Changes.

We keep a close eye on the weather forecast this time of year as it can be quite unpredictable, but last Sunday we thought we might start olive pruning this week as it had been a lovely end to the week and we fully expected it to continue.
However, after looking at eltiempo.es, we changed our plans as the forecast was a mix of showers, sleet and snow - with temperatures to match!

So first thing Monday morning we cleared the doorway to the bodega to start tiling the floor. We now have to go back a few months - or more than a few - when we wondered if it would be possible to put all the kitchen into the bodega and make the dining-kitchen just a dining room. The bodega has always been kitchen storage / fridges and freezers with J having a corner for computers, but the sink (already in situ when we bought the house) and cooker have always been at the end of the dining room. Our problem seemed to be a major one - we couldn't find access for the drainage!

The floor needed to be lowered slightly so there wasn't too much of a difference in levels between the rooms and as J chiselled out the excess concrete, he found the water inlet pipe and the drainage from the sink. That solved our long-ago "I wonder if it's possible" thoughts, and what started off as a tiling job, has turned into a refurbishment. So far we've only spent €34 on plumbing bits, the sink is in place, the cooker has moved (that's easy as it's free standing) we have a large workstation in the middle of the room, with herbs, chillis and garlic hanging above, J is rendering the walls to make them smoother prior to putting on 'capa fina'. This is (as it says) a final coat of white, never needs painting and is washable.

Tomorrow when we are a bit tidier downstairs I'll take before and 1 week later photos. The tiling still hasn't started as there has been a lot of stuff - mostly his - to move and find new homes for. This involved tidying sheds and emptying cupboards in the caravan while remembering where everything had been moved to!

Anyway, the weather forecast turned out to be hopelessly wrong for most of the week, and it's been mostly dry and quite warm some days! But today they forecast snow, and it arrived a couple of hours ago. I went into Ugijar this morning to pick up a few bits of shopping for the weekend and it looked lovely on the road from Yegen via Valor - blue skies, almond trees in full bloom but only 2.5 degrees. No idea how cold it is now, but when I shut the shutters and closed the curtains, there was thick snow falling.