KITCHEN UNITS.....NEARLY BUILT....HURRAH.....


Two sections of the sink unit bolt together...drawers either side and triple sink in the middle....rubbish bin at far right...


Here demonstrating the drawers opening, a handy feature, and the pull-out bin, which will be fed from a hole in the counter top....no more opening cupboard doors with slimy hands to get rid of revolting wads of chicken waste and so on.....hahahahaha


The cooker unit.....oven in hole in the middle and cooktop above....far side has hangover, sorry, overhang, and benchettes for breakfast bar type shit....


And both MDF units are suspended from and embedded into a massive timber outer frame, with a finish a bit like this....
The cupboard doors will be car sprayed to a high gloss finish.....orange? deep red???
Really, who knows???

Herewith a somewhat random selection of pix from the last few weeks since I moved into the late Tennis Club.


Earlier today......the pool/hole being emptied of rain water and mud in preparation for concrete base and brick walls prior to fibreglass pool being plumbed in.
The bad news is that due to high groundwater levels it has to be set 70cm above ground level.....which looks horrible unless lots of sneaky landscaping is done to disguise it.....oh the joys....


Last night I made something a bit like a spag bol for some friends....but the weather has been so cold we had to retire to the bedroom after dins as the massive living room was too cold....last few days have been colder here than in Bath, although today was sunny. But tonight is cold again. Doesn't really look right, Brasilians in jumpers!!


Foreign people in jumpers teach me how to eat spaghetti....mmmmmm!


....and then banish me from the table.....

Randomness......more pix.....


The enormous guest house (think tardis) with doors and windows fitted.....we have also tested the water and the electrics.....they work!!.....hahaha...not bad in four weeks and a couple of days....


Tiled bathroom now has bog and sink....


After torrential rains the pool appears finished....anyone for a dip???


Hahahahahahahah.....after selling my beloved Cinna sofas before leaving the UK, I planned to try and have copies made here....but then discovered that an earlier version was ripped off by Tok Stok here, kind of Brasilian Habitat, and also that there is an online Trade It here called Balcao......so I got this set for £150 instead of £1200 new....I've got a line on some more so I can make a big U with three sofas and two corners.....fucking luxury.....

Gates....front gates.....

Beautiful custom made hardwood gates......Hannah and I used to coo at similar ones because they were so pretty.....now I got some!....same guy thats building the kitchen units....

The hole for the pool takes shape.....Pedro and I spent a day going round getting on the spot estimates after getting about 15 tentative ones to start with.....finally narrowed it down to four, and went for the firm with the gorgeous Adreana behind the counter...


Barbecue at Vania and Leonardo's house last week.....Leonardo is my buddy who works at Estacao Boqueirao, my favorite bar by the lagoon.....

Nobody got round to making accompaniments so we ate a pure protein dinner of chicken and steak and sausages non-stop from 8pm til 2am, washed down with vast quantities of Brahma of course.....even small children were eventually barbecued.....

Yet another futile attempt to get me to drink alcohol.....


Ha....as if this would work......


The view from Mieke and Marc's house high up overlooking the lagoons, and the ocean, and the mountains....actually overlooking everything, at Morro da Cruz. It's an amazing house with pool and everything and for sale for about a hundred grand.....see Viviun.com for details....


Ok, my house has no view at all....but my living room is VERY VERY big.....this was the first time after moving in I had all the doors and winders open....very nice and airy....and I will have a view soon as I'm putting a terrace on the guest house and a balcony off the mezzanine....so there....

Oh and talking of views, here's the view from my bedroom window of a horsey....now if that isn't a view, what is ?

A LOAF OF ITALIAN BREAD.......

....which my pal Rosario bakes at his beachside restaurant every couple of days.....
...see picture below....

I ANNOUNCE THE INVENTION OF THE NO-BUDGET SELF WATERING PLANT POT......

It really works too.....2 litre coke bottles work best (the one on the left)....cut in half, punch holes in cap and invert top half and insert into bottom half.....water is drawn up by capillary action ( or something like that...it works anyhow!!!)....these are garlic and ginger....


More gardening....Rosario gave me these tomato and basil plants....I then recognised a few more tomato type plants already growing... my fingers are becoming green.....
Not just oranges then......


The guest house gets it's first fitting for doors and windows.....the big window is tailor made with fold-away moz screens inside, the door and bog window are " off the peg" as it were....


The guest house now has a flat roof, which will soon have tiles and a rustic bamboo balustrade and palm frond sun shade.....

I've just got one word for you son.......


.....oranges.
So here we are amidst our orange groves....
....yes, as of this week I am an orange grower.
I (almost) have 1500 orange plants and a 50 year lease for the land on which to grow them.
A bunch of us are operating as a co-operative, a scheme set up by the cats in the pic above.....
So as long as I don't need to eat for the next two years, the future is basically orange.....


More oranges.....


Even more oranges....


No, not an orange.
This is Rosario, and his brilliant seaside Italian restaurant.....he's originally a Sardinian.

A QUICK DIGI-PHOTO-BIOSCAN FROM MY RE-ARRIVAL ON MAY 13TH UP TO NOW-ISH.....




Miserable Atlantic view from my room in Pousada Canto da Vila
in Saquarema Centro.....the picturesque part with the white church on the rock....



View over town and lagoons from my bog window there...



Surfing competition on the beach in front of the hotel....
more cameramen than spectators most of the time...



After a week in the hotel, feeling strangely like a tourist
and not that comfortable with it, I move into a house back in
Boqueirao, where I spent my time before, and near my own house.
I immediately feel at home, and then, mug of Typhoo in hand,
I discover that from my balcony, I have a grandstand view of live football every Sunday , complete with very loud Brasilian music playing from the clubhouse, off the radio early in
the day but later on they have live bands!!
All from my VIP balcony.
I can't stand football, but even I can see that this is a one off
and enjoy it accordingly every Sunday.
Sorry Murf!!



Some men kicking a round thing.
Actually it turned out that the two goals I saw
being scored on the first Sunday were belted in by Lao,
one of the guys working on my house.
He seldom says more than is absolutely necessary,
but on the pitch his alter ego is that of a demon
It's always the quiet ones, eh??

And now some snaps of my gay round of social events.... please note that's not gay social events, It's the round that is gay, as in jolly....wish I hadn't written it now..... Above is a traditional Saturday nosh-up, fejoada....black bean stew with all the bits of the pig the slave owners threw away wacked into it....amazing , occasionally distressing....I made one once but I made a pigs ear of it......pig's ear geddit??

At Sonia's house the night I flew in....drunk seemed the best solution to jet lag.....

Ummmmm....happy really....

Two shots of Filho's birthday. He's Sonia's son but not really. Sonia's daughter Pamela on right.

It's that bloody woman again.....will someone please make her leave me alone????

My pals Ornella and Marco, without whom I hate to think....

I finally get a guitar and amp to go with my Zoom FX processor......sorry neighbours.....

This photo of me planning the guest rooms was not posed....I just happened to have a camera under the glass topped table, that's all......

And this is Estacao Boqueirao, my fave bar lit up in the distance, taken from Ornella and Marco's beautiful house on the lagoon.....unfortunately it's not always as idyllic as it looks....the bar frequently has live music and they play on til 3, 4 or 5 in the morning at great volume, driving them to distraction. The owner works on the local council. Nuff said.

Sunset from their house. The band hasn't started up yet. Could be worse....could be my neighbours.

Ummmm, ditto. With palms.

......AND NOW.....MY KITCHEN SCRAPBOOK....

A little bit of this...

All of this...bought it already and the tap....

Got this too....

Heat sink rods embedded in top...gonna build these in as top is wood...7cm thick 7 year seasoned hardwood....

Got this already too....it's at present part of my "Beckham" kitchen......

The plans.....two counters, one against wall, the other an island with stools under one side....heavy 7cm hardwood outside frame with drawer units suspended below, 15cm off the floor, and set back 7cm from the front of the frame.....drawers are 90cm wide high gloss ( sprayed car paint) deep red finish.....pull out waste bin with hole in counter for dumping crap through....aluminium square section long bar handles.....ok, perhaps I am gay, but in an appealing rough house butch, cheffy way, like Gordon Ramsay......

So to rapidly change the subject......

This is my very masculine road.....

And going the other way....shit, there I go again....I don't....I really don't.....I just like cooking....as did my mum, but in a very overbearing way.....uh oh.....anyway, most of my women friends like to cook and have nice kitchens....I spend lots of time with them gassing, so I should know, in fact most of my friends are women......I've got to stop this.....

This below is my newly cleared garden. I'm not saying any more than that. In case I dig another hole for myself. In the garden......

....to put the pool in for example. I like the big one on the top.

Oh just fuck off.