House in Spain Diary back to Property page
May 2000
Raised the money by extending the mortgage to use the equity on our house - no problem - put it into premium bonds out of harm's way!
House in
Spain Diary back to Property page
May 2000
Raised the money by extending the mortgage
to use the equity on our house - no problem - put it
into premium bonds out of harm's way!
24 June 2000
Lightning
trip to Malaga - out Friday 2100; back Saturday 2350. Drove to the Alpujarras (3
hours) - stunning mountain scenery - great village houses - mountain roads make it too
remote for us. 3 hours back to Velez Malaga to look at 3 more: money doesn't go so
far in this part. Don't like the coast much. Don't need to speak any Spanish
here!
8 July 2000
Another lightning trip ... to Alicante. Drove
south to Almeria province. Scenery good around Chirivel. Saw a couple
of interesting properties: one already under offer. Home exhausted to think.
Another trip planned in August when apparently everything will be shut!! Prices more
reasonable here. 
August 2000
Saw the perfect house and offered full asking price
only to be told that the owner had decided not to sell! This is a problem if the
agent does not keep in regular touch with his clients! Opened a bank account anyway
which takes about 30 minutes with a passport. Returned to the UK depressed. 
October 2000
Transferred a couple of thousand pounds into our
Spanish bank account and set off on a more objective trip, flying into Madrid and driving
5 and a half hours south. Saw 3 interesting properties and made a sensible offer on
one. Private contract drawn up stating deposit taken (10%), property in question
and setting 90 days to complete.
Contaced solicitor in Spain from UK and faxed him all the documents he needed.
February 2001
Lightning trip and sale completed privately even though there is no escritura - solicitor will apply for this as it takes 3-4 months. Contract of compra-venta states that should any debt arise it will revert to the seller. No time to measure up or even change locks!
April 2001
First real visit. Changed the electricity
contract over to us: you need the old contract from the previous owner or an old
bill to take to Sevillana's offices, along with your bank details. The
charge is around 1000 Ptas. The house is not on mains water and it took
some time to discover wh
o would sell us water from a private spring. Need
to invest in another water tank and buy shares in the water that runs from
Saliente down to Albox. Once we had obtained water, discovered that the
water pump was dead! Bought a bed (cheap! - see Directory
page).
Previous owners took all the butano bottles which leaves us with the problem of
having to arrange a new contract. To do so you have to go to a butane
supplier to request a contract; they will arrange for a technician to call to
inspect where the gas will be used before allowing you the contract to buy gas.
July 2001
Butane technician never materialised! We
put this down to leaving a UK mobile phone number as the contact. Will
investigate getting a Spanish mobile phone on next visit. Jose, the local
builder, is replacing the water pump today so that we will hopefully have running
water for our 
next visit!
August 2001
Running water! Cost of replacement pump plus
labour - 40,000 Pts. Bought Spanish SIM card for my Nokia (£25 - pay as
you go) to solve problem of suppliers never ringing back (Airtel shop - Av Pio
X11, Albox). Arranged butane contract with Cepsa: 6,300 Pts for contract 
and 2 bottles plus insurance cover of 15 million! This is a lot simpler,
apparently, than trying to arrange a Repsol (orange bottles) contract. The
technician arrived (eventually) checked the dates on our rubber pipes, checked
our regulator top and left the bottles! I have been led to believe that
Repsol do a much more thorough checking of ventilation, etc.
Phoned Juan (del agua) who came the same day to fill our aljibe with water - excellent service. Our tank is quite small - about 10,000 litres. Looks like the 2 of us used about 4000 in 6 weeks which seems quite a lot - perhaps the tank isn't that big.
Met with the local builder who gave us a quote for 4.8 million Pts to do the basic structural work required: new roof, re-wiring, plumbing, new pozo negro (for waste water), new doors & windows, some re-modelling inside, new roof terrace and tiling throughout. He estimates that he will be able to start in February and it will take around 3 months! Exciting. Meanwhile he is going to repair our courtyard walls, which are constructed of the usual stone and mud, so that they don't fall down in the rain.
October 2001
Naturally the walls haven't been 
repaired
(although the builder has added a nice first floor extension to his own house!)
and the escritura is not done as the ex owners' marriage has broken up and this
seems to pose a problem for our solicitor. Basically, then, no one does anything
unless you are there, badgering. The solicitor is also impossible to get
on the phone, so we went and sat in his waiting room at 5pm one day to witness
the steady stream of clients in and out of his office. The neighbours all
seemed pleased to see us however - I was invited into Jose and Cami's 'dwelling' next
door to view the lovely electric 'mock' fireplace they had bought from a
travelling salesman! Unfortunately since the summer they have decided that
a large caged in area is a good place to house their 2 dogs - I wish the Spanish
wouldn't do that. Also the garden clearing and tidying we had done in the
summer was all overgrown again and apparently there had been copious rain and
wind - everything else seems in tact though. We had fantastic weather for
a week - swam in the sea on a beautiful deserted cove (no, I'm not telling you
where!). Locked up and told the builder's wife we would be back soon to
see our walls!
February 2002
Arrived 9pm ish via Mercadona in Albox (essential
gin and tonic making equipment!). Boy! Was the house cold?!! It was
freezing! We spent the evening fully clothed, huddling under the duvet
(with wine). Bought butane heater next day for £48. Daytime weather
gloriously sunny, however - spent one afternoon sunbathing on the beach (well,
we are Brits). Decided to get Jose to quote for running the pipes for
central heating - he reckoned an extra £800 (a total central heating
installation - pipes, radiators, boiler in small outside casita - is
approximately £4000). We'll complete the installation once we've finally
made the move. Decided a couple of woodburners would see us through in the
meantime - prices seem to start at around £300. Took Emilia, the
builder's wife, a pot of home-made marmalade, but as usual she wouldn't be
outdone and we came away with 13 new laid eggs and a jar of almonds! Our
neighbours, Carmi and Jose, were so pleased with their biscuits that we finally
got the long-promised rabbit - he kindly killed it for us, but we had to do the
rest! Fortunately Ade is an ex-country lad and knew about skinning rabbits
and such like. I have to say it was delicious ... this is the
country, not for the soft-hearted!!
The courtyard walls are almost done - finished on the outside. They look really good and it's good to see something happening. Our builder has been laid up for 2 months with kidney stones, so we'll excuse him! He's ready to start the rest in the next couple of weeks. Spent a couple of days ordering tiles, bathroom suites, etc. No one seems to mind you ordering without paying (as it's included in the builder's budget) - asked for a copy of the order each time to pass to Jose (yes, everyone's called either Jose or Luis!), our builder. He was very attentive, walking around the house, discussing positions for light switches, finishes for ceilings, etc. He came down to the Ayuntamiento with us to get a small building licence - cost 3% of budget (no one asked to see the budget!). Two different officials keyed the details into their computers (!) and did the rubber stamping/photocopying routine. A 'policemen' will call in a couple of days apparently - we left that in Jose's hands. Oh, they only accept cash by the way - good job I was carrying the wedge I had taken out of the bank for Jose's deposit! While we're on the subject of money - the Euro has arrived, but you wouldn't know it! Everyone still talks in Pesetas (except for the bars and restaurants) so some quick calculations are required! €1 = 166.386 Pts.
Other official stuff: the district inspector had noticed the work on our walls and posted a form through the door. As the walls are within 18 metres of the road, they come under strict regulations. Luckily he left a mobile number: "Yes, it's permitted to repair walls but ..." I should have sought permission first from the Diputacion de Almeria (their tel number is 950 21 13 07 in case anyone else is thinking about repairs within 18 m of the road!).
Still no escritura, although everything is ready. Did a bit of investigation ourselves and spoke to the sellers' daughter. Got the phone number of the seller for the solicitor and he has made an appointment for Tuesday 26 Feb with her and the Notario. Now the seller just needs to locate her estranged husband ... watch this space!!
Village news: Bernado's bar has been sold (he has retired) so it's now known as Bar Sin Bernado!
Gathered all our 'stuff' into poly storage boxes and bags and left the bright sunshine for London rain again. Roll on Easter!
Easter 2002
Disaster: on returning from a trip to Palma, had
passports stolen within a bag at the airport. Managed to get back into the
country but no passport means no trip to the house. Having spoken to
Emilia, the builder's wife, I discovered that Jose hadn't started anyway, so it
would have been a bit of a waste of time. She assures me he is to start in
April. I hope so - I'm getting the Manana feeling. Oh naturally we
haven't heard from the solicitor, so assume no progress on that front.
Have arranged a lightening trip on the 20th of the month.
April 2002
Lightening trip proved no progress had been made. However a phone call
to Jose, the builder, on 1 May reveals that he has been waiting on our planning
permission inspection. The official turned up yesterday only to reassure
himself that the proposed works would not infringe the 18m road rule and now
Jose can at last get started. Excitement. I wonder what we paid our
£150 for - Jose did tell us not to bother with planning permission ... but we
wanted to do things properly! Tried Bar Sin Bernardo while I was there -
it's pretty reasonable: €9 for lunch for 3 and a drink each!!
July 2002
Disaster - not only did the planning permission not arrive until June, but
Jose was taken dangerously ill and hospitalised. He spent the summer
recovering and will be fit and well in September. We therefore spent 4
frustrating weeks unable to do anything on the house, and having to unpack it
all before we could stay in it. Still, we managed to buy a life share in
the local spring water - 1 hour a month forever! We're leaving it in
Jose's capable hands to use in our absence for the building works!
Spent 5 days touring in Jaen and the Cazorla National Park which is phenomenal - watch out for the update to the Andalucia pages!
Oct 2002
News arrives that work has started and pictures arrive via Richard &
Jill, met through this site. Arrange to visit at the beginning of December
to hand over some more money and choose bathroom tiles, etc. Unfortunately
I have just spoken to Jose who tells me that the weekend of 7/8 December is bank
holiday and nothing will be open - oh well ju
st
have to relax then!
Nov 2002
Further photo arrives via friends who live in Spain. Jose is really
cracking on - as you can see the roof and rendering is finished. More
photos next week when we get to see what's goin
g on inside!
Dec 2002
Weekend trip to the house to hand over more money to the builder (he has had
just over half now) and to inspect the works. The place is looking really
good. Went to choose front door and French windows (well, we don't want to
hold him up). His next job is to continue digging the trench that will
lead to the new pozo negro (cess pit) away from the house. He is hoping to
get the machinery on Monday. Most of the electrics are in place upstairs
and he has just started plastering in one of the bedrooms. 
Meanwhile, Miguel the solicitor has started legal proceedings against our vendors and we have to arrange a court appearance with him, which will have to wait until our next visit in February now. He has, however, changed the rates bill to our name so that we can set up a direct debit to pay it. Oh and Jose, our next door neighbour, has done a nice job of pruning our almond trees, providing us with a bag of almonds to bring back on the plane!
Needless to say we had a marvellous unexpected meal with the builder and his wife, Emilia: home-cooked morcilla (blood sausage), serrano ham, cheese, tomatoes and almonds - wonderful!
30 Dec 2002
A problem presents itself with the 'al Portador' (cash) cheque we left with
Jose the builder - the bank won't cash it
unless
he fills in some tax forms. Obviously he won't! As we were spending
New Year in Seville, 
we
make the 400 Km journey across to draw cash from the bank ourselves. Call
in to see the house, not expecting any progress, but the man has worked like
fury and all of the upstairs is plastered! His suggestion (that we agreed
with) 3 weeks ago that we include an upstairs bathroom has been put in place,
with a partition wall built and plastered and plumbing and waste in place!
He has started to knock the downstairs about and is working on the
electrics. New ceiling on downstairs front bedroom has materialised, as
well as new wall in garage. The downstairs bathroom is stripped and
rendered ready for fitting and tiling. Plumbing in place for sink and
washing machine in garage. Spent 30 minutes walking around the place
grinning like idiots and taking photos. Jose joined us, obviously pleased
with the way the project is going, and we discussed some of the points we'd
omitted from the plans, like upstairs radiator positions. He'd
thoughtfully included 3 TV aerial sockets (though we hadn't mentioned them) -
including one on the roof terrace for al fresco viewing! Then we all went
down to the tile shop in Albox to choose the new bathroom tiles, etc. Our
next visit is not until February, when Jose says we will be able to stay
there! I wish we could manage a visit before then to see progress.
Feb 03
Perhaps predictably, the house wasn't ready to stay in .. but probably just as
well as the weather was FREEZING. There was snow on the sierra tops and
the wind was glacial! The house however looks fantastic - it is all but
finished bar glass in the windows, rejas, internal doors and a bit of
grouting. The carpenter was there installing the new front door while we
were there. Now that the downstairs space has been altered to form a
decent size kitchen, it seems really big. One slight problem in that Jose
had installed a plaster balustrade around the roof terrace that really wasn't to
our taste - some diplomacy later and he is going to change it.
We bought a washing machine - a bargain 300€
inc 100€ off - with variable spin speed (important because most of them come
with 400rpm speed compared to the 1000 we are used to here). Ordered a
wood burning stove from Chimeneas Martinez to be installed before April, bought
another butane heater (as I said, it was cold) and obtained a further gas
contract. We bought all the flat pack kitchen carcasses (amazing what you
can get in a hired Ford Focus!) and obtained prices for the doors. We
intend to fit the kitchen ourselves in April. Meantime we will use a
temporary one in the garage - Jose is fitting a pila which is an old
fashioned wash sink with scrubbing board.
Escritura news: we went to the Juzgados
(courts) to sign power of attourney to Miguel, the solicitor, to take the case
forward through the courts. He reckons another 3-4 months .. let's hope we
can afford his bill when it comes!
Easter 2003
Arrive Good Friday from Madrid. Ade's parents (who live on the Costa
Blanca) were already at the house, having spent 2 days cleaning plaster dust
from just about everywhere. Sat out on terrace (complete with lovely
rustic wall instead of balustrades) with a couple of beers/G&Ts discussing
plans for the week ahead. Wonderful to spend the night in our new first
floor bedroom! All of the rejas are installed and are made with
beautifully forged square bars, rather than the usual cheap round ones (capintera
metallica Jose Antonio, ctr Huercal-Baza, Arboleas). The wood carpenter
has made a lovely job of the exterior doors (he is just up the road from Gallego
hardware in Albox) and Jose is going to ask him to quote for sleeving the cement
beams in pine. The woodburner is installed and was essential! Cooker
arrived on the
Saturday. Set up a temporary kitchen in the garage .. the washing machine
works! Managed to get the kitchen carcasses set up and, with the help of 2
able friends, preservative on the windows and doors. Still lots to do -
painting, varnishing, etc. The builder knows someone who does house
painting on the side, so we're keen to get a price as there is lots of outside
to paint! All was going very well until Ade drilled into a water pipe
buried in the wall! Some panic and despair later, Jose arrives like the
cavalry with his workmate and fixes it. 2 hours later, you wouldn't have
known it had happened: the man's a saint! We feel very lucky and
privileged to have chosen him for our house.
Good trip to Sorbas to buy pots. There is a
pretty little town square with a good bar/restaurant with excellent tapas - we
had one of each (and a couple of seconds) and a round of drinks for 13€.
The drive over the Sierra de Alhamilla to Nijar takes about 40 minutes taking in
some lovely scenery, the hills vivid with poppies and other wild flowers.
Nijar's main street is the place for jarapas (handmade rugs) and
basketware. Prices are very good.
Back in Albox, bought a kitchen sink (52€
bargain at the Ismael wood yard at Arboleas (!)) and the man came to measure for
granite worktops (expensive @ 900€). Should all be done (bar the
cupboard doors) by the time we return end of May. Presented Jose with
snagging list, requested his final bill and very, very reluctantly returned home
to the thick, grey light of England. I've a feeling we'll be keeping him
in work for some time yet!
June 03
A trip via Ikea, Madrid to buy wardrobes, results in a 7 hour journey from
Madrid to the house plus a dented hire car roof. Perhaps we'll have a
built-in wardrobe in the last bedroom! Our man, Jose, is gently working
his way through the snagging list. Started to put up light fittings (from
Ikea - the cheapest in UK and Spain) and mosquito netting on windows.
Black granite kitchen worktops installed in our absence and look fantastic.
August 03
Four and a half weeks in the unbelievably hot sun! Lots done and lots to
do. Painting - exterior painting has been done by the 'painting girls' for
1000€ and looks fabulous. Money well spent - it would have taken us
forever - they have painted all the rejas as well. Interior painting takes
longer than you might imagine! Completed 3½ rooms. Kitchen almost
complete - needs painting, tiling (tiles bought) and a capintero metalica to
make us some stainless steel ducting to cover the extractor tube. Spent a
fortune on Quita Cementos (cement remover) and a lot of time on hands and knees
removing excess cement stains from the floor tiles - still not finished.
Sofas had arrived from Ikea, Madrid!
All
in all we had a very busy time, concentrating on the house interior and sending
our credit cards into meltdown. Several visits to Ade's parents up on the
Costa Blanca revealed the presence of far more Brico/DIY stores selling cheap
exterior lights and all sorts of other reasonably priced goodies hard to find
out in the sticks down south. Wonderful to be able to buy huge pots at
Sorbas for the roof terrace!
Wished we had included the tiling of our
courtyard in the original works (we had some ridiculous notion that we would
cobble it ourselves!). For the last couple of years, while the house was a
mess, the courtyard was our favourite place where we'd sit out late watching the
stars. This year,
with
the house looking fantastic, we could hardly bear to set foot in the dust bowl!
Tasked Jose with the job of tiling it - ordered the tiles the day before we
left!
All the neighbours were back for the
summer. We spent a fabulous evening on our next door neighbours' patio,
dancing cha cha chas and the like until 2am. 
It
was a wrench to leave this time, with so much more (fun things) to do,
especially knowing that we
wouldn't be back for a couple of months. Home to the start
of a new term, massive credit card bills and the thought of the
winter ahead. Roll on the next trip!
28 November 2003
Lightening weekend trip Friday evening to Sunday evening
to do a bit of clearing, curtain hanging, log buying, etc, in preparation for
spending Christmas there. Glorious weather - t shirts on the terrace for
lunch! The patio looks fantastic - appears twice the size now that it's
tiled and the long-suffering bougainvilla had survived. Jose turned up
with a lump of wood he had 'acquired' for the mantlepiece and 2 wonderful
morcilla sausages made that afternoon by Emilia. He's hoping to have the
pergola up by the time we go back for Christmas. Charged Ade's mum with
the task of ordering the piglet for Christmas lunch and reluctantly left for
London and work again.
Christmas 2003
A quiet relaxing Christmas - our first at the
house - with Ade's parents. Weather was bright and
sunny and despite the holiday we did manage to tile and grout one kitchen wall.
Dined out in Huercal Overa on my birthday to the good news that we had won in El
Gordo - only 100€ so it won't change our lives! Good news though.
Tested the new oven with a 3 and a half kilo piglet - delicious. A bit of a
trial to cook as, even though we have upped our electricity intake to 5.5 KW, it
kept tripping the power. All in all had a relaxing 10 days in good
company. No plans to return until Easter.
March 2004
In preparation for an Easter visit, we prepared to have
the surfeit of furniture we have here plus one or 2 other flat pack items from
Ikea (that we couldn't face putting on a roof rack from Madrid again) taken over
to the house. Having been recommended by Ade's mum and dad and Jill and
Richard Clarke, we had a good quote from Jim Johnston who lives in Urcal and
does regular trips to the UK taking both full and part loads. Jim arrived
around 9pm after a long delayed sea crossing from Bilbao, and he and Ade soon
had the lorry (see front page for picture!) packed with our things.
Looking forward to unpacking them at the house. For a reasonable quote
(£100-150 per m3 depending on location) contact Jim by phone on
0034950 137353 or by email
jimbothescot@bonbon.net.
Easter 2004
In the long gap since Christmas
we had our minds on other things - we got married
in February in Mallorca. Of course now that means that we will have all
sorts of complications with our Spanish will - as I have changed my name - and
the long-running saga of our Escritura. More of all that later.
Flew into Madrid and spent a
fortune in Ikea. Arrived late after an hour's hold up on the motorway out
of Madrid. Still, not too late to start unpacking all the stuff deposited
by Jim in our garage (with the help of Jose and Jill).
Easter was COLD. The house
was cold and damp as there had been so much rain, with water seeping into the
garage through loose joints in the terrace tiling, as well as under all exterior
doors. The pergola was up though and looks fantastic. Ade covered it with
the Next fairy lights we had tak
en out, and, once we've put some brushwood on
top, it will provide the necessary shade for the summer that we lacked.
Inspired by the thought of summer, we also bought a hanging hammock chair .. in
the fireplace shop! Spent a very busy few days, tiling the kitchen
(nearly finished but now out of tiles), painting the upstairs living room,
unpacking and assembling furniture. The dining table we had ordered at Christmas
had arrived and, coupled with the dining chairs sent over from the UK, the place
now starts to look like home. Solved the problem of our oven tripping the
rest of the electricity by swapping the fuses - this meant being able to cook
the half piglet from Mercadona AND having the lights on and listening to a cd at
the same time! Jose and Emilia put in their usual appearance and we were
very touched with their generous wedding present of lots of glasses.
Returned a day early to enjoy a night at the newly refurbished Parador de Albacete - free as we had collected so many Amigos points during our honeymoon in Cataluna - before spending the day shopping in Madrid.
October 2004
Well time has flown, and although we made trips in June and August, and, whilst
we have spent plenty of money, it's been mostly on furniture and cosmetics.
The oven has had a couple of trials, both successful and un-, and the whole
place feels much more like home with the addition of soft furnishings, etc.
The installation of washing machine and dishwasher certainly add to the comfort.
We have, however, kept Jose fairly busy. He has recently had our 3
bancales cleared for us so that we can measure out and start planning the
next phase - external garage, pool and terrace. The lowest bancal is
bigger than the footprint of the house so there should be plenty of room for
what we want to do - whether there is adequate access for the machinery to do
it, is another question. Not to mention the cost ...
The escritura saga continues: the sellers' marriage has broken up and the husband (who needs to sign along with his wife) is now estranged and living in Cantoria. The latest most positive news is that the wife has signed power of attorney to our solicitor to complete the task; the husband is demanding 1800 € .. for something he is obliged to do by law. The solicitor is now issuing a 'legal letter' to him to try to frighten him into co-operating. And so it goes on. I feel we wasted much time chasing our solicitor to act when really we should have been chasing the estate agent, as it is his responsibility to see that the sale is completed. It's a pity that they didn't hold back part of the monies pending signing. However, they are a bona fide Spanish business and now seem to be determined to finish the matter. One little signature is all that's holding it up.
Jose's next job is to put a layer of stone around the bottom of the outside of the house, as the damp has ruined our lovely paint and I can't face painting it every year. Old, traditional houses do not have a damp course and if you're observant you'll notice that most of them have either stone or grey paint on the outside walls to a metre in height to disguise it. Resorting back to limewash and allowing the damp to escape would be another way - so much for progress.
We've
also ordered another wood-burning stove for the upstairs living area and
hopefully this will be installed for our next trip at Christmas.
December 2004
A week in glorious sunshine - blue skies and T shirts: just the thing in
December! Just as well the weather was warm outside as our
metre-thick-wall house was the coldest place on earth! The upstairs stove
is installed and looks good but despite both burners going and 2 gas heaters,
the ambient temperature in the bedroom was 6o! The drill was:
leap out of bed, run downstairs, fling open doors and stand in sun to get warm.
It took almost a week to warm the house up ... then it was time to come home!
The stone cladding looks excellent - exactly how I imagined it, and Jose had been round with his bucket of cement plugging up odd holes (behind the dishwasher and where the fig was removed in the patio). We spent a very lazy week, seeing friends and Ade's parents and reading paperbacks. Did a quick tour of the 2 new houses friends have had built that are up for sale, before returning to a very cold UK.
April 2005
In preparation for the move over, we have Harvey and co from
CuevaSat install a 1.4 m satellite dish that, along with a £20 Sky card and a
digibox makes Eastenders et al available to us!
July 2005
A whirlwind start to the year: soon to be married friends make an offer on our
UK house we can't refuse and we decide this
is the year to make
the move! Spend 6 months sharing our house with its new owners (not to be
recommended lightly), selling our worldly goods at car boot sales and
shipping the rest in 2 loads over to Spain via the marvellous Jimbo the Scot.
Ade draws up plans for a new 2 storey detached garage for his precious car, with
a 45,000 litre aljibe underneath. Jose gets cracking and we make a
lightening trip in July to check on progress.
November 2005
All outside work ceases as our thoughts turn to central
heating. We have a cemented pool structure awaiting tiling and connection
to the machinery. We await a further estimate from Jose to turn the crater
strewn mud bath next to our 2 new structures into a lovely pool terrace.
It's a big job that requires the lowest bancal to be supported and backfilled to
the correct level, plus surrounding walls. The central heating raises the
6 degrees ambient indoor temperature to a more liveable 18!
January 2006
Start work for a Spanish developer in Mojacar, 9-3, 5 days a week, which
certainly brings my Spanish on! The journey is a good 50 mins although the
scenery is pretty good and the sun's usually out.
February 2006
Perhaps an update on the escritura saga is due: after a couple of threatening
letters from the solicitor to the unobliging half of our sellers, it seems
realistic to assume he will never come forward. Miguel outlines a way
whereby we can use the CompraVenta document we have to raise the escritura
although it means that we will in effect pay the taxes twice - something I don't
suppose the Hacienda will mind! It also means we won't be able to join in
the popular under-declaring of value game as the price is stated on the
CompraVenta in black and white!
As the weather cheers up at
the end of Feb, thoughts again turn to our abandoned pool project. Jose
finall
y comes up with a quote that we can just about afford and before we know
it, work is underway again. A reinforced back wall is built and some side
walls around the pool. A truck brings up several loads of 'sand', leaving
a great hole in the rambla below! Then one Sunday morning, a man with a
JCB turns up and performs a balletic performance in shifting earth and suddenly
there is a flat and level terrace area!
March 2006
Antonio at Piscinas Mediterraneo is pleased to hear from us
again and his boys are soon back round to get started again on the job.
Every day I arrive home from work to new discoveries. A full 72 hours of
rain at the beginning of April holds work up for 2 weeks but you could drive
yourself mad trying to get Spanish workmen to fit into your schedule! We
know it will get done!!
What with the delays for bad weather, we miss the opportunity to use our May water from the spring. Unable to face waiting 3 weeks to fill up with June's water, we take the hit and spend 450 euros filling it via water lorry. Could you have waited?!
Apart from sorting out the earth from the cement in the flower bed, the most urgent jobs require us to tidy up the neighbours' surrounding pieces of land that we (well, our workmen) have used and abused before they arrive for the summer in June.
Typical hour after work!
Over-exertion hoovering the pool!
To be continued