Haircuts

Having had a haircut myself yesterday (jury still out on the local hairdresser), today marked the end of the vine pruning.

With 23 acres covered, hundreds and hundreds of vines snipped, several miles walked and all types of weather encountered, it has been, in many ways, quite a therapeutic experience. Over the course of the last 7 weeks, most days have involved a trip up the hill to keep chipping away at what seemed to be an endless task. While very repetitive, each vine required concentration to ensure that it was pruned correctly. No pruning was done last year by the previous owner and some vines have been lost. Failure to complete the task this year would have severely weakened the remaining vines further and resulted in further losses. This has been quite a motivating factor! The work has taken me to bits of the estate that I hadn't previously explored and given me plenty of thinking time about how I take things forward (as well as plenty of exercise).

Pruning has been juggled with normal domestic tasks, decorating, organising builders (slight problem with a missing lintel above the front door...), wood collection, dental treatment (and the weather) hence why it has taken 7 weeks. I am assured that 10th April is the deadline for pruning so I'm well inside.

With visitors due in April plus my possibly taking some time off for some R&R, the focus now shifts to decorating. Once you get through stripping the dodgy external shell of paint applied just before I bought, things get interesting and dealing with what's revealed results in lots of debris and dust. However, all the wooden beams downstairs have now been stripped and, in the hallway, treated for woodworm and stained. My plastering skills are improving which is lucky as there is alot of it to be done over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, we seem to be moving in to Spring. Hoopoes and lizards are about and the almond orchards (now in leaf) are alive with singing cirl and rock buntings. Still awaiting other summer visitors to put in more than a fleeting appearance, but the tend is to warmer weather although the usual sunshine has had the odd interruption for reason. Still, it seems more clement here than in England. Listening to the weather and the travel reports on the BBC doesn't make me yearn for going back.

Not quite a washout

With the skies appearing to be determined to dump as much water as they can on this part of the world, the planned activities for the week have been curtailed. Having tried it, I speak with authority when I say that being stuck on a hill 3000' feet up in driving rain with a gale blowing trying to look through your to peer through misted glasses and make sure that you cut off all the dead vine twigs and only leave 2 buds on the live ones (and NOT lop off something you shouldn't) is not easy.

The weather has also hampered wood collection with the result that stocks of dry almond logs have run dangerously low. Following a conversation with my neighbour Jose yesterday, I ordered a trailer-load of olive wood (the best for fires) from his nephew Antonio for delivery today. Short of cash, I went to the bank in to Cadiar first thing giving Jose a lift. The original purpose of his trip was to get a photocopy made in the newsagents. Of course, we actually came back with a sack of oats, two of potatoes, some canary seed, a bag of sardinbes plus some anchovies! This is relatively normal though. Not having a car, my neighbours make the most of any opportunities for free carriage. Again, as is normal, we took a coffee before our return and I received an invite to lunch (always taken at 2).

Antonio arrived at 1 and a hurried unloading of the wood was made in to the stable. Arriving for lunch, I was greeted by Jose's sister (with whom Antonio lodges) so it was 6 of us that sat down to lunch. The said sardines and anchovies made a reappearance (cooked) along with wild boar chorizo, salad and migas (breadcrumbs cooked in a vegetable stock and then fried). Although very simple, it was a very delicious lunch. With freshly picked oranges for dessert, lunch extended out until 4 pm and turned what looked like being an entire washout into quite a pleasant day. I even managed to explain (and be understood) about my past life as a fishery officer and recount the tales of drinking whisky at 7am with the skippers of the boats in Aberdeen.

Here's hoping the weather improves soon as scraping the 7 layers of 'stuff' off the hallway walls isn't doing my sanity any good.