Our House in the Alpujarras

A quick break to the house of just 5 days. On the first full day a Sunday we headed off to Canjayar in Almeria province. It was noticeable on the way that the pueblos from a distance anyway appeared to be more modern than Granada province on a beautiful sunny morning. We met up with another british couple in Canjayar and after a short meeting we became the proud owners of (no not a dog) a german food processor complete with all atachments and instructions, which was on the must have list for my wife when we movw out to create all sorts of culinary delights. It was grape harvest time and our lovely neighbours Carmela and Miguel offered us to pick our own beautiful black grapes from thier tree. Seeds in but utterly delicious. Sitting on the covered terrace one afternoon I had observed two small black beetle type creatures crawling around the floor. About 1/2 long black with white horizontal stripes. They appeared to be looking for something and seemed quite harmless. That was until I accidentally trod on one. It gave me quite a sting and some short lived discomfort. As yet I have not identified the creature. Speaking of creatures all was quiet in the beams, no carpenter bees to be seen. However we did have the unpleasant discovery of mouse droppings in the house, tiny little droppings and so traps have been set. They had eaten a sleeve of one of Anna's jumpers much to her displeasure.

Whilst we were there we celebrated my 49th with the GGT club (Geary Get Together). I should explain Geary is a word used by the spanish to describe expats. A bit like our use of Grockle I imagine. Anyway it was to a local bar on her closed night for a lock in which lasted well into the night. This came on the back of a session the day before whilst watching the Manchester derby and a late flight in the day before. On the Tuesday we went to friends for dinner only to find that I was bushed at 9.30 pm and retired to bed for 13 hours. I cannot keep up the pace anymore and with the altitude whch we don't get long enough to get used to on a visit it is awfully tiring.

We face the threat of losing British TV in the next couple of months and Tim the local boffin has sourced an internet system to access british channels but this is still to be tried and tested. The house is beginning to look tired in places with large cracks appearing in the Yeso (Spanish plaster) which is a regular annoyance so we must get around to sorting that.

The house next door had deteriorated a bit more hopefully meaning it will be a bargain by next October. The weather was very kind to us sunny every day with some cloud in the afternoons but still very much shorts weather about 23 degrees.

Whilst we were out the annual bills arrived for the house. The Bassura and Agua and the contribuciones.I went to the town hall in Meccina as I had a bill for each house for one and not the other type. It turns out the large bill was the Bassura and Agua for both properties and the two smaller ones were contribuciones one for each house. I was able to speak to Gabriel the clerk ask about the bills and confirm what each was and wether there were any more bills to come which there weren't. The Bassura and Agua is for daily (yes daily) rubbish collections from the street bins and Agua, water supply to both houses. This is 108 euros. The contribuciones one for each house totalling about 37 euros are for the house fronts drains etc. So for about 140 euros this is my council tax for a whole year. I was indeed proud of myself for a) plucking up the courage for going it alone and b) managing to communicate well enough to deal with it. Maybe the spanish is going in after all lol.

We are back out again at the end of October so will post again soon.