Bedrock

Interesting week but then it would be – we’re in peak season here so the pubs are chocker at night – it’s a short season of course.  Wednesday we met up with friends Roly and Jackie as it was their last night in Galera for a little while. Last night we’d planned to go visit neighbours but we’ve been that busy we decided to simply stop in and relax – which we did – well, kind of, I was finishing off the Pergola for most of the day and Maureen was working on the garden – thankfully both are now now well on the way to completion.

Today a new solar regulator turned up – I blew one of mine up last week due to incompetence and I need a spare – so the new one is now taking pride of place – I just need to make the wiring a little more permanent – my early evening job when it cools down a bit.

Some of the lighting is fixed (green) – the rest is programmable to any colour we fancy – and all of it is for free and controllable from anywhere like the cameras and monitoring sensors.

Today we went off shopping – firstly to Commercial Morino past Baza for some new mesh – Simba in one of his desperate bids for freedom (he HATES being inside when we’re outside but it’s not a nice environment outside for him) managed to slightly damage one of the window meshes – this one is more substantial – anyway, so then then off to the Chinese store for general shopping and to check out their very expensive after-shave (not) – and finally – we went off to Negratin for a soak.

What a CRACKING day for it – calm (though the water could have been calmer) and 36c – just superb.

Tonight we’re stopping in – got some company later on – I think a few glasses of wine in the Pergola are in order – I’ve been writing technical blogs every spare minute and my fingers need a break.

Oh, the waterproof camera case was a failure – nothing down there but green – same colour as the water looks from the surface – which is a huge shame because was we were wandering around aimlessly in the water today, the fish were jumping out of the water constantly – clearly lots going on down there and I noted a couple of times some fairly big fish wandering past me – but the camera was not having it. I’m guessing it is due to high calcium salts or similar – it’s certainly not due to pollution as power boats are not allowed – though I did notice on inconsiderate type out there ignoring the rules.

This morning the sky was wonderful and it is still that way now early evening – I think the rain we had the other day has cleared the way for a nice few days – or weeks…

Another successful delivery from Seur – obviously we’ve cracked that nut – mind you it did say delivery between 9pm and 10pm – and it turned up at 7pm – but that’s just a minor detail in the scheme of things.

And just for the sake of it, here’s a strange tomato we bought this afternoon! More expensive than normal tomatoes – but then a lot bigger too.

Been very quiet since our friend Simon left. Maureen and I headed off to Albox on Saturday to go to the hardware store there for some bits and pieces. We happened to go to the market while we were there (Saturday – I would not say it’s an up-market market – but it’s fairly big and there are some gems if you can spot them) and noticed some chairs going cheap – and the result – they are now in our new Pergola – and saved us a trip to Vera where we’d originally planned to go for chairs.

Yesterday was HOT and I got some work done but we eventually just ended up in town with friends at the Music bar for their new tapas evening – I have to say, quantity-wise – sorry – not impressed. Nothing wrong with the food but most of us were left wanting and when I ended up at the bar near the end of the night – a glass of wine seemed to have shot up by nearly 50%  – needless to say I left and ended up at, of all places, La Posa bar. Maureen caught up with me and we ended up walking home up that steep hill in the early hours.

Today we were Pergola-building when friends Jackie and Roly popped over – as always Roly was in like a shot to help (THANK YOU) and that enabled me to get the side panels finished off – marvellous.

Note the new light chairs – and on the left our new wooden external shower – yet to be plumbed in properly as I know sod-all about plumbing! Not 100% happy about the blinds but there you go.  We had to move our grapevine and that meant cutting the root which had buried itself into the concrete. Time will tell if we’ve killed the plant which is currently covered in nice-looking grapes. Hmm, that and our Stevia plant… a little genetic engineering…. hmm..

Tonight they had the fair in Galera with lots of stalls and a band playing – not quite the level of excitement of earlier in the week but really fine non-the-less – we were only out for a couple of hours so had to split our time between groups of people we know.

So much better than walking down to the pub in the UK and hoping there is someone, anyone there not wanting to talk about football (though I have to say I really AM missing going out with our friends over there for an Indian – can’t have everything I guess). Anyway, it is after midnight and I keep promising myself a proper night’s sleep.

Well we never did make it to the Orce Medieval market on Sunday, a shame as apparently it was good – but we ended up down in Galera itself after spending some time working on the Pergola – which thanks to the timely intervention of various people is coming along nicely though I’m pleased to say we’ve done a LOT of it all by ourselves.

Electrics are starting to take shape and I’ve just picked up some water fittings.

So Sunday night we went down town to a somewhat sombre affair – with candles. Met lots of friends in town and had a nice night.

All of that was a FAR cry from the celebrations on Monday night – best band in living memory and unbelievable audience participation.  Only pictures will do to describe the night – we gave up at 3am but apparently the music was still going at 7.30am along with some unruly drunk Spanish – not surprising if they were drinking all night I suppose. World-class entertainment for sure.

Tuesday we stopped in – well, it was going to be a quiet night but our neighbours came over and we had a REALLY good night chatting and solving the world’s problems. That of course is in the midst of what is still a mess out there as we work on the Pergola – not an easy job in the heat.

The weather has now gone off a little, temporarily – we had a shopping trip in Baza today with our friend Simon and the plan was to go to the lake for a dip but it simply was not hot enough – sitting around 28c at times as against the more normal 38c.  Perhaps later in the week. Met one of the guys I talk to about Galera on email and social media but have never met until today – that was nice of him to pop over and introduce himself – but they’re heading off home now – no doubt we’ll catch up next time they’re over.

And that – apart from another poor show from Seur deliveries AGAIN – 2 parcels – one they got right and delivered to the door – the other they left in the pub – I sent a suitable response but I’m not sure they understand what they are doing wrong – perhaps Amazon can explain when I’m done griping.

I’m sitting here making good use of the time responding to queries on my technical blog which now has something like 4,000 followers (as does the tech Facebook page) – great to be able to discuss tech issues with so many people from all over the world.

That’s it for now – Simon is flying off home tomorrow so the plan is to introduce him to cafe con leche and churos tomorrow morning.

That was a quick week – which started last Sunday when I was supposed to pick Maureen up from Alicante but a friend of ours, Jackie kindly volunteered as she was already picking up someone at the airport at the same time.

We met up at the pub in Galera and had a few beers before heading off home so Maureen could unpack.

On Monday we went off to the local bank to put an American cheque in. Well, you could not make this up. The bank seemed unable to handle the date on the cheque which of course being American has the day and month reversed compared to ours and looked like it was in the future. We were asked to come in the next day. I don’t know about you but I’ve known about American dates since I was pre-teen, reading DC comics but hey-ho.

Tuesday and we headed off to the bank again – only to stand there for something like half an hour with the aid of an interpreting friend – the end result – the bank just cannot handle an American cheque for reasons still not properly understood. Is there a pattern here? The Spanish customs would not handle life-saving medicine for our friendly god-daughter, the only time I get customs issues is when buying stuff from America.. could well be a pattern?

Anyway – I’ve had it with the bank – 8 years of business, always polite – no problem there – but they could not put in that little extra effort for something out of their usual  – not impressed – their cash machine is in such bad condition you can’t read it in bright sunlight – and the online banking is nothing to write home about – worse -  they don’t seem to have that many branches in far-away places either and that means charges from other banks to withdraw money – so first chance we get we’re going to investigate the alternatives.

In the time in between I’ve spent a LOT of spare time getting to grips with some technical protocols (I2C and SPI) – for my little home control projects so I can drive a range of displays and sensors.

Meanwhile – the old pergola was being dismantled this week in preparation for the new one.

Wednesday Maureen went down to the local market and we ended up in the pub again at night but not before getting out of the car to be greeted by this (dead) fellow.

Thursday – nothing – we decided to have a relatively early night because we were going down to the coast the next day – I spent most of the day either dozing off or chatting to friends in Canada and the UK.

So much for the bright idea of getting extra sleep on Thursday – because early Friday morning I was woken up to the worrying feeling that a bloody SCORPION was trying to take my hand off – and indeed he was – but despite my advancing years it seems I was fast enough to wake up and slam him into the bed sheets James-Bond style (except the Bond scene featured a spider) because within what seemed like milliseconds I was out of bed and off to get a slipper to give the by now buried-in-comforter scorpion a good telling off.

Of course several bashes across the head had little effect from soft sandals and an even softer bed so, for good measure, I suffocated him in fly-spray before Maureen slung him out of the house.

No way was I going back to bed after that and so by evening time, while getting ready to walk down to the village for the beginning of the August festivities to meet with friends – I have to say, after a beach trip to Mojacar and a shopping trip to Albox (including the garden centre) followed by groceries in Baza, a round trip that started at 9am and finished late afternoon with temperatures peaking over 40c….  I was feeling totally knackered.

The funny thing is that after an initial tingling, my ravaged thumb was fine – I suspect he grabbed onto me in preparation for sticking his stinger in me and didn’t ever get the chance to complete the operation before he was being suffocated.

We left his broken body outside as a lesson to other scorpions and for the ants for lunch.

Anyway – off we went with our friend Debbie down to the town and met up with loads of the guys in the village – I have to say – we had a nice time – great entertainment, too!

Saturday the new Pergola turned up first thing in the morning –  and of course it was hot as hell throughout the day – a day where I was not at my best due to having a late night…

Anyway, Maureen and I rolled up our sleeves as the sun went down – and by late evening after a few beers and a lot of work – we were up and running at least in part, with the new Pergola. Solid as a rock but not yet acting as a sun-shade.

Meanwhile down in the town the festivities were just starting up – thankfully due to zoom lenses – we didn’t miss a thing..

I believe the Orce Medieval Market is on tonight (Sunday) and late Monday my friend Simon is coming over from the UK for a few days for a visit.

Busy-busy… I’ll leave you with more pics of entertainment – Galera style.

Another cracking night out with friends last night in Orce – though I can’t say the food was the best I’ve ever had.

Six of us went to La Mimbrera restaurant in Orce – just off the main square and enjoyed Abadia Del Roble and Finca Besaya Rioja in somewhat large quantities.

Meanwhile outside, the town square was full of people of all ages having a great time in the rather warm late-evening weather.

I think we all thought the place was rather pleasant but the food average which could account for the somewhat empty main restaurant area (below)

I had a plate of Iberica ham and some other meats and it was just that – absolutely nothing else and no imagination put into it.

Thankfully I received a contribution of roasted green peppers from others. 

A fine night, lots of laughs… and plenty of other places to try in Orce.  Today a short trip to the airport as Maureen is off home to look after property over in the UK and to visit friends and relatives.

Meanwhile my first job is to find out why the power went off last night and why my screwdriver glows when I touch the equipment on my desk!!!

It has been a very quiet weekend – some of our friends are away in far-flung places or returning – we’ve been with many others this week gone and so we’ve sat and at least on the surface of it done very little but have a quiet time this weekend.

Of course we never really stop – Netflix declined our cards today and Maureen has spent half the day fixing it – turns out that the bank back in the UK, after watching us use the cards for months while we’ve been here in Spain, suddenly decided that a payment to Netflix MUST be money-laundering – I mean – how stupid can these people get. Anyway, that took some phone calls and meanwhile Netflix were very nice about it and re-instated the account – can’t be missing our shows now can we.

And on that subject, we’ve just finished watching House of Cards which, if you’ve not seen it is BLOODY MARVELOUS. I am finding more and more (consider the Man in the Iron Castle from Amazon) of these original series to often be much better than the material on mainstream TV – apart from Sky Atlantic I’m wondering why we have a dish.

I’ve spent half the say working on some computer code – and playing with black pop bottles to see how much better they are at grabbing sunlight than clear ones (yes we all know they do but now I know by how much). Of course I then had to blog the computing work I’d done so it is now midnight and I’m just about to give up.  If Jonathan is looking in – we’re thinking about you mate – get in touch when you have the energy.

Pilates for Maureen tomorrow, I have some more writing to do and I need a little concentrated sunbathing. She is off to the UK on Friday for a short while to see friends and relatives. The flight is early so I’m thinking about what I could be doing in Alicante for the morning when I’m done dropping her off at the airport. I don’t think we’ve really done much up there but drop in to the airport so it’s worth parking the car up and taking a look around.

Looks like it might be a little cooler tomorrow – in the upper 20s instead of the upper 30s – so a nice day for a walk.