Living on a small island can have it's problems. One of them is that some times you can develop what they call island fever. The only cure is to GET OFF THE ISLAND!!!!
So that is what we did. We went to Tenerife for a long weekend. We caught the ferry a 4am on Thursday morning, this meant being at the port at 3am to check-in, leaving our house at 2am to drive to the port, which entailed getting up at 1am. So by the time we got on the ferry we had been up for 4 hours and we ready to have a kip. The journey over wasn't to bad, just find a seat a curl up and try to sleep. the ferry takes 4hours to get to Los Chritanos in Tenerife with a 1/2hour stopover in La Gomera to load and unload passengers.
Once we got to Tenerife, a quick coffee and a sandwich and we were on the road to the north of the island and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where we hit the shops. Why come all this way to go shopping ,well with Tenerife being a bigger island and with a larger British population there are more shopping opertunities than in La Palma, there is even a small Marks & Spencers.
After spending the morning shopping it was off to Ikea and then to our hotel in Puerto de La Cruz. We were staying in the Hotel Acuario, which is on the hill just up from the center of Puerto de la Cruz. The Room was small but clean and functional. Where the hotel did excel was in the food, for a 2 star hotel with a buffet breakfast and evening meal, the food was always, hot and not dried out to much. On the Saturday night they had a selection of typical canarian foods and the Rabbit in salmoreno ( Red pepper and onion sauce) was fantastic.
Coming home was interesting we got to the port in good time so that we were more or less the first in the queue for the ferry. So we went into the terminal to get a coffee and sit an watch the ships come in an out. I was about quarter of an hour before our ferry and it hadn't arrived so we wandered down to the car, we were just about to get into the car when there was a garbled announcement on the tannoy and everybody came running out and getting into the cars and driving off, I at first though that people had queued in the wrong place (there are two different ferry companies), but it turned out that our ferry had broken down and that we were all being loaded on the rival ferry which was being diverted to La Palma. So we finally got on having had on of the guys who was directing traffic winding me up by looking at my ticket and saying "oh no you've got to go back over there" before smiling, just as I was about to get uppity, and point for us to go down the priority boarding lane. As it happened this ferry is faster that the one we should have got so we ended up home an hour earlier than we should have been.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Cooking On Gas
Well finally after 18 Months I have a cooker..
We have been running on to small camping stoves since we arrived, now this is OK for you basic Meat and two Veg as I can do the meat on the barbecue and the veg on the camping stoves, But if you want a sauce to go on the meat well that's a different matter. So now having four reasonable burners available is great. OK they run off a gas cylinder that is under the worktop for now (it will go outside once we have built the proper kitchen). The funny thing is the first time I decided to use the cooker properly it ran out of gas so I had to go back to using the camping cookers again!!!!! But I was able to go and exchange the gas bottle at our local village store (which isn't officially open at present as the is a problem with the license), I was a little worried about doing this as I hadn't had to handle this before, the was the system works out here is that you have to jump through all sorts of hoops in order to get your first gas bottle, then you can just exchange the empty for a full one after that. I was worried that I would not be able to get a new bottle, but as it happened there was absolutely no problem in exchanging it. So I now have a full bottle and it will be interesting to see how long it will last, as we only use for cooking.
We have been running on to small camping stoves since we arrived, now this is OK for you basic Meat and two Veg as I can do the meat on the barbecue and the veg on the camping stoves, But if you want a sauce to go on the meat well that's a different matter. So now having four reasonable burners available is great. OK they run off a gas cylinder that is under the worktop for now (it will go outside once we have built the proper kitchen). The funny thing is the first time I decided to use the cooker properly it ran out of gas so I had to go back to using the camping cookers again!!!!! But I was able to go and exchange the gas bottle at our local village store (which isn't officially open at present as the is a problem with the license), I was a little worried about doing this as I hadn't had to handle this before, the was the system works out here is that you have to jump through all sorts of hoops in order to get your first gas bottle, then you can just exchange the empty for a full one after that. I was worried that I would not be able to get a new bottle, but as it happened there was absolutely no problem in exchanging it. So I now have a full bottle and it will be interesting to see how long it will last, as we only use for cooking.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Everything including the kitchen sink
After 18 months we finally have a kitchen sink! Yes one with taps both in hot and cold and a drain connection.
This may not sound much but our old sink had only a cold tap and if you emptied things down the drain you would end up with wet feet. As well a sink we also have a set of worktops which doubles the amount of space available for cooking. It was very hard to cook in our old kitchen as the work surfaces were about the size of a postage stamp. The outflow from the sink goes directly into the grey water tank which is behind the bathroom in the garden. Along with a plumbed-in sink the washing machine has also been fitted. If you remember before I had to drag the machine across the floor drag a pipe in from the garden and then I could do nothing else while the washing was running. Now it is so easy to just trow the washing in to the machine and forget about it.
At the moment this kitchen has been built temporarily in what will be the dining hall once all the work is finished. We have built a wall of plastic sheeting between the dining hall and the old kitchen so that we can knock the old kitchen to pieces with out filling the rest of the house fully of dust and muck.
Hopefully early next week we should be able to fit the gas hob, at the moment we have been coping with two little camping stoves. So finally having 4 full gas burners fed from a big gas bottle (No mains gas here) should make things a lot easier. Helen has just been taking it easy for a few days, as she pushed quite hard to get the kitchen done and just needs a little rest.
This may not sound much but our old sink had only a cold tap and if you emptied things down the drain you would end up with wet feet. As well a sink we also have a set of worktops which doubles the amount of space available for cooking. It was very hard to cook in our old kitchen as the work surfaces were about the size of a postage stamp. The outflow from the sink goes directly into the grey water tank which is behind the bathroom in the garden. Along with a plumbed-in sink the washing machine has also been fitted. If you remember before I had to drag the machine across the floor drag a pipe in from the garden and then I could do nothing else while the washing was running. Now it is so easy to just trow the washing in to the machine and forget about it.
At the moment this kitchen has been built temporarily in what will be the dining hall once all the work is finished. We have built a wall of plastic sheeting between the dining hall and the old kitchen so that we can knock the old kitchen to pieces with out filling the rest of the house fully of dust and muck.
Hopefully early next week we should be able to fit the gas hob, at the moment we have been coping with two little camping stoves. So finally having 4 full gas burners fed from a big gas bottle (No mains gas here) should make things a lot easier. Helen has just been taking it easy for a few days, as she pushed quite hard to get the kitchen done and just needs a little rest.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
A Week on the Tiles
Although the work on the house is progressing, I will not say that things have been going that well, I seem to be getting more and more uptight and grumpy, a day really goes by without me snapping at Theresa. After a rather tiring week of work finishing with a very late night grouting, the dining room was ready to become a temporary kitchen. Then a day of intense cleaning, to rid the house of construction dust and another day to move the fridge and washing machine in to the newly finished room and put up a false wall to stop dust from the work on the new kitchen and things are looking good.
While doing the tiling I thought it would be good to fix the few tiles that had fallen off of the wall in the loo/shower, there were only about 8 or 10 tiles to put up and we had some spare tiles in the under croft (original 1950 or 60 tiles in a wooden crate). So I started removing the old tile cement so that the replacement ones would be at the same level that current ones are. removing the old cement was not to hard as it was quite loose but then the old tiles were not that well attached to the wall ether and stared fulling off.... in the end I hand to put around 30 tiles back on instead of around 10.
The other job that we have managed to get done is to finally have a proper path and steps to the loo so after a year we can now go to the loo without risking a broken ankle.
While doing the tiling I thought it would be good to fix the few tiles that had fallen off of the wall in the loo/shower, there were only about 8 or 10 tiles to put up and we had some spare tiles in the under croft (original 1950 or 60 tiles in a wooden crate). So I started removing the old tile cement so that the replacement ones would be at the same level that current ones are. removing the old cement was not to hard as it was quite loose but then the old tiles were not that well attached to the wall ether and stared fulling off.... in the end I hand to put around 30 tiles back on instead of around 10.The other job that we have managed to get done is to finally have a proper path and steps to the loo so after a year we can now go to the loo without risking a broken ankle.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Inside Plumbing
Finlay Hot water in the house - pity there is no tap yet...
The first stage of the pluming for the temp kitchen is done and so is all the painting and the varnishing of the doors (still have to put the bedroom door on its hinges).
OK the pluming is not much only a few meters of pipe (cast iron, old but it works) And we can plumb the washing machine in.. no more moving it around and connecting it to a long pipe that dumps water in the garden..
I will just be glad when we can get rid of the lopsided hot water tank - but that will not be for a while.
The only thing left to do now is put the tiles down and then the dinning room is ready to become a temporary kitchen. How long it will be before the real kitchen is ready will depend on when we get some more money in as our building reserves are now just about run out, but we will have what we need to get on with things and see if we can make a living out here. That is going to be the real test is it not... Mind you we still will move slowly on some things, like knocking the old kitchen about, removing the concrete kitchen units and fire place (shame about that but its is just too big and low).
As to how we are feeling, well things are OK but we are a bit touchy at the moment, I have so many things I want to do and as usual Just cannot seem to get any of them done. As I have never lived in another country for more than two years I am a little worried that it will be the same this time. We will just have to wait and see.
The first stage of the pluming for the temp kitchen is done and so is all the painting and the varnishing of the doors (still have to put the bedroom door on its hinges).
OK the pluming is not much only a few meters of pipe (cast iron, old but it works) And we can plumb the washing machine in.. no more moving it around and connecting it to a long pipe that dumps water in the garden..
I will just be glad when we can get rid of the lopsided hot water tank - but that will not be for a while.The only thing left to do now is put the tiles down and then the dinning room is ready to become a temporary kitchen. How long it will be before the real kitchen is ready will depend on when we get some more money in as our building reserves are now just about run out, but we will have what we need to get on with things and see if we can make a living out here. That is going to be the real test is it not... Mind you we still will move slowly on some things, like knocking the old kitchen about, removing the concrete kitchen units and fire place (shame about that but its is just too big and low).
As to how we are feeling, well things are OK but we are a bit touchy at the moment, I have so many things I want to do and as usual Just cannot seem to get any of them done. As I have never lived in another country for more than two years I am a little worried that it will be the same this time. We will just have to wait and see.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
1st Helresa Star Party
A while ago a friend of ours moved from the capital of the island Santa Cruz over to the other side of the island, they moved into a small place just outside puntagorda. She had moved there to escape the noise, she is a singer/songwriter and it was hard for her to record in town.
Having moved over there she commented on how many stars there were in the sky and suggested that we bring over the telescope one time so she could take a look.
So last weekend that is what we did, just like the old days we packed our tent and telescopes into the car and headed off. We got there mid afternoon, having had to make a short detour after getting so far along the road only to be told that there was a rally on and we would have to turn back.
I thought to my self as I turned round.
So as I was saying once we got there we started to put up the tent in the blistering heat. Once the tent was up it was time to sit down a have a cup of tea. Our other friend Sheila was there with her son to enjoy the stars. We had a barbecue tea and settled down to watch the clouds roll in. So there we sat outside drinking red wine and chatting Until at last the clouds parted.
Telescope and Palm Trees at Dusk
There was just enough time for me to swear at my computer as I tried to get it to talk to the telescope, as Helen went old school and manually pointed my old trusty ETX90 at Jupiter. Before the clouds rolled in again and we packed up for the night.
The second night was a little better but not by much, The cloud rolled in again but we did manage to get a good look at the Moon and Saturn before we clouded out again.
Having moved over there she commented on how many stars there were in the sky and suggested that we bring over the telescope one time so she could take a look.
So last weekend that is what we did, just like the old days we packed our tent and telescopes into the car and headed off. We got there mid afternoon, having had to make a short detour after getting so far along the road only to be told that there was a rally on and we would have to turn back.
Why the F*** didn't it say that at the junction you ..........
I thought to my self as I turned round.
So as I was saying once we got there we started to put up the tent in the blistering heat. Once the tent was up it was time to sit down a have a cup of tea. Our other friend Sheila was there with her son to enjoy the stars. We had a barbecue tea and settled down to watch the clouds roll in. So there we sat outside drinking red wine and chatting Until at last the clouds parted.
Telescope and Palm Trees at Dusk The second night was a little better but not by much, The cloud rolled in again but we did manage to get a good look at the Moon and Saturn before we clouded out again.
The Moon, Saturn, Mars and Regulus
Next year at our house with the scope mounted in it permanent location I hope. More on that in the next week or so I hope
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
21st Centry arives in Franceses
After a year of trying to cope with an Internet connection that ran at 56 Kb (just like the old dial-up modems), we now have 3 G and at last have something that is usable..
There was no announcement I just logged on one morning and there it was. Now all we have to do is sort out how to connect several systems through one connection that gets re-created each time you connect, so you have to share it a new each time.... We may look at another company if we can not get something that works better.. But it is OK for now.
There was no announcement I just logged on one morning and there it was. Now all we have to do is sort out how to connect several systems through one connection that gets re-created each time you connect, so you have to share it a new each time.... We may look at another company if we can not get something that works better.. But it is OK for now.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Look Drains!
Work moves forward... On the outside the gray water tank is now in its correct place and yes it has pipes to the house and to the fields (but not the final irrigation connections). 
We have a wast water connection to the tank now in the dinning room for the temporary kitchen sink, also the main drain connection to the pozo negro has moved closer to the house.
the old location of the gray water tank is now being converted to a small location for potting seeds etc, and concrete paths are being added from the house to the outside loo etc. we hope to have a small formal herb garden created in front of the dining room with a patio, once all the drains are in.
On the Inside work on the dinning room moves slowly forward, most of the wood work has been striped and the first coat of vanish should be on the front doors today (once I have done this blog and got dressed) I would like to get all the wood work done this week so that the painting can be done over the weekend. As the room will be used as a kitchen for a while we are only going to use white paint for now but that should seal the walls. It will have to be redone once the final kitchen is done. To finish all the wood work I need to make some trimming around the door into our bedroom and will try to use some of the old planking that was on the water tank roof.
As to the rest of the house, money is running low so things may take a bit longer than planed, we plan to do only a few things over the summer as we have to work on the web site etc and anything else that may get money in.
We are fighting the worries that all this is going to come tumbling down due to no money coming in, The teaching job that Theresa has ends for the summer this week, we hope that it will start again in September (we are as sure as anything in the future that it will) but we need a bit more coming in to be able to continue the work on the house and to be able to see the family etc.
We have a wast water connection to the tank now in the dinning room for the temporary kitchen sink, also the main drain connection to the pozo negro has moved closer to the house.the old location of the gray water tank is now being converted to a small location for potting seeds etc, and concrete paths are being added from the house to the outside loo etc. we hope to have a small formal herb garden created in front of the dining room with a patio, once all the drains are in.
On the Inside work on the dinning room moves slowly forward, most of the wood work has been striped and the first coat of vanish should be on the front doors today (once I have done this blog and got dressed) I would like to get all the wood work done this week so that the painting can be done over the weekend. As the room will be used as a kitchen for a while we are only going to use white paint for now but that should seal the walls. It will have to be redone once the final kitchen is done. To finish all the wood work I need to make some trimming around the door into our bedroom and will try to use some of the old planking that was on the water tank roof.
As to the rest of the house, money is running low so things may take a bit longer than planed, we plan to do only a few things over the summer as we have to work on the web site etc and anything else that may get money in.
We are fighting the worries that all this is going to come tumbling down due to no money coming in, The teaching job that Theresa has ends for the summer this week, we hope that it will start again in September (we are as sure as anything in the future that it will) but we need a bit more coming in to be able to continue the work on the house and to be able to see the family etc.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Another month gone!
Och... its June and We have not blogged!
True we have had promptings from friends to get down and write something - anything... Its not as if nothing has happened but most of it is all small things. Well one large thing did happen, We got our money back from the local council, yes €600, in cash (we emptied the till). But as to the rest not much has been finished, its all little things; like the wall for the water tank, the rendering on the walls for the Dining room.
There are two main reasons for this, one being that we have had guests over for one week, the other is that we (well to be honest its me) just have not been feeling that much like doing much.
We did help to move one of our friends from Santa Cruz to Puntagorda, I would not say that it was a fun day but it was a good day.. She lived in one of the old water mills above Santa Cruz, and the only access was a donkey trail so it involved around 4 trips back and forth to the car of about 1Km each way but as there were 6 of us and not too much stuff it was not bad. The other end was much better as we could get the car a lot closer to the house (3 m)..
I have been feeling like I have lost my way lately, it may be that the house is talking a lot longer to complete. Part of it is also that we are trying to do to many things at once. At the moment we have the following part done; the dining room, the drains, the grape vine, the garden (veg patch), the solar electric and the bathroom roof (not to meanchon the bathroom its self) oh yes and the tiles in the entertainment room. Then there is the money situation, its running out.. So I think we need to just get some things finished... and have a bit of a brake.
True we have had promptings from friends to get down and write something - anything... Its not as if nothing has happened but most of it is all small things. Well one large thing did happen, We got our money back from the local council, yes €600, in cash (we emptied the till). But as to the rest not much has been finished, its all little things; like the wall for the water tank, the rendering on the walls for the Dining room.
There are two main reasons for this, one being that we have had guests over for one week, the other is that we (well to be honest its me) just have not been feeling that much like doing much.
We did help to move one of our friends from Santa Cruz to Puntagorda, I would not say that it was a fun day but it was a good day.. She lived in one of the old water mills above Santa Cruz, and the only access was a donkey trail so it involved around 4 trips back and forth to the car of about 1Km each way but as there were 6 of us and not too much stuff it was not bad. The other end was much better as we could get the car a lot closer to the house (3 m)..
I have been feeling like I have lost my way lately, it may be that the house is talking a lot longer to complete. Part of it is also that we are trying to do to many things at once. At the moment we have the following part done; the dining room, the drains, the grape vine, the garden (veg patch), the solar electric and the bathroom roof (not to meanchon the bathroom its self) oh yes and the tiles in the entertainment room. Then there is the money situation, its running out.. So I think we need to just get some things finished... and have a bit of a brake.
Friday, May 09, 2008
A new window on the Garden
Hi all
Its been a very busy two weeks - two weeks ago we finally got the new windows that are going in the dinning room and kitchen. not grate windows but only just over €100 each so cheep and they are on the back of the house so are not a problem as to looks.
Well the first window to go in replaces the door in the dinning room to the garden, as there were 5 doorways from the dinning room changing one to a window at least results in one wall without a door and a nice view out on the garden.
The first job was to move the current door from the opening in the dinning room to the opening in the Kitchen (manly as the old door had the cat flap and also was mostly glass so there is more light in the kitchen). The problem was that the door was 2cm bigger that the one in the kitchen, but a quick run down with the angle grinder and a few
bashes with the hammer and chisel and the door fits great (wooden door frames what wooden door frames its all concrete!!!)
Next the old opening needed to be part bricked up to form the base of the window.... Now the door was about 70cm and the window is 1m so the top had to be opened up a little. For this we got a BIG angle grinder (and still it was not big enough to cut through all the wall only went 1/3 of the way through so again required a lot of hammering (remember that this wall is made of concrete and stones, big stones, some about 30cm in diameter, so it was rather hard work), but finally we had the opening and a new lintel added. After that putting the window in was simple.
The rest of the time has been spent rendering the walls and ceiling of the room, and it does look quite good now. See the before and after photos below.
Its been a very busy two weeks - two weeks ago we finally got the new windows that are going in the dinning room and kitchen. not grate windows but only just over €100 each so cheep and they are on the back of the house so are not a problem as to looks.
Well the first window to go in replaces the door in the dinning room to the garden, as there were 5 doorways from the dinning room changing one to a window at least results in one wall without a door and a nice view out on the garden.
The first job was to move the current door from the opening in the dinning room to the opening in the Kitchen (manly as the old door had the cat flap and also was mostly glass so there is more light in the kitchen). The problem was that the door was 2cm bigger that the one in the kitchen, but a quick run down with the angle grinder and a few
bashes with the hammer and chisel and the door fits great (wooden door frames what wooden door frames its all concrete!!!)Next the old opening needed to be part bricked up to form the base of the window.... Now the door was about 70cm and the window is 1m so the top had to be opened up a little. For this we got a BIG angle grinder (and still it was not big enough to cut through all the wall only went 1/3 of the way through so again required a lot of hammering (remember that this wall is made of concrete and stones, big stones, some about 30cm in diameter, so it was rather hard work), but finally we had the opening and a new lintel added. After that putting the window in was simple.
The rest of the time has been spent rendering the walls and ceiling of the room, and it does look quite good now. See the before and after photos below.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Zodiacal Light and Lasers in the Sky
A few times recently we have noticed a glow in the western sky after sunset. We had thought that it might be some light pollution coming from the main center of the village. This would not be a major problem as La Palma has very strict laws governing light pollution. So this evening we decided to go out for a drive having spotted this glow and find out where it was coming from, and to our surprise we found that the glow did not have a terrestrial source. Having read a bit I discovered that what we were seeing was what is known as the Zodiacal Light. This is the light from the sun being reflected off very small grains of dust in orbit around the Sun. It is only visible in dark non light polluted skies. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture of this but I will keep an eye out and try and get one.
When we got back from our little drive around to try and find the source of the glow, as we got out of the car I looked up to the sky as I normally do and noticed something in the sky. What I saw was a straight line across the sky. This is the 25W Laser which is projected from the William Herschel Telescope to provide an artificial guide star for the adaptive optics system which allows the removal of the effects of the air turbulence which is what causes the stars to twinkle.
When we got back from our little drive around to try and find the source of the glow, as we got out of the car I looked up to the sky as I normally do and noticed something in the sky. What I saw was a straight line across the sky. This is the 25W Laser which is projected from the William Herschel Telescope to provide an artificial guide star for the adaptive optics system which allows the removal of the effects of the air turbulence which is what causes the stars to twinkle.
30sec Exposure showing Laser
2 1/2 minute Exposure showing Laser tracking stars
Work in Progress
Now that we have the cement mixer set up in an easier position. We have been able to get a lot of jobs done around the house, the two main ones are the position for the water tanks behind the old toilet block which also includes the pipe work for the connection of the new bathroom toilet into the existing sewerage system. This has meant digging out an area and building a block wall to hold back the earth from the top level outside the house.
Also we have been working on putting the roof on the roof. What I mean by that is that on the roof we have a small block built cupboard which will house all the equipment for the solar panels. This week we added the top to this, and once the cement has set we will top this off with some traditional Spanish tiles.
Also we have been working on putting the roof on the roof. What I mean by that is that on the roof we have a small block built cupboard which will house all the equipment for the solar panels. This week we added the top to this, and once the cement has set we will top this off with some traditional Spanish tiles.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The "Bloody Stupid" Jonhson Sand Delivery System
Well, actually I have decided it can't be called the "Bloody Stupid" Johnson Sand Delivery system as it does in fact work. For those of you who are wondering "Bloody Stupid" Johnson is a character from the disc world novels by Terry Pratchett. The character was an inventor who would make wonderful inventions only they would always have some little quirk which made them next to useless. For example he made a sorting machine for the post office which had a wheel in which PI was exactly 3 and hence would distort space time and sort letters before they had even been written.
But lets get back to the sand delivery system. We have rigged up a system using a piece of large plastic tubbing, some corrugated iron, rope and some wire, and water piping that allows us to shovel sand and gravel in at the top and at the bottom is the cement mixer ready and waiting to receive it's load. With this set up it means that we no longer have to shift large buckets or wheelbarrows full of gravel down every time we want to mix concrete.
But lets get back to the sand delivery system. We have rigged up a system using a piece of large plastic tubbing, some corrugated iron, rope and some wire, and water piping that allows us to shovel sand and gravel in at the top and at the bottom is the cement mixer ready and waiting to receive it's load. With this set up it means that we no longer have to shift large buckets or wheelbarrows full of gravel down every time we want to mix concrete.
The cement mixer in operation to load all you have to do is turn the drum to face the other direction and pour gravel in from the top.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Where, oh Where, DOES all the Crap Go?
This is a very important subject on our minds at the moment, OK it may sound crude or something,but it is REALLY important. Why I hear you ask. Well one of the major tasks this year is to convert the old water tank in to a new bathroom. We now have a roof on the tank and a opening into the house, the next job is to start the pluming, and one of the tasks, as part of that is to lay new drains. Now for you who live in the UK and most major towns this is not hard - find the nearest man hole and connect the new drains to that. Well it is not quite that simple here....
We in the country don't have main drains.. So what do we have? We have what is called a Poso Negro, the direct translation of that is "Black Well", and up to last week we did not know where it was and in what condition it was in. We had some idea that it was located close to the current
bathroom, (which is a 1m x 2m concrete hut in the garden). We thought that it might be under about half a meter of soil that was dumped in front of the loo to bring the ground up to the level of the house. Well last week I started clearing a space behind the loo to hold the tank for gray water recycling. while doing so I notest that there appeared to be a concrete wall below the loo....
After some work with a hammer, there was a hole and behold we have the Poso Negro,
and what is the poso negro? A large hole in the ground, about 1 meter square and 2 meters deep, (well to the serf ice of the water, I am not going to find out how deep that is!!!!), With the loo on top of it.
So now all I have to do is put in the new pipes and close up the hole and we have somewhere for the new loo to empty into.
We in the country don't have main drains.. So what do we have? We have what is called a Poso Negro, the direct translation of that is "Black Well", and up to last week we did not know where it was and in what condition it was in. We had some idea that it was located close to the current
bathroom, (which is a 1m x 2m concrete hut in the garden). We thought that it might be under about half a meter of soil that was dumped in front of the loo to bring the ground up to the level of the house. Well last week I started clearing a space behind the loo to hold the tank for gray water recycling. while doing so I notest that there appeared to be a concrete wall below the loo....After some work with a hammer, there was a hole and behold we have the Poso Negro,
and what is the poso negro? A large hole in the ground, about 1 meter square and 2 meters deep, (well to the serf ice of the water, I am not going to find out how deep that is!!!!), With the loo on top of it.
So now all I have to do is put in the new pipes and close up the hole and we have somewhere for the new loo to empty into.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
We have our Bag...
Well our bag did finally arrived at Sheila's and we have it back with all the bits that were in it. Apart from that we have done nothing this week, it has been raining everyday since we got back and I have been working on the Ruido FanZine Layout most of the time, but that should be all done with by Monday and I hope that the weather will be better next week. We plan to order the new windows for the Dinning hall and Kitchen tomorrow, nothing special just the cheapest we can get.
If the weather improves I need to drill some holes in the roof for all the solar power feeds and lay a concrete base for the battery housing, its only been waiting to do it for 6 months, just haven't been able to get round to it with all the work on the bypass.
If the weather improves I need to drill some holes in the roof for all the solar power feeds and lay a concrete base for the battery housing, its only been waiting to do it for 6 months, just haven't been able to get round to it with all the work on the bypass.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Back in La Palma
We are back in La Palma after having spent a week in the UK.
I'm sorry to anyone that we didn't get round to seeing but it's very hard to cram everything into one week.
Both trips were a little problematic due to delays and problems checking in due to the fact that although the flights are all sold as Iberia some of them are provided by BA which means you can't get your boarding passed till you get to the airport and when your first flight is delayed this means you have to run from one end of Madrid Airport to the other in order to get the flight. We made it with minutes to spare, and as we sat on the plane we saw one of our bags turn up and be loaded on the plane. However when we got to Tenerife we found out that it hadn't and we only had one bag. So we asked and they said it had already gone to La Palma via Seville. So we checked in for La Palma and when we got there and spoke to the Iberia rep he was very rude and treated me like a idiot, anyway he said I had to speak to the Binter Canarias office. So I did and they were much better. They knew my bag was still in Madrid and they would try and get it to me tomorrow.
They phoned this morning and the bag should be delivered to Sheila's house either today or tomorrow morning.
Off to go and pick up Tabby later from the Vet, Couldn't pick her up yesterday as the Vet's was closed on Good Friday so we stayed overnight at Sheila's
I'm sorry to anyone that we didn't get round to seeing but it's very hard to cram everything into one week.
Both trips were a little problematic due to delays and problems checking in due to the fact that although the flights are all sold as Iberia some of them are provided by BA which means you can't get your boarding passed till you get to the airport and when your first flight is delayed this means you have to run from one end of Madrid Airport to the other in order to get the flight. We made it with minutes to spare, and as we sat on the plane we saw one of our bags turn up and be loaded on the plane. However when we got to Tenerife we found out that it hadn't and we only had one bag. So we asked and they said it had already gone to La Palma via Seville. So we checked in for La Palma and when we got there and spoke to the Iberia rep he was very rude and treated me like a idiot, anyway he said I had to speak to the Binter Canarias office. So I did and they were much better. They knew my bag was still in Madrid and they would try and get it to me tomorrow.
They phoned this morning and the bag should be delivered to Sheila's house either today or tomorrow morning.
Off to go and pick up Tabby later from the Vet, Couldn't pick her up yesterday as the Vet's was closed on Good Friday so we stayed overnight at Sheila's
Friday, March 07, 2008
Ouch That's gotta Hurt
As I am writing this Helen is in bed resting.
This is due to the fact that Wednesday morning while she was doing some tidying up in the garden, she was walking backwards with the wheelbarrow and thinking about other things, and didn't realize that there was a pile of rocks on the ground behind her.
So over she went, unfortunately behind her was a 1.5M drop to the terrace below, with more rocks and other rubbish down there. She managed to get up and back into the house where it appeared that nothing was obviously broken.
How ever when I got home the pain in her side midway under her arm was worrying me so we went to the health center in Barlovento where the doctor examined her and decided that she best go to the Hospital for and x-ray just to make sure she hadn't cracked a rib.
So off the the Hospital above Santa Cruz, and thankfully all here ribs were intact just badly bruised, so Helen has to rest and take it easy for a week or so.
This is due to the fact that Wednesday morning while she was doing some tidying up in the garden, she was walking backwards with the wheelbarrow and thinking about other things, and didn't realize that there was a pile of rocks on the ground behind her.
So over she went, unfortunately behind her was a 1.5M drop to the terrace below, with more rocks and other rubbish down there. She managed to get up and back into the house where it appeared that nothing was obviously broken.
How ever when I got home the pain in her side midway under her arm was worrying me so we went to the health center in Barlovento where the doctor examined her and decided that she best go to the Hospital for and x-ray just to make sure she hadn't cracked a rib.
So off the the Hospital above Santa Cruz, and thankfully all here ribs were intact just badly bruised, so Helen has to rest and take it easy for a week or so.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
1st Helresa Caption Compertition
OK this large vegtable was culled from our garden, it is a relation to the marrow. Suggestions for a caption on a postcard to Casa de Estrellas...... or alternativaly just add them here as comments.
It´s finished...... Phew that was fast
OK there are a few things left to do, like tomorrowremove the wooden formers and in about 4 weeks time remove the props from that inside but that is it the roof is on, and we have a hole through the wall.
The wall before the doorway
The whole roof, complete in 3 Days!!!
The bracing to hold all the concrete in place while it sets
and the props to hole the whole thing up until it dries completely in about 28 Days.
The wall before the doorway
The hole ready for a doorway
The whole roof, complete in 3 Days!!!
The bracing to hold all the concrete in place while it sets
and the props to hole the whole thing up until it dries completely in about 28 Days.Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The roof goes on
Well from just the old roof being removed yesterday and a little bit of wall being knocked off things are now speeding along. The concrete beams are in place and the blocks have been placed between them. The whole roof is bring surrounded with steel reinforceing bars that will form a solid ring beam to hole the whole roof togeather once the concrete is poured tomorrow.
Our Builder finishing tiying all the reforcing bars togeather
Another shot showing all the materials stacked up and the ventalation tube going in.
On the inside the hole for the door is progressing well with just about another 2 foot at the bottom to remove, apparently the wall is harder than they thought.
Another shot showing all the materials stacked up and the ventalation tube going in.
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