As the builders were drawing to a close to was obvious that they weren't going to meet the dead line of our guests arrival, but as I pointed out to the lovely wife their not the first to arrive at their destination in Spain to find it un finished and have the builders working every day . after all its retro, very 70's n 80's and that the fashion, we should do prawn cocktails or black forest gateau to complete the mood.
now our guests for the week were no.1 daughter and my best mate and his wife they have known each over for 30 years and have been to see us at the same time before however this time the coordination was very off.
they ended up on two different flights to two different airports on two different days ! so on my birthday we went to Alicante to collect no.1 off her 21:30 Ryanair then the next morning whilst she had a lie in we went to Murcia to collect them off their 09:30 Ryanair flight.
each trip is about 90 min each way, when we arrived at Murcia expecting the easier of the two pick ups I drop the lovely wife off and was moved straight along by the police, after going around a couple of times she hops in to say the flight is 45 min late, so off to the car park.
when they finally emerge it turns out that they were in part responsible for their own delay ! whilst boarding at east mids they said to a member of Ryanair staff that they have on line printed boarding passes she looked and ushered them through, they took up their pre booked seats on the flight and waited as you do after every one was aboard and the flight looked full they closed the door and started push back.
It was obvious their was a problem with the crew doing head count after head count as they rolled along the tarmac, then they announced that their would be a delay as they removed baggage for two missing passengers, outside vehicles arrived and the hold was opened and my mate watched as their luggage was removed from the flight ! his lovely wife called the crew and tried to explain she said they were mistaken as the bags belonged to two who checked in but did not board .
now this is where logic should have stepped in or the anti terror squad as if the plane is full but you believe your two passengers short then who's in the seats ? and as you know who's bags to take off then you know who the impostors are and as the seats are pre booked where they are sat, so an easy request for passports or boarding passes should have sufficed but no .
after a big argument with the crew and the doors open whilst the ground crew arrived to unravel the mess, hey finally convinced them that they are who they say and that yes they are on the plane and can we have our bags back on the plane, so if you were on the flight they apologise and have agreed to fly from Manchester in future or possibly Glasgow if their retirement move comes off.
the arrival of an increased audience coupled with the dry digs of my mates lovely lady regarding unfinished hotels and what the travel agent said seemed to spur the builders on and they managed to finish , yes finish four days after they all went home. well finished is a strong term as there's still bits to do and the pool is still dry !.
were still waiting for the iron works, a steel door for the pump house that needs to be made as the opening is a odd size , left and right hand not talking as usual, the boiler house door has been shorted to allow for the flags and needs to be stiffened at the base, the reja on the door needs to be shortened to also allow for the flags leaving just the hand rail for the pool steps, quite a list but apparently all in hand as is the balance of the money and there it will stay for now.
As for the water, the builder never gave us the heads up for the water until he was finished do the contact we had was busy for a couple of days , then it was the week end then his pump on the tanker failed , he thought he would be ready the next day so we waited then he called to say it could be 5 days , what ! that's 6 days gone already. so we found another guy who said it would be two days before he could fit us in so we waited then when he arrived he could only manage 22m3 as his well is running slow ? but wow it sure did sparkle in the afternoon sun, a few centimetres of water after 15 months of waiting with a promise of five loads tomorrow or at least three with two on Saturday. so it would appear that we are not going to have a grand finale more of a limp over the finish line, but hay its Spain and we are now well used to manána .
as for the job, well now its all done, well all bar the stuff we're going to do ( and may never finish ) its stunning and difficult to believe its all ours, it is however quite stark and in need of some planting, Alan T might give us a silver gilt for hard landscaping but zero for the floral aspect, the 100 tonne of gravel now covering the front turning is a bit soft in places causing some drivers difficulty in leaving LOL or may be they just want to linger ?
with our guests we went out to four different restaurants and it felt good to relax and draw back from the daily grind of the last 15 months since we moved in the hassle of plans and licences builders and deliveries shopping around and collecting stuff. although the builder was running the job we really needed to take the role of project manager and have a day by day input if not hourly at times. without this input I'm sure we would have got a good product as they are good builders but with the addition of our inputs we have a great product and im very proud to report with out bragging too much its a view shared by all who have seen it, albeit still a little too dry.