The cost of rail travel

,To get my flight to Liverpool I went from Coimbra by high speed train. The return flight from Liverpool doesn't give me a lot of time after landing to get from the Metro at the airport to the station that takes me Back to Coimbra before the last train has gone. I found that shortly after midnight there is the first train south to Lisboa.

I went to the ticket office to book my tickets and as I am now a pensioner I get what is called a Seniors rate. To travel from Coimbra B station to Campanha in Porto where I get the Metro for the rest of the journey. I also booked my ticket back on the train after midnight on the 1st September. The total cost even with my special rate for being a Senior was 11.75€. Yes that is correct 11.75€ now compare that to the cost of rail travel in the UK and if that's not a bargain then I don't know what is.

I needed to take an early morning train in Liverpool and as it was before 9.30 am I had to pay. The journey was about 5mile or  8 kilometres and the cost was £3.00 or 4€. When you think of the cost of travelling from Coimbra to Porto and back only cost 11.75€ the cost here in Liverpool was to to much but it's how it is here in the UK.

The photo below shows the UK cost of a short trip. The bottom picture show the cost of two trips in Portugal, big difference. 

Driving to the station and boy was it hot

Well I am back in Liverpool, am I a fool when it's so warm in sunny Portugal. As I was driving from my home to Coimbra to get the train to the airport I looked at the instrument display on my car and it said the outside temperature was 37.5c. I stopped to take a picture for my Blog but try as I may I can't find a way from my IPad to put a picture for you to see. Maybe I will have to wait till I get back home. For now you will have to take my word that it was 37.5c while driving to Coimbra. At last I found an App so I can now insert pictures from my IPad.

Sun and blue skies and August

It's sunny still no rain and nothing but blue skies what a problem to have. Today i went down into town and almost every parking space was taken even the two spots outside of the Farmacia. I had a prescription and needed to get somewhere to park so i could get into the Farmacia.

This time of year people who own homes here come back for the month of August also the motorbike festival is on and that packs another 10,000 plus into an already packed town. The village i live in has also been invaded with already 5 families and more to come i am sure.

This year a number of bars have built outside seating areas and it certainly has made the town look so much better. The beach bar was  great on the night of the Firework display. So what do i care i am going back to Liverpool to baby sit my granddaughter and that's worth more than staying here in the sun and busy town.

I started this post because of the amout of sun we have had snce about March. While reading the BBC news in the section for Health i found an amusing story andi have included a link to the story. The story is about people in the UK needing to take vitamin D because of the lack of Sun. Well all i can say is i get more than i need with sun from morning till night.

Everyone should consider taking vitamin D supplements to counter the lack of sunshine in the UK, government experts are proposing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33757929 

Almost finished now just the varnish

Most people but not all who move from the UK to another country to live  have dreams of how live should and will be. Well i am no different i have made the move and i have taken the opportunity  to create a home of my dreams.

I have said before " If you can dream it you can do it, just believe " The picture below is my latest project but really one of many i have on the go. As you walk into the lounge ahead of you is the wall space under where the stars are and i came up with a shelf unit.

Shelves i am good at but i want a unique look, not just anything you can get at B&Q or Ikea but something different.

I hope that my projects have given someone else an idea to do something different and unique to them. It's easy to come up with an idea but without the experience it sometimes proves a little difficult but don't give up find a way.

This is before i put 4 coats of varnish, the varnish will also bring out the colour or the Chestnut timber .

This picture is to give an idea of how the unit should look when varnished and fitted into place.

Iraq ????

I have wondered for days how to write this. No country has bothered me as much as when i saw a reader from Iraq. Iraq now is a country torn apart by war and now with IS its still a very dangerous place to be. Diplomats and rich Oil executives live in there own little protected world of work, meetings, parties ect.

So who would be reading my humble writing on my Blog, probably the guys who provide what's called Close Protection. Paid body guards, paid good money to risk there lives just to look afters others. I had a family member who wanted to do such work and i was sad to here what he wanted to do but sometimes it's not up to me to try and change someones mind.

This time i got the pic's i wanted

A year or two ago while having a coffee at the local garage i watched a local bike race go past. I had my camera with me so knowing a side road i tried to get ahead of the pack to take some pictures. No i didn't get in front as they where just to quick but it was worth a try.

Last Friday the bike race was on again but this time i was half way up a long hill where the riders where due to come down. As i turned abend a Police motorbike stopped me and told me to pull over and wait.

The uphill section after you pass Bordeiro is long and for about 4k and is very steep and winding.

 This is a long donwhill section coming down into Arganil. For those who know this is the just before the turn for O Vaso.

This guy even has time to wave little does he know he is on my Blog worldwide.

He may not have a chance of winning but he still fights on and good luck tohim

Don't be afraid to ask

A while ago i told you about an engineering firm who when asked did a job for me there and then and the charge was only 5€. I am never amazed any more at the amazing service i have found in my 4 years living here in Portugal.

Today again i had another experience that confirms that my move was the best thing i did. Close by to me is a shop called Ovaso a mini type B&Q shop. I need a cutting tool for my router so i could carry on making my window moulding. In Ovaso here is one member of staff who speaks good English and is more than happy to help.

All i could find was full boxes of 24 different types of cutters. I ask if they could get one for me after showing the one i wanted to the assistant and he just opened the box and took the one i wanted out and sold it to me. It saved me the trouble of buying a box of 12 assorted just to get the one i wanted. Moral of this tale don't be afraid to ask.

It's silly season time again

Today while having a coffee at our usual bar we watched as the local fire fighters the  Bombeiros who are all volunteers went of to fight another forest fire. I went to visit friends and we sat and watched as the fire fighting planes came overhead to go and fill up with more water and then return to carry on trying to control the fire.

We counted 5 planes in total by reading on the side of the planes there registration number plain to read as they where flying very low.

On my way home i turned a very sharp bend in the road and he road was almost blocked by bystanders wanting to watch the planes coming in to drop the water. From the first picture i couldn't get back to a point where the road was almost blocked. It was a pity that the people stood watching didn't think about those who just wanted to get on with there journey.

The second, third and fourth picture is of the fire behind the trees, sorry but you can only see the smoke. The last picture is taken from my veranda and if you look close you can see one of the planes just above the tree line.  All done by mostly a volunteer force.

The last local fire had over 200 fire fighters, 4 planes, 59 fire engine and an unknown number of helicopters. It has been reported that this fire was stared by a man aged 22 years who is now in Police custody. Todays fire was on one of the hottest days this year reported to be about 40c.

Door frame done now the windows.

The door into the lounge has now been covered in beautiful Chestnut timber.

After the timber was cut to size the hard part was sanding down with fine sandpaper and the a coat of varnish. This was done three times to give a rich finish to the timber. 









It's a long slow process planning, finding the timber from my own stck and getting extra from Chicco for longer bits i don't have.

The beauty of the hinges in Portugal is that you can lift of the windows without unscrewing the hing. It's now down to cutting the  edging and to creating the moulding profile. The part that takes the time is waiting for each coatof varnish to fry before preparing for the next coat

Bathroom done well almost

I am coming to the end of making myself a luxury bathroom. Perhaps luxury is not quite the right word as my bathroom is little more than the size of small cupboard. But it's mine and it is how i wanted it to be a beautiful wet room I still have some minor bits to finish but the enclosed pictures show just how the work given me just what i wanted.

Above is where i used to have a door way into the old bathroom until to took it down and moved the new timber wall out by about 5 inch's. All timber used was from my own stock i found in the cellar when i moved into my house. Laminated glass for safety and covered with a modesty film for privacy.

Four LED lights give the perfect light cover and just look at my shelf no bracket but best of all no wall cabinet full of junk. I opted for a shower like the kind you use for washing your hair but mine has a bracket above the mirror where the shower head is fitted before being put away.

Lastly in front of my Loo are three mirrors to finish what was going to be a blank wall. So apart from the last job that is a new window for the outside wall that has been delayed all is now done.

Perfect service at the doctors

I have a little tale to tell that happened to me today. I had a need to go to see my doctor and went to make an appointment. Before I had time to sit down and read my Kindle while I waited the nurse came out for me to give some information name, a Date of birth etc. the computer the nurse was using must be connected to the Doctors computer. While the nurse was checking the water sample I had to give the doctor came in and asked me some questions. When finished the doctor asked to to go into her room after the consultation I was out after less than 20 minutes.

The cost to see the doctor was 5€ and the prescription cost was 7.01€. Now to me that is reasonable even on market day when the town is busy with people coming in from all the local villages.

If you consider that in the UK getting an appointment was getting almost impossible at times. The medical service here in my little place in the sun is far above what I expected before I made the move almost 4 years ago.

Just a bit of fun

While i was in Liverpool i was lucky to see lots of my  grandson. We went out one day to the Spaceport on the banks of the river Mersey opposite the Pier Head in Liverpool. There was lots to see and even i learnt lots about space and the Uinverse.

There is a ride that is a flight simulater, i thoughtit would be good but after going on the one in Orlando i didn't expect that this one would be as good but it was every bit as good.

I if you have been on a flight simulater you will know just how much it jerks about. Well it was not easy to sit and hild a camera to record the ride but i did. I have put the video on Youtube and there is a link below and i do hopw you will enjoy it as much as i did filming it so please take the time to view video.

It may be an idea to turn the sound down as it is a bit loud.

http://youtu.be/Q0HWUkMv2DY

Just my bad luck

While in Liverpool i called a local radio station to thank the presenter for announcing my Mum's 90th birthday. At the end of the conversation I was asked to stay on the line by the presenter who's name is Pete Price for those who may be from or know Liverpool.

The presenter has a spot on a Sunday night called Expats Abroad i was asked if i would like to talk about my life here in Portugal. I would be  more than happy to speak about my new life here in the Sun so i said yes i would be happy to. It was arranged for the Wednesday after I arrived home from my trip to Liverpool. Wednesday came and I received the call as arranged at 3pm. We spoke for over twenty minutes and at the end of the call Pete the presenter said that he would play the whole of the conversation without any need for cuts.

Sunday night came and try as I may I couldn't get the radio station to work on my Laptop, my Desktop and also my Ipad. I can only think that the station blocks access from outside of the UK but i run software that hides my country location. So is it because I don't run my computers using Windows it is a problem that I need to get to the bottom of but i will find out why i couldn't get the rado station to work.

The trip home and costs.

Now time to settle down and catch up with tha last few weeks. It all startedwhen i went ack to Liverpool for my Mum's 90 birthday but now back to driving back to Portugal.

About the drive and costs involved for a 1,400 mile journey.

I drive a car with a Autogas conversion fitted, this was fitted a little after the car was a year old. I have enjoyed driving over 165,000 miles on fuel that costs less than half price.

I filled my 60 litre tank for £34 and started my drie down to Brighton to fill up before i boarded the ferry to Dieppe and the drive home to Portugal. Before i left Liverpool i downloaded all the stops on my route for filling up with Gas along my route. I choose to drive the whole journey of the motorways and to enjoy the drive through the countryside. Well that was the plan so read on.

Next to me waiting to fill up is this Amazing motorbike n Liverpool and after this the long drive starts.













The drivedown to Brighton went well without any problem until i arrived to fill up using my new bank card. My card has been changed from a Visa card to a Mastercard and i arrived at the only autogas garage in the Brighton/ Newhaven area so i had to use the last of my UK £'s because there was a problem with Mastercard what a start to a long journey.

I arrived in France with my Euro's and my UK Visa Card. I headed towards Le Mans for my first fuel stop but on my way i saw an Autogas gagage so i stopped to fill up. That is where things went wrong . Most of the garages are open 24 hours a day and have no staff all you do is use your card but French gaages don't use Mastercards. Next trip i will be running with plenty of cash to avoid cad problems.

What you see here is a sculpture that is  24 meters high and weighting 20 tonnes which is made by using metal and coloured concrete with seven historical cars wrapped around a forearm, the roundabout is in the city of Châtellerault.








Because of the problem getting gas during the night after getting cash i went onto the motorway because i could then get gas without ant card issues. After getting a full tank i was safe now to get about over 300 miles plus from my tankful. Now it was back to getting of the motorway and to enjouying the drive.

This is what driving through France is all about tree lined avenues going of into the distance. Roads like this where common and where a pleasure to drive on.











While driving in the direction of Bordeaux i saw this small local airport.

Well this is a different way to advertise an airport and just look at the clear blue sky.














Finding autogas in Spain is no problem and one place i know very well is in a place called Salamanca.

On the way into Salamanca is a scrap yard and this one has an old Dakota plane pity the car is in the way. Again clear blue skies just like home.











The cost of the trip home was as follows and for a total 1406 miles.

Liverpool fuel             53.41€
Autogas                    131.00€
Tolls                           32.42€
Overnight and food   50.00€

The cost from Portsmouth to Santander ferry would have been 520€ and still another 450 miles to home at probably another 100€ so as you can see 263€ agains over 600€ and with the ferry you get nothing to see apart from water.

A welcome bit of news.

Since i arrived on Monday i haven't had any time to myself. I brought back so much i am still unpacking and putting things away. I bumped into a friend while in town and had alittle catch up, it seems that he has set up a website called www.dirtbikeportugal.com

I have known Simon for a long time and knew he was a biker but this is a welcome surprise so good luck Simon.

Please take the time to click on the link that can be found on the left of the screen.

New Spices

For those who also follow my Spices Blog I have just updated it with the new Spices I will be bringing with me when I leave Liverpool sometime in the coming days.

I look forward to seeing you at the coming Markets at both Miranda and Barril

To find my Spice Blog just Google Iberianspices and the Blog will come up. Soon as I can I will put a link here so you can go my this Blog direct to my Spice Blog.

A day out with Sean.

While here in Liverpool I have  been lucky to have spent a lot of time with my two grandchildren Sean and Chelsee. I normally see them on FaceTime on my IPad but to see them as much as I have will make going home to Portugal that bit harder.

Today I went out with Sean to pass a card to be passed to a friend who is ill. We got to go to my favourite gun shop even though now you can't buy pistols due to Tony the Tory needing to get the votes at the next election. My gun of choice was always a pistol and when the law took my guns i lost a passtime i was very fond of.  Had i known about the type of pistols pictured below i would have been able to carry on shooting till i moved to Portugal

 Below is my grandson Sean showing of the extended pistols i could have been shooting. I have Blured out Sean's face because some people may not be to happy with me taking my grandson to see guns and to hold them as well.

kbnn

And the speed goes bump.

Here in Liverpool and I am sure all over the UK there is a growing pest and one I hate. I may be wrong but the pest breeds at night and in the cold light of day there offspring are soon to be found in the early morning and nothing can be done they are in place.

This pest leaves roads blocked but passable, I have seen four or five near Miranda do Corvo and Serpins and this road at Serpins has now been spoilt so long as no more appear.

The pest in question is an old one and one I have disliked for a long time and had hopped I had left them behind when I moved.

This pest is one I have mentioned before it's called speed bumps. I gave up driving like a lunatic many years ago and don't need these pests popping up all over the place.

Even the Bulls get in the story

Coming out of Bordeaux i had no idea of my next city i had to travel to next as i now had no satnav. I saw a sign for Nants only to find after a stop at Mcdonalds where i could access the free wifi. I found i was well of route by 46km i should have gone heading to Poitiers not Nants. The hard part without a map was crossing a city to find the next road on my route. At Mcdonalds i copied down my route Poitiers - Tours - Le Mans - Alencon - Rouen - Dieppe.

Since i arrived back in Liverpool i have now got myself a new satnav for my return home.

My first fuel stop was before i got to the border with Spain, Ok if the garage was open. I waited as i wanted travel with a full take of gas, while waiting i read my Kindle suddenly i heard a noise and looking out i saw a horse by my window.

This horse is not something you find wandering along a road at the side of a garage but it soon wandered of.












Passing through a part of Spain where the bulls are breed for the Bull ring i saw at the side of the motorway some bulls.

These are the bulls that are used to breed the fighting bulls.













More later about airplanes parked up on a pole.

Roundabout in Châtellerault

It's a long time since i passed my friving test in fact now 47 years. I have been lucky to have enjoyed every minute of my many yearsof driving. I have just arrived back in Liverpool to help celebrate my Mum's 90th birthday and also i drove back from Portugal to Liverpool. One thing spoint the drive was when my satnav failed on me as i got to Bordeaux in the south of france. With having no maps apart from a faulty satnav i had to just get on with the rest of the drive.

I came upon this amazing roundabout midway from Poitiers and Tours at a place called Châtellerault. I avoided travelling on the motorways and made a trip of going on the Main roads. Roads lined with trees along both sides and beautiful villages.

The picture if of a roundabout at Châtellerault, this picture is from the internet as driving around the roundabout twice i couldn't find a place i could stop to talk a picture.

Door frame finished

This is the last job to be done for a while, i am going back to the UK early Saturday morning to a 90th Birthday party.

I finished making the door frame for my bathroom. Unlike the UK where you can go just about anywhere to buy a door frame. I am sure should i look i could get door frames here but not in beautiful Chestnut so i just had to make my own. Tools out and get started, in the UK a frame comes ready to fit but i had a trip to Chicco to get some wood first. I am running low on my own stocks of Chestnut so it was time to buy some more.

While using my router to make some moldings i had an accident when a molding bit snapped and it just flew of but it could have hit me, how lucky was I.

After two days all the frame was complete, varnished and job done, it really is better to do a job yourself at the end of the day i know it's done right.

I won't hang the door till the bathroom is finished and maybe that won't take to long if i can use a pump to increase my water pressure.

More preparation being done

Sometimes there seems no point in writing on my Blog when all i have done is preparation work. In the last week 4 apple and 2 pear trees have been planted but as the land is almost as hard as concrete planting 6 trees was not easy but it's done.

The Chestnut door frames are now finished and ready to be fitted tomorrow and again all timber cut by my friendly timber guy Chicco.

My main problem i have found is storage, i have a nice big dry cellar but i need storage in the house. I am going to make a cupboard space under the stairs. I have a floating glass shelf in the bathroom and shelves without brackets in the kitchen. So under the stairs means i must do something out of the ordinary, something to challenge me and again out of Chestnut.

I still need an answer to my shower problem, my water pressure is to low for the unit i wanted to fit and i want something unique to me. For now it's just a shower attachment but as they say Rome wasn't built in a day.

Busy playing with more timber.

I am busy making a door frame out of my favourite timber Chestnut for the bathroom. It's easy in the UK you just go and buy a door frame but here i have chosen to use Chestnut because of the look of this beautiful timber and again it's Chicco who does all  the cutting for me. I use a router to make all my own mouldings for the frame but on Thursday one of my router bits broke off while the router was at full speed. This was the first time i nearly had an accident while working in my workshop thankfully nothing happened. Now all i need to do is to finish sanding and varnish and that's the frame finished.

The door for the bathroom is one that was on the kitchen before i started building work. This door is just a little to big so it will need to be cut down before i can fit it. I think i will strip the door before i mount it and give it a good coat of paint first then i will fit the new door.

Disaster from a simple silly mistake.

I have been working hard to finish my bathroom for the last month. Knowing to fit my shower unit to the wall i would have to drill the wall to put in mounting brackets i took photos so i knew where i would have to avoid the water pipes.

All the time there is dust in the air and every time i clean shortly after everywhere is covered again. Now the bathroom is near completion i had hopes  a clean dust free house until today.

Today i installed all the fillings for the pipe works to be connected for the shower, sink and toilet. I started early and as you can see from the first picture i knew how the pipes went even though they where covered in the wall.

 The centre pipes are for the shower unit and the pipes on the left are for the sink.





















This bathroom has been a long time coming and i even have underfloor heating so in the winter i don't have to walk on cold tiles.

This picture shows the wall finished and ready for the shower unit to be fitted. The other walls are finished and ready until i drilled a hole in the wrong place and drilled through a water pipe even though i had planned with before pictures to help.
















I took this picture while i was cutting away to expose the damaged pipe. When fully exposed a local plumber is coming back to repair the pipe. 

After drilling a hole in this pipe i sat to consider how i was to repair the damage, i was at the lowest point i have been while living in Portugal. I went for a coffee with other Brits before our language class and the offers of help and even somewhere to stay because my water was off made me realise how lucky i was. One friend while we where taking called the plumber to arrange for him to come and repair the pipe for me.











While doing the bathroom i had put on hold on other jobs and the one i was looking forward to  was to finish my TV unit but for now it's going to have to wait a bit longer.

8 sockets and that's just for the TV unit

Over the last few weeks most of what i have been doing can't be seen. I have been laying in the cable for the bedroom i will build up in the loft. While doing this i have lay in the cable also for the Internet. There is a speed drop from a cable connection to a Wifi connection. This speed drop may only be about 4/5% but when your speed is only 0.7 mbps 4/5% is a lot so that's why i have lay in the cable for my Internet. Also when my bedroom is finished i will have a new Smart TV that will be connected to the Internet and i need every bit of speed i can get.

Under my TV unit i have installed 8 sockets plus Internet cable sockets where i can connect up my kitchen TV and bedroom TV to my router. I have 8 sockets because of all the power supplies phone, routers, TV, desktop etc so plenty of sockets planned and installed early.

More shelves and how to do it

When i started to build my kitchen i planned to keep everything simple. I would never need extra sockets because i fitted 11 double sockets.

I would have no worry of someone drilling into the walls to fit something and hit a water pipe or electric cable. All cable comes up from the cellar below and so does the water pipes, so no danger from someone drilling into something in the wall.

This is a shelf unit i built and finished a while ago. I did it all with shelf brackets on show. The pictures below show just how it was done.

The important thing doing shelving this was is the marking out before you start drilling. I had put in the wall socket a long time ago before i decided to put more shelves up.

The rear of the shelf has to be drilled so it can be mounted on the bracket. It is critical that the hole for the bracket is drilled accurately so that the shelf looks straight and square. The bracket can be seen below the socket.

I hope this picture shows just how it as all done.

Finished and all my bits that had been around the worktop now have a place. This is not something you can just go to B&Q or Ikea this has come about from me wanting something unique. I had plenty of a beautiful  Chestnut hardwood and a dream of something different and here it is my kitchen shelves done.

So if you can dream it believe me you can do it, just believe.

Now for a warm under floor in the bathroom.

The beauty of being single and retired is i can work at my own pace. The surface of the bathroom being concrete meant that it was not a smooth finish. After waiting for the floor to dry i brushed the floor every day for a week and each time i ended up with more dust and bits from the floor. Today i started to cover the floor with foil to stop the heat going down into the floor but instead up into the tiles.

This was after the first of the foil was put down. To locate the foil i put silicon down so that as i worked on the floor the foil would not move. To make sure that i had done a good job i then put another layer of foil and again silicon to hold it all in place.

Now the under floor system is down and plugged in to test and it worked first time. Now time to tile but that's for another day











This is not the first time i have used this system.  I first did a bathroom in my home in New Brighton across the river from Liverpool. Then when we built a conservatory again i used the same system because it just works.There are two systems one with a digital timer and the other with just a switch. I used the simple switch tha as i came out of my bedroom i would switch it on and by the time i was ready to get a shower the floor was nice and warm.

When i moved to a house in Liverpool this time we built a new bathroom so we could use the existing bathroom as a bedroom turning a two bed house into a three bedroom house.  The bathroom and kitchen both had underfloor heating fitted and again it just worked each and very time.

When it cam to doing this bathroom in my new home it was obvious to use the same system i had used many times before. This system comes from Wicks in the UK and it's a 300 model meaning it used 300w of power per hour. This means you can have it on for well over 3 hours for only one unit of electric  so the cost to run is very reasonable.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Tiles/Underfloor-Heating/Loose-Wire-Heating-Systems/c/1000882

Readers from more countries.

Looking at the stats of my Blog i get to see where everybody is viewing from. One regular reader is in the British Virgin Isles until today. Today the reader was in the US Virgin Isles until a short while ago when i noticed another new country to add to my list of countries where i have readers. Antigua & Barbuda and also the US Virgin Isles are the latest to add to the many countries on this planet where i have viewers.

Today 2nd March we have someone from Serbia so now about 80 countries have someone viewing my Blog.

Today 3rd March  yet another country we have someone reading from and this time we have Panama No81.

Today 6th March now Kenya we really are covering the world.

Today 17th March now Georgia from what was part of Russia.

Today  22nd March now Curaçao  is an  island in the southern Caribbean Sea.

Today 27th April now we have Iraq and Estonia.

Today 28th April now  Ecuador has joined the family of readers of my Blog thank you all well almost all.

Today the 10th September I have a reader from Macedonia (FYROM)

Today 30th April we have a reader from  El Salvador now just how many more countries can find my Blog.

We really do get read worldwide

LED lights and what to do with them

Trying to do so much is often  a difficult task even for me.  While i have been waiting for the concrete to dry in the bathroom i have been getting on with a few other jobs. One job was to install the LED lights under my TV unit. I have two Routers but as they where second hand when i got them i don't have a guide to run my wood against so i had to make my own. About two years ago i got myself a LED light unit from Ikea but didn't have a use for it until now.

Without the guide to run the wood against i had to make my own. Because i already had my shelf units for my TV unit i had to practise to make sure i could make the cuts i wanted without doing any damage to my shelf. As the picture below shows i managed to complete the job and i am very pleased with how it looked when i switched on for the first time.

When i next go to my timber guy Chicco i will get the wood to complete the back for the unit and then start the bottom where i will have doors to hide my desktop computer.

When i did my kitchen shelves i didn't want brackets to be on show i came up with an idea of shelves without brackets on show.  In my bathroom i didn't want a bathroom cabinet with all the rubbish that gets put in them so what was the answer a shelf. Again i wanted a shelf but this time a glass shelf but this time i couldn't drill a hole to support the invisible bracket. So how do i do it just like i had seen on Grand Designs where glass was used to make stair treads from. These stair treads where about 100mm thick but it was how it was supported in the wall that was the part i had a problem with. A builder friend gave me the answer and it was silicon sealer.

I had to cut a hole in the wall about a 100mm deep to take the glass shelf and then build up the rear of the hole with silicon. Once plenty of silicon was in place i put the shelf in position and then filled the rest of the gap with more silicon and use a spirit level to make sure the shelf was straight.

The position of the shelf was measured so that the top of the shelf was on a line where a row of tiles will. The shelf was put in a position where i had measured and marked the wall so tiles wouldn't have to be cut. The picture below shows the shelf now fixed and in position and now waiting for the tiles to be put up.

Time to wait for the concrete to dry.

Not being able to do everything i want to do in my house i had to get in help to render my bathroom walls and raise the floor.

I got a local guy and his mate to come in to do it for me, walls rendered and the floor raised. Also the waste water from the floor once i have the shower connected and the new drain in the middle of the floor. The guys arrived at just 8 o'clock and by noon the walls where rendered and the waste water pipes laid in. After lunch they were back and 1pm and started to raise the floor and by 4.45pm the job was finished. During the time they where working they had no phone calls to take them away from the job. During there time at my house they never stopped for breaks, they just got on with the job they were doing for me.

Above on the left is the sink connections and waste outlet. Centre top is the shower connections. Bottom right toilet pipe connection. On the floor is the toilet waste pipe. Lastly a piece of the insulation to go under the underfloor heating system.

Now that's enough for now time for a few days break while the concrete floor dries when i can start to tile the floor first and then the walls.

For those who have seen the pictures of the shelves in my kitchen without brackets to support  them well the bathroom is getting the same treatment. A shelf an inch thick without supports, just hanging on the wall Floating in space picture to follow.

Progress on the bathroom.

For some time i have been working on my bathroom. Like most jobs i get in materials and when i run out i move onto another job that i do have the materials to carry on with. Today i lay in all the pipework for my bathroom both upstairs and downstairs. I had already installed the hot water system some time ago but now it's all connected. The next job before the week is out is to fit and get the toilet running and that has to be done in one day.

The pipes on the left are for my corner sink and on the right the pipes are for the shower.

The grey pipe is for the waste from the sink.

As soon as i saw the shower pictured  below on my chair i just had to have it. The reason being is that with the tiles i have chosen i will get the look i want in my bathroom.

I will take more photos tomorrow of the hot water system downstairs.














I will have to get someone in to render the walls as that's one job that has to be straight. Not before i raise the floor so i don't have to step down from the lounge into the bathroom as i want the floor to be the same as the lounge. As i am having the bathroom as a wet room the floor has to slope into the centre so i will have to get help so as it's done right. After that it's under floor heating down and then the floor tiles so not a huge amount to do.

Insulating now almost finished

Since i arrived back from the UK i have been busy getting the rest of the insulating done in the lounge. I have plaster boarded below the aircon unit and also under the stairs and also the first part of the stairs that comes down from the loft.

The floor was insulated first a couple of years ago when i first arrived here. Now all the internal lounge walls are completed apart from painting but with a bit of work the painting should be finished by the end of this week.

I have also polished the timber for my corner TV unit that should be put back into position i hope by the end of this week.

Here is the wall under the aircon unit insulated before the plaster board was put in position.

Here is the wall now that the plaster board has been put into position rubbed down and ready to be painted. There is still one bit to complete and that's where the aircon unit is but that can wait as the main bit has been finished.
The wholes on the left are for sockets behind the TV unit.

I combat heat lose through the walls at the side and under the stairs they got the same insulating treatment as all the other external walls. Rubbed down and now just painting is needed for ts part to be completed.

As can be seen the insulating and painting has now finished and also the TV unit has been put back in position. Over the coming weeks doors will be made for the TV unit.

I need a sheet of plaster board to complete the side of the stairs as you can see from this photo then the ceiling can be boarded and insulated.

Now the last leg of the trip from the UK

It was time to leave my overnight stop in Spain and make my way home. I could have arrived home by a little after 2pm but i wanted to take my time driving in the clear blue skies i had missed in the UK and France. Once i had filled the car with autogas it was time to leave and the difference it made not having to drive in the miserable rain that i had been driving in.

Looking ahead of me all i could see was clear blue skies and it was nice to make regular stops and just sit and enjoy the day. I was lucky that when i arrived at the turn for Salamanca i knew where to go to refill my autogas and on the whole trip this stop in Salamanca was the best to get to. After filling up it was just a few hours drive south and i would be home. After passing the Spanish border to Portugal i only had about an hour and a half to go but i still had one more fill to go and this took me of the motorway south of the turn for Guarda and onto the N17 that i know very well. The road to the next fill is a main road but it is in very poor condition in fact the lane up to my house is a better road. Where i go for autogas when at home the cost at the moment is below 60cents a litre  but where i stopped it was 75cents a litre. As it was all i needed was about 20 litrers of autogas and then next stop was to be home.

My whole journey from Liverpool to my home in Portugal was on autogas. I was lucky to be able to find autogas stations along my route even though France had not reduced the price of any of the fuels in line with the drop in the price of crude oil. If i could have filled up in Newhaven i could have got through France with only one fill at the over priced price they are charging at the moment.

This was only going through France

Monday for the start of the week was not good, it was raining and i had a long drive ahead of me. I left Liverpool at 2pm to go to my Spice supplier and then drive south for the ferry at Newhaven. It rained from Liverpool to Newhaven and guess what it was raining when got off the ferry at 4am on Tuesday morning. What a miserable drive it was from Liverpool and it looked like more of the same.

After getting off the ferry i decided to start driving as what can you do at 4am on a wet Tuesday morning. I kept off the motorways so that when daybreak came i wouldn't have a boring motorway to look at all the time. It was still dark after 8am in the morning so i just carried on driving and it was still raining. As daylight came the countryside i was expecting to see was not what i expected due to the continuous rain. I carried on driving in the hope i would outdrive the rain but even though i was making plenty of stops it just continued to rain, rain and more rain. As i got further south it became obvious that the rain was in for the day and as i had travelled so far i seemed the best thing was to just carry on and get to my night stopover.

France is such a beautiful country but not when it's raining so after more breaks i was almost down to Bordeaux. As Bordeaux was close to the border with Spain i just carried on until i crossed the border into Spain and France was behind me at last. I crossed the border at about 11pm and yes i know from 4am it's a long time to drive but believe me i took many breaks. I went into MacDonalds 5 times to use there wifi and to spend a little money for the use of the wifi. The wifi is free but only for customers and it's no good just sitting outside in  your car because the wifi doesn't work and i did try it.

the roads are No more, gone but not forgotten

I am not one to moan at home but I am not at home I am in Liverpool at the moment wishing I was at home. So what have I got to moan about bumps,bumps and more bumps, road bumps everywhere it seems that everywhere I go in Liverpool I meet the dreaded road bumps. One ot two just to brighten up the place would be ok. I whent to see my old friend Tommy who lives in a large estate. To get o his house I counted 15 road bumps it looks like an Alien had dropped them as they look to takeover the planet. You could do away with these nasty things by banning cars. Simple

Back to fuel issues

I left Portugal after filling up at about 62cents per litre. In Spain I found the price similar to those in Portugal as both countries had reduced the prices in line with the cost of crude oil. When I got to France I first saw prices at over 75cents per litre, I went past thinking this was just a service station that was expensive. Soon I found prices up to 95cents per litre and I was lucky to find a service station at only 85cents per litre and I was happy to pay it as petrol was about 139cents per litre.

I have found a site called My gpl France http://www.mylpg.eu/stations/france where is has a list if all French LPG auto gas stations and also the prices. The site says the average price is 72.9cents per litre so if that's the price where was it when I came through? And I used the main roads and not the motorways where I know Gas would be expensive.

The price of fuel has gone down in the UK, Spain and Portugal so whats wrong with France?

If that wasn't enough then i went into a MacDonald's for a medium coke, in the UK it is about £1 for a medium coke in France the same medium coke is 2.50€.

At another MacDonald's i asked for a cheeseburger but with only cheese on the burger now how easy is that. The girl even made it look like she understood what i asked for well when the burger arrived it had all the crap on that  i didn't want on it. When it came time to complain all of a sudden she couldn't understand me so i just walked out in disgust. Two mistakes out of two 100% bad record. No it gets worse.

I wanted to use the free wifi and as i was just outside of Bordeaux when i saw another MacDonald's and again i called in for a cheeseburger while i used the wifi.  This time it was no different to the last one i went in, again i was given the incorrect order but this time when i complained i was told that i should learn the language and then she turned away. A complete disgrace, i had heard of other with similar experience's while travelling through France and it seems that the same happens if you want anything that requires a bit of work.

Reading this you  would think that i have just been looking for fault in the way i was dealt with by those in France. The comments above are just about things that went wrong.  I will do a separate post about the Frence people who i found to be very nice to me.

How not to be served

While travelling back through France I had to stop for fuel a number of times. Using a car that runs on gas you only find one pump at each service station unlike those for petrol where you may have more at all stations. I was having trouble connecting the pump and a service station worker came over to help. After saying thank you in French and shaking hands I went in to pay and join the queue to pay. When it was my turn I was able to say the pump number in French and I then handed over my money. To my surprise the assistant just put the receipt down on the counter and soon the change was banged down. When I pointed to what she had done she just ignored me and served the person behind me.

Yesterday while travelling back through France i again went to a service station for autogas. As the system usages a different type of adaptor than the one fitted to my car a staff member saw me having difficult time and came over to help me. 

What a silly girl she was.

Who want's snow?

I am in Liverpool for Christmas and New Year after being invited by one of my sons  who invited me to spend Christmas and New Year with him and his Fiance. While at my Mum's it started snowing and I took a picture with my new Ipad but there was no option to upload a picture until i could transfer it to my desktop.

While i have been in Portugal now four coming on to four year i haven't heard or seen snow rumour. The picture shows the driving snow in Liverpool one evening while i was at my mum's for tea. Come the  morning the snow was gone after the forcast was to be freezing conditions following the snow thankfully the snow didn't freeze. 

Chicken Tikka Masala

On the 11th December a new restaurant opened some way away from where i live. I met the new owners at a couple of markets i had been to and i was invited to a pre opening but i got the date wrong and missed the pre opening just my luck.

I had been contacted to supply Spices to the restaurant after meeting the owners at one of the markets i go to and i looked forward to the opening. I delivered an order of Spices today and stayed to have a meal in the new restaurant. I could not have imagined what i was to expect when i arrived. The restaurant was as good as any you would expect to find in any city in the UK.

The menu thankfully was not as you would find in may places in the UK where it would be many pages long. One i had been in was 6 pages and after spending a long time reading i decided to leave. This menu selection at RestaurantePassion  was just great two pages with more than enough to choose from. My choice was Chicken Tikka Masala and wow i have never had chicken that you could cut with a spoon. The chicken was so good and the portion size was bigger than you would get in the UK. Then came desert Home made coconut ice cream on a bed of sliced pineapple with toasted almonds  and the zest of an orange. I have been spoilt tonight but now i need to start to cook food this good for myself.

I have been to many restaurants that serve a set menu and some i have been in the food was not as hot as you would expect. But it seems to be accepted by the locals. One well known restaurant where i live always serve chips that are almost cold how they manage to cook almost cold chips i don't know but they do.

Congratulations Lesley Dave and family with your new restaurant.

Here are the Longitude and Latitude setting for those with a satnav that takes these setting.

40 18 54 77 N
07 53 48 68 W

Granite Granite everywhere

This week that kind Mr David Cameron paid me my winter fuel allowance and the pictures below show just what i did with it. I got my granite as you can see so Mr Cameron thanks.

The one thing i was worried about was getting all the sections of flue together and through the ceiling and the floor below. When i put the granite down on the floor i found the floor was not quite level, it only took a few hours to get the floor nice and level and it was time to put all the granite together and in place securely.

In a local village there is a retired Portuguese builder who is going to put the flue up and out of the roof. There is no way i would even try to get up there and i don't even have a clue what to door use to water proof the flue when it comes out of the roof. So i am happy to accept help.

A bonus when my fire is being used each day will be no more cold cups of tea.

Granite from the local granite factory. Even though i used graph paper to draw what i wanted the right hand piece of granite was cut wrong but swiftly replaced with another cut.

This weekend i should be lighting my fire for the first time.

You can see the insulation i used so that the heat from the flue can't do any harm. Even over my gas hob i couldn't get the insulation to light so i am happy that the flue is insulated OK.