20. A pleasent Sunday

Both Lorni and I had a bit of a lie in this morning that is we got up just around 9:30 which for this area is late bearing in mind anyone that is working is up and out by 6 am. Even Harry was catching up on some sleep, speaking of harry he i snow settling in a bit when we go for a walk he wants to go his way, he has a routine forming which is good, I will endeavour to take him to the beach more often for a good old run,Also even though it cost far more than I expected I love my new bed. I got up this morning , eventually and looked out of the window..wow.....

Now at this moment in time my back is playing big time thanks to al the humping and dumping that I have done and I have terrible toothache, yes a visit to a local dentist is in my plans, but a view like that and a bit if sunshine and the whole world takes on a different hue, all pains just about forgotten, a bit different to yesterdays overcast cloudy and grey day. I took Harry out around midday which was late for both of us. I noticed on our route that there are some trees that we don't usually see back in England.

Orange, Persimmon and Lemon tress I have no idea what the flowers are but they are pretty. After the walk it was back to work now when Lorni got here the outside courtyard was a mess as the ceiling had come down, having looked at it I am amazed it had stayed up for so long I will replace using wood at some point but I had to clear out the mess to get the washing machine in.

Before

After

The marble work top had been broken when the ceiling came down but for the time being we can now have clean clothes, must get a dryer next. The washing machine came from a place that sells on damaged and seconds when we looked at the machine it only had a scratch or two on the side and for £200 off retail price I bought it but when it arrived it was bashed to hell I have a feeling they sent us a different one but it works so for now it will do, the strip light that fell down with ceiling has been strung up out of the way for now, another item on my to do list. Then it was time to replace all the light bulbs which took up another hour or two,  we are getting there, still a lot to do and buy but I am starting to feel like this is home. Had to take Harry out for his late afternoon walk and wow once again what a day what a view.

I think I can get used to this, OK so this old house will never be perfect Lorni has already had enough of me moaning about all the cracks in the plasterwork, "what do you expect it's 200 years old" LOL We knew we had taken a risk  in buying such an old property but I am glad we did it  has character, charm even a personality and with time I will sort out all the problems but something I must do first is get my head around the language once we have got the basics in place.

19. All I want for Christmas is ..electricity

It has been over a week now since I  arrived in Spain and nearly two weeks since Lorni arrived and we are still in the dark, literally, yesterday Christmas day was interesting to say the least Lorni had to cook in the dark and we ate our slightly modified Christmas dinner in half dark with only candles and a small bedside light to eat by powered by our overworked little genny.

We managed to get by which is a testament to Lorni's cooking skills and my electrical prowess as the following photo's will show I had to to do some serious extension lead cabling so that not only could we get our phones charged but also to have enough power to run the router for the internet and a little lighting.

The strange thing is Lorni went into town today to sort a few things out one of them being the electric supply where she was told it was switched back on the 19th but no one told us, apart from the fact that for some reason it still doesn't work so a many phone calls later and we are still waiting for a call back to let us know when someone can come and look at the problem, once that is done we can get the plumber back to check over the water system and find out why the supply is bad and where the stink is coming from...drains, and just as I type this the power company have just turned up,,fingers crossed????

Yaaaaa we have electricity, oh the simple things in life eh?

18. First day or two

Another day  of firsts hmmm lets start with he washing machine we needed one so the day before we went into town and bought one paid for delivery for today, we waited all day nothing so just before 20:00 we phoned the shop who informed us that it was on its way as we still have no electricity and the gas supply didn't turn up grrr we had to go and get a takeaway so we left Christopher here with the dog and with my phone in case of complications. We got a call from the shop to say no-one is answering the door, so we phoned Chris who looked outside and said no-one there, we phoned the shop back and made sure they had the right address Chris waited with he door open so he could see them. Next call from the delivery guys who were moaning that they couldn't get the van  up through the narrow roads, the shop manager told them to use the barrow and walk it up, so now we have a washing machine we can’t use until the water supply is fixed and the rubble from where the ceiling came down is sorted as that is where the machine is supposed to go.

Also we managed to sort out getting the internet and cable TV sorted hopefully will be here sometime in the next three days, I’ll believe that when I see it. Tomorrow it’s beds day we need to travel to Calpe to a well known bed shop and then sort out Chris’s footwear make sure some things have paid b the bank and fingers crossed that today we might get the electric switched on.

So we travelled down to Calpe and what a gorgeous place it is I think I will be visiting again and again, the people in the bed shop were great we ordered two double beds and mattresses and two single beds and mattresses we were promised next delivery on our won double bed, we started off home as we had  to try and get tot he bank before it shut and we wanted to have a word with our Gas supplier but Papa Noel /Santa was visiting Gandia so the police had the centre of town cordoned off so another take-away it is then we got home to find we still have no electricity.

This morning we ere phoned to let us know that the bed was on its way and should arrive by midday so we ran into town quick tot he Repsol agency and picked up two gas cylinders and a gas heater as the temperature does drop at night we got home just in time to as the bed people arrived, but they couldn't get the bed base up the stairs not for love nor money I had a bright idea and we went round the back of the house passed the board and mattress over the fence and in through the terrace doors hurrah we have a bed to sleep on for the first time in nearly two weeks.

While the bed was being delivered a nice man was installing the internet for me yaaa I have communication with the rest of the world now, courtesy of the generator, you have no idea how much you miss something till it's not there anymore, ooh e-mails, Facebook, You Tube and Blue-stacks,I am still hoping we will be hooked up with the TV soon as well although some electricity would help.

We now heave heat as well and Lorni is cooking us our first home cooked meal in our new house albeit in the dark whatever it is it is going to be better than take-aways, we also managed to book Chris his flights home I am hoping all this crap that is going on at the airports re: Drones will be sorted by the 28th. Harry is still a little shell shocked and wont be left alone or he whines and whines but he is settling in slowly and I am sure he will be back to his normal self in no time.

Lorni has gone to town this afternoon to get Chris a haircut and to buy some bits and bobs for the house when she gets back I will try out the new calor gas heater I have to admit to looking forward to a good nights sleep.

17. Away to Spain

What a busy day moving day is, first of all I had to get rid of the computer desk and chair then take Harry our for his last walk in the park I had no idea what an emotional day this was going to be. We bumped into Jackie and Nellie and Roz and Dylan I was nearly in tears when I had to say goodbye to Roz and I think she wasn't that far behind me. I got back home to find that Julie our neighbour had popped in to say goodbye on her way to work but I had missed her. I had time for a quick sweep through and another trip  to the tip then I was ready for the phone call which didn't take too long.

An hour later Remzy turned up I showed him round gave him the code for the alarms and handed over my door keys. Wow we had done it. So, I put Chris and Harry in the car I had managed to just about squeeze everything into the roof box or onto the back seat and we were ready for the off.

A  quick fuel stop and then a gentle drive down to the Euro-tunnel crossing I had changed my crossing type from standard to a flex account which allowed me faster booking in and a lounge just for us Flex account types with free food and drink and we were allowed to take Harry in which he loved, We caught the 4:40pm train and then it was across France we went.

That in itself is not a problem but and this is a big but, the car kept stopping I meant we got a message on the screen telling me that the Anti-pollution system had a fault and when this came up the car lost its throttle response, so we had to pull in and wait 20 mins and for some reason the system would re-set itself and off we would go again.

We got caught up in a couple of Yellow Jacket demonstrations, at one large roundabout they were just slowing traffic down at another one and I didn't even realise what was going on at the time, the tolls have gone up a large amount in France and at the longest stretch of toll road that we had used we were waved through without paying the barrier had been removed, I found out later this was also part of the Yellow Jacket protests…thanks you guys. After a few more stops courtesy of the EJF valve we crossed the Pyrenees into Spain.

The continuous forced stops had added hours onto our journey time and I was getting tired..then Bang!! I had nodded off and hit the barrier Chris had also nodded off he came down with me to help with the dog and…keep me awake! Oh well the car is badly damaged but still drivable, so we kept going. A trip that I had estimated to take 14 hours max had in fact taken us 26 hours. I needed my bed. But we don’t have any yet so it was time for the sofa, we had arrived to no water and no electricity but I didn't care.

Over the next few days we sorted the water out, but it will only run for a couple of minutes then trickle out so we have phoned a plumber for help, will let you know the outcome of that. We have to run the gauntlet of red tape to get the electricity turned back on, all the paperwork is done now just waiting for the big switch on. Today we were supposed to get our first gas cylinder delivered but it hasn't arrived yet! Looks like another dark night with eating out at this rate, the washing machine we were supposed to have delivered toady has also not arrived yet..Spain eh?

16. An emotional day

Well Lorni and I worked trough till way after midnight last night, in fact Lorni kept going longer than I could as I just literally collapsed with total body exhaustion. I went to bed only to find the inflatable mattress had gone down so a few minutes were used up blowing it up again, Lorni came up a little later and we set the alarm to 6am as we still had stuff to finish off, After a bit of packing I took the dog out for his morning walk were we bumped into Tracey who we have known for years and years she is the local lolly pop lady and Harry loves her to bits.

Harry has more friends than me (Tracey)

After a few minutes in the field another of our friends turn up Christian and his dog Bonnie and another emotional good bye, it's all starting to get to me. After about an hour its back home feed Harry and then get back in the car for another trip to the tip one of around 50 that I have made since our decision to sell up and move.

Back home and it's time to pop into town to get some Euros and sort out prescriptions for our medications that we will need in Spain and inform the bank where we will be so our cards will still work. Back home again ad time to finish off the last little bits and bobs and then the removal van turns up, within no time at all the house is empty...

So now we have a couple of fold chairs two one PC chair and a blow up mattress. A quick trip to Halfords to get a new hands free phone kit for the car as the last one packed up, then we had to do something that Lorni has been dreading for a few years we had to go and pick Len's ashes up from the undertakers,she promised Len her father that she would spread his ashes in Spain.

I took a very emotional Lorni home where I noticed we still had a settee to get rid of so, we loaded the dam thing into the back of the car and back to the tip we went, we bumped into one the guys  who work for the council a big black guy who always seems to be so miserable "you told me you were weren't coming back" he said "get out of here" then Lorni told him why we have been making so many trip to the tip. When we told him we were moving to Spain he smiled and when we told him where abouts he dropped his broom and gave Lorni a big hug he lives in a village not 20 minutes from where we are going he has lived there for over 25 years and only came tot he UK because of the employment problems in Spain a couple of years ago so now Mohammed has our number and we have his and we will see him and his wife and kids in January...small world eh? So back home again and just before tea our neighbour Julie turns up  with card and chocolates in hand....

More tears followed, this is getting worse and worse so after exchanging address's again we said goodbye not more than a an hour passed and the doorbell went again this time its Sophia from next door with another box of chocolates and a card and  more tears I had no idea we had so much influence on so man people going to miss them all.

15. It's box city man

Today was a really important day, Lorni had her op today and I had the day planned out on making lots of phone calls sorting out change of address's and cancelling subscriptions until it was time to pick Lorni up from Orpington Hospital, as I said that was the plan! After a very heavy weekend of shifting stuff out of the garage and tipping most of it I was really looking forward to an easy day. I was dreading sorting out the garage and even after getting rid of the bikes it was still very full.

Absolutely stuffed to the gunnel's, I can't even tell you how many trips to the tip were involved and how long it took to sort out the planes most of which are now in the hands of a Scout Troop in Essex, I exhausted myself and so did Lorni bear in mind both out medical problems so I don't think we did too bad under the circumstances.

As you can see not a lot left in the garage now, back to today up at the crack of dawn as Lorni had to be at the hospital by 7am. After dropping her off and getting home I took the dog out for his morning walk then sat down to make a few phone calls,hmmm this is when my phone decided to pack up and by that I mean the screen started misbehaving by continuing to phone people even when I wasn't touching it so off to Tescos to get a no the sim free phone, Tescos don't have sim free phones in store they can be ordered and delivered but I needed a new phone today!

Bye bye old Motorola G4

I ended up at Car Phone Warehouse and bought a cheap Huawei phone it works and that will do for now, but b the time I had sorted the phone out figured out how to get it out of the box and get it charged it was time to pick Lorni up so not too much done today. Lorni had more of her cartilage removed but it is not good and the consultant wants to see her in 3 weeks which usually means he now believes what we have been telling him that Lorni needs a knee replacement. 

In the meantime we are living in box city, one way or another we will have to leave this place in the next few weeks and I can't wait I have never hid the fact that I hate this house it never felt good here. Still loads more to do in the next week or so, guess I had best get some sleep then.