Havin a laff

The roof job in Culebrón still isn't finished. Well actually the roof is done but there's a bit of rendering, some guttering and quite a few other bits and bats to finish off.

We got a price from a builder we'd used before but it was beyond our means. Our next door neighbour recommended someone she'd used and his price was about half the amount. We told him to go ahead. He couldn't do it straight away as he had to make a series of journeys between the UK and Spain but there was no real hurry - at first - though as we closed in on Easter we became a little more concerned.

The next door neighbour phoned me today. The cheap builder had, allegedly, been running van loads of cheap fags between Spain and the UK and he is now supposed to be languishing in a French jail for 10 weeks. We are back with the original builder.

Passing through

Just 3 or 4kms from Pinoso we left the Valencian Community and Alicante province and crossed into Murcia. Just outside Almansa, near the wind turbines, we started our trek across Castilla la Mancha though it doesn't become the wide open Don Quijote landscape till close to the provincial capital of Albacete. Into the province of Cuenca and about four hours into the journey into Madrid, the province and community, rather than the city. Swing South, to avoid the traffic in town, onto the M50 ring road and out, via the A6, heading for A Coruña after tunnelling under the Guadarrama mountains. On the other side of the mountain we were in Castilla y Leon, at the edge of Segovia province, right at the edge so we were quickly onto Avila province on the toll motorway. The new A50 motorway, that will eventually join Avila to Salamanca has been opened for a good part of its length whilst we were in Culebrón so we were soon into our home province of Salamanca and into Ciudad Rodrigo. The adventure continues there.

Rice, Paella and Valencia

My earliest brush with a paella would have been as part of the Vesta meals range in my student days - Hmm which shall I cook tonight, Beef Chow Mein or Paella?

Paella goes with Spain like rock goes with Blackpool.

Paella is available all over Spain, in fact all over the World, but it originated in the area around Valencia. Once I got here I soon realised that my idea that paella was a yellow rice, seafood and chicken dish was only partially true. There are tens, maybe hundereds, of recipes generally dependant on what produce is abundant locally. So, on the coast the traditional dish is indeed seafood and chicken whilst near us in Pinoso they cook the rice with rabbit and snails. That's why Valencianos usually call the food rice rather than paella. Apparently the paella is the name of the wide, flat, handled pans that the rice is cooked in though, to be honest, the words for the food and the utensil are now more or less interchangeable even for Spaniards.

We were in Valencia with our Spanish pal Pepa the other day. She realised we were hard up but still looking for something a bit different so she took us to this open air paella stall. There was a typical seafood paella but they also had one with bacalao and cauliflower - "Just like the rice my Gran used to cook", said Pepa.

Benidorm

Being in Culebron, we are about 100km, or just over an hour with the newish toll motorway, from Benidorm. So we thought we'd go and get a breath of sea air.

It's not difficult to spot Brits with strong regional accents and inappropriate clothing in search of cheap, "proper" food in Benidorm. But it's also full of Dutch and Germans and Russians and lots and lots of promenading Spaniards out to enjoy the famously good climate, the food and the splendid beaches

I read somewhere that a one time Mayor of Benidorm had a vision of the place as a tourist Mecca and he set about creating a town that would appeal to the mass tourist market. It certainly worked. In fact it's an exciting sort of place. We were glad we popped in.

Another little difference - the diary

I've been keeping a diary since 1968. For years I used the A5, hardback size - the one beloved of Social Workers and Teachers - but, about 6 or 7 years ago I went over to the bigger A4 size.

In 2004/05, my first year in Spain, I tried to buy a big diary without success. I settled for the smaller A5 one. Since then I have been geting my diaries from the UK but this year my supply failed. It seemed, in fact it still seems, odd to me that A4 is so unavailable but, then again, getting plain ruled file paper here is tricky too - blank or squared are the usual formats. Have you ever noticed that in US TV programmes people often use yellow file paper? Different countries, different ways of achieving the same ends I suppose.

Being at home was an advantage. I know the woman in the stationers so I asked if she could order an A4 size diary. She wasn't sure - it was such an unusual size but her suppliers said "sí" and yesterday the diary arrived. I have a bit of a thing about stationery, nothing weird, I don't tie myself to it or anything, which means I have some idea about the pricing of items. I was ready for the shock. Nearly 29€ for a floppy, spiral bound design.

It's a good make said Susanna in the paper shop. Next year I may fly to the UK to collect one to save a bit of cash though I've just noticed that the Portuguese, our faithful allies, also use A4 diaries and Ciudad Rodrigo is only minutes from Portugal

Still all a bit temporary but...

It's 21ºc in our living room with just the log burner as heating. This is hot for our house in winter - very hot. Eduardo the cat has been lying on his back with his paws in the air luxuriating in it all.

There is still plenty to do but basically we've got the furniture back in place and, with the exception of the bedroom, which still has to be repainted and re-poulated with furniture, the interior is now done apart from the gloss paint, some bits of furniture, new lights etc.

The living room is a bit barn like but it's OK, quite "Spanish" looking.

The exterior still needs a lot of work.

Christmas hamper

This is our mate Geoff and the Chrismas basket that he won in the draw at a local bar. The baskets are dead typical. Lots of the bars have them, they're loaded with booze, biscuits and other seasonal goodies but, most importantly, with a real ham, complete with trotter.

The engine sighs - whispers home at last

We drove back from Ciudad Rodrigo to Culebrón on Monday, more or less without incident - Eddie the cat had a couple of incidents but he now seems dead pleased to be running around Culebrón where he can go to play whenever he likes and come and go as he pleases.

The house looked like a bombsite. In broad sweep it's actually not too bad but the detail is cry making. The light switches don't move as they should, the doors won't close properly, the plaster is slarted all over the door and window frames, tiles are cracked, paintwork destroyed, the fireplace is crooked, the chimmney pipes are wonky, everything feels damp, it's freezing, lights are bare wires hanging from holes in ceilings and walls, the garden is full of debris and weeds, the pool cover is hanging tiredly in the dried up pool like an out of date condom. The roof looks good though and the half of the frontage that has been rendered is a nice colour.

We've been cleaning for a couple of days and my hands hurt but I wasn't able to complain to you before as Telefonica seem very reluctant to reconnect the phone though they have finally given us Internet after four phone calls.

Proper posts to come.

New bar

We may be on the other side of the country but we still get plenty of news about the toing and froing in Pinoso and Culebrón. Our next door neighbour tells us that there is a new bar in the village. We think it's in a building that has been a bar and or restaurant with at least two different owners since we've had the house. If it is I just hope it manages to stay in business long enough for us to get a drink there. The chances are high as we are due back in the next couple of days.

I added the photo when we popped into the bar for a drink, and a yummy paella, over the Christmas break

Advice on trying to complete building work some 750kms away

Don't try it. That's my advice.

We rather hoped that we could stay in Culebrón over the Christmas break and even sort the place out a bit. So we have been trying to get someone to finish the work on the house before the holiday. We have had numerous conversations with various builders and several subcontractors. 

In the process of doing this several people have been upset. Also, despite being told that we had X amount to spend the builder, that we eventually asked to do most of the work, has taken absolutely no notice and done X plus 60% worth of work. I'm sure he thought it was some sort of game of bluff and that we had a little extra salted away. Unfortunately for both of us we were telling the truth. 

The roof

Just as a bit of an update. The work on the house in Culebrón still isn't finished. So far as I know the roof is fine, though you will remember it failed to keep out the water the first time it rained. Unfortunately I only have bystanders reports about the rest. A bit of a communication problem with our builder! He seems to have stopped talking to us. He also seems to have stopped work. Hey ho! Such is life.

Thousands of euros spent, work unfinished, 740kms away, furniture rotting in the garage. Ain't life grand.