as well that when we’re out for a big lunch that’s all we have for the day – not that anything else is needed later!
Last word coming up – if you’ve stuck with this so far then give yourselves a pat on the back!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again about how lucky we are to have such lovely neighbours, and here’s another wee example from yesterday. I made a batch of wheaten loaves for our neighbours,and Peter set off down the hill to deliver themwhile they were still warm. It gave him a chance to stretch his legs too as he’s been up a ladder for the last couple of days treating the beams in the snug, then painting them, plus the walls and up the stairs as far as the first landing. (These “old, cheap houses” need a lot of tender loving care!) So, first call was to Maria Jose and Epi. They were enjoying a drink outside with Juan from next door. Nothing would do them but Peter would join them for a drink, in spite of him very obviously, given what he was wearing, having an afternoon’s painting session! One beer later, some wheatens delivered, it was off down the hill a bit further to Felipe’s house, and Alfredo next door. Again, he was absolutely forced to enjoy a cold beer in the heat of the day, and was then sent back home with a rather lovely bottle of Asturian white wine courtesy of Alfredo and his wife. If we go out in the car it’s often enough to wave on the way past, but if we happen to be walking down the road to leave in some wheatens and lemon curd there’s no getting away for a while! The hospitality here is wonderful, it’s so like Norn Iron, and is, without doubt, one of the absolute best things of life in Spain. Cheers!
My life in Spain 