Why do builders merchants get things wrong.

For a while i have wanted to get more insulated plasterboard to carry on with the lounge during the winter months. The problem has been in getting delivery of the boards to complete the walls.  The cost of delivery due to the distance from the supplier was 50€ and as i wanted only six boards that would be over 8€ per board delivered. I had my friend who offered to collect the first plasterboards for me and it only cost the price of the fuel for his van 15€. Not having the van option this time  i would have had to pay 50€.

I was encouraged by my neighbour to try the local builders merchants here in Gois and also the ones in Arganil. I first went to the merchant in Gois and although the price was a little more that from Penacova i would save a little over 30€ and that's with delivery.

The insulation on the back of the boards i use is 2 centimetres and with this size all my work to date is done with those dimensions in mind. I did the walls and the ceilings in the kitchen with this size board and it seems to do a good job in insulating the room  When i got my delivery the driver who knows no English and i don't know enough Portuguese but the problem was the boards delivered were 3 centimetres instead of 2 the centimetres i use thickness i normally use. It's OK for when i do the new ceiling but it's the walls i am doing at the moment and i needed the right size.

Only new houses in Portugal have insulation installed during the build stage. I am installing insulated plasterboard so that next winter the lounge should be nice and warm from my new log burner and i won't need to use my air conditioner as much as i do now.

The gap under the boards is where all the electrics cables are routed. Everything is run from below from the cellar so that in the future the walls are clear of cable and nobody will accidentally drill into the walls and get an electric shock.

The bottom picture shows on the right hand side where the new plasterboard has to go and the new board will not fit si this is where i am up to. If i can't get the boards changed i will keep them for the ceiling and get new boards for the rest of the walls. The dividing wall between the lounge and my bedroom will just be normal uninsulated plasterboard as it being an internal wall it needs no insulation.

Granite worktop now fitted under the window

It's taken a while but i have now got my granite worktop fitted in front of the window i have fitted. Later this week i will have the lights and sockets working. Part of the hold up has been i want to fit Solar for the electrics but just for the lights. I will have all my lights changed to 12v LED running from a single solar panel and battery.

I will have in the center of the room a ceiling fan with a 240v low energy bulb for backup should the solar be a problem. The lights will all be 3w Led's and if all 12 where on i would only be using 36w of energy and even a dull day it will give plenty of power for the battery.

 This is the right hand side of the cooker hob and window.

As you can see this is to the left hand side of the hob and window.

Red Cross food parcel on it's way and other bits.

It's now nearly three weeks into the New Year but it's miserable as every it could be. We have had constant rain, wind and cold but a couple of days dry and with blue skies.Today is bright and sunny but it's cold outside today.

At the start of December i started to get another parcel made up by my son in Liverpool. I have since then  had a food mixer, cam belt for my car, Filter for the gas system on my car, two boxes of router bits 35 and 19, eggs poachers sent over the last few weeks and more sent.

In early December i asked my son to include a bottle of Newcastle Brown to enjoy with my Christmas dinner well that dinner came and no Newcastle Brown but who cares.  So many things i need are being collected tomorrow and should be with me by Friday the 24th next week.

Also my other son has included a parcel for me for Christmas but it's late for Christmas but what's a few weeks. Here we call all parcels Red Cross food parcels, it's because i have had some food included as usual. Oxo cubes, Bisto, 2 kilo of Cheese and so much more.

My next parcel will included a case of 24 tins of baked beans and i hope that i don't have to wait so long for the next parcel. To be fair over the weeks i have been to my son to wait as i have something else coming to go in the parcel.  Here in Portugal Heinz beans cost 1.69€ or in my sons shop Cross and Blackwell 3 tins for £1 now that's a bargain.

Keeping the Couriers busy

Pharosparcels and UPS are doing very nice this Christmas time. Three parcels delivered on time and another two on there way and one more being got ready now in Liverpool. What would i do without my son.

http://www.pharosparcel.com

The secret to posting overseas via Pharosparcels and UPS for £23.58 plus vat you can send up to 30 kilo. So do as i do get things collected and wait till there is enough before you get a parcel sent.

Even my Spice supplier is now using Pharosparcels and UPS so fill a box to get the best value.

Today UPS where  a whole day early with my next delivery. Delivery is a five day service but the last three parcels have arrived in only four days. It may be because the driver knows me now and doesn't have to waste time looking for my village. Over the next two weeks i have two more parcels and i am sure that they will arrive like all of the rest.

Here it is my  a 10 inch table saw and this should really help me getting things done in the house delivered by Pharosparcel as usual on time.

A user snapshot

I left using windows many years ago due to it's poor security record. I started to use Suse Linux and then i moved on to what i now use Ubuntu Linux. Below is a snapshot of users when i came onto my Blog today and also it shows the type of operating systems being used and also the types of browser.

This is just a snapshot for just a small period of time.Just click on the picture below.

The first thing i noticed was that nobody was using windows Internet explorer for there browser. Also Chrome and Firefox both having equal amounts of users. The top browser being Silk now Silk is the browser used by Kindle now that was a shock to me. The good news was that all four browsers are more secure that windows has been in the past.

I am glad to see that the users using Linux was top and also Other Unix is also another type of Linux. Windows being second and that's how i would like to see it stay but we will see. Apple came in third with Ipad and Macintosh.

If anybody wants to consider the security of Ubuntu Linux then just go to www.ubuntu.com but first take the time to read the benefits from using a Linux system.

A start to the New Year.

It's been a good start to the year and it's only 12 hours old that i started to type this my first post of the New Year or it was 12 hours when i started to type this. I went on Facebook and two of my cousins Ken and Gwen where on the People you may know section. It was nice to see them and i did add them i am glad to say.

Today marks two things important to me. First it was my Dad's birthday when one of my sons was away working i would often ask Dad to watch over him. I like to think that as he returned unharmed that Dad helped.

The second thing is that today it's 62 days and i get my pension. How the years have passed by and in all that time i have only had one regret. Some time after my first divorce my Daughter Sarah decided she didn't want to see me again. I have tried to make contact via her Mum but still no contact has been made. Do i have any other grand children who knows.

But back to the pension. I started work at fifteen and a half and almost fifty years have passed already. Where has the time gone i ask but i have got an amazing place to enjoy my retirement so there are no regrets. No i haven't forgotten Jean.