My first table lamp

Today i was able to hand over the first table lamp i have made. i am waiting for a response because i need feedback so i can produce better table lamps. I have about a dozen i am working on and each one will be coated with Bees wax.

New estate agency to open in town

I took my friend who has just got himself a home in this green and pleasant land I live in. The estate agent who dealt with the sale after I found the property and who owned it was going to meet for a quick catchup. He announced that he is going to open an estate agency here in Gois the town close to me and the location is about the best spot you could pick with plenty of parking outside. All the best Nuno I wish you well.

Table lampsRus

I have had another project on the go for a little while and it's making table lamps. the picture below is of the first complete lamp i have made, pity i only had one lamp shade to use for the picture but it was only to see how it looked.

The lamp shape came out how i wanted and Bees wax gives it the feel i was after so watch this space for how i get on with this new side of life in my place in the sun.

















Much as i want to work work and do more work on my house sometimes i need to do something else and this is it. I am at present waxing the insert for at the top of the stairs and that's a long job.

A sneak preview

Back a day and i am already working in my new bedroom. If i hadn't made a start now after coming back from the UK it may have been a while before i got started again. Once it's been treated to Bees wax the look will change and also the feel will be smoother than it is if i had used varnish.

Well this is what's going between the two pillars you may have seen previously. The insert in the middle of the pillars will be a little higher, the same height from the floor and the ceiling.

















To get a truly unique finish i will have to spend days and days and more days with my cloth and bottle of Bees wax to get just the finish i want. This is to disguise the pillar that i couldn't remove instead i moved it about 12 inches. I wanted to move it to give me some extra space but then how to i hide a piece of wood holding up the main roof beam. I may have it for putting my coats on the back. Behind i wanted to have a shower but the headroom was not enough so this is what i came up with.

On my way

The time has come I am now on my way home to Portugal. I can't say I enjoy being back in the UK, it's great being able to see my Mum and the rest of my family.  I feel this time frustrated when I have so much to do at home, even more frustrated because I have had nothing to do during my time here. The van is packed and ready to go, my bag is pack and Sunday morning at 9am I leave. There is someone I would have loved to have seen before I leave but that's now not possible if I had it would have made the trip worth while but you can't have everything.

The ferry is booked for 7.55pm and by 11pm I will be driving south to Portugal. It will be great when I am home an starting work on my house and posting on here to show just how life is.

The last two trips where I drove home it rained from Liverpool all the way to Portugal and on one trip it rained all the way through France. 

I leave Sunday morning

I leave Sunday morning but I am taking back more than I came with. I am an addict god that was easy to say, yes I am an addict addicted to Fresh cream cakes and I would need help if I was to stay in the UK. What I am taking with me back to Portugal is excess weight I am ashamed to say. When I get home I will work hard to get rid of the weight and as I am not coming back to the UK for a long long time I should be nice and trim when I next visit my darling Mum.

First sight of my bedroom

Today I received the first picture of my bedroom. I only got one picture because the person who took the picture thought that it wasn't done properly. What he didn't know is this is what I wanted, what you do is tape all joints and skim over the joints. This is how I have done the lounge and kitchen walls and ceiling so I know it's ok.

At floor level I will be putting skirting and I have space for additional cables should I need them. The end wall now needs the chimney for my log burner to go through and I can finish up the wall behind it.

New chapter begins

I am on my way to the ferry on Sunday And i am calling to a place just outside of Dover to pick up a friend. My friend has just found a house for sale in my village and has just signed to buy the house. From the outside the house looks tired because it's been many years since it last had a coat of paint. A coat of paint and you could move in but like mine you couldn't use what is surposed to be the kitchen. I thought that my kitchen was bad when I moved in but this one is much worse but it's ok being like that because you just rip it out and start again just like I did.

 

The picture below is my kitchen on the day I moved in much different from how it is now.

As you can see above a good clean maybe but the cooking was done on an open fire and there are no units or cupboards. There is a huge chimney that is so low it's hard not to walk into it. The chimney bid open to the roof but the new owner is a retired builder who was a builder for all his working life so he knows what to do to turn this into a home.

It will be nice to have another house reopened instead of just another empty house. It will then make a total of four people living in the village and all men. Would have been nice to have a lady enjoying this amazing location but maybe in the future. Lots of the other homes in the village are holiday homes and are only used in August when there owners come back for there holiday.

Time to prepare to go home

Not long now and it will be time to return back home to my little place in the sun. The days are now spent buying all the things I want to take home with me. I have now got all my new bedding and Blackout blinds for my windows. Unlike the rest of the house I don't have shutters for my bedroom and when it gets light if I wake I have found it impossible to get back asleep so Blackout blinds it is.

A trip to my spice supplier is planned for tomorrow. I have been given a large piece of a Sycamore tree trunk to make table lamps from. Slowly the van is being filled up or it will be when I collect my leather chair I have had in storage I hope it's ok after being stored for so long since I moved in 2011.

I changed some money so I would have cash for the drive through France and Spain and then Portugal. On the last trip I found later when I used my card to pay for fuel or tolls each time I was charged £1.99. On its own £1.99 may not be much but I used my card a lot so the charges soon mounted up.

While my son and his fiancé have been away my granddaughter stayed a few times and she was good company but I had to get up to take her to school. I will miss not seeing her for her 13th birthday but I must be home on the 24th as I have an appointment to attend to that I can't avoid.

A few friends have asked if I could get them a few things, mainly tea bags, quorn products for one this trip I have no cool box because I came over with Ryanair so my cool boxes are at home so I won't be getting any Faggots in gravy for me and a friend. I have got myself 20 packs of bacon and it's in the freezer and vacuum packed do for me I will take a chance on it being ok.

Just look at this

Monday I went to buy my van and needed to go online at the van's owners house. I had to put in the password to get online and the picture below shows what I found. I was very surprised at what I found the one called Awesome is the one I needed to access to get online.

How did Facebook link these to me?

In another life many years ago lived a girl. This is the girl who happened to marry me and become my first wife till it all went wrong. How has Facebook linked her and her brother and sent a people you may know?

Poor Steve

I mentioned some time ago about one of my friends who I went to school with. I received some bad news telling me Steve had had a bad traffic accident and that he may never walk again. It's good to say so many people helped and encouraged him he is now on two sticks and with further help he should one day walk unaided.

Despite the bad news that while he was laid up in hospital his so called dear wife decided to cheat on him. To make it worse it was one of his children who saw her. Most people would just fall apart after hering news like that but it was what Steve needed to make him try harder with his recovery. Steve has just got an IPad and is now enjoying using FaceTime so I will be able to follow his recovery instead of just by email.

White van man

Well today I got myself a White Citreon Berlingo van. Just the thing to have for all the work I am doing in my house. I can now put the seats back into my car and turn it back into a car instead of a part van. The downside of the van and it's the only problem is it only has a radio, what good is having so much music on CD without a CD player. Message to self Buy a CD player for the journey home at the weekend.

I left Liverpool at 12 noon and the train journey lasted till 2.30pm. It was nice traveling by train instead of being behind the wheel much as I love driving it made a nice change to sit back for my journey. I was met at the station by a friend of the vans owner and after a test drive I paid and started of on my way home.

On the motorways and main roads in Portugal you can drive for quite a while before you see another vehicle in any direction. Driving out of Nottingham to go to Liverpool was not what I am used to. The roads where very very busy and the motorways where even worse the standard of driving was very poor people driving to fast or to close. Thank goodness for Sunday when I leave to go home to quiet roads and slower drivers.

A Birthday and a boring week

I seem to have been here in Liverpool for ever when it only been just over a week. My son and his fiancé are away on holiday and it's so boring here when I have so much to do at home. I did have a good day a few days ago when it was my Mums 91st birthday. My Mum is not a frail old lady she has all her faculties but is slow do to her recent hip operations. It did seem unusual to see a birthday cake with 91 on it and maybe that may be me having a cake with 91 on. Mum worked hard with Ellis her youngest great grandson getting him to blow the candles out but in the end she did it herself.

The one thing I miss is fresh cream cakes, tea bags, oxo cubes in fact most things can be found in Portugal but fresh cream cakes. Since I got back I have had more than my share of fresh cream cakes after all it may be another year before I come back as at the moment I have no plans to return before then. I have plans to work on the house and the money is needed for the building works.

Collecting old wood

For a while I have been making table lamps from old seasoned wood, Oak, Olive and Chestnut. I sent to the UK for the fittings to take the bulb but until the morning I left to visit family in Liverpool the fittings hadn't arrived. The fittings being late was a great shame as one was a special present for a person who would give me a honest answer to questions as to the quality of my gift. The reason being I would like to start to produce table lamps and for a while I have been building up a stock of old seasoned wood.

I have been lucky to have been given a lot of Oak off cuts that I can do so much with. The day before I left I was given some Apple and more Olive promised by a friend. Fortunately another friend has a huge lathe setup for making table legs and lots of my designs can be made on this lathe.

The picture below shows the first of my samples I cut. The one on the left has been finished and is waiting for the bulb fitting and cable and plug and then it can be sent off to my friend. With the fitting it will be transformed from just a piece of wood to a fantastic looking table lamp. Much as I searched I couldn't find the fittings I wanted, I could find fittings for the table lamp top but I wanted brass fittings because they give a better look than the plastic ones I found.  I have found a shop to get natural Bees wax from and after using the wax if this was a gift to me I would be happy with it. 

What a waste of time

I have been posting all about my new bedroom to show just what can be done by someone who is no longer the young man he used to be. I can fulfill everything i want and i hope that other may say Hey i can do that and give it a go.

Today i got up early to let the plasterer in only to find out that the hospital won't remove his stitches till this afternoon so it's been a waste me getting up early. Sad that at this late stage i have had a big setback as i wanted to get to see him start and he would have done a lot in the first day.

Arrangements had been made for someone to come in and take photos and email them for me so i can see the room finished.

The bedside tables are done.

Well the saga of my master bedroom goes on. Waiting for the plasterer i got on with my bedside tables today final sanding and then waxing with a dark wax. The colour you see in the pictures had three treatments to get the colour i am happy with.

Now i need to wait till the plasterer has finished and then i have to lay the floor and paint the walls so still a bit to do.

The sockets will be hidden by hiding it under the table top. The cables for the lights will be short so as they can't be seen

This colour is as close as i can get to the colour of my bed.

Plastering arranged

Well i leave for a break in Liverpool on Friday so i was anxious that the plasterer could start work today. Last week the plasterer had an accident with his hand and won't have the stitches removed till Wednesday and can't start till Thursday and finish on Friday but i am traveling back to Liverpool on Friday.

I will leave the plasterer in my house doing his job when he has finished he will lock the house up and give the keys to my friend for safe keeping. It won't be until i arrive home that i get to see the finished job. I have been to see his work so i know he will do a first rate job. I asked about how i pay him while i am in the UK and he said he is happy to wait till i return.

Brushed up, moped up and vacuumed up

It's been a hard few weeks i started by insulating the roof. Then as you can see from the various pictures from the last few weeks i have built a room in my loft. That room was also insulated and i just have a few joints to tape up to make double sure that there are now chance of any drafts from something i may have missed.

The end wall is where the chimney will go out of for the log burner. The chimney will also give of heat during the winter when the log burner is in use in the lounge below. The end wall can't be plaster boarded till the chimney is fitted. I have brushed up, vacuumed  up and moped up.






Now i am waiting for the Plasterer to come and plaster the whole room. After plastering i will paint and then lay a new floor.