Geting ready to start the works on the house.

 Well it's preparation time with my new house. First i am getting out all the tools i need starting with 3 X scaffolding towers, doors, mains water pipe all the blocks to form the first floor. The main beams will arrive tomorrow.

The first job i intend to do is paint the outside wall white so the house stands out as you come up the lane.

This post is the start of my dream build, over the years i dreamt of the day i could buy the house and that day has come.

Soon i will be announcing my Youtube channel  and my Instergram account name so please come back to find out what's happening.

 

In the coming days

 In the coming days i take over a second home yes i am buying another house here in Portugal. This time i have to do building work like creating a bedroom and bathroom  on the ground floor. After all the views are from the top floor. 

Upstairs i will have an open plan Lounge/ Diner. The house isn't big but the views from the gable end wall will make it all worth the effort.

First job will be to paint the outside a nice white before any other work gets done.

It's looked like this for over 12 years that i can remember and it's time to look fresh.

Kent Apples

I read on the BBC news website today that the supermarkets in the UK expect food prices to fall in about 3 months.  

Below is a story again from the BBC news website form, a month ago about farmers not getting enough money for there crops. Like everybody else they have had increases but got no more money from the supermarkets.

 

Apple farmers in Kent are digging up their orchards in the face of stagnant returns on the fruit.

Fruit grower Richard Budd, from Marden, has removed 50 acres (20 hectares) of apple trees from his land.

He said the UK's food security was "increasingly under threat" as orchards disappear and future buyers will need foreign importers.

The industry is on a "knife edge", according to British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL).

Apples are being left to rot in the fields while issues with shortages, which could last until May, affect supermarkets in the UK.

Input prices - which include picking, energy, haulage and packaging - have risen 23%, while the amount supermarkets pay growers for their produce has increased 0.8% year-on-year, BAPL said.

• Why is there a shortage of tomatoes in the UK?
• Asda and Morrisons limit sales of fruit and vegetables
• Clock ticking on UK food-security action, NFU warns

Reuben Collingwood, from Tenterden, is a fourth generation farmer who said his fruit-growing business was facing huge financial losses.

He described the situation as "pretty catastrophic".

"We use a lot electricity for our cold storage to be able to provide food throughout the winter," he explained.

"That's gone up 300% on last year, labour's gone up 15% and it's due to go up again in April."

 

Where i live

 I live a few kilometers from a place in central Portugal called Gois famous for a huge motorbike festival.

Gois with all it's outlying villages has a total population of about 4,500 people down in 10 years from 6,000. 

I recently joined the Gym in the sports hall to avoid the weather that we had been having. Going for a walk for exercise was sometimes impossible because of the weather so i joined the Gym. 

I went in to join and the guy i met started to fill in a for about my general health. He then explained that should anything happen to me he would have that information  to help him. 

As i went upstairs to the gym i noticed on the wall a Defibrillator. Wow looking how small the place is that i now call home and they have equipment such as this.

 

A while ago i had a Raspberry feast.

 Sometime ago i was asked to water some plants while the house was empty. There where a large amounts of Raspberry plants and i was invited to have some and i did,

I had got myself 2 raspberry plants last year and now with extra pots i got myself more Raspberry plants. While at a recent market i saw 2 yellow Raspberry plants and got those as well. In total i now have 7 plants and it may be another year before i get a big crop.

Plenty of sun and some looking after should make summer enjoyable,

Her are my 5 Raspberry plants all growing well and in a good sized pot.

Her are my 2 yellow plants and i still have 1 pot left for another plant.

First time in my life

This morning after getting dressed i dropped my washing down the laundry chute to the cellar where i do my washing. This morning i noticed that the light wasn't on downstairs  like it normally is. While doing this my computer was starting up getting ready for me to watch the TV.

Unknown to me and the first time in my life the clocks had changed and i didn't know about the clock change. By now the wall clock said it was 9,20am but when my TV came on it said it was 10.20am. Now it all became clear we had a time change during the night.

I want to share this picture

I had just feed my fish with 2 prawns and some of them started to eat the prawns happily. These type of fish are not to happy with a planted tank that's why there are not many plants to be seen.

 

I felt robbed

In a local supermarket to me i saw Maltesers on offer at 84c a pack. What a treat a bag of Maltesers for a reasonable price so i treated myself. The bag size is not as big as in the UK but it's a treat. As i started to enjoy them i counted as i emptied the bag i shouldn't have counted them i then felt sad.

I should admit i was driving eating one Malteser after the other 16 was the total in the bag. I know the bag was reduced but cone on 16 Maltesers in a bag the supermarket can keep all they have left,

It's common for manufacturers to reduce pack size instead of raising the pack size but they robbed me.

Fire

 I received a notification on my phone that i would rather have not seen.In Portugal the Powers to be send messages warning of fires. After all it's still only February and we have had lots of rain so the fire season should be a long way off.

I am glad we get warning but now in February i hope it's not a sign of things to come later in the year.

Flowers

Today 23rd February i walked round my estate looking at the trees i planted last year. Lots of little buds coming out but on one tree i saw little flowers.

It's a fruit tree and i don't know what type but what a result so early in the year little flowers on a fruit tree.

My favourite tree is my Lime tree and waiting to see if i get a crop like last year. 

Being Diabetic

Mid December i found out i was Diabetic not something to like happening to someone but it had to be my luck.

The Doctor wanted me to go to the hospital in Coimbra and to start taking Insulin. I asked if i could wait and see if i could bring my Glucose level down by myself so i went how and started to find out what i had to do.

First to go was jelly, every night for desert i would have a bowl of jelly after my evening meal not any more.

Ice cream was next to stop it was full of sugar so the ice cream was gone.

Dizzy drinks i could drink 4 litres a day after all it had been a very hot summer and autumn.

Potatoes, Rice and spaghetti all gone. A typical meal of grilled Turkey would be five vegetables and that was every meal. There is a downside of eating so much veg and it's not pleasent.

I cut my Glucose level down from 364 very high down to 214 went the Doctor saw the latest blood results he had a big smile on his face. Then i was asked to go back again but not till July.

Now it's all down to me to get my Glucose levels down to a normal level.

Cricket

 A friend of mine runs a local Cricket club and from what i here a successful cricket club. There logo is the Welsh dragon and i was asked if i could make a welsh Dragon in wood. Of course i could i had made a smaller one for someone else some time ago.

Now it's finished it ca go to it's new owner on Sunday  at a market i like to go to.

 

Pyrography what's all that about

 I have tools that let me do Pyrography. For Pyrography you use a tool a little like a soldering iron to make the marks. The picture below is of Spain and Portugal and it's cut from thick Pine wood.

Today i got my Pyrography toots out to mark the difference between Spain and Portugal. Now the piece is ready for it's new Owner.

I went to the dentist

 I lost a filling and ended up with an abscess under my tooth. I must say i am terrified of going to the Dentist thanks to Mr Daly from Liverpool. He did things to my teeth that have left me terrified of seeing a Dentist. 

But today i had to go and face a Dentist. I asked if the tooth could be filled and the lady said no it was not practical to fill. The Dentist was a young lady and small and she made me relaxed. After plenty of pain medication she started to work but first the receptionist came to help. The receptionist took my head in both her hands and gently moved my head from left to right.

While the receptionist did this i didn't notice but the Dentist said All done. honestly didn't feel my tooth coming out how happy i was all was over.

Cost 45€