Blogs from Sierra Nevada, Andalusia, Spain, Europe - page 2

They say the darkest hour is just before dawn, well for me it’s about 3am. I woke early this morning and just couldn’t get back to sleep, too many thoughts wizzing around in my head, too many unanswered questions, too many answers to questions I wish I hadn’t asked. Don’t they say ignorance is bliss? It’s a melancholy and lonely journey at 3am and the only place to go when your sharing a room is the bathroom, so I’m typing today’s episode sat on the cold stone Spanish tiles and wondering if I’m a little crazy. It’s change over day, not a good day to feel tired but I do. After watering the terraces (why oh why didn’t they just install a drip feed system), cleaning the pool and sweeping the surround, Dee and I set ... read more

Wow we made it. A whole week has now passed, I was going to cancel today’s blog due to lack of brain function and the fact that I’d just be blabbering on about cleaning the pool, weeding, digging, watering and picking up nuts again, but as well as doing all that we also had a little drama which I thought I’d share. Like everything else here, the electricity has always been a bit dodgy and the fuses have been tripping every now and then since we got here but today they kept tripping and wouldn’t reset, so Kate set us to investigate. After determining that the fuse box complete with circuit breakers which sits outside the front door isn’t actually a fuse box at all but apparently just switches the lights around the car park and ... read more

It’s Friday (yippee) and Kate has graciously decided that since we actually started work last Sunday its about time we had a day off (of course we don’t disagree), so after a slight lie in till 8.00am and more strange dreams we grab a quick breakfast make ourselves some lunch from leftovers and follow the mule track down the mountain (La Casa is situated at about 1000m) to Lanjaron for a break from toil and strife and hopefully some sightseeing. We had hoped to do some washing in the WOOF washing machine and hang it out to dry before we leave (even though looking at the machine it looks as if the clothes may come out dirtier than they went in), but since its been wet Kate is using this machine as well as her own ... read more

I spend the night tossing and turning once again and at one point resort to sleeping on the floor only to have a nightmare that the hundreds of earwigs from the wood pile have invaded our room and are queuing up to take refuge in my ear. Dawn breaks and I lie awake listening to the neighbours cockerel crow at 5.30am before dragging myself into the shower at 7.00am and trying to prepare myself for another day of toil. The shower is another minor annoyance in that it really is very compact, having been built into a cupboard in the stockroom. It’s small even for me and its just as well I’m not as muscled as I aspire to be since there would be the distinct possibility that I’d never be able to get out of ... read more

The next day dawns before we know it and we’re up for roll call and a list of our daily instructions at 9.00am. Today Michael and Chery will be showing us the ropes and taking us through some of the regular jobs before they leave later on in the week to teach English to Spanish students in Madrid. I’m paired with Michael and Chery is showing Dee the ropes. Chery shows Dee how to clean the pool bar and do stocktaking (La Casa does have a lovely pool, if only the sun would come out and we had time to use it!) and then moves on to pruning and grape picking whilst Michael and I do some pool cleaning (which proves to be much harder than it looks!) sweep and clean the patio area and then ... read more