I do seem to remember that they serve beer in loads of places the UK doesn't. Do they serve it in Maccy Ds? I vaguely remember fast food places selling it as well.Best part about Spain. My wife has come to the hospital for a scan on her shoulder.
I’m not allowed in the room so I’m in the cafe drinking beer because they serve it inside the hospital
Relocation to Spain Experience
- Thread starter Martynt74
- Start date
Yeah. Fast food places/any fridge in petrol stations etc do it.
Was just weird also getting it in a hospital.
Spent a year working in France - they served beer and cognac in the works canteen at lunchtimes! That was 1989, would be surprised if it had changed
Love Europe!
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Aug 2007
- Posts
- 21,986
- Location
- Wilds of suffolk
You have to drink beer, the water will kill you 
So. Friday we also moved into the final rental as it’s an open ended contract that we only leave when our house is built.
Can’t remember if I said, but the couple were trying to sell it but due to legal issues they can’t and there’s no sign of them resolving that anytime soon.
The owners have bought a new house further south which in a more central location to shops/bars and is smaller as this house is too big for them given old age and deteriorating health and having stuff on their doorstep rather than driving is a plus.
She kept saying that she’d cleaned everything and it was spotless. I knew my wife would still want to clean to get to her standard es but optimism was high.
We turned up Friday morning and it was filthy. They had 3 big dogs and the garden was full of dog poo. I filled a large mop bucket with what I picked up!
Inside was a similar storey and today I spent around 6 hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the grout with a stiff brush. It’s not perfect but it’s mostly ok now.
The man had dementia and Parkinson’s and the toilets had poo/wee both inside and outside the bowl. The floors were also covered in various spilt drinks.
The positive is that today has mostly finished it all off and tomorrow we can mostly relax although I need to dismantle my desk from the previous rental and grab the last of my things and then do the final clean of that place!
Feeling very glad we decided to buy a bed which will hopefully arrive soon. We’ve also decided that we’re going to buy a sofa. We know the dimensions for the lounge in our new house so no risk there on buying something that doesn’t fit. Probably get some nice comfy outpost armchairs too.
Now we’re at this point we’re feeling pretty optimistic. The house itself is great and has loads of space which is something we’ve struggled with. Especially as there’s virtually nothing of the previous owners belongings bar some furniture we’ll stick in the shed or our storage unit.
We can get almost all our stuff from storage and really make it “our” home.
Can’t remember if I said, but the couple were trying to sell it but due to legal issues they can’t and there’s no sign of them resolving that anytime soon.
The owners have bought a new house further south which in a more central location to shops/bars and is smaller as this house is too big for them given old age and deteriorating health and having stuff on their doorstep rather than driving is a plus.
She kept saying that she’d cleaned everything and it was spotless. I knew my wife would still want to clean to get to her standard es but optimism was high.
We turned up Friday morning and it was filthy. They had 3 big dogs and the garden was full of dog poo. I filled a large mop bucket with what I picked up!
Inside was a similar storey and today I spent around 6 hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the grout with a stiff brush. It’s not perfect but it’s mostly ok now.
The man had dementia and Parkinson’s and the toilets had poo/wee both inside and outside the bowl. The floors were also covered in various spilt drinks.
The positive is that today has mostly finished it all off and tomorrow we can mostly relax although I need to dismantle my desk from the previous rental and grab the last of my things and then do the final clean of that place!
Feeling very glad we decided to buy a bed which will hopefully arrive soon. We’ve also decided that we’re going to buy a sofa. We know the dimensions for the lounge in our new house so no risk there on buying something that doesn’t fit. Probably get some nice comfy outpost armchairs too.
Now we’re at this point we’re feeling pretty optimistic. The house itself is great and has loads of space which is something we’ve struggled with. Especially as there’s virtually nothing of the previous owners belongings bar some furniture we’ll stick in the shed or our storage unit.
We can get almost all our stuff from storage and really make it “our” home.
you should have bought the steamer ... and steam mop.
Hope you get your deposit back from previous place cleanly, was that any problem on earlier place; I've had poor experiences in France.
Beer / drinking and any driving obviously much less tolerated in europe, additional jeopardy if you live anywhere with windy roads.
Haha this was still after using the steamer! Just didn’t touch it. That thing has been a life saver though and saved loads of effort.
No issue with deposit at the fist place and doubt there’ll be one at th last place. All rentals have been direct with owners and pretty relaxed.
No issue with deposit at the fist place and doubt there’ll be one at th last place. All rentals have been direct with owners and pretty relaxed.
Yeah. This is a real boost. A house we can unpack and not have to think about moving again anytime soon so we can make it feel like home rather than a rental.
No clue in build. Aiming for Feb/March but depends on planning mostly.
One other thing. I can't decide if it's good or not. As she was running out of time (had to have a dog put down on Thursday as two had had a fight), she didn't manage to take some of the chickens with her. We've been left with 2 chickens and a cockerel.
The Chicken pen is directly outside our bedroom window. I shut them away at night and then need to let them out in the morning. Having the cockerel screaming in the morning is great for getting me up early, and it'll be awesome to get me up/out for early bike rides. Although Saturday/Sunday it started around 7:15, and this morning after i finally got to open a bottle of whisky and relax around 11pm last night, it started at 6:30. Again great for cycling, less so for a ropey head. My wife also isn't keen so the prior owner is trying to arrange for someone to collect them, but i think i'll miss having that motivation to get up early.
In other news, we got the TV out of storage and it's completely dead. No idea what the cause is. It's a Samsung one with a separate OneConnect box containing all the inputs/power and then a fibre cable to the TV. There's no standby switch or any kind of indicator of power so no idea if it's the TV, the cable (known to fail) or the box. Each item is expensive so any experiment would be pricey if i'm wrong! The One Connect box used to get hot and now it's cool to the touch when plugged in, but unsure if that's because it's the failure or whether it's just because it's not having to process anything.
The Chicken pen is directly outside our bedroom window. I shut them away at night and then need to let them out in the morning. Having the cockerel screaming in the morning is great for getting me up early, and it'll be awesome to get me up/out for early bike rides. Although Saturday/Sunday it started around 7:15, and this morning after i finally got to open a bottle of whisky and relax around 11pm last night, it started at 6:30. Again great for cycling, less so for a ropey head. My wife also isn't keen so the prior owner is trying to arrange for someone to collect them, but i think i'll miss having that motivation to get up early.
In other news, we got the TV out of storage and it's completely dead. No idea what the cause is. It's a Samsung one with a separate OneConnect box containing all the inputs/power and then a fibre cable to the TV. There's no standby switch or any kind of indicator of power so no idea if it's the TV, the cable (known to fail) or the box. Each item is expensive so any experiment would be pricey if i'm wrong! The One Connect box used to get hot and now it's cool to the touch when plugged in, but unsure if that's because it's the failure or whether it's just because it's not having to process anything.
So, the house is clean (mostly - We've shut the door on 2 of the bedrooms after giving it a quick wipe down), we've got a local cleaner to do the pool house today and then i can move my gym stuff in there which will be great for me.
Few updates
1 - Chickens went last Monday. I kind of miss having the rooster to wake me up, but it's certainly nice not having them. Need to disinfect the area they were in though and clean it as there's chicken poo everywhere!
2 - Got my residency approved. Need to have a second appointment to have fingerprints taken before i can get the card. Annoyingly the wait is quite long and it's the end of June. Hoping the delays don't cause issues with mortgage delays.
3 - TV is fixed. Not picked it up yet, but they've not mentioned new parts so hoping it's nothing too expensive
4 - Still no word on the Jeep. Might try and chase them this week!
5 - Had a week off work last week. Was aiming for massive relaxation but don't think i spent much time doing nothing. Was mainly doing DIY tasks etc and sorting stuff out. Good news is my office is now clean and tidy @bastic you now win messiest office space
Few updates
1 - Chickens went last Monday. I kind of miss having the rooster to wake me up, but it's certainly nice not having them. Need to disinfect the area they were in though and clean it as there's chicken poo everywhere!
2 - Got my residency approved. Need to have a second appointment to have fingerprints taken before i can get the card. Annoyingly the wait is quite long and it's the end of June. Hoping the delays don't cause issues with mortgage delays.
3 - TV is fixed. Not picked it up yet, but they've not mentioned new parts so hoping it's nothing too expensive
4 - Still no word on the Jeep. Might try and chase them this week!
5 - Had a week off work last week. Was aiming for massive relaxation but don't think i spent much time doing nothing. Was mainly doing DIY tasks etc and sorting stuff out. Good news is my office is now clean and tidy @bastic you now win messiest office space
WFH in pool house - must have an iron will to avoid occasional dip; temp is ok already ? much missed habit to return from work and taking a dip in residence pool.
chickens - got to be up early for cycling to avoid the midday sun too and avoid english stereotype - recceing out the watering holes essential
chickens - got to be up early for cycling to avoid the midday sun too and avoid english stereotype - recceing out the watering holes essential
Haha the pool house will become my gym. One side if the wall is glass curtains so reckon in summer it'll get pretty toasting in there, not sure i want to have it as an office. Plus for any guests on holiday by the pool would be irritating if i'm on calls! I've actually not been in the pool much. Mainly as i'm a rubbish swimming so just use it for cooling off after workouts. Although this pool is 12x4m so might try swimming a bit more. What's really odd is it's a flat 1.5m depth all over. Brilliant for me as there's no shallow bit. Less brilliant for my wife.
Pool house got cleaned yesterday although she ran out of time for the bathroom, but i'm going to head to storage at lunch to get my squat rack/weights.
Chickens are gone!
In other news, got a call yesterday from the Samsung repair place. Turns out there was no issue. Got home, and still couldn't switch it on. However when unpacking i noticed some physical buttons under the TV. Pressed one of those and it sprung into life. Turns out the battery remotes were too low and not sending a "Turn on" signal
Well done on the TV repair
I presume the pool house/gym is a candidate for Air-Con with all the glass? or get some of that mirror type film perhaps?
I think I would be in the pool every evening after work if I had one at my place!
I presume the pool house/gym is a candidate for Air-Con with all the glass? or get some of that mirror type film perhaps?
I think I would be in the pool every evening after work if I had one at my place!
My brother lines near Lleida - stupid temps in the summer. He can't understand why everybody doesn't have solar powered air con.
His wife (Catalan born and bred) on the other hand, hates air-con and thinks it makes you ill (as does leaving windows open at night and having a ceiling fan). Basically, the only option in her book is to lie in a puddle of your own sweat each night. Mind you, she wears jumper/coats in the UK if its less than 25C.
He's finally managed to get a split AC install for the living room and the spare bedroom so he can sleep there in the summer!
His wife (Catalan born and bred) on the other hand, hates air-con and thinks it makes you ill (as does leaving windows open at night and having a ceiling fan). Basically, the only option in her book is to lie in a puddle of your own sweat each night. Mind you, she wears jumper/coats in the UK if its less than 25C.
He's finally managed to get a split AC install for the living room and the spare bedroom so he can sleep there in the summer!
I though the panoramic glass in the picture was the living space , if it's pool house, then place is palatial;
a/c you acclimatize to temps, it is dry heat too (indian friend was saying similary there too), not high humidity like texas/houston
... nonetheless ventilation is important in the house for bedroom, in that respect, an upper storey can help, as you have less security problem.
I don't know how modern concrete construction mimics heat capacity of more traditional bricks/stone to give cool in summer characteristic,
I suppose that using thermally reflective glass like in some high rises in likes of texas is out, since you aren't able to see inside - thinking of the panes with golden hue
a/c you acclimatize to temps, it is dry heat too (indian friend was saying similary there too), not high humidity like texas/houston
... nonetheless ventilation is important in the house for bedroom, in that respect, an upper storey can help, as you have less security problem.
I don't know how modern concrete construction mimics heat capacity of more traditional bricks/stone to give cool in summer characteristic,
I suppose that using thermally reflective glass like in some high rises in likes of texas is out, since you aren't able to see inside - thinking of the panes with golden hue
My wife (and her family) are all like this.
Air conditioning makes you ill
Leaving a window open makes you ill
Having a fan on makes you ill
Slovakia regularly gets temperatures in the mid to high 30s in the summer, but if we go anywhere in the car the windows are up (incase the breeze gives you an ear infection) and the air con is off (incase you get an unspecified respiratory illness)
We are the opposite. My wife wants the windows down if at all possible (Fake Air!!!)
Brother in law firmly believes in adapting to local conditions. Says it only takes a few weeks to adjust to not need air-con / fans etc. Not too convinced myself though.