To say it's been hot here lately is to understate things slightly! Temperatures have been in the mid 30s plus and then on Sunday it surpassed itself by rising to around 42 degrees and so humid that just getting up and going into another room meant you had to mop yourself down. In any event, around 6.30pm on Sunday, we had a sort of weather phenomenon I guess when a wind started to build up whilst we were in the pool. The sky went very grey and weird and it somehow felt that something was imminent so we got out, battened down the hatches and went inside, shutting doors and windows. And it's a good job we did because the wind built up into a sort of mini tornado bringing with it air that was as hot as if it was blown by a giant hairdryer and the temperature shot up by several degrees. It was quite freakish! It left our lovely clean pool filled with vast quantities of leaves and also dust.....oh so much dust 😱
Despite the scorchio temperatures, Ian has decided to re-commence work on our en-suite bathroom. He's a glutton for punishment! We spent two hours in the large Leroy Merlin (like B&Q) in Gandia and by the time we'd finished my head was spinning because very little English was spoken and building vocabulary is not my strong point, but we managed! Afterwards I was in medicinal need of coffee 😳 and, after spending so much money, so was Ian 😂 And despite the extreme heat, Ian has removed most of the tiles, replastered the walls (those who are in the UK and into DIY will find the Spanish approach of putting a large slug of concrete on the back of a tile and slapping it onto a wall with no spacing or grouting, unusual to say the least!) and taken out the cast iron bath:
The bath had been installed on a brick support on 2 sides which is a different approach to a wooden or metal frame I suppose. But water had been going down the wall and getting under the bath so it is pretty damp underneath and even in the current hot weather is taking some time to dry out. I guess we're just grateful that it's concrete drying out and not the wooden floor and joists you'd more likely find in the UK because we would have had a big job on our hands! The 'lovely' giant turquoise basin is still in place until the bitter end but then again, it's pretty easy to deal with compared to a bath. In truth the room would make a lovely walk-in shower room but I do like a bath in the winter and the other bathroom here isn't big enough for a bath so even when we reform it next year, it will have to remain with just a shower. Anyhow, Ian is in his element and we hope the Leroy Merlin order arrives soon so that he can get the first major part of our house reform ticked off before we brace ourselves to tackle the kitchen which will be a whole new level of disruption 😝
Alongside the hot weather there is the ongoing battle against mosquitos - for Ian. I have no problem with them at all! It seems so unfair that I can go anywhere with no mozzie spray at all whilst Ian still gets bitten even with liberal use of it. We've tried all sorts of things but they just seem to like the taste of him. However the other night we saw this little fella in our living room:
We have a number of geckos outside but were delighted to see one inside as of course they love to eat mozzies. Ian has invited him to bring friends and family so we will have to see if they accept the invite!
Covid-wise, things are still very quiet and settled here and long may that continue. There have been no further changes to the regulations locally, and Spain has now started offering vaccines to those in their late teens which seems incongruous given how hard I had to fight not so long ago to get my first one at my age! In any event, Ian had his second jab this past week so he is now a done deal for now. I have to wait until late September as they are leaving 10 weeks between Astra Zeneca jabs here. But patience is a virtue....apparently......
I am now back on live radio with Valley FM on Thursday evenings between 7-8pm (6-7pm UK time) so please like my Hits House Show FB page and tune in via https://valleyfm.es if you want to hear an hour of some great upbeat music. Hopefully I'll move to two hours soon but while I find my feet in a new studio, one hour is just fine! It's great to be back with a live broadcast - it's definitely my happy place 🎧 Another activity that makes me really happy is my painting which is coming on quite well, I've just started a portrait of a well known person and am starting another shortly but I'm hoping people recognise who they are without being told! I was carrying the one I've started (at that point just at a really basic level) to the car the other day and a random passer-by recognised who it was so fingers crossed!
It's safe to say we're settling in really nicely here and bracing ourselves for the forthcoming building work which will keep us out of mischief both now and this autumn/early winter that's for sure 😛
Stay safe and hasta luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment