December Already – Where Has The Year Gone???

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I can’t believe it’s December already – the year has flown by and it’s nearly Christmas!! I’ve been very good and have written all our Christmas cards and bought all our presents and wrapped them ready to deliver. Well I’ve had to be an early bird as we are flying back to the UK on 13 December for a few days to visit family and friends before Christmas and to hand out cards & presents. We’re flying back on 18th to spend a quiet Christmas here in Spain and of course to carry on with the building work. We’ll have a quiet day on the 25th and plan to BBQ some steak on the terrace and relax (fingers crossed the sun will be out). Then no doubt we’ll be back to work on the house on 26th.

As far as the building work progress goes – we now have the new bedroom, ensuite and lounge/diner built – the walls have been plastered and given their first lick of paint and we are just finishing off the tiling in the ensuite and will be ready to fit the new bidet, toilet & sink before we fly back to the UK. We bought our new Estufa (Woodburning Stove) a week ago and it is now installed and working – it’s lovely and warm in the new part of the house and we’re really looking forward to moving in – however it won’t be until Jan/Feb as we have to do some other work first on the new workshop door before we can finish the rooms upstairs. Still it will be worth the wait. Once all that works finished then we will start on the new kitchen which I am really looking forward to. Once that’s done then we can start on the main part of the house for the guest rooms. My estimate now is that it’ll be another 2 years at least before we are completely finished and can finally operate as a proper B&B but there’s always a room ready for family & friends who what to visit us. We keep plodding on – poco a poco (bit by bit) as our Spanish neighbours say.

The weather this autumn has been quite mild and when we have sunny days they are usually warm in the sun but a little chilly in the shade. The nights now are a little nippy and we’ve been using the gas heaters now since mid November in the main part of the house and they are enough to keep us warm. We’ve had some more rain recently which has given a good dump of snow on the mountain tops and the Sierra Navada ski resort opened on 1st December. We are hoping in Jan or Feb to go up and try out our snowboards again – it’s been 4 years since we were last on them so I can imagine there will be more time sitting/kneeling in the snow than actual boarding but it’ll be good to get back into it. At least we’ll be able to go in the week when it’s a bit quieter – the weekends are manic (apparently).
The satellite tv installations are ticking along steadily and helping to keep us fed and watered (well wine rather than water!).

We’re looking forward to the forthcoming Conchar Wine Festival which takes place in the Village of Conchar in Lecrin Valley and this year it is being held on 6th January. We’re hoping the weather is warm and sunny like last year as it makes it a great day out. You buy your Wine Festival Mug (large or small depending on preference/or if you’re driving) and then keep filling it up with the local Mosto (young wine) for free! There is a band playing spanish music, food freshly cooked on a big BBQ and young and old have a great time. There is lots of dancing and chatting and families come from all over for a great day out and to meet up with old friends. So if you are in the area on the 6th or fancy coming over for the festival we can highly recommend it.

Not a lot else to report so we’ll bid you adios for now and update you on events and the work on the house in the New Year.

Have a great Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008.

Abrazos y besos (hugs and kisses)

The Rain In Spain!

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Friday 21st September 2007 turned out to be a very memorable day for everyone here in the Granada Region!!

We started the day with a thunder storm at 6am which lasted for a couple of hours and then cleared – we headed off inland to do our satellite work and all went well – the weather cleared there and we were able to do the job. However on the way back it started raining again and by the time we reached Granada it was pouring down – we got onto the highway to head home and then it really came down – so bad that the banks at the sides of the road were being washed away and the drains couldn’t cope – parts of the road were waterlogged and we had to drive very carefully. We pulled off the highway and headed down to the reservoir to carry on up to Pinos and there were floods everywhere – there was water gushing across the road as we drove up and the banks were being washed down with it and stones and boulders too. We managed to get home in one piece but the whole village was a mess – mud, stones, debris every where. We entered our house to find the ground floor covered in water (luckily it didn’t get into the lounge) and water on the landing. It was pouring in from the light well, coming down the chimney in the back room and the internal patio was flooded too (and that’s partly covered by a roof!). The rain had forced it’s way into the new bit too and had come down some of the walls from the terrace. When we went up to the terrace we saw why – there were massive hailstones and ALL my plants were destroyed – looks like a strimmer had been at them. The leaves were blocking the drainage and water had backed up everywhere. We spent a good couple of hours mopping up and thank goodness for the tiled floors. The rain had even forced it’s way into the top covered Azotea with the tin roof so we had a little damp in the bedrooms but thankfully not much. It wasn’t just us affected – the lower barrio in our village came off worse with 2 foot of mud down there and many people had this washed into their homes. The whole valley has been affected and the crops of olive, almonds, grapes, oranges etc have all been damaged and many farmers are having to submit forms now to claim financial support. Padul (one of towns up the road from us) was badly affected when the river there burst it’s banks and a guy from the UK had his brand new 4×4 washed away and written off with the force of the flood water.

Once the rains stopped the big clean up operation began to clear mud from the roads in and around the villages and it’s taken a few weeks to get back to some sort of normality. The coast got the worst of the storm (some even reported it as a mini tornado) and Almunecar was so badly hit that it has officially been declared a disaster zone – cars washed away – bridges damaged and someone was killed when a garage wall fell on them. The EU have put forward 70 million Euros to help with the clear up and rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure to the region. The reports in the press said that approximately 300 litres of rain fell in just a few short hours. Many say it was the worst rain they have experienced in many years (one local said she was a little girl the last time she remembers that sort of rain and she is now well into retirement). If you click on the Olive Press link on the right of the page they should have more about the storms.
We have now resealed the old light well and painted waterproof paint on the old terrace area which let a lot of water in. Under normal circumstances I think we’d have been OK but the rain & hail came down with such force that it devastated everything. Thankfully peace and calm has returned now and for the last few weeks the sun has been out and everything has dried out. At least we’ve been able to carry on with the building work inside the house.

Adios for now

Building Work Update – Oct 2007

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Things are progressing slowly – we’ve been busy with satellite installations and some friends came to visit which gave us an excuse to down tools and have some R&R with them. However we can report that all the internal walls are up and rendered in the new section on the first floor.

The ceilings took the longest to plaster but at last they are all done now. We’ve now got the new toilet, sink & bidet for the ensuite and have ordered the taps and tiles for the floor and walls. There is still a long way to go as the walls all have to be plastered yet and Phil needs to knock out the wall in the garage below to put the new garage door in before we carry on upstairs. We’ve got a pile of rubble upstairs that needs to go so we may as well order a skip to get rid of that and the rubble from the wall coming out for the new garage door. We were hoping to be settled into our new half of the house by Xmas but that’s not going to happen now – think it’ll be more like Spring. Still we’ll get there in the end – these things never go to plan and you just have to go with the flow and not get stressed about it. One nice thing living here – stress never seems to raise it’s ugly head very often.

We’ve now changed the plan for the layout of the house again and are going to put the new kitchen upstairs on the first floor next to our new lounge & bedroom. The dining room will also be on the first floor and the two new bedrooms will be on the ground floor. We think this will work better and it will be easier from a plumbing point of view. However I don’t think we’ll be starting work on that lot until Summer next year!! With the way things are going I can’t see us having it all finished for at least another 2 years but we always have one bedroom ready for any family or friends who want to come and visit us for some R&R and sunshine (as long as they don’t mind a bit of dust and a home that’s a “work in progress”!).

Well that’s all for now folks.

Hasta luego

At Last The Roof Is Finished!!!!!

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After 6 months of hard work in all types of weather we can now report that the work on the roof is at last completed!!!! It’s been a long hard slog and we had to stop work for a while recently when we returned to the UK, my aunt, lost her battle against cancer and we returned for the funeral. I’d also spent a few weeks on and off traveling back to the UK to spend some time with her just before she went into LOROS and again whilst she was in there for her last few weeks. It’s not been easy for us and I really miss her – not being able to phone her in the evenings and update her on what we’ve been doing each day and just having a general natter. At least she is now at peace and I hope looking down on us and supervising our work from above.

We’ve now started on the work inside of the old mill above what is now the garage. We’ve installed 4 new windows and rendered and put the finishing white render on the upper part of the external walls at the back of the house (the old mill section). Over the last 2 days we’ve been knocking through from the mill to the main house and now we are able to walk through to our new section (much easier than climbing a ladder and crawling in through a gap which will eventually be filled with glass blocks!).

We are now building internal walls in our new section of the house and installing new doorways. It seems to be coming on quite well now and we are thankful that the work has moved indoors as the weather has been a little on the hot side (40 – 44 degrees C!). We had a bit of a thunderstorm the other night which helped to cool the air down a little. Luckily we get a nice fresh breeze most evenings which helps to cool things down a little but we have been seeing temperatures of 30 degrees in the house! Thankfully we’ve fitted ceiling fans which certainly help us sleep at night (also reminds us of our years living in sunny South Africa!). There’s still a long way to go before we can move our lounge and bedroom furniture into the new section but fingers crossed we’ll be in there before Christmas and the cold weather arrives. We are going to install a log burner in our new lounge and the heat from that should keep us nice and toastie over the winter period – having new windows that actually close and seal properly will also be a big help! We’ll keep you posted on progress.

We’ve been keeping track of the recent bad weather in the UK (and experiencing it first hand whilst we were visiting a few weeks back) and can’t believe the amount of flooding that has occurred – especially at this time of the year. Just hope the sun comes out for everyone in the UK during August so you can enjoy some Summer! Failing that there are always the cheap flights out to sunny Spain!

It’s fiesta time here in Pinos del Valle in a couple of weeks time (14 – 17 August) and we’re looking forward to all the action! Hopefully this year we’ll be more adjusted to staying up later and will manage to get along to some of the late night festivities. We’re looking forward to the firework display again this year – last years was very impressive.

Well that’s about all for now – hope you all manage to enjoy whatever Summer you manage to get.

Hasta luego

The Work on the Roof Continues!

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Sorry for the tardiness in updating the blog however we’ve been pretty busy with the digital satellite tv installations and in between these doing work on the roof. During April the weather here didn’t help as it was pretty wet and the days we had spare to work on the house it always seemed to be raining! Think it’s one of the wettest Aprils they’ve had on record for quite a few years! However at last the sun is out and the temperature is on the up. Our tans are coming on a treat with all the work we are doing outside.

The work on the roof is now in the last stages and we are hoping that by end June/early July it will be finished and we can start on the inside. We’ve already built the internal walls to divide up the space into a new lounge/dinner, bedroom & ensuite. The next stage will be to knock through in to the main house and then install some windows. After that it’s all the plumbing, electrics, rendering and plastering of walls etc. The plan is that we’ll be able to move into the new lounge & bedroom area by the winter as we are installing a log burner to heat that half of the house and it should be a lot warmer. Once we are in there we can start work on the main part of the house. Still a long way to go but it’s keeping us out of mischief and it’s nice seeing the completed work knowing that it’s us that’s done it all.

Well that’s all for now – fingers crossed the next update will be to say the roof is done – but we’re not promising anything!

Hasta luego

The Roof Is Nearly Finished!!!

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Well we’re pleased to report that we have now got all the concreting done on the new roof and have sealed the area with a waterproof membrane. All that now remains to be done is the tiling of the roof, which at 50 sq. metres is no small job, however we’re two thirds of the way there now and can at last see light at the end of the tunnel – fingers crossed we’ll have it all done by end Apri.

Concreting 50sq metres took us 2 days of solid graft with a total of 15 hours work. We had the much needed help of one of our friends who gave us a few hours of their time over the 2 days to help with the mixing of the cement, so a big thank you to Nick. To make life a little easier we also hired an electronic winch and special barrow so that we could haul up larger quantities of the grey stuff and so speed up the process. However it took 3 of us to get the winch up to the top of the scaffolding as it weighed a fair bit but at least we managed it. Thankfully we had good weather for the whole of the weekend we were working.

The weather now is getting warmer during the daytime – so much so that we are working in shorts & t-shirts some days but we do get some extremely strong winds up here. In fact so strong the other week they recorded gusts of up to 130km/hr! Needlesstosay we’ve had a few call outs from people who need their satellite dishes realigning!! Good for business.

Well that’s all for now folks – hopefully our next posting will be to say the roof is a completed project!!

Hasta luego

We Have Lift Off – At Last The Roof Is Off!!!

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First of all we would like to apologise for slacking with our updates! Since Christmas we’ve been hard at it working on the removal and now installation of our new roof over the old stable/mill area at the back of the house, and on top of that, we have also been busy with our other work – the sky digital tv installations for all those Brits out here who just can’t live without Big Brother! However, at last I have found time to put fingers to keyboard and update you all on progress.

After a quiet Christmas Day here in Spain with us just lounging around the house, drinking, eating and watching TV, Boxing Day saw the start of work on the roof! As luck would have it the 3/4 weeks after Christmas were lovely and sunny here with clear blue skies and temperatures resembling Spring so we cracked on with removing the old roofs (half was the old tile, wooden beams, mud construction and the other half being corrugated pannels.) It took us 4 weeks to get all the roof off, rubble loaded into yet another massive skip, another ton of sand moved to the house and all the heavy concrete beams up into position. However just when we thought things were going so well the weather changed! Yep – the snow came along with high winds and then rain. The day the wind & snow hit was the day we’d just got the last big beam in place and the polystyrene insulating blocks in place. Hubby was up top desparately trying to get the huge tarpaulin in place to cover the exposed area whilst I was hanging on to the edges trying to stop the wind lifting it off up into the sky like a massive kite! Eventually by 7pm we had it in place (in a fashion) with bricks hanging down from the eyelets on the edges trying to weight it down and stop it taking off. We then went inside and hoped it would be there the next day. The next day arrived still wet and windy but luckily the tarp was still there, however after a couple of days with the wind whiping around it parts of it ended up shredding on the edges of the beams. A little more modification and we had it secured. There are still some gaps so when it rains we get a few leaks but luckily the workshop machinery seems to be under the driest bit on the ground floor. We’re just on the last stage of building up the remaining wall to take the last few small supporting beams and then fingers crossed we’ll be able to get the steel mesh up and start laying the concrete to seal it. However at the moment the weather for this week is not looking good with lots more rain forecast so we may not get around to the concreting until mid February. Oh well, we do what we can and will get there in the end.

Well that’s about all for now folks – keep your fingers crossed the weather doesn’t cause us too many problems and we’ll let you know when the roof is actually finished!

Hasta luego

No roof off yet!

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Had our next lot of concrete beams delivered towards the end of October for the new roof (this time 42!). These arrived just before our other friends flew out for a weeks holiday with us. Thankfully Mick kindly gave Phil a hand moving the beams to the house and then we all chilled out and relaxed for a week.

Once our friends flew back to Blighty we resumed work on the house and managed to get the big supporting concrete beams up onto the first floor and into place ready for the roof to come off (thankfully we didn’t need steel beams this time as these were 5m but they’re still damn heavy!). In the meantime however we received an offer we couldn’t refuse – to take over the fitting of Sky Digital Satellite systems for the area! The chap that was doing it has moved away and we got the chance to take it over. Needless to say the answer was YES and so now in between our building work we install Sky systems in the area as well. I go along to help out as it takes two to get the signal set up and I help with the fetching & carrying and setting up of the Sky Boxes whilst hubby is fitting the satellite dish. The work comes to us on an adhoc basis which means we can fit it in around the rest of the stuff we’re doing which is good. So fingers crossed the Sky installations continue to be a lucrative sideline.

In the meantime we’ve now come to a standstill on the work for the roof due to the inconsistent weather! We’ve decided to leave it now until I get back from my brief visit to the UK in early December to see family, friends & old work colleagues before Christmas arrives. So fingers crossed if the weather holds off when I get back mid December we’ll start taking the roof off then! (Most people decorate their houses just before Christmas but we decide to take a roof off and put a new one on!!!!). Keep your fingers crossed for us the weather stays stable & dry during December in Spain!

Well that’s all for now folks.

Hasta luego

Update on the Building Work

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Well the building is going well and with the greatly appreciated help of my brother, we now have the new first floor above the mill area/workshop! It was hard work with lots of heavy lifting done by the 2 blokes (I did help with putting the steel beams up just before my brother arrived so I did my bit!) and then 2 solid days of me mixing concrete, my brother hauling it up in buckets and then hubby laying it down and smoothing it out. But it was well worth the hard work and we finally got to walk on the finished floor this weekend and marked out where the rooms are going. Now it’s on to the next task of ordering the building materials and getting stuck in with the removal of the roof and putting the new one on – should take us about 3 weeks (we hope not longer) and we’re keeping our fingers crossed the rains hold off till it’s all done! Hoping to get started at the end of October so keep everything crossed for us!!

Hasta luego

The Work Begins & We Take a Break For The Village Fiesta

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At last we’ve started the work on Casa Molino!!! 3 huge skips and lots of rubble later we
are now on our way with the work.

We have been very fortunate that we have been able to borrow a small dumper truck to help with all the rubble removal and transportation of the sand to the house for the cement. Without it we don’t know what we would have done but it must be said that “el dumper” can be a little tempremental at times due to it’s advancing years! The first time we borrowed it there was a steep learning curve in driving it – firstly the handbrake doesn’t work, the foot brake is a little spongy, it wanted to go backwards in forward drive and forwards in reverse, the steering had to be turned & turned before the wheels did anything and lastly you have to crank start it and flick a leaver!! Well after mastering all that we managed to get it to the skip which had been parked off in the church square, applied the brakes (2 large bricks behind the wheels) and started loading the sand (sand is delivered here in the skips that you use for your rubble removal so firstly you have to unload the sand and then once that’s done you fill the skip back up again with rubble! I can assure you that after doing all that there is no need for a gym membership!). Once our first load of sand was in the dumper we trundled off back to the house to tip it down the side street and return for the next load. However things didn’t seem to be working as they should – we pushed and pulled the hydraulic lever to tip the sand but nothing happened. Very confused we called the owner who said he didn’t know what the problem was. We decided to switch the engine off and have a think about it. We looked all over the machine for a hidden switch or something that might show what we were doing wrong but nothing. By this time we were getting quite frustrated and without the tipper working it was almost useless as we’d have to shovel the sand out of the bucket. As a last attempt we decided to start the dumper up again and have another go, and would you believe it – it worked and we were able to tip the sand without a problem. We also discovered the dumper went backwards in reverse and forwards in drive as it should have done earlier!! As you can imagine we were pretty relieved at this and trundled back off for the rest of the sand which after 3 hours of shovelling was nicely transfered to the street outside the house! The following 2 days we filled the skip with all the demolition rubble we had piled up and arranged for the skip to be collected. The local men seem to be facinated by the fact that I’m getting stuck in alongside Phil and shovelling sand and shifting rubble. Our neighbour explained that Spanish women don’t do that sort of manual work but I said we English women are made of strong stuff!!

The next job was to lay the new concrete floor on the ground floor area of the molino which will be used as a workshop and lay the new drainage pipes. 4 days later and many loads of concrete it was finished. I can now add “cement mixer operative” to my cv and found it quite satisfying watching the huge pile of sand slowly diminish to virtually nothing and see a lovely new smooth floor in the molino.

After the new ground floor was laid we had a break for the village fiesta which ran from 14 – 17 August. Each morning we were woken by exploding rockets and a marching band at around 9/9.30am and each evening there were various events taking place and late night parties at the top of the village (unfortunately we don’t have the stamina to party to 4am!). On 3 evenings the statutes of the local saints (San Roque and San Sebastian) and the Virgin were carried through the village streets to the churches and followed by all villagers, visitors etc. We had a birds eye view as they came directly down our street and we could stand on our balconies and watch. On the first night of the procession after it had passed by our house our Spanish neighbours asked if I wanted to go and see inside the church so they took me along and I got a good view of the inside of the Church of San Sebastian (the one just a minutes walk from our house). After that the procession then proceeded down to the lower part of the village and to the other church (San Roque) so our neighbours took me along with the procession and I got to see the inside of the other church. It was really kind of them to take me along and on the walk they pointed out the various houses in the village that belong to their families and I met a few of their friends and one of the sisters that was down from Madrid for the festivities. One of the nights entertainment was a marching band and majorettes so we went along to watch (he seemed quite happy go along to watch – not sure whether the majorettes little white skirts and kinky white boots had anything to do with it!). On the last night of the fiesta we followed the procession down the village and watched a fantastic firework display the village had put on to mark the end of the fiesta. I can honestly say it was one of the most spectacular displays I’ve seen in many years.

Once the fiesta had finished it was back to work again and we ordered another skip with sand which we duly unloaded and reloaded with rubble and once that was full ordered yet another skip but this time without the sand.

So as you can see we’ve been keeping pretty busy. We had last week off from working on the house as we had a friend over for a weeks holiday and had a lovely time showing her all the sites, visiting the many bars to sample the local brews and free tapas and visiting the Alhambra and the Arab Baths. However it’s now back to the grindstone but my brother is coming over to see us in 2 weeks time to give us a hand with the work and to have a bit of a holiday so I’m looking forward to seeing him again.

That’s all for now folk – hope you are all well and that the September weather in the UK is
an improvement on August!! (We’ve now got satellite tv hooked up so we get to watch BBC, ITV etc and see what wonderful weather you’ve been having!).

Hasta luego