Caught up!

We are nearly up to date, and as this is more of a Diary for me and my Family, I can’t promise that there will be regular updates, therefore if you subscribe, you will be informed when I put finger to Keyboard! Yep, I’m certainly no typist…

Having completed the bulk of the Bunkbed project, I have been looking for those little jobs that need doing, just to keep me occupied, before starting on the stairs.

One of those jobs, was what I would call an improvement, rather than a necessity, and that was to replace some of our ‘new’ electric sockets, with sockets, incorporating USB power, for using and charging those gadgets that run out of battery just when you need them most, and haven’t got a charger handy.

I have put them in the spare bedrooms (not ours, because our socket is behind the bed, and we use short extension leads), the lounge, workshop, office, and the outside covered sitting area, now I just have to go round and touch up around the sockets, either just with paint, as in this example, or a bit of filler, then they are done. Woodwork, Electricity, Plumbing, no problem, I’ll give it a go, but never ask me to play with gas, if you can’t see or smell it, I won’t touch it!

We have decided to make an investment, we are absolutely fed up with the service given by our Energy Supplier, EPM which has a monopoly. We think the infrastructure for this area is ‘End of Life’, and is constantly breaking down, whether there is a storm or not, we get power cuts nearly on a weekly basis, these can vary from minutes to 36 hours.

A Neighbour gave us the phone number of the local Engineer for the Company, he would be sacked, if he worked anywhere but here. If Marcela phones him, to try and hurry things along, he will say he is not coming out until the rain stops, or until he’s had his breakfast, or it’s too dark to find the fault, wait until daylight.

We’ve had enough, we are installing a Solar Energy system, which we are assured will provide more than enough for our needs, except possibly when I am working on a big project in the workshop, there will be battery back-up for night time, and what power we don’t use will go back into the Grid, and they will pay us for that unused electric.

Hopefully it will be installed next week, the only hiccup so far has been over the payment, it’s no ones fault, it’s just the way things work in Colombia, the Banks cause so many problems for Companies, that they will go out of their way not to use certain high-street names, and ask Clients to pay direct to personal accounts, which we are not happy about. No disrespect, but we don’t know those Individuals, and for us it’s a big investment. So it has been decided that we are going to pay cash, into the one Bank, the Company is registered with, that way we know it’s gone to the Company, and at the same time, because it’s not our Bank, we won’t get hammered for transfer charges.

If this and the installation all goes smoothly, I will put details of the Company on here, but I can’t recommend them until then, I would hate anyone to have a bad experience, on my say so!

This afternoon, I am off yet again to Rionegro for more Vertigo tests, I was at a different Clinic yesterday for therapy, today the session takes up to an hour, and apparently I might be throwing up, which will be interesting, and those of you who know me, noisy! so I have to have an early lunch, and hope for the best, I will take a change of clothes just in case.

OK, time for me to tidy up, and get ready for an early lunch.