Operation Portugal (2) in Juggling with Hedgehogs

The massive clear out of my house is progressing (honestly, I can’t believe the amount of crap that has been stored in every nook and cranny of the place, and after several trips to the tip, and tons of bags and boxes of rubbish chucked away, I still have half a loft full, and at least 3 rooms jam packed. It’s ridiculous. But it’s progressing, and the more I see the space happening, the more I like it.

The house is now on the market - officially I think from today - and we’re off to Portugal on Wednesday to view 7 properties we’ve lined up as potentials for a variety of reasons. They range in price from 43K Euros right up to 250K - top end, has its own waterfall and is totally off grid, but the price is high for that, and we think we might be able to do our own version, so that one is really just ‘going for a nose’ as much as anything.

One in particular has Paul very excited. It’s a large plot of land with its own river (and yes, a waterfall, but not too big), and 4 ruins to renovate. He’s already practically drawn the plans up in his head. Two of the other houses are small and are potential rentals. We could move into either of them and use it as a ‘base’ while we search for our forever home. Then rent it out once we’ve sorted all that out.

I’ve been dealing with the dad stuff during all this, and although it’s been 2 years since he died, it’s still raw and fresh and I don’t want to do it. Paul has been amazing about me going ‘nope. Not looking at that right now. Box it up for later’. He just nods, goes ‘yep’ and does it. No arguing, no quibbling, no coaxing. He knows grief is a weird thing and it takes its own time.

I think Hana is struggling a bit with the idea of me going away, but Ryan has been totally on board with it. He knows it’s time for me to do something utterly selfish, and he’s offered his services if we do some serious building.

We’re staying with friends when we go over, and we’ve hired a car to get about to see all the properties. One of them needs a 4x4 though, so that might need our friend to take us to the property on Friday morning. It’s going to be super hot over there (it’s been hot in the UK over the past few weeks, so we’re already acclimatised), which is nice, because when we were there on holiday in June, it was cold and rainy the entire time. We didn’t even get into the swimming pool we paid a fortune to rent.

Anyway. It’s all going on, and I’m knackered, but hoping it will all work out. Scary times.

Last updated August 12, 2018