Work began again in earnest on Monday 29 August with Patrik and Tomas starting full time on the site following the project plan Scarlett, Chris and Ian had put together the previous weekend.

Materials were ordered and foundations prepared for a chicken run, dog kennel, storage huts (all on R0) and an area of shade on C2. The irrigation pipe on the land was drained and the up-pipe moved to the far right-hand side up to the location for the water deposit on R10.

We spoke to a supplier for a water deposit and had his quote on the Wednesday which we then took straight to the Ayuntamiento along with a plan showing where the deposit was going in order to get planning permission for it, which we had been told was a simple process.

As the Perito (Council technical advisor) only works on Tuesdays and Fridays, Scarlett returned on the Friday to see if he had approved the plan. The Perito told her that he needed a detailed specification of the water deposit, not just the dimensions and materials, and the signature of the person responsible for the construction. So Scarlett had to get back in touch with the supplier to get this information so it was ready to represent on Tuesday 6 September.

Ian spent all week walking the land measuring every terrace and creating a sketch of the layout. The thirty-six terraces, if joined end to end, would extend to over 1.5km in length. The average width is 3.5m.

On Thursday and Friday the foundations were laid for both the chicken run and the storage huts.

Preparation for the following week included ordering more sand and fencing/posts for the chicken run and soft fruit terraces R1 and R2.

Scarlett learnt a lot of new Spanish words for all the building materials that she ordered during the week and spent lots of time trying to source a digger for some of the heavy work. She eventually found a man with a digger who could start work on Tuesday 6 September. We need him to:
 -  widen R10 for the water deposit
 -  improve the access routes (to E0, R0 and C1-C4)
 -  clear more terraces (E1, E2, C1)
 -  create new access ramps (on the left of C5 - up to both C6 and E2 and on the left of C9, up to both R10 and R11).

Friday 9 September 2005

This week's highlights: Work begins on the Pergola!
And low-lights: The digger man fails to turn up as his equipment is broken!



On Monday 5 September Patrik and Tomas began to paint the wood for the pergola. By early afternoon they had ran out of paint and were only two-thirds through the job, but by this time the paint supplier was closed until the evening. So the boys began to move the sand and cement for the foundations up from C0 to C2 - a job they had hoped the digger man could do for them on the Tuesday! Ian got the extra paint that night, with a lot of sign language to communicate with the man in the paint shop, so they could finish the painting the next day.

Ian spent all of Monday marking out the various jobs on the land for the digger man to do when he arrived on Tuesday (all together there is probably 2 weeks work for the digger). Most of the rest of the week Ian worked on creating the first version of this website about the land project.

On Tuesday Scarlett returned to the Ayuntamiento with the new documentation, that they asked for when she applied the previous week, for the Water Deposit planning permission, but was told that the Perito (technical advisor) would not be in until much later and that she should return on Friday. When Friday came and she returned to the Ayuntamiento it was closed for a local fiesta day! So the planning application will have to wait until Tuesday 13 September.

The digger man did not show up on Tuesday. When Scarlett chased him he said his machine was broken and that he would not be able to start until Monday 12 September. In the end this worked out for the better because it was too windy on Tuesday for the digger to work and on Wednesday it rained and all work had to stop.

On Thursday the boys began to lay the concrete foundations for the pergola. The sooner this is built the better as it will provide both shade from the sun and shelter on rainy days like Wednesday!

More building materials were delivered during the week, from suppliers that had been closed all August due to the normal Spanish summer break. We took delivery of:

 -  the door for the chicken run hut
 -  fencing/posts for the chicken run, dog kennel and fruit terraces
 -  a gate for the chicken run
 -  two gates for the fruit terraces

Unfortunately the wrong size gates for the fruit terraces were delivered - they are 4m wide and the terraces are only 3.5m wide - so they will have to go back.

We didn't do any more work on the land on Friday as the boys had other things to do. They will return on Monday along with the digger man (hopefully).

Friday 16 September 2005

This week's highlights: The water deposit area is cleared and permission given to build it!
And low-lights: Everyone has a bad day on Tuesday



The week got off to a good start on Monday 12 September with Patrik and Tomas getting on well with the Pergola foundations and Antonio, the digger man, arrived on site with his JCB to begin all the earth moving.

The first job for Antonio was to widen tracks all the way from the entrance (E1) up to the location for the water deposit (R10) so that he could safely get up and down with the JCB. He'd finished that job by lunchtime and so was able to begin digging out some of the top terrace for the water deposit and moving it to the left hand side to create a new ramp from R10 to R11.

On Tuesday Scarlett returned to the Ayuntamiento for the forth time to see the Perito (technical advisor) about the planning application for the water deposit. The office staff would not let her go to see him, but eventually the Mayor came out of his office and told them it was OK. The Perito, however, was not in a very good mood and would not give any commitment to when, or if, he would get round to giving permission. Scarlett returned home totally frustrated.

After a few phone calls it transpired that the Perito normally did not see members of the public on a Tuesday, not that anyone had ever told Scarlett this on any of her many previous visits, and this week in particular he was preparing for a very important council meeting that afternoon. Another trip on Friday would be required.

Patrik and Antonio were both ill on Tuesday - so Tomas worked elsewhere and Ian went to the land on his own to mark out more areas for the digger whilst he waited for a delivery of building materials (that never arrived).

So, all in all Tuesday was not a very productive day for anyone.



On Wednesday everyone was back on site. Patrik and Tomas finished the concrete foundations for the pergola. In the afternoon, the boys moved the metal storage sheds onto their base. Antonio finished digging out terrace R10 to create and area 100m² into R11 for the water deposit.

Scarlett was in the UK for the day on Thursday, to bring her father over to Spain for a holiday, so Ian was responsible for ensuring everyone on site had all they needed to progress the work. When Patrik and Tomas started on the construction of the Pergola, they found that the kit did not include large plastic plugs to screw the uprights into the cement base. So Ian was sent off to find an ironmongers and use his limited Spanish, and considerable sign language, to get them.

Later in the day, Antonio, who spoke only Spanish (with a strong Andalucian accent) was able to explain to Ian that he needed the circular base area accurately marked out with an 8.8m diameter so that he could dig out the foundations. Ian created a mini-Stonehenge with rocks to mark it out.



Ian's last challenge of the day was to source more fuel for the generator. He had a lot of difficulty explaining to the people at the Lecrín petrol station that he needed to buy a container and 5 litres of fuel. Once again a combination of sign language and pigeon Spanish eventually got things sorted.

Martin, Scarlett's son-in-law, also begin working on the land - starting with the foundations for the chicken run fence.

More building materials were delivered during the week:

 -  two lorry loads of course sand
 -  one lorry load of fine sand
 -  one palette of cement
 -  two palettes of breeze blocks

The week ended on several positive notes.

The fifth visit to the Ayuntamiento paid off as the Perito finally gave permission for the water deposit to be built. The formal letter was waiting to be typed and should be available to collect on Wednesday 21 September.

Patrik and Tomas finished the main structure of the Pergola by Friday. Martin made great progress on digging out the foundations for the boundary fence of the chicken run.

Antonio finished all the digging work. as well as the area for the water deposit, during the week he:

 -  widened the entrance ramp to E0
 -  enlarged E0 and widened the track from there to C0 through to C4
 -  cleared terraces C0, C1 and E1
 -  created new access ramps from C2 to C3, from C4 to C5 and C6 (providing access to E2) and from R9 to R10 and R11
 -  improved the access from C0 and C1 down to R0
 -  widened the left-hand end of R0 terrace

The big challenge for next week will be working out the best way to get materials to the top of the land to construct the base for the water deposit.

Friday 23 September 2005

This week's highlights: The Pergola is finished!
And low-lights: We struggle to make progress on the Water Deposit



This week Martin, Patrik and Tomas were working on the land Monday to Thursday. During the week they finished the Pergola completely, including the weather-proof roof.

We had a party on Thursday night, 22 September, to celebrate all the progress on the land (and the fact it was Ian´s 40th Birthday). About 30 people came along to the BBQ, many of whom have been involved or will become involved in the project. We even managed to have electric lights (with the use of a generator).

On Monday morning Ian and Patrik met Pepe, who owns several cement lorries and dumper trucks, for advice on creating the base foundations for the water deposit. Various options were discussed but Pepe himself was not keen to take on the work. Having sounded out the views of several locals the consensus is that hiring a combined dumper/mixer was the best way to make up the cement and transport it to the top of the land.

During the week Scarlett tried to source the mixer/dumper and found that anywhere that could supply one had all their machines out on hire. So this will take some time to resolve. However, the boys will be busy enough building the metal framework. We have now ordered all the materials for the framework and the sand and cement, but none of this can be delivered until Friday 30 September.



Work started on the foundations for the fencing around the Chicken Run area. Whilst we would love to have totally free-range chickens, we have had to take a pragmatic approach given the risk of them being killed by local wild life. The fenced area will be about 150 square metres for 20 chickens - that´s more than twice the area most humans are given for their office space in the UK!

Work on this ground to a halt because of missing bits:
 -  Upright posts for the fencing (only corner posts had been delivered)
 -  Fine wire to fix the fencing to the posts
 -  Bolts and screws for the corner posts (fortunately some of the bits for the missing uprights had bolts/screws that the boys could use)

Two more lorry loads of sand were delivered during the week and a door for the Chicken Run - but a delivery of 40 palettes of Breeze Blocks was turned away (we had only ordered 4, so Patrik sent them all back in case they were meant for another site). The materials for the Chicken House roof that were ordered last Friday for delivery on Monday did not arrive and Scarlett chased this up on Tuesday and Thursday without success.

On Wednesday Scarlett collected the formal letter giving permission to build the water deposit.

Thursday was a day for tiding up, taking stock and planning for the next few weeks, when both Ian and Scarlett will be away for extended periods. Everyone took Friday off.