8° in Nadadouro  2° in Portreath

OMG!  since rediscovering my ability to write about drivel i thought i would update the look of my blog.  i've trawled through too many sites to mention and found a handful of alternative templates to choose from, all of which looked like pants when i uploaded them.  Helpfully my Dave suggested i design my own, as he sauntered out the door to our local bar!  little does he realise at this time of night it must only be the domain for very clever computer-code literate people.  Even my lovely friend had to show me pointers about comments today. (thanks SA).  I just don't understand how />space<\ makes a lovely pink flower on my screen, and i don't think i want to know. blah blah blah, good night xx

16° in Nadadouro  7° in Portreath

At long last the sun has decided to come and visit the Silver Coast, and not only visit but warm us up too.  Our sweet peas are planted and showing themselves, as are the strawberries and lettuce. I'm not quite sure whether this is ok and a bit early, but all my neighbours are farming too, so we're following their lead.

Last week Jose our architect told us the great news that our planning permission has been approved by the local council and we could be starting our renovations as early as June.  Hooray! At the moment we live in our lovely little bungalow, but sleeping in the 'corridor' has its disadvantages.  Like no privacy and kitchen smells!  I long for the day when i wake up in our own room that has a door.  Simple pleasures.

Above is the artist's impression, complete with a natural swimming pool (more about that soon), with no chemicals or other nasties.  The thought of swimming in bleach doesn't really appeal to us. I know the beach and the lagoon is just down the road, but this move was about dreams and realising them, so a pool is so part of that - sorry.

So we've been to a kitchen designer and have a really special kitchen coming too (ikea ha ha).  I'm sourcing materials like mad, and i have to say i'm loving it.  After reading all those magazines about perfect homes and watching Grand Designs (repeats too on More 4) for the last 10 years (sad!!) i can now put all that Sarah Beeny has taught me in to practise.  Dave is so patient, i've been through every style and back again.  But have always really been true to a crisp, minimal european style.  There was never any chance of that in our Victorian Terrace in Cornwall, so now i have the opportunity for this.  Especially as we got rid of all of our possessions we have a really good chance of achieving the look.

The big find for last week was Portuguese marble honed from the hills behind us for €100 per square metre, polished and fitted!  Now what a find, i nearly wept.  So now everything i look at i think about whether it can be clad in marble!

warmer in Nadadouro   cooler in Portreath

Hi there, sorry about the delay in blogging!!  The weather here has been awful!  We escaped the UK to escape the weather and for the last 2 months there has been winter in Europe, not how it said in the brochure at all.  We've huddled around our wood burner and wondered when spring will come.

So just before Christmas after a lot of deliberation i ordered a new Ford Fiesta!  Blimey, the price of cars in Portugal is astronomical.  Something to do with the government taxing them twice (totally illegally but the amount they gain in revenue outweighs the EU fine - work that out).  So after longing for my brown Mini Cooper for so long, i had to put that dream on hold.

But now i have my Fiesta i love it.  The colour is morello (after the cherry) and it's all singing all dancing.  One slight annoyance the bloody bluetooth is all in Portuguese and so i haven't used that yet.  But nobody rings me except for my Dave and he's usually riding shot gun.

It's just great to have my own wheels whizzing around on the wrong side of the road, beeping my horn at the looney drivers and grinning.

22° in Nadadouro 13° in Portreath

This weekend has been fire time. It rained (briefly) last week so Dave decided it was time to burn all the brambles and cleared bamboo he could find. He obviously felt encouraged by the neighbours across the valley who also wanted the award for 'Biggest Fire of the Day'. No contest - of course my Dave won. His eyes sparkled with joy of easily creating the best inferno in Nadadouro. Once again the magic valley glowed. Unlike in the UK there are no laws here about waiting until after 6pm to torch your garden. I think the only concern is that you don't burn the whole neighbourhood down, especially when there's a drought!

This weekend we went to see This Is It, the Michael Jackson documentary.  Wow!  Amazing.  That guy was so skilled, he just oozed talent.  Every song was a winner then at the point of him singing I Want You Back, i welled up and blubbed my heart out.  The emotion he seems to conjure with his music is just unbelievable.  I really didn't think i would miss him like i do.  What a show that would have been, the world would again have been at his feet.  Sometimes life sucks.  RIP MJ xx

25° in Nadadouro  17° in Portreath
So this week we're really trying with our language skills. As i type the boys are in the kitchen doing homework. Jacob had fallen behind with his studies and had decided in his infinite wisdom that this new life sucked. I suppose i can't blame him, but we really wanted to stay as a family and not have the youngest member desert the ship before we'd given it a good go. He had decided that he was UK bound and nothing was going to stop him. Now after 5 hours of language study with the dude - smiles all round - and they can actually say - falo um poco Português! - Hooray.

We had a visit from the topographer at the weekend who mapped out our backyard so we can start the extension. This is the really exciting part for us - Grand Designs eat your heart out. Maybe not, but having a home built specifically for our needs is beyond our wildest dreams. Once again the plans for our eco pool has reared its head. I can't wait for next summer, I have this fantasy of floating in the pool on my lilo, cocktail in hand, not a care in the world. I think this could work if i started my new lottery campaign pronto. Someone has to win it after all!

At the weekend the boys got their new bikes. They're from a French company called Quër and the model is Mission. So as you can imagine they are now both riding their white queer missions, one is bigger than the other, but the joke still stands and gets raucous laughs each time we mention a bike ride! Shame. Even the bike shop owner, Victor, cracked a smirk with Dave and Jacob prancing round the store impatiently waiting for their queers to be put together. Sort of reminds me of a Benny Hill sketch.

We have a massive fig tree in our garden, taking up a large amount of space and overhanging into our elderly neighbour's property too. So Dave decided to give it the 'prune' of its life. After a few hours of hard graft, he retired to the shade for a well earned beer. Suddenly we heard Elisia - the neighbour - shouting at the door! She promptly escorted Dave down our garden and talked loudly at Dave for about 20 minutes. Now the only reason we could think of why she was doing this was because we'd cut her tree down. Dave beckoned me over and I thought i would have a go at trying to decipher her upset. To no avail, 30 minutes later I returned home, confused, really worried and slightly upset that i couldn't help. 'Oh well' i thought, 'the tree's a gonna, maybe we should buy her another.' So, once again Dave runs off to the friendly bar owner around the corner for her linguistic skills. She obliges only to report that the neighbour is really pleased with what he's done and wants us to continue with the rest of the overhangs!! Phew! We were both under the impression that we'd done wrong, but she was just wanting to congratulate us for allowing more light into her property! The Portuguese sound vexed when really life's sweet. Something to get used to i suppose.

26° in Nadadouro 15° in Portreath

Yesterday we were invaded by PT, the british equivalent of BT. 3 guys appeared, one went up the nearby phone mast, one on our roof and the other in the house drilling for his life. The guy on the roof decided he only wanted to use 2 cable clips for a 20 metre span, at which point, Dave started getting blue in the face and telling in no uncertain terms that the guy was taking the p**s out of us just because we don't speak Portuguese. Thankfully our friendly publican from around the corner (who can speak the lingo) came to intervene, and told him a polite translation of Dave's rantings. In the end we offered them water, coffee then reluctantly beer, only to be turned down. But hey the job was completed. Made me think there was a joke in there somewhere - how many men does it take to change a light bulb sort of thing .... It was only a week or 2 late, so not too bad in the scheme of laid back living. We are now online at home ... bliss!
Then it only took me about 10 hours to suss out how to connect just because all of the instructions are in Portuguese (surprise surprise) and my translation widget only does about 50 words at a time. Fun fun fun!

We had a lovely evening stroll around our 'hood' a couple of nights ago. We got trailed by a sweet little Wheaton terrier which we named Kenny. He came for about 2 miles, at which point Jacob decided that he really wanted a dog! and that maybe Kenny was the one, despite the fact that we had seen his owner about half an hour before. A few metres before we got home we worried (unnecessarily) about how Kenny would find his way home - only to be met by our local dog bully, who spied a new dog on the block and gave chase. Poor Kenny legged it back round the corner and we legged it home! We haven't dared walk passed Kenny's house for fear of being responsible for any vet bills!! Maybe next weekend ... love ya xx

24° in Nadadouro 13° in Portreath

Today we've encountered Portuguese bureaucracy and a complete language barrier. We're trying to register ourselves as residents. We went to the village government office and got our Atestao de Residencias. All's good. Then off to the city hall to repeat the process! Don't know why but we had too. So the lady at reception knows no English (why should she i suppose) and sends us to the tourist info office next door. Obviously, no joy (though we did get J a bus timetable for school!) So we decide to change our address on our fiscal numbers first (like our NI nos). Queue for 10 minutes only to be told to go back to city hall. At this point pad in hand i demand the kind council officer should write down in Portuguese what we require. Back to receptionist who smiles and points us over the way. Just where we started! Phew! I've got to learn this language better. Dave's brilliant and just nods and says yes to everything. I think the residents think we're stupid and/or simple.

Jacob has successfully completed his first week at school. 3 days work from 8.30 till 6 seems like a long school day, especially as all the lessons are in Portuguese, but he's gone each day with a smile on his face. However he has 2 half days so it all works out, especially as he finishes at 12.30 on Friday. We're so proud of him as you can imagine. He's had 3 Portuguese language lessons too, and comes up with 'bom dia' and 'nao' at random moments. As a treat we've done quite a bit of beach pursuits, as the weather is still scorchio and the sea warmish.

I'm very excited as yesterday our mate Cei serviced the gas boiler and we now have warm showers and a gas hob to cook on! Oh joy of joys, you won't believe what a difference this makes to my life! So as i type, my Dave is plumbing in the washing machine and Jacob is assembling flat pack chairs from IKEA. So not only do i smell great but soon my clothes will too!! No only joking, it's not that bad, especially if you saw the amount of clothes i crammed into our van to bring, but every new little luxury helps.