Last but not least. Were in and loving it.

Written Saturday 14-7-2007 published 25-7-2007, sorry, been off line again.
We’ve done it at last. Carlos came up on Thursday and finished nearly all of his work so that we were happy to declare that, subject to a hold back of €1000 for smallish jobs outstanding, we were happy to pay over the final payment in exchange for the key and to finally move into our lovely new home. Bella Solana (the house name) means ‘beautiful place in the sun‘. It is a good name for a beautiful house that we are very proud of having created.
So Friday the 13th (despite protestations from Elayne) and one year, less one week, since we came to Spain, we have paid for and moved into our new home. It was a token ’sleep in’ really because we have oodles of stuff in the caravan (as you can imagine after ten months of camping out) and the porta cabin, that we have to move up to the house.
This is therefore my very last blog. Congratulation to anyone, besides us, who has had the tenacity to stick with the blog for all 311 editions and entries, you deserve a medal or ticket to the nearest asylum.
We want as many of our friends and family to come to see us and Bella Solana as and when time, and conditions, permit, we are still only a phone call away.
On the blog we have tried to show all angles of this adventure, the frustrations, the joys, the fears, even the tears, and the delights. We hope that it has given a small flavour of what anyone can do if they are prepared to just say one, two, three ‘jump‘ and take a leap of faith.
Elayne and I thank all of our family and many friends, both in Spain and the rest of the world for their encouragement and support.
If you also have an idea to do a blog, do it and let us know so that we can share your story. It is not something that I thought that we would be able to do, until we started to do it and we found that we actually could. Not a bad bit of philosophy of life to finish on.
Please keep in touch, everyone, we are not deserting you, we are just not doing the blog anymore.
Lots of love from us both.
Elayne and Paul Fellowes.

Last evening Carlos arrived on site and finished the central heating electrics so that the plumber could finish and test that the C/H system is fully working. This morning, whilst we were out, Oscar the plumber arrived, got a front door key from Dario in Albox, and proceeded to test out the central heating system. After we came back he showed me that there was not enough water pressure to make it all work. The system, in the casita/boiler room is all electronically controlled and we will be able to use a radio controlled zapper from the house to switch the system on and off. Anyway the electronics, when switched on, have detected low water pressure and therefore will not activate the whole system. We are getting a larger water pump from Fran Marie (builders merchants) maybe tomorrow. Oscar said that he will then come and set it all up on Saturday if we have the pump. Carlos said that he will return tomorrow, Jueves, Thursday, to do a few final little bits. Job finished.
Funny that when Oscar had finished work today he asked me what he should do with the front door key that Dario took off site a while back. Dario, quite unnecessarily, had refused to let us have the key back until the final payment was made. I shrugged my shoulders at Oscar in a typical Spanish unhelpful manner and so he tried to ring Dario for guidance. He couldn’t get through to Dario so he shrugged his shoulders, anxious to be off to his next job, and left the key with us to look after.
We are rocking in the Taberno roads outside Lentisco’s tonight. Note, when any of our gang have folks over to stay (it’s the ‘in season’ just now) they all come up to the Wednesday evening dance at Lentisco‘s. It’s really good for us to meet family and friends and it makes a change for the hosts to have an evening out. At the last count and from what we gather, we will be a party of fifteen at our tables tonight. Total pandemonium but that’s the fun of it all. We usually put some money, probably €10, in a kitty for the drinks and we always end up with a surplus to carry over until the next meeting.
I intend to finish writing this blog when we move into Bella Solana as we will be too busy sorting the house and garden out for the next two or three years. I will write the final blog in a few days time but I will not remove the whole thing from the internet unless a publisher wishes to pay us loads of money to make it into a book or Sunday newspaper serial.
P.S Dario returned this evening to take possession of the key again. Hey Ho.

We have just had a nice email from our friends Neil and Gina Watson. N&G lived in Garforth near Leeds (Neil worked with me at Whiteley for lots of years and before that at the famous John Waddington‘s of Leeds, makers of Monopoly and Totopoly) and moved out to France for some of the ‘good life’ about twelve months ago. They have a lovely country house in St. Etienne du Bois in western France. Welcome to the blog Neil & Gina, that’s if you have found us yet.
Activity here on site at last today. Dario and the young lad Paco have spent time up here on site today. They seem to have been concentrating on the shutters (that weren’t shutting) and repairing the ruined marble thresholds, together with a few other bits and pieces. We will go up and have a look when they go home to see if it is all to our liking. If we can get then Carlos and the plumber up here, perhaps tomorrow, to finish their bits and pieces off, we could be ‘home and dry’ to quote a well known phrase or saying by the end of the week. Our thanks to Gill for her assistance.
It rained last night and this morning. The temperature dropped down to eighteen and I had to wear my long trousers and socks to go to Albox this morning. However the sun is back out now and it’s back to a more normal twenty six degrees with clear blue skies. It made a nice little cool interlude for us and gave us all a good nights sleep. The cats also seemed to appreciate the cool caravan this morning, although they popped out as usual as soon as we opened the door on our return.

Well, we thought that we’d be in the house by Wimbledon, but the Wimbledon circus has now been played and is gone for another year, together with the British Grand Prix. We talked with Gill, down at Mojacar, this morning to see if she can put a rocket under someone to get this house finished in time for Christmas perhaps? No one seems bothered about taking our money off us in exchange for a finished house, so it can stay in the UK earning some interest, until they do. Needless to say no one has been near us all this weekend and today.
We had a ‘FEB’ in Albox this morning, which cheered us up somewhat. We then shopped for water pipe fitments so that we can install another water pump when it arrives at the local DIY shop. This afternoon we pottered about in the heat, it must have been in the mid thirties. My electronic weather station has been having a funny turn today. One minute the pressure was reading 1005mb and the next it was reading 1035mb. I said to Elayne that we have just survived a cataclysmic tornado that neither of us saw or even felt. It must have been the builders driving past us, or maybe it is just the batteries.

Friday & Saturday 6th & 7th July

Friday 6-7-2007
As we have a busy day today, we went shopping last night. We set off at about half past six and returned to camp about eight o’clock. We found that the original plumber was sat in his car waiting for our return so that he could fit the gas water heater. No one bothered to tell us about this event, therefore we could not have anticipated his arrival. However it did mean that yesterday was not a complete ‘wash out’ as far as the house is concerned. The plumber ended up working until well after half past ten to finish the job. How civilised to have hot water in the house at last. It was last September down at El Pinar since we had this luxury.
Saturday 07-07-07
‘E’ Well here we are , another weekend is upon us, and we are still spending it in the caravan.
Neither the builder nor the kitchen/electrics man is showing the slightest interest in bringing this long drawn out project to a successful conclusion. Meantime, we sit and watch, and tear our hair out.
On a brighter note, the two lads who are building our garage have made great progress today, good job somebody has.
Yesterday our good friend Allen came up to install the water softener, and the water purifier for us. He was with us all day and has done a magnificent job. Many thanks Allen, we are very grateful to you,(and to Mags also).
Last night, as I couldn’t be bothered to cook, we went to El Rancho’s for a meal, and then back to Lentisco’s for a coffee and a lovely dessert. It was a warm, calm night, and a break for Paul, who had spent all the day working with Allen.,(and for me, I spent nearly all day watching the tennis, very tiring).

We had a lovely nights dancing at Lentisco’s last night. The evening was warm and there was no wind and we were with friends. We finally left for home at half past twelve.
Today we went to Taberno for petrol for the car and for the little genny. We then went to Pocicas and ordered €500 worth of oil for the central heating boiler. We asked if they could deliver it pronto and indeed it arrived this afternoon just after two, what good service. 715 litres for €500 at €0.70/ltr. We also got some diesel for the other genny so in total we spent nearly €600 on fuel just today.
As the day was cloudy and cool, just over twenty degrees, we also went down to Antas again and ordered the second lot of lounge hard furniture. It will be three to four weeks before it is delivered, but it will be worth the wait.
Today, on site has been noticeable by the total inactivity. So flipping near yet so flipping far.
Today has been a lot cooler than yesterday by about ten degrees, it has made a nice change not to have had to worry about the cats being shut in the caravan whilst we were out.

Not much to write about today.
We had an argument with the furniture people down in Antas this morning trying to recover our four hundred and fifty euros deposit from the crappy furniture that they sent and we rejected. Didn’t get any where at all, so I filed a complaint on them and I have been trying to send an email to their head office this afternoon. At the same time we returned to another furniture shop and took pictures and dimensions of another set of furniture. We like it and will return to order it perhaps on Friday.
On site Dario and his brother Jose called in for an hour and fixed some window glass. We have to get some central heating oil so that the boiler can be set up and tested. We are going to the petrol station in Pocicas tomorrow where we can buy it. We will buy €500 worth and this together with €350 worth of logs should see us through next winter and perhaps the one after that.
We are going out with our friends dancing tonight. The ambient temperature today, in the car, was 32 degrees and it was forty in parts of the caravan when we came back at lunch time, poor cats.

We’re nearly there, again. The second plumber (first one having been dismissed from project) has been up this morning and has connected nearly all sections of the house plumbing up, so that we have taps in the kitchen and bathrooms that all work. I had a pee in the family bathroom and then was able to flush the loo, real luxury and progress.
Just yesterday we became aware, for the very first time, that we needed to pay extra for a calor gas water heater. We were a little affronted, but now we learn that the price of the house includes one water heater and we chose to have a central heating boiler water heater installed in the casita, but of course the casita is too far away from the house for hot water use, thus we needed another one. That’s another 470€ up the spout.
The new tyre for the Mazda, BTW, cost 75€, not too bad. It was in a real mess and two large holes in it that you could put your fingers through. They have renewed the tyre and inspected the wheel and found that to be OK, thank goodness.
Another hot day with temperatures in the 31 degrees area. We are learning to stay in and watch Wimbledon at the hottest part of the day. We go out early morning before it gets too hot, then we watch Wimbledon, and then if we need to go out again, we go in the cooler evening. All rather funny but sensible.

Who would have imagined that we are now in July and still in the caravan. So many problems to sort out still, that we are both exhausted and could do with a holiday. We saw a new plumber today, for ten minutes, he is Juan and he might return to start work tomorrow (that’s not necessarily the day after today), but then again he might not.
Whilst we were driving back from Albox today, after looking at sofa beds, I misjudged a narrow bit of tarmac road down in a rambla and hit a large rock with the front off side wheel. There was an almighty bang and crash that I thought that the engine had fallen out of the car. Elayne called me a very religious name and then we came to a halt. The tyre had burst on impact and the wheel might or might not be a write off. We are on the ‘get you home tyre’ now, which it did, we just hope that it will also get us back down to Albox tomorrow (see above) again to get a new tyre and assess the wheel damage.
Good old Wimbledon is at least taking our minds off the house for a while.
Sorry that there are not many pictures just now but there is really not a lot happening that might be relevant to the blog. The campo is now crispy brown and spitefully spiky when you walk through the shrubbery. This is the hot summer terrain and it will stay this way for quite sometime yet.
PS: We have had over 2600 visits to the site since we started the counter in January.

It’s now July and we are still not in the ruddy house yet. Will we be in the house even by September when Jane’s wedding takes place? We keep going up to the house to do bits and bats but apart from a siesta this afternoon, where I accidentally fell asleep on our new bed, much to Elayne’s annoyance, we are still living ‘the good life’ in the caravan. The weather has been kind to us recently so we have slept well at least.
No activity on site today at all, despite Dario saying yesterday that he would be up ‘tomorrow‘, to which I said Domingo? and he said “si“, to fit the glass to the front door and the dining room doors. Being Sunday we fully expected him to arrive with wife, kids and cousins in tow. We will sometimes sit here in the caravan working or doing something and then we look up to find Jose or Dario plus family and kids arriving to take photographs of themselves stood on the veranda in front of the house, bloody cheek.
I was saying to Elayne yesterday that I am now really sick and tired of the whole project. I just want everyone to go away and not come back. Leave us in peace to get on with living here in our house by ourselves. Then I have a drink, cheer up a little and think that it can’t be too long now, surely, can it?
This is the 301st blog since we started. Since the 9th of September we must have published perhaps 270 blogs. As I write the blogs in MS Works and then transfer the days etchings to the real on line blog, I then return to MSWorks and reduce the writings to 1 point size to save them. I have just started on page four of this works document and the date at the top of the first page is 9-9-2006. Not a bad 270 blogs worth on three pages. I can of course take any particular section and blow it back up to twelve point to read it again as well as searching the archives on line. I have just tried an experiment and blown the full three pages back up from one point to twelve point. It blew up to be a document with one hundred and five pages, needless to say I reduced it straight back down to one point again.