So if I manage to upload pix, there are some of my house as I found it with tiles laid etc. when I got back from the UK complete with Permanent Retirement Visa....now there's a tale in itself.....unfortunately can't tell it here!!!!
.......then some pix of further improvements, paint going on, furniture moving in and stuff arriving, lights working.....all basics only so I could move in and get by.....have been renting lovely house near where I stayed before, about ten minutes from here......
......moved into my shed last Sunday.....was immediately descended upon by five Brasilian ladies who rushed around frantically opening bags and boxes and laying out anything that could possibly be laid out, from computer cables to cutlery to beds to medications.....they put the word "flurry" to shame.....
.....then we sat around my Louis the 14th guilt (sic) table and chairs (delicately constructed from steel reinforcing rod) and all shared some coke......the type sold by that horrible corporation that is.....actually, sadly that covers the other type too.....
.......so some pix also after first night staying here with makeshift mosquito net arrangement, and pix of the custom designer " Beckham " kitchen, a subtle melding of derelict table football table, old termite eaten door and stylish black glass designer cooktop.....we are accepting orders for this design for a limited period only.. Please e-mail if interested.
My epic designer (that's me that is) kitchen proper is on the way....sifting through estimates at this moment. I expect you'll all want one like this one too. I know I do.
Also pix of the creation of drain pits for the kitchen and the washing machine, and of Lao after he cut the end of his finger off digging them....as I told him, it hurts me more than it does him.....he seemed touched at my concern. It's good to expose one's feminine side I think. And then pix of how they (the pits) mysteriously disappeared
overnight......
Talking of life itself, I must say a big bye bye to Emma, who shuffled off a couple of weeks ago.
She was a tough old bird (I mention that as an attribute I hasten to add!) and a good friend, not hesitating to offer me accomodation when I needed it in February, which must have been a daunting prospect for her at best! ( Bulls, China shops, foul language, snoring, personal hygiene etc.)
Although thankfully her death was instantaneous, it occurred to me that had she had time to ponder, I doubt she'd have spent it wishing if only she'd had a go at this, or if only she'd had a go at that. She was one of those rare people who lived life to the full.
I also thought that with her interest in Zen and Karma and stuff, she probably expected to come back in another form. I reckon that if Karma is all it's cracked up to be, she'll undoubtedly return as a member of the Trowbridge bar staff, and have to experience working for herself. Now that's what I'd call Karma.
Anyway, back to me.
Also as well, pix of several horses grazing in my "garden", Auschwitz the barbie being demolished to make way for Andy Val's en suite suite ( he arrives for his hols in about a month!!) ( don't panic Andy, it's all under control!! I just have to ascertain whose.......)
Oh, and I think a picture of my actual postbox (small yellow thing attached to link fence). And also Sonia merrily cleaning my toilet. Can't keep her off it.
The cleaning.
Not the toilet.
To follow on with the Sonia link, she has just been informed by the new owner of the house of which she has been caretaker for several years that unless she starts paying rent, she's out on her ear. The rent is unfortunately most of her income, for what is by UK standards two thirds of a small scruffy garden shed.
So she and her daughter are in the shit, as we say over here.
I've offered to put them up here but obviously it's not ideal for them as there's lots of space but no rooms!
However Sonia recently accepted an offer of a small plot of land, enough for a simple abode, from the local council. So people that know her, particularly us gringoes here and abroad, are chipping in with offers of materials or paying for local labour for the construction.
Which brings me to ummmm, well you know how everyone in the West wants to help people in the Third World?
Well, here's a chance to help directly......it's a bit like befriend an elephant or sponsor a lemur or adopt a dolphin.....Sonia will hit me if she reads this, particularly the elephant bit haha.......
No seriously, if anyone out there would like to buy Sonia a bag of cement, or some bricks or roof tiles, or a roof beam or two, or a tap or a sink or a bog, or some reinforcing rod, please get in touch with me at nasher53@gmail.com
Tell me what you'd like to offer, or I'll happily post or email a list of materials needed and you can choose from that.....a bit like a wedding list only slightly chunkier, and not so nicely wrapped.
IN FACT I'VE ALREADY HAD A GOOD RESPONSE TO THE SAVE SONIA APPEAL SO AM POSTING MATERIALS PRICES HERE AND NOW.....
STEEL REINFORCING FOR SUPPORT COLUMNS EACH £17.87
STEEL REINFORCING ROD 12 METRE LENGTH EACH £5.43
TIMBER FOR CLADDING SUPPORT COLUMNS METRE £1.23
NAILS FOR CLADDING KG £1.56
BRICKS 20X30CM EACH £0.10
CEMENT 50KG SACK EACH £3.76
EXTERIOR HARDWOOD DOOR EACH £51.89
HARDWOOD WINDOW EACH £46.70
ROOF TILES EACH £0.37
The basic construction method is to dig gurt deep oles in the ground, lay cement into the base to anchor a column of steel cage which is then temporarily clad in wood and cement poured in. The verticals are linked top and bottom by horizontal beams constructed the same way, and the gaps filled in with bricks. Windows and doors are obviously stuffed in as well. The roof structure is usually timber framed with tiles laid over. The floor is rough debris with cement laid over and tiles or stone laid over that. Plumbing and electrics neatly fit into the hollow bricks by smashing the shit out of them with a hammer and then plastering over. Water is drawn by electric pump from a well and waste goes into a cEment lined pit (see pix of my drains being dug below).
Herewith some pix showing materials and construction.
Steel reinforced cement column, gap for door then brick wall. Note timber roof structure in background clad with tiles.
Gurt big oles for column bases, and trench for base for interior wall.
These are called bricks.
The basics for building support columns and beams.....on left steel cages, centre steel rod, timber for cladding and sacks of, yes, you guessed it....cement.
Old bricks, roof tiles and gash reinforcing rod....all reusable.
I've already offered Sonia my reusable old toilet, with the proviso that she keeps cleaning my new one (see photo).
Just to fill you in, Sonia is Sonia Cristina Santana, and her daughter is Pamela. Sonia has two other grown up kids, one of whom is in the navy based in Rio. Sonia works for Uli and Maria as a cook and also as a cook for another Brasilian household. She studies at college five nights a week to further her skills and qualifications as a cook. She hopes for world peace, and likes to sew on all her own sequins. Pamela is 18 and studies full time at college (so she tells me...). Sonia also has a couple of other kids she part-mothers by proxy. And she has me. That alone must be worth a brick or two.
As for Sonia's rock and roll name, (Sonia Cristina was of course the singer with Curved Air, and Santana is apparently the name of a popular Latino beat combo....) I keep insisting that her mum was a serious rock'n'roll groupie, which Sonia continues to deny.....she insists her mother was very religious.....for me that's almost the proof of the pudding......still the truth will out in the end.....it can't just be a coincidence.....
(A title for this appeal could be "Please sponsor a roof truss and help get this foreign woman off my sofa....")
And now for some photos....
My shed as it was on my return on May 13th.....very tiled....
Nearly my ensuite bathroom.....
The pipes and lids for the kitchen and washing machine drain pits.....
Cutting away the clay to lower the pipes......Lao has got carried away and also cut away the end of his finger with a shovel......they only do it to piss me off you know.....
.....this is my regular crew,Lao, Fabino in the nearest hole and Arnisio in t'other.....
Next day, naught left but a bit of a stain.....
.....trucks come round and pump out the sludge every few months......
(.....if you remember to ask them to.....)
The launderette......
The wonderful Sonia....cleaning my wonderful bathroom prior to moving in....
The "Beckham".......
The front gate with post box....
My bedroom nearly.....
