At last, Miro’s finished – in a way – so I should be celebrating, but somehow it doesn’t happen. Soaring temperatures, kitchen delays and garden issues preoccupy me so much, this momentous event slips past unnoticed. My focus is on finishing in time for possible guests: but we’re now so far behind schedule, I...
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It’s a short one this time ‘cos, frustratingly, not a lot’s happening. A short rain burst seems to stop play at the start of the week. Then, just when it’s set to resume … I fly away! Will everyone be able to cope without me? The cold week June seems to be shaping...
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Work drags on and we’re now moving into the early tourist season. Noisy workmen and sleepy tourists don’t mix well, as I soon find out. Outside, everything’s so nearly finished: flowerbeds, paving and pergolas are almost done, and I finally see the barn’s stained flooring. And, as for the kitchens and furniture – do...
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We’re oh so nearly there. The house is finished and this week, the barn receives its finishing touches and the remaining furniture is due. With Miro racing through the paving outside, I feel confident we’ll have everything ready for the season – until the phone goes … Honorary builder for a day Today’s...
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Many countries in Europe – and especially the UK – might be having the wettest summer on record, but here in Istria it’s the opposite story. With soaring temperatures and hardly a drop of rain all year, water rationing’s started and it’s hitting everyone hard. And with everywhere tinder-dry, forest fires are making things...
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Basically, it’s been two weeks of flooring! With the flagstones laid, at last the house is finished – sort of. And while flagstones go into the barn downstairs, Toni lays wood floors upstairs. Then attention shifts into the parking area, where we finally say “Bye-bye” to the mountain of stone … and “hello” to...
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At last, I feel we’re entering the end-game at Kovaci. Bathroom fittings arrive (and bring some niggles…). I get a second go at deciding paint colours – will I get my way this time? Then, with everything else racing forward, I turn my attention to lighting and pray choosing light fittings proves easier than...
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Had a strange phone call Monday afternoon, a few weeks ago. “Hello, I’m your neighbour in Kovaci. Would you like to buy my house?” As I said, strange. My caller was Dejan from Raiffeissen Bank Austria and he was calling about the red-brick monstrosity, next door. It had recently been repossessed and Dejan wanted...
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In lovely Spring weather, attention shifts onto the garden and I see a lot of progress. But it’s an anxious week for me with various niggles and debates – some of which I even win! Garden compromises Wednesday after May Day, I arrive in Kovaci to mountains of earth: top-soil has been...
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In the last two weeks of April, I’m preoccupied with tiles – the lack of them – and Miro gives me a kitchen panic. The pace of work ebbs and flows; we get shutters, gutters and a new front door. Amir keeps working on the barn’s walls and the month closes with a tiling...
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Unnoticed by me, unwell in bed, the rain finally arrives for Easter. Despite cold, miserable weather, work progresses in Kovaci: Miro has lots of questions, the barn gains windows, I continue to worry about paint …and then there’s the tiles. I probably ought to have stayed in bed on Tuesday morning – I certainly...
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It’s been the driest winter and spring anyone can remember. As April begins, cooler, cloudy weather arrives, but the drought runs on – bad for the garden (everything’s as dry as a bone), but great for building work. This week, Kovaci is inundated with workers, upstairs in the barn takes shape and I lose...
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March ended with yet another glorious week of warm sunshine: more like summer than early spring. In Kovaci, the barn was the focus of everyone’s attention this week – a lot needed to be done to bring it up to the same standard as the house. Progress – what progress? The sight greeting...
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For Christmas, my Mother-not-in-Law gave me a small wall plaque reading ‘A garden is a thing of beauty – and a job forever’. How well she knew me … and how right she was! Spring is now more than sprung and, despite being run off my feet with Kovaci, I took full advantage of...
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Wednesday was one of those strange Croatian days. We had the pool fixed, the plumber came to repair the Little House boiler and a ton of gravel arrived in the drive. None of which we were expecting when the week started: all we’d expected were visitors. The holiday season was nearly upon us and...
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