Yesterday, I spent a few hours painting… white this time, I painted two of the four interior workshop walls twice, first with thin paint, which soon soaked into the render, and when that had dried, I used a good quality paint, and they look good. I had to stop twice, the first time because one of the workmen had an accident, he and another lad were moving my trailer whilst working on the parking area, and he trapped his thumb between the trailer and the workshop wall…Ouch!! at first we thought it was broken, but I think it was squashed, and he is going to lose his nail. I have a feeling that has made up my mind for me, unless the new entrance and parking area are easy to reverse into, I am not going to be able to manhandle the trailer alone, it is very heavy, so it will have to go, and I will look for a small one, or even forget it, and put the funds into a separate account to pay for transport when I need supplies.
My second stoppage was for lunch, Marcela was out for the day, and I had chicken and rice, Pépe just a bit of chicken!
I eventually finished painting the two walls mid afternoon, and I have to say, they are looking good, by this time I had been abandoned by both workers, however late afternoon, the men arrived, to erect the rear security fence, I am very pleased with the end result, I\’m not sure Pépe would agree, now that one of his avenues of escape has been blocked off!
This morning, work at home was not on the agenda, I had to go to Migración Colombia, on the other side of Medellin, as one of the conditions of me living here, is that I let them know if I move address, and time is marching on. I had taken documents to prove who I was, and where I am living, but on arrival, all they wanted was a simple letter, they gave Marcela a piece of paper, we sat down and she wrote the letter, I signed it, we handed it in, and away we went, simple, and five minutes total, however, I am glad it is done.
From there we went back to Bello, to get a quote or two, then on to the commercial centre, firstly to buy a load of screws, followed by lunch, then buying fruit and veg, Marcela is getting worried about me, I think she wants to feed me up, I have lost another 5Kg, I am happy, I had to do nothing to lose it, just working at the house.
From there we moved on to Copacabana, I was looking for a wood supplier, to buy a quantity of pine, or something similar, for shelving both in the house and the workshop, however, it appears that nearly all the wood here is for construction, either rough timber for forming concrete, or roof supports, and this comes with insecticide impregnated, so can\’t be used near food, therefore even if I find it, it looks as if it will be expensive.
Then into town, where we found where we have to go if we need to see a Doctor, and where to go to collect medications, both we can park close by, so easy access, so we picked up my monthly supply of pills, as they are honouring the prescriptions issued by the previous Health Service Provider.
Finally, we went and purchased the roof tiles, so John can roof the kiosk, which up until now, has just been wood with an asphalt covering, Marcela did her bartering bit, over the cost of the transport, and then we headed home.
The place was deserted and locked up on arrival, Pépe doing his guard duty, unfortunately all the metal work is down to reinforce the concrete, so we couldn\’t access the property, so we unloaded the car, and Marcela spoke with Juan, who\’s, Mum had said we could park in their garden while the work was being done, and that is what we have done, it does mean that we don\’t have access to the car, but at least it\’s safer, and I have the bike in an emergency.
We were just getting organised, when someone started hooting their horn outside, I told Marcela to ignore it, we weren\’t expecting anyone today, but I was wrong, it was our roof tiles, so still in my decent togs, I had to join in and unload the tiles. I will have to move them again in the morning, but they are here! Unfortunately Pépe became rather excited at the thought of a new friend, Marcela had put him on his chain, whilst the gates were open, and the next thing she saw him wandering in the garden, he had pulled that hard, he has broken the plastic clip fastening his collar, so now he has no collar, which as the gate will be open for work during the next couple of days, presents something of a problem. We got his old collar out, but that is so small, it hardly fits around his leg, it looks as if he will have to use his choker chain, until we can get to the shops again.
An Englishman in Colombia 