The Downs
I mislaid (lost) my driver´s licence and had to apply for a Portuguese one. What a pain! I got stung two weeks running by the same wasp ( they looked the same ayway) and learned that I do not take anti-histamin tablets ever again since they give me a hangover without any alcohol. What IS the point?
I am having an "I can´t stand living on a building site any more" moment. We have been living with this now for 5 years...
But most likely that will pass after my first rum and coke tonight.The other thing is that, living in Portugal, so often you find yourself at the mercy of traders for whom "a manha" (tommorrow) is the by word. So when you say "can you do this for three weeks time?" meaning actually 21 days, the answer is always "of course" and 30 days and several hundred phone calls later you are still waiting with the promise "a manha". Aaaaaaaarggh!
Not good for the blood pressure and not good for completing projects on a time limit. Having said that I remember only too well having the same problem in Prague with the building of the new school. So if you are reading this Andy....you were right. It´s the same everywhere!!!!
As a result the barn is still waiting for its new roof on the other side because we are still waiting for the joists which should have been here last week. We had to also wait an additional ten days for the wooden staircase which was promised at the end of June. Mind you we did get a good discount because of the delay.
The temperature has suddenly soared from a balmy 25 degrees and cool evening to lava level 35 degrees in the shade. The water system has been playing silly buggers and Fraser has spent the last week trying to find out why we seem to have shedloads of water coming from our water mine but, sadly not managing to make the effort to get into our tank!
I have at least three hundred(slight exageration here) insect bites of one description or another on various parts of my anatomy, which is a bit unfair since I spend my day fully clothed in combats, t~shirt and wellies - (don´t even ask about the feet!)
OK grumps over.
The Ups
The plus side is that we were able to adjust the building schedule to suit. The joists for the second floor went up and Fraser now has fixed his wooden floor upstairs in his "studio" and the stairs. 
The electric cables and water pipes are almost in ( here you build a wall and then knock bloody great holes in it to channel cable???) Go figure!
Walls are up, 
window and door frames sorted and we have knocked out for the front door of the barn which will open on the veranda side of the house 
and now we are ready for removing the rustic roof to offer up the new roof beam..................back to waiting for the joists!!!!!!!!!! But no worries, they should come tomorrow....don´t hold your breath!
window and door frames sorted and we have knocked out for the front door of the barn which will open on the veranda side of the house and now we are ready for removing the rustic roof to offer up the new roof beam..................back to waiting for the joists!!!!!!!!!! But no worries, they should come tomorrow....don´t hold your breath!Having decided to install solar water heating we have to reinforce and extend our verandah to carry the tank and panels, since the front veranda is the only sloping roof facing south, and also to create a cover for the front door to the barn. We also discovered rot in the front pillar so that had to be replaced too.
So today Fraser, Mike and Ant have spent the entire day...in 33 degree heat in the shade, removing and replacing beams to strengthen and extend the veranda roof line.
The veranda at the start of the day
Lots of drilling, sawing, 
sanding and dust and sawdust....
and at the end of day the frame is up
Time for a beer. Make that several!
A real plus this past few weeks has been having lots of friends visit..
Steve from the Algarve... who gave us lots of good advice about our solar water heating and went with me for a long ride in the countryside!!! Sorry Steve we didn´t take a photo of you or your bike!!!
José from Lisbon
Nigel from Rio 
Alan and Lynda from Rio
It makes it all worth while. It was great to see you all.So to those of you who have not visited us yet so far...come and see us and give us an excuse to stop working!
