Time seems to be ticking ever so slowly since our visit to pay for the build permit and associated taxes. Apprehension and nerves, but at the same time positive thoughts about the journey ahead are making the waiting for things to happen a bit tense. We are trying to fill the days with things to take our minds off the wait. One particular day, we made a bit of a schoolboy error and planned a longish (22 km) walk with the assumption that we would be able to break the walk with drinks and food at our midway point. That was the village of Pia do Urso that has two cafes and a restaurant. Unfortunately it is that time of the year where small businesses are closing down for the christmas period, especially while the Covid pandemic is effecting the footfall through the door compounding things!
This meant a bottle of water and a bag of crisps had to provide the only sustenance over the entire distance. Doh! will definitely start taking some emergency chocolate bars and more liquids in future! On the plus side the walk was really enjoyable, apart from the flagging energy situation. The walk to the midway point was entirely off-road using only country tracks and we never saw a single soul on that stretch. Our return leg was along the Fatima to Nazerè pilgrims route which unfortunately is mostly along small roads, and walking on tarmac roads isn’t as fun as off-road.
We have also bought or first appliance for our new house too. It is going to be an important addition to our kitchen and warranted some serious investigation and analysis to choose the right one for us. It was an automatic coffee machine. Like everything we intend to get for the house it has to be right. We chose a Meile coffee machine in the end. and look forward to making good use of it. After much internet investigation and comparisons, we even took a trip to the Meile experience centre in Lisboa to assess its merits and claims before making the purchase, as it was quite expensive. But as we have had very good experience with Meile products over the years (we love our Miele bagless vacuum cleaner), we think we made the right choice. Plus it was a great excuse to see more of Lisboa and spent a large part of the day in IKEA as well.
We have also had some good news on the missing drone. A while ago, in September, Wayne sent the drone off for a minor repair. The hope and objective was to be able to make use of the drone over our property during the build to build a time-lapse of the construction phase. That was looking less likely as we had not heard anything from the postal service, other than it had arrived at the depot a few days after posting. The repair company kept saying it had not been received, until just the other day. The repair was agreed and carried out very quickly, so it looks like the construction video is back on!
Wayne has also been busy clearing out the colapsed wall section in preparation of rebuilding a small gap and practising with the limestone rocks to see what works.
Another unexpected event has helped in sharing our experiences in that we have met another english family that live in our small village here in central Portugal. It is a real surprise to meet others who are making the move for similar reasons and who speak English too! They have renovated their house here in the village over the last year or so and will no doubt have valuable experience to share. We recently all met up for a few drinks and a bite to eat and look forward to more fun nights together and inviting them to our home when its finished.
We have also managed to fit in a booster injection for our tetanus/diptherior and Wayne will shortly be getting his Covid booster and Annettes shouldn’t be too far behind. But the overall experience here has been great. We never had to wait, and have been seen by very friendly and helpful staff where ever we have been.
So we are still waiting to pass on some good news about the house build starting, we wait patiently for the construction to start…
Until then we hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and we hope you get to be with family and friends to share some love during these troubled times! (We are fed up to the teeth with the media reporting half the story about the current virus variant! Nothing about the mild effects for vaccinated population or about how most positive cases have no effects whatever, so we have decided to avoid any news media and just enjoy Christmas!)
We hope you all have a healthy and prosperous new year!
Thanks for stopping by, Netty & Wayne
Our Portuguese Life 