Monday, October 25, 2004

October 2004


The house is now painted and has had stone 'piedra' applied to the lower walls in keeping with the local tradition. Piedra is a type of stone facing which is decorative and also prevents the paintwork being discoloured through water splashes.

Quotes for the application of
the required material ranged from 19 euros to 65 euros per square meter.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

A revelation.

Arrived late evening with guests. The house has been painted and the transformation is quite dramatic, with the repairs to the structure and the stonework completed this means that for the first time the Villa looks like it is a substantial building.

Inside the plasterwork and coving in the lounge and dinning room are excellent. The persianna blinds are down but the windows have been left open to allow the plaster to dry. The whole house is covered in a thick layer of plaster dust. We sweep away the dust before opening the kitchen door to reveal our new state of the art kitchen; only to find that nothing has happend since September there in the kitchen are the boxes of tiles but no fittings or cabinets.

We make up the beds and after a quick wash and brush up drive into Figueres to grab a fast food meal.

On our return to the house we decide to call it a night and begin the clean up in the morning. But something is nagging. In the pantry the bottled beer reserved for occaisions like this is missing, there are a only couple of empty bottles lying around. We will have to wait for our drink, but the hot and dusty working conditions endured by the workers mean that we would not have begrudged the builders a cold drink and understand why they may of helped themselves.

Something else is missing too; the widescreen television our only luxury is also gone!