Post Brexit what a shambles

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

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

Estimated delivery Fri, 30 Jul - Fri, 01 Oct

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

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

 Shortages

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

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

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

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

Below is from the UK.Gov website

 

Your job

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

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

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

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

My sump needs fixing

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

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

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

A Troll

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

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

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

Customs what a load of rubbish

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

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

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

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

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

Alice R.I.P

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

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

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

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

Alice gone but not forgotten.

The last week.

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

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

Better internet speed, OK i have heard that before. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Credit where credits due

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

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

My problem is now solved thankfully.

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

THANK YOU.

Meo a totally crap company

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

Mikrogeophagus ramirezi ????

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

Coming to a milestone in less that a month.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taken for a fool

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

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

A new fish tank.

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

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

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

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

Remember the song OH happy day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A sensible decision

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mothers' case

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Work started in the olive grove

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

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

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

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

Apple the dominaters

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

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

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

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

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

A trip to the Notary

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

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

 A bit about her.

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

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

I pinched an idea

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

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

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

My Little Bronx is sick

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

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

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

So what's happened during the last few months

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

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

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

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

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

It was a great day and thanks to my Mum.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 This is my house as seen through the Olive grove.

These Olive trees are quite large and very mature.

Another view through the Olive grove.

Lets get started again

 Hi Everybody i am back but let me explain.

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

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

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

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

Warning have been given

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

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

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

The village has life

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boris you have a lot to answer for.

 

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

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

This virus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm from Liverpool and proud of it.

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

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

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

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

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

 https://liverpoolsplashbacks.com/

 

 

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

 

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

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

I now have a door on my bathroom

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

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

 

How reasuring

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

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

Who's idea was Brexit.

 

Brexit

Who's idea was Brexit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brexit good or bad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alcohol

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

Tobacco

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

 

The first of January

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

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

It's because of the virus

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

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

 

Happy New Year to my

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

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

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

Two sons birthdays

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

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

First post of the year

 Well here we are it's now 2021

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

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

It's been and gone for another year

 Seasons greetings to all my readers.

I hope you have all had a great Christmas despite the Virus.

The one thing i hate is looking through the TV channels for something worth watching. Just reruns of things that come on every year but out of all this rubbish came a light something worth taking a look at.

This year i found a program in black and white something old. Towards the end it came into colour this program was 5 hours long and every minute a gem.

This program was called Sounds of the Sixties and from the dawn of time the early sixties. Ritchie Havens, Nice, The Who, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell i could go on.

Are you a music child of the sixties where you sat on a Thursday night to watch Top of the Pops or Friday night Ready steady go. The sixties started the music revolution we wanted music Our music not Joe Loss Alma Cogan or most i can't remember. 

Me i would be laying on the floor with my Reel to Reel tape recorder The Stones, Dylan, Jimi Hendrix or the Who. A tape recorder couldn't show the Crazy world of Arthur Brown and his flaming head dress.

My five hours was like the best part of Christmas for me  .

I hope you had a chance to go back in time to your Youth.

To the kids today i say your music today came from us

.

Being taken back in time

 It's that time of year when you flick through the channels on the TV to find something to watch. Every Santa program is there and the old favourite Home Alone yes they keep bringing that out.

 I am happy with the Sound of the sixties from the BBC with Dylan, the Stones, the Who and my favourite Jimi Hendrix.

Imagine my surprise  to see Woodstock I couldn't get the TV switched over quick enough. The first thing I saw Sly and the Family Stone, who did that take me back. I feel sorry for people who didn't get to see the music of the Sixties.

This film of Woodstock was not the full concert it was more a behind the scenes. About the helicopters with 45 army Doctors, the local towns people who helped out when the food ran out. 

This program showed Jimi playing Star spangled banner, the American anthem but not the full set that he played in the film. Seeing how it was organized all the work that went on kind of made more sense of that weekend in  1969 even more special.

It's been nice typing this letting me go back in time.

Jimi Hendrix

Taken from archived documents that can be found in Woodstock - Back to The Garden, the highest-paid act was guitar legend, Jimi Hendrix, who earned $18,000 to headline the weekend,

It made me feel good

 While i was out today i was parked near a local health center. The health center was closed for the weekend but outside was a Christmas tree. The tree had no chain to stop it from being abused in some way.

I am sure small as this tree may be but in most places this tree would not still be there for people to see and enjoy.

We had the green light

 A couple of days ago permission was given for a market this Saturday But. The forecast is not to good but that;s not stopped me preparing for the big day. As the pictures below show i have been busy over the last few months boards, bowls, platters and my country collection. 

The one things i couldn't get done in time was antique mirror's for another range i have been working on. I can get antique mirror but only from Liverpool but to be fair i haven't looked anywhere else.

 

What a feature to the center of any dinner table. Who could guess the top right???

America and Iberia plus a variety of platters and bowls.

Just three of the Chestnut range and the phone is to give scale to the size of the boards.

Now this is what you call a cutting board a big cutting board, the phone is to show scale.

It's Father Cristmas

Well it's that time of year when i find a father Christmas cartoon. While searching Google found lots of pictures to choose from and just look at the first one. This was my favourite from some time ago.

 

 

Now here is this years cartoon picture of Father Christmas and very topical don't use your phone when driving.

Blood test

 I had an appointment to see my doctor at 8.30 am and duly turned  on time. Expecting to have a long wait i took my Ipad to continue reading. I need to wear glasses for reading so when told to sit and wait for the doctor i went to sit down. 

Glasses out and Ipad on great ready for a good read, no with having to wear a mask my glasses steamed up and i couldn't see. So the Ipad had to be switched of but as i switched the Ipad of my name was called. so off to the doctors room i went. I told him i need a form to go to the clinic to have a full body blood test. A blood test can show early signs of problems so i want to give myself the best chance i can. 

When i left the doctors it was only 8.45am so i went to the Clinic here in Gois. No i am scared of needles but the girl doing the blood test was amazing i would certainly go back t here again.

Now to the local supermarket and then home by 9.35 am

That was a lot to get done in little over an hour.

Going for a blood test is a precaution however i couldn't go to a doctor in the UK and ask for a blood test In the UK i would have paid to have gone to a private doctor and i would expect to pay something in the region of £75 the fee today wa s 5.50€.

Front wall painted

 Now that i have painted the front wall i have to pay attention to where the wall meets the floor.. When we get rain i get water in my workshop and it's time to repair where the rain gets in. 

I intend to cut a channel at the bottom of the wall and then the moss and all the undergrowth will be dealt with.

Soon the wall outside of the house will be finished and then it's the other side of the wall.

After getting very wet when i power washed the front wall i expect to get wet again. 

What's happened to Chicco???

 I have needed wood for projects i have and Chicco is my wood guy of choice. Sadly over the last three weeks i have been to see Chicco now five times and each time he has been closed.

I tried phoning his daughter but no reply. I then tried to email his daughter and the email got sent back because it was no longer in use.

So Chicco what has happened???

I want to buy a ruin

 What fool buys a ruin but most ruins at least have walls etc that with some work they can be made into a house again.

This ruin has only a few walls but they are at the point of falling down. If you look at the 2 pictures you will see the dangerous angle that one of the walls is at. At the side of the wall you can see there is a little lane. There is a house being rebuilt and the builders have to come up and down the lane. 

Also all the roof and floor timbers have collapsed but those timbers are a real fire hazard.

The reason for wanting to buy the ruin is because i can't do repairs to the gable end of my house. A time will come when i can't paint my house because of this ruin.

A huge paint job

 Once the veranda was started to be rebuilt i knew i had to then paint the veranda once finished.

The rest of the outside walls needed painting and now that i have a power washer i have started the job. I am only doing small amounts of the outside walls as they first need cleaning and then i have to wait till the walls dry. 

At the bottom of the walls water gets in and the bottom of the wall needs to be repaired. I will clean out the gap and then fill the gap with cement to stop the water leak before the rains come.

My prescription

 Du to above normal Cholesterol i have been prescribed Statins. I needed a new prescription so i went to the doctors and was told to go back the next day. Two days later i went back but the lady at the reception couldn't find my prescription.

That day i received an text message that because it was in Portuguese i couldn't read it. so i went back again for my prescription and again i couldn't get my prescription because they still couldn't find it. I was asked to take a seat and wait while they looked for my prescription. I took my phone over and because one of the words in Portuguese looked familiar i ask could they tell me what it meant. 

Straight away they said i had to go over the road to the Pharmacy the text was my prescription.

Moral of the story if you get a text similar to the one i received below it may be your prescription.

Receita Sem Papel, 15-11-2020, n. 

2011000052666039801, codigo dispensa 673521 

 e codigo direito opcao 9432; 

Use App MySNS Carteira para aceder a sua receita

This is the translation in English. 

Paperless Recipe, 15-11-2020, n. 

2011000052666039801, exemption code 673521

 and right code option 9432; 

Use MySNS Wallet App to access your revenue

Why haven't you posted for a while

 I recently met a friend but also a ready of my Blog. It was mentioned that i hadn't been posting for a while. Yes it is true but during his Virus i think we are pretty much all the same , What i mean is we want to avoid being at risk of catching the virus.

For me it's been not going to markets and meeting people that's been hard to take. But my time has been taken up with my fish tank. I need to do water changes and with a typical fish tank changing 10% of the water is a simple job. My tank being app 5,000 lt changing 500 lt is a timely task.

I have used up almost all the wood that is suitable for using on my lathe. I look forward to being able to stock up with wood to carry on working.

After getting a power washer i have started cleaning the walls outside of my house and then painting them. This is a long term project and over time the whole house will be cleaned and then painted.

Well that is a little of what i have been doing.

Stay safe.

My poor Orange

 I have been watching the oranges on my tree slowly growing and now turning from green to orange colour. My favourite orange is one near to the wall at the front of my house. This orange i look at when i go out or come in and it was the first one that i would eat when it was ripe.

Today i had a close look to see how it was getting on as eating day was coming soon i hoped.

Sadly this beautiful orange has been spared being eaten but it gets to grow till it falls off.

How clever is this

 How clever is this is a good title, well i think so.

A close friend recently found a book while out shopping that i may like. The book is all about Tropical fish, it.s called " The complete Encyclopedia of Tropical fish "

Great title it says it all Complete that's the word but it is wrong. Let me explain i have a 5,000 Lt tropical fish tank built into half a room in my cellar. The book is all about keeping, feeding and breeding tropical fish until you look close to the book cover.

Cover looks great but the mistake is the cover is for marine fish and no part of the contents has anything to do with marine fish. What a clever mistake to sell books however the book is still helpful to me.

OK so there is a virus

 OK for many moths life has been difficult. Here in Portugal where i live it's easy to avoid going to places of danger. Shop on days when it's quiet and don't go out unless it can't be avoided.

But what do you do during times when it's better to stay in. I have been making cutting boards in the shape of countries for when the markets start again.

The last month or so i have been using my lathe. I have been making bowls but i am slowly running out of Chestnut to carry on making more. 

Here are a number of bowls i have made during this difficult time.

If you have been doing things during your time under this virus why not share your story just get in touch.

Happy days my veranda is painted

 Happy days my veranda is now finished, painted and ready to use. It was a really warm summer day from way before i got out of bed.

I took advantage of the weather and after a cup of tea i started the last of the painting and my veranda is now complete. All i need to do now is put my table and chairs on the veranda and use what i have made.

This is the new wall finished and looking good.

The gable end is now painted, the gable end walls where rendered in a very coarse render now the walls are almost smooth and now painted white.

The bonus of my new veranda is that i now have another room downstairs. I will be able to fit lots of shelves for all my stuff that is stored in boxes.

It.s that time of year again at least for me.

 One important thing i am proud of is that in my family i was the only one to pass the driving test first time. I should of made clear here that i meant my wife number 1 and wife number 2 also my children. I hope that clears that up.

But should also add that i only had 10 lessons but i also had my own car DHF422 gone but not forgotten.

I passed my test on the 10/10/1968 and after the test i went straight back to the Butchers shop that i worked in. The owner congratulated me he was a good guy like that, but the next day his know it all son with the same first name as me had his test.

When he came back from the test he went to the flat upstairs where his family lived. After a little while his dad come down and told me he failed but he failed badly.

He tried to be a bully because he was the boss's son and he was embarrassed at failing he was a bit of a spoilt child.

It's so nice to be the first.

My newly tiled veranda

Some time ago i went to a Granite works to get tiles made for my new veranda. The price for the hand made tiles was very good only slightly more expensive that a big store. I was told of a guy who would tile my veranda but after he was at the point of grouting i stopped him as his work was less than what i expected. 

Thankfully i was introduced to someone who has a great reputation locally and he came to complete my tiling of the veranda. Below are two pictures of his work now i have a veranda to be proud of. The walls round the veranda on the inside now need painting and the job is finished.

 

I moved a freezer

 Many many years ago my then wife asked me to put the chest freezer in the Shen in the garden. Thed was a brick built shed nice and clean and tidy the right place for a freezer to go.

I started to pack all of the frozen food into bags ready for the move. The things at the top of the freezer where fine no problem until i started the things lower down. Here is where i had problems things started to become out of date. I ended up with six carrier bags of good food years out of date some over 4 years out or date. 

Now a confession while having a good spring clean OK i know it's not spring but. I recently built a new veranda with help and dust from the building work found it's work into the house. I didn't clean until all the work was complete and finished. Now was time for a massive cleaning for most of the house  but the kitchen mostly because the veranda door is in the kitchen.

While cleaning the kitchen i found a bottle of Glycerine from when i was baking. The Glycerine was out of date but not like the frozen food the date was 09/2011 9 years out of date. The Glycerine is now in the rubbish where it should have been years ago.

Big bother is watching OK it was Google

 I recently had something about Google to complain and all of a sudden What i had said was not in the list of my posts.

After getting rid of windoooooows many years ago i moved to Ubuntu Linux and i have been happy ever since.

Suddenly i found when i switched on my Ipad and i connected to the internet via Safari.   I found that every time i i connected to the internet Google would  put a message on the screen asking me to Login to Google. This is not normal so i found on the IPAD more internet browsers and i picked DUCKDUCKGO one i knew about so i made the move.

Two days after i posted about Google the last 12 months of my Blog had been taken down.

Draw your own views.

I felt i was robbed today

 Today a friend from up the lane came down with a couple of green peppers and my answer was that looks like a Stir fry. Then looking in the fridge i found a few things short if i was to have a stir fry so of i went to the shops. Not to far was a supermarket that i use and proceeded to pick all the things i needed. When it came to pay for three tomatoes, two onions, a piece of ginger, two garlic and 1 kilo flour. All this came to 4.95€ and it didn't seem right so i went outside and sat in my van

The tomatoes had a price displayed of 0.99€ kilo on my receipt was 1.99€ Wrong. The onions where marked at 0.79€ but on the receipt it was 1.39€ kilo. The garlic was also wrong but i can't remember the price difference.

I went back into the store and found a supervisor who was shock that something could be wrong. I had taken the price stickers from the shelves to show my receipt price compared to the shelf price. it took 20 minutes for the supervisor to put the items back into stock and give me a refund. I asked for a refund because it wrong to be robbed and i said i want a refund so i can go to LIDL.

This happened last week the carrots where marked as reduced from 79c to 40cents kilo. This is now two weeks that this has happened and i said if it happens next time i come in i will call the Police and then get a supervisor.

I was invited to a market

 During the lock down someone who runs a market for the premises owner. She explained about her idea selling Artisan products on the internet and her son was designing a website. My part was to make various items out of wood and i started to get lots of things ready for launch day.

During one of the many conversations i was invited to the market she runs. Well the market started back up a couple of months ago but no call. I tried to call and sent many emails but never got a reply oh well everything will sell when the markets start up again.

Today i went to that market and someone was making arrangements to have a stall at the next market. I waited for my turn to speak to my friend when she said i can't have a place for my Spices because someone sells chilli's. She did say i could sell my cutting boards and mirrors but not my Spices.

She forgets that i sent a parcel of Spices that are still not paid for yet.

Oh my poor veranda

 After so much work to give myself a new woodworm free veranda problems. I was introduced to a guy who could tile the floor to my veranda. 

I couldn't tile my veranda because the tiles had to have whats called a fall in one direction to allow water to drain away. 

So the guy got the job but he would start at 6pm each night. After he had put the tiles down on the floor he put a broom handle across the door because the adhesive had to dry.

I didn't get back the next night till after the tiles guy had started,  again i didn't get to see the work done until the next morning. To say i was shocked is me being polite.

I spoke to a builder friend of mine in the UK and he said to drown the veranda with water and to keep putting water on the veranda. He told me because the grout hadn't been put down yet the water may seep into the adhesive and make it week. 

After about and hour of pouring water down i tried to get the tiles up round the edge but i ended up removing all the tiles. The guy was supposed to come back today Saturday to finish the grouting. I got a message to him to stay away he wasn't needed anymore.

I have now been put in touch with someone else well he had better show me how good his work is.

That's all for now.