Bedrock

With the first week’s work out of the way – a day to relax. This time last week we had an empty shell of a cave, now we have at least one working floor. Upstairs will have to wait as the builder is coming to enlarge the bedroom (to put a backlit alcove behind the bed) but I’m now upstairs working on a proper computer desk instead of the floor.

Maureen went out for an early walk this morning and met more neighbours. There are a few Brits here and all seem keen to chat. Last night we went to the “Curry Cave” – a delightful place – sat outside and had drinks in the setting sun – before polishing off a buffet Indian meal. I was quite impressed – run by an English couple but the food was very authentic. A bottle of wine (or so) and lots of food came to 32 Euros – so can’t gripe at that – and the atmosphere – priceless. Of course, none of this helps motivate us to learn the Spanish language.
Yesterday we spent putting furniture together, this morning I did some work to ensure I can access the laptop here when we get back to the UK – and making a list of things to bring over here and later registered “bedrock.es” so we have a decent address for the blog.

We decided to spend the day (over here they are very religious – I’m guessing that’s why virtually everything is shut on Sunday – a shock to shop-happy Brits) by a lake or similar and so we went off armed with satnav and maps in search of water. The first stop was a pool nearby – turned out to be an utter waste of time – more people than space. Second stop however turned out to be a winner. Ok, we paid 5 euros for the two of us – but the place is so well maintained, it was a bargain. With temperatures around 34 degrees, an hour or so in the pool felt like heaven. The picture here doesn’t really do it justice – a large out-door maintained pool which gets to deeper than 6 feet – but has adequate shallow areas for kids. Someone had a large inflatable whale, another a giant frog – but the tackiness of some resorts simply wasn’t there. Considering we picked a holiday Sunday mid-day, I’m sure if we go there first thing on a week morning we’ll have the place to ourselves. We took with us a couple of deep-frozen bottles of water which amazingly survived the trip… now if that works with Fanta Orange I’ll be happy.

Then we went off in search of grander spaces – and after several miles of countryside that looked like the deserts of Mars (with scenery and colour to match) we hit paydirt, a superb and very large lake area (I’ve always liked the IDEA of the Lake District in tehe UK – sadly it’s more often than not raining there. Quite a distance and along the way we spotted a lonely dog on his own, sunbathing – as well as an tented area in the countryside which for all the world looked like the alien breeding ground in the X-files movie… All in all it was worth the struggle for the views alone – not to mention the refreshingly cool water which as you can see in the photo is a kind of foggy blue colour – the blue is not exaggerated in the photo – that’s what it was like – brilliant blue. We stopped for a while to put out feet in the water but because it wasnt’ clear we had no idea how deep it was – and neither of us are brave…. before leaving we stopped for a coffee at a nearby restaurant (I should add that the area is generally pretty much out in the wilds)…and watched in envy as someone went off into the distance on a jetski… brings back fond memories of our ex-neighbout and friend John Patterson and his Jetski which he and I used to take along the Tyne. What a way to spend a Sunday… I’ve not put all the photos up here by any means but they’re all in the online slideshow and most are much higher quality than you see here.

A quiet night tonight, Maureen is christening the BBQ, I’ve been up drilling holes for the solar lamps which up to now were just lying around – I’m quite excited to see what they’ll look like when it gets dark.

Friday I was up at 6am finishing off the fly screens, catching up on some web work, then working upstairs to fit yet another bathroom appliance. The sunrise was superb – far better than the photo to the left implies… funny thing photos, they don’t always catch the atmosphere. I’ve lost my panorama software and the company don’t do web downloads!

There are quite a few Brits here – most of them seem to have dogs so we get lots of conversation – everyone seems friendly, many are retired or semi-retired. This morning I have to meet the delivery folk in town to guide them here – a decent chair for the main room and the all-important computer desk (the stuff is plastered all over the kitchen right now) then we’re off to Murcia – a trip to Ikea and my favourite – Carrefour. The drill bits that came with my B&Q special drill collapsed on first use so a new set was added to the list.

Place still looks a tip – the builder didn’t come back to us re: the jacuzzi so it’s still sitting in the wrong place – with it’s concrete base taking up more room. Murcia was an eye-opener – I was not that impressed by Ikea at all – indeed, the compact fluorescent lights we’re putting up were over twice as expensive as in the UK Ikea – so next stop (after filling the car to the brim) was my all-time favourite – Carrefour. At the lighting budget section I found 2-packs of 15w compact fluorescents for just over 4 euros – and so bought a boatload of them – got them back here – excellent – the colour is identical to “standard” and they’re even brighter than claimed.

The 2-hour trip back from Murcia was fun, we could not see a thing out of the mirror – as ever square inch of the car was full of stuff. After the power-failure the night before I made sure we picked up an uninterruptable supply, Carrefour had a pack of several hundred drills for 9 Euros which I simply could not resist – and I’m sure Maureen bought every cup, plate, glass and shelf known to man.

Last night we heard a buzzing noise, looked around and spotted a passing hang-glider. What a wonderful thing to be doing at sunset! It’s 9:18am on Saturday morning and today is all about drilling holes in walls. Best get started…

We briefly made a new friend on Tuesday – a large black beetle about the size of a large thumbnail and built out of what looked like black iron. He put up a valiant fight. The next morning we discovered another resident – a scorpion – I must admit my first reaction was to run as far away as possible – especially when the tail went up – but like the beetle, he’s now gone to meet his maker. This morning’s job then was to get the mesh up on all the windows – done – granted I’m now covered in silicon sealant. Maureen is outside attending to the builder who’s going to put in a platform and she’s unpacking the jacuzzi – my computer desk should hopefully be here in a couple of hours. Place is starting to take shape but I’ll save the photos until we get a little further along. Yesterday (Wednesday) we went off to the garden centre to see what had happened to the promised delivery of a garden table and chairs – turns out they’d written the wrong telephone number down – the delivery guy had gone out for a wander about with the furniture and broken one of the chairs in the process. Anyway, all sorted now… we have our external furniture.

Meanwhile last night we saw an interesting sight – we were just coming back into the village when we noticed another solar farm… sun was going down and the cells were all dutifully pointing at the dying sun. I took a photo, put the camera away and next time I looked around, all of them (several dozen huge photovoltiacs) swung around ready to face the morning sun the next day. Most impressive. The camera shot doesn’t really show the scale of these things.

We had the guys over yesterday fitting the satellite up – and what a time they had – apparently there’s a shortage of cement in some of the rendering so their bolts would not stick – but after a couple of hours it’s in and running. Later this year we’ll see if we can get one of the new FreeSat boxes running but for now at least we can catch up on the news – including the immensely important news from Tuesday that the first practical jet pack was indeed demonstrated successfully in Oshkosh. Apparently another thing that’s taking off especially around seaside resorts is WIMAX – but nothing like that here yet as far as we can see (though you could describe the rural broadband as being not a million miles off it).

Maureen’s been adding a little colour to the place – one issue here is shortage of vegetation due to the heat and lack of water and so it always help to put some flowers out on display – and we’ve bought a range of items that don’t require a lot of maintainance (aloe vera)… I’ve been trying to find the best way to make use of the solar lamps we’ve dotted all over – and it looks like within a couple of days we’ll have the platform ready to fire up the jacuzi. A nice surprise was the inclusion of an MP3 socket on the built-in CD so we can hook in the Internet radio.As “Riviera Radio” is now Maureen’s favourite station that’ll keep her happy. Personally I’m more into rock so the upstairs den will soon be getting a bass unit once the computer desk is in place.

At the time of writing it’s midnighy on Thursday, it’s been a lovely day, I’ve finished the insect screens and I’m catching up on a few FSB jobs on the computer not to mention an email mountain. After a much-bodged telephone conversation in Spanish (lots of groans and ERMS from me) – Maureen went off and met the furniture delivery people – I’ve fitted an outside lamp and things like loo roll holders to one bathroom (haven’t touched upstairs yet) and the builder has finished the level platform for the jacussi and fitted us out with an outside socket – and a hose connector. The picture of the pots above is now out of date – we have plants. More later. IKEA next….

On Monday we spent most of the day waiting for deliveries and by teatime the place was transformed from a pristine cave to a cardboard mess. Until then, without tools or even a brush we couldn’t do much, now we had fridge, washer and microwave all shipped from the UK mainly as the prices for that kind of stuff over here can be a little over the top – for the rest, we had planned several trips to Ikea but as it turns out – many of the local shops have really good pricing – so we’ve bought a couple of sofa-beds (and very comfortable too) as well as a china cabinet locally all of which turned up Monday. A trip to the local gardening centre (half an hour) proved interesting – the people there spoke no English – so if the stuff turns up next year instead I won’t be too surprised – but in theory we’ll have an outside table and chairs today (Wednesday). BBQ is in as you can see – and late last night we sat star-gazing until the early hours.

On Tuesday we had our first visit to the local hardware store to eat into our list of 1000 items we need – amazing what you miss when you’re away from home then we went off to the next village, armed with solicitor, builder and Les to the NOTARY office to sign papers -the place is now officially ours. It turns out that while the shops close at 2pm, the restaurants are just opening up then so we had a very pleasant lunch /(which seems to involve chips no matter what you order) after which we narrowly avoided serious burns getting into the car. It’s now mid-afternoon and we’re in here now until 6pm when we go off to yet another hardware store and a large cash and carry to further narrow down the huge list which is growing by the minute. Items of major importance included mesh for the windows – and beads for the door – so as to keep out the nasties.

So the general trick appears to be to get up very early in the morning – and get anything done that needs effort – then have lunch and a nap mid-afternoon – in preparation for shopping followed by evening entertainment and food which seems to start no earlier than 9pm and goes on through the night if you’re up to it. Once the sun goes down, the temperatures are comfortable t-shirt weather until way after midnight. Oh check out the image at the garden centre.

Incidentally, check the slideshow of images – there are far more than you see presented here – covering everthing from the cave as it develops – through the solar panels you’ll see in the countryside here and huge windmill farms. As a Brit I find it a little painful that while we’re endlessly talking about this stuff – they’re doing it… but there you are.

I’ve already bought and wired up a boatload of Spanish mains plugs and extensions and asked the builder to triple the number of wall sockets.

We’ve paid several trips to the municipal “tip” – I don’t even want to go into that one – a far cry from Hexham’s organised tip with containers for every substance known to man, over here we have basically a large open area of land which everythign gets thrown into.

On the way is more furniture including a computer desk (I’m currently working in the kitchen) for the office upstairs…. and we need more solar lights.

I now have the tools I need to cover the pagoda… and fix the outside light… no more excuses.. it’s an early start today…

We were kind of caught in the middle of things this weekend – no furniture and the shops close early. Maureen went off to town yesterday (Saturday)to order a couple of beds and and a cabinet for delivery Monday. As bed-shopping isn’t my thing I elected to stay at the rented accom – and promptly dozed off. It turns out the local shops can compete with Ikea so that’s one less trip across the country. On Monday we’ve new beds and furniture coming as well as the stuff we’ve shipped from the UK. The Jacuzzi should turn up but we need to check how flat the concrete is before making use of that – to be sure the place is going to be a mess for a couple of days. Temperatures were in the mid-30’s today and it felt hot – having said that I just received an email from my pal Jonathan who’s been to Dubai where yesterday it was 53 – to keep that in perspective, my hot tub runs at 40 and it’s almost too hot to get into. (all measurements in degrees C of course).

Last night we met up with the couple who own Spanish Inland Properties and had a pleasant evening at the local pub/restaurant with them. I’m (re)writing this on Sunday morning and once again, not a cloud in the sky. Having got SKYPE working, Maureen had a chat with her folks in the USA – amazing to think you can be in a cave in Spain and chat to the USA for what amounts to pennies…. I’m updating this on the Vodafone card, hopefully if I get a few minutes later today when I’m near a WIFI signal I’ll put up some more photos. I’ve added a slideshow block on the right of the blog – apologies for lack of picks – rest assured I’ll make up for that later on. Uploading a ton of photos via mobile telephony isn’t really that practical – but from tomorrow onwards we’ll have wifi.

Today looks like a grafting day. We were planning to go off to some lakes but Maureen’s decided it’s gardening day – we’re off to get a cover for the Pergola and get some plants (the area surrounding the cave currently looks like a desert so we need to “green it up” a little. I’ll get the camera out as soon as we’ve something to show for our efforts. There’s a local store called “Combustibles” which apparently opens early on Sunday mornings! So we’re off there for the all-important coffee then off to the garden centre. I can tell this is not going to be a cheap day.

Have you ever noticed how rarely things go to plan. We were supposed to arrive last night in Galera at a reasonable hour to meet the Les from Spanish Inland Properties (I’ll refer to them as SIP from now on) – as it happens, between being given the wrong car at the airport, driving rather cautiously after last time (wherein a jack-knifed truck hit us doing 70 on the motorway) and the sat-nav maps being out of date, we actually arrived in the village to pick up keys for our temporary accommodation just after midnight. Les took us to our accomodation and left us to what turned out to be a late night after we discovered a bottle of red in the fridge. We sat outside and chatted till 2am – clear night sky – t-shirt weather at night.

Friday: I was up first thing this morning and sat outside for an hour (sunny and luke warm) or so to catch up on emails thanks to the Vodafone card which I’ll have to use for the next two days. 10am this morning we headed off to town to go to the “Caja Rurul” bank to get our debit cards organised. It looked like pension day as there was a bunch of old folk getting paid cash. That went incredibly smoothly with the help of Sally from SIP and 15 minutes later we had our first debit card. Funny thing was I rushed outside to the cash machine to try it out and change the PIN number.. thoroughly expecting to see something like a “change language” button – well there was one – but the text was in Spanish of course!

Next stop the police station at BAZA to pick up our NIE numbers with the aid of an English-speaking Spanish solicitor. Again, a no-brainer – simply a matter of filling in forms and paying out money 🙂 By now it was well after lunchtime and the temperature was heading up toward 30 degrees C so doing anything strenuous was out of the question.

Having grabbed the keys for “Bedrock” in the morning – we headed back to Galera to take a look at our new property. As you might expect, we put together a short list of things that need fixing but generally it’s all ready – an empty shell with running water, electronicity and broadband – all the essentials.

The rural broadband isn’t fast but it works – I checked 450k download, 350k upload and it comes complete with an Internet phone and a decent high speed 4 way + wireless router.

Friday night we’re back at the rented accom, bbq on – it’s 10pm and still nice and warm so I have my bottle of diet fanta and a glass of wine… and tomorrow we’ve a clean up job to do in the new cave, then we’re off to buy some furniture. Can’t do too much as the delivery van from the UK isn’t turning up until Monday.