Paco has triumphed once again! I was sceptical about the amount of material available to him, although I had scoured every bit of the garden to rescue fragments of the 'piedra'.
Always confident of the result, Paco has even surprised Christian with his workmanship. He has effortlessly worked the un-yielding material around the curve of the stairway.
Once the mortar is dry the excess will be brushed away with a wire brush, before the surface is sealed with a silicone based sealant. I will add that to my list then!
High in the mountains, to the untrained eye, the reservoirs appeared to be nearly full though down on the plains farmers were becoming increasingly concerned; the lack of rainfall and the rising temperatures did not bode well. These were the early days of
Driving thousands of kilometres through this dry and dusty landscape, between the coast and mountains; stretching from
The contrast between the care free tourism on the Costa’s and the agricultural workers inland struggle was quite marked. Parched soils were difficult to work, the crops, grass and woodlands tinder dry. Water restrictions were being brought forward in an effort to conserve the continuity of supplies. The summer temperature soared to record levels and with no prospect of rain till autumn all that remained was to watch and hope.
Autumn came and went without significant rainfall in turn followed by yet another dry winter. The land was suffering and crops were threatened; and when in the following spring the long overdue rains did not materialise there was a growing sense of crisis.
Water tensions arose between regions who accused each other of wasting a national resource. Claimed efficiency in local methods of watering crops were contrasted more profligate methods in other regional Autonomies of the Spanish domain. The people of
Then disaster struck, nightly reports of fires consuming huge tracts of land estimated at up to 300,000 acres. Families and whole communities destroyed by the all consuming flames, 11 rescue workers dying in their particular battle against the raging inferno.
A disaster that was compounded by the carelessness and sometimes the criminality of people. Barbeques were held in high fire risk zones, despite participants having to scale barriers signposted with the fire warnings. In other cases blazes were started deliberately.
Our expert ‘instal:lador’ has worked his magic and everything within the bathroom is in position. The expert is looking vacant again, something he is very expert at!
When he was measuring the walls for the placement of the pipes, he had removed from the bathroom the very cabinet that was now causing the problem, and put it in an adjoining room. Despite advice from myself and his colleagues that he should simply draw around the cabinet carcass making a template on the wall. He told us this was his work and that he knew what he was doing. Our expert then walked backwards and forwards between the bathroom and bedroom taking measurements from the cabinet and transferring them to the wall where the cabinet would be fitted.
On examination of the situation he has identified the problem, that the cabinet case obstructs the connection to the water supply for the taps. His solution is that he will cut out a large hole in the cabinet, thereby weakening the cabinet but allowing him to connect to the water supply. In order to get this proposal past me he tells me about the situation, but does so by speaking German to me.
It is often said that the most powerful word in any language is ‘No!’
And so it was. I had to say ‘nein!’
Now I was insisting that he corrected the pipe work, retiled the wall and fitted the cabinet as it should be. As usual the extra work he caused was done by others, this is how one often recognises the expert.
The bathroom fittings were all on site and ready for installation. The fitter ‘istal:lador’ looked over them
“Do you have a crane?” he asked.
“No, why do we need a crane? There are three of us here”.
“But they are very heavy!” he complained.
And so it was that, I ended up carrying everything that was required for the following days work up the stairs. I placed everything in position so that the placement of the sanitary ware and cabinets could not be confused.
During the coldest winter in 50 years we had central heating installed.
Señor M. is certain that the sequence of work for the kitchen element should be,
When we query this he is at pains to assure us that he must start work immediately if all is to go to his plan. He begins work before the ink is dry on the cheque for the deposit on the work. And within the week he has reduced the kitchen to rubble.
September has arrived and
7am and the first of the three teams of builders are on site they will work on the roof, exterior wall repairs and the cornice which is crumbling.
8am and the kitchen supply company are here too.
8.30 The plasterer 'paletta' or ‘yesoista’ delivers his materials and negotiates his space on the site.
10am The Window manufacturer arrives with another 'paletta' who will remove the current windows and install the steel frame that will hold the aluminium frames in place once work begins, they need more measurements.
Every two minutes I have to speak to one or another of the firms involved about supplies and potential problems. No sooner do those conversations start then a telephone call from one of the companies involved is called for; I am handed a series of mobile telephones and I take part in three way dialogues; my Spanish is being pushed to breaking point.
1pm Thank god for their siesta! Everybody leaves the site.
3.30pm The work resumes with a vengeance.
4pm The next piece in the jigsaw falls into place, the 'palettas' responsible for fixing the 'piedra' to the lower part of the external walls arrive. They will work till 9pm or 10pm as necessitated by their work.
