The walls are getting a bit of attention

While one of my sons was visiting me he wanted to do some painting for me in the bedrooms.I chose the green paint for the shutters with white paint for the windows. The walls where white and looked ok but i had seen someone with a room with a very light yellow. I mixed up a small amount of yellow using a colour to mix in the white wall paint. The pictures do not reflect the colour of the walls, maybe it's the dark ceiling but the walls are a light yellow and it does look good, i now fancy doing the walls in the second bedroom in a light blue.

Pity the picture doesn't show the light yellow walls as they look. The room really does look much better that the picture shows.

I am proposing to paint this room with a light blue paint.

Found a great cafe Today

I had been told by a friend about a great Cafe they had found. The nearest place is called Vila Nova De Poiares.The cafe is owned by an English guy called Peter. Peter has a girl who runs the bar side for him, as we went in i was the first to say hello. Straight away she smiled and said that i know where you are from! I said go on guess, guess she did and she was spot on Liverpool she said. It seems that Joanne comes from Huyton on the outskirts of Liverpool. She even knows Tony a fellow Bargain Booze franchisee Wow. As she is a Blue " Everton FC " i was invited back when Everton are playing on TV. The bar even has real UK tea not the type of tea bag on a string that tastes nothing like tea as we know.

This is the Cafe from the outside. The picture is from Google Earth street view.












The cafe part is run by a girl called Clare from the Bristol area. Apart from Portuguese food she also does a full UK breakfast till 3pm each day. Sunday it's a full UK meat and two veg and yorkshire pudding. They also have Fish and Cips night.

The full breakfast is becoming popular with the Portuguese truck drivers because it's what they have when in the UK. What i am looking forward to is when they have a Curry night.

There were three of us and we had.

3 bottles of beer, 2 Sagres and one Superbock
1 bottle of Coke
2 Glasses of red wine
2 Pasty and chips
1 Sausage roll and chips
2 Desserts

The cost for all this was 16.5€ or 5.5€ each now if that was not value then i don't know what is.

The settings below are  for those who use a sat nav.

40 10 48 44 N
08 15 57 19 W

Wanted swimming teacher

I have been home now for a week a long wet week. When i built my chicken run i put planks around the bottom to try and keep out vermin and it didn't work i lost 5 chickens.

Well we have had rain now for the last couple of months but we have had some days without rain. The land is so wet the rain just runs of as the land can't soak up anymore. Well the rain runs down the roof of my chicken house and fills up in front of were the chickens normally come out to eat and go outside to there outside space.

In front of the chicken house is a small lake about 4 inch's deep and tonight i told the chicks it was about time they learnt to swim to make best use of the water. As they didn't do as i said i had to dig some space under the chicken run to get the rain away.

Even with this water they have still kept laying eggs.

So much sad news but one special highlight

I have just returned from a trip back to my birthplace of Liverpool. During my stay i work in my old shop for a few shifts and also met many of my old customers. The warm welcome i got was more than i expected. I must have changed a lot as almost everybody commented on how good i look says me with a big head.

It was all tinged with sadness that started with being told that a good friends wife was in the local Hospice and a few days later she had passed away.

I already knew of one lady who i first met on the 23rd September 1985. She was the first customer in my video shop and had remained a good friend from all those years ago. I met her two daughters who told me her there Mum was doing ok but was having some good and some bad days. Well tonight i heard that she had passed away. I knew her from before she got married, had children and then she had Grand children. I can only hope that she is now at peace.

Another good friend i was told had Lung Cancer. It seems that so much was going on a postman friend was at his father in laws house as i passed just before he was burying his father in law.

One of the last persons i met as i was leaving to go to my Mums before i got my life to the airport was someone special to me, over the years we had had a good laugh every time she came in to the shop. I saw her go into her place of work and i followed her in and when she saw me i got the biggest hug anybody could give. I had fancied her for so long and when i had to leave she hugged me again, my reponse was to grab her face and get myself a kiss and not a peek on the cheek. I had wanted to do that for years. I left for Mums with a smile on my face but as it was so cold in February and March i won't dare go to Liverpool till May or June next time.

Getting the Red Cross parcel ready for collection

It's coming to the end of my trip back to the UK. I am busy getting things to take back to Portugal in my luggage  and also a box that will go by courier. All the people i know locally in Portugal now refer to parcels as Red Cross food parcels so i have a Red Cross food parcel almost ready for the courier.

As i travelled by British Airways using my air miles i can put my luggage in the hold so i am taking a box for the hold and a travel bag with me. In my bag will be my Laptop and charger, a few cloths, shoes, phone charger, a pack of butter, six packs of strong cheese and 24 packs of Walls bacon.

Now for the box in the hold. Rechargeable battery charger and batteries, some cloths, a couple of extension leads " surge protectors " and a Corner sink. Yes a corner sink, i have been after a sink in Portugal for a long time but sadly i couldn't get one so i had to wait till i visited the UK. On my last trip over to Liverpool i got myself for my car a rear back box for the exhaust so why not a sink.

I found a parcel courier some time ago who charge for up to 30 kilo £22.54 plus vat for delivery to Portugal.  http://www.pharosparcel.com i have had a number of parcels delivered by Pharosparcels and the service was first rate. They use UPS as there delivery company.

The box contains.
Epson printer/ scanner
3 Packs of printer labels
2 Packs of socks new
1 Blanket
10 qty box of tea bags, total 1,000 tea bags
3 qty Chocolate Digestives twin packs
1 Paper guillotine trimmer
6 Light fittings
1 Security camera
Cables and chargers
1,000 plastic bags
200 delivery bags
1 Plastic bag sealer
2 Printer cartridges
2 Computer hard drives
Computer disks

More things that i can't remember but for £22.54 plus vat it's value for money.

All this in a Cream Cake

I have mentioned before about all the crap in food.

Today while in a local supermarket in Liverpool i got a couple of fresh cream cakes for me and my Mum. I looked at the ingredients as my brother and his son are veggies but i was lost when i looked at the ingredients i couldn't work out if he would be able to have them. So i got nothing for him, just look at the list below of everything in a humble Vanilla Muffin.What does it all mean?

Vanilla flavoured Muffin (Sugar, Wheat Flour, Whole Egg, Unsalted Butter 17%)
Whole milk powder.
Humectant (Glycerol)
Emulsifiers (Mono and Diglyserides of Fatty Acids, Ployglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids)
Raising agents (Diphosphates, Sodium Bicarbonate)
Salt
Natural Vanilla flavouring
Whipped cream 19% (Whipping cream, Stabiliser (Sodium Alginate)
Strawberry jam 14% (Glucose Syrup, Strawberry Puree from Concentrate 35%)
Sugar Syrup Concentrated lemon juice,
Gelling agent (Pectin)
Colour (Anthocyanis)
Natural flavouring.
Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrates)
Sweet Dusting
Glucose,
Cornflour
Vegetable Oil
Contains Gluten, Milk, Wheat and egg.

What's all this in a cream cake.

The Uk is so cold, i want to go home.

Well i am well into my stay in Liverpool. I am cold, it's either damp or it's raining and the sky grey. On the 19th when i fly back to Portugal you can bet that the weather will get better but for now it's cold.

Being in the same place of work since 1985 you get to meet a lot of people. Some of the people i have meet during this short trip are people who i meet on the 23rd September 1985. You would think that i had only been away on a holiday, the biggest comment i am getting is how well i look and about the weight i have lost. It has made the move worth while after listening to all the good wishes i have received. Who would imagine all the kind comments i have received.

Tomorrow is sink day. I am going to remodel my bathroom and i want a corner sink. I have looked in Portugal and as yet i can't find one even though they must have them. I have found lots in the UK but it's one in Wicks that i am after and i will go and get it tomorrow. When i go home i am flying with British Airways so i will take the sink back with me in a box. I will just put the box in the hold and when i arrive in Lisbon the sink will be waiting there for me.

Today i went to an Electrical wholesaler for some ceiling light fitting. When i moved i had a lot of low energy light bulbs i got when Netto had an offer on. Netto had low energy bulbs for 10 for a £1 so i got 50 bulbs but always a but i need to change some of the fittings in the house as the fittings are not the same as the UK they are a screw type of fitting. So once fitted all my bulbs will be low energy and that's a result.

Update to my visit to LIverpool

It's Sunday and i called down to the shop late this morning and again i met so many people who i have got to know over the last 25 years or more. I met Viv a very youthful Nan, she walked past me and didn't recognise me until i spoke to her. The look of surprise when she recognise me after being away for that last 19 months now that's a picture i would have liked to have taken. I also saw Dave or as we all know him Haggis as he is from Scotland it was so good to see him and we where able to catch up after so long.

Today the highlight was i got to see Dexter. I have admired him for so long. While most young people would want to go out he stayed in and studied. Now he is a University first year. Instead of going out he trained and is becoming a very promising boxer. He could have wasted his time like many young people but he worked had and it was so nice to see him and see how he is getting on. He certainly shows what hard work can do.

A downside of working in a shop is that yo have to ask for proof of ID when selling Drinks and cigarettes. It's not a problem to me i have done it for years but some of the abuse can be a little upsetting. Today i asked for ID from someone who looked young enough to be border line. This person was about the most offensive and aggressive that i have ever had to deal with. This makes me glad that i moved away when i did.

Everybodies happy even me.

I am back in Liverpool and back to my old shop. It seems strange to go into the shop and it's not mine, but the changes that have been made are remarkable when i look at how the shop was when i left it. I am back because i was asked to fill in for Anthony so he can have a well earned break.

I had hopped to see a few of my old customers but i couldn't have been prepared by the welcome i received. Anthony had told all those i got on well and would like to see that i would be there on the 28th February. In the few hours i was there i met almost all those i had wanted and a number came in just to see if i was back yet.

Before i left to live in my place in the Sun i was very overweight, grumpy and not a nice person. I am now slim, much healthier and above all i am so happy. From walking from the bus stop to the shop i met 5 people who all commented on how good i now looked and one even said i looked so happy and relaxed. Most even said i looked years younger.

That was all before i got to go into the shop. People who knew the old me where so kind with there comments about how i looked. It's strange but i still feel the old me, about the warmest welcome i got was from the head of security at LIPA " Paul MacCartney's School " it was as if i had never been away. I also got some very bad news and from someone i have known for over 25 years and his bad news was not something i had expected. Even with his bad news he was so glad to see me.

These are all people who in the latter months before i left saw me when i was low and really not the person i am today. It's so nice that they can see me as they can remember how i was. Normally when you work in a shop it's just staff and customers but after what seems a lifetime they are friends, very good friends.

I have still to see Dorothy a painter who had a hip operation and i do want to see how she is getting on. Then there is Dexter a young Boxer but a boxer who can never become the best and that's what i told him, but i did say to be second best behind Mohammed Ali is not a bad thing. I will be watching how he gets on.

All this is before i do a single shift so wait for the next report.