I got grapes and have to wait about 4 years before there ready.

Last weekend i got myself two grape vines and i was lucky to get some Chardonnay grape vines. I went back today to the same garden centre/ builders merchant and after looking through the bucket with the grape vines in i found they had some Shiraz or as they were marked Syrah. Syrah is how they are called in France, Spain and Portugal. It was lucky that i knew them to be as i know them Shiraz.

I hope to be able to find a good spot in full sun for them and give them lots of care. Always a but, it seems that it can be 4 years before they will produce a decent amount of grapes. I have nothing better to do with my time than be patient and wait.

Granite window sill supplied and now installed

Until i can get the builder to take out part of the wall and put in my new window i am held up. I have just got myself a 3 metre wooden beam to become the anchor for the veranda and needs to be anchored to the wall.

Until then i have had to make do with going to the local Granite factory this week to order a granite sill for my window in the kitchen. I drew the shape i wanted and i was told to go back the next day. The next day my sill was cut and ready for me. Knowing the kind of prices in the UK i know the kind of price that i would be charged but i am not in the UK i am in Central Portugal. For a custom made sill i paid 10€. Now that's a bragain.

Cafe Girassol

This is number 300. 300 times i have put something about my new life here in the sun.

On Friday the 10th myself and 3 friends went to the Cafe/bar i have mentioned a few times before. It was Pie and Mash night. Now that may not seem interesting but the place was again fully booked But when you phone up and say you are Scouse Pete then making a booking is no problem.

Claire who does the cooking was as usual stuck in the kitchen preparing our feast, and feast it was. Pies i have had many times but nothing like i had this evening. There was Steak and Kidney, Steak and Ale, Chicken Tikka and the last i forgot as none of the 4 of us had it.

Between the 4 of us we all had a meal plus 2 litre of red wine and a bottle of Coke. This all came to just 32€, were can you get value like that. 

To make the service what it should be Dominic the waiter does not hover like i have seen before.

The next time it will be a Mexican night an i am booked in already.

Do they go or do they stay. Chickens

I was given a couple of chickens from a friend and these chickens are about 2 years old at a guess. When i got my 2 new chickens i didn't expect that i would have a chicken war on my hands. The old 2 are very violent towards the 2 new chicks. I  have kept them apart but i can't carry on like this for ever so i decided to get 2 more chickens and get rid of the 2 old chicks. I promised my 2 old chicks to a friend who lost his to a fox but, another but now i have 6 chicks the fighting is not as bad as it was. What do i do sit it out and see if things get better or keep my promise.

Watch this space.

Corner sink and now a toilet

I have a number of things on the go at the moment, my plants and trees, my kitchen, my lounge, my veranda and on top of that i was in Leyroy Merlin on Monday. As i walked in they have promotions close to the door, this time it was Toilets. While i was in Liverpool a little while ago i found a corner sink i had been after well now i have found my toilet, There had been an offer sometime ago and the one i was interested in was 48€. As i walked along the row of toilets on offer i saw one that looked good but it may have had a wrong price it said 38€.

When i got to the checkout the toilet was scanned and it came up at 38€, i couldn't get one for that in the UK. So now i have my sink and toilet all i need now is time to get everything done. 

Chickens fighting

Last Thursday the 2nd i went to a local market to get a couple of chickens. One reason was that if anything should happen to one of my present chick's then that would leave one on it's own.

Not speaking Portuguese i wandered round and round looking for someone i may know who could ask a few questions for me. I didn't really know one chicken from another but as someone was buying two chickens and there were eggs on the top of the cage i decided to buy two. The person in front of me paid with a 20€ note but the seller had no change so the buyer handed another 2€ and got 10€ change so the seller can add up. When it was my turn i asked for two chickens from the same cage and handed over 22€ expecting 10€ change. The seller a lady didn't give me any change and tried to say that i gave her a 10€ note and 2€ coins. After me trying to give the chickens back i ended up getting my change.

I kept the new chickens in a separate part of the chicken house for a day before i let them out. One of my present chickens has been bullying my new chickens and i don't know what to do to calm things down. I am putting them in together again to see if things calm down if not i am lost as to what to do.

First you cut a template.

 I am working in my kitchen at the moment an i came to cut a panel to fit up to the at the ridge beam on the ceiling. As the beam is part of a tree trunk it is not straight. I first had to cut a shape of the beam then make a template and when the template was OK i transferred the template to a piece of plasterboard.

After the plasterboard was found to be perfect i then cut out the panel that was to go up to the ceiling and it fit perfect first time.

The picture below was of the panel after i had fitted it to the ceiling, all it needed was to have the filler skimmed over the joints to create an invisible joint.

Now i am waiting for the window for the wall where the cooker is going to go so i will come back to finishing the pasterboard  in the kitchen but i am going to start doing the inside walls in the lounge so i am ready for when i get a wood burner.

Well that's two walls complete, i am now held up by the window to go into the wall on the left. The window will give me a great view when i am cooking as the cooker will be in the middle of the window.

Just where to find the trees

After i mentioned about the trees i was asked about where the trees could be found. Below are a couple of pictures of where the trees are to be found. The bottom picture is the one where the sat nav settings are for for the second place just drive past the first about a couple of Kilometres and it's this one where the bigger trees are to be found.

The sat nav settings are as follows.
40 09 06 46 N
08 15 19 33 W

I hope that this is of help not just to the person who asked but others as well.

Dinner and fruit tree's

I went to buy some more trees today from a place that grow there own trees and sell all over Portugal. The place is so big you would get 20 Asda type shops in it, it really is that big. Well after travelling about 10 miles or  more i came to a stop only to find it closed. Fortunately it was not far from Lousa where there is a Lidl, Intermarche and a Contenente so it was time to catch up with shopping. There were a couple of good bargains, Mango's ideal for Chutney at 1.40€ a kilo.  Boneless Pork loin 3.99€ a Kilo and some Burgers 30% off plus two free also Mango juice and Pair juice at 39 cents a litre. So it turned out a good day after all.

On the way back we called at the bar outside of Poraris for dinner. Like last week we arrived late but as i suspected they could always come up with something. I had roast beef and Tony had ham and eggs with all the trimmings. This bar is the only one you can get a mug of English tea and it's Typhoo at that.

Roast Rib of Beef
Gravy
Roast potato's
Carrots
Broccoli
Broad Beans
Green Beans
Cauliflower Cheese
Parsnip
Yorkshire Pudding.

Monday it's a trip to Goifal to order my new window for the kitchen and then of to the tree growers again. A double glazed window fitted with an aluminium frame for only 79€.

 I want to get a couple of grape vines and maybe a couple of more cherries. When Lidl had fruit tree's i should have got more than i did as the ones i got are doing very well.

Back onto the kitchen

It's been a long time coming but work is again underway in my kitchen. For various reasons work has been delayed but mainly down to getting insulated plasterboard of the size i want. My ceiling height is just over 2.4 meters high and a normal board would have left me with a gap i would have had to fill. I have now been able to get the boards that go from floor to ceiling nicely.

A friend to take me to get them but the day started of badly, his van ran out of diesel just close to his home. After getting more diesel we were of and soon had the boards and arrived home. To store the boards they had to go on the floor of the kitchen but here we go a but. The room is 2650mm wide and the boards are 2600mm long, so that leaves me with just 50mm so i have to be careful moving the boards to cut them for putting up on the wall.

I had a thin batten that i cut down to the size i need to go on the wall and it worked great but and another but the back of each sheet is the insulation so cutting with a Stanley blade only cuts the board. Next you have to cut from the other side the insulation. It's easy when you have the room to do it only i have only 50mm spare but i got it cut and the picture below shows the first board up in position. Now all i need to do is the rest.

Watch this space as they say.

Below is Day two more walls and panels done.

 Board up and even the electric cable is through.

Ready for the finishing touch's and ready for the sill and window trims.

Double glazed aluminium window. Bargain

It's strange thing but a window on the side of a house where the ground is not owned by the house has to have bars in the window so that the house owner can't get access to the land outside. Strange rule but there it is.

I spoke to a lawyer this week and asked his opinion as to having a window in a wall that could not be opened. The answer he gave me was that so the window couldn't open it would be ok. In my kitchen i have no window in one wall and if i did i would have a view of the valley. Now i know i can have a window to enjoy the view i went for a price for the window with double glazing to a local firm.

I went with a size of 100cm X 75cm aluminium frame and fitted including tax 79.45€.  I had expected a price if about 150€ so i was very happy with the price i was offered. I am now waiting on a couple of local builders for a price to cut a hole in the wall.

All my fruit trees are replanted from the pots that where there homw

A couple of days ago i decided it was time to move my orange and lime tree from the tubs that has been home to then for the last year. On the new bit of land that i brought last year i planted my Blueberry bush and a Red currant bush. It seemed a good spot so i planted the orange and lime trees. I have also a lemon tree that was planted under a Cherry tree that is due to be chopped down when i can get my friend the tree surgeon to call. he lemon tree now has a new home along side the orange and lime tree sitting all day in the sun. The orange tree has loads of small flowers on it and the lemon has signs of growth it's just the Lime that needs to get a move on.

My seeds are also doing very well the first to show where the Yellow tomatos followed by the Cherry tomatos today peppers had started to come through so hopefully a good crop when they are all planted out.

Sunday dinner Beef and all the trimmings and a Chicken Curry

I mentioned a few weeks ago about a bar i went to with a couple of friends. We found that the bar is owned by an English guy called Peter. His staff are all English there is Joann who seems to work during the week. Best of all she is from Liverpool like me and an Evertonian. On a Sunday there is another English girl and after asking her name i have forgotten it so i hope she is not to upset by me forgetting her name.

The kitchen is run by Claire and Dom, Claire is the chef and very good she is and Dom is in charge of the restaurant area to the right of the bar.  Sundays they do a full UK meat and veg including Yorkshire pudding. As we hadn't booked we nearly didn't get a meal. When we arrived they had no Cauliflower Cheese sauce left but Sunday dinner for my friend who is staying with me. As Ann had some curry left i had that as  wanted to try a curry. It's the first time i have had a curry while dinning out. Sunday dinner for two and a half lire of Red wine and a coke for me because i was driving came to 13.70€ a good deal for good food.

This Friday they are having a Thai night including Thai Green curry. It starts at 7.30pm and with the menu i heard for 12€ it sounded a bargain to me. But yes a But every story has to have one. On a Friday night a couple who live in a village near to me run the local club house in the village and a number of the local Brits meet there, at first it was just the local Brits who turned up but now the locals also call in to use the place.

Has the rain stopped?

For a number of months it has rained constantly, it was so bad that trees on hillsides have just fallen over as the ground has become weak due to the rain. The ground has become so full of water that for weeks the rain water has just been running down the hillsides.

At the sides of the main roads, side roads and country lanes the hillsides have been collapsing and in places the roads and lanes have become blocked. The local lawyer tells me that it's been the worst winter in over 45 years.

For the last few days we have had clear blue skies and the temperature today was 24c, lets hope that the bad days of the winter have gone and we can now enjoy the kind of weather that Portugal is famous for.

Back to the car

On one of the forums i am someone has put how he made his car legal and he described in great detail how he did it.

I replied with how i had done it with a day preparing and a day to get things done. What i put here on my Blog was true and almost accurate. I didn't mention that while i was still living in the UK i had started to get things together as it was easy to do things while still in the country where i need information from.

I spent from September 2007 when i first stared to get interested in Portugal getting all the information together when i decided i wanted to move i had lots of information in place for when i moved.

The poster questioned how i could do it in a day with a days preparation, i should have mentioned that i organized things as i went along. I got my Certificate of Conformity a long time before my move as it was easy to organized from the UK than wait till i moved to my new home in Portugal. You need your tyres to be in matched pair and tow bars unless fitted by the car maker, in my case i had the tow bar fitted so that had to be removed.

So really he was right it did take more than a day to prepare but i only used the advice from posters on the various Forums that i use.

Drill bits use once and throw away.

When i returned from my stay in Liverpool i went to the timber yard for some battens for the walls in my kitchen. The battens are for the insulated plasterboard to be fixed onto.  Me being me thinking i understood about metric measurements and not having a tape measure guessed what i wanted and got it completely wrong. I now know that one centimetre is not and inch in fact one centimetre is only a little over a third of an inch. I had ordered the timber and when i went for it i could not say that i didn't want it after it had been made for me so i had to take it that was a waste of money.  I Had ordered one centimetre by three centimetre's to me that was one inch by three inch's. I won't maker that mistake again.

I went to get more battens on Wednesday and this time i measured correctly and got just what i wanted. Today Friday i started to put the battens up on the wall ready for the plasterboard that i should get Monday of next week.

I had to drill and plug the walls to take the battens and i had hoped to get at least one wall  done how wrong i was. I had a brand new twist drill for the holes and before long it was blunt ands unusable, i found two more in a box of drill bits and these where blunt before i could finish the wall. I don't know what the wall is made of but at this rate it will cost more for drill bits that the cost of the kitchen.

Last parcel arrived and back to making bread

After being kept in for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and till 3.30pm today i am now free. The last parcel i was waiting for has arrived late but it has arrived. It was a new breadmaker, when i got back from visiting Liverpool i found that i couldn't find the paddle in my breadmaker that i had had for a number of years. A new paddle delivered to me from the UK was £17.97 for another £30 i could have a new breadmaker.

With my old machine the recipe for the loaf i make was as follows.

300ml water
1 tsp Salt.
1 tsp Sugar
400 gram flour
1 tsp yeast

Ever loaf came out great and i was very happy with the machine.

The new machine for the same recipe was

300ml Milk
1½ tbsp Olive oil
1½ Salt
2 tbsp Sugar
450 gram Flour
2 tsp Yeast.

The ingredients and there percentages are different and with a little work i will be making bread as good as i was before. The first loaf i cooked was very good but not as good as those i had made before. But for now a little tweaking and i will soon have the bread i have been making in the past.

Let down by a parcel carrier

I have been waiting for UPS and MRW to deliver three parcels. I waited in all day yesterday and nothing came, i waited in all day today and at 5.15pm i decided to use the tracking on the MRW site. The parcel had left there depot at 8.47am this morning and was marked on site for deliver today. I waited all day and when i checked it said it had been delivered at 16.46pm. It said it was received by " Unknown Person ". What that means the driver couldn't be bothered to deliver and by marking delivered he could finish for the day and redeliver another day. When i phoned to ask what was going on i was told it would be delivered tomorrow Wednesday, that's another day kept in.

It wouldn't be so bad but the things i want to do mean i have to go out to get the things i need to carry on with the work i am doing.

UPS has two parcels for me and at least i know they will be here on Wednesday.

Well at least UPS delivered today but i a still one parcel short. MRW being the other carrier and they are now very late but at least they called today to say the driver will arrive tomorrow. 

The walls are getting a bit of attention

While one of my sons was visiting me he wanted to do some painting for me in the bedrooms.I chose the green paint for the shutters with white paint for the windows. The walls where white and looked ok but i had seen someone with a room with a very light yellow. I mixed up a small amount of yellow using a colour to mix in the white wall paint. The pictures do not reflect the colour of the walls, maybe it's the dark ceiling but the walls are a light yellow and it does look good, i now fancy doing the walls in the second bedroom in a light blue.

Pity the picture doesn't show the light yellow walls as they look. The room really does look much better that the picture shows.

I am proposing to paint this room with a light blue paint.

Found a great cafe Today

I had been told by a friend about a great Cafe they had found. The nearest place is called Vila Nova De Poiares.The cafe is owned by an English guy called Peter. Peter has a girl who runs the bar side for him, as we went in i was the first to say hello. Straight away she smiled and said that i know where you are from! I said go on guess, guess she did and she was spot on Liverpool she said. It seems that Joanne comes from Huyton on the outskirts of Liverpool. She even knows Tony a fellow Bargain Booze franchisee Wow. As she is a Blue " Everton FC " i was invited back when Everton are playing on TV. The bar even has real UK tea not the type of tea bag on a string that tastes nothing like tea as we know.

This is the Cafe from the outside. The picture is from Google Earth street view.












The cafe part is run by a girl called Clare from the Bristol area. Apart from Portuguese food she also does a full UK breakfast till 3pm each day. Sunday it's a full UK meat and two veg and yorkshire pudding. They also have Fish and Cips night.

The full breakfast is becoming popular with the Portuguese truck drivers because it's what they have when in the UK. What i am looking forward to is when they have a Curry night.

There were three of us and we had.

3 bottles of beer, 2 Sagres and one Superbock
1 bottle of Coke
2 Glasses of red wine
2 Pasty and chips
1 Sausage roll and chips
2 Desserts

The cost for all this was 16.5€ or 5.5€ each now if that was not value then i don't know what is.

The settings below are  for those who use a sat nav.

40 10 48 44 N
08 15 57 19 W

Wanted swimming teacher

I have been home now for a week a long wet week. When i built my chicken run i put planks around the bottom to try and keep out vermin and it didn't work i lost 5 chickens.

Well we have had rain now for the last couple of months but we have had some days without rain. The land is so wet the rain just runs of as the land can't soak up anymore. Well the rain runs down the roof of my chicken house and fills up in front of were the chickens normally come out to eat and go outside to there outside space.

In front of the chicken house is a small lake about 4 inch's deep and tonight i told the chicks it was about time they learnt to swim to make best use of the water. As they didn't do as i said i had to dig some space under the chicken run to get the rain away.

Even with this water they have still kept laying eggs.

So much sad news but one special highlight

I have just returned from a trip back to my birthplace of Liverpool. During my stay i work in my old shop for a few shifts and also met many of my old customers. The warm welcome i got was more than i expected. I must have changed a lot as almost everybody commented on how good i look says me with a big head.

It was all tinged with sadness that started with being told that a good friends wife was in the local Hospice and a few days later she had passed away.

I already knew of one lady who i first met on the 23rd September 1985. She was the first customer in my video shop and had remained a good friend from all those years ago. I met her two daughters who told me her there Mum was doing ok but was having some good and some bad days. Well tonight i heard that she had passed away. I knew her from before she got married, had children and then she had Grand children. I can only hope that she is now at peace.

Another good friend i was told had Lung Cancer. It seems that so much was going on a postman friend was at his father in laws house as i passed just before he was burying his father in law.

One of the last persons i met as i was leaving to go to my Mums before i got my life to the airport was someone special to me, over the years we had had a good laugh every time she came in to the shop. I saw her go into her place of work and i followed her in and when she saw me i got the biggest hug anybody could give. I had fancied her for so long and when i had to leave she hugged me again, my reponse was to grab her face and get myself a kiss and not a peek on the cheek. I had wanted to do that for years. I left for Mums with a smile on my face but as it was so cold in February and March i won't dare go to Liverpool till May or June next time.

Getting the Red Cross parcel ready for collection

It's coming to the end of my trip back to the UK. I am busy getting things to take back to Portugal in my luggage  and also a box that will go by courier. All the people i know locally in Portugal now refer to parcels as Red Cross food parcels so i have a Red Cross food parcel almost ready for the courier.

As i travelled by British Airways using my air miles i can put my luggage in the hold so i am taking a box for the hold and a travel bag with me. In my bag will be my Laptop and charger, a few cloths, shoes, phone charger, a pack of butter, six packs of strong cheese and 24 packs of Walls bacon.

Now for the box in the hold. Rechargeable battery charger and batteries, some cloths, a couple of extension leads " surge protectors " and a Corner sink. Yes a corner sink, i have been after a sink in Portugal for a long time but sadly i couldn't get one so i had to wait till i visited the UK. On my last trip over to Liverpool i got myself for my car a rear back box for the exhaust so why not a sink.

I found a parcel courier some time ago who charge for up to 30 kilo £22.54 plus vat for delivery to Portugal.  http://www.pharosparcel.com i have had a number of parcels delivered by Pharosparcels and the service was first rate. They use UPS as there delivery company.

The box contains.
Epson printer/ scanner
3 Packs of printer labels
2 Packs of socks new
1 Blanket
10 qty box of tea bags, total 1,000 tea bags
3 qty Chocolate Digestives twin packs
1 Paper guillotine trimmer
6 Light fittings
1 Security camera
Cables and chargers
1,000 plastic bags
200 delivery bags
1 Plastic bag sealer
2 Printer cartridges
2 Computer hard drives
Computer disks

More things that i can't remember but for £22.54 plus vat it's value for money.

All this in a Cream Cake

I have mentioned before about all the crap in food.

Today while in a local supermarket in Liverpool i got a couple of fresh cream cakes for me and my Mum. I looked at the ingredients as my brother and his son are veggies but i was lost when i looked at the ingredients i couldn't work out if he would be able to have them. So i got nothing for him, just look at the list below of everything in a humble Vanilla Muffin.What does it all mean?

Vanilla flavoured Muffin (Sugar, Wheat Flour, Whole Egg, Unsalted Butter 17%)
Whole milk powder.
Humectant (Glycerol)
Emulsifiers (Mono and Diglyserides of Fatty Acids, Ployglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids)
Raising agents (Diphosphates, Sodium Bicarbonate)
Salt
Natural Vanilla flavouring
Whipped cream 19% (Whipping cream, Stabiliser (Sodium Alginate)
Strawberry jam 14% (Glucose Syrup, Strawberry Puree from Concentrate 35%)
Sugar Syrup Concentrated lemon juice,
Gelling agent (Pectin)
Colour (Anthocyanis)
Natural flavouring.
Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrates)
Sweet Dusting
Glucose,
Cornflour
Vegetable Oil
Contains Gluten, Milk, Wheat and egg.

What's all this in a cream cake.

The Uk is so cold, i want to go home.

Well i am well into my stay in Liverpool. I am cold, it's either damp or it's raining and the sky grey. On the 19th when i fly back to Portugal you can bet that the weather will get better but for now it's cold.

Being in the same place of work since 1985 you get to meet a lot of people. Some of the people i have meet during this short trip are people who i meet on the 23rd September 1985. You would think that i had only been away on a holiday, the biggest comment i am getting is how well i look and about the weight i have lost. It has made the move worth while after listening to all the good wishes i have received. Who would imagine all the kind comments i have received.

Tomorrow is sink day. I am going to remodel my bathroom and i want a corner sink. I have looked in Portugal and as yet i can't find one even though they must have them. I have found lots in the UK but it's one in Wicks that i am after and i will go and get it tomorrow. When i go home i am flying with British Airways so i will take the sink back with me in a box. I will just put the box in the hold and when i arrive in Lisbon the sink will be waiting there for me.

Today i went to an Electrical wholesaler for some ceiling light fitting. When i moved i had a lot of low energy light bulbs i got when Netto had an offer on. Netto had low energy bulbs for 10 for a £1 so i got 50 bulbs but always a but i need to change some of the fittings in the house as the fittings are not the same as the UK they are a screw type of fitting. So once fitted all my bulbs will be low energy and that's a result.

Update to my visit to LIverpool

It's Sunday and i called down to the shop late this morning and again i met so many people who i have got to know over the last 25 years or more. I met Viv a very youthful Nan, she walked past me and didn't recognise me until i spoke to her. The look of surprise when she recognise me after being away for that last 19 months now that's a picture i would have liked to have taken. I also saw Dave or as we all know him Haggis as he is from Scotland it was so good to see him and we where able to catch up after so long.

Today the highlight was i got to see Dexter. I have admired him for so long. While most young people would want to go out he stayed in and studied. Now he is a University first year. Instead of going out he trained and is becoming a very promising boxer. He could have wasted his time like many young people but he worked had and it was so nice to see him and see how he is getting on. He certainly shows what hard work can do.

A downside of working in a shop is that yo have to ask for proof of ID when selling Drinks and cigarettes. It's not a problem to me i have done it for years but some of the abuse can be a little upsetting. Today i asked for ID from someone who looked young enough to be border line. This person was about the most offensive and aggressive that i have ever had to deal with. This makes me glad that i moved away when i did.

Everybodies happy even me.

I am back in Liverpool and back to my old shop. It seems strange to go into the shop and it's not mine, but the changes that have been made are remarkable when i look at how the shop was when i left it. I am back because i was asked to fill in for Anthony so he can have a well earned break.

I had hopped to see a few of my old customers but i couldn't have been prepared by the welcome i received. Anthony had told all those i got on well and would like to see that i would be there on the 28th February. In the few hours i was there i met almost all those i had wanted and a number came in just to see if i was back yet.

Before i left to live in my place in the Sun i was very overweight, grumpy and not a nice person. I am now slim, much healthier and above all i am so happy. From walking from the bus stop to the shop i met 5 people who all commented on how good i now looked and one even said i looked so happy and relaxed. Most even said i looked years younger.

That was all before i got to go into the shop. People who knew the old me where so kind with there comments about how i looked. It's strange but i still feel the old me, about the warmest welcome i got was from the head of security at LIPA " Paul MacCartney's School " it was as if i had never been away. I also got some very bad news and from someone i have known for over 25 years and his bad news was not something i had expected. Even with his bad news he was so glad to see me.

These are all people who in the latter months before i left saw me when i was low and really not the person i am today. It's so nice that they can see me as they can remember how i was. Normally when you work in a shop it's just staff and customers but after what seems a lifetime they are friends, very good friends.

I have still to see Dorothy a painter who had a hip operation and i do want to see how she is getting on. Then there is Dexter a young Boxer but a boxer who can never become the best and that's what i told him, but i did say to be second best behind Mohammed Ali is not a bad thing. I will be watching how he gets on.

All this is before i do a single shift so wait for the next report.

Genuine free ranging chickens all the space they want.

With the amount of rain over the last few months the chickens have been living in what was more like a mud bath. To help i started to let them out to roam the land around there chicken run.Over the last week i have with the help of my son built a much large estate for them. They must now have about 30 square meters of free space, the only downside is that apart from the doors into the coop there is no way to keep anything out only the doors so each night they have to be securely locked in.

There new chicken run is only a meter high and as they have had there wings clipped they can't get over. As it gets dull before dark they go inside to spend the night and maybe lay an egg. They now have no outer cage to protect them so before i could go over any time of the night to lock the door now as soon as it's dark they have to be locked in.

The down side of letting them roam free before they got there new home they got to my onions, robbing little B*****ds. Now they are kept in each and every day and what's left of my onions are safe.

Counting down to a trip to the UK

Well i am preparing for a trip back to the UK.To see my Mum and as many of my family as i can get to see in the 20 days i will be there.

Since i was last there my Mum has had in the last fifteen months four hip operations. Her recovery has been slow but recovering from so much surgery would make recovery slow for almost everybody and Mum is no different. I speak to Mum often on the phone and also on Skype on her Ipad. Mum never complains she just shows how brave she has been but now she has to use sticks to aid her walking. She is a remarkable person and she would shame all her family, me for one i could never go through what Mum has.

We are all proud of you  you have shown what courage really is.

The Chickens and Ronnie Briggs.

Ronnie Briggs the Great Train Robber was good at escaping and so are my Chickens again!!. Again today even though i have placed a barrier across the entrance to the land they got away. They went straight for my onions again, maybe a big rope around one of there legs would keep them on the land. What they forget is they have an area of probably up to an acre but no they want my onion.

Well i finally started to put an end to there escape bids. Today with my son we started to put in the uprights for the new chicken enclosure. So they can't get out ofter this they will also have there wings clipped and if they get out after that then it's into the curry.

We had to put the poles in as deep as we could and to make a hole i used what's called a wrecking bar a huge steel bar. I was lucky i had two wrecking bars until today while my son was hitting a bar to make a deep hole the bar snapped in two. Well we just had to carry on with my big bar but " yes a but " i borrowed a sledge hammer so we could get the poles in good and deep. The handle on the sledge hammer broke and we ended up with a hammer head and a shaft. So of we go to Arkwrights i will explain about Arkwrights another time. We got a new hammer shaft but also a new sledge hammer but no any old sledge hammer but the grad daddy of sledge hammers. This one is the biggest sledge hammer i have seen, with this we soon got all the poles set into the ground and job done.

My mate from up the lane had a load of planks that were going to be burnt but after i said i had a job for some he said take what you like. Three planks together formed a door but not any old door this was so heavy i couldn't lift it. My wheel barrow made short work of moving the door but if you know what the Portuguese square nails are like you will know how hard it is to remove them. I used an cutting tool with a twelve inch cutting disc. After  nails are knocked in they where then bent over flat nice tidy job but a bugger to remove. Nothing is made to be easy anyway once done i started to split the planks down into strips 2inchs wide so i could build the new chicken enclosure.

That's enough for now back tomorrow with photos etc.

Spare a thought for others.

I wrote about my wanting to contact my daughter Sarah from my first wife. I sent two letters that day and i know one has arrived so i presume that so has the one over Sarah.

It also brings to mind this is not an uncommon problem when a marriage breaks down.

Some of the people who take the time to read my Blog should consider that others in a similar situation that i find myself in are lonely even with new families, new homes, a new life but something is missing. In my case her name is Sarah. But what about the others, tonight i will be sparing a few moments before i go to sleep and think about those like Sarah and I who are apart. I am not a religious person but who knows what may happen.

I am blessed with a good life, good home " well getting there and a good family. Only one thing is needed. So please consider a few moments for others.

Steps, Foundations and more done.

I started last week to put in the footing for my veranda but i didn't stop there. I have also created by the cellar door a place where my gas bottle will go for cooking and the showing downstairs and that's on the left of the door. I also made a couple of stairs to make the job tidy when going downstairs. Finally i with my son's help cleared the ground in front of the door and covered it in stone chipping, now to me that's a result that i am proud of.

I won't win any awards for design or anything else but when the veranda is built above it will all fall into place.

While i was out getting timber i saw three Telegraph poles at the side of the road in a little village. It may be worth trying to find who owns them as they would make all the framework of my veranda. But for now i am happy with what i have done this week.

When it stops raining i will be able to clear the tools and blocks i left that you can see in the picture but who cares.

Chickens eat my oinions

This week has again been a good week again. I have my eldest son staying with me and it's been a long time since we had quality time together. But it takes someone staying that makes you realise that things have been neglected as  have been enjoying my new relaxed life. I have put up five shelves in the area i use for my kitchen only to find that it was an easy job to do and didn't take much time why did it take having a visitor to get something done. The hard part was getting the wood, the person there only worked there and he speaks a little English and said i would have to come back when the boss was in. I then went to another wood merchant only to find that he was closed. This went on for 3 days when i finally got the wood i wanted. The jobs now done and it means i have all my Herbs and Spices on show on there own shelve. I even have a shelve to stand my plates up on real posh.

For so long jobs i could have done where not done because life was so easy and whatever it was that needed doing cold always wait till tomorrow. 

This week i have been letting the chickens out to roam wherever they wanted. That was OK till they came of the land and came down the lane and started to scratch about in one of my raised beds that i had onions growing in it. But this week i have been getting an egg a day so i can't be to angry.

I now have three trailer loads of fresh horse manure for my raised beds that i made last year and it has taken me till now till i got my manure.

Veranda foundations started.

Another good day's work done. Yesterday i started to get the foundations ready for the veranda i plan to build and in the near future. Gary and his sister Cathy are due over in May and Gary has a couple of acres of land with plenty of trees. Gary has said that i can have a couple of trees that i will use to form the main uprights for the veranda and also the main beams to go across the front and sides to form the veranda base. Between the two bases will be steps going down to the cellar. The next job will be to make the steps while it is nice outside in the sun.

In this picture you can see the locating steel rod and also the brick that will form an upright to sit behind the timber upright. 

This corner is under where the veranda will be and it covers a lot of builder rubbish from when the roof was repaired. This is where the gas bottles will be kept and it makes this spot nice and tidy.

This picture may not look like it is below ground level but it is and it has a piece of steel in it to locate the main veranda upright.

How's this for a meal?

I am complete novice at keeping chickens. I made them nice nesting boxes and have done everything i can to give them a good life. Sorry the picture came out bad but what you can see is two cabbage leaves with there morning meal ready to be given to them. They had carrot peeling, boiled cabbage, potato peelings, boiled rice and crushed egg shells. During the day they get plenty of greens to eat as well. They always have there own chicken food but they seem to ignore that in favour of what i prepare for them.

They have now started to lay eggs but not regular every few days but they lay on the floor outside and the floor of there chicken house but not in the nesting boxes. What's so wrong with a nesting box i don't know.

Time to admit what a fool i have been

Some or most of use are proud of our lives and of what we have done during our life. Some of us have regrets about things we have done or not done during or life. Me i am not different than most other people and it's a story i am not proud of but it's time i faced up to what i have done wrong.

I had a daughter while married to my first wife and one Christmas i called with my youngest two children to see if she wanted to visit use during the Christmas holidays.  My daughter said no but the way she said it told me she wanted nothing to do with me or that's how i felt her reply meant. She was in her mid teens and growing up to be a young women and it was a choice she made. I left telling her that she could contact me and she knew how but she never.

Being a stubborn person that i am i waited but she never did get in touch. I should have gone back but just waited expecting her to call . That has been the worst thing i have ever done and the biggest regret in my life. How stupid i have been, i have missed more of my daughters life than i saw when she was young. Never a day goes by that i don't think of her and even the day i moved to Portugal i drove passed her mums house in the hope that i may see her but sadly i didn't.

I am sending a letter to my daughter in case after all this time she should want to have contact with me. I have had to live with my actions when i walked away from her but i should have been the one to make the first move. Is it to late who knows but i have written the letter and on Monday i will post it  to her mum and let her mum consider whether to pass the letter on or if it's best that she gets on with her life without me.    

The chickens are playing games with me

After i had been looking after my chickens for what seems forever and about to turn them into Chicken Tikka Masala they decided to start laying eggs. They then decided to stop for a few days and it started to look like they had stopped again till today.

I fed the chickens early this morning as usual and early in the afternoon i got a load of greens for them. After feeding them a second time i looked into where the nesting boxes are and nothing was there no surprise. Instead of laying in the nesting box an egg had been layed in the middle of the floor. Oh well i can't complain at least they are paying for there keep. When i went over tonight to lock them away outside in the middle of the chickens run on the muddy ground was another egg.

Ok so they won't become Chicken Tikka Masala just yet but they had better keep laying or they are for the pot.

The beard is growing again

A little while ago i changed a picture of myself that was on a Forum. Someone mentioned how they liked the previous picture where i had a beard. Well i am growing a beard again and i will keep it till the end of February when i go back to see my Mum. I should turn up looking nice and clean not as some have said a scruff or one even called me Plinker Plink after a person who was a Busker in Liverpool.

Plinker Plink used to have a cardboard cut out guitar with strings drawn on it. I must agree The picture i was shown did look a bit like me but what you see is what you get.

The picture below is one that Chelsee took on her laptop on Skype and the one below is one i took at the same time of her. 

What is the point of this. Well i was showing Chelsee how to take picture and cut them up.

Make sure that there are contact details left for next of kin

I received news that the sister of a friend after coming home from the shops sat down and her head just fell forward. She passed away, tragic but the family where told that she hadn't suffered.

It got me to thinking God forbid if anything happened to me nobody here in Portugal had any form of contact to  my next of kin in the UK.

I now have a neighbour here in Vale Boa who also lives on his own.

I have now made a list of the six closest of my next of kin, my children and then three others a brother and two sisters. I have now made a  list all contact details from my children i now feel secure that if anything happened to me someone could be contacted.

I have only just asked family and they were happy to help. So i now have contacts should anything happen to me the people who need to know will know. But i am not planning to go anywhere soon.

So if you are on your own make it easy for your family and make your own plans.

How's this for dinner.

It's not like me to take bad pictures but it happens. The chickens are now giving me eggs at last and it's been a long wait. I give them a good diet or as best i can, they get as you can see below a big cabbage leave with rice, potato peeling, carrot peelings, sliced potatoes and also a handful there own chicken food. After a couple of hours i go and pick a load of greens for them.

Power who needs power.

I can remember back in the 1970's with the three day week and with power cuts and shortages bad times.

Friday night we had a massive storm with many trees torn out of the ground, land slides at the side of the road. My electric went of at about 12.30 pm Friday night. It is reported that up to 11,000km of Electrical power lines where down all over Portugal. Penacova not to far away from me have had no power or water since Friday night so i was a bit lucky at least i had water.

I only have aircon for heat and with no power that means no heat. When the power came back on today i took a picture of the aircon unit as it had the temperature displayed and it was 10c inside of the house. After three days even my bedding was cold and i was going to bed with cloths on first time in 50 years i have had any cloths on in bed.

The last three days have given me time to think what it must have been like for the locals going back to 1979 when the village had Electric power installed. But what must it have been like before that, candles and oil lamps. But i am used to nice bright lights and over the last few days i have had candle light and it makes you think how did people cope before now. I have found an old gas lamp in the cellar and after buying a key to turn it on and off it had plenty of gas in the bottle and as it got dark i put the light on and it was little better that maybe a dozen candles but it was light. Only an hour later the power came back on after 67 hours without power, no heat or light.

As i go into town down a little side road there is at the side of it a little old stream that looked like it had never had water going down it for years. Today the little stream is a raging torrent and almost up to the road level and it won't be long before the road floods

It's been a long time coming but it's Eggs today.

Well after two days of rain and rain and more rain it's stopped or it seemed to have stopped.

As it looked like it had stopped i went over to load up the feeder for the chickens to make sure that they had plenty of food. When i got up to the chicken run i saw it was like a mud bath. To make the run secure there was nowhere for the rain to get out so the chickens had a mud bath. I have not looked in the door where the nesting boxes are for about a week until today. I looked in and as i was about to close the door i saw something in one of the nest boxes and it was Eggs.

I had to reach in to get the Eggs and i counted as i put them in my pocket. 6 eggs were the total. The eggs were dirty but all together so it may just be the one chicken who is repaying me for looking after them. When i shut the doors i put a piece of slate against the door so anybody trying to get in to the chicken run has to move it. Nobody had been in and all eggs you buy have a stamp on so i know nobody is tricking me but i did for a moment think it was a trick.

What a waste of food.

Tonight on TV there was a program about Food waste. The program stared of showing a woman who weighed all the food in a week that she put in the bin. On camera the weight was 28lb in part it was because she was cooking to much and discarding what was not used for that meal. Later what was not used the leftovers were put in the bin.

The shocking thing was the amount of waste food thrown away each day, yet in a time when there are three food banks are opening each week to feed those who can't afford to buy food.

When i prepare a meal i only cook what i need and any potato and carrot peelings and also cabbage/ cauliflower leaves get boiled for the chickens.

It's time that the Government did something to help people plan and use the amount of food they need and to help avoid waste. A TV program on it's own that highlights the problem is not enough. The program went back after one week after the woman used a weeks diet planning and the waste food and been cut down drastically. The food shop had gone down from £150 to £88. A massive saving but also a massive saving on the amount of food waste.

There is nothing i could do after watching the program as i have no waste apart from orange skins and if i find that the chickens can eat them they will be in there diet. The chickens do get such a varied diet but they are still not giving me any eggs.

So if you can use the catchup on ITV then spare the time to watch the program, it was on at 8.30pm on Thursday  17th.

Rain stopped play

Today was going to be a day for working outside. Yesterday i worked outside on my two raised beds and i planted some onion about 50. The weeds i took out i feed to the chickens so the weeds were of some good after all. I have just got a little bit more land that fronts the lane and it was there that today i was going to build one raised bed. As the land is not flat i was first going to get it a bit flatter for the raised bed. I need this done quick so i can get some horse manure and get it rotted in time for planting.

What stopped me today well i woke in the night and i could hear rain i got up and still it was raining, it's now almost 7pm and the rain has not stopped from when i first heard it last night so Rain stopped play as they say. 

The first raised bed i make will be for Chilli’s red and green. the second will be for a very hot Chilli Scotch Bonnet.

Today i also wanted to get started making my chicken run much bigger and make use of the third room at the side of the present chicken run. I am going to spend some time making sure that the chicken wire used on the run is started below ground so as to make sure that nothing can get in and harm my chicks. With a bigger run i will be able to have more chickens and there is another local breeder who has chicks nearly ready for laying.

Just look at me now

Today i spent sometime talking to Chelsee on Skype but that's nothing new for me and her. Chelsee was cleaning our her chest of draws and found some photos. These where photos of the day she was born and a couple i had not seen before and one of Chelsee being weighed in a scale.

Looking at this i feel ashamed at how i had let myself get.

Just look at me now. Fresh clean air, good food and a better way of life. Who would believe i am now nearly ten years older than the previous picture.

Goat and gravy

I have been cooking again i would be wasting my time if i didn't try new things. Of many years of eating just what was put on a plate to what i am doing now the past life seems so long ago.

I now have a selection of Herbs and Spices that many a chef would be glad of so i have been making the most of it. I got myself a loin of Goat the loin is the chops and the breast combined. The breast was cut to make soup and the loin was boned and rolled for roasting.

Below is a picture of how goat is cooked here in Portugal it doesn't look very good as it's normally left to soak in red wine but that's how they like it.

I cooked my loin of goat in my slow cooker for 12 hours until it feel apart. I cooked it in some water with onion and carrots. This water i used for my gravy a few cloves and some more onion and a stock cube and to thicken some flour. Now i have never made my own gravy so i cheated by using Youtube to find how to make gravy. OK so i cheated but i have now learnt how to make gravy Real gravy and not from a packet.

Roast potatoes, carrots, cauli and goat topped with real gravy now that's a meal.

Cut, Paste and Skype?

Well this week i seem to have been on my computer quite a lot in particular with Chelsee. Chelsee is on Skype in Liverpool and i am here at home, nothing unusual in that i suppose but we have been building a Blog for Chelsee. We maybe i should say she has been doing the work with help from me. Chelsee has also found on Skype that she can share her screen with me so that when she is working i can she where she is up to.

That went well and now i think she could carry on herself with me just helping when needed. 

 

Today Chelsee wanted to edit a picture she has when she was in the park on a summers day. Yes they do get summers days in Liverpool not many but sum. Chelsee started by opening Gimp  a program for editing pictures and the one above is the one she wanted to edit. First on Skype she shared her screen so i could watch what she was doing and also tell her how to cut and paste. First she wanted to cut the sides away and keep the middle of the picture. 

For a project i am working on that i will reveal soon i asked her to follow what i wanted her to do. I first had to get her to use a shape so we could cut out the picture you see above and then save it. She got a little excited at what she was able to do when she is not even 10 years of age yet. It won't be long and she will be to far advanced for me to be of any help to her but for now it was fun with my star pupil being over 1,000 miles away.

The picture above may not be perfect but we all have to start somewhere. For now i am one happy Grandad.

Chelsee

Góis in the top 10% of Portugal – it’s official!

Today i received an e-mail about Gois the nearest town to me being ranked in the top 10% of Portugal and below is the e-mail as i received it. It's nice to know i have chosen an area that is seen as being of particular interest in a University study.

Góis in the top 10% of Portugal – it’s official!

According to an article in the Diário de Coimbra today, 3rd January 2013, Góis has been listed in the top 30 districts of Portugal for quality of life, out of a total of 308.

Although this comes as no surprise to those of us already living here it is always gratifying to gain recognition, and the study by the Universidade da Beira Interior is an evaluation of social and economic well-being of the whole country. Coimbra, our nearest city, ranks a high 5th in the study.

Tempting though it is to keep our beautiful area a secret, we would like to extend an invitation to you to come and explore the Góis region for yourselves, and enjoy the pure air, beautiful scenery, and friendly generosity that keep the local residents smiling…

 http://www.goispro.com/gois.html

To find out more, take a look at this site:

http://rr.sapo.pt/informacao_detalhe.aspx?did=91109&fid=25

New Years Eve and more

For New Year all the Locals Brits went to the club in Bordeiro. Bordeiro is a little village just outside of Gois and close to where i live. The bonus for all use Brits is we can use the club when we want it, also we have one couple who those who run the club trust to look after the place. For New Year all the locals from the village were having a meal, drinks and entertainment for the night. The price was 15€ each and for that you got more than you could eat, all the wine you could drink and entertainment as well.


The night started with a cold buffet of meat on a stick, cheese on a stick bread and well you know the kind of stuff for a cold buffet. Then it was upstairs for the meal, the girls started with the biggest pan of cabbage soup i have ever seen. The pan must have been 30 inches tall and about 30 inches wide it was huge. Well the soup was so good i had seconds.

When that was finished the girls brought out the potatoes and salad and the first of the three meats. Goat that looks foul, only because it is black. It is black because it had been soaked in red wine for a few weeks before cooking but tastes so good. then it was suckling pig and followed up by what we called road kill.

We call the chicken road kill because of the way they butcher the meat. it's just chopped into bits but tastes so good.

After this was the dessert, on my god for the amount of people there they could have fed the 5,000.

The night was topped of with a singer and also dancing i won't insult the music so i will say nothing.

Being New Year this has been the first were one of my boys didn't text me Happy New Year. We spoke tonight and i understand why least said. Also i was able to say happy Birthday as it was his birthday on the second of January. Also The first of January was my Dad's birthday and i didn't forget it. Tome for bed good night

One more day and it's a New Year.

Well it's only one day to go and i have learn a new skill. I saw Jamie Oliver with a group of school children showing them how to cook. In one program he had them making fresh Pasta and it looked so easy to do.

100 grams of flour and an egg.

Not much needed but to make sure i got it right i watch the video again. Mix the flour and egg and kneed it for about 10 minutes and then put the dough in the fridge for half an hour wrapped in cling film. Then roll it thin and cut to size unless you are posh and have a pasta maker but cut in thin strips is OK. Now all i need is for my homemade bread to finish and i can put my dinner on. Tonight Chilli con Carne but with freshly made Pasta.

So for me that finishes of a good year were i have done and learnt so much this past year.

Now for a glass of Cherry Remy Martin.

Today is the birthday of my eldest son who after finishing work is on a beach somewhere in the Indian ocean. 

A Happy New Year to everybody who has taken the time to read my story.

 

The New Year is almost here.

Well Christmas is here and the New Year is only days away.

The closing year has seen lots happen for me personally. The year started when i went back to the UK in January.

My Mum was due to have yet another operation on her hip, due to delays she ended up having the operation days before i was to return home. Thankfully she has recovered and has slowly made progress. Mum expects to be able to be running round like a young kid but she has to make do with the progress she is making. 

But it was the return home that was a big surprise to me, the lane outside of my house had been resurfaced. Before i went back to see my Mum the lane was little more than a track. When i got back we had a nice new resurfaced lane and they had made it wider as well. When i returned home the house had been empty for a month and it took three days to get it warm again, i just left the aircon on. The walls being single brick had no insulation and they had just retained the cold with no heat to keep them warm the walls where like radiators but being cold instead of warm.

I have just been to dig up my Christmas potatoes and i am a bit disappointed with the few i was able to dig up. But it's something else i have been able to do. Next season i will be better prepared and able to plant and look after not just Potatoes but lots more.







Recently i have had problem with my bread making, a number of loaves have not risen when baked. First i tried new yeast, no good and after 5 failed loaves i got some new flour. Right away it worked perfect so it's down to the flour and it seems that where i have stored the flour it was to cold. I get 25 kilo of flour in 5 kilo bags from Makro and this does me for a while. Now i need to find a way to use the flour instead of wasting it.

Now that's what i call a nice loaf. If i hadn't had so many failures i would have added some Sultanas.

Recognised in Lidl

I was in Lidl today looking for Marzipan a bit late for my Christmas cake but sometimes things get forgotten. As i couldn't find what i wanted but upon hearing an English voice i asked a couple who were nearby. They couldn't help as they had only moved here 10 days before. As we got talking it was obvious from what they said that they know me or of me. It seems that from Spain they had been reading my Blog and they came to this area because of what i had put on my Blog. After visiting here they have rented a house while they find somewhere to buy.

It will be interesting to see how they get on as they have some very interesting plans ahead.

Good luck to you both.

Christmas cards

At this time of year it's Christmas card time, i can only say sorry if you got one from me. Handwriting is not something i was ever good at but none of use are perfect.

Over the last week i have received a few cards and they all have nice writing but the latest was totally unexpected not because of who it was from but the message inside was in Portuguese. This card was from my Brother Tim wife Alex and Ethan and Esme. Tim that was really nice that you made the effort to use Portuguese.

Mum is a master at making cards of all kinds but this year her card was not a home made card but with her beautifully hand written message.

Any Cognac XO is my drink of choice

My drink of choice is as the title says Cognac. Over the years i have collected and drunk the best of Cognacs. My two i am proud of are a bottle of Martell 1950 and a bottle of Martell 1951. Through Bargain Booze who i was a Franchise with had my two bottles identified by the labels and due to unique marks they where able to tell me when they where made. These i won't open as i am saving then to leave to my two sons Lee and Anthony. 

Today i made mince pies and in the mince meat i put some Remy Martin cognac into the jar of mince meat. I left the mince meat for four hours to get well soaked with Remy flavour. I am not a master at making pie pastry but i did make pastry the best that i could. Sugar on top and into the oven they went, i waited and checked until they where ready and cooked just right. That's OK but when they where done i had to wait for them to cool down. When they had cooled enough i sat and enjoyed the best Christmas mince pie i had ever had. They tasted Mmmm so the moral of the story is if i can make the best mince pies in the world then with a little practice they so can YOU.

It's only a few days before Christmas and if you can give it a try, it doesn't matter if it's Vodka, Bacardi or even Cognac it's Christmas and enjoy the best Adult mince pie there is your own.......

Reflections on this time of year.

Today was the first day for a little while where i didn't need to put the aircon on for heating, it has really been a mild day. The last few days after the rain have been a lot better than of late with no frost in the morning so here is hoping for a mild Christmas. Last year the weather at this time of year was nice but when the sun went down so did the temperatures.

The last few day i have had the time to look back and consider what it was like back in the UK. Last Christmas was the first one away from my family, Christmas dinner was the one time we would all be together but now that's no more. Last Christmas was the first one that i didn't get to see Chelsee. Again i won't get to see her but at least i should get to see her on Skype so it's not to bad.

Sean my grandson was to young and also he lived so far away that he really didn't get to see him often. Now Sean is of an age where he knows me but i am not there to see him i am 1,729 miles away by road. I have been able to speak to him on Skype but i am really a bit of a stranger to him, he knows me and we do speak a little but it's not the relationship i was hoping for as he got a little older. I have a trip back to the UK planned for March and it should be a time to get to see Sean and Chelsee but who knows.

This year due to circumstances both my boys will be working on Christmas day but it would be nice to be able to speak with them both.

Who said Christmas is for kids what about us grown ups. On the 22nd i have been invited round to some friends in the next village and the best of it is to get home none of use have to drive on the main roads. I don't drink and drive but i will have a few but safely just around the corner from my home. I have said that i will bring a bottle of Cherry Vodka, made by me. Last night i tried some Peach Aguardente a local firewater but one that i have added sliced peaches to about 4/ 5 months ago and it does taste good also i made some with Cherries added to it for flavour and that to tastes good

Last week Mum had a visit from a close family member not seen for years.

Last week my Mum had a visit from a cousin i hadn't seen for 16 years, i had hoped to speak to her but it wasn't to be but we got to catch up today on Skype. This was an early Christmas treat for me as it was a huge treat for Mum to see her sister's daughter after so long.

When i was young and i can still remember that far back as families grew up the youngsters would start of into the new big world, get jobs meet partners and get married as you did then. Now 30, 40, 50 years later where are we New Zealand, Mozambique and Portugal. Then there are most of the family from Arbroath down to Southampton, over to Wales both North and South and  one near Hereford.

But how has the family and i done?  also anybody i am lucky to be related to down from Ken Dodd my Dad's cousin to those retired in New Zealand and done in life. When i left school i expected that i would be a butcher and i was and get married and have kids usual thing. But jobs what do the family do fr how have well all done. Consultant doctors, nurses, teachers, one in the security service protecting ships passing in the Indian ocean i include in this list in-laws, Very high ranking police, Head Fire officer, Very high  in a Pharmaceutical company, University Professor, Nurse, some owning companies,  one even worked for a company in Texas and lived in the UK " if my memory is correct " , Industrial Chemist i could go on but what i want to show is the way families have developed and moved on in what is now a small world.

 I can  speak to my family over the Internet and we can see each other but what does the world hold for the next generation of this extended family? I have one cousin in Mozambique who is fluent in Portuguese and i struggle with the basic language of my new home. But the next chapter of this family is here already some young babies some new teenagers all wanting to get on in life if you look back this family has done so well " In-laws included " for me it started with my Mum and Dad but it's now down to the new Mum and Dad's of the family to write the next chapter of the history of this family.

Trying to clear my wine.

I  have made a lot of wine this year and i want it to clear like the wine you see in the shops. I have 5 wines that i want to clear, Peach, Pair, Tometilia and Grape, Peach & Pair and Cherry.

I have just tested the latest the Tomitilia and Grape and it is 13.2% alcohol. Most of the others are all almost 10% so this latest is a bonus. One thing i didn't have was a constant temperature, the temperature fluctuates from a low over night to high during the day. On a home brew forum someone mentioned using a heater to keep brewing bottles at a constant temperature. It's easy to say and i was able in the end to be able to do that. I had a 20lt plastic container and i found that i had a fish tank heater so i decided to give it a try. After the Tomitilia and grape was done i tested for it's alcohol content and it came out at 13.2%.

In the UK you can get all the chemicals that you need to assist with the brewing.  Nutrient, Tannin, Pectic Enzyme, Glycerine and Campden tablet. These are all used to make the wine as you know it. Wine can be made without and that's what i did as i didn't have any so i had to make my wines without the chemicals, well the locals have been doing it without for centuries so it has to be good for me.

 Left to right.

Cherry

Peach

Pear

Peach  Pear

Tomitilia & Grape

Bloodshot eyes and a Boney fairy

I am no different to any other Grandparent we do some daft things with our grand children to get a smile or a laugh. Yesterday my grand daughter Chelsee was on-line with me on Skype and i got out my Christmas tree and the few decorations i have. My tree is already decorated so it was easy all i had to do was get it out of the draw it has been kept in since last year.

Chelsee took a picture from Skype of me with my Father Christmas decorations so below is a picture of me and the decorations. I got the reaction from her i wanted and to see and here her laugh was worth it.

If nothing else i do have a sense of humour. 

Now a warning FEED you fairy after Christmas if not over the coming year look what happens to Fairies who get put away hungry. Can you see the bloodshot eyes?

What to do in the morning to keep warm.

Well winter has arrived but so has the sun and after all the rain we have been having for the past month the sun makes a welcome change. The day first thing in the morning is very cold and even with a frost on the ground most days this week. In the sun it's warm and as the sun comes up the day does get very nice until the sun goes down. You can feel as soon as the sun goes down the temperature drops rapidly outside.

As soon as i get up the first thing i normally do is put the aircon on to get the place warm. Well not quite the first i normally put my T shirt into the bed as i get out to get it warm for when i get dressed. Back to that later, each morning this week when i have got up and put the aircon on it shows the inside temperature and it has been 10c when i have got up each day. By the time i have boiled the water to make a cup of tea it's up to 15 or 16c and climbing so it's not so bad.

Most people have a log burner and over night the fire goes out and has to be started all over again. That all takes time to clean out the ash and light the fire, bring in the wood. All this time without a fan heater it's going to be cold until the fire is roaring away and has the place warm again.

Thank God for aircon is all i can say and thanks to Gordon. Gordon is a member of the Forum http://www.expatsportugal.com/phpBB2/index.php that i am a member of after speaking on the Forum about the use of aircon over a period of time i decided that i would install aircon when i arrived here. I installed aircon in my lounge and it's the best thing i did. Last year my biggest electric bill was only 58€ for a month so the running cost was fine by me. Twice a year the Electric bill is adjusted by the electric company and the next bill following the winter bills my next bill was much lower so using electric for heating for me was OK.

These morning have been cold when i get up but the aircon is great the one thing is i don't like to do is put cold cloths onto a nice warm body. As soon as i get up i put my T shirt into the bed to get warm but most of the time as the T shirt is cold it's not much warmer when i get dressed but it's better that when i got it out of the draw. Last night when i put my electric blanket on i put my T shirt and underwear into the bed so that when i got up and dressed they were already warm. The difference it made when i got dressed today my T shirt and underwear was Oh so nice and warm. What a start to the day.

As i finished typing this i had a look at the temperature on teh aircon and it's already 25c and i have only been up an hour.

I can't take the credit for getting dressed with warm cloths but it was my first wife Tyna. Tyna always put her underwear into the bed as she got up in teh morning so really it's because of her today i got dressed with nice warm cloths on.