Price agreed

After finding the owner of a property my friend fell in love with she has now started work. Well that sounds grand but all that is  being  is getting all the old roof, floors, stones and  broken roof tiles out of the house.

It's all being cleared so that plans can be drawn and be submitted for the works to be done but first it all has to be cleared.

We now know that the last time someone lived in the house was before 1979 that's over 38 years ago. No wonder the roof collapsed  early this year.

It really does look dangerous and all timbers are well rotten.

On the left is something growing amongst the ruin.

It took a while before i saw what i now know to be a window seat. Just look close at below the widow frame It would be a shame if this feature was to be lost and also the other window is the same. A truley beautiful old feature.

How it's done

I was asked by a friend how to find out the owner of a ruin in a village outside of Gois.
I first went onto Googleearth and took a picture of the village to identify the house. Along with this picture I went to the Financas " tax office ". Then of to the conservatoriea a department where house records are kept. At the Financas we identified the location of the house and the name of the owner. Then with this information we went to the conservatoriea and here we found the date the current owner brought the house it was 2005 and then the price paid for the house.

As the owner has two Christian names it was a little easier to use Gensreunited.com. It was lucky that only one person in the UK has the same names but as someone had started a family tree to get any further information you need to contact the person who has started the family tree. This I did but got nowhere no reply to my enquiry for further information. Dead end hell no.

Back to the Financas and conservatoriea when we found out the spouse of the present owner. Sadly the owner was not listed on Gensreunited.com so a look on good old Facebook and guess what we found the spruce. All it took was a message to the spouse and not long later we had a reply. It turns out the spouse was at the village in question only last week and saw the damage caused by the roof falling in.

After a couple of weeks my friend and the owner agreed a price  and shortly the ruin will be sold to my friend and that's a good end to a lengthy process.

If you are a resourceful kind of person and you find the house you want just by looking around the local towns or villages then why go to an estate agent. You may not pay his fees but in reality you do because the owner has to pay the fees but he just puts the price of the property up to cover the fees. So find the house of your dreams and find the owner you could get a bargain because by selling direct the owner doesn't have to pay estate agent fees so you could get the house for less. Remember estate agents fees here in Portugal are about 5 to 6%  and that can add up to a lot.

So like I did with my car I didn't listen to others I did it myself. When you are retired you have the time so if this post helps you great it was worth me recalling how I did it.

I went to the old Pete's bar yesterday

Yesterday i went to what was known as Pete's bar on my way back from Coimbra. Talking with Barbara about how sales of the English food she no sells she mentioned that she now sells bacon and gammon. The bacon is 400g and cost 4.00€ and the gammon cost 5.50€ for two slices. They are now in my freezer ready for when i want a treat.
I took some pictures of her selection of English food and later i will put them on here.

This is the one thing that i think most Brits miss here in Portugal. I do make my own bacon but having it ready made  in the freezer saves time.

The walls came tumbling down

Thursday we start in Geoff's house taking down the integral walls that are not load bearing. I am trusted to make sure that certain works get done for when Geoff and better half come over shortly. It's nice to have something different to do and it's what I need while I am waiting to get timber to carry on with work in my house.

This is how the walls are made, mud is plastered on the walls and when dry they put use a kind of Lime plaster type material to face the wall when done.

My last trip back to Liverpool

I recently had a trip back to Liverpool reason being my Grandaughter had been to stay and at 14 years of age couldn't travel back on her own. To be honest I was glad to take her home as I was able to see lots of my Mum. I stayed both at my sons and daughters so it was a good trip and I even w end to see my best mate Dave's wife sadly Dave has passed away and wasn't there.

I had an appointment at Specsavers for glasses but I only wanted the prescription because you can get glasses much cheaper online. Martin Lewis from Monetsavingexpert fame recommended Glasses direct who last time for prescription glasses the offer was two pair for £19.00. This time there offer was two pair of prescription glasses for £16.00 including deliver. This time I needed a pair of glasses for driving so maybe I have been using my eyes to much but at two pair for £16.00 now that's a bargain.

Traveling over from Lisbon I only had enough with me for a 5day stay but it meant that I didn't have a lot of weight in my bag. A tip, I use a site to find the best prices for what I want to bring back 4 blocks of extra mature cheddar at £5 a kilo, 2 blocks of another extra mature cheddar at £4.55 per kilo. But this time I spotted in Aldi bacon joints this is something my Ex used to get early in our married life a nice bacon joint. The bacon joint is now in the freezer along with 4 lambs necks nice for a hotspot in the cold winter months.

I saw my friend Chicco today

I have had to wait so long for timber to finish the doorway I have created in my lounge. After promises I decided to write to Chicco's daughter who speaks quite good English to ask for the names of where I could find a place to get some Castanha.

I was invited round to see Chicco as he had some Castanha or Chestnut to you and me. When I arrived I was invited to come in to see Chicco who was resting in a chair by his veranda and I was welcomed very warmly.

Chicco his daughter Christina and myself went down into the workshop, now this workshop in its better days employed about 12 craftsmen so it is a very big workshop. The look on Chicco's face once he was down stairs in his workshop  was worth going to see him.

We were seen by some of his neighbours who Christina decided to open the door to let them come in to see him. I met the lady who found him after his fall and the lady who called for help and another neighbour. The language may be different but it was plain to see everybody was so pleased to see him. As they left Chicco's brother arrived and he speaks a little English from his time working in Rhodesia at the time it became Zimbabwe.

While looking round Chicco pointed to a huge pile a wood all neatly stacked and it seems it's what I am looking for Chestnut and after talking with Christina I may end up with the Chestnut I need.

Ain't life a bitch

If I offend anybody by the title I don't care. I have just had a call from a friend in Portugal and during the conversation I was told that they had been diagnosed with a aggressive form of cancer. Shit this isn't fair only a short time after moving to Portugal this happens I know some may say but that's life. After working all your life and this happens lt's not fair.

If you think Royal Mail are bad

i have never had a good word to say about Royal Mail but in the six years I have lived in Portugal maybe they could be better than I remember. Low and behold Royal Mail own a company called GLS, most Expats will know about GLS. From reading comments on Various Expat forums delivery is normally upto 30 days and this is common. Why do the bosses of GLS get so well paid and provide a crap service?

For my business I first ask a supplier if I can use a courier of my choice to get and keep my business all have agreed. I use a company called Pharosparcels.com who in turn use UPS as there choice of company to trust there business with. Delivery normally at best 66 hours from pickup to delivery but 75 hours from pickup at my supplier to delivery to me. I have arranged with a local garage to take in my parcels. The driver has told me he will only go to the garage if he is very busy and he normally comes up to my house.

A friends sent me a pack of labels thinner than a pack of computer paper and that was sent on the 14th August and to date has not arrive Why. The driver from the courier says the house was empty and it's returned back to the depot. Why are the drivers for this firm so bad and why is it allowed don't bosses at the company not ask why so much is taken back.

Below I have put four email addresses someone put up on a Forum called Britishexpats, if you have had trouble with this company email to all the below ID and I got a reply and it is below it comes from Andrew Moys.

Dear Mr Calder,

I'm sorry to hear that you have not been satisfied with the service you have received from GLS.  I have asked that someone contacts you about your concerns.

I will follow up to ensure that this happens.

Best regards,
Andrew


jake.diamont@royalmail.com

shane.o'riordain@royalmail.com

andrew.moys@royalmail.com

peter.tilley@royalmail.com