The long wet drive home

It's never easy leaving Liverpool to return home to Portugal. I had to leave a little early because of the trouble getting a favourable ferry booking at a time to best suit me. But worst of all is leaving loved ones behind and I fly back at the end of January to help my daughter after an knee operation.

I left on Sunday morning early to get the ferry to Dieppe and then on through France and Spain to get me back to Portugal. 

When I left Liverpool it was raining and it didn't stop by the time I got to Newhaven rain rain and more rain. When I got of the ferry in France guess it was still raining all the way to Rouen when I stopped for a drink and a bit to eat. As I got out of my car the rain had stopped wow that was a surprise and welcome. When I went back to my car the rain had started again but it was worse than before I stopped. This time the rain was bad and driving was getting difficult with all the other drivers driving like mad men. As I arrived and passed the border with Spain it was still raining and it rained all the way home to my little house.

This is how it looks  behind a lorry that hasn't been fitted with water suppression  equipment and that's the view i had in front of me

Now this is how driving should be like. This lorry has all the right equipment fitted. If every lorry had this then life for people like me who enjoy driving would be easy.
This equipment is actually compulsory to have it fitted. I know i fitted it in a previous job many years ago.

 I love driving and this drive was the worst drive I have ever had it was so bad I drove almost none stop till I got home. From Dieppe I drove a little over 1,100 miles from 3 pm Sunday afternoon and I returned home at 9pm the next night. Not bad going when the weather is good thank fully I stopped for sleep but I left early as I couldn't get the amount of sleep I needed. Maybe I was eager to get back to my house but it's no good trying to sleep when you can't.

Message to self

I have driven through France quite a lot of times but this time I noticed that France is closed on a Sunday normally it's during the week when i drive through but this time it was a Sunday.

I was driving through France on Sunday afternoon and I like to eat lots of fruit. I looked and looked but I couldn't find a shop open, even the supermarkets where closed. 

I have to go back again sometime in the year to pick up a motor scooter and get a trailer so I will very carefully Poland not to be driving on a Sunday and I won't make that mistake again. How do the French get by without going out to the shops on a Sunday, or do they really have something better to do.

Dad's birthday on new years dad

As the bells for the new year rang i went out in the garden on my own. I wanted a few moments to reflect. It was now the 1st January 2016 OK a new year but to me and my family it is my Dad's birthday saldy we lost him some years ago but i know that most of our family like me will be thinking of him.

I had a call just after midnight from one of my sons to wish me happy new year, also he mentioned that it was my Dad's birthday. That small remark started of the new year for me and i now look forward to the coming year.

While i was outside i watch fireworks in every direction, it wasn't the fireworks i was watching it was the clear night sky with not a cloud in site. I could even see my favourite stars the Orions Belt.

New Year is fast approaching

This is my last post of the year I have had a great year and I have been lucky to get so much done. New year is fast approaching and it's time too look back with pride at what I have done. The year has had its highs and also a few low points but as I reflect back I can say I am proud of what I've done this year. On a personal point the year is tinged with a little sadness but sometimes good come from bad and the coming year may see only good.

So I will finish by wishing all my Reades a very  Happy New 2016

Christmas is cancelled till February

Christmas this year has been cancelled this year.

Last year I had arranged with my son that I would have Christmas dinner with him and his fiancée and her family and also New Year. Well this year I have a lady in my life and I would like to spend Christmas with her but it just won't work. I am needed in so many places by so many people how do I divide myself between everybody. This is what's planned and at the end why.

Christmas Day I will have dinner with my son and at night I go to my ladies daughters home for the evening now that doesn't sound to bad but. Between dinner and night I have a job taking just because I don't drink and drive my granddaughter and daughter have asked if I would take the over to the other side of the river Mersey for the evening.

I have been asked by my granddaughter if I would drop her off on Boxing Day for a sleep over at her friends. Then my daughter asks me if I would drop her of to her friends Oh to be so wanted. As a parent I can't say no because if they can't turn to me who can my family turn to. There mother well let's say that's another story but come the 11th February 2016 my lady and I will have a Christmas to remember. 

Christmas dinner will be a Turkey dinner and with all the trimmings followed by Poached pears for desert poached in red wine and a very expensive Cognac. To finish will be my famous alcoholic Christmas cake covered in flaming Cognac. I am even taking Christmas crackers back for our dinner

But for now I wish all who read my ramblings over the last year a Wonderful Christmas and an Amazing New a Year to you all.

More rain and more rain

'Early this year around mid January I drove back from the UK in the rain and more rain. Well Monday night I got of the ferry at Portsmouth to rain and that was the start of the journey back to Liverpool. First I had a customs stop just a brief " is this your vehicle sir " you have seen it on TV programs answer Yes, did you pack everything yourself but I didn't mind as I think they had a couple of new trainees and after a few minutes I was on my way in the rain. 

All went well till I came to the junction where you go on the M6 toll or the normal M6 but some bright spark decided to close of the exit to the normal M6. This gave a choice of M42 or the M6 toll road and pay for them closing of the road ahead. So I carried on along the M6 toll and when it came time to pay it was only £3.80 so it wasn't to bad.

As I carried on I became aware of a car at the side of me and the passenger looking at me. Next they where behind me then in front, the car was a late model BMW. Their happened blue lights it was an unmarked police car and he had a sign saying to follow him and this I did. When we came to a stop the passenger came over and politely ask if this was my car. I replied "yes mate a scouser in a Portuguese registered car I sad" he could tell I was being light hearted. I said sorry but yes it is my car he then asked a series of questions. First how long have you been here I replied since 9.15 tonight I have just got of the ferry at Portsmouth. Next question am I here to work, I replied if you mean looking after my granddaughter fir two weekends then yes if that is work. 

The police officer then went on to say that now they have powers to tackle all the foreign drivers on the UK roads with tax etc. I offered my Portuguese driving licence in case he had reason to verify my reason for being here, he went to the police car and suppose that he checked DVLA that my UK licence had been surrendered for a Portuguese licence. Why can't the Portuguese Police do the same, where I liver there are many who just injure the rules but that's another story.

Anyway I got on my way still in the rain when I read signs saying Jun 18 to JUN 19 on the M6 was closed. Not what you want at 3am on Monday morning in the rain. I was lucky that there where so many Lorry's going North that I just followed then from Jun 18 cross country to Jun 19 and back on route again. Now I was back on my way north and to Liverpool if you think that's the end of the story wait for the last bit.

The one thing I miss is fresh cream cakes and each time I come back before I get to where I am I going I go and get a couple of fresh cream cakes and sit in my car and eat them and after  a long drive it does feel good. Well this is what happened Next I went into Asda and got myself a couple of cream cakes I then had to get a couple of litres of oil and that was it go to the car but. As it was early morning all the staff where filling the shelves and there was nobody to man the cash outs. A pet hate of mine is the automatic cash tills that you have to do every think yourself. I asked for an assistant but none could be found and I was advised to go to the automatic tills. Automatic Tils do not create jobs they take jobs away so I will not go to the automatic tills so I put my good down and walked out. So I drove to another Asda some miles away and again the same thing happened when I asked for the duty manager that was a waste of time. Speaking to the duty manager would like talking to a brick wall so again I walked out and I gave up on my fresh cream cakes.

Later on the day that arrived in Liverpool I went back to another Asda to buy my fresh cream cakes I was served by a nice lady and It was great to be served by a human. I have looked forward to this moment for such a long time and after all that happened my fresh cream cakes tasted so good.

On a big adventure and what do i do

Well it's that time of year when Christmas is coming. Last Christmas i was invited back to share Christmas and new year again with more family members. But this year has posed a problem as i now have a lady in my life who lives in Liverpool. How do i share myself with Christmas dinner at one house New years Eve party at another and with the lady in my life. Along with all this is seeing my Mum and Looking after my granddaughter for two full weekends so her Mum can have a break.

I am lucky to have found someone who is very understanding. Remember the old story of King Solomon who had to decide which of the two women was the mother of a baby.  Well i find that how do i share my time and keep all parties happy.

Maybe i will tell you after the New Year how things turned out.
 

Fire but no good for me now

A friend recently had an accident in his car with a wild pig. He needed shock absorbers and a couple of wheel rims to replace those that had been damaged. There is a scrap yard not to far away but unlike one that i remember in Liverpool. All the parts are in fact stored on shelves and the main assistant is a girl in her 20's and she certainly knew her job and where everything was.

While my friend was being served i saw a very rusty round log burner the type you see in cowboy films. This is the type of log burner i wanted but i was unable to find when i came to buy mine. I to a chance and for a few Euros te fire was mine but how to you get rid of all the rust.

In Liverpool i knew of a firm who does sand blasting and as i am driving to Liverpool next week that was what i was going to do until. After leaving the scrap yard we then went to see the guy tasked with repairing the damaged car. After inspecting the parts i showed him my find from the scrap yard and i asked if sand blasting was a service that is found her in Central Portugal. I had never heard of sand blasting since i first came here in 2007 to now. I was told that the  people who supply Granite are the people to ask so of i went this morning.

The owners son speak quite good English and as soon as i told him what i wanted all he said was OK let me see. I told him i was leaving on Sunday to go to Liverpool and i would not be back till January.  To my surprise he said to come back later in the day and i found that the log burner was done and looking quite beautiful. The cost for the work was only 20 Euro and to me that was about half what i would pay in the UK.

For the cost of a tin of a spray paint made to be used on fires so i soon got to work on the painting. The pictures below show what a beautiful fire it has turned out to be, pity i already have one.

This really is a beautiful top much better than my modern log burner.

  
This is just what i wanted a long time ago pity i can't use it now so it will have to be sold.

One last job almost complete before christmas.

For weeks now i have been resting my knee since i got back from a trip to Liverpool, but being idle has really annoyed me as i have lots of jobs i want to complete.

I picked up some timber from my friend Chicco so i could complete the surround round the doors into both bedrooms. Between the two doors there was a piece of wall about 10 inch's wide that even with my skills i couldn't plaster to save my life. As you can see i decided to use timber and although the enclosed picture shows everything in place i now have the job of rubbing the timber down till it's got a nice smooth finish. Then a few coats of clear varnish to preserve the look of the wood.

The picture shows that everything has been cut and clamped into position. The door frames have now been shaped to take the sharp corners away. The moldings have been jointed and now once the varnishing has been done that's another job completed.






I do think that the timber between the doors looks better than if i had tried to plaster the wall between the doors. To complete the job i have planed a narrow shelf to fit across the top of the doors.

Now that's what I call warm

It took a long time before I installed my log burner fire. It's nice when I have a log burner Light it makes for lounge Nice and warm I also have my bedroom door open and the bedroom becomes nice and warm as well. I've just taken a photograph of my air-conditioning unit as it shows for me the temperature of the room. I've just taken a photograph of my air-conditioning units and the temperature is 33° that's warm and comfortable.

Mist and spiders webs

This time of year most morning normally before i get up the valley is covered in mist as far as the eye can see. Today was as it normally is this time of year apart from the mist i saw a huge spiders web spoilt only by the grapevine behind. after i took the pictures below i made my morning cuppa i looked out and the mist had all disappeared. The pictures below show how it looks most morning at this time of year. It only took what seemed a few minutes and it was clear blue skies
again.

I feel robbed but walked away

A little while ago I went to a shop just outside of Coimbra to buy a printer I had already picked the one I wanted before I left home. The model I wanted was in stock also there was one of the same model wrapped in plastic film but it had been reduced. I asked an assistant if there was anything wrong and I was told the box had been damaged but the printer was ok. As it was reduced and it was what I wanted it was worth the saving. 

After I got home I set the printer up as I had a lot of labels to print as I had a Spice delivery due. Shock the printer wouldn't work, upon investigation  I found it had not print cartridges so it was a long drive back to the shop to get the cartridges or my money back. I was told by an assistant the when an item is reduced like the printer they remove the print cartridges but they couldn't find them for me so I got my money back. 

That would put anybody of shopping in the same shop again but I wanted a Tumble drier and after looking at a few stores I came upon the same one as the printer story. 

I found just what I wanted and it was like many things on offer reduced by 20% and this made the price the same as I could get when I drive back to the UK. I decided to but the drier and found an assistant who could speak English. I asked to confirm the discount was correct the assistant confirmed the offer price but he then went on to say that what they do is give you a voucher for the 20% that you can then spend in the next month. I tried to argue that all I want is the discount but no voucher as I live a long way away and I don't want or need anything else. 

The thing that was wrong was you pay full price and they let you have a voucher to use not just the same day but the next month. That means that you have loaned them your money till you want to buy something else. What kind of daft idea is that so guess what I WALKED away. Maybe I will wait till I drive back to see my Lady for Christmas.

A search for a video goes on.

This week i found a Dvd i had made a long time ago of various family films i had taken.  The one video i was looking for was of my children fighting at Karate tournaments but unfortunately i was not able to find them. I still have all the camera films that i had taken over the years so the search goes on.

The pictures below are from videos i took on the prom at New Brighton a special time in my life.

My week in Liverpool is slowly coming to an end

This week in Liverpool was a chance to catch up with my family and friends. I was lucky in that when I went to see my Mum one of my sisters was there with her first grandchild. I have been out with my granddaughter a couple of times and hopefully I will see her once more. The first time I saw Chelsee she didn't know I was turning up. She had gone out for a meal with her mum and I turned up to surprise her. All you could hear was " there's my Grandad " again but louder " there's my Grandad "

Today I had a meeting with a friend in Liverpool city centre for lunch and later I go to see my son and his fiancé, it's all go.

Monday I have business with my Spice supplier and then At 7.20 am Tuesday morning I say bye for now to the lady in my life and it's back home to wall to wall sunshine as it's been for the last week while I have been away.c

Something free from Google

On my IPad I use FaceTime to speak to family and it works fine. Now Google have an app for android phones where you an text or send messages Free also and I have used it one you can even use it like you would use Skype. Because it's also linked to Facebook it finds all your friends and Family who have phone, IPhones or IPads and it saves you from finding your contacts. 

Try the link below and if it sounds good for you give it a try the best bit is its Free.

Text messages on Google Messenger - Android One Help

support.google.com › ... › Messenger app

You can send and receive text (SMS) and multimedia (MMS) messages using the Messenger app. To open Messenger ...

A little reminder about train prices

i mentioned a while ago about the cost of train travel and that I paid a little under 12€ for a return ticket to Porto and back. Well I am in Liverpool and I got the train down to Lisbon to get my flight to Liverpool. My return this time was 18€ and that was for a return journey much further than my previous trip but remember I am a Senior here in Portugal not an OAP. So I hope this reminder gets to people who may be taking a journey by train.

The Eleventh hour of the Eleventh day of the Eleventh month

On this day the 11th November 2015 I went into Liverpool city centre with my lady we went to the rear of the town hall to the memorial where there was a ceremony. At eleven o'clock everybody stood still what I was most taken by was a couple of young girl office workers who would be only about 16/ 17 years of age. These two girls stood for the silence as did everybody else. Afterwards one thing did make me laugh was a proud Royal Marine dressed in kilt.

My Dad never forgot his role nor the three time he was part of invasion forces and he had the campaign medals to prove it.

R.I.P all who gave me the life I have now.

The price has to be right

I have been selling spices now for quite some time and this time of year is a problem. The local Council or Camara as it is called in Portugal can't decide when the market will be at the outdoor market or the indoor market. This year a leaflet was handed out giving information as to the timings for the coming months.The problem is when the market moves indoors getting the message to our customers to know just where we are. At the last market i had a customer who couldn't find me even though i was in the same place i can normally be found.

This customer had two small 50g boxes of a herb that i also sell, when i asked what it was and how much he paid i was told that 50g cost 1.20€ that was 2.40€ for a 100g. I get told so often that my prices are very competitive but when my price for the same Herb was 1.50€ for a 100g that's a difference of almost 1€ for the same thing. I am glad to say that i sell volume because my prices are correct not over inflated.

As a side issue the other people who sell spices only have a limited selection as this is not there main product that they sell.

Who said Scousers can't take a joke

Heard the joke abut the guy who went to a football match in Liverpool. Near the ground a young lad asked if he could look after the guy's car. The driver said no as he had a dog inside, the reply was Can your dog put out fires Mister.

How about the comedians favourite. Don't drive to Liverpool and park your car Why was the reply because they will rob your hubcaps.

Liverpool has been the target of comedians up and down the UK for man years and it still goes on today.

Well here is one from me, well a picture actually. I hope you like it.

I feel robbed

Since I have been selling Spices I have been the only person to handle the Spices when they are delivered to me here in Portugal. I check the weight of every single pack before they are labelled, each spice or herb is in it's own sealed bag. After I place an order I then print the labels ready for when my next order is delivered. Each Spice or Herb has it's own label, it's really easy and and after the last couple of years there has been no mistakes Untill.

At the market at Miranda do CORVO I had a customer who after picking four items that he wanted then told me that I sold him a wrong item at the last market. On the pack it said White Cumin seeds 100g a very popular item I sell a lot of. 

To my surprise when I looked at what he gave me I could see that inside of the bag was not white Cumin seeds but in fact black Mustard seeds but also something else that looks like Nigella black onion seeds. The 100g bag when weighted had instead of 100g it had in fact 156g. Why someone would take Cumin seeds out of a plastic bag and put other Spices in it's place I don't know. Certainly I don't know why he did what he did as the cost of what he put in the bag cost more that what was originally in the bag. Each and every bag is heat sealed but this nag that was returned had been opened and had no sign of having been pre sealed.

Please look at the enclosed picture.