Time to clad the pillars

Confidence is a big thing. I am now starting to do another job and this is using a nice piece of hard wood to cover where i took out a wall in my lounge. I needed to leave a pillar and i decided to clad it in timber and having invested in the right tools it's time to start the job.

I want to do a rounded edge but first i need to cut some timber and practice. Measure twice cut once is good advice but the last thing i want is to then get it wrong. I cut a couple of pieces and used silicon to fix to the wall and wood glue to glue the two pieces together. Once the glue has dried i will get out my router and shape the corner, then sand and varnish. If after all this it comes out as i want i can then get Chicco the timber guy to cut more of my Chestnut timber down to size.

The pillar is about 8ft high so it's easy to make a mistake and spoil the effect i am after so that's why i am doing it this way first. 

50 Years after leaving school i am working with wood

When i was at school a good 50 years ago i was to say the least not very good.  Now over 50 years later i enjoy wood working and able to make a good job at what i am doing.

I have been able after so long to get to a store for some of the bits i can't get local. Just a bit of tidying up to do and it's all complete.

The top has now been completed and i have managed after so long to get the eye bolts to fix the rope to the uprights on the veranda. I got myself a type of thread to secure the rope ends only to find that it was not very strong. I now need to get some more stronger thread to secure the rope as i don't want anybody to fall through and have an accident.

One of the timber floor boards was twisted and i have now been able to get that replaced. The hard part is doing things that can't be seen done but lots can't be seen.

Back later 

Getting questions answered

On Tuesday i tried to join a Forum. I know lots of people use Forums for research and there are some who have nothing good to be said about them. Me i always try to find my information from Techie Forums that is run by people who know what they are talking about.

The best two  i have found are Ubuntu Forums as i run my computers using Ubuntu Linux and the other is AVforums as this is all about Sound and Video.

When i started my kitchen i knew i wanted LED lights but didn't consider Solar for the power. It's only now i want to turn to using Solar power all i need to do is change the LED bulbs and connect up a Solar panel. OK i know there is a bit more to it but that's the plan but why not free energy. I am now looking at installing Solar energy for my lighting system, i only want to install one panel so i can run 12 LED lighting so not to difficult. Also i want when i am ready to fit a Solar panel to give me hot water. Not to difficult but when you find a very good UK Techie Forum it's easy to get the questions answered But a big BUT.

The internet is full of people who want to do harm to websites in various ways, Spam or steal information or for whatever reason. I have found a Forum that for one reason or another made me work hard to get membership. Am i upset no because security is vital in todays society and for that reason i move from windows many years ago security is number one with me and Ubuntu Linux gives me that security.

The work starts as i have lots of question now so that when i get my Solar panels for both Light and water i know what i am doing.  

Me 1 slugs nil

Having strawberries in the ground gives slugs something to do like eat my strawberries when i am not watching. As the pictures below show i have made it more difficult for them.

Last year i got myself 4 strawberry plants from a garden centre for 2€ so at that price it was a bargain. However now i have about 40 plants and i am to mean to give any away or even loose any to the slugs.

I have in total six planters all with 2 plants in each. All i now need is for them to grow nice big strawberries for me to enjoy.










My son said about putting the plants in pots on the veranda, so i did and now all i need to do is keep them watered and eat my fruit.

Here is my strawberry tower and tomorrow i will start to get it planted. I will get to plant 21 plants in my tower but look at the work i am giving myself all this watering every day.

















After all i made a watering system for my grapes and onions well i have to do something for my strawberries.

Just paid all my bills even my Council tax

Today being a nice day as it was i decided it was time to pay all my bills. Electric, Phone, Water and my House tax or as it's known in the UK Council tax.

What made me pay it all today even though some where not yet due was i was talking to a friend in Deal in Kent this morning as he said how much he had to pay for his Council tax this year and he has to pay £135 per month. I made him sick by saying mine was only 30.45€ per year.

House tax           30.45€    per year
Water rates          4.59€    per month
Electric              59.45€    per month
Phone/internet   30.36€    per month

How is that only 124.85€ for all my bills and that includes my yearly House tax. My mate in Kent pays more per month and that's only for his Council tax.

Everything has started to grow nicely

We have been having mixed weather, the forcast says one thing and we get something else. Weeks of nice warm weather then overcast and then rain. Well the blossom has come and gone on most of the fruit trees. The plums, apples and all the cherries have tiny fruits growing.

The orange and lemon trees have blossoms on and soon hopefully they will have fruits growing. 

 On the left is another Apple tree.

Next but no so easy to see is my Blueberry tree.



On the left is again a Plum tree.

Next is my Lemon tree.




 My onions are doing very well and better than last year when the chickens got at them and decided there need was better than mine and they eat the lot.

The strawberries have gone from 4 plants last year to about 30 this year so i should have plenty of nice ripe strawberries to enjoy this year. I have just got myself a strawberry planter, a 5ft high tube that takes 24 plants. The best thing is that it is above the ground away from most ground pests.

I had wanted this year to be growing by using Hydroponics where plants are grown in water instead of soil. On the left hand side of my Blog there are links to Hydroponics.

On the left is my Lettuce.

In the bucket are my Onions





On the left is part of my Apple tree.

Lastly is my Plum tree.

I locked myself out of the house. What a fool

The hard part of doing things as part of my project of improving my house is often a lot is done but can't be seen.

When i moved into the house i found all kinds of tools etc and I put them all in a box to look at later. I locked myself out one day this week and having a key to the door on my veranda hidden outside i was not to concerned. I just had to get my spare key and get in, now that would be easy but i left the key in the veranda door on the inside. In the end i had to break the front door open and in doing so i broke the lock.

Lucky for me i had three door locks in the box of tools in my cellar so all i needed to do was get one of the locks and fit it to the door. Sounds easy. The lock had not been screwed on but in fact was nailed on. The problem here is that all the nails you buy in Portugal are square not round. Having removed nails from timber i have recycled i know how hard it is to get them out. This lock proved no different. Only four nails but not wanting to damage the door frame it took over an hour to just to get them out without any damage.

Thankfully four screws and the job was done.

I managed to get the electrician to call this week to install the switches for my outside lights and to get my ceiling fan connected and working at last.

I have a new fridge and after putting some consideration to how the kitchen worked for me i decided to move the fridge to under one of my work units. The problem being all units where joined together and the granite worktop was fixed to the units as well. I had to cut down one unit and then fit the fridge in the gap i had made for it.

Because i had planned my kitchen well, running cable to put in a socket for the fridge was easy. It was a good job i hadn't had my unit doors made yet or i would have wasted the doors on this unit.






While out shopping i got a loin of pork 2.75 kilo for 9€ that works out to £1.50 per lb. After cutting it in have and slicing one half into steaks the other was to make bacon.

Beautiful sweet cured bacon. Two bacon steaks and enough when packed away in the freezer to keep me going for weeks.

100 gram of salt
100 grams of sugar
1 heap table spoon of Juniper berries crushed and the rest is easy. Now to enjoy



That's not a bad week,

Getting rid of waste

I hate waste of any kind and water waste is high on my list of waste hates. For the last couple of years i have been using the washing up water by putting it on my garden. I only needed four pipes and a couple of elbow joints, drill a few holes and when i pull the plug the garden gets watered.

I did a search on Google to find if water with washing up liquid would do any harm to my plants and i found nothing to concern me so i went ahead.

My five grapevines, onions, strawberries and Red/ Black currants will now get watered more often than the rest of my fruit trees. Also my raised beds are coming on well with onions and carrots already on the go.

When the plug is pulled the waste water now goes down the pipes you can see and waters my plants.

I planted this apple tree last year and forgot about it till today. To my surprise it's covered in flowers that when the bees have got at them should turn into apples.

This is my lemon tree and apart from new leaves growing it has a number of flowers almost open so maybe this year will be the year for my own lemons.

It was party night

My friend June and myself have both just became pensioners, for a long time we had the idea of having a party to celebrate out good fortune in being paid to live in this beautiful country. I don't look to bad for an old age pensioner do I.

June and her husband live not far away from me in Bordeiro a little village just outside of Gois.

It was good to see David turn up as he only arrived back few hours before he had to come out to our meal.

This is June's husband Pete and my new neighbour Madeline. Madeline has had a house built at the top of the lane from me and her house is at the highest point in the village.


















Even animal George the logger boss and Fernando the mechanic turned up and they are local Portuguese. As there are a few Georges the logger boss has our nickname of animal. Mine is Scouse Pete and i wonder why?

A quick mock up and admire my shelves

From when i first started to work on my kitchen i had a dream. I didn't want just any kitchen i wanted a kitchen that i had dreamed about built by me to meet all my needs. It is coming together bit by bit when i have also to complete other works around the house.

I have a large collection of Herbs and Spices all in jars and they needed a home in my kitchen all of there own. It's this amongst other things that have made me start to do things in the house that i never dreamed i would be able to do. I wanted my jars on show instead of hidden away and that meant i needed shelves. I didn't want just any old Pine shelves i wanted to do better after all in have been buying lots of power tools so it was up to me to plan what to do.

A shelf is a shelf and just a bit of wood fixed to the wall. No i wanted something more, i wanted no brackets on show so i had to do a Google search. I found that i could have brackets that where hidden from show or as they advertise invisible brackets. These are pins that screw into the wall and into holes in the shelve but as is mentioned often on TV programs measure twice cut once. Close but not what i did, i used old timber to built a mock up of what i wanted to do. Now i was happy with the results and i had to start all over again but this time i was using some of my old seasoned Chestnut timber.

Before i screw them into placed them in position on top of some big jars. Now that's how i had dreamed it would look.

This is in one corner on the wall by my window with a view.  






The timber is beautifully seasoned and has the grain looking rich and beautiful. Now i need to polish the shelves but not before they are fitted into place. Now is the time to finish the job and that means they need to be rubbed down and polished. Maybe it will take a little time but i can now see how it will look once finished and fitted back in place.

Now that was a nice surprise

It's only three weeks since i had my 65 birthday and tonight the last worry i had has disappeared. I know that when you reach retirement age you get your well earned pension But a big worry. What if something went wrong and the payment didn't come through. What if because the payment didn't arrive I would i have to go back to the UK to sort out what every was wrong..

Well tonight at 12.06 i logged into my bank after ordering a card from Funkypidgeon and i only wanted to check the payment had left my back as it normally does. Yes Funkypidgeon had been paid and i had my pension paid in what a surprise. Wow i didn't expect that quite yet for a few  more days. By 12.10am i had already transfered some money onto my Euro card just in case they want it back.

That's a nice end to a worrying time.  I know i shouldn't worry but What If and now that's all gone life is back to the biggest worry each day is what to have for dinner.

To Celebrate i opened a bottle Of Courvoisier Cognac to toast the next chapter of my life.

Sunshine and rain both at the same time

It was an hour and a half before sundown a beautiful sunny end to a perfect day. I had spent a lot of time weeding and preparing my raised beds and putting loads of seeds into a seed trays.

I suddenly felt some rain drops, that felt strange it was sunny. I knew nobody was using a hose pipe as i had see my neighbours go down to the fields to work.

A stray cloud had decided to pay a visit just while i was planting out my seeds. Before long it was a downpour that lasted for ages or so it seemed.

Thank goodness it was soon over and the for cast is for a little drizzle over the next 10 days.

Now the sun is shinning my view is wonderful

I posted some time ago about my window and the bars that made my kitchen almost a prison.  Blocking the view from my veranda is this tree beautiful as it may be i do wish it was gone and perhaps in the near future it will be.

Below is the view from my prison window the tree may be in the way but it's still a view that many would love to have.

Almost a forest glad it's not my job to plant.

I went shopping with a friend on Sunday. We went into a garden centre to have a look at the trees for sale. i found none i wanted but the offer price was a bit much for my friend to pass by so he picked 27 trees that seemed a lot to me but at between 2.50€ and 3.50€ each he got himself a bargain. be rearranging the rear and front passenger seats we got them all in. 

I had wanted to go to another garden centre / builders merchants and my friend was again looking at the trees on offer 53 trees later we started to load the car again. I found 2 black cherry trees and 5 Shiraz grape vines and then we where on are way to his house. In total he had  80 trees all at 2.5€ each and that seemed as many as he would need, he has a large area of flat land and also a large part that is partly slopping so 80 seemed enough.

While having a cup of tea and a beer he asked if i could go back the next day to get more trees and i agreed but to save time and a lot of driving i suggested we went back after tea. This time my friend went mad in total he got another 100 trees again all cost 2.5€ each. All trees where between 6ft and 8ft and most had buds or blossom on them so the where all in very good condition. 

Here i have planted 3 Shiraz grape vines and a Red currant and a Black currant. In the middle of these i planted lots of onions after reading about companion planting some time ago.








Just look at this lazy chicken sun bathing in the afternoon sun, just as long as she has laid an egg first.

Nice weather just the time to get more work done

The nice thing about the good weather we are enjoying is i am able to get some work done.
By getting the hand rails done i am now able to enjoy the outside on my veranda. I do still have a little to do like the rope around the veranda and a top like on a Pergola. As soon as i have reason to go over to where the timber guy i use i will order the timber for the top and then it's about done.

The picture looks odd but they are straight because i used a spirit level to make sure that they were OK.

Next came to the bottom of the stairs and i had a door spare so it was another job that could be done. The mistake i made when i first moved in was not wanting to have jobs done all over the house so i kept to just the kitchen. As the winter was coming to an end i realised that there was a lot of small jobs i could get done. The width of the stairs being narrow i cut into the wall to put the door frame in position so i only reduced the gap on the stairs by only a little.

The biggest job has been taking down the wall to give me a bigger lounge.

Hand rails fitted to my veranda good job the rain kept off

We have had rain, rain and more rain thankfully no floods like in the UK but we now have wall to wall Sun and temperatures in the low 20's today.

I have waited for it to get dry to get the hand rails fitted to my veranda. In my cellar i had got ready my hand rails, i had molded the hand rails and cut them where they join the newell posts. Today was sunny and dry si it was time to start it only took a couple of hours and all my hand rails are now in place and from an off cut i made the first of the kick boards to go between the newell posts to stop anybody slipping between the newell uprights.

Just look at that blue sky and more days of the same to come.













Just because it's nice out doesn't mean i can't work inside. I have been taking a wall down in the lounge to make the room bigger and brighter.  I had to leave a column as you can see in the picture because in the loft here is a roof timber helping to support the roof. I have a friend who was a builder/ joiner all his working life and he came round to offer his advice. I want to have three chest of draws on one side of the loft room so it was decided to put a further five roof supports and when done i can remove the rest of the wall and start to make good. Between the roof supports i will build in the chest of draws as a built in unit instead of free standing units

 
In the long term there will be a set of stairs on the left going downstairs to the cellar. I intend to create two rooms for my Grandchildren to have for themselves. But that will be a while before they get done.

Weather Oh dear me

Being almost 65 years of age you would think i wouldn't fall for the Crap that weather forcasters say. Well i did fall for the Crap, a few weeks ago i checked the weather and for the following 10 days it said it was mostly sunny.  Having so much i wanted to do outside i looked forward to the days ahead. I found i had timber i could use to get more of my veranda done and it is ready but sitting down in my cellar waiting for the time i could put it all together.

I received a parcel from my son in Liverpool. In the parcel was a box of router bits i had been waiting for. I had been waiting for these to arrive so i could make the hand rail for the veranda and it didn't take long and the hand rail was done.

My veranda that i started last year has already weathered and the new look of the timber has aged. My hand rail i have ready for when the rain stops is already aged timber and shortly weather permitting my hand rail will be in position and then it won't be long and it will be finished.

An easy TV site for UK TV

TV is a hot topic here in Portugal now that the satellite has been changed and the old one is no longer used. Many people south of about Coimbra have lost all or part of the TV programs they had been using before the change. However some have reported some lost channels come back now and again but nothing permanent like before the changeover.


Since i have been here i have used Filmon and i have mentioned it often in answers on various Forums until now.  I was introduced to another TV service that offers UK TV and it's called Live.camposat.tv
 The picture below shows how simple Camposat is and if you put you cursor over a channel it tells you what is on and also what's on next. This really is so simple to use. For a larger  selection Food, News, Films etc then it's back to Filmon.com 

UK TV is now no more.

Before i made my move to my bit of Paradise i got myself a large satellite dish ready for when i made my move. When i arrived here in Gois i had to wait two weeks before i could move in and during that time i would go to the Internet cafe most days.

I found that most or if not all i  wanted to watch on my TV i could download from the Internet. It's a good job i could do this because i found when i visited my soon to be new home didn't have space for my huge satellite dish.

Now over two years later we have a situation where the people who run the satellite for BBC, ITV and SKY launched a new satellite to replace the old one and to be able to give better reception for certain areas that proved difficult before. The downside is that many areas of Portugal and Spain can no longer get  UK TV.

There are various companies selling all manner of products to enable  there customers to be able to get UK TV. I did hear about one company to be charging £250 per year for TV. On the many Forums Comments like " Wait and see we may get the TV back " or " You need a good Internet speed " " Or you need a VPN " Of all the many replies to the various questions about UK TV very few posters offer answers to the question How do we get UK TV.

When the answer is given too many people are quick to say " You need fast speed " " The picture quality is poor " plenty of negative comments but no answers for the problem of how to get UK TV.  One or two people have mentioned that Filmon is the answer or Mediahint. With Filmon you just go to the UK TV and go down the list of programs and pick what you want. Or with the Firefox addon Mediahint installed all you need is to go to BBC, ITV, Channel4 etc and click the program you want to see and watch it.  I have found that at times ITV ask for a postcode and when given the program starts as if i was in the UK. A bonus of using the Firefox addon is i can now use the HULU system in the USA.

From the picture you can see that my speed is only 0.81Mbps and while i am typing this i have on my TV a program called HOW IT'S MADE. Critics say you need loads of speed but i have found and proved that you don't. Due to a cabling problem PT my Internet provider tell me that the main cables to my village need to be replaced but they can't give me a date for there replacement.

A bonus of using PT as my Internet provider is by paying by direct debit means that i get unlimited amounts of downloads. Even with the slow speed i have i am able to watch TV and download programs i have missed to watch later.

One clever bit of kit fits into the USB slot on the rear of your TV and it makes your TV into a Smart TV. You can get all the TV you want and you don't need to connect your TV to your computer as i do. On Ebay there are many devices that plug into your router.

I have mentioned on various Forums about how easy it is to use http://www.filmon.com/tv/live  . Today i did a speed check as i do most days only to find a tiny bit of extra speed. I had Filmon on my TV and decided to try it at the same time on my laptop and it works fine even with my speed. I do suffer a tiny time lag on my laptop using it on Wifi. I don't use the HD on Filmon as it's a paid for feature and i am happy with the reception as it is.

The wall came tumbling down, well almost

The weather has been very bad and very depressing, getting up to rain most days or if no rain low black clouds and miserable.I had started to get the lounge plaster boarded but i came to a point where i would have finished one half only to start to rip the other half out and take out a wall. It's only a few days ago i mentioned that the weather forecast was for clear sunny days ow wrong i was every other day is great blue skies, warm and makes you feel so much better. The next day it's back to the rain, just when it looked to be getting better it worse that before. At least when it rained it rained all the time and you lived with it but when it's sun and the rain you don't know what to do or even plan for the days ahead. 

A friend pointed out that it would be wiser to do all the demolition first and then carry on with the plaster boarding to the walls and ceiling. I have a drill that also allows me to breakup the walls with the hammer action of the drill. Sadly it came to a stop when the brushes burnt out and finding them online in the UK seemed the only answer until i mentioned to a friend that work was held up do to needing brushes for my drill. He told me of a builder/ garden center not to far away. How lucky i was that they had some that would fit and that was my only bit of good luck. The brushes are held in with a plastic type screw but as i removed one it fell apart into bits.

Again back to the internet i found a firm that sell parts for B&Q's own make machines. A call to them got me through to a very nice helpful young lady who told me that the parts i want they don't have but they have been able to match some up for others in the past. So it's another delay but one that should not take to long and the wall in the picture below will be down and my lounge will be so much bigger.

Sun Sun and more Sun on todays weather forecast

A pet hate i have is i don't want to know what the weather is going to be. I like nothing better than to wake in the morning and reach up to the window above my bed and open the shutters. Mostly sun comes shining through and brightens up the whole room what a start to the day.

Even the local Brits know not to tell me what the weather has to offer but today was different. I had a call from a friend in the UK who was telling me how the weather was where he lives. While talking i went onto Google and put in the weather forecast for my area and i got a nice shock. I was so shocked after what we had had for nearly two months that i took a couple of screen shots from my laptop.

As you can see Sun Sun and more Sun at the top of the screen shot you can see where it says Arganil that's the nearest town to where i live. The question now is has the weather turned and the rain and wind gone only time now will tell. A forecast from me is that the 3rd March will be a nice warm sunny day.

After the rain came a rainbow

We have had rain like all or most of Europe since mid December and i can't remember a dry day. If the local Camara didn't take the measures that they have water would have been a big problem. River years ago where made wider and dredged, the gullies at the side of the road can carry vast amounts of water. During the year the local Camara worker are sent to clean out the gullies even on the very minor roads.

What remains to be seen will the UK learn from the problems they have at the moment who knows. Even the Dutch have been called in to help but who better as a large part of Holland is below sea level. I noticed over the weekend down the lane a rainbow and took some pictures but it's a pity none came out as good as the rainbows looked but still a beautiful picture.

From the summer of 1999 to now

Going back to the summer of 1999 a lot of the news was about computers and that a virus would cripple all computers as the time came to midnight. That was of no concern to me i was just turned 50 and i wanted to see the new Millennium. As time grew near i found myself wishing the day was closer i was worried that something would happen and i wouldn't get to see the new year. Each day was a day closer and then it came and all my worry was over, i did worry over nothing but that's me a worrier.

Now it's 2014 and something bigger is looming my 65th birthday when i finally and officially reach retirement age. I normally keep my date of birth quite due to on-line scammers and identity fraud but as of the 3rd March i will be 65 years old/ young.

Now for a while i have been worrying again about something happening, i really want to see my 65th birthday. Another expat here is a few weeks after me so we are going to have a pension party and all the local expats are invited to join use. We are going to a restaurant called the Beria Ria for a meal. We did want to use the club we normally go to on a Friday night but even though it has a fire sometimes we can't get anywhere near it due to the amount of locals who have started to go in before we arrive.

In the bar the floor is made of granite tiles, the walls are bare brick and the bar is bare brick and granite and everything is ice cold even the ceiling is made of concrete so that's why we are going to a restaurant. I have been counting down now for a few months and from today it's 3 weeks and counting.

And the Electrician arrived on time.

Well the electrician was booked and he arrived on time and all I had to hope that I had laid everything in place as I had planned. I have 17 sockets, 1 ceiling fan and light and also 12 LED lights running 2.5w each so cheap to run. My lights use only 35watt's of power, that's less than a 40w bulb but as you can see from the photos the kitchen is as bright as anybody could ask for.

Hi Tim this picture is just for you. As you can see i do have 12 LED lights but there days are numbered they will be replaced for 12v instead of 240v and solar to power them.

Breadmaker on and my first cup of tea. Also when i arrived i put into semi retirement my Road Runner mug well today he is now out and ready for this my first cup of tea.

 I still have a lot of work to do and that's why i have been buying all the tools that i need. Around the windows will be be faced in timber and the skirting. One thing i can't do is make my cupboard doors and a local timber guy called Chico will make them.

One major change in the summer will be i intend to start to use Solar powder for my lighting in all of the house. I will be using 12v LED lights instead of 240v. This means i will be using free lighting instead of having to pay for it.  To have the rest of the house on solar means to much of an investment so i will be happy just to have free lights. I may have 1 12v socket to power phone chargers, laptops etc.  

I got myself a new Nail gun, soon i can get so much more done

Until Tony the Tory changed the gun laws i was a member of a gun club. I was the proud owner of three hand guns. Nothing was better than a few hours shooting paper targets of politicians or in fact anybody i wanted. In those days to get permission to own guns you had to be checked out by the police and to keep guns you needed security almost as good as a bank would have.

My first gun was a Smith and Wesson model 686 i even had a barrel weight made and fitted and it was my favourite. Next came my UZI 9mm the same as you would see in films and the i got a Dessert Eagle now the 50cal is officially the most powerful hand gun in the world.

Tony Blair known as Tony the Tory having an election coming had a clever idea if we ban all hand guns the people will vote for me or he thought. Well his idea went ahead and all legal guns where taken and all we got was about 30% of the value. I lost over £1200 on my three guns but what was more important was that something i liked doing was taken away from me. Clubs closed jobs lost but today gun crime is increasing in the UK to alarming levels.

I spotted on Heyportugal in the classified section  for sale a Nail gun. OK it may not be what i was used to but it's my Nail gun and nobody will be taking this from me. The Nail gun was on sale for 25€ when new they are £60 plus. After contacting the owner and agreeing that i wanted it they agreed to meet me at the Sunday market and bring the Nail gun with them. My shock was that it was brand new still in the box and never used.

Along with the other tools i have been getting when the weather gets better and warmer i will be better placed to get a lot more work done on my house. My first job will be to make a bench to go against the wall on my veranda. Oh yes i need to finish the veranda but now i have the tools i don't need to rely on anybody else o get things done.

The rains will stop but will anything happen in the UK.

I have been watching the UK news and seeing the damage done by the floods. Here in Portugal and in particular the part i live in have had our share of rain But a big But. The local Camara for those in the UK that's the local Councils name. When rain comes here we get it just as bad as the UK here is the BUT in the UK in the gutter at the side of the road you have drains covers that don't work because they were never planned for the level of rain. As the drains are of no use were is the rain supposed to go? nothing is built with the future in mind.

Lets look at Portugal we done have drains like the UK that can't cope when it gets bad, we have open gutters along all the roads and some as deep as 2ft in places. When we get rain it rains for days without stopping and the land has had so much it can't soak up any more rain and it's been that way now since before Christmas.

Unlike the UK our rain will stop and the sun will start to dry out the land, when the land gets dry  you can't even dig it up anymore as it goes like concrete. It gets so hard my chickens have trouble scratching the ground and i need a big wrecking bar to try to break the ground up. When the UK gets back to normal and the ground gets back to how it normally is what will happen. Hose pipe ban You have all seen it year after year out comes the Sun and on the news a Hose pipe ban.

What happens here in Portugal, we gt from as early as maybe April sun all day every day till October or maybe November. Rivers are down to a trickle and in some cases they dry up all together but hope de we cope, easy we just carry on as before. No water bans life is just as it always has been good.

In recent history of the area i live there had been floods when the rain was so bad, the local Camara sent the workforce out to dredge the rivers and also widen some rivers. Since these steps where taken the rivers now never get close to overflowing

After recent events with the floods in the UK what will happen, not a lot i would guess, other countries have there problems and they adapt to events but the UK i don't think will learn anything or if they do it will be to little to late.

Why do builders merchants get things wrong.

For a while i have wanted to get more insulated plasterboard to carry on with the lounge during the winter months. The problem has been in getting delivery of the boards to complete the walls.  The cost of delivery due to the distance from the supplier was 50€ and as i wanted only six boards that would be over 8€ per board delivered. I had my friend who offered to collect the first plasterboards for me and it only cost the price of the fuel for his van 15€. Not having the van option this time  i would have had to pay 50€.

I was encouraged by my neighbour to try the local builders merchants here in Gois and also the ones in Arganil. I first went to the merchant in Gois and although the price was a little more that from Penacova i would save a little over 30€ and that's with delivery.

The insulation on the back of the boards i use is 2 centimetres and with this size all my work to date is done with those dimensions in mind. I did the walls and the ceilings in the kitchen with this size board and it seems to do a good job in insulating the room  When i got my delivery the driver who knows no English and i don't know enough Portuguese but the problem was the boards delivered were 3 centimetres instead of 2 the centimetres i use thickness i normally use. It's OK for when i do the new ceiling but it's the walls i am doing at the moment and i needed the right size.

Only new houses in Portugal have insulation installed during the build stage. I am installing insulated plasterboard so that next winter the lounge should be nice and warm from my new log burner and i won't need to use my air conditioner as much as i do now.

The gap under the boards is where all the electrics cables are routed. Everything is run from below from the cellar so that in the future the walls are clear of cable and nobody will accidentally drill into the walls and get an electric shock.

The bottom picture shows on the right hand side where the new plasterboard has to go and the new board will not fit si this is where i am up to. If i can't get the boards changed i will keep them for the ceiling and get new boards for the rest of the walls. The dividing wall between the lounge and my bedroom will just be normal uninsulated plasterboard as it being an internal wall it needs no insulation.

Granite worktop now fitted under the window

It's taken a while but i have now got my granite worktop fitted in front of the window i have fitted. Later this week i will have the lights and sockets working. Part of the hold up has been i want to fit Solar for the electrics but just for the lights. I will have all my lights changed to 12v LED running from a single solar panel and battery.

I will have in the center of the room a ceiling fan with a 240v low energy bulb for backup should the solar be a problem. The lights will all be 3w Led's and if all 12 where on i would only be using 36w of energy and even a dull day it will give plenty of power for the battery.

 This is the right hand side of the cooker hob and window.

As you can see this is to the left hand side of the hob and window.

Red Cross food parcel on it's way and other bits.

It's now nearly three weeks into the New Year but it's miserable as every it could be. We have had constant rain, wind and cold but a couple of days dry and with blue skies.Today is bright and sunny but it's cold outside today.

At the start of December i started to get another parcel made up by my son in Liverpool. I have since then  had a food mixer, cam belt for my car, Filter for the gas system on my car, two boxes of router bits 35 and 19, eggs poachers sent over the last few weeks and more sent.

In early December i asked my son to include a bottle of Newcastle Brown to enjoy with my Christmas dinner well that dinner came and no Newcastle Brown but who cares.  So many things i need are being collected tomorrow and should be with me by Friday the 24th next week.

Also my other son has included a parcel for me for Christmas but it's late for Christmas but what's a few weeks. Here we call all parcels Red Cross food parcels, it's because i have had some food included as usual. Oxo cubes, Bisto, 2 kilo of Cheese and so much more.

My next parcel will included a case of 24 tins of baked beans and i hope that i don't have to wait so long for the next parcel. To be fair over the weeks i have been to my son to wait as i have something else coming to go in the parcel.  Here in Portugal Heinz beans cost 1.69€ or in my sons shop Cross and Blackwell 3 tins for £1 now that's a bargain.

Keeping the Couriers busy

Pharosparcels and UPS are doing very nice this Christmas time. Three parcels delivered on time and another two on there way and one more being got ready now in Liverpool. What would i do without my son.

http://www.pharosparcel.com

The secret to posting overseas via Pharosparcels and UPS for £23.58 plus vat you can send up to 30 kilo. So do as i do get things collected and wait till there is enough before you get a parcel sent.

Even my Spice supplier is now using Pharosparcels and UPS so fill a box to get the best value.

Today UPS where  a whole day early with my next delivery. Delivery is a five day service but the last three parcels have arrived in only four days. It may be because the driver knows me now and doesn't have to waste time looking for my village. Over the next two weeks i have two more parcels and i am sure that they will arrive like all of the rest.

Here it is my  a 10 inch table saw and this should really help me getting things done in the house delivered by Pharosparcel as usual on time.

A user snapshot

I left using windows many years ago due to it's poor security record. I started to use Suse Linux and then i moved on to what i now use Ubuntu Linux. Below is a snapshot of users when i came onto my Blog today and also it shows the type of operating systems being used and also the types of browser.

This is just a snapshot for just a small period of time.Just click on the picture below.

The first thing i noticed was that nobody was using windows Internet explorer for there browser. Also Chrome and Firefox both having equal amounts of users. The top browser being Silk now Silk is the browser used by Kindle now that was a shock to me. The good news was that all four browsers are more secure that windows has been in the past.

I am glad to see that the users using Linux was top and also Other Unix is also another type of Linux. Windows being second and that's how i would like to see it stay but we will see. Apple came in third with Ipad and Macintosh.

If anybody wants to consider the security of Ubuntu Linux then just go to www.ubuntu.com but first take the time to read the benefits from using a Linux system.

A start to the New Year.

It's been a good start to the year and it's only 12 hours old that i started to type this my first post of the New Year or it was 12 hours when i started to type this. I went on Facebook and two of my cousins Ken and Gwen where on the People you may know section. It was nice to see them and i did add them i am glad to say.

Today marks two things important to me. First it was my Dad's birthday when one of my sons was away working i would often ask Dad to watch over him. I like to think that as he returned unharmed that Dad helped.

The second thing is that today it's 62 days and i get my pension. How the years have passed by and in all that time i have only had one regret. Some time after my first divorce my Daughter Sarah decided she didn't want to see me again. I have tried to make contact via her Mum but still no contact has been made. Do i have any other grand children who knows.

But back to the pension. I started work at fifteen and a half and almost fifty years have passed already. Where has the time gone i ask but i have got an amazing place to enjoy my retirement so there are no regrets. No i haven't forgotten Jean. 

One year finishing and another starting

On the news i have just been watching the fireworks on Sydney Harbour bridge in Australia. A whole year has passed by and it's been another good year for me and i hope so for all the people who take the time to read my Blog.

It's not just been Christmas and New Year but also the 1st January would have been my Dad's birthday. We lost after a long illness in 1998 but he is and will never be forgotten.

Yesterday the 30th was the birthday of my eldest son  and on the second of January it's the birthday of my youngest son. As children you can't imagine how they would grow up and what they would be doing now at 34 and 30 years of age. Both are doing well and i am so very proud of them both.

Then there is my daughter who is 32 in July. She found herself a single parent to my favourite grand daughter this last year. Things have been difficult for her but she has done a wonderful job but she is lucky to have such a wonderful daughter.

I have only one wish for the coming year and it's that at some point i would like to see my children and grand children come over to see me. But not now in the winter i can wait for the summer.

The best thing would be to see Sean and Chelsee and have them stay with me.

For now It's time to say Happy New Year to you all.

I have just re read this the last entry of 2013 and found something that may not sound right. Chelsee is not just my favourite Grand Daughter she is my only Grand Daughter. As Sean is my Favourite Grandson, he is my only Grandson.

Well it's Christmas and dinner

Well it's Christmas and i hope that all who read my Blog are having as good a Christmas as i intend to have. Christmas dinner is this year something i have paid a lot of attention to. The first year i was asked out to friends and last year i just had a ready nice dinner. This year i have really made an effort
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First was my cake that had been well prepared. I first soaked the cake in so much alcohol that it would taste great but then after cooking it i put another 20ml Remy Martin VSOP into the cake and left it to soak in. As the cake is for me and i am a Remy Martin drinker why not indulge myself after all it's Christmas.

Then the meat. As an ex butcher still with my skills intact i got myself a Turkey Thigh and drumstick. First i skinned the thigh and drumstick and froze he skin to use later. Then the drumstick was cut up for curry and that leaves the thigh. I carefully removed the bone and all of the veins and froze the meat till it was needed today. After i had prepared my turkey thigh i weighed it and it was over two and a half pound in weight just a nice weight for me and my dinner.

I had kept back one pack of bacon from when a friend came back from the UK to wrap my sausages in for Christmas dinner. You can't get little chipolatas like you can in the UK supermarkets here just normal size sausages. The sausage her will have to do but as the skins have been filled a little to much you can't twist them to make little chipolatas so i just wrapped a normal size sausage in bacon easy and then it was done.

I have never made Yorkshire pudding before and i know it's beef you have Yorkshire pudding with but as it's my Christmas i will have what i want. I made a sample pudding mix to give it a try but like Beer batter i made Cognac Yorkshire pudding mix and it was good.

18th December a sad day

Tomorrow the 18th December is for me a sad day. My best friends son has passed away and is being cremated. I got the news two weeks late because my friend couldn't get in touch as i had deleted e-mail addresses that i was getting junk mail from. The reason that the cremation is over two weeks since he passed away is probably down to a post Morten i couldn't ask why it had taken so long since he passed.

The first time i saw Neil he was in a plaster cast and that was about twenty five years ago or more. During that time Neil never enjoyed perfect health and now he is gone. I am sad because i couldn't get there to show my respect at this sad time. The last time i saw Neil when i asked how he was as always he would say Fine. He always let you think he was OK when he was not, now he can't say fine but he will not suffer again, he won't be forgotten.

R.I.P. Neil

Now under the stairs has been cleaned out at last.

I arrived on the 1st August 2011 and for the first few weeks i was sorting out all the belonging that had been left in the house. To me it was all junk but looking back i was giving away lots of stuff that i could have made good use of. As i was moving things out of the house i put then outside by the front door. August is a time when lots of people come back to houses that they own in our village for a months holiday.

Lots of people seeing what i had put outside asked if they could take things and i just said yes. Looking back i should have put things in the cellar until i knew what i had and what i could use and then dump what was left.

Today i had a clean out in the one spot i had not touched since i moved in. I had used under the stairs to store buckets, mops and lots of other cleaning stuff.

I found in the very corner three oil lights one battered and damaged and that one went in the bin. The other two i cleaned up and the top two pictures are the cleaned up lamps. The strange thing is i took the wicks out when i cleaned the lamps and one i had to take a picture of.  As the picture shows this is two bits of wick joined together with a bit of black cotton. I know that people are not well off but to tie two bits of wick together is a bit much.

Brrrrr it was cold Sunday morning

The mornings have been cold the land is white with frost and when the sun comes up the frost is gone and the day gets better. Once the sun goes down so does the temperature down to freezing until the next day when the sun comes up again.

I prepared for the cold with 3 pairs of socks on, jeans and track suit bottoms, 2 tea shirts and 2 jumpers and a coat and hat. Even with all that i was cold, my feet felt like they had hypothermia. Someone said to have cardboard on the floor and stand on that to try and not get my feet cold. Well i am open to ideas and yes a flask for a warm drink. 

Sunday was no exception at 4.30am in the morning it was cold as it has been for a few weeks with frost everywhere. I was going to the market in Miranda do Corvo. Over night the Portuguese get to the market i am told at midnight and mark out there spot where they will trade from then they sleep in there vans.

I arrived at about 5.30am only to find all the best spots had gone but i squeezed in where i normal park myself. It seems that with Christmas close by the market almost doubles in size something i didn't know anything about. The downside was a number of stock items that i had hoped would last me till the new year sold out. That was bad enough but there is also another market on the 22nd December and then 5th January. Now i need to get restocked before it's to late or i will be letting people down and that's something i don't want to do.

Due to the amount of people trying to get a spot to sell from i will have to be at the market even earlier than normal. Maybe a 3am start but normally once a month so it's not to bad.