Monday, well first day in our new house, interesting day. All of our stuff came out of storage today, so the house is full of boxes, bits of furniture etc, cannot unpack very much as the builders are still in and the dust is awful. We have our own bed tonight so that is a bonus. Am managing to get a good fire going for the evening so we do have warmth. Adrian and Roger turned up at Lunchtime today, Roger got on with the steps outside our bedroom and Adrian connected the Hob, fitted my whirligig outside. Problems with the hot water, boiler going on and off, got the heating engineer in, he adjusted a few things and so far fingers crossed it is working, think that because the radiators are not connected yet this could be part of the problem as the pressure on the boiler is very high, either that or we need a new boiler!!! David is getting on with tiling the pool terrace. Manuel came to measure for the exterior blinds and to make sure that I was happy with what Douglas had decided, LOL so the blinds will be fitted on the 16th December. Unpacked a few kitchen items but have 4 packages undelivered so will need to chase the removal company tomorrow. Decided we was having a casserole for tea, hit a big problem, cannot open the oven door. Adrian had problems fitting this as he had to change where it was going to go, I was not too happy but it had to go right near the front door, well now because the front door has been fitted I cannot open the Oven door, not sure how we will get around this issue, cannot wait to see Adrian's face in the morning!! Not looking good anyway!! Casserole ended up being cooked on the hob and it turned out very well LOL. Have to keep smiling :)
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| Boxes and Packages |
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| and more Boxes |
Tuesday, another day has dawned. Adrian decided that the front door should have been fitted according to the opening of the oven door. Douglas was on the phone first thing this morning, they are sending two technicians out to seal all the windows from the outside, if they have time they will have a look at trying to refit the front door, well guess what they didn't have time, hopefully will come back Monday, meanwhile I cannot use the oven, Oh joy. They are also disputing whether it is their fault or our fault that the door does not fit correctly, according to them they liaised with the builder and all was confirmed as correct!!! This will be a story that will go on no doubt. Internal doors being fitted today and over the next 3 days, good start the first two frames did not fit, the door entrances should have been bigger, bloody hell, the dust and dirt is indescribable and I am decidedly pissed off, Adrian is moaning because a lot of his work is now going to have to be redone, we phoned the Company, they are doing the work and they will do the remedial work so Adrian has nothing to do with it, told Adrian quite heartily that he has nothing extra to do, hang his head in shame!! We have decided that now on a day to day basis we will instruct Adrian as to what we want done, 2 days with only 3 lights fitted is not good enough and I want the inside finished sooner rather than later, Douglas took me out as I was on the verge of telling them all to get off the job as I feel I have had enough, not the right thing to do at this moment. David is getting on with the pool terrace great and has finished tiling it today. Roger has finished the steps from our room to the pool and also the shelves in the Living Room. We had to get the Oil changed in the car today, so visited Sao Laurenco whilst we was waiting on the car getting done, again another lovely little village with the main attraction being the church. Unpacked the Hoover which is a godsend for all the dust so I guess I will be hoovering at 5.00pm every night when the builders finish just to keep the dust down. Got the fire blazing now and a Morgans and Coke, aaahh reeelaaax :)
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Sao Laurenco Church
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Church to pray to get me through this
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Wednesday, builders and door fitters all around us again today, decided to go to the beach for a nice long walk to get away from all the dirt and dust and regroup on thoughts etc. The tap was rearranged today so now works normal red is hot and blue is cold. The grouting has been finished on the tiles in the kitchen think that was it for day 3 of this week!! another 3 door frames fitted and 1 bathroom door fitted, not on our bathroom, trying to get a pee in peace is slightly impossible just now, anything else just does not happen until after 5.30pm!! The tiles have been laid on the terrace outside our bedroom and the steps have been concreted, and the tiles are now finished on the pool terrace. Funnily enough the lights on the terrace and the gates now do not seem to work, but the lights in the kitchen do, every day seems to bring something else that does not work or is not right, cannot understand what is going on incompetence springs to mind and I am fast running out of any patience that I have managed to hold on to. Tomorrow is another day, this will be my mantra until this job is finished :).
Thursday, Portuguese lesson this morning, teacher started straight off in Portuguese so threw us a little bit, did finally get into the swing of it and our homework from last week only had a couple of mistakes in it, so quite happy with that. We then went off to buy new sheets for our bed, flannelet is what you need for the winter here so got two sets of sheets, determined to be cosy. I have got the log fire going great every night and the warmth is really good, no radiators on as yet and not likely to be this week, have got a portable heater that we put in our bedroom just now so warms it up but the fire does great. The internal doors are now fitted and look fantastic, just a couple of frames need attention. The wardrobe doors have come in a slightly different shade so they need to be corrected, not sure how long we will have to wait for them!! David has started the finishing touches to the rear of the pool extension. Roger has got one more step to put in for our bedroom terrace to the pool and Adrian not quite sure what he is achieving (it is the things that we cannot see) that is definitely true as I cannot see very much having been achieved for this week!! My god the process is slow. We also got two new lights for the terrace and looked at sets of drawers for the bedrooms but need to measure up to make sure they will fit, getting there!!!!
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| Fire on the go |
Friday, Security Company were meant to come today to fit security system for house, they texted to say they couldn't manage today will do it on Monday!! Had to go back to Guia to get some parts required for the radiators, done some food shopping etc. James and Valentina arrived while we were out to fit the curtain hooks for tie backs, they just got on with it, one pair of tie backs too big so we will need to take them to shop to get shortened just because curtains have been shortened, not a problem as I want a cushion made as well for our bedroom. Roger has nearly finished the steps, looking good. Adrian has started on the 3rd bedroom bathroom but not quite sure how far he got, definitely not finished and now half the lights are not working, think we are going to have to get an electrician in now. We have started to unpack the boxes for the kitchen and managed to get them all finished so everything kind of put away. No point in unpacking any other boxes just now as work is still required in all of the rooms. The Internal Door people did not come today I guess they will be back on Monday. Here you just never know who is going to turn up and when!! Adrian should have done a bit of cementing for them to fit one of the doors, but that has not been done yet so maybe just as well. Thank goodness it is the weekend, no builders for 2 days, perhaps we can get rid of some of the dust.
Saturday, have not been out of the door today. have been unpacking some things and repacking other things. Cleaned out all of the rooms to keep them dust free, cleaned all of the terrace also. Managed to sit on the terrace this evening and enjoy a drink. the weather is lovely during the day so making the most of it. Gets colder at night so the log fire goes on and makes the house all cosy. Plant Pots looking a bit dead at the moment so hoping I can revitalise them, we shall see, I think only time will tell. Looking good and the feeling is so good to be in our own house and to be able to enjoy it just now. Snagging list being done for Adrian for Monday, lots of snagging!!!
Sunday, lovely day today managed to have breakfast on a nice clean terrace, then got all the washing done, hung out and dried, and sorted out the garden stuff into the area underneath the pool for storage, also cleaned up all this area as such a mess of cement and brick etc. Went to a Christmas Fair in Sao Bras, bought some Hyacinth bulbs and a cork purse, met up with Mick and Pauline and then went for lunch in Almancil. By the time we got back we managed to get all of the rooms measured for rugs, marked out where we wanted towel rails etc to go, finished off the snagging list (which is very big) and then I planted my bulbs. This has been a good week for getting settled into the house, cannot unpack all of our things so we are living amongst a lot of dust and dirt and boxes but it is home and beginning to feel good.
Laughter line for this week: Mansion Tax welcomed by Makers of Monopoly:
Hasbro, makers of the popular Monopoly Board Game have welcomed the Governments proposal for a Mansion Tax, but have called for them to go further and introduce taxes for those who have more than two houses on the same road, and for hotel owners. Having these taxes will give us a reason to release another version of our game, said a Hasbro spokesman. The new edition will be bang up to date, with a high speed railway going through Mayfair. European court backing for the get-out-of-jail-free-card, and a quantitative easing version that comes with a free money printer. We have also amended the rules, around the role of banker he added. Rather than hiding profits offshore under the game box, they can spend all their cash safe in the knowledge that other players will bail them out.
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| Terrace outside our Room |
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| Steps going in |
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| Pool Terrace being tiled |
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| Sunrise Sunday Morning |
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| Hyacinth bulbs planted |
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