Kathryn and Roman arrived home after their mammoth journey around the UK, and understandably tired, so it was an early night, but not without a celebratory vinho or two to welcome them back.
They didn’t arrive empty handed either and we are grateful that we will not be short of Marmite, Yorkshire Tea, or Branson Pickle for some time! Thank you guys 👍.
We eventually said our farewells the following day so made our way back south and got back safe and sound a couple of hours later (Toll free route).
Netty did all the catching up over some sparkling wine, while Wayne did some admin and editing into the evening. It was like we had never been away. It seemed strange not having to get up to feed the pets though! It was only a single night with the bestie, because she had a guest arriving and we had promised to sit for our other pals in the village for a few days before heading off to Spain.
We also had quite a few things we needed to get done for the house-build to progress smoothly too.
We arrived back at the build site to find some more progress being done on the house, but the windows had still not been delivered. Our architect is now getting as frustrated as we are, it has been months of waiting now. And just to rub salt into the wound, the algorithm imbedded into Facebook seems to hear our conversations and keeps popping advertisements from local window installers that say delivery times are less than a month! (It is scary the things our phones can do!). But progress is still progress. At least the doors are now fitted! They are also now preparing the exterior surfaces ready for the cork cladding which is ongoing.
We had a walk around the property with Rui to clarify a few requirements and also to confirm the position of all the lighting, sockets and switches. The guy for the company who are installing the septic tank and rain harvesting system also turned up and confirmed our requirements. These were changed on the fly, as measurements showed us that the 5000 Ltr tank would not fit where we originally thought it would go. However, we compromised and went for a smaller tank but with a level indicator so we could transfer water to other containers around the property once it had reached capacity, and these could be added in slow time. We also confirmed the BBQ area layout and went over some options to access the pool (as it will be an above ground pool, depending on ground conditions).
So after the weekend, we went over to pay for the BBQ materials and popped into see our architects who had samples for the kitchen cabinets and worktops. We took a few of these over to the house to see how they played with the natural lighting. This is where Annette thrives, she is very good at visualizing things. Even with no drywall or painted surfaces, she can see in her mind what it will look like finished. She spent a good amount of time just comparing the materials and visualizing.
Then we dropped the samples back and returned to a nice meal cooked by our host Bruce, as Paula was away at her Mums near Setúbal. Wayne enjoyed a good portion of the cottage pie, while Annette did her vegetable magic! Wayne was also on the phone frequently to solar companies, as we had agreed to source the solar system to ease the architects burden. They always seem to ring when we were out, either in the car or walking our friends dogs. We did also pop in to Leiria to sit down and discuss some options with a company and they were very convincing, assuring us it meets our needs, but it is worth shopping around for a good deal. We finally settled on a supplier though, and they have had experience installing on wood frame buildings too, so all is good there.
So, as you can see, things are still moving forward with the house. The windows are our biggest frustration at the moment both for us and our architects! But we are so happy we had chosen them to take on our dream home. They are even featured in a Portuguese magazine Pais Económico!
We also had time to do some other running around and catch up with our future neighbours. Isabel & Peter live just round the corner and usually send our electricity readings through to us while we are away. Like us, they have only recently settled in the area and are a lovely couple. Isabel is Brazilian and is a wonderful cook. Always feeds us when we go round for a catch-up. We are looking forward to the day when we can reciprocate and return all their kindness. (Isabel has already hinted at bringing a Brazilian salad round once we get the BBQ going!) 😂😂😂
The last thing we had to sort out before leaving, was to re-validate Annette’s portuguese driving license. There was a small issue when she put her residency card details in online. Because she originally used her passport number, the records didn’t match, so we ended up spending a couple of hours at the IMT. Once we were seen it was quick and painless, and going forward she can use the residency card number.
So lots of things happened this week, and now we are on our way to the next house sit in Spain. Very exiting…
Our Portuguese Life 