Another spoilt trip

While I was over in Liverpool I seem to have stayed to long in Farmfoods in Birkenhead after a trip to friends. It seems you can only shop for an hour and if you stay longer you get a parking ticket. While my daughter was in hospital in a difficult stage of her pregnancy I borrowed her car and did a big shop. I came home to Portugal shortly after unaware of any problems I may have caused while looking after my granddaughter.

Now when I go back for my Mums 93rd birthday in May I may still have this parking ticket to sort out. I can't understand how you can get a parking ticket when you are in the shop spending in my case some of my Pension on food. I hope Farmfoods are happy.

Portugalwildfires

Portugalwildfires is a site created because although the laws a clear not everybody knows just what's what or they think they do. My friend Steve who lives in a village were some people died in the fires of 2017 created this above named website. Actually that's not quite true it was his wife Susan who created the site but with Steve's input.

Much is said on some of the Forums i am a member of but it seems every Brit on the Forums has there own idea of what the rules are in regard to trees being cut down. The laws are in place to make sure all the villages and towns are better protected from any further fires.

Land must be cleared 50m round houses and 100m round the outside of villages and trees inside removed . That's putting it simply but there is so much more that is involved and Steve and Susan have got every detail that home owners need to know. You can even print of the laws to show to the GNR/ Police if they come and tell you trees that are allowed are to be removed.

The best thing would be to go to the site and have a good read or follow the link on the left hand side of the page or the link below.

http://www.portugalwildfires.com/

All done

I mentioned a short time ago about one of my sons going on a run. While taking part in a Marathon is only for the fit and the brave and to run 26 miles is a fabulous achievement.

My son has just run in temperatures of up to 50c in the Sarah dessert in 6 days a 156 miles. To make it more difficult they where limited to how much food and water they could have because they had to carry everything the runners needed to finish . It was really a case of using resources carefully and doing everything that his years of training in the Marines had taught him.

He was not the tallest Marine but in my eyes he is a Giant amongst men.

Congratulations so i am so proud of you.

My best friend

Normally i don't mention anybodies name on my Blog because some people live a private life and don't want to see there name of a Blog for all the world to see.

Some time ago i meet someone who has become my best friend and i have needed a best friend after my best friend Dave passed away. Dave never came out of him coma and due to certain brain damage his wife and son agreed to turn the machine off that was keeping him alive. Knowing he never suffered was a help as Dave was the person i used to turn to often over the years.

Now i have another best friend Ashley not one to replace Dave but someone who lives down near to Tomar quite a drive away from me. I am jealous of Ashley I write just what comes into my head when I come to post something on my Blog. Ashley has a much better command of the English language than I do so it makes reading his Blog different.

Ashley like me is at total ease with life because we are quite the same. Like me he is looking at changing his house to make it more comfortable to his needs just like I started some time ago. So if you are thinking about moving to Portugal his Blog would be so helpful.

https://expatinportugal.com

My Plants

I am lucky a friend who is renovating a house just behind me agreed to take pictures of how my plants are doing. We have had so much rain that after two years of little rain now the reservoirs are full. That rain has helped my fruit trees and everything is showing signs of good growth.

This is the nearest i could get to an Acer tree. I had been looking for a long time for an Acer tree but it's almost just as nice.

This is the smaller of my orange trees but with plenty of little flowers starting to grow.

Maybe this year my Lime tree will have some fruit on it and it's showing a few buds.

This is my pride and joy Black Cardamon that my friend Paul planted for me still looking good.

This is a pear tree that i only got because it already had a few pears on it when i found it in a market.

Now i know that this grape vine is a Chardonnay because last year the fruit was a white grape. I originally got a variety of Chardonnay and Shiraz. As the grapes where white it has to be a Chardonnay.

I looked today at my Black Currant and found some little flowers that will grow into Black currants.

And i came back

A little while ago i was in Liverpool due to my Mums continued ill health and i was due to stay for 2 months until Meo called me. I received a phone call from Meo the phone and internet company and again two days later. What Meo wanted was to tell me that they would be calling at my house to install Fibre Optic for my internet.

Now my village does not have Fibre Optic but they called me twice and sent a contract so i had to go back home. I had the contract translated and yes all was correct and all i had to do was wait till Monday morning. Monday came and i was pleased to say the Fibre Optic guy came and before he came to me he had a walk round the village.

The Fibre Optic guy was walking round looking for the cable that should have been installed ready for him. But he came to see me to explain that he only does the indoors part of the connection. Today he couldn't install my Fibre Optic connection so he got in his van and left. I tried calling Meo to find out what was going on sending someone out before they had even installed the cables. I was told that someone would call me back the next day. But the next day all they said was i was to far from the road where the nearest connection was. Until more people move into the village Fibre optic is not an option.

Today was a very Memorable day

I had an appointment today to meet a close friend I had not seen for a while. I was going to see Christine my friend Chicco's daughter at Chicco's old workshop. Christine has been advertising timber and furniture on Facebook and I was after Chestnut timber. To get a better finish when I am varnishing wood I was advised to get something called Tapo Poros it stops the grain in the wood from lifting when you apply varnish. Chrisine went of to find the Tapo Poros but when Chrisine came back her father Chicco came with her and as usual Chicco had a big smile on his face when he saw me.

Helping Chicco and Christine get rid of lots of timber and furniture was Chicco's brother. I was lucky that he found some Chestnut for me in the lengths and sizes I need. I have been following a wood craftsman on YouTube and he often uses Walnut wood. Walking round I saw some walnut and I know of something I can use it for.

I know that a machine that had been used to do some moulding for me was still setup for just what I need to top of my windows. Chicco's brother when he saw one I took to show him said how many do I want as simple as that and hopefully within a few days I should have the mouldings for my window tops.




I had friends with me and they found a tree trunk to make a set of Spiral stair case. They also found an Oak table for there kitchen. A good day had by all.

As Chicco came down to see me Christine was looking at the time on her phone. While we where talking Christine mentioned that it was 12 months ago that her father had his accident but also to the minute. 

More Led lights

I got fed up waiting to find some more Chestnut to finish around the opening into the TV room so I got started today. I had the top panel finished and measured up to fit 5 LED lights and when done I glued the panel up into place. The panel to the right is made up of parquet flooring and with a final coat of varnish should be done in a day or two.
This room has 22 Led lights and 5 in the opening a total of about 24w per hour better than a single 100w bulb in the ceiling.

No name mentioned YET

A little while ago a friend here in Portugal put a post on a Forum we are both members of needing help too buy a drill bit. As i was going back to the UK for a quick trip i told him i would get a drill bit for him. I found just what i wanted on Ebay and the price was only £4.50 so i ordered one for my friend. I contacted my friend who told me that he had found one in a town near where he lives.

At this point i had not paid for the drill bit and had forgotten all about it until i received a message from Ebay. It seems that because i hadn't cancelled the order he seller wanted his money. As i no longer needed or want the item i explained that i couldn't find a way to cancel the purchase. They replied with "    It is not possible for us to cancel the transaction." 

As i couldn't get them to see reason i can only think a sale for a drill that costs just £4.50 is really very important to them. I have closed my Paypal account and instructed my bank to pay nothing without my permission. So that's where i am up to and i have not named them as of yet but should they really need that £4.50 then i am sure they can always fly over to Portugal and go to the Small claims court should Portugal have such a system.

Imagine  this they take me to the small claims court in the UK and the Judge finds in there favor. Wow now after two weeks they send in the Bailiffs who can't find me But. Now they go to the High Court and the Judge gives the Bailiffs a High Court order and they have much more powers. Watch " Can't pay we'll take it away ". Sorry i have no UK address as i now longer live in the UK but i live in Portugal.


So watch this space.

Wood work is coming to a halt

I have been trying to varnish a number of parts for round one of my windows. Every time i try and apply varnish the finish comes out very poor so i sand each part down again. After sanding down again i try to apply more varnish being careful that i add the correct amount of water as it says on the tin. I think the mistake i am making is that i didn't notice where it gave the minimum and maximum working temperatures.

My only option now is to wait till it gets a bit warmer when i can get started again. But all my existing jobs are all based on my windows so i need to find something to do that is not based on using varnish and windows.

Here is all my present job and a couple of bits to make a couple of clocks and a table lamp. At the front is the sill for the window i am working on at the moment.

A Marines Prayer

I have no idea of the name of the Royal Marine who wrote the words below but i am sure in dark time when deployed these words may have given some comfort.

This reminds me of a songs by a singer called Wink Martindale about a pack of cards.

The cards represented a replacement for his Bible some of the words go like this." "You see Sir, when I look at the "Ace, " it reminds me that there
Is but one God. And the "Deuce" reminds me that the Bible is divided into
Two parts, the Old and the New Testaments. When I see the "Trey, " I think
Of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And when I see the "Four, " I
Think of the four Evangelists who preached the Gospel; there was Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John. And when I see the "Five, " it reminds me of the five
Wise virgins who trimmed their lamps; there were ten of them: five were
Wise and were saved, five were foolish and were shut out. When I see the
"Six, " it reminds me that in six days, God made this great heaven and
Earth. When I see the "Seven, " it reminds me that on the seventh day,

A proud father

I am lucky that i have children to be very proud of. My daughter is going to make me a Grandfather for the third time. But that brings with it a problem, i have a favourite grandson, a favourite Granddaughter. But what do we do about the next we have joked about the day i signed onto a new Forum and it said Male, Female or Other. Up till now it has been Little other but soon when it's born it will no longer be little other but a person. So that is my dilemma  how do i refer to my newest Grandchild.

I have two sons both i am so very proud of one who has made a change to his life and career. He now installs Glass and acrylic  splashbacks to kitchens but please look at the picture below to see how special they are and how good his job is.

Not my favourite but still a stunning job and well done.

This is my favourite the Liverpool Skyline this is absolutely stunning.













My other son's work i can't mention on my Blog but i can say that he is in training for a little run. We all know the London marathon and the New York marathon. Well lets tell you about a proper marathon and i mean no disrespect to those who run normal marathons.

When you put into Google  156 mile marathon the top of the Google list is

Marathon Des Sables https://marathondessables.co.uk/

This is what it says "  In just six days you will run over 250km (156 miles) through endless dunes, over rocky jebels, and across white-hot salt plains. The sun will be your constant enemy with temperatures regularly reaching 50 centigrade. The sand will be your constant companion, clouds of it under your feet, sheets of it stinging your eyes "

My son is more than capable of such a run and he is self funding his training and the entry and his run himself but he is trying to raise money for Charity the Charity is Rock2Recovery in my sons words " an amazing cause! " So what i am asking is if you can spare a few Euro's or GB pounds then please consider sponsoring him but at least read the link below. 

Below is a link
 https://teamfortitude.co.uk/participant/lee-calder/

So you can see how extremely proud of my Children each amazing in there own right.

Stair pillar now hidden

It's taken a while to get this part of the stairs finished mainly because i needed a piece of Chestnut wider that i could get. The only answer was to join two pieces together of Chestnut together.

There used to be a horrible green pillar holding the stairs up until now.

Three sides of the stair pillar are now enclosed in Chestnut all glued and clamped up and job finished.



















At the very top of the stairs i had to make this panel out of two pieces of Chestnut as i couldn't get what i wanted wide enough.

No Laundry basket not even under the bed

After completing my bedroom downstairs one thing that didn't look right was my laundry basket.It always looked out of place so i had to find an answer to having the basket in the bedroom. When i showed my son the pictures below i must admit he laughed until i explained what i had done.

For about 20€ i came up with the answer to have my laundry basket downstairs by my washing machine but. One thing i didn't want was to be having to go downstairs with my washing so i came up with my Laundry chute.

Here is the pipe now in place in the corner nice and tidy.

Here is how it works just drop the washing into the pipe and it falls downstairs to the basket.

There it is my washing down at the bottom of the chute in the basket.

I've seen lots of animals

Over the last more than six years traveling down the same lane I have seen lots of animals from  what looked like Badgers to wild Boar and birds of Prey but today. Today I saw a very young Deer and as it ran of along came another running acros the lane. I came back a couple of hours later and saw the pair of Deer again. These animals run so fast that by the time I reached my camera they had gone. In future I will have my camera out on switched on ready.

After six years driving

This is my sixth winter I have lived here in my little village. Whenever I leave the village to go into Gois or further afield I travel down a little lane only as wide as a car. This year we have had a huge amount of rain and from the forecast it's due to end soon.

I travel down this lane many times a week and this is the first time i have seen it flooded. 

Water water Oh dear me

Last year whoever gives out the rain forgot to send any to Portugal so the rivers almost ran dry. The reservoirs where so low that properties that had been flooded when the reservoirs where built got forgotten.
I don't know how long it's been raining because i was away in the UK for a while. When it rains here sometimes the rain forgets to stop for days at a time.

The ground on the left of the picture for most of the years gets baked by the sun all day everyday. When the rain comes the ground to to hard to soak up all the rainfall and it just runs of into the drains.
This picture shows the effect of the rainfall washing what loose earth there may be.

First time in my life

I am not  a plant or flower lover never have been and my answer to a garden is to pour concrete and paint it green. I don't mind trees in tubs but that's about as far as i would go.

I have a friend who has just got himself a house in my village near to me. Today i saw growing in his garden some Daffodils growing so i picked them. There where only six but i decided they needed a home in my house.
I have a Rosemary bush growing at the bottom of the lane and i took some cutting from the bush to add to the Daff's.
I don't have and won't get a vase but i do have a Grolsh glass  and for now that will do.

Since i got back

Since i got back i have been working on the Pillar on my stairs. I have the Chestnut to go round the pillar and to finish the top of the stairs.

This is the Pillar i am putting Chestnut round.

This is the pillar fitted together to check all the joints ect are OK before it gets a final coat of varnish.

 Here is the top of the stairs all dry fitted because everything needs to be varnished before final fitting.

Modern technology

Over the years technology has greatly advanced. I am due to be a Granddad again and I have seen pictures of the scans of my new grandchild. Today I received a picture of Little Others face, little other is my nickname for the baby because I don't want to know the sex till Little other arrives.
 

I have received picture of the tiny baby long before now but just look what modern science today can do. This is only a scan not a photo but who cares certainly not me i am pleased to see the next member of my family who is due to arrive soon.