April '08

It has been a busy month for us with lots going on and lots to do. The weather has been much better than last April and we have been able to get on with lots more work. After more than a year out here, we had our first visit to meet some other English people for a barbeque at their finca. It was a great afternoon and by the time we got back the sun had set.

Barn
We have been trying to find an Agricultural Engineer so he can write a "justification" for the building of our barn. The Adjuntamente accept that we can build a barn, but they want the "justification" in case anyone asks why it was built. He ho. Anyway we have managed to find an Agricultural Engineer who will do the justification, so hopefully that will be all we need.

The barn itself is being built very quickly by a team of local builders. In one week at the end of the month, they have poured the footing and the base and have built the walls up to above lintel height and capped them with a concrete beam for strength. At this rate it should be finished in another couple of weeks.

The Finca
We have managed to prune a lot more trees and get most of the cuttings burnt before the grasses dried out too much. Now we will not be able to have any more fires due to the risk. A couple of weeks ago we bought a tiny one-handed chainsaw, which has made pruning the trees much easier and also makes cutting up the branches for firewood a doddle.

The wild flowers are at their best right now. There are huge patches of blue, yellow, or pink flowers in different areas of the olive groves. I'll be taking more pictures of them over this weekend.

Festes
The village festes kicked off on St. Georges day with stalls selling the traditional single rose for the women and book stalls for the women to buy a book for their men. I got given a book of tomatoe recipes. Yum. Alex and Sara came out for the first few days of the village festes and they enjoyed the good weather, playing with Dylan and meeting the villagers again.

The last few nights we have been to barbeques in the garage below our flat and then at about 2am go on to the dances they hold in the town hall. This Saturday (3rd May) the dance will go on all night as it is the final event of the festes.

PB