Another piece of land!

n brown said:
that was useful . when we first went down there, you couldn't buy ready planed timber so you had to buy rough sawn wood ,then take it to a chippy who'd sort it into planed boards and mouldings . luckily we'd lived in France so i could communicate with these guys ,who enjoyed speaking in French anyway ! putting up a shelf could involve driving 60k and waiting a week ,but that was the pace of life
Click to expand...
It's 19 months since we last set out to wander slowly back down to the Algarve.
It gave us a chance to dust down our French and Spanish, and Jenny's German.
I was only thinking, (In English ), how little Portuguese, we're speaking, since lockdown.. No socialising, just hurried shopping.

If we're looking for something unfamiliar, we take a photo, and show it.
The supermarket, butcher and green grocery, are just routine transactions and contactless, in every way. Masks don't help.
The longest conversation we have is with the chatterbox lady in the village newsagents. If there's not a queue outside the door, she'll talk about the weather and maybe some local gossip/ news.
We're not meeting any visiting foreign motorhomes, and have only just started visiting cafes and restaurants, this week... Outdoors, of course.
We chat to family and friends online.. which is a Godsend
 
Pauljenny said:
It's 19 months since we last set out to wander slowly back down to the Algarve.
It gave us a chance to dust down our French and Spanish, and Jenny's German.
I was only thinking, (In English ), how little Portuguese, we're speaking, since lockdown.. No socialising, just hurried shopping.

If we're looking for something unfamiliar, we take a photo, and show it.
The supermarket, butcher and green grocery, are just routine transactions and contactless, in every way. Masks don't help.
The longest conversation we have is with the chatterbox lady in the village newsagents. If there's not a queue outside the door, she'll talk about the weather and maybe some local gossip/ news.
We're not meeting any visiting foreign motorhomes, and have only just started visiting cafes and restaurants, this week... Outdoors, of course.
We chat to family and friends online.. which is a Godsend
Click to expand...
Do you find your shopping list gets muddled, half Portuguese and half English? I know when we are at the end of our stay as I can't remember the English word. Our neighbours all speak Portuguese at us regularly. We understand more than we speak, but they just repeat things different ways (even in french!) till we get it.
 
James Michener told in his book The Drifters that he asked his old parisienne concierge if she knew any language tutors that could teach him French , she scoffed and told him to come at 8am tomorrow and she'd teach him ,in a week !
next day he found himself following her round as she did her chores ,rabbitting non-stop about her work . he never understood a word
next day she talked non-stop about transport in France . he found himself picking out odd words with similar sounds -train ,autocar, chauffeur etc .
by the 4th day he was understanding some complete sentences ,and by the seventh he could swap jokes and stories .
she just said that's how babies learn, something similar worked for me, but i never had the same luck in Prtugal
 
n brown said:
James Michener told in his book The Drifters that he asked his old parisienne concierge if she knew any language tutors that could teach him French , she scoffed and told him to come at 8am tomorrow and she'd teach him ,in a week !
next day he found himself following her round as she did her chores ,rabbitting non-stop about her work . he never understood a word
next day she talked non-stop about transport in France . he found himself picking out odd words with similar sounds -train ,autocar, chauffeur etc .
by the 4th day he was understanding some complete sentences ,and by the seventh he could swap jokes and stories
Click to expand...
We were both lucky, having some French.
My Dad lived in France between the ages of 4 and 11 and used to talk basic French at home.

Jenny worked in Germany, for 4 years and picked up the lingo, by being totally immersed in it, working with young kids.

Our first holidays here were in tourist resorts, so language was no problem We thought, Gracias and a few other Spanish words was adventure enough. We thought we'd never get to understand the language that the locals used.

During the foul winter of 2001, we were more or less confined to the campsite. We took a 12 lesson course, led by one of the reception ladies..
Simple , practical stuff. We could say , " Tomorrow... I go to Faro.. ", do simple shopping and understand menus.
Just baby talk, really.
But it got us started.
Then we moved to this village.. 17 years ago.
We were taken in by elderly neighbours, and it was intensive.
Carmenha, became my Honourary Portugese Mother-In- Law.. Sogra..
She's just had her 100th birthday.. and lights up our lives , whenever we meet.
You've just got to get out there and use it
 
I was recommended a book..
An English couple bought land and a ramshacle ols house in Portugal.
The lived in theierr motorhome for many months as the "Hovel as Paul Jenny would say" needed everything including a new roof.
It was a delightful read which I read whilst we spent a week plus over xmas at St B de Messines.
We had a lovely time
No plns to do the same as 1 "foreign house" is enuff
But maybe a summer visit ! in the Motorhome !
 
Ps
Wood
Teak freely available here but it needs to be cut and planed at home.
Where we areb they use had sows *2 people) to turn trees into planks as there is less waste
The edges then need to be trimmed (circular Saw) and all 4 sides planed..(some more than others) to get a consistent thickness
My O level woodwork teacher would be proud of me
The results are good.
Mahogonay also available for structural work but a pain as it is so hard to work
We ususlly stain the wood with a "Creosote type" liqiid then varnish to finish

There are some high quality furnishing items available but for Thailand they are at extortioate prices
 
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