63. Two weeks without Lorni.....!

This has been the longest two weeks in history to be honest, there have been things that have gone wrong and stuff that I don't understand and there is still a lot of outstanding things still to be sorted that only Lorni can do because of the language, more no that a little later. First and foremost I miss my wife, the saying "you don't know what you have till it's gone" has never rung so true I know this is temporary but still it doesn't feel like it at times. I love Lorni far more than I realised.

OK so James and John the builders came round yesterday morning (Monday) to try and find and stop the leak that has caused so much damage, the dogs were playing up something rotten so after ten minutes I took them out for a long walk before I got back James rang me to tell me that had found the cause and fixed it... On the outside wall of the upstairs bathroom there is a tap with a hose attached to it for the terrace it was leaking from the back of the tread and had been dripping away probably for years but not on the outside of the wall oh no! on the inside which is why I couldn't find the cause, these guys know what they are doing they turned the water off...something I couldn't do as I didn't know where the stop cock was. Removed the tap and blanked it off after just one day the smell has nearly gone, Not going to sort the ceiling out just yet going to wait until completely dried out.

One problem just about fixed next problem...the air con packed up so once again James is going to find some one to come and repair and fix both units as one to the units hasn't worked since we got here.

The one thing that has hit me hard is the lack if language on my part yes I know a few words but that, as I am finding out, is not enough!  A couple of years back I was watching a series in the UK called "bargain loving Brits in the sun" based mainly in Benidorm ti showed the lives of some retired ex pats and their  world of trailer parks and flats etc the one over-riding theme was their complete lack of even trying to learn the language it was such a problem that is has caused a "them and us" situation in the town between  the resident Brits and locals. I am trying very hard to get a grip withe language now that Lorni is not here and was so proud of myself yesterday when using the local shop I managed to as for  few things and was understood.

 I am using two different courses..Rosetta Stone and an on-line course call "Jump Start" what I have found is: the trick to learning this language is not to do too much in one go take small bite size chinks, go away learn it then go to the next part. Give me three months and I should be able to hold a conversation with a local...I hope.