Spanish Diary (Part 1)

I have just started to keep a diary of the misadventures of being retired in Spain. I hope it give some impression of the life we now lead! I have not put any dates in but it is sequential, so there may well be more than one today.
Pam wanted the utility done out properly with a sink and work surface. This has taken some time and along the way we were persuaded to have a marble worktop [don’t ask… I’m easily persuaded]. This project has not run to schedule. One weekend has turned into 5 weekends’ elapsed time and still it has not been completed.
The builder – Rafael – finally came and put in a proper flue for the gas heater and 5 electrical sockets… then he went away again.
Thursday was supposed to be a quiet day…then at 1500 came a plumber we had never met before, completely out of the blue to do some work; we were expecting someone on Saturday! It's lucky we were home at all. He dug into the internal wall with an enormous jack hammer to find the water pipes! I could not believe it, but it worked, he is clearly expert at what he does. Two hours later he had gone and we had revised water piping and we could have our, very belated, lunch!
Another [new] builder was coming at 6:30 to quote for the pool/patio. He wanted to meet by the church as it would be easier to recognise each other there…only…there was a funeral with about 150 people outside, complete with hearse and lots of cars! It was more by luck than judgement we found him! I had done some comprehensive plans and proceeded to discuss them with the two new builders who turned up and our Spanish neighbour [with Pam in the background]. When they eventually understood what I wanted, they needed to get another guy to come who specialises in pools. He came round so now there were six of us! During all this, Pam had a telephone call which we had to interrupt and then we all trooped round to a house in the village where a pool was being constructed to see what we would be getting. Pam is surprised at the actual size of the pool we are having - 3m x 5m, it looks much bigger than she thought it would.
Friday night we had gone to bed when the phone rang…unfortunately Pam answered it and managed to put the phone down on Rafael who was trying to contact us for some reason or other. I couldn’t be bothered to ring him back until the morning. I rang at about 0900 and asked if he was coming or not to be greeted by a most authentic cough to signal that he would not be with us on Saturday. I do not understand Rafael very well. He is a great bloke but very difficult for me to understand. I thought he said he would pop by to see us on Sunday [today] and then do the work next Tuesday. Pam and I were relaxing in bed this morning having a cup of tea when I heard a van outside, Rafael had arrived at 0800 to do the work, complete with a very bad cold.
You cannot put marble onto wooden supports; you have to use brick columns! At present Pam says the utility looks like a stable with brick stalls in it but I’m sure it will look just fine in a couple of days.

When Rafael came to do the kitchen, he did not bring enough bricks, so we had to go and get some more. Unfortunately, there is a street market so we had to thread our way though the market stalls, twice.
He originally said he would come back next Tuesday to fit the marble, make that Monday – I think, I’ll let you know. Now I have to go to a builder’s merchant to get some edging tiles for them to be fitted.
The kitchen has now been done and looks really beautiful. The marble top is shiny black but has an iridescent sheen of different colours depending on how the light catches it.
Our 71 year old neighbour is helping us get some quotes for the pool/patio. When I saw him today it is obvious that he thought I should have done that yesterday! I didn’t realise! We have had bad weather for the last few days with lots of snow and rain and were getting stir crazy so as Saturday dawned bright and clear we went to Granada for the day, from 0930 to 2030. We walked for miles and had a great time; Pam had seafood spaghetti for lunch, rather her than me. The wine was nice though.
The doorbell just rang [Sunday at 1700] and the pool man just brought a quote for our pool, it seems very expensive, I hope we get better [cheaper] quotes than that.
Pam has just brought in the dinner which was excellent with salad, patatas bravas [spuds done in oil and spices] pork in breadcrumbs and of course a glass of vino.
Now we are going to settle in for the night with the, Spanish, TV. Pam watches it but I doubt she understands a word of it – I rarely do! She just needs it on in the background, like the soaps.
Oh, I almost forgot, we went to Malaga with the other OAPs in the village this proved to be a great laugh, the first charabanc I have been on since I was a kid! We visited some beautiful caves and the Picasso museum. Then we went to a “restaurant”…you’ve never seen anything like it! It was full - about 500 people, and the waiters come round with plates of food shouting out what it is [in Spanish], if you want it you call him over and they give you a plate. You keep doing this until you have had enough! Then they count the plates and charge you by the plateful. The noise was horrendous!
To be continued...
Rod Parker - Retired