Peter's Vale Boa House in the sun

I was at a market type event

2024-08-16T17:06:00.003+01:00

While i was at the market i saw this guy. It amazed me to see someone with his belly drooping so badly. Ok it was hot but there was nobody else walking round displaying him self so badly.

I needed a piece of glass

2024-08-05T19:39:00.001+01:00

I have searched glass suppliers here in Portugal but expecting replies by email is a waste of timer. Portugal don't know how to reply to emails and i have tried often. I tried many glass companies but got no replies.

I am going to the UK shortly and emailed companies in area i am going. Every company i tried replied within 5 hours. One reply came back with a price i am happy with so i ordered my glass. The shelf you can see in the picture is what i want but twice as long. Instead of 300mm but i now want 600mm now ordered and waiting for me.

I went to a new market out of my area

2024-08-05T17:49:00.003+01:00

I recently went to a new market out of my area and it was a great day and the drive was great. The pictures give an idea of the place i was at. Most of the market was under cover so it was easy to avoid the sun but not me. I had a great spot and told people this is where i will be able to be found next market time.

The people where amazing and friendly and a lot had heard about me and my spices. One lady asked what part of Liverpool i was from. I asked why and she said Liverpool was her home before coming to Portugal. She then turned and introduced me to her two sons also from Liverpool . First time i was in the company of so many from Liverpool. I said if people ask if you are from England you must say NO. I'm from Liverpool everybody knows Liverpool

Just a couple of pictures of the small narrow streets of this beautiful village.

Driving home Goole maps found me a shorty route for me to travel, so i am looking forward to the next market there.

It is nice to be back

2024-08-05T17:39:00.002+01:00

As i have said i stopped because of fowl comments from family members who i fell out with. The problem is i have one family member who is a gem and i don't include them in what i say. I am now the eldest of my sibling and perhaps i should know better and set an example but who cares.

The comments i get here are amazing there is no judgement or negative remarks just nice comments and thanks to you all/

16 years ago i saw ths

2024-08-05T17:31:00.000+01:00

Yes as long ago as 16 years i was looking for that something special. I watch a house for a long time and in the end i came for a view. I met an agent at the property who tried to get me to buy he was saying that others had made offers. He implied that i could loose the property if i was tot late to make an offer or put a deposit down on it.

This is how the property looks today only 16 years later.

Moral of the story don't let an agent rush you into a purchase. After it's only money they want you mean nothing to them.

I must admit seeing this property 16 years later i can still see what i liked about it.

Never had a crash

2024-07-25T20:39:00.002+01:00

In over 57 years driving i have never had a crash. I have had someone crash into me but no i have had a lucky time driving so many miles in cars and vans Until.

Today i was driving into the local town when on a sharp bend i almost collided with a car coming in the other direction. During my time leaning to Fly i was taught always turn right so i did and managed to miss having what could have been a serious accident.

Further more the driver lives in the next village to me and i know her.

The picture shows on the white van my wheel turned right those flying lessons where not wasted. The picture doesn't show how narrow the lane is and it's only one car wide.

I went down to Gois for a cup of two and met a Portuguese friend and told him what had happened. After looking at the picture he told me who's car it was just from looking at a picture.

Leyroy Merlin

2024-07-17T20:20:00.000+01:00

I was invited to got to Leyroy Merlin a huge DIY type store. I needed a membrane to go on the roof of my new house. I got an email shortly before we left saying that that spend over 100€ and get a 20€ credit for a local store called Staples. Fortunately i use Staples to get myself labels for my spices.

The roll of roof membrane covers 75M more than enough for my roof. The roof was replaced about 14/15 years ago when it collapsed during a storm. During recent storms no rain came through the roof. The new membrane will used when the ties come of to repair a couple of roof beams Shortly the roof beams will have to be changed before i start the ceiling.

Sanding and more sanding

2024-07-15T21:35:00.002+01:00

It's often difficult posting when little has been done. It's mostly down to not having help on two man jobs.

This week i have been sanding down the plasterboard , I sanded all the spots where i plastered over screw holes.

The big job now is the long white strips that you can see. Over 3 and a half meters high.

Before i started sanding i opened all four windows to get the dust out of the room. Sadly it was one of those days without any wind in the air so the room filled with plaster dust. It was easy to just give in and wait another day.

Ok so i'm not perefct, but close

2024-07-06T18:50:00.001+01:00

There is a black pipe in the wall partly covered in plaster. I had completed all the room but forgot to run pipes for the Lights. It meant that i had to cut the wall so the pipe would sit easy in the wall. This is at the top of the stairs and it's for the light switch.

This is one of the gable walls. Here is where the electric pipe goes from below to the lounge. The pipe has to sit inside of the wall so i had to cut the plasterboard.

At the bottom of the black pipe is where the light switch will be. This is before i started to plaster the pipe in position.When done i will have to sand the plaster down ready for painting.

On the BBC news

2024-07-06T18:39:00.001+01:00

I often read the BBC news i like to know what's going on in the world. Various ne Labour MP's have made statements about what they are going to do now Elected.

Stephanie Tryhuba tells BBC Breakfast she wants to see urgent measures to tackle the "awful" shortage of GP appointments and the fact it is "impossible" to get a dental appointment

Well Stephanie come to where i live often you can see your Doctor the same day. Or even you can see your Dentist the same day. But then again i don't live in the UK lucky me happy in retirement

BLood test

2024-07-03T18:57:00.002+01:00

Some time ago a family member had to have a blood test and it was a month before the results became available . I have to have a whole body blood test tomorrow for my Doctor over me being Diabetic. If i go before 10.30am i will get the results by email the same day after 10.30am it would be the next day.

I once needed a prescription medicine and i knew it's name, however i didn't have my prescription no problem. I was given the medication but paid full price when i went back the next day with my prescription i received a refund. Here in Portugal everybody has to pay a proportion of the cost of there medication.

Being diabetic i need to take Insulin however Insulin is free to all Diabetics here in Portugal. Cost of the blood test well that's free.

It's one thing having an idea but.

2024-06-28T21:43:00.000+01:00

Not many people get to design and build there own home. I did the next best thing i got myself a shell and that's where all my ideas come to fruition.

My ceiling will form only part of the space available. The picture on the right gives an idea of how the ceiling will look.

Like this idea there will be lots of trials to make sure i get my ideas to work. In my workshop i have a light that come on by sound. This is something i want to look at.

When the roof tiles get replaced i will put extra insulation into the roof space. The ceiling you can see in the picture is only 3 meters wide. A further 1.5 meters

Before the fire season

2024-06-27T19:26:00.000+01:00

The fire season could happen anytime and there are rules about keeping land clear.

This belongs to a neighbour of mine and does need clearing sometime soon.

Well here's my land recently cleared so less danger of fire but nothing is 100% certain. All we can do is our best to help to keep the risk down. I have a young neighbour who clears my land for me

Plasterbooading finished upstairs

2024-06-25T22:43:00.002+01:00

Scaffolding up ready to tape the joints and fill the screw holes. When dry i can sand the boards and that's a bis job done.

This picture shows the level that the ceiling will be at. The ceiling will not go all the way across. The lighting for the room will come out of the sides flooding down.

Ok i can see it in my mind the ceiling will go underneath and to the side of the steel you can see on the wall. The ceiling will be 3 meter wide and 5.7 meters front to back. Well that's enough for now.

A few catch up pictures

2024-06-21T22:37:00.003+01:00

Hows this for a window a meter and a half wide. Over half a meter high and so deep i can't touch the with from the front of the sill. The wall is a full meter thick and i have studded the wall with loads of insulation. So happy days ahead.

This is going to be the kitchen wall it's five and a half meters wide. It's insulated to within an inch of it's life. There will be no sockets on the walls but there will be pop-up sockets and above the work surface will be a wall to wall Mirror. So i can watch myself cooking.

At a market i attend someone parked a motorbike right behind my van. Clever i couldn't open my van doors. As you can see i moved the van into the middle of the road no i had access to the back of my van.

I remember when my granddaughter was visiting she tried to get me in the river for a swim. Well granddaughter here is the reason i won't swim in the river.

Ok I'm back

2024-06-18T13:16:00.001+01:00

It's been a while and i have to admit to being sad not to have posted as often as i did some time ago.

I spoke a few days ago to my best friend and the only way i could keep him up to date was via Whatsapp. I must say he convinced me to restart my Blog in a way to let the world know what i am doing. Secondly to let someone from my distant past know what i am doing with my life.

Some time ago i sold my share of a ruin next door to my house and used the money to buy a house about 50 meters behind where i live now.

I don't have email on this laptop so that's one thing i need to do so i can post pictures of progress in my new house

Geting ready to start the works on the house.

2023-05-14T13:30:00.000+01:00

Well it's preparation time with my new house. First i am getting out all the tools i need starting with 3 X scaffolding towers, doors, mains water pipe all the blocks to form the first floor. The main beams will arrive tomorrow.

The first job i intend to do is paint the outside wall white so the house stands out as you come up the lane.

This post is the start of my dream build, over the years i dreamt of the day i could buy the house and that day has come.

Soon i will be announcing my Youtube channel and my Instergram account name so please come back to find out what's happening.

In the coming days

2023-05-14T13:04:00.000+01:00

In the coming days i take over a second home yes i am buying another house here in Portugal. This time i have to do building work like creating a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor. After all the views are from the top floor.

Upstairs i will have an open plan Lounge/ Diner. The house isn't big but the views from the gable end wall will make it all worth the effort.

First job will be to paint the outside a nice white before any other work gets done.

It's looked like this for over 12 years that i can remember and it's time to look fresh.

Kent Apples

2023-04-19T19:43:00.004+01:00

I read on the BBC news website today that the supermarkets in the UK expect food prices to fall in about 3 months.

Below is a story again from the BBC news website form, a month ago about farmers not getting enough money for there crops. Like everybody else they have had increases but got no more money from the supermarkets.

Apple farmers in Kent are digging up their orchards in the face of stagnant returns on the fruit.

Fruit grower Richard Budd, from Marden, has removed 50 acres (20 hectares) of apple trees from his land.

He said the UK's food security was "increasingly under threat" as orchards disappear and future buyers will need foreign importers.

The industry is on a "knife edge", according to British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL).

Apples are being left to rot in the fields while issues with shortages, which could last until May, affect supermarkets in the UK.

Input prices - which include picking, energy, haulage and packaging - have risen 23%, while the amount supermarkets pay growers for their produce has increased 0.8% year-on-year, BAPL said.

Reuben Collingwood, from Tenterden, is a fourth generation farmer who said his fruit-growing business was facing huge financial losses.

He described the situation as "pretty catastrophic".

"We use a lot electricity for our cold storage to be able to provide food throughout the winter," he explained.

"That's gone up 300% on last year, labour's gone up 15% and it's due to go up again in April."

Where i live

2023-03-26T12:09:00.005+01:00

I live a few kilometers from a place in central Portugal called Gois famous for a huge motorbike festival.

Gois with all it's outlying villages has a total population of about 4,500 people down in 10 years from 6,000.

I recently joined the Gym in the sports hall to avoid the weather that we had been having. Going for a walk for exercise was sometimes impossible because of the weather so i joined the Gym.

I went in to join and the guy i met started to fill in a for about my general health. He then explained that should anything happen to me he would have that information to help him.

As i went upstairs to the gym i noticed on the wall a Defibrillator. Wow looking how small the place is that i now call home and they have equipment such as this.

A while ago i had a Raspberry feast.

2023-03-26T11:52:00.002+01:00

Sometime ago i was asked to water some plants while the house was empty. There where a large amounts of Raspberry plants and i was invited to have some and i did,

I had got myself 2 raspberry plants last year and now with extra pots i got myself more Raspberry plants. While at a recent market i saw 2 yellow Raspberry plants and got those as well. In total i now have 7 plants and it may be another year before i get a big crop.

Plenty of sun and some looking after should make summer enjoyable,

Her are my 5 Raspberry plants all growing well and in a good sized pot.

Her are my 2 yellow plants and i still have 1 pot left for another plant.

First time in my life

2023-03-26T11:42:00.001+01:00

This morning after getting dressed i dropped my washing down the laundry chute to the cellar where i do my washing. This morning i noticed that the light wasn't on downstairs like it normally is. While doing this my computer was starting up getting ready for me to watch the TV.

Unknown to me and the first time in my life the clocks had changed and i didn't know about the clock change. By now the wall clock said it was 9,20am but when my TV came on it said it was 10.20am. Now it all became clear we had a time change during the night.

I want to share this picture

2023-03-06T22:20:00.002+00:00

I had just feed my fish with 2 prawns and some of them started to eat the prawns happily. These type of fish are not to happy with a planted tank that's why there are not many plants to be seen.

I felt robbed

2023-03-06T14:32:00.001+00:00

In a local supermarket to me i saw Maltesers on offer at 84c a pack. What a treat a bag of Maltesers for a reasonable price so i treated myself. The bag size is not as big as in the UK but it's a treat. As i started to enjoy them i counted as i emptied the bag i shouldn't have counted them i then felt sad.

I should admit i was driving eating one Malteser after the other 16 was the total in the bag. I know the bag was reduced but cone on 16 Maltesers in a bag the supermarket can keep all they have left,

It's common for manufacturers to reduce pack size instead of raising the pack size but they robbed me.

Fire

2023-02-25T10:39:00.002+00:00

I received a notification on my phone that i would rather have not seen.In Portugal the Powers to be send messages warning of fires. After all it's still only February and we have had lots of rain so the fire season should be a long way off.

I am glad we get warning but now in February i hope it's not a sign of things to come later in the year.