Bedrock

We’ve most of tomorrow before clearing off back to rainy Britain but this is our last full day. We’ve been off to Lake Negratin today, a huge man-made lake nearby. It was a tad windy but as usual the weather was in the upper twenties so a very pleasant experience. In the process I made friends with what to me looked like a large salamander and took a load of photos while he/she posed in the sun – the shot you see here was taken from merely inches away. I wanted to get some detail in and so what you don’t see is the enormous tail – maybe 3 times the length you see here. Great creatures. When we were sitting outside the bar last night in our village there were three of them scaling the while walls of the pub.

Maureen has been staining anything that moves and I’m about to do an engineering job on my new computer desk to fasten the masses of wires out of sight, before going off to one of the nearby villages for beer, tapas and dinner for the last night until our return in a few weeks. Maureen says she’s ready to go back – I could not be further from it – if I had an excuse – I’d stay here. I can work just as well thousands of miles away as I can in the rain… though apparently I have had an invite to a meeting with Steve Balmer in the near future so I guess I’d better take that seriously.

The next trip will be functional, the remaining furniture failed to arrive this week, not coming for a week or two and so we’ve agreed with our friendly agents that they’ll ensure the stuff is dropped off in our absense. Neither my camera nor my shaver can handle a full 2 weeks so next time I’m bringing duplicate chargers with me – and some more solar lamps as they work so well out here.

Maureen wants to do some work on the building to make it more unique and so I can see all manner of building work going on over the next month or so – good job I have the webcam up and running so I can keep an eye on everything – that is, until the builders cover the lens in dust.

And so that’s just about it for now, camera exhaused, we’re exhausted, I have so much work-related work to do in September I don’t want to think about it – but at least we’ve cracked the back of the work here and had a lot of fun in the process. We’ve met new people, some of whom we’ll have to have another shot at as we’ve not swapped contact info. Next summer it will be a 6-week job and we’re pondering doing the drive from Northumberland down here. Certainly we’ve both gained a little colour which is nice and we’re no longer terrified stiff of walking into a Spanish restaurant and attempting to communicate with the waiter 🙂 I’m quite looking forward to this evening.

Check out Flickr (see link on the right) as there are more photos of the lake up there – very pretty.

As we approach the end of our second trip to our new home in the sun, we’ve been spending our time on essentials, Maureen’s been staining stairs and drawers, I’ve been cursing about broken broadband (Iberbanda, if you’re looking at this – the service has been DIRE this week) and painting the walls.

We got up early this morning and took some photos as you’ll see, there are no shortage of places to walk here, from the slightest challenge to major effort – something for everyone. We spent the morning in Huescar, firstly at the market and then general shopping for floor stains etc. The markets generally seem to concentrate on food and are absolutely great, though if you’re used to the kind of markets which include surplus junk you might be disappointed – there are so many bazaars around town I can see why they might not put lots of junk out in the markets.

We then went off to the builder’s merchants for some screws and replacement screwheads (not Chinese) and so the jacuzzi is now finished, requiring 2 concrete rest plates for the hinge and that’s it. Tomorrow is our last full day and the plan is to go off in search of a lake with a beach.

As you’ll see by the photo of the upstairs bathroom (a work in progress like everything else) I’ve now mastered the process of taking photos in confined spaces. 36 photos in a rown to get something that looks (admittedly distorted) like a bathroom.

Finally for today, here’s a photo of somewhere that reminded us of Southfork! The range of caves from first class to almost derelict is amazing – some are almost full-blown buildings with straight walls, others little more (on the outside) than a front wall. Some even have the BBQ on the roof!

If I get a surge of energy tomorrow I’ll make up some more internal panoramas. Tomorrow promises to be hot and clear… just the job.

So, we’ve spent the entire summer holidays either over here or on the phone organising things… all of this starting way back in February when we first committed to buy. Was it worth it? Most definitely – we’re at the starting blocks of learning a new language, we’ve made new friends, we’ve discovered new foods and a slower way of living – and real, reliable sun – not the excuses we so often make back in Blighty (“well, we had HALF a day of sun”). We’ve made mistakes, it’s cost more than it might have, but we’ve had a ball in the process. If it were not for making a living I would move over here without thinking about it – I’ve seen nothing that makes life here impractical and I can keep in touch with people as usual – indeed many folks I’ve spoken to by phone, chat or email have had no idea I’m not in my office at home. Maureen is chatting away to her mother in the USA as I speak – at 1.2p per minute… all via the computer (she’s on a USB cordless Skype phone). The webcam is working so I can easily keep an eye on the place when we’re back home in the UK and the builder is all ready to complete the work while we’re away.

One more full day (could be a winner) and we’re back in the UK until October. On our next trip it’ll be logs for the fire!!

And now…. a trip to the local bar for tapas….

We’re sitting here at night (9.30pm) at the Pergola, I’m busy setting up my webcam (that’s me sitting starting at the screen – the lights you see above are solar spots), having thrown my first attempt in the bin (a cheap Chinese camera which failed after a couple of hours of operation) I’m now resigned to leaving a laptop running with a Creative camera – which I have to say works GREAT in the dark.

This morning we went to the Galera market to pick up some rugs then off to Huescar for shelving and more Chinese junk. The sun has been superb today, clear skies all day until now where there’s a little cloud settling in, it’s now pitch black, but it’s still warm. Oh – we got our first parking ticket yesterday, at least we think it’s a parking ticket – no amount on it and it’s all in Spanish.

The top is ready to go on the Jacussi (steel frame for opening and closing) – having smashed 4 drill bits in the process it’s now put back until we can get to the Ferreteria in the morning. Can’t do much without drill bits! We’ve been chatting to the lady (out walking her dog) who supplies wood so that takes care of that for October. It’s hard to believe we’re nearing the end of our current stay (we’re here till Sunday) – but at least we know it’s going to be fine until then. According to my laptop, Britain meantime has had pretty abysmal weather.

We have a friendly cat (kitten) who’s been wandering around for the last couple of days and of course being Brits we HAVE to feed them don’t we – the plan is to drop him off in the village when we can catch him – although everyone’s nice to the little fellow, once we all clear off he’s going to be pretty much stuffed up here at the top of the mountains. Apparently it’s not unusual for people to just dump cats and dogs up here! The local council doesn’t mind cats being all over the place – keeps the rodent population in control (not seen a single mouse or rat).

It’s obvious most folk are back from holidays as the email mountain is starting to grow again – so I spent quite some time today working on that along with putting up more mirrors etc. Tomorrow or Friday we’re off in search of a new lake so I’ll hopefully have some decent pictures and I plan to take some shots inside the cave now it’s starting to take shape.

We spent most of Monday either shopping or doing something with the results of shopping. My jobs included the simple matter of putting up a clothing rail in two cupboards… except it didn’t end up so simple. Because cave walls aren’t flat, I tried creating a flat area in the cubboard about 2″ square. Well, to cut a long story short, the 3ft square area is now covered in PVA and drying so that I can recoat it in the white paint used everywhere. Tackling projects on cave walls is very, very different to doing the same in a modern semi!!

See the picture on the right – late evening – a partial rainbow, sitting in the sky with nothing above or below it – never seen that before.

After the umpteenth power cut yesterday we discovered that the caves are fed from a common temporary feed originally intended for the builders to use – and limited to 2.5KW – so now we have 2 neighbours, any combination of heavy-duty kit – such as washing machines – can knock out the fuse. We’ve had the builder over and that’s now hopefully fixed but just in case I spent part of the day putting the entire WIFI/Connectivity setup onto battery backup so it can survive a short power cut. Everything’s been fine since.

Maureen went on a mirror-buying spree yesterday and this morning (having slept in till 1am after a late night down in the village) after buying ANOTHER mirror from the village and some brackets to hold my new webcam (remotely accessible – more on that later) my jobs include finishing off the cubboards and hiding many, many cables on my desk, currently sprawled over the floor – not to mention plastering in some cables.

So sorry viewer, nothing too exciting right now, just work – we’re half-expecting the remainder of the furniture to arrive mid-week and so it’s just possible we might be able to end this trip leaving a fully-furnished home for our next trip. It’s sunny again today, I’ve just came back from the “Super Bazar” in Huescar armed with new tools, paint pad, plaster, insulating tape and a new USB hub for the laptop (so I don’t have to keep swapping gadgets back and forth), its around 32 degrees C, clear skies and it’s time for me to to some jobs.

Saturday night was great – the owner of the Curry Club (in El Margen) remembered us from our last visit – which is always a good start – and the service and food was excellent. We met a younger couple who’ve just bought an “unreformed” cave to convert into a home – within sight of the restaurant – which really is out in the wilds – turns out he’s into technology – gaming design as I recall – and we got on very well chatting about early computer games – and so the twosome turned into a foursome and we all had a great evening. In the process of reading one of the local magazines while at the restaurant, I may have a contact to help me gripe to the rural broadband company about the less than sterling service we’ve had over the past few days. It’s one thing being out in the wilds, another being without broadband!!

Today (Sunday) we went to the beach – specifically, to Mojacar, less than two hours drive from our home in Galera. Weather was SUPERB hitting maybe 30 degrees with clear skies. The town overlooks the Mediterranean and our first job was to visit the market. Not much to write about I’m afraid, onespoilsport objected to me taking pictures – which made me wonder what he had to hide… but others were a lot more friendly – his immediate neighbour actively encouraged me to take pictures…

The area is hilly – so much so that the village itself is on a steep incline in parts – adding to the character immensely and reminded me just a little of Andorra. The sea-front however is flat, 7km long and very nice indeed. After checking out the market we popped into a local cafe half way up the hill for a coke then off to the beach – where we spent much of the day. There are large numbers of small stores, by the look of it run mainly by the Chinese, selling absolutely everything you could wish for – most of it being cheap Chinese imports – but I did manage to get a decent set of shorts and a presentable copy-watch out of our travels, before settling down at the beach. Unlike the North Sea which I’m used to back in Northumberland – which instantly shrinks various parts of the body, the Med here is GREAT – indeed, as I was standing neck-deep in the sea, I started to realise why Brits flock here by the million. The cool water exactly counter-balances the mid-day sun – and for my money you just can’t put yourself in a more comfortable situation.

The presense of significant numbers of Brits tends to detract from the atmosphere because the shop owners print everthing in English for our benefit – usually aiming at the lowest common denominator – and at resorts like this you begin to lose some of the excitement of being somewhere “foreign”. But today, there were relatively few people around, the weather was great and the sea-front restaurant food to be fair was also good. We could not really fault the day For sure it. beats sitting watching sport and looking out at the rain – HANDS DOWN.

It’s late-evening, the sun has just set, we’ve had a chat with passing new neighbours who similarly have spent the day exploring, Maureen is off booking flights for October and I’m sitting outside overlooking the mountains and updating this blog using the WIFI – which I need to extend upstairs – tried watching a movie in bed last night and failed miserably as the signal simply won’t go through the stone – thankfully I brought lots of spare equipment with me. It’s luke-warm outside and I’m just about to go get a nice cool beer and watch the stars appear. As always, more photos on Flickr. Tomorrow we’re waiting for the builder so I get to do some more jobs (and perhaps catch a little sun) – then in the afternoon Maureen is off looking at caves, armed with camera.

Today we went shopping, specifically, for stones – I never did get the door bolt I was after – but we went off to Baza to the garden centre and on the way there and back took some photos of the scenery, some are shown here, the rest are the latest pics in the FLICKR gallery. The area is a mix of everything from downright wrecks of buildings to some of the pretties houses you’ll see anywhere. Most of the buildings seem to be constructed of a single layer of breezeblock – which might not seem that strange to folks reading this from the USA but compared to the building complexities in the UK, these I imagine are a doddle to put together.

The garden centre itself is like any other large’ish garden centre except of course for the actual plants, many of which would not grow easily in the UK – oh and the total absense of speaking English – which is always a challenge – but we manage. Being absolutely ignorant of which was which when it comes to flowers – I just photographed the prettiest ones – I could actually spend hours doing just that, maybe I’m too easy to please!

On our travels we passed 2 houses with gardens and the strangest-looking scarecrows. We ended our trip by visiting the local general hospital (well, you never know) and had lunch at a delightful cafe at the front of the hospital – in it’s grounds.

Amazingly, lunchtime on Saturday, the big local town – next to no traffic – you’d think the place was deserted – we could only imagine that everyone was having a siesta. We’re back at the cave now, in for the afternoon as I’ve lots of jobs to do, Maureen is fighting with the computer upstairs – and it’s absolutely silent outside, no dogs, no traffic, nothing – lovely. Out with the drill!! There are more photos of houses and flowers on Flickr. Pics of Bedrock soon. Soon we’re off to see what the major has put on for the evening before retiring to the “Curry Cave” for a nice Indian meal. I’ll take the camera.