Well here we are back from Madeira. We had a great time, although it was very busy too as we are now moving on with our plans to have a house built out there. We have put a deposit on the plot of land and have a set of design plans to be submitted for planning approval. We spent a whole day with the builder, including 3 hours with the architect, and on other days visited numerous tile and bathroom-ware shops. We also spent a lot of the rest of the time poring over the plans and working out some of the details. They will not start building until September, and it will take the best part of a year to build, so there is no need for us to have everything sorted at this stage but Dave, in particular, likes to get involved in the fine detail and wants to get a lot of things nailed down straight away.
We revisited the plot a couple of times to visualise how the plans will become reality. Here are some pictures of it, along with the resident lawn mowers:
We did manage one "lavada" walk, which is a walk following one of the many irrigation channels which are all over Madeira. They are a lovely way of getting away from the hustle and bustle and spending some tranquil time with nature. As I am still suffering from the odd bout of vertigo we avoided any of the more vertiginous walks this visit.
Also while we were in Madeira Dave and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary with a delicious meal in the town of Ribeira Brava. The builder kindly gave us a beautiful orchid which I have entrusted to our neighbours (of our current house there) until we are living there full time. I am so looking forward to growing my own things out there, and my list of plants for the future garden keeps on growing. We won't need a banana tree as we will be surrounded by banana and sugar cane plantations, but I do plan an avocado tree, several citrus trees and possibly mango, persimmon or some other sweet fruit. Dave, on the other hand, is busy researching robot lawn mowers, strimmers and other pieces of garden equipment.
We did a little investigation into buying a second hand car for every-day use and were shocked at how expensive they are. Portugal has very high duties on car imports so even old cars are very expensive compared with the UK. We had to tone our hopes down from something like a VW Golf to a Toyota Yaris! Again, no hurry, although we need to get something by September when we move out there.
Now we are back home and back down to earth. Dave continues to pore over the plans and is currently trying to configure the kitchen (even though there will be experts to help us with that!). He is also getting on with more decorating to get our UK house ready to rent or sell.
I did manage to get along to my bra making class on the day we got back, although I was rather too tired to take in some of the more technical stuff that we were taught. I have produced something called a fit frame (like a bra with no cups!) which, once it is properly fitted to me, can be used to try out different cups, to get the perfect fit and style. We now have a week off for half term and I hope to find some time to make some progress on my own.
I hope that you all have a great bank holiday weekend and that the weather is kind to you.
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