Two take ons and a very late night

Friday 12 June 2015

Cloudy with showers
24 degrees

Torrential rain in the night.  I had to put plastic cartons over the ipomoea to stop them flooding but they seem very happy and are already putting out new leaves.  Must buy some more expanding coir circles - they are brilliant - no root disturbance and they set to growing immediately.

The day started early - 7 am - ironing trousers, stuffing last minute things into the car and then OH disappeared in a rush of gravel and exhaust fumes.   Hope he gets there in one piece to far away Pontevedra.  Not a brilliant forecast - either torrential rain or very hot.  Hope he actually catches some fish on this trip.

Down to the rental unit for 8.30 and do some work in the little rental unit whilst the electrician bangs about in the new unit, moving some of the plugs and lights that were hidden.  At 10 am he is finished and I head off to see a house with two gites and pool.  It is in a village 20 kms away and close to a lovely leisure lake.  The house was a ruin when they took it on, 20 years ago.  They came on holiday and accidentally bought a wreck.  Their children said they were not fit to be let out on their own. Prices were a lot lower then.  In eleven years I have never known anyone accidentally buy a property. Today, it is a beautiful house with the most stunning colombage and is typical of its area.  The garden is lush and in typical English style with roses, shrubs, herbs and myriad insects enjoying the feast of nectar.  The couple are now in advanced old age and it is too much for them.  The lady was a bit frosty but warmed up eventually.  Delightful and very happy to take it on.

Back home and dog is bored rigid so take him for a quick walk and then to my local town to take on the house which I found on prospection last week, with the aid of my trusty new tablette.  It is in the ownership of a number of people and fortunately, they are all there to sign the mandate.  Built in the 1960's, it is solid and has a garage and little garden and, surprisingly, five bedrooms.  Not bad for under 200000 euros.  Sign everyone up and then back into town for a little coffee.  Bump into an American lady and try and persuade her to come to the big city with me tomorrow but a selection of her children may or not be turning up.  The new Maire stops to press the flesh and I ask him what he is going to do about the non perambulatory gypsies who hang about drinking and smoking and annoying people.  He talks extensively but the upshot is that he is doing nothing about it.  Like the old Maire then...

OH rings and says it took him 12 hours to arrive and the GPS took him via Vigo, a massive shipping port on the sea coast of Galicia.  Galicia used to be strange and cut off.  It has its own variant of Spanish.  Before the new autoroute was built, I think the only people who passed through its heavy cloud and remote villages were the pilgrims on the way to Santiago.  I remember being in the car with the boys and OH and driving along a small road, heading west, and we looked up at a hillside and a man looked down at us.  Dressed completely in black.  Holding a massive scythe.  The image has stayed with me.  On arriving in Vigo, on another trip with just OH, we were walking around the harbour and an immense Cruise ship came in.  It was 17 stories high.  It was like standing next to the Death Star.

Then, surprisingly, WF (youngest son) rang on Skype.  He has been working 12 hour days and is getting a lift from an African lady who lives in the same town.  Because of the long hours, he has not been studying for his insurance exam, doing any driving lessons, or looking for new accommodation. He was somewhat relieved that OH was not there, and on his case.  I suggested he go and get an eye test.  All work now is on computer and both myself and OH have rubbish eye sight.

Unfortunately started looking at Pinterest for resin buttons and found the most beautiful old Bakelite belt buckles which I could reproduce in resin.  Also found the way of making moulding putty out of household silicone, cornflower and acrylic paint.  Then watched some more of the sewing course and looked ahead and was disappointed to see that a lot of the makes were for men.  Watched how to make a tie.  It is a lot more complicated than I imagined and I was cross eyed at 2 am when I finally switched off the machine.