Little boy raises over £1,000,000

 i have just been watching the UK news on the BBC. A little boy has raised over £1,000,000 for charity amazing but he had his legs removed because of abuse as a baby/ toddler and he has artificial legs and walks with crutches. 

Thankfully this little hero now has foster parents to give him the Love and support he needs in life.He is now raising money for things in his home what a super little boy.

Once the tank was built

 Once the tank was built i could put water in but that was all. I had to condition the water and by that i mean i had to get the water quality ready for the fish i wanted to get. I way is to get a liquid conditioner ir put fish in till the water is conditioned. I decided to get three gold fish and let them condition the water and that worked fine. I caught two goldfish and then it came to the last one and that's where the battle began. It has taken me three weeks to catch the last goldfish and tonight i finally caught it. 

All of my young plants had been ripped out of the pots they where in that last goldfish did lots of damage. I had started to buy fish i wanted  but to plant the tank i had to remove about 3,000 litres water till the level was low enough for me to get in and do the planting all for a goldfish to ruin.

Now the tank is goldfish free i will have to remove another 3,000 litres so i can get in the tank to replant it in the coming week.

Look it's coming on

 Some time ago i found that three of the timbers had woodworm. I built the veranda for mine and family and friends to enjoy. I didn't build it for woodworm to enjoy so the veranda is now gone now only a past memory.

I have built a new veranda that the woodworm are no longer welcome it's made of concrete. I did most of the work myself  but i must admit for somethings i did need help for i got help.

I went to a town not to far away to get tiles and after deciding on limestone i had to go back after they where made for me. The company also made them almost none slip hows that for service.

Before the tiles get put down the outside and inside of the veranda need to be prepared for painting.

I am putting a door on the entrance to my veranda and this will make an extra storeroom,

So i hope you enjoy the progress i have made up to now.

Department of Works and Pension

 Some weeks ago i requested from the Department of Works and Pension a Statement of my pension after i received a request from the local tax office. A simple request you may think and i carefully worded my request carefully.

In due course i received  a letter and on opening it i was let down what i got was a proof of life request. It's something the DWP send out now and again just to make sure that people like me who live outside of the UK get. I understand that the DWP need to know that we are still alive.

But what about the idiot who didn't send me the statement that i wanted.

First fish in there new home.

For a long time i have been preparing to stock my 5,000 lt fish tank. A big tank would be great for big fish but i am not into big fish.

Plenty of plants and now fish, now i need to learn to take better photos

Here is a pair of half black sword tails

A single sail fin Molly

Limestone floor tiles for my Veranda

Friday was the day i was collecting the Lime stone for my veranda and the tiles where cut just for me. I went to a granite factory and after looking round i found just what i wanted.

I had heard about Limestone on a number of property programs It may have been Grand designs.


















When i got home i had to put some tiles down to see how they would look in place.

These tiles and for the top of the wall are an off white colour,
To me perfect.

My new veranda is on it's way

I could never have known when i built my veranda out of wood and the work in treating the timbers that cracks in the timber was like opening a door to Wood worm

A friend offered to help me build a veranda that would be Wood worm proof. It's now built out of concrete beams, blocks and everything wood worm can't do harm to
I didn't know my friend had been a brick layer in his distant past. He watch for a few minutes and could tell i wasn't familiar with bricks and offered to help. I must admit at this point i became the labourer fetching and carrying.

This is looking out from my workshop to the outside.













 
This is the side looking onto the ruin next door.

This is the side looking to the lane.

This is a side view and we now have one row of blocks in place

Here is the entrance to my workshop.

Well a little back to normal

I was told a few days ago that a market i normally go to was to start again. Sadly it was a a different location and in another town. Normally the market was in the grounds of a restaurant but it had been move. I don't know why it had been moved but the new location was outside of the local health centre  in the Centres grounds.

Everybody was told to keep a distance from other stall holders and i was lucky to have the Honey lady at my side. At the previous location she is normally by my side there somehow it just felt a little like it had before.

The reaction from so many of my regular customers was great everybody had a story of how there managed to get through the Lockdown. Across the road was a timber merchant that although closed you could see over the gate lots of what looked interesting wood. Somebody who during the fires of the year before last lost a lot of trees. I was told that the trees that where only burn on the outside would be cut down in about a months time. The main trees i was interested in was the Oak and Walnut i was told that there was plenty to choose from.

After such a busy market i have to order new stock before i have shortages. Hungary is world famous for there Paprika and the large variety from mild to very hot and also smoked from mild to hot. I will soon be advertising that all my Paprika is Exclusive to me and nobody else in Portugal will be selling this world famous Paprika.. Also i can confirm that there will be no increase in price from the prices i charge for Spanish Paprika.

Proud of Liverpool Coppers

I am from Liverpool and proud of it even though i now live in Portugal. After ready over a number of years how the Police in America only shoot to kill. A young woman was shot while asleep and other young man shot in the back both dead.

Yesterday a person who had been Tazered was then shot in the abdomen by a firearms Police officer.  The officer could have shot to kill but he did the right thing doesn't it show how good the training is that he didn't shot to kill.

So the borders are now open

So the borders are now open so what. After watching the scenes on many of the UK beaches you couldn't believe that there was a deadly virus.

During my limited travels to go for a part for my van and to go shopping i saw many foreign cars and motor homes. Where i live it seems to be a centre for motor homes and this week i have seen Italian, French, Dutch and one from Austria. Plus just as many cars for me i am staying inside until it is really safe to move around

So carry on staying safe.

R.I.P my veranda

I posted years ago about the veranda i had built all on my own. I built my veranda after treating all timbers in a timber treatment. Each piece was treated three times and all end pieces stood in the treatment for a couple of days. I felt safe that i had done all i could that made my veranda secure for the future.

A few weeks ago i found a timber that looked week after inspection i found three timbers that where rotten. I asked a local timber expert and although i had treated all my timbers the high sun and cold morning caused some of my timbers to split. This was it an open door to whatever creature wanted to get into my timbers and i didn't know anything about the invasion.

Here is my veranda now during strip down since this picture i have removed every trace of my beloved veranda and the site is clear.

In it's place will be a structure that is wood worm free it's going to be made of Concrete with a none slip floor surface.

If anybody gets upset reading this Tough.

Reading the constant news about the murders in the USA of people whose only crime is being Black.

Today I read of another murder of a guy trying to run away from the police, they shot him twice in the Back. In the UK it's a crime of murder in the US it's Murder, felony murder or aggravated assault. How can shooting someone in the back be anything less than Murder.

What is the saying I remember " land of the free home of the brave " unless you are black.

Readers from the USA remember Waco and  remember a place in Vietnam called My Lai an attitude of if it moved kill it old men and old women mums children babes in arms there crime being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My Lai Massacre - Definition, Facts & Causes - HISTORY

Apr 17, 2020 · The 1968 My Lai Massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. A company of American soldiers brutally ...

I am sorry I am really angry, a young girls age 25 asleep in her bed was shot but police with a warrant that they can just enter a property and they did and the poor girl is dead. Shot in her sleep 8 times did it take 8 bullets to take down a Black girl who was sleeping. Murder. This girls name was Breonna Taylor another Black person murdered by white police.

But some good news

A friend who arranges the Boot sale at a restaurant asked me if i was still making cutting boards. I now make boards in the shape of countries, normal cutting boards and mirrors, The boot sale is only for artist and craft  type people and there product.

My friend is also having a website built by here son and during the making of the site there are a number of my boards for display.

I painted black round the edge of Africa because it made the board stand out

A heart mirror including a mirror cheese board.
This is my favourite one finished and one to be finished.

This is a board that has just had 8 coats of a food grade mineral oil applied.














This is a heart complete with 8 coats of mineral oil and one heart ready for finishing.

My poor veranda

A long time ago  i built my very own veranda outside of my kitchen door.. sadly due to extreme heat, rain in the winter, frost in the mornings some of the main timbers where past there best.

The only thing i can do is to build a new veranda so for the moment i am busy taking the old veranda apart before there is an accident.

I will have to take some pictures to show the demise of my veranda. 

Just a bit of whats been going on.

During the lock down it's been difficult for me as it has been for most people i have stayed in doing a few small projects.

Being an ex butcher i know at a glance what is a good buy.One day while out at a local supermarket i had a look at what was in the butchers counter. I found a piece of belly pork and a piece of shoulder port ideal for making sausages with. My only problem is i don't have a sausage machine but with my mincer i could make sausage meat. I had always liked Cumberland sausage so i started to ok n the internet.

Soon it was like a Thursday afternoon at G Norris & son in Liverpool. It wasn't long and i soon had a big bowl of Cumberland sausage meat in my bowl

One thing i did have was a burger press so i made my sausage that looked like burgers. I did find that the fat content was to low but for now was OK but next time i will get enough fat content to make them perfect.

For now i have about 24 sausages frozen ready for use in my freezer.

During this lockdown

I have tried to keep busy during this lock down but it is difficult but my problem is getting materials for things i want to do. I have ordered a new chuck for one of my lathes and i have lots i can do when that arrives.

I already had the wood for the floor in my fish room but working on the floor with knees that need some repair put me off.

I live in a little village

I live in a little village and normally anything bigger than a small van is a problem. Most drivers as they drive up the lane see it's narrow and they stop and get out to see the turn is OK.The lane stops just past my house so you can't drive through and you have to turn round to leave.

I wonder what the driver said to his boss when he returned to work Sorry!!!

Farmers told to cut Milk production

In Scotland the dairy Farmers have been told to cut Milk production. How do they do that go into the fields and ask the Cows to not produce as much. Read below from the BBC news website.

The dairy manufacturer Muller has ordered farmers across Scotland who supply them with milk to cut production because of an oversupply.

It has written to more than 250 dairy farmers asking them to reduce output because of changing consumer habits caused by the coronavirus crisis.
It has been estimated more than a million litres of unwanted milk is being produced across the UK each day.
This means some dairy product is having to be poured down the drain.
Even though demand from supermarkets has increased, that has not filled the gap left by the closure of cafes and restaurants.

What a nice surprise

Today i had a knock on my front door. There was a 4 X 4 parked outside and someone was standing in my gate asking questions i couldn't understand. I figured out he was asking how many people live in my house and when i told him only one. I was offered something i didn't understand what it was i was being given. As soon as i was back inside i looked and what i found was a face mask in a plastic bag. There was a leaflet and it seemed that the mask was given as a gift from the local Council/ Camara. What an amazing gift to receive something the councils in the UK wouldn't be giving away.

So Gois Council/ camara Thank you for helping me stay safe.

How to oder Spices

I believe that i have the best selection of Spices in Portugal and you can order my Spices online.

Use the email at the top of the page after first looking through the Spice list on the front page of the Iberianspices blog at       https://iberianspices.blogspot.com/
Up to 500gr cost 2€ delivery to mainland Portugal.
Up to 1kilo cost 4€ delivery to mainland Portugal.

Orders are normally shipped within 24 hours.

Out of stocks until further notice changes will be made to this page should any other item become out of stock.

Black peppercorns
Star anise whole
Tamarind
Vindaloo