Way down the road

Last week i was talking to a friend who is away at the moment about driving. The conversation got to the favourite places to drive and in my opinion it has to be the tree lined roads in France. My friend told me of there favourite places to drive 

We both are alike with our love of driving when i heard the email tell me i had an email arrive. The picture below is stunning it looks better than and tree lined avenue i had driven down. 

Well that's my dream road to drive down but then it's the love of driving for me.

Who wants a van

During the years i have been driving i have had a number of vans. I can't explain but i just love owning a van. At one point i had a new car but nothing gives the feeling to me that a van does.

A time has come when i must consider my present van has to go. Recently my van has cost 857€ due to urgent repairs to the engine. The injector pump cost 700€ and then the belt that drives the power steering pump and alternator.

The final nail in the coffin was the timing belt snapped causing a possible need for major work to the cylinder head.

The search is on for another van, the reason i need a van is to carry my spices but also the tables.

Another trip back to Liverpool

 I recently went to Liverpool to see my family but for only 3 days. I contacted a company who send you a Covid test kit that you send off to there Lab. I didn't know that there office was shut at the weekend and i needed to do a 2 day test. Then after the 2 day test i had to have a test before i left to return home.

I arrived Friday night at 11.20PM at night and i left again on Monday about 5pm. I contacted the test company and said could i have a refund because i was flying on Monday and the post office wasn't open for me to send the test kit. As they couldn't complete the test for me i was entitled to a refund. Oh no they say there is an £15 admin charge so my refund is less £15 because they can't fulfill there side of the agreement.

I did find another company who where open and i did get tested sadly it took time that i could have spent with my family.

Brexit

 It's a long time ago that the vote for Brexit was reported and to me a was a huge shock.

It's only now that the UK is finally out of the EU that the effect can be felt.

It started when i had a parcel sent over to me in Portugal. The driver claimed that the day of delivery nobody was at home. I was in fact painting the outside of my new veranda. It's common that drivers don't deliver if the address doesn't suit them so they just take the parcel back. That parcel got sent back to the sender who sent it again and this time the Customs didn't like it so they sent it back to the sender. 

Now i buy from Hungary and Spain but the downside is that i can't get the curries that are common in the UK. 

A new Spanish suppler now has Hot and mild Madras curry so as the markets open i may find some of the things i need from this new suppler.

A day turned out bad

Don't you just love it when you have a busy day planned and then one by one things turn out wrong. 

First i had an appointment at 10am to see my Doctor but at 9.22am i received a phone call from the Doctors to say the appointment was cancelled for another day.

Next i drove 80 kilometers and after arriving in the area i called the guy as he was to meet me. I phoned and after 6 calls only to be told to go in different direction. It soon became obvious that the guy was just playing games with me. In the end i just turned and came home.

Next i had an appointment with an Optician always an appointment to look forward to BUT. Yes another BUT, Arriving on time i was told the appointment had been changed till the same time the next day.

I would like to know who i have upset to be punished like i have been today.

I have hated this ruin for 10 years but now it's gone

The time has come when the ruin next door to me became no more a ruin it's now flat. The thing is when the ruin was built many years ago they used stone and earth. The machine took only a couple of hours to bring all the walls down. Then it had to be all tidied up until it was done. The pictures show first my house looking through the Olive grove

 

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Here is my house looking beautiful in it's setting. All the trees you can see in front of the house are Olives.

 This is the last view i got of the ruin this morning before the machine came to remove 

Here we go there is no going back now. the guy on the machine did a great job.

It may look dusty but that is what happens as the walls are knocked down.

 

This is it the back of my house great no ruin to stop my plans.

There is going to be a veranda across the whole side of this house that will be 2 meters wide. on the left side the veranda will have a plunge pool looking out onto the valley.

Figures from UK

 

Why do people want to go to the UK to work the place is falling apart and why should i be bothered.

14.6% of people working for the NHS are from countries other than the UK.

There are so many HGV drivers short presently more than 100,000 drivers short. Shops short of food, petrol stations closing because of lack of drivers to deliver petrol. 

Today a company closed who supplied most supermarkets with food. The largest company who grows peppers and tomatoes can't find workers to pick the crops. 

There are Glass companies who have a rota system in place to try to supply there customers.

The latest to warn of stock shortages are Nike and Costco Christmas doesn't look to be good this year. People who have money will stock up now and those with little spare money will be left behind.

On a temporary basic Boris is wanting a 5,000 visas for drivers to help out. But 5,000 drivers aren't enough.

The government set a figure that to move and work in the UK you need to earn app £30,000.

If Boris hadn't driven round in a bus before the Referendum with the Lie of how much will be returned to the UK from the EU would these problems exist now?

But it was the fool in the street who wanted " There country back " after what is happening in the UK how many would put there hands up and say yes I voted to leave the EU.

The ruin at last is mine

But here are some pictures of my ruin and the valley beyond. I hope my Mum is looking down because she paid a lot of the cost from what was left in her will. Thanks Mum.

This is the ruin looking down from my veranda. All the wood from the roof and the floors was recently remove and now i can see what i have.

Here we are looking down on the olive grove and the valley beyond. In the picture you can see a grape vine climbing up a near Olive tree.

This picture is where my chickens lived until they went on holiday with Tony. I thought i was getting my old back trouble Sciatica but now thankfully i am again pain free.

Here is the Olive grove OK Olive grove may be a little exaggerated. Olive grove is my name for where the olives live.

 

This is part of the valley i live in with the view over the ruin. This is what i wake up to every day how peaceful. 

Good news Coja market is open this Saturday

 I have just had confirmation that the coming Saturday the market at Coja is back on again this Saturday.

Masks are not now  compulsory any more but i hope people who i see are going to be careful and be responsible.  

But i must admit this news today is good news. For me i have to do some stock ordering not for this market but the one after.

Bang goes my computer

 The electrical company sent a text about the coming storm advising that all there equipment was switched off. As i walked over to my computer i heard a noise and i didn't know what it was till the next day.

The next day the storm was gone i had now water problem so all was OK with my world. That is until i switched on my 32in monitor and computer. nothing happened computer dead.

I was soon offered a machine for a good price but i had to wait a week to take delivery. A neighbour soon came round with a machine to use till i get my replacement machine great. This machine uses windoooooz where i use the safer Ubuntu Linux. After taking my hard drive from my machine i found it worked perfectly in it's new home for a week.

Tomorrow i get my new machine and will first remove the hard drive and then replacement  with my own.

So after that storm i am now back sitting happy.

We had a storm

 About the 1st or 2nd September we had a storm. A storm like i have never seen but i was lucky.

I had an area behind my front wall where water was pooling and i needed to drill a hole for the water to drain away. I had lent my huge industrial drill  to a friend who was having work done to her house. She had gone back to the UK and was due back but i needed my drill. On my way home i saw she had arrived home and she had arrived that morning. 

I soon got my drill and after seeing the weather forecast i drilled the wall to release the water from behind it. One hour later we had a storm of Biblical proportions but the water was leaving and the room below was not getting wet anymore.

More in the next post.

Post Brexit what a shambles

 I like many have had trouble getting deliveries from the UK. More and more people like me are using Spain, Germany and China for whatever goods we need. 

On the 11th June 2021 i ordered packs of fish food and i was given for delivery

Estimated delivery Fri, 30 Jul - Fri, 01 Oct

I need lots of fish food for my fish tanks. That's one example of how Brexit is affecting me. I would have ordered from the UK  but the price that Ebay has put for delivery. I recently ordered plastic bags and i normally pay about £7.50 with delivery via Ebay the total cost was £21.23. Ebay and other factors now make for me the UK finished.

That's how Brexit has affected me, how it's affecting people in the UK. T took some information from the BBC News online.

 Shortages

The Road Haulage Association has estimated there is a shortage of more than 100,000 drivers in the UK, which had around 600,000 before the pandemic.

On Friday supermarket chain Morrisons became the latest company to join the growing chorus of calls for drivers to be eligible for Skilled Worker visas to allow them to work in the UK.

Aldi has said it has increased its wages for lorry drivers amid the shortage. The supermarket chain pays between £14.15 and £15.34 per hour for day shifts, and £16.98 and £18.41 per hour for night shifts according to its careers website. Tesco has offered a £1,000 bonus for drivers who join before 30 September.

Across the UK thousands of key workers have left the UK to go home to there own country. Why because the UK has a scale of pay the fruit pickers, lorry drivers ETC need to earn to stay in the UK.

Below is from the UK.Gov website

 

Your job

You must meet all of the following requirements to be eligible for a Skilled Worker visa:

• your job is eligible for this visa
• you’ll be working for a UK employer that’s been approved by the Home Office
• you’ll be paid at least the minimum salary for the type of work you’ll be doing

The minimum salary for the type of work you’ll be doing is whichever is the highest out of the following 3 options:

• £25,600 per year
• £10.10 per hour
• the ‘going rate’ for the type of work you’ll be doing

My sump needs fixing

 In my fish room i have a fish tank i am using for a filter commonly called a sump. I noticed that it was leaning away from the wall by about 3/ 4 degrees. With all the water and filter media if it fell it would fall into my big fish tank.. 

Since i had an accident with a tank during mt teens everything is now above the water line. No chance of anything going wrong and the water leaking out of my tank or filter.

When i came to move my filter i found it was to heavy for me to life i had a problem. I moved my freezer close to the main tank and i then lowered the filter onto the freezer. I was now able to remove the rest of the water and filter media and then start to clean the inside of the filter tank.

A Troll

 The 14th April 2010 was my first post on my Blog. That's now over ten years ago and so much has happened over the years.

This post is not about me but about some fool who has nothing better to do with his sad lonely life. He left comments very nasty hurtful

I have just had seven very nasty comments left for me. My first reaction was to a relative who i choose not to contact. No my relatives are not that Evil but lets see what the future brings.

Customs what a load of rubbish

 Because of Brexit and all those wonderful people who voted to leave it has caused no end of problems for me and many many more.

Often you look on the back of a package only to see it's made in the Peoples Republic of China. Now with so much trouble getting anything from the UK i have started to look for things i need from China. All of a sudden the Customs have stopped 2 out of Four parcels i have coming from China.

I track my parcel to know when they should arrive until i got two emails from the Customs here in Portugal. Over the years i have i had things often from China without any problem of any kind until now. The value of the two items was only about 24€ or £20.

The customs want the Tarrif code for each item a code i do not have. Emails went from me to the supplier just for 4 small filters and 2 bags of fish food. 

It took me from the  28th July and the 2nd August to finally get clearance. It's probably taken about a minimum of 10 hours hard work to get these parcels cleared. The work is not done till i get them delivered and i then wait for the next to arrive.

Alice R.I.P

 I was here 10 years ago ready to do the legal stuff to buy my house. Each time i came up to what was to become my home i would see Alice an old lady why was so friendly to me a new comer.

I was writing about the customs when i heard my name. My friend came to tell me that Alice had passed away. During the first few years out of respect i called her Don Alice until the day came. Alice told me to now call her Alice i had shown her respect over the last few years.

It is so sad that only about a week away from my 10th birthday living here. 

Alice passed away on Sunday evening and the service is Wednesday morning at 11.30 am. I have an appointment at 11 am at the optician so i hope to make the service in time.

Alice gone but not forgotten.

The last week.

On the 16th July i agreed to change my service with Meo. The new service would give me TV wow it's almost all in Portuguese or with subtitles. 

Much better minutes for my mobile phone and better text, I almost never text.

Better internet speed, OK i have heard that before. 

I also get 1,000 minutes after 9pm till 9am to 50 countries FREE yes i can use that.

The pictures below show today's speed. The figure on the left is a test of the speed from the Internet people to me and back to them.

The next speed is the speed i am getting today 0.50 is only half a megabyte the bottom picture is only 0.20 megabyte i could walk faster.

The third figure 0.00 megabyte is the speed i should have to upload this post to my Blog 0.00 megabyte means i can't upload anything.

So much for this great new service i have been sold.

I have tried twice to upload posts to my Blog but the speed is Crap.

My 1,000 minutes went live 6.12pm Sundays night great i can make a call to the UK to a friend. Did it work no after 13 minutes the line went dead when i looked at the display on the phone there was a lock on the so it was no good. Today my house phone is still locked. 

Moral of the story if you are looking to move to Portugal Don't use Meo they are a joke.

 

Credit where credits due

This Blog is now over a decade old and i have enjoyed ever minute spent writing my thoughts sometimes rants.

Over time i have been helped just when i needed it the most. Like recent where i have had trouble at the local health center this time i received two offers of help.

My problem is now solved thankfully.

I am sure that over the coming years i will again receive help but for now a big.

THANK YOU.

Meo a totally crap company

 On Thursday an engineer came to install my new Internet and TV package. I have seen speeds that before i could only dream about so my internet is OK. My previous speeds would be less than 1mbps now i am getting over 20 times more speed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was given a new landline that i could use in the nearest town, but it's a landline OK. I have tried since Thursday evening to get the phone to work And to get the TV unscrambled a total waste of time,

Before the engineer left he said it would take over half an hour for the TV unit to find all the channels so i waited. I have a package that gives me free calls to 50 countries But when does that start.

Quite a few problems i say and you may agree.I gave up waiting after 45 minutes being on hold.

Mikrogeophagus ramirezi ????

 

In the late Sixties i became interested in tropical fish and my most favourite was called a Ramerizi cichlid a picture of a male is listed below. I was so proud of myself when i could pronounce the Latin name Apistogramma Ramerizi.

There was a a monthly magazine that i used to read called Tropical Fish Hobbyist. I found a story of some scientist who reclassified My favourite fish as Mikrogeophagus Ramirezi. I had worked hard to be able to pronounce with pride to my family the name of my fish.

Now over 50 years later i now have fish again but i also got three Ramirezi a couple of weeks ago. It's very difficult to sex these fish but learnt how many years ago. I got myself what i thought was one male and two females. Over the last few weeks as the fish have settled down in my tank i now could see two males OK a bonus.

Today when i went to feed the fish room this morning i find i now have three males. The problem now is i need to buy at least four or five females as i would like to breed them again.

I have ordered the glass to make four tanks to start a breeding program more about that when i get the glass and the new tank.

 

Coming to a milestone in less that a month.

As the title says I am coming to a milestone in my life here in Portugal. It's now only 10 days and i would have arrived overland to my new home here in Portugal. I  arrived here on the 1st August 2011 in my Transit van and huge box trailer ready for my new life to start. Problem was i was a little early 12 days early but i just wanted to get away from Life in the UK.

When you buy a property here in Portugal All parties sellers, buyer and the legal crew meet at the Notary office. Well this was all done on the afternoon of the 12th August but to late in the day to move in. So it turned out to be the 13th August when i eventually move into my new home. 

What's prompted me to write this post weeks early easy Covid.

OK what has Covid got to do with moving to a house 10 years ago. let me tell you life here is almost perfect until Covid came. The only thing to affect me is going to see the doctor it is now almost imposible to get to see my doctor. 

The problem is the people on the Reception, i use a translation app to ask for help but all i get is someone talking fast in Portuguese. The local Council and the Tax office at times when needed use translation programs.

I need to get my Vaccine card signed with the details of my second injection i have been three times and still the won't sign my card. It's almost like the UK you can go into the doctors but you then have to leave because the reception staff offer no help what so ever.

Sorry for this Rant but it helps to get things of your chest.

Taken for a fool

In my village there is a house owned by a woman from Dover in the UK. I have had the land cleared on her behalf because of the fire hazard to this area. This time after a number of emails she has ignored my request for payment.

If you are living in the area of Dover and know Michelle Rices  then avoid her if you don't want to be conned.

A new fish tank.

 A long time ago i found a glass company who replied to me withing a couple of hours. Other companies here in Portugal either took days to reply or didn't even reply to my email.

I am going to build a tank split into four compartments in it. My problem was it took me most of the afternoon to find the company because i had forgotten the company's name. After hours of searching i remembered i had there number on my phone but also there name.

It's now 11 pm and i expect that i will have a price for what i want by the time i am up in the morning. 

The company are about 100 kilometers away from me but well worth dealing with.

Remember the song OH happy day.

For a long time i have had a big ugly skin tag on my face. For my luck my glasses hid it for a while and it grew to the size of a big pea.

I asked my doctor twice if he could remove it and all he said was on my next visit he would remove it for me. But that promise came and went. 

I have often removed skin tags under my arm all it took was a knot round the tag and it would soon drop off. 

I couple of friends gave me some leaves to rub on to the tag guess what it did nothing. Silly me believed them and gave it a good try till in the end i gave up. This has been with me now for about a good three years and it needed to go.

I went back to the cotton knotted round the tag, because i couldn't see progress i tied more cotton round the tag. In total i had three knots tied round the tag and i started picking at it well tonight i am Tag free i had picked it off.

It may not be a nice subject to talk about but i do feel so good so really good. My granddaughter will be so happy and i will take a picture and send it to her before i go to bed tonight. 

Now you know where the title came from So it is Oh happy day for me it is.

A sensible decision

In my previous business i saw so many people living on State handouts in the UK it's called the DOLE. Lots of my customers had never done i hard days work in there life but could afford  cigarettes and plenty of Booze.

Then came a new Rule that limited the amount of State aide that people could get. The best part was the limit on a family having children was limited to only 2 Children, please read the article below.......

Campaigners have lost their legal challenge to the government's two-child limit on welfare payments.

They had argued the policy breached parents' and children's human rights. The Supreme Court dismissed their case.

The rule, which came into force in April 2017, restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in a family, with a few exceptions.

It was one of George Osborne's most debated austerity measures.

The policy has affected families of about one million children. Campaigners described the decision as "hugely disappointing".

Mothers' case

The case was brought by two lone mothers and their children, supported by the Child Poverty Action Group. The court ruled they should not be identified.

One had health problems and was in low-paid work. The other fell pregnant while on the pill. Both had children born after April 2017 and so were affected financially by the policy.

They said the two-child policy was incompatible with human rights laws. Their argument was rejected in the lower courts.

Seven justices at the Supreme Court - the highest court in the UK - unanimously dismissed their appeal against the earlier rulings.

• Two-child benefit cap lawful, court rules
• Benefits rules to be eased for terminally ill

Campaigners argued the rules unlawfully discriminated against different groups including children, large families, women, and those with a religious or moral objection to the use of birth control. 

Lawyers representing two families who brought the legal challenge argued that the limit would cause "deep and inescapable child poverty" and "fails to recognise children as deserving of social protection in their own right".

However, the government had always argued that the policy aimed to ensure that welfare spending was sustainable and fair to the taxpayer while protecting the most vulnerable.

Supreme Court President Lord Reed, giving the judgement, said the policy pursued a legitimate aim to protect the economic wellbeing of the country.

He added that while the policy had a disproportionate impact on women, Parliament had decided that was outweighed by the importance of its aim - something which the justices had no basis to properly take a different view.

He said the justices rejected the argument that the two-child limit was intended to discourage women in receipt of the benefits from having more than two children and so violated their right to respect for their private and family life.

Carla Clarke, head of strategic litigation at Child Poverty Action Group, which represented the mothers and children, said: "This is a hugely disappointing judgment which fails to give any meaningful recognition to the reality of the policy on the ground and its desperately unfair impact on children."

She said they were considering whether to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

A government spokesman said: "This policy asks families on benefits to make the same financial decisions as families supporting themselves solely through work.

"No child born before the policy was introduced is included, and child benefit continues to be paid for all children. We also have a comprehensive childcare support offer for working parents."

Work started in the olive grove

 I have now started work in the Olive grove. The ground is not like you would find in most gardens around the world . The Olive grove is on a small slope and faces the sun all day. Because of this the ground is extremely hard and difficult to dig and a variety of tools are needed to dig a hole.

Today i have already dug a hole more than big enough for my lemon tree to live. I expected that the compost would come of the roots but that didn't happen thankfully. It was a case of just lifting the tree and the pot was empty when the tree was lifted and happy days. 

Because of the heat i can't water my Orange tree and lemon tree till it gets cool tonight. I am sure that they will need a well earned drink tonight as i will.

At the moment my Acer needs to be moved but i am tempted to leave it where it is for now.

Apple the dominaters

I have an Ipad mini now quite old but still perfect for my everyday needs. I also have an old Iphone that again does everything i could need. 

So what is my moan first  because of the age of both my Ipad and Iphoone i can't use Revolut to transfer money into EUROS from the UK to Portugal.

Kindle has dissapeared from my Iphone and Whattsapp. A while ago an app i used to measure the amount of steps to took each day you guessed that dissapeared as well.

All that i can live with but now the Ipad started to give a message that the charger was not original and may not work correctly I just ignore that. Now my trusty Iphone ir doing the same telling me that the charger is not original and may not work correctly.

What has my Ipad and Iphone got to do with Apple both devices are now longer under Guaranteeso are Apple spying on my devices. Who knows to that question i don't use Safari and haven't used it for years using a browser of my choice.

A trip to the Notary

 I used the money i inherited from my Mum wisely well i think i did. I have wanted to buy the ruin next door to me for a long time to build a veranda at the side of my house. The thing that put me of was the cost of the Legal fees. A friend of mine complained about the cost of legal charges for a small house he found in the same village as i live. After complaining he got a reduction in the cost of his legal fees.

After this experience and before i asked a local lawyer to act on my behalf i asked what others had done. I spoke to a local carpenter what knows someone who's fee was very reasonable so i contacted the lady. Turns out i have known the lady from before i came to live here.

 A bit about her.

I had the help from a friend called Raquel who i am lucky has been my friend about 10 years and many more to come. Although Raquel is not a Lawyer she performs the act the same as a lawyer would at the Notary. Raquel does all the legal work that a lawyer does by for a more affordable price. Would i recommend her you can be sure i would and i have a good friend in the who is waiting to use her services as soon as he gets over here. 

Her email is raquel1stop@gmail.com for get service in this area feel free to call her and mention me Spicepete

I pinched an idea

 I saw an episode of Grand designs New Zealand some time ago and i pinched an idea from the show. The house owner had someone come all the way from Holland to do some wood work for his house.

What it is well it's a series of squares glued together and they are made from Plywood. To show the pattern of the plywood i used a clear varnish to seal the wood. 

I am going to paint all the side in a nice shade of Black

My Little Bronx is sick

 Today i heard from my daughter that my young Granddaughter was in Hospital with Sepsis. Bronx has her health issues just like most children her age but Sepsis on top did upset me. 

At the moment i am sat here in Portugal and there is nothing i can do. I am waiting for my second Covia vaccine and going back to the UK when i would have to self isolate would stop me from going to see her.

Her older sister will send me pictures and videos so i will get to see her but i can't help but worry.

So what's happened during the last few months

Here in Portugal markets have closed since bout November 2119. So as the Spices man what have i been doing with my time. In a word not a lot to date.

I have been working on my Lathe but as wood run out there was not a lot that could be done. I made a cutting board for one of my sons but soon stopped it because of Brexit i would have to pay tax to ship it to Liverpool. Then the Customs in the UK would want Customs duty on a piece of wood sent to my son.

Now the EU and the UK have a Gift system in place for people to send a Gift up to £45 from the 1st July so lets see how this works.

I made lots of Table lamps, Bowls and platters as well as cutting boards. Some cutting boards are in the shape of countries for example, Africa, Australia and Portugal and Spain.

I used the time to increase my stock of Spices ready for when the markets start again. Because of Brexit i no longer buy from my usual supplier in the UK but i buy from the EU now. I have found suppliers in Spain, Germany and Hungary. Buying from Hungary i am now able to get the best Smoked paprika so i am very happy i just need a market to start selling my Spices again.

It was a great day and thanks to my Mum.

My Mum passed away a little while ago and is very sadly missed.

I like the rest of my family was left some money on Mum's passing. I carefully saved this money because i knew what i wanted the money to be used for. 

Next door to my house in Portugal is a Ruin and a small Olive grove that ruin is now mine and thanks MUM R.I.P

I had the help from a friend called Raquel who i am lucky has been my friend about 10 years and many more to come. Although Raquel is not a Lawyer she performs the act the same as a lawyer would at the Notary. Raquel does all the legal work that a lawyer does by for a more affordable price. Would i recommend her you can be sure i would and i have a good friend in the who is waiting to use her services as soon as he gets over here. 

Her email is raquel1stop@gmail.com for get service in this area feel free to call her and mention me Spicepete

The side of the house will in time have a veranda across the whole of the back of the house. The back of the house gets the sun all day i don't think it will join up to my present veranda i just want them separate.  

My present veranda i did most of the building work myself but i did get a builder to tile the floor and to skim the walls.

 This is my house as seen through the Olive grove.

These Olive trees are quite large and very mature.

Another view through the Olive grove.

Lets get started again

 Hi Everybody i am back but let me explain.

Some time ago i passed a comment how i was the fist in my family to have passed my driving test first time. I was first in my family from my Mum and Dad's children but that wasn't the point of the comment. 

What the comment meant was from my Two wives, four children and four grandchildren this is my family. From my family i was the first to pass the driving test first time.

Sadly one of my brothers and sisters left a rather nasty comment on my Blog. I have since blocked this person and wish not to receive any further comments from them.

Maybe they could have been first in there family but i will say i don't care.

Warning have been given

 Ahead of us is the fire season. Warning have been given to help provide protection from fire in the months ahead.

A neighbour offered to cut all the undergrowth for me and on Saturday he turned up and got started cutting the land. After showing him my land markers he got started with his strimmer.

I know that you can't make a piece of land fire proof but you can do the best you can. This is my estate all about 180 m ok only small but it's mine, you can see the front of the wall all the undergrowth but that's cut now.

The village has life

 At the ungodly hour of just after 8am this morning i was woken up by a noise. At first i couldn't figure out what the noise was at first.

As my brain started to function i made out the noise of People strimming and strimming does sound bad first thing in the morning.

Because of the risk to fires all villages have been cleaned by the local camara all the growth at the side of the roads gets cut back. After it get cut the village does look so much better till it grows back again. 

Normally a guy comes along with a blower to blow everything into a pile to be taken away. Today for the first time in almost 1101 years a woman come along but she just brushed all the cuttings onto someones land. 

All this grass cutting dumped on someones land increases the risk of fire. When i started to take pictures with my Ipad the woman soon stopped.

As soon as i went back inside it all started again.

Now they are blowing all the cuttings onto someones land waiting for a fire to start.

Sorry about the title but to me the end came on the 11th March 2021. I used the last of my stocks of Extra mature cheddar cheese, each day i would have 2 poached eggs and i would put some cheese in my poacher before i added the egg. 

I would have two pieces of thick home made bread toasted. A perfect breakfast to start anybodies day. Yes at Lidl i can get cheese from Northern Ireland. As cheese goes it's not bad but this is the end of 10 years almost of having my choice of cheese for breakfast. 

Boris you have a lot to answer for.

 

Here is a picture of my last packet of pre Brexit cheese that has now gone. 

If you have an egg poacher try putting some cheese in first and then the egg. Mmmmm

This virus

 Wanting to stay safe has a cost by staying in keeps me from putting myself at risk of the Virus. I go out shopping around lunch time the idea is that people are at home having lunch. 

I feel a little safer going out then to do my shopping and as the shops don't look to busy i may be right.

About the only thing i am able to do is use my lathe and i am slowly using what wood i have that i can use.

I am sorry but little has been happening lately there is nowhere open that i can get some wood from.

This was a few days work when i was really not feeling my best.

I ordered Epoxy resin from Germany instead of the UK where i would have normally got it from. I made up some epoxy and cut a grove in the rim of the bowl/platter and put some blue epoxy in it.

These did give me a boost at a time when i was feeling low.

Not just black epoxy resin but some mahogany as well. Well i need to try and keep busy until it's safer to go out.

I'm from Liverpool and proud of it.

I often get asked at markets i attend if i am English i always answer no i say i am from Liverpool. Why everybody has heard of liverpool but who has heard of Walsall or Dudley.

I have a couple of pictures to share and the first is of the Anthony Gormley statues on the beach at Grosby.

This year someone had been and put T shirts or jumpers and hats on the Statues. 

That's Anthony smiling no not the Anthony Gormley statue but another Anthony.

Anthony has a company that makes glass Splashbacks and much of his work is pictures on splashbacks. If you can imagine a picture of on a splahsback Anthony could create it for you.

 https://liverpoolsplashbacks.com/

 

 

This is St Georges Hall now you see why Liverpool is special. Liverpool has more grade one and grade 2 listed building outside of London than any other UK city. Liverpool even has a bombed out church grade 2 listed and very special it is.

 

From the old and famous Liverpool to the new modern. It's Superlambanana

This is sure to bring a smile to anybody who see's it and this is outside of a university building. The superlambanana has been breeding at present there are about 100 smaller but colourfull versions and some around the city centre.

I now have a door on my bathroom

 When i built my bathroom i decided to move the door but i never had a door until now. After making the sliding door for my spare bedroom it had to be another sliding door. This door is made out of my favourite wood Chestnut. I have now finished the door and it looks every bit as good as i hoped it would. My next job is to make the same type of door for my lounge. Just look at that beam above the door that's stunning. 

Now to finish the door i need to make the wall in the front and finish of the front of the doorway.

 

How reasuring

 I have just had a message sent to me from a friend who lives near to me. This is what the local council are doing to help people.

"Stay at home! We do it! ” According to the evolution of the pandemic situation in the country and in the municipality, the Arganil City Council, in partnership with the social network and CLDS4G, recalls that it has at its disposal two lines of contact with the municipal social services, aimed at the elderly and people in isolation and quarantine, with no social response. If you are infected, waiting for a COVID-19 screening test result, or if you had a risky contact with someone infected: Stay at Home! If you need medicines, food and basic necessities, call: 235 200 143 or 924 438 762. We do arrive!

Who's idea was Brexit.

 

Brexit

Who's idea was Brexit.

I like to think when I post on my Blog everything I say is based on Fact.

I have a friend outside of Dover who makes up parcels for me but we missed the deadline for the 1st January. I have quite a number of things ready to be shipped over to me. 

Now everything has to have a Tarrif code and each Tarrif code has a customs/ vat payment that I may possibly have to pay. But this will be happening to anybody who wants to send a parcel to a friend/ or loved one living in the EU.

I also had a parcel from another friend in Norfolk. UPS have collect a parcel that was for me but they arrived a day early. Why someone handed it over before the documents where complete I don't know. The driver just drove off without even scanning the parcel who knows. This parcel I was dealing with the Commercial invoices and then sending them to my friend along with the address label.  

To try and locate my parcel I had to deal with Parcel2go and being fair the seem to be doing the best to get my parcel back for me. In total I sent 18 emails and every item in the parcel has to have 4 commercial invoices. That's 23 item in the parcel X 4 invoices but this will be the last time I but my Spices from the UK. I have found another company in Hungary. 

The main thing I have lost is one thing I have never been without in the last almost 10 years. Asda extra mature cheddar cheese, Lidl have a mature cheddar but it's not like what I have just lost. The EU now don't allow any product from the UK that contains meat or dairy products.

In the news many companies in the EU have declared that they will not deal with customers in there online shops. Who would blame them now with all the added paperwork involved. I won't now deal with UK companies for spices multiply the loss of my sales to the UK. But how many others in the EU who will be looking for other suppliers that's a lot of lost trade. 

Brexit good or bad

Before Britain joining the then Common Market I had to go to Agen in the south of France to repair a gear box on a 32 ton truck.

I arrived in Dover in plenty of time to catch the ferry but I had to book into the Customs first. When it was my turn in the queue I handed my papers to the Customs officer, all the guy did was take the papers and say 5 and I then sat down. I thought I was number 5 in the queue so just sat to wait. A driver next to me asked what number I got I said 5 and asked what it meant was I number 5 in the queue. No the driver said it meant I had to wait 5 hours to be cleared to leave. 

OK so the UK is again outside of the EU does the UK go back to those crazy days or will computers make it easier than before.

I have spent about 8 hours spread over 2 days trying to organise a parcel to be shipped to me. As the lady shipping my parcel to me is not very good with a computer and I often have to do computer things for her I have to arrange for her the Customs declaration.

Today everything in a parcel has to be listed and the Tariff code and description listed on the parcel. That's for every parcel sent from the UK to Europe and the U.K. Government website states that there may be VAT and Customs tariffs to be paid. One item Ras el Hanout has upto 20 different ingredients in it how do I list that on the declaration????

Travel you now need a green card to drive in Europe, sellers now have to comply with the new rules life is going to be more difficult. I use Ebay for lots of things I can't find here in Portugal now I will look else ware. 

I was planning a trip back to the UK in my van to pickup stuff waiting for me with family members. With the new rules I would have to list everything in my van and if I miss anything I risk fines or whatever penalty's I may get.

All the people who voted to leave the EU how many after all recent problems would vote again to leave I suspect not as many.

So for those who vote to go out of the EU some news below 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/duty-free-extended-to-the-eu-from-january-2021

Alcohol

• 42 litres of beer
• 18 litres of still wine
• 4 litres of spirits OR 9 litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine or any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV

Tobacco

• 200 cigarettes OR
• 100 cigarillos OR
• 50 cigars OR
• 250g tobacco OR
• 200 sticks of tobacco for heating
• or any proportional combination of the above

 

The first of January

The 1st January comes round every year but this year to me and MY family it's special. It doesn't happen very often but today was my Dad's birthday yes of course it's special because he was 100 years of age today. But this year is a bit more special for him in that Mum is now with him and my elder brother Brian.

God bless you three and may God take care of you.

It's because of the virus

Liverpool city centre at this time of year is full to bursting with people having a good time. As the picture below shows not a soul in sight only the lights that young children would marvel at when being taken to see the lights.

The Radio City tower when it was first built used to be a restaurant but now is a radio station

 

Happy New Year to my

 This is the first year i have wished my grandchildren happy new year on my Blog.

Of the four grandchildren there is one who is a little bit special in one way. Her name is Florence what is so special well let me tell you of my Dad's mother it's Florence.

But of course all my grandchildren are special Chelsee, Sean, Bronx and lastly Florence.

Two sons birthdays

 The 30th of December and the 2nd January are 2 special days for me at this time of year one is my eldest sons birthday and the other is my youngest sons birthday.

I am in Portugal and they are not Apart from wishing them happy birthday that was all i could do. Maybe next year will be better and i hope matters across the world are much better. Some of us have loved ones working in troubled areas and i am thinking of my loved one at this time.

First post of the year

 Well here we are it's now 2021

A new year and after last year lets all pray that this year will be so much better than the last. There was nothing last year that most of use would want to remember.

So please take a minute to think of others who may be worse of than you may be.