tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2009-11-07:/Personal Journal Blog telling tales of our new life living in rural SpainMokoFeed2009-11-07T15:04:07+01:00tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-10-30:/2007/10/30/an_update_at_long_last_well_if_you_look_~3219925/sarah28052007-10-30T18:28:58+01:002007-10-30T18:28:58+01:00 <p>Well, there must be some reason for not updating the blog site since the early part of the summer – but I can’t think of it!!! Things here have been pretty busy – I have posted an update for August below so it may help to read that one first!!!</p> <p>Anyway since August we have been busy with Glowfiesta.com our new(ish) business. We finally decided to take the plunge and set up a business in Spain – we are now the proud owners of Glowfiesta.com – a retail website and business selling glow products!!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/glowfiesta_com_gif_black/2106949" title="glowfiesta com gif black"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/949/2106949_9742e35d0d_s.gif" alt="glowfiesta com gif black" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>It’s all great fun, if a little difficult with the language barrier. Take a look at our website <a href="http://www.glowfiesta.com">www.glowfiesta.com</a> - we also attend events selling glow sticks, bracelets, necklaces etc. – it’s good fun, if hard work at times!</p> <p>Hopefully this will explain my horrendous lack of updating this site – now we are settled in to business life it’s a bit easier hence my posting these two updates.</p> <p>We have visited Barcelona again, what a great city, this time we stayed in an apartment and got more of a view of city life (we can confirm it’s not for us!). We went for a great walk around the port and along the beach – if you haven’t been it really is a place that’s worth a visit.</p> <p>Denise and Paul have been over too so we’ve had a few good evenings out and in with them. We enjoyed watching the Rugby over a take-away curry one evening – that’s one of the most English things we’ve done since we’ve been here!! It was very tasty!</p> <p>Mum and Aunty Christine have just left us after spending a great week – they have risen to the title of Champion’s on the food front! We had really excellent meals while they were here – we didn’t find any restaurant’s shut and we got great service (now for a 5 day period eating out every day that is pretty good going by our experience in Spain!!) We ate everything from Rice with omelette and chorizo sausages, swordfish to smaller tapas dishes such as grilled tuna with green sauce (salsa verde) and jamon y queso.</p> <p>We are currently gearing up for a few sales of glow products around Halloween and a sales event mixing Halloween and Bonfire night which should be fun!</p> <p>Hopefully we can keep the website a bit better updated now that we’ve settled down with the business.</p> <p>Please do keep in touch everyone, we’d love to hear from you,</p> <p>Hugs from Spain,<br> Sarah and Nigel.<br> xx</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/10/30/an_update_at_long_last_well_if_you_look_~3219925/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-10-30:/2007/10/30/at_long_last_an_update_telling_you_about~3219913/sarah28052007-10-30T18:26:34+01:002007-10-30T18:32:17+01:00 <p>At long last an update telling you about August!!!!! This was written way back in September but not posted until now (very poor service from these laid back Heards!)</p> <p>We’ve found a very different pace of life in Spain in August…..hence the laid back amount of time it’s taken me since the last update!!</p> <p>We had a brilliant weekend in Barcelona with Mum and Peter – the weather was fantastic and we saw all the sights. We especially enjoyed the Gaudi House along with our boat trip out onto the ocean to see the Tall Ships. We all had a great time and would recommend Barcelona as a place to visit – especially if you enjoy sight-seeing.</p> <p>After we got back Nigel fitted our new shower screen in the bathroom – so now we have a fantastic power shower – just what’s needed in the heat of the day! </p> <p>Tim, Gemma and Jade came to stay with us at the start of the month – a visit that coincided with fiesta time – which was great. We have not been here during fiesta before and all I can say is that it is 100 times more of everything than you expect. The whole town shuts down for a week, the shops only open in the mornings and in the evenings all the streets are closed and there is a massive market, stalls for eating and drinking and a huge fair. That is to say nothing of the ‘barracas’ the outdoor discos that spring up in marquee’s with no roof – they don’t open until midnight and most of the youngsters don’t finish there until 8am!!</p> <p>Tim and Nigel went along to the bull fight that comes to town once a year - and came back with sore bottoms having spent three hours sitting on a wooden bench (it would have helped if they knew the protocol to take a cushion or two!!!!) See the photo below that Tim took. Tim along with some friends of ours Stan and Brian were brave enough to enter into the bull-run for a while – joining the Spaniards in out-running the bull around a pre-set arena! Great fun if you like that sort of thing!! We enjoyed Paella and also all had Churros and Chocolate (straight donut sticks with hot chocoloate) one night. Jade had a great time on the dodgems – well come to mention it – so did Tim, Nigel and Gemma!!! The fiesta is definitely an experience – when the Spanish really come out to play – it’s nothing like anything we’ve seen before – or probably will see again until 1st August next year. I didn’t mention the fireworks – on opening and closing night – absolutely brilliant – as good as any bonfire display we’ve been to! </p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/bull_fight_1/2106946" title="bull fight 1"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/946/2106946_4a6d8b319a_m.jpg" alt="bull fight 1" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Every street is decorated during fiesta week - this is a typical street photo taken by Tim.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/fiesta_balls/2106947" title="fiesta balls"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/947/2106947_6ad264551d_m.jpg" alt="fiesta balls" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>The interesting thing is what happens after fiesta – basically nothing – the town turns into a ghost town, all the bars and restaurants shut down and a lot of the shops shut too……it is very strange. Things are just starting to open up now as we get towards the start of September. This situation made for an interesting time when Caroline and Jon came to stay with us – we went out for a nice meal in town – and ended up with tapas in the one bar that was open! Funnily enough it turned out fantastically and we all really enjoyed it – but not what we expected (typical of our experience of Spain so far really!) Jon and Nigel stayed up to watch the meteor shower on the Saturday night – as advised by Sky News – they didn’t see much of a shower really despite sitting up until 4am …..<br> The next day when Nigel and I came back from the station we saw BBC news announcing the meteor shower due that night (the Sunday)!!!! It turned out Sky News had the day wrong hmmmmm !!!! </p> <p>We also experience our first daytime firework display in Elche – half past one in the afternoon and the whole town centre was shut down – it was at least 35 degree heat and there were hundreds of people crowded into the street to see the display. It was certainly an experience – lots and lots of bangs and flashes – including sending fireworks up into the sky – but more smoke than pretty lights!! After 15 minutes it was finished and the whole crowd burst into massive applause – we’ve not seen anything like it before – or been as hot for a long time!</p> <p>Anyway – hopefully this update finds you all well, do keep in touch everyone and let us know your news,</p> <p>Love,<br> Sarah and Nigel<br> X</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/10/30/at_long_last_an_update_telling_you_about~3219913/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-06-27:/2007/06/27/a_day_with_a_difference~2532080/sarah28052007-06-27T20:25:57+02:002007-06-27T21:25:32+02:00 <p>To celebrate our wedding anniversary we booked tickets to see one race during the America's Cup final - we had such a great time the last time we went we thought we would see the final too!! This is a long story so get a cup of tea (or preferably a beer or glass of wine)before starting!!!</p> <p>We decided that a day trip would be fun - it would be quite a long day but we duly logged onto the Renfe (spanish rail) website and booked our tickets - we would be leaving on the 08.30 train and coming back on the 20.31 train !! It was an early start at half six but we were very excited so set off down the road to Elda station.</p> <p>We got to the station in good time and enjoyed a coffee and brandy before going to the platform. We waited for the train and saw one arrive at the opposite platform - 'what if that's our train' I said to Nigel - but we knew this couldn't be right as we'd done the trip before so we were confident we were standing on the right platform. We carried on waiting and the announcer announced the other train - mentioning Valencia - I started running but Nigel held me back and we asked the other people on the platform - Oh no they assured us we were in the right place. In due course our train pulled in and we got onto it .... as soon as we got on board a sinking feeling overtook us - this was not the right train at all .... this was confirmed by the guard - luckily it was only going as far as Alicante so we had a terrible half an hour standing on the train waiting to decide what to do!!!!</p> <p>At this point I should explain something that should exonorate us a little - the Spanish rail people always make sure they tell you where a train has come from - as well as where it's going to....so we were on the train that had come from Valencia - not the one going there.....</p> <p>hmmmm....now we had tickets for the boat at 13.40 and it was now 9am - we were getting pretty desperate as we ran to the booking hall at Alicante as we thought we might not make it in time - luckily there was no queue and we managed to change our tickets for a new train departing at 9.25 from Alicante (just another aside - they only charged us 10euros for the new trip - in england I am sure we'd have had to pay the full fare!)</p> <p>OK - back on track - we got onto the train and breathed a huge sigh of relief - we would now get to Valencia in plenty of time for our boat trip so we were ready to re-start our day and had a good old giggle about everything.....</p> <p>We got off the train and headed for El Corte Ingles to pick up our tickets - this was fine as we'd done this last time we were here. I went to the desk only to be told that as it was the day of the trip we needed to collect the tickets from the port itself (no problem - only 10 minutes wasted!) - so she gave us a map with the details. We headed off and jumped into a manic Taxi to get down to the America's Cup port - even this was interesting as the level of police and security was much more significant than last time we were there - there were police at every major interchange and we saw them stopping quite a few cars in the 10 minute journey.</p> <p>We went straight to the place where we should collect the tickets - only to be pointed on somewhere within the port itself....I went off there while Nigel organised a couple of beers for us .... passing through the significant security checks on the way I headed for the ticket collection point - but oh no, this wasn't the right place to collect the tickets either - I needed to be on the north side of the port nearer to where the boat departed. With a heavy heart and just a little frustrated I went back to join my husband and my beer and we had a brilliant set of tapas before we headed off again!!!!</p> <p>Around half an hour later we finally had the tickets in our hands and could relax....we went to check out where the boat would go from and got a beer overlooking the harbour - we watched the america's cup boats leaving and the massive crowds all waving them off. The atmosphere was exilerating, there were so many people all cheering and shouting. There was quite a friendly rivalry between all the supporters of the Swiss Team Alinghi (the holders of the cup) and the New Zealand Team (the challengers) - this made for a good laugh....</p> <p>We queued up at around twenty past one and finally got on the boat - we were still laughing over the train journey and the ticket hiccups and very excited to finally get out. Now this is where the fun started - the water was quite choppy - luckily we got seats outside on the front of the boat and we motored on to the start line - we got there about half past two - just half and hour before the start. We were amongst hundreds and hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes so there was plenty to watch without the race....</p> <p>Three o'clock came and went - no news of the start time - someone said the whole race may be postponed due to lack of wind so we waited and waited (at this point we're starting to think it's not our day!!) - then the news came - they would start at half four - we all cheered as the boats approached the start line and appeared to cross over - but it didn't seem quite right and it turned out to be a false alarm so they stopped racing to change sails - new start time 5pm....</p> <p>Now at this point - bear in mind - the race should last around one and a half hours we weren't particularly worried about timings later on that evening at the start. It only became apparent what a predicament we may be in once the first out 'lap' had been done and the boats turned - they were taking much longer than normal because of the lack of wind!!! So - we're on a boat - watching other boats and starting to realise that we might not have much time to make our train - certainly not to enjoy a beer or relax on the beach as anticipated. The race was very exiting and finally finished extremely closely with the New Zealand team winning...being in the flotilla was brilliant .... all the boats were hooting and everyone was shouting support.</p> <p>Now our boat must have been the slowest spectator boat of all - we were behind everyone and frustratingly slow - we'd been on this boat now for over 5 hours and the novelty was starting to wear off!! We worked out our timings when the race ended and we knew it would be tight but were confident we would make our train.....now on the boat travelling into port behind hundreds of others (this was the boating equivalent of the M1 Northbound at 5pm on a Friday)....we started to realise we would have to run for a taxi...</p> <p>We got off the boat as quickly as we could and out of the port (we knew we'd never get a taxi amongst the crowds there)...next we walked as fast as we could to a major street - a policeman told us the best place to get a taxi from and then began a half an hour wait. We finally got a taxi at 8.15 pm - now our train (remember) was due at 8.31pm - we asked the taxi driver if we would make it .... he wasn't sure ... hmmmmmm </p> <p>We can honestly say we've never experienced a car journey like it - there were two things that we thought of after we had got safely out - one was the knight bus journey in the Harry Potter films (especially the bit where the bus squeezes between two others) - the second was the car chase scene in the film Ronin.....I can say no more but if you've seen them then you'll know what I mean!!!</p> <p>The taxi pulled up near the station at 8.27 - and we got out and ran for our lives - Nigel even took his flip flops off to run faster .... very very funny thinking about it afterwards .... we managed to locate the platform and threw our bags into the x-ray machine .... we ran to get our tickets checked - only to notice (and believe me we didn't notice this until we stopped running!) there was no train!!! It was 5 minutes late - we just had time to collect our thoughts before it pulled up ....</p> <p>Now apart from the fact that the train was delayed by half an hour on the way home we had an uneventful trip back - seated in row 13 !!!!</p> <p>What a day!!!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/06/27/a_day_with_a_difference~2532080/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-06-21:/2007/06/21/title~2493350/sarah28052007-06-21T14:32:51+02:002007-06-21T14:33:47+02:00 <p>June has seen us back in England for Edward and Rachel's wedding. We stayed on a farm for a week quite literally with cows as our neighbours!!</p> <p>In the run up to the wedding we had a couple of nice days out - firstly to historic Bath where we strolled round the city centre in glorious sunshine (which was quite a surprise!) and secondly to Lacock which is really near Corsham where Ed and Rache live. It is a National Trust village which has been used for much filming of historic scenes including Pride and Predjudice and Harry Potter...Jo popped down from Milton Keynes for the day which was good fun...</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1713093" title="ed and rache wedding 004"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/093/1713093_d1dc82f931_m.jpg" alt="ed and rache wedding 004" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Saturday saw the wedding day arrive - and what a fantastic day it was weather wise - we could not have wished for anything better. To set the scene, Ed and Rache live in Corsham which is a very small town halfway between Bath and Chippenham. It is the sort of place where everyone knows someone and where people queue outside the bakery for their bread rather than buying it from the Somerfield supermarket next door. (Rache happens to work at the bakery too by coincidence!!). The church where they were married - St. Bartholemew's is at the end of town a two minute walk from the town hall where their reception was held. Once they were married and the bells were chiming the whole congregation walked out from the church into the grounds of Corsham Court which is next door - for photographs and general milling around in the sunshine which was beautiful. For those of you who were at our wedding it was very similar in that the next thing was that the whole congregation followed Ed and Rache down the road through town to the Town Hall for the reception - it was beautiful. </p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1713092" title="ed and rache wedding 007"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/092/1713092_e2d4c0265c_m.jpg" alt="ed and rache wedding 007" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1713103" title="ed and rache wedding 019"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/103/1713103_ac0a017c73_m.jpg" alt="ed and rache wedding 019" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>After the reception was over everyone left and those who had the stamina (mainly Ed and Rache's friends) met up in Chippenham for a drink or two (that's putting it politely as their friends probably had a few more than this over the course of the day!!!) We ordered a taxi and set off for the evening - that's when we realised how much they really do live in the countryside - the photo below shows the scene that held us up on our way out for the evening - it really was typical England - a real different scene from what we now get here in Spain!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1713104" title="ed and rache wedding 037"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/104/1713104_ccc394a2f3_m.jpg" alt="ed and rache wedding 037" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Once back in Spain we really noticed a difference in the temperature - it's now in the 30's every day and we are getting up earlier, taking siesta's and staying up later at night to enable us to enjoy being outside once the temperature cools off in the evenings. The children here break up from school tomorrow ready for their long summer break and everyone is starting to slow down a little with the heat of the day. This is something we're not totally used to as we have mainly been here during the winter time working on the house before - but it is certainly welcome. Fiesta season has also started so we expect to be going to the odd fiesta or two as the summer progresses. We have been working on fully finishing off our kitchen, Nigel has been tiling and we've been putting in extra units which has kept us busy.</p> <p>That's about all the news for now - next week we are off to see the America's Cup finals in Valencia which we are really looking forward to and in July we have a trip to Barcelona booked which will be fun.</p> <p>Lots of love,<br> Sarah and Nigel.<br> x</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/title~2493350/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-05-21:/2007/05/21/barmy_army_and_america_s_cup~2308167/sarah28052007-05-21T13:45:11+02:002007-05-21T13:45:11+02:00 <p>Hola!!</p> <p>Where do I start - I had a great time over in England (sorry for those of you I didn't manage to see - it was a brief trip!) thanks to everyone I stayed with during the sunny weather! At that time we were still having rain and more rain here although luckily now we have more seasonal sunshine everyday - with all the rain the land is very green. Our tomato plants and lettuces are growing at an astonishing rate and we should be eating the first lettuce tonight!!!!</p> <p>We have been quite busy recently - our friend Brian found himself at the centre of a surprise birthday party recently. Everyone attending dressed in military attire as Brian was in the army before he retired. We all hid outside the back of the venue before marching in as Brian arrived - we must have looked quite a spectacle! There are a couple of photo's below to show me and the Birthday boy - plus Nigel in his military dress!!!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1606469" title="sarah and brian"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/469/1606469_b3c159b830_m.jpg" alt="sarah and brian" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1606467" title="nigel"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/467/1606467_dabcae4fc0_m.jpg" alt="nigel" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>After Brian's Barmy Army Birthday Party (as it was known) - we went away to Valencia for a few days to see the America's Cup Sailing. Now this was quite an event - we booked into a nice hotel and were booked onto a sailing catamaran to watch the action on one of the days.</p> <p>The whole trip was brilliant. As soon as we arrived on Monday we headed straight for America's cup port and wandered around taking in all the sights - and there were so many. The whole of the port area has been created specially for the event. Prior to the America's Cup itself there is the Louis Vuitton cup which is held to decide which team will compete against Alinghi who are the current holders of the cup. We were there for the semi-finals being held between BMW-Oracle Team (american) and Luna Rossa Team (Italian) and secondly between Team New Zealand and Desafio Espanol (hip hip hurray some spanish interest!!!) We went out on the catamaran to the start line and had full commentary - we were able to see the yachts starting and doing key turns during the races - which were won by Luna Rossa and Desafio Espanol (brilliant sailing on their part - though we may be slightly biased). After the races the catamaran put up the sails and we went off sailing for an hour before returning to the port!</p> <p>Here's the cup itself !! We really did get that close to it!<br> <img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/470/1606470_b562c08466_m.jpg" alt="americas cup" vspace="5" hspace="5"></p> <p>Here's a photo of the Spanish Team yacht just after they had crossed the finish line - everyone was cheering and all the yachts around were sounding their hooters - it was a great atmosphere. We found ourselves worn out with sunburnt legs that evening - but we would do it all again tomorrow.</p> <p><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/471/1606471_e918961e4d_m.jpg" alt="desafio espanol" vspace="5" hspace="5"></p> <p>As well as time on the yacht and at the port we stayed at a hotel just opposite the Arts and Sciences complex of modern buildings - it was amazing. We even spent a morning in the science museum - most unlike us - but the building was stunning. We learnt how the first experiments were done to prove that the earth is spinning and how a cantabrian curve works amongst other things!!!!</p> <p>Overall we had a great time and are hoping to go back to Valencia sometime soon....it's only just over an hour on the train from here!<br> <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1606473" title="nigel in valencia"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/473/1606473_7c42908a42_m.jpg" alt="nigel in valencia" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1606474" title="sarah on yacht2"><img src="http://data4.blog.de/media/474/1606474_57c8a1432e_m.jpg" alt="sarah on yacht2" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Hope all is well with everyone, keep in touch,<br> Hugs from Spain! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/05/21/barmy_army_and_america_s_cup~2308167/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-04-25:/2007/04/25/swallows_and_amazons~2158564/sarah28052007-04-25T12:39:19+02:002007-04-25T12:39:19+02:00 <p>Well - yet again it seems time has flown by since I last update the blog site....</p> <p>I've called this one swallows and amazons - why??</p> <p>Well Amazons because the weather has been so bad we've had a river running down the hill and across our land. There have been ponds and pools created by the amount of rain that's been falling here - and all whilst those of you in England have been having spanish sunshine! The result of the rain is a very green view at the moment and lots of lovely wild flowers round and about. This must be good for the birds and the bees!! Speaking of birds - the Swallows part of the title refers to 'swallow and amazon' our pair of pet swallows. Clearly they aren't really our pets but they come every morning and rest on the window bars chattering away and trying to get into the house. Last year the house was somewhat more derelict and they used to nest indoors - obviously they can't do that any more but it doesn't stop them trying!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1395465" title="swallow"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/465/1395465_397a9cd657_m.jpg" alt="swallow" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>One other result of the weather is that we have used up all our wood - you can see from the attached photo just how much we started with and we are onto our second order it's been that chilly here! Still we have got in good practice and Nigel is now a really good fire-starter!!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1395466" title="Spain 5 March 07 006"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/466/1395466_bf7bc931d3_m.jpg" alt="Spain 5 March 07 006" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>As well as the issues with the weather we had a fun day on Monday as I the clutch went on Snowy car - just in an awkward spot. I had to jump out of the car - don my fluorescent jacket (a legel requirement here) and lay out the two hazard triangles that you also have to legally have. I called the cavalry which came in the shape of Nigel - to confirm that we needed a breakdown tow truck. Just as we're on the phone to them along come the Guardia Civil (Police) - they stopped the traffic and made us roll the car back down the hill to a safer parking spot from where it was retrieved by the breakdown company. One day later and it was all fixed by the mechanic so there were no real issues but what an adventure. We've also found out that it's illegal to tow cars in Spain so you have to be rescued by a tow truck in the case of any breakdown (just in case you wondered!!)</p> <p>It's snail season here too - every morning we see Spanish people wandering the land with carrier bags bending over...it looks really odd and we wondered what they were up to! It turns out they are out collecting snails for their tapas and meals - they are pretty standard fair here at the moment and are on offer in most of the bars and restaurants. It's just one of the Spanish gourmet ingredients we don't tend to rush for!!</p> <p>I've got a few days back in England now whilst Nigel enjoys a Spanish Fiesta in the local town this weekend - I've spoken to the mayor to keep an eye on Nigel during the festivities as I won't be here - but knowing Victor and our friends here that won't make any difference at all!!! We'll have to give an update next time on the first Fiesta of the season!</p> <p>Hugs for everyone,<br> Sarah.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/04/25/swallows_and_amazons~2158564/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-03-28:/2007/03/28/long_overdue_update~1992290/sarah28052007-03-28T17:04:14+02:002007-03-28T17:04:14+02:00 <p>Hello one and all, apologies for the appalling length of time between updates - this is largely due to one thing - wind!! (not the human kind!) - seriously we have had very heavy winds which have played havoc with our internet connection and phone line so the internet has been out of bounds for a while.....the engineer came a few days ago and go us all fixed so away we go....</p> <p>There seems like lots to tell since the last update was talking about the removal firm!! We have now had the balustrades fitted so the stairwell is now safe and we have felt secure having visitors round....</p> <p>The major improvement on the house front since the last update (apart from the balustrade) is that we have had the land 'scraped'. This means that a man on a tractor comes along and clears all the weeds and scrappy vegetation to leave the area around the almond and olive trees clear. In our case this means we have a massive boules court across our land! Nigel has built a rustic table out of our front door and that now sits in the shade of the olive tree at the end of the land.</p> <p>This photo shows the tractor in progress...</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1282761" title="landclear"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/761/1282761_0750801743_m.jpg" alt="landclear" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>And here's the tractor itself that did all the hard work!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1282762" title="tractor"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/762/1282762_170fc8eebc_m.jpg" alt="tractor" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Aside from the activity clearing the land at the back - Juan Miguel also cleared the front and we now have a space to park our cars in front of the house. We were waiting for rain to 'set' the hardcore which makes the base coat of secure land to park on and we have just been rewarded! It's now our sixth or seventh week here and we have only had rain once up to now - unfortunately at the moment it is making up for this and we have had about six weeks worth of rain in the last day and a half!! (ok so that may be an exaggeration but it seems that way!) Now that the hardcore is set we can go and get the gravel (or marble chippings) which make up the top coat and finish our frontage off nicely.....I will hopefully be posting some photo's next time on this!</p> <p>On the visitor front we had a great time when Dad and Margaret came over. They had been with Caroline and Jon in Madrid for the weekend and came down by train to see us - we had a brilliant time and the weather meant walks were possible along with the odd afternoon outside on the terrace. Our next visitors are Ed and Rache and they are currently (fingers crossed) on the plane from Bristol as I write. We have also had friends round and started the Umbria9 boules table going - each time we have a gathering the obligatory boules is started across the land. Round One was won by our friend Brian after a close final between him and Melissa. Round Two was won by Dad - the visiting expert (no suprises there then!). Weather permitting Round Three will include Ed and Rache and hopefully Pat and Ray too at a minimum so we will see who wins....perhaps one of the hosts could be in with a chance !! </p> <p>It's a few weeks ago since we had the almond blossom but I thought I would update this entry with a photo taken of the back of the house a few weeks ago to show the blossom. It was stunning as all the trees around and about were covered in white confetti....it only lasted a couple of weeks though before the high winds came and blew it all away...</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1282751" title="backofhouse1"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/751/1282751_c736b98850_m.jpg" alt="backofhouse1" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Ok - I shall be off now to continue preparations for our guests. </p> <p>Do keep in touch everyone and I shall try to update this log again more promptly next time!</p> <p>Hugs all round,<br> Adios!<br> Sarah. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/03/28/long_overdue_update~1992290/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-02-23:/2007/02/23/furniture_and_honey_bees~1790841/sarah28052007-02-23T12:44:30+01:002007-02-23T12:44:30+01:00 <p>Hola!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1192981" title="Removal Van 2"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/981/1192981_b15f83386d_m.jpg" alt="Removal Van 2" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1192980" title="Removal Van 1"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/980/1192980_acb3d65250_m.jpg" alt="Removal Van 1" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Well as you can see from the photos - we finally have furniture!! There was a slight delay on getting it - it turns out the removal van went the long way round - via Portugal, Marbella and Mojacar before delivering our belongings!! The van drivers were great and although it couldn't get all the way up the drive it was close enough and we got everything delivered successfully! The weather was pretty dull that day and we were really lucky that it didn't rain until that evening when we had a torrential downpour - goodness knows what would have happened if it had rained earlier - we would have been sitting on a very soggy sofa I think!</p> <p>We have started to get sorted out now and I am writing this from our office - which actually looks like an office after a few hours effort of shifting things round and building bookcases and desks (Nigel's department!) It still seems a bit odd that we have got all the same things from England in Spain now - but it works a treat and will look fantastic once done!</p> <p>Our next door neighbour has been over to bring us a house warming gift of the hugest jar of honey you have ever seen. Now this is not any old honey - it is honey from the honey bees that live on the land at the back of our house....there are quite a few beehives now and the bee-man comes over regularly to tend to them with white suit, smoker and everything. It is quite exciting actually having the honey from the hives that are a few metres away from the house - and it tastes delicious!</p> <p>We will try to keep the blog updated every couple of weeks on a Thursday or Friday so look out for the next installment on 8th or 9th March....</p> <p>Love to all,<br> Sarah and Nigelx</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/02/23/furniture_and_honey_bees~1790841/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2007-02-13:/2007/02/13/snowmen_and_sunshine~1732244/sarah28052007-02-13T10:16:57+01:002007-02-13T10:24:33+01:00 <p>The day we left England to start our new life in Spain was interesting to say the least since there was 6 inches of snow on the ground....</p> <p>Our lovely neighbours built a couple of snowman in front of the car to stop us from leaving but nothing would deter us (especially since our house was completely empty of contents - the removal men having been the day before!!)<br> <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1167589" title="Snowman2!"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/589/1167589_23b07fe0ca_m.jpg" alt="Snowman2!" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a><br> <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=1167588" title="Snowman!"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/588/1167588_a3a0b83491_m.jpg" alt="Snowman!" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>So now our life's belongings are somewhere on the road between Milton Keynes and a little hamlet in Spain called Umbria de la Zarza....</p> <p>But you all know us - we don't do things by halves so not only did we pack up and empty our house in Milton Keynes on arrival in Spain - we did the same with our little village house that had been home to us whilst we did the renovations here. One day later and we moved into the renovated Casa that has taken 6 years of our lifes efforts and savings !!!! So now we're here - day one saw a call to the internet company who came the same day and got us connected via a satellite/radio dish on the roof - fantastic - we now have no excuses for not keeping this blog up to date!</p> <p>Nigel has worked really hard to create fire - we now have a log burning astufer connected and should (well this is still spain) get some logs delivered later on today (fingers crossed as usual). With any luck our furniture will arrive on Thursday and then the fun will really begin making this casa into a home.</p> <p>p.s. we are sitting in our office looking out over the olive groves and sun is shining - temperature is around 15-18 degrees...can't be bad!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2007/02/13/snowmen_and_sunshine~1732244/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-11-13:/2006/11/13/fires_are_burning~1325703/sarah28052006-11-13T16:47:58+01:002006-11-13T19:10:42+01:00 <p>We have finally needed to light our Estufa in the kitchen for warmth and comfort (it has rained a lot here recently and we have a leaky roof!!!) It is great fun coming home to light a fire in the evenings and it really does warm up the house. The one pictured below is the one in the house we are living in - but today we have finally collected a new (larger) one for the new casa so we know we are onto the final stages....</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=956125"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/125/956125_0913c8e880_s.jpg" alt="Stufer" title="Stufer" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>We are firing on all cylinders at the new casa too - the constructionnes have finally completed their work and left the house to the more claming influences of Nigel and myself who are madly painting away to get the finish we want. We have worked pretty hard over the past week and have hit the milestone of getting the upstairs living area finished and we are really pleased with the results...</p> <p>Here are some general views of the upstairs living area...</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=956641"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/641/956641_490d110645_s.jpg" alt="Upstairs Living Area2" title="Upstairs Living Area2" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=956642"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/642/956642_63bbcdbbee_s.jpg" alt="View from Font Doors2" title="View from Font Doors2" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Here are a couple of views of the staircase<br> <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=956640"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/640/956640_d09c771392_s.jpg" alt="Stairs Up" title="Stairs Up" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=956639"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/639/956639_b230423c5a_s.jpg" alt="Stairs Down" title="Stairs Down" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>This week we are progressing to completion of the downstairs - we are then onto finishing jobs such as varnishing doors, installing the estufa and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.... </p> <p>Amongst all that I've managed to take my new wheelie trolly out for it's first outing ... now you may laugh I know, in England they tend to be used by the older citizen for their weekly shop - however, here in spain they enable people (i.e. me!) to shop at the market (wherever in the town they live or park!!) I did the whole shop in one go (all in spanish which I was very proud of) - and just wheeled it back to the car ... much to the amusement of my husband!!!</p> <p>We have been watching more DVDs since the temporary satellite dish solution here was dismantled so that we could use the ladders on which the dish was propped for painting! We can recommend 'The Day after Tomorrow' - a bit of an old one I know but much better than we anticipated. We also saw and enjoyed Madagascar and Wallace and Grommit with the 'were-rabbit' - both pretty funny....last night was X-Men III - not quite as action packed as previous ones but very good all the same and I have the same comment about Mission Impossible 3 - not quite as much action but a good romp all the same and worth watching.</p> <p>Anyway - am off up to the casa for more painting later so will keep you posted,<br> hugs,<br> Sarah </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/11/13/fires_are_burning~1325703/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-10-31:/2006/10/31/a_proper_sunset_and_a_telephone_at_last~1281084/sarah28052006-10-31T13:44:17+01:002006-10-31T13:44:17+01:00 <p>Well - apologies for not logging on for a while and giving an update on progress but things here have started moving on apace and there is now less than 2 days work left on the casa .... we have started painting now so we've been busier ourselves working there alongside the builders. We should be able to move ourselves in in around a week or so - depending our our progress with painting and above all cleaning ...you have never seen so much dust, leftover cement blobs and grout to clean ... but for once (and in true showbiz stylie - for once only!!) cleaning should be fun since it is on our pride and joy.....</p> <p>I am attaching a photo of the inside downstairs - now you can see what I mean about cleaning but you get a good idea of the colour scheme (white and white again!) this is the view you get when you open the front door (using your imagination a little - we won't have the cement mixer as part of the interior design plan)!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=925173"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/173/925173_0fcf88c379_m.jpg" alt="Interior Shot 1" title="Interior Shot 1" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Now - onto progress elsewhere - we have finally got ourselves a telelphone - out of the blue (well with a little chasing) Telefonica finally called and the engineer turned up last week - half an hour later we are the proud owners of a spanish land line - and hour later after a trip to the pc shop we got ourselves online too so we find ourselves the talk of the village as this shouldn't have been that easy !! </p> <p>We have had fantastic weather - somewhat to the amazement of the locals - 30 degrees at the end of October is unseasonal even for Spain and there have been some fantastic sunsets - we even managed to capture one photographically (so now Paul and Chel know what a sunset at Canada del Trigo looks like!!)</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=925174"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/174/925174_979645989a_m.jpg" alt="Sunset at Canada del Trigo" title="Sunset at Canada del Trigo" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>We're off to do some more tidying and painting shortly so I'll sign off now ... </p> <p>do keep in touch, hugs,<br> Sarah. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/10/31/a_proper_sunset_and_a_telephone_at_last~1281084/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-10-17:/2006/10/17/some_photos_at_last~1230779/sarah28052006-10-17T12:17:09+02:002006-10-17T12:17:09+02:00 <p>It has taken me a while, but I have finally sat down and worked out how to put new photos on here so here goes...</p> <p>As you know we had a weekend away recently ... this was the view from our hotel room...<br> <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=893334"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/334/893334_36e6c4014c_m.jpg" alt="Javea2" title="Javea2" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>As well as a decent hotel we got a great ride round the coast on this catamaran - the only shame being it was motor and not sail...</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=893333"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/333/893333_dd09e566f9_m.jpg" alt="Javea1" title="Javea1" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>So now back to the casa .... Fransisco the digger driver came to put our water connection in - there was great excitement at the casa and we spent a couple of hours watching a master at work ...</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=893330"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/330/893330_f2033b7d02_s.jpg" alt="Digger1" title="Digger1" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=893331"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/331/893331_6275d70812_s.jpg" alt="Digger2" title="Digger2" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Ok so now for a final photo of the house as it currently is ....</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=893332"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/332/893332_107e8ab7ee_m.jpg" alt="House1" title="House1" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>You can see we are getting much closer to being ready - in fact we hope to move in in a couple of weeks so start looking for cheap flights for next year those of you who fancy a visit ... you can fly to Murcia or Alicante (Alicante is a bit easier but there´s not much in it!)</p> <p>lots of love to everyone,<br> Sarah. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/10/17/some_photos_at_last~1230779/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-10-14:/2006/10/14/sunsets_and_moonrises~1219826/sarah28052006-10-14T10:29:01+02:002006-10-14T10:47:43+02:00 <p>A bit of an oddball title but this morning for possibly the first time since we arrived I managed to watch the sunrise - this is thanks to two things, firstly the builders forgot to take their keys with them last night when they finished work so I had to deliver them this morning to let them in and secondly - the sun doesn´t rise here until around 8 to 8.30am so at quarter to nine I saw the most fantastic views over the valley as the sun rose! </p> <p>The moonrise we saw was also spectacular when we went away last weekend. We got ourselves a hotel with a sea view and expected a fantastic sunset - only at this time of year and in Javea the sun sets behind the resort so there was no sunset to be had ... however when we went out for a drink that evening along the promenade we witnessed the most fantastic moon-rise I have ever seen - it really was spectacular. We also saw flying fish by moonlight...the weekend away did us lots of good - we enjoyed a boat trip round the costa blanca news and swimming in the sea...the weather was fine and we switched off from casa business for a couple of days!!!</p> <p>So onto news of the house - we think the builders are two to three days away from completion - it is all really starting to come together and we have started to kick in to the physical work ourselves now .. as I write this Nigel is back at the house fitting the kitchen and putting up lights and mirrors (obviously not all at the same time!!) I have been shopping like mad to make sure that we have all the right accessories to install including the kitchen plus of course grout, tiles and finishing edges etc. from the builders merchants! This week included a holiday in Spain - thursday was a national holiday - so naturally most places shut for Thursday, Friday and Saturday (and why wouldn´t you if you could !!) - this is commonplace in spain and takes a bit of getting used to and planning for!! I seems quite mean that all the English bank holidays fall on mondays so there is no chance of that happening !!!!!!</p> <p>We continue to watch DVD´s and I thought it might make a change if I updated you on some films worth watching or worth avoiding!!</p> <p>King Kong - this is to be recommended, it´s quite long but is really well done, the special effects are good and Jack Black makes a really good hero/villain depending on your point of view!</p> <p>The Matador - this is a black comedy starring Pierce Brosnan as an assassin and he is fantastic in it - totally out of the role you would expect him to play - we both thoroughly enjoyed this film so if you like your comedy quite dark then this is worth watching.</p> <p>Keeping Mum - now we picked this for the cast - Kirsten Scott Thomas, Rowan Atkinson, Patrick Swayze and Maggie Smith and it didn´t disappoint - again it is quite a black comedy and Nigel found it more enjoyable than I did but the best part of the film - the scenery - it is all shot on the Isle of Man in our opinion - including golf scenes at none other than the Mount Murray hotel and cafe scenes at the calf of man..worth watching just to see where we´ve all been!!!</p> <p>War of the Worlds - Tom Cruise and a total disappointment - the special effects are fantastic but there is no music (we expected the old score to be included) and no storyline properly - Nigel had to explain the background which sort of made it all make sense but stick to the original we say!!</p> <p>Mr and Mrs Smith - another comedy with Brad Pitt and Angelina out of character again - this one is well worth watching (if you don´t mind quite a lot of shooting) and we really enjoyed it ...</p> <p>Troy - I would love to tell you about but I only got to the first twenty minutes and two hours later I woke up to find the film still going and Nigel asleep - now this could be because we had a hard day yesterday or possibly because it is really complicated to follow .... we will probably never know!!!</p> <p>Anyway - am off to the market now to get some fruit and vegetables ...catch up later and keep in touch everyone,<br> Love,<br> Sarah. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/10/14/sunsets_and_moonrises~1219826/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-10-06:/2006/10/06/water_at_last~1193403/sarah28052006-10-06T12:02:24+02:002006-10-06T12:02:24+02:00 <p>We´ve been here just short of a month and finally we have water connection to the casa ... Fransisco the digger driver arrived yesterday morning to dig the trench, Nigel jumped in and laid the pipe, Fransisco filled it in and away we went....there was just the small matter of the pipe running alongside the road (so it wasn´t on our neighbours land!)..that was easy to solve, Nigel and I barrowing down stones (you know like the ones you use to build a dry stone wall) and covering over the pipe .. three hours later and the job was done. The plumber arrived this morning and connected up...he is now busy connecting toilets, showers, sinks and of course the must have essential in spain (according to the spanish) - the bidet!! Nigel is looking forward to having somewhere to wash his feet properly though!!!</p> <p>Still no connection to the phone lines, although we have heard it can´t be done at the ´new´ casa so we will need to get a radio phone or satellite dish phone ..that´s next weeks job!!</p> <p>Everything else is still going really well, the finally drop of tiles should arrive tonight and it looks like the builders may be finished sometime next week .. then Nigel and I move in to start the painting and decorating, fitting lights and the kitchen ... I guess that´s when the hard work really starts.</p> <p>I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, hugs from Spain,<br> Sarah. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/10/06/water_at_last~1193403/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-10-03:/2006/10/03/no_water_but_still_smiling~1183299/sarah28052006-10-03T11:04:36+02:002006-10-03T11:04:36+02:00 <p>Despite my last update we still don´t have any water to the ´new´casa - our neighbours won´t give access over their land so we have had one or two challenges to contend with - however, we do now have a plan of action and the hope of water by the end of the week!! So I shall keep you posted!!</p> <p>The weather has been fantastic, warm enough to sit out until around 10pm chatting and passing the time of day as is the way out here! We are getting to know our neighbours better and today were given our second plateful of figs - now these are not your supermarket grey and squashed up figs, they are fresh and juicy and straight off the tree - delicious in their two´s or threes but we have been given about 100 and there´s not a lot two people can do with 100 figs!! We will have the best constituions of the village soon!!!</p> <p>Still no news from telefonica so the internet cafe is being used again....it´s only been a couple of weeks so they are still well within their 27 day period to contact us!</p> <p>Now - news of the house, the tiling is virtually finished, we have the upstairs complete, most of the staircase done and the whole of the ground floor minus the bedrooms and bathroom which are being started today! By the end of the week we should have the flooring all done and be onto the final snagging list ... we shall see - needless to say it´s all getting very exciting!! Just the water to sort out!</p> <p>Everything else is going really well we are getting used to shopping at the market for our fruit and veg and also in the butchers - we´ve even managed to get minced beef which was a bit of a winner for us!! Our local bar has re-opened after holidays so Nigel can now get his coffee and occasional brandy in the mornings and the village has really livened up again...</p> <p>Hugs for everyone,<br> Sarah.<br> p.s. we´ve booked our ferry - we´ll be back in england on 27th November!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/10/03/no_water_but_still_smiling~1183299/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-09-27:/2006/09/27/been_here_long_enough_to_not_know_the_da~1164694/sarah28052006-09-27T10:46:23+02:002006-09-27T10:46:23+02:00 <p>Hi All, </p> <p>It seems like a long time since i managed to update the log as we seem to have been very busy. There are lots of things to update so here goes...</p> <p>Well the weather is still good although we have had some spectacular storms one of which involved the loudest crack of thunder I´ve ever heard right in the middle of the night!!!</p> <p>The Car - Snowy is now officially ours and has already been put to good use collecting kitchen units for our ´new´ house...which is looking absolutely fantastic. Hopefully next time I do the update I can manage to get some photo´s uploaded but for now I´m in an internet cafe that doesn´t seem to let me do that!! I have to go to the one which is more like a prison (well we think its an old butchers shop converted and the pc´s are all in the back room!!!!) to put photos on!</p> <p>What´s next, well with regard to the telephones and our connection to the internet at home, needless to say there is no progress and we still await a call from Telefonica to arrange connection!! As I said in my last update this could go on for some time!</p> <p>The builders are still doing fantastic work at the casa - all the tiles are now laid upstairs and the terrace is finished! We´ve designed the kitchen and started to get the units which is really exciting we just need to wait for the floor to be put down so that we can do the installation.</p> <p>Today we may (and that´s tenuous!) get a water connection. There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and Nigel has been to see the water company the upshot is they will not move our water connection box to closer to the house so we have to get a digger to excavate 400 metres of land to put in the connection ourselves! Indeed as I write there may be movement of the earth up at the casa .... I´ll keep you posted! The latest is that the glass for the front door that Nigel organised and collected is slightly the wrong size so that´s another little job to be sorted - oh what a different life to back in england!! </p> <p>we´ve managed to join the video library and are happy to be getting to watch some half decent films in english instead of the same old stuff we brought over from england - it´s king kong tonight!!!!</p> <p>Lots of love to everyone and I hope that all is going well for you all. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/09/27/been_here_long_enough_to_not_know_the_da~1164694/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-09-19:/2006/09/19/progress_at_last~1141168/sarah28052006-09-19T17:11:03+02:002006-09-19T17:11:03+02:00 <p>Hi All,</p> <p>It´s the 19th September and I´m trying a different internet cafe. You will be pleased (or fed up!) to know the weather has greatly improved and it´s been 27 degrees here today ... just the weather for enjoing a cold glass of beer....Only we´ve been buying 100 metres of floor tiles and a car!!! So not much rest and lots of work in terms of spanish translations, waiting around and paying out precious dineros!!!!</p> <p>Its a lot of fun though and if we manage to pull it off we should be driving home with an old ford escort estate car tonight - that´s to replace the old renault express van called Rosie that blew up (quite literally) last time Nigel was over here in Spain!! So in accordance with tradition we have named the new car Snowy since it is white in colour ... we shall see how it goes and hopefully post some photos on here when we can manage to!</p> <p>In addition to all that we´ve called telfonica to order telephone lines - now those calls were made today - let´s wait and see how long that takes - further updates will be posted here as they happen but don´t hold your breath!! It´s funny how different things take priority in a foreign land!<br> I´m off to meet Nigel for a soft drink now before we head off to pick up the car.. fingers toes and everything else crossed!! Hugs for all...Sarah.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/09/19/progress_at_last~1141168/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-09-14:/2006/09/14/thursday_sept_14th_weare_finally_here_an~1126027/sarah28052006-09-14T17:46:47+02:002006-09-14T17:46:47+02:00 <p>The jouney went well ... the cruise ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao was pretty boring but we got the chance to see The Da Vinci Code (OK) and the new Pirates of the Carribean movie (average). We had a good drive down through Spain although the weather was pretty poor in fact it was thick fog when we arrived at Bilbao and raining as we got to the house in Cañada del Trigo!!!</p> <p>The casa at Umbria de la Zarza (the one we are restoring - page down for photos...) is fantastic, the frontage has all been completed - it looks brilliant, photo´s will have to follow as I don´t have access to add them here at the internet cafe!! We met Antonio the builder today and went through all the oustanding jobs and have just got back from shopping to pick floor tiles - it´s all getting very exciting. Work should start again in earnest next week so fingers crossed for quick results.</p> <p>Everything else is brilliant here - the casa we´re living in is great the weather has been mixed but we´ve managed to sit outside and eat (and drink of course)...</p> <p>Hope all is well with everyone back in England,<br> hugs,<br> Sarah. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/09/14/thursday_sept_14th_weare_finally_here_an~1126027/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-09-08:/2006/09/08/friday_september_8th_countdown_2_days~1108452/sarah28052006-09-08T16:25:48+02:002006-09-08T16:25:48+02:00 <p>Well this is it - my last official day as an employee albeit taken as time off in lieu!!</p> <p>Plans are going well - there's not a single thing packed yet but there's the whole of tomorrow to get down to the serious business of packing then Sunday for loading the car....</p> <p>We set sail on Sunday night - then have two nights aboard the Pride of Bilbao before we set foot in Spain ready to drive down to the casa. The excitement is setting in now and we're both looking forward to it....</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/09/08/friday_september_8th_countdown_2_days~1108452/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:umbria9.blog.co.uk,2006-09-03:/2006/09/03/sunday_september_3rd_countdown_7_days~1093718/sarah28052006-09-03T17:11:02+02:002006-09-03T17:31:28+02:00 <p>Yes just a week to go until we depart the UK for a few months in Spain...</p> <p>Days at the office are consigned to history and we are on our way to a new life (well that may be stretching it a little) - but we are on our way to a different lifestyle...</p> <p>Still getting used to the way this website blog thingy works but hopefully we can use it to keep everyone posted on progress so watch this space.</p> <p>Here are the photos of what we're going to - can't wait to get there and see how it's changed since we've been away and start work...</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=795034"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/034/795034_d037b1e314_m.jpg" alt="Spain - Front of House May 05" title="Spain - Front of House May 05" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=795035"><img src="http://data2.blog.de/media/035/795035_699343c11a_m.jpg" alt="Spain - View from Terrace" title="Spain - View from Terrace" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://umbria9.blog.co.uk/2006/09/03/sunday_september_3rd_countdown_7_days~1093718/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>