Week 12 of our new life

Monday, today was a non event day for me, had a terrible headache all day, slept most of the day in our room with air conditioning on, think the heat has just got to me.  So much to do but not a chance of doing anything as no energy at all. :(.
Tuesday feel a bit better today thank goodness as quite a few things to do today.  Early start so early breakfast, Douglas had been on his wasp annihilation so there were quite a few bodies around.  While we were eating breakfast out came the ant army to carry the wasps away, amazing to see them at work, they carry the wasps away, don't know what they do with them!! Then it was off to Tavira to look at accommodation for September.  We have stayed in Tavira before when we have been on holiday and it is a lovely place.  We was to meet Sharron from Whitby who is renting out a mobile home, well this mobile home is something else, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms and an extensive patio on a beautiful site with bar, restaurant, pool and various forms of entertainment, perfect for us for September, and believe it or not Douglas thinks us buying one would be an ideal opportunity for rental income, he is going to look at it anyway, no prompting from me on this.  Anyway we have decided we will rent it for September as it is only 40 minutes from where we live we will be able to keep an eye on things at our house also.  Happy with that on the way back we visited a Pottery/Garden Centre which we have visited before, we bought 2 plants for the garden to replace two of the trees that we have cut down, bougainvillea so we wil get lots of flowers from them and also bought 6 light shades typical algarvean, we are trying to make sure that although our house will be modern it is going to have algarvean features rather than Brit features, I think it will work, although all the Brits are somewhat surprised as they believe in everything "English" even some with carpets!!!  We then headed into Santa Barbara to sort out a Post Office Box, after having to supply much paperwork , and thankfully meeting Julian, Louise and Marcia in the Cafe who were able to help us out with the paperwork we finally got one, hopefully now we can receive post.  Frustratingly enough we are still trying to track down a parcel which should have been delivered to us on Friday and which we now think or hope is at the DHL depot in Quarteira, wont actually know if it is there until we go tomorrow.  We then went on to Victors another cafe near home and met Dower our neighbour so that was another couple of beers, finally got back to Mick and Paulines just in time for the Water Delivery.  6.00pm dying for a swim so done my 28 lengths, missed yesterdays swim so Douglas thinks I should double my lengths, don't think one missed day will too much harm.  Finished up with a lovely full moon and the thought of another early start tomorrow.

Working Ants dragging the wasp

August Full Moon

Wednesday, another early start, had to be up at our house for 9.00am to let the water man in, we need the pool filling up as it needs a good clean as it has not been used or otherwise it will start to go green, and once that happens we have had it, this filling up 2 houses with water is becoming rather expensive.  Then off shopping again, we needed to get the shower cubicle for the small bathroom, lights for the kitchen and 2 bathrooms, wanted halogen lights for in the ceilings to give plenty of light, a tap for the new shower in the small bathroom as when we bought the shower it didnt come with a tap, very strange.  We managed to get all that plus a Whirlygig for the garden.  Still have not managed to get internal doors yet and also trying to decide on what lights to have in the living room.  Finally collected my parcel that cannot be delivered, this is because the postman cannot spend his time looking for a house name, which we have but we do not have a street name so end of!! I hope our post office box works, when we go back to my dads I am going to send myself a letter to see if it works.  Actually I am going to send myself a parcel with decaf teabags and sun lotion in it.
Thursday, another early start today for me to get my nails done, Douglas hates early starts and as he s not letting me drive the car at the moment (as he says I need to practice!!) he needs to get up, this is something at the moment that we cannot agree on.  I prefer to be up and out and back early afternoon whereas he prefers to lie in and then go out when it is at its hottest (just does not work for me that). We then went for a drive to Alvor, which is another fishing village, it has a lovely beach, plenty of shops and restaurants and will be well worth another visit.  Found the cheapest Morgans Spice in the Algarve at 16 euros a litre, Smirnoff is only 13 euros, will be worth a trip to stock up when we finally move into our house. Problem is they close in November until March so would have to do a lot of stocking up.  Still trying to track down doors, have found another place in Almancil so we are going to visit them tomorrow.  August in Portugal is complete shut down until beginning of September due to the Portuguese taking their holidays, this is in line with all of Europe, maybe the UK should look into that, but it does cause problems when you want to try and buy anything non touristy.  Whilst having tea tonight Douglas has come up with another invention, a onesie made of mosquito netting, I quite agree with his ideas as long as he lets me take photographs, getting a bit worried though as his brain is working overtime with things that he wants to invent.  Today we finally got a full address for our post office box (how hard can this be) if anybody wants the address just let me know.  The postal system seems to be a bit of a joke, I sent our granddaughter a birthday present last week and it still has not arrived, I hope the card we sent for Sarah's wedding arrives on time as there was a few days difference.  It costs a fortune to post anything and for it not to have arrived after a week is a tad annoying, I will need to be more on the ball with future parcels.

Alvor Harbour

Seafood Restaurants Alvor

Friday, woke up this morning with no use of my right eye, got bitten last night and now my eye is just a mess and very sore, off to pharmacy to try and get something for it.  Then off to Almancil to track down a company that sells doors. Managed to get cream from the pharmacy for my eye, I think it will be a couple of days before it gets better though.  Finally tracked down the shop in Almancil only to find it has closed down, so not much luck there either, am in despair of getting any doors.  On up to our house, Adrian has come back refreshed from his break and has started putting the false ceiling in the bathroom.  Our pool is in a sorry mess and starting to go green, but Jwow is sorting it today so hopefully by tomorrow it will be back to normal, I forgot to get compost for the new pots so the poor sad geraniums are still waiting to get into their new home, but the garden is looking good and taking shape, the lads don't mess about anyway.  Also bought a typical algarvean antique light for our living room, it is in need of a bit of restoration so that is going to be our project for next week, we got it cheap too plus instructions on how to restore it so looking forward to doing that. Just hoping that when we hang it it doesn't bring the ceiling down.  Some good news at the end of today, we had a phone call from a company regarding doors, they sent us a link and if we make an appointment we can get doors sorted out, keeping fingers crossed.

Trees disappearing

One Swollen eye

Pool going Green!!!!

Saturday, woke up today with an eye twice the size and completely closed so its not going to be a good day, off to market for meat, fruit and veg, had to rely on Douglas to pick the best of the crops this week.  Then off to our house, the pool is still looking green even after a good clean yesterday, hoping that we are not going to have to completely empty it, will see Jwow on Monday to see what the solution will be.  The false ceiling has gone up in the master bathroom complete with lights, still to be painted. Out for a meal tonight to Ze Dias in Sao Bras, had a lovely meal Peru e Banan - Turkey with Banana, Douglas had a chicken and Prawn Kebab which happened to be at least 12 inches long stuffed with thick chunks of chicken and prawns on the side. a nice place to eat with a play park for children so will keep it in mind for when family/friends visit with children.

False Ceiling

Garden Rubbish

Plot 3

Sunday, we have decided is our chill out day, so I done the washing, ironing cleaning and even washed all the shutters.  Douglas helped mop the floors and then dismantled the new light-shade ready for restoration work to start.  Eye is a bit better today and at least it will open and I can see partially out of it.  This has been another good week, although not much has been done to the house as Adrian was off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, hopefully progress will be more next week. Douglas has been killing Wasps with a vengeance and his fly swat is never far from his hand, he is also trying to talk to the owls tonight!!  We are both doing well with our swimming with me doing 28 lengths every day and Douglas 20, from tomorrow it goes up to 30.  Hopefully next week will bring us closer to getting our new doors and sorting out our pool.  Plus the thousand and one other things that we still have to do.

New Bougainvillea 1

New Bougainvillea 2