Getting hot and fruity but running out of steam!

Me and Nick acclimatising to Portugal 

We've been in residence at our little farm in Portugal for seven weeks, and wow, how time flies! It's been quite challenging and we haven't achieved as much as we would have liked to by now, but it's been a great few weeks none the less with plenty to reflect on and keep us busy.

The biggest thing holding us back currently is that the bus is out of action. One afternoon about a fortnight after moving on to the land the bus wouldn't start, she normally starts on the button, so we were surprised.  Initially we thought it was due to the batteries getting drained. As our good friend and fellow Portuguese resident Susie once said "batteries - they are a dark art!"... a statement I now believe to be true!

I'll try to be brief in explaining our battery dilemma.....

The leisure batteries that run devices, lights, the fridge etc had been playing up for a while and though we only bought them last year, it appears one of them is dead. These two batteries are charged by our solar panel and had been draining quickly, to point of being ineffective, especially if it was a cloudy day (the bus runs on a 24 volt system so two batteries are needed). We have, or should I say had, on board a 24 volt inverter which connected to the batteries to charge devices. As the leisure batteries weren't working we took one of the main bus batteries out and connected it to the solar panel, as an alternative. This was a bit of a nuisance as, in order to drive the bus we had to disconnect it and put it back where it belonged before driving off. One day after replacing it, the bus wouldn't start so we thought perhaps we had somehow drained the battery too much by switching it over. Our extremely friendly elderly neighbour Freddie who drives by few times a week to his farm near us flew into action and tried to jump start us using his car, to no avail. After much deliberation we called the RAC - after all that's what they're for - who sent out a local guy. He arrived in an enormous vehicle which barely managed to get down our track and had difficulty navigating around the olive trees to get close enough to the bus try to jump start it. Soon enough the bus fired up and the RAC guy left - whoopee! However about twenty minutes later the bus chugged to a halt and refused point blank to start again.

Our two homes, side by side!

We decided to sit tight and ponder what to do. A few days later, on hearing our plight Freddie brought along his son in law Edgar, who knows a thing or two about mechanics. Between them, he and Nick got to work clearing the fuel injectors which he thought might be the problem. Sadly that wasn't the case and the next diagnosis was that we needed a new fuel filter. This news wasn't too bad and we ordered the new filter from Mercedes in the UK to be sent to our local post office. This was about four weeks ago and we are still waiting. Apparently it was returned as 'address unknown', but didn't make it back to England and was resent again from somewhere in Portugal - fingers crossed it arrives soon as we don't want to go through the palaver of ordering another one.

To add to the battery problem further, on one occasion when we were connecting the main battery to the inverter, a mix up in the leads led to ultimate death for the 24 volt inverter which blew a fuse and is now defunct. Thankfully we have a 12 volt inverter which is now attached to one battery more or less permanently charging my phone, laptop and iPad which are crucial to my work.

Hitching a lift with neighbour, Freddie

Needless to say one of the things we are trying hard to get sorted as a priority is mains power to the house. However because there has never previously been power connected here, the process is a little convoluted. First you have to find a government registered electrician to do a survey, provide a certificate and give instructions on how to build and install the meter box, then you need to get connected via the nearest electricity pole. Luckily there is one close to our house so we hope it won't be too pricey. A lot of people in the area use solar power only as they are too far from a mains connection and it would cost many thousands of euros to get overhead lines installed. I was alarmed to hear that Portugal has the second highest electricity tariffs in Europe, so I will be very careful of my usage when we do get eventually get connected!

Going to another country and not speaking the language is all well and good when you are on holiday, but trying to understand the processes and procedures for becoming a resident is quite something else. Everything is done in very different way to the British - that's not a criticism, it's just you feel like a baby learning to walk, bumping into obstacles and finding it difficult to understand what you are being told - it's a BIG learning curve!

Now that the temperature has risen significantly, around the mid 30°s most days, we are facing other challenges, such as surviving without a fridge and running water. When the bus was moving we could go to fill up the large water tank every few days and empty the loo. Now we have to be a little more inventive and let's say 'rustic' in how we go about things!

Nina getting used to the new lifestyle

Without a vehicle to get us around we have to plan excursions to the local supermarket with military precision. Every couple of days Nick cycles a 12km round trip to the supermarket in the local town Penamacor. The trip involves half the journey going downhill and the other half up. The uphill bit is hard work in the beating sunshine especially with a few days groceries in a rucksack, on a fold up bike with no gears! We only have one bike but can borrow a neighbours if we both go (which I usually try and dodge 😂). On a few occasions we've had wasted journeys entirely, once when we had an appointment at the town hall about getting our residency papers only to find out the person we were due to see had decided to come in on a different day that week, again when we visited the post office to find our parcel had still not arrived and another time when we got market day wrong. I think you are supposed to call these experiences 'character building'!

We have decided we need to get a cheap motor to run around in - with some urgency. This in itself is proving tricky. Second hand cars are hard to come by in Portugal, with most people still driving their 1980/90s Renaults and Citroens, and without transport to go and see potential cars, we are in a bit of a catch 22 situation. There's a lot more we want to see and do here, there's so much to discover such as the nearby river beaches and many other villages, with local markets and not to mention the frequent fiestas happening on an almost weekly basis.

Gardening is great for working on the tan

All of the above sounds like I'm being a bit whingey, so to correct the balance, I must stress there have been some real positives to come out of our enforced isolation. Firstly, we have spent a lot of time getting to know the lay of our land and all that it offers. The fruit trees are really coming into their own and I was delighted discover we have a peach tree which will bear hundreds of peaches. There are three varieties of pears (from what I can tell), the largest tree of which is absolutely laden. Likewise there are an assortment of apple trees. I'm hoping in time there might be a opportunity to sell some fruit or at least make something like Perry (pear cider). At the very least we should be able to take our grapes to a local cooperative where you pay a fee and they make your wine for you. Quinces border our land at one end, and seem very popular, I think quince jam is a big favourite here. The figs are coming along well and the olives trees are starting to show fruit.

My (empty!) veggie patch

Every evening and morning I gather water from the well and spend time watering the fruit trees with a bucket or two each. I have dug a small vegetable patch and planted seeds - carrots, spinach, beetroot and lettuce. Nothing has emerged yet and I haven't got much of a clue what I'm doing, but, we'll see! After the hay baling a few weeks ago new green grass an pretty wild flowers are quickly taking over again and the yellow Landscape is sprouting purple, white and green, it's such a delightful sight.

Beautiful sunsets

The summer sunsets are stunning and every evening it's a joy to watch the sun go down - I'm so pleased that we are west facing, as I'm not an early enough bird to enjoy the sunrise. Living out in the countryside we are really experiencing nature's inhabitants - this week I've seen two large snakes, one a little close for comfort on the window sill of the house - it slithered away too quickly to get a photo! Portugal is a definitely the land of Ants, there are so many varieties, they don't really bother me too much, nor do they seem to bite. At the weekend we watched a one legged cricket for about an hour laying eggs in the ground - it was quite fascinating; there are frogs and crayfish in the well, hence we don't drink the water but use it for the garden and washing and cooling off with. The highlight this week though, was watching four elegant storks swoop down into the garden and wander about pecking at seeds.

a nice juicy pair

Another benefit of being somewhat housebound is that I've become braver at reaching out to neighbours and asking for help. One of our neighbours lets us collect drinking water from her well, so every couple of days we scoot up there to fill a few containers. Another neighbour who has a car allows us to borrow it occasionally or we combine shopping trips - she has a disability and doesn't drive so we drive her and get to do our shopping too which is handy. From another neighbour we borrowed two electric bikes for a day, which was amazing, I would love one of those, especially since it is quite hilly around here, it feels like a giant hand is pushing you along! Friendly Freddie, or the curb crawler as we call him, as he cruises past slowly to see if we are in, nearly always pops by with a bag of fruit from his impressively stocked farm together with incomprehensible advice and chit chat which we nod and smile at, then afterwards try to decode what he might have been saying.

And finally, the house itself. We haven't been able to do much to it yet, due lack of funds and transport, but we spend many hours in there, deciding, planning and then re-deciding on the layout, decor, kitchen spec, etc, and each time we come up with a better plan and a clearer vision.

I'm sure when all the stars are aligned, everything will slot into place perfectly, and if things are a bit tricky and sticky right now, then it's because something great is just round the corner.

One last thing...

I was given a manifesting affirmation recently from my lovely sister, it goes:

"I expand in love, success, abundance, good health and luck, and inspire others around me to do the same".

Since I've been saying it, a lot of positive things have been happening! You can replace or insert different words if you like (I added a couple). Feel free to use it and I hope you manifest great things too 😊🌈🙏🏼 ❤️

Until next time ...