Moving to Aargh 1 - fence 1

The new house itself does not require much work to be able to move in.  However, there is no fence, and we have dogs. Dogs that we like to keep. Well, most of them anyway.  

Our trusty constructor is busy elsewhere and absolutely has no time. That is a pity. Option two, a guy who does a lot of construction and maintenance jobs. Yes, he would like to do the fence, and he would make time for that. Great! In two weeks he'd start. That was mid April, so early May. Two weeks, so moving before end of May, maybe.

The fence is three parts. 

1. street side, right, where there is a low wall (60 cm) that we will put green mesh on.  35 meters long, 2 high

2. pool side, left: 50 meters grey galvanised mesh, 2m high, from lower left to uppr right, where it reaches a wall at the street.

3a. between the garden and the garage ramp, middle: 16 m green mesh, 2m high

3b. Alternatively: No mesh, but a gate at the garage entrance.

Mesh requires a pole every 2.5m, corner poles have two extra poles at 45º.

So, about €2000 stuff:

Comercial Vera

Ordered it, everything is in stock. When can you deliver? Tomorrow morning at 10? Perfect! We'll be there. 

Tomorrow morning at 10:00  - nothing. 10:30 nope. Should we call them? at 12:00 we did.

Yes, we'll come 13:30!

13:30... no. 14:00... Call again. Yes, tomorrow morning! No, we have an agreement. We insist: today. Nono, tomorrow morning. No, today. Silence. Or we cancel the order. Do you want to cancel the order? Yes. 

We already paid, the receipt was in Aargh, so we had to go there to collect it, and return to Comercial Vera to cancel. 20 minutes later, Comercial Vera on the phone. Again "tomorrow", and "no".  Problem with staff. Well, that is your responsibility, isn’t it. No personnel to help unloading the (small) van.  Oh, but we are two, we will help you unload the van.   "Ok, 30 minutes".

Stuff arrived, we helped unload the van.

Not expecting this from Comercial Vera really. We were fuming. We don't like to be told rubbish. Not by the mayor of Antas, and not by Comercial Vera. Why don't you have your stuff in order, and why don’t you explain what the problem is? And of course no sorry.

ITV: two seats or four?

ITV is Spain's APK, the yearly check if your car is still roadworthy. Mine was not, this year. Why? Because the technician at VERA ITV decided that my two-seater roadster has four seats.

Just to remind you what a roadster is: "A roadster (also spider, spyder) is an open two-seat car with emphasis on sporting appearance or character" , from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadster_(automobile)

Anyway. This car has a very nice space behind the seats that you can use to put the dog, the tent, or guests that need to experience how it is to travel to Switzerland by car without any leg room. Below the lid there are two tiny children's seats. No suspension, no safety seat belts, and no leg room for children either. If the lid is down you don't see them.

Went back to ITV Vera to talk, but no. Insisting, they said well, tomorrow morning the boss is here, talk to him. Talked to him: 4.

Anyway, changing the documentation was out of the question, I needed to go back to Lorca, 50 km away, to have them change the papers.

Not that it matters for anything. No tax issue, no safety issue. Quite the contrary, these two children's seats are unusable for children too. And does that mean that I would have two seats without a seat belt, and thus the car is not roadworthy? (No, the rules at date of production count.)

In Lorca they frowned, and counted two. Or four. They offered to retrieve the original data for this type of car from the archive, so if I returned in an hour they'd decide what to do.

Went shopping at the Mediamarkt that is there. As horrible a store as in the Netherlands. Huge, and hugely noisy.

Back to ITV Lorca. They added a note to the documentation, that the car has 2+2 seats. And a stamp, to make it official.

But, 50 km back, to ITV Vera: there is no signature! And without a signature, I would surely understand, they could do nothing. (See my -two- fuming ears?) Can you call ITV Lorca and discuss? No.

50 km back to Lorca. A paraph (short signature)? That is not necessary for changes like this. But they were as kind as to add one. Can you give me an ITV approval? No, unless you do the whole technical check, and pay. More fume.

50 km back to Vera. Where I should have chosen "reparacciones" instead of "other" appointments. Half an hour later I had my sticker.

The technician asked: "why have you come back here? You could have done the change in Lorca, as we're the same ITV company!"

Yes right. I think you're all named Manuel and you all are from Barcelona.

Engineer Jansen will file a complaint about BOTH ITV's, and demand compensation for 200 km driving and a whole day of his time.

Christmas 2017 - Moreno

In Amersfoort, we remember great restaurants like Avocado's, Saffraan, Blok's, and China Palace. In recent years, it's been tradition to dine at Saffraan on Christmas Eve, if they were open. Always a pleasure. Here, there's Juan Moreno in Vera. The Christmas menu below is for lunch on Christmas Day. It's a day more people get that impression, though, because all three rooms were packed. Room 1 is the actual restaurant, and it's beautiful; next to it is a second room, which is nice. And then, unexpectedly by us, there's a third room. It's more of a party room, with coat racks, restrooms, and our table at the back. There was no wine tasting this time either, so we kept it simple with a bottle of nice cava, although the sommelier did try to sell us a bottle of Moët & Chandon. Of course, he didn't succeed.

(See the bloody Buggy?)

But this compensates for all, the pig cheeks. Fantastic!

Fantasías de Tomate raf

Juan Moreno in Vera - Jornadas del tomate raf. Raf Tomatoes are beautiful red and green tomatoes, the pride of the region. They are very very good.

Almuerzo 3: Juan Moreno

Sometimes one tires of preparing lunch, and a luxurious lunch out is in order.

Cava con Fresas

Salad with Balsamico ice cream

Salmon, tomato, avocado

Suprice egg // Kindersurprise

Egg yolk tempura

 Nice mushrooms

Fancy salt and pepper

BRABANTIA?? // They upped their market..

Garrucha red prawns (wow!)

Snacks of the hill: kid in filo, croquette of iberico and a shaslik

in

smoke

Yearling sirloin with orange sauce

Lemon and gin

and vapour

Mad chocolate, without broccoli this time.