On Saturday while catching up on some emails

Saturday i was looking out of my window next to my chair when i noticed a lady looking at my house as she walked by. As she walked down the lane she was looking back at the house and veranda. When down at the bottom of the lane she was met by another lady who got out of a car along with the cars driver. I was standing on my veranda looking down the lane when i heard the word veranda. With this i went down the lane to greet them as they where paying attention to my house.

As soon as i asked if they spoke English the driver said yes in very good English. He then explained that the ladies where the ladies i brought my house from Seven years ago. I am sorry but i didn't recognise them  i invited them to come in and see the house. There reaction to all i have done was beyond what i could have expected they where genuinely   pleased for what i have done to there former home.  The home that held many memories both good and bad. One sister refused to go upstairs to see how i changed my loft to a bedroom.

The visit was not a long one but long enough for them to see all i had done. My pride and joy is my Laundry chute to my washing machines in the downstairs. The other mistake i made was that i didn't think to ask to take a picture of use all but it was a memorable meeting.

Seven years today

As the title says it's now Seven since I left Liverpool, actually it's today seven years ago I started my journey down to the ferry and the drive down to what has become my home.

Much has happened over the years mainly to overhauling my house I feel the word renovating is wrong. The reason for this is i am not renovating my house it just needs a timely overhaul to bring it up to date. 

 I will come back to this over the next few days.

Looking through my window

As i sit in my chair watching TV i can see through my window by my front door friends who come to visit. But what i can see and look at often is my dream catcher hanging from the gutter outside. This dream catcher was a present but with the weather the way it have been you can see it was quality because nothing the weather has done has damaged the Dream catcher.

Sadly the wind chimes didn't last like the Dream Catcher the weather rotted the cord that held the Chimes together and it just broke up and the parts of the chimes just dropped and rolled down the hill and where lost. The friend who gave me the Chimes and Dream catcher sadly is no more.

I was a butcher many years ago

A long time ago i was a butcher and i must admit times then where happy. I enjoyed Thursdays and Friday morning most. These days where the preparation for the weekend trade. My job was to split the lambs for display in the windows and the occasional Pig but this would just be for joints and Chops ect.

For the Pigs we had a special double hook to hold the Pig for cutting, well look at the picture below at what i found today.

Here where i live this would be used to hang the Pig from it's legs i used a stainless steel double hook but i can see this would work just the same. I found this in the cellar of the house being renovated close to my house. Seeing this did bring back lots of memories and good memories.

Even the veranda has been set in

I went down today to see a house lower down the village from my to see how the renovating was coming on. As the outside wall was taken down and a new floor was to be built. Before the new outside wall was to be built but not before the base for the veranda was installed at the same time.

The steel cage in the middle is for a concrete pillar to be built in the corner 

Here we are a few hours later and nearly half the beams are in place. Where they look to be to long they are in fact the veranda. The veranda will be 1.3 metres or about 4 and a half feet wide.

The blocks are in place to space out the floor beams before they are filled in. On top will be 50mm of  a cement screed to level the floor.

The steels have to be shaped

I am helping to get a house renovated and take regular pictures for the owners and here are just a couple i would like to share with you. A wall that was in a bad condition has been taken down to be rebuilt. Before it's built it has to have steel rebar put in for strength

This is after the wall was taken down ready to be rebuilt.The far corner that is black has now been taken down ready for building. What a stunning view from what will be the bedrooms.

This may look strange but what it is for is to bend all the angles for the reinforcing steels for the wall.

What a waste of time

There is a house in my village that is being renovated. The top of the wall in the picture below has a mains electric cable attached that needs to be removed by the electric company EDP.
I started by going to an Office in Arganil because it's closer to my home. Even though the lady doesn't.speak English we seemed to have got the request to have the cable taken down. This was a waste of time because nobody came to remove the cable and the job stopped.

Next I went to Lousa because I know the lady in the EDP office speaks English. This time I was given between 10 and 20 days well guess what 20 days passed without anybody coming near. This time I went online and filled the complaints book in and visited the office in Lousa again not once but twice.

I made one last visit this week and after a long phone call from the lady in the office to whoever she spoke to she said they will contact me next week. Before she finished the call she checked my phone numbers so I have hope but after what has happened up to now I will just have to wait and see.

A new market

i knew about a new market starting the first Saturday of each month. I had hoped the people would have advertised properly but even though I arrived early I was the only one to turn up. After a while I drove of to a friends for a cup of tea and my plan was to go back a little while later. A little while later I went back to find only one person had arrived and pitched up. Looking on Facebook and an advertising site I found that the event had not been advertised so what a waste of my time.

The week before the market was due to start i looked on the 2 most popular Expat Forums where you can advertise also on E-Beira an advertising site and lastly on the markets Facebook. The markets Facebook now has mentions about the market but the week before it had nothing until the 5th July 2 days before the start.

I turned up at the market with all my Spices and had the market been advertised on the media mentioned above then i expect it would have been better attended. I do hope that in future the market gets the support and becomes popular like the one at the George & Dragon on the N17.

The only advertising i have seen was a note drawn up for the customers who use the bar.
ExpatsPortugal
Expatsfocus
E-Beira
Facebook
These would have been a good help






 Girassol CAFE

5 July ·

Dont forget this coming Saturday we are having a car boot sale at the cafe cars 5.00 euros or a table inside 3.00 euros
10.30 to 5pm
Food available

I went to the cafe yesterday on my way back from Coimbra for a cup of tea as i normally do. I omitted to mention that although when i left the new market there where only 3 people using the tables in the restaurant.   The reason i drove of was really because someone i didn't want to see arrived and seeing her was a shock so i left. I went back over an hour later and i met a number of friends and one person who had set up her stall. Not expecting that the person i didn't want to see was still there i turned away as she left the cafe. Shortly after i left and went home. I have my reasons why i didn't want to see the person and that's my business.

Windows done

The last few weeks i have been unwell so i haven't got any work done in the house for obvious reasons. Saturday i got started again as i now feel OK.

 The upright on the right of the picture has not been glued as i ran out of glue but that's a five minute job.

This window is now complete and all i need now is to remove the shutters and window and fit a new window.  I have one more window to complete in the bedroom next door to the TV room.

This is the room all cleaned up but not how i want it. As soon as i make up my TV unit i will move back into this room.