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