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Spain
Now living in l'Olleria, south of Valencia

Sunday 17 February 2008

Rome wasn't built in a day





We’ve decided to build a pool-house. As the property at the bottom of our garden has pruned their trees to within a few inches of the ground, our pool area is now quite exposed. We plan to put in a long wall alongside the pool, for privacy and neatness, and then include an open fronted building at the end, for a covered eating area, which will also include a bbq and a sink area. At the back, will be a small en-suite; toilet, sink and shower.

Ed has taken up all of the hard standing around the pool, and dug out the foundations. We have called in Petir the Bulgarian (who helped with the pine needles) and one of his friends. Unfortunately, they can only work at weekends, as they have other work elsewhere, so the job is taking a while to complete! However, this gives us time in the week, to get supplies in for them; blocks, sand, gravel, cement etc.

They certainly do things differently here. Breezeblocks are laid face down, but with the bottoms knocked out, and then rods inserted, and the whole wall filled with concrete. This is because Spain is an earthquake area. One thing is for sure – next time we have any huge floods, as in September, our pool and garden will be fine! All of the rain will be diverted to the back of the garden where any damage will be minimal.

For the toilet outlet, Ed has built another cess pit. Here, they are all natural ‘decomposing’ pits. Basically, a deep hole, with block built sides (with big gaps) and a solid top. If you are lucky, the top will have a lid on it, so you can make sure it’s ok, if you need to, otherwise, the pit will be somewhere in the garden, never to be discovered, unless you are really unlucky!! (Ed has put a top on the new one, so we can dispose of the dog poop hygienically.)

As we have had some rain this week, they are a little behind schedule, but really, we are very happy with their work.

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