Attack of the Giant Moles

We have a mole problem – a big mole problem.I went up on site the other day and the monsters had eaten their way through our whole building site.Not just a few little hills here and there, but trenches...metre after metre of them...and some of them really deep.I mean check this out...I suspect the Mole in Chief to be Justo – maestro of the machines and digger of the ditches – but in truth, I’m delighted to see his little valleys criss-crossing their way between our buildings and up and down our hills.Operation Infrastructure is now well underway and the emphasis is firmly on me to come up with a creative way of helping our contractor Sr Manuel understand the design of our complicated water system and place all the right pipes in the same trenches as the electrical cables.I’m not sure what qualifies me to make such bold decisions, but I suppose I have spent far too much time over the last year or so playing with coloured pencils.(I knew that Geography degree would come in handy one day).I do claim to be something of an expert in such things if you listen to the BBC World Service: the two radio pieces I made went out on Business Daily on January 1st and January 2nd.And I even turned my hand to Instagram and The Facebook for a vertical version of our off-grid story (do check it out...if it gets liked enough the Beeb might ask for another one...apparently off-grid posts are popular these days!)Back on the building site Sr Manuel asked again: “so it’s three different types of water into each building?” with the roll of his eyes, as I unravelled the latest iteration: a large A1 sized electrical map layered with acetate sheets stuck together with tape and coloured scrawl.“The blue is the 40mm pipes and the green is the 32...” and as I began, I realised my Portuguese wasn’t up to it...and even if it was, this wasn’t really going to help.Being the water-bore that I am, I will hold myself back by summarising for new readers that we have tried to future-proof our supply by accommodating different qualities of treated water (toilet, showers, drinking water) in case we have shortages ten years down the line.Outside on the building site in the chilly dew of the morning, wasn’t really the time or the place to show off my artwork, and anyway I need Water Rui to approve it all before the pipes started being rolled out, cut and connected.“Let’s try it again over coffee at the meeting tomorrow,” I added. The words cafezinho (little coffee...I love the diminutive form) and amanhã de manhã (tomorrow morning) were greeted with a nod which was unusually clear (for Sr Manuel) by way of indicating his agreement.It’s been a long journey reaching the point where we not only know where our water is going to come from, but where it’s going to be treated and how it’s going to get there.It takes a complex system of tanks, pipes, pumps and treatment scattered across the property and I often wonder if it’s actually going to work.We’ve already used a couple of kilometres of the 6.2km of pipes we bought and hopefully we’ll have enough to get it all flowing.But for now it’s all about the logistics of getting the moles to dig the right holes and get the right pipes and cables into the right places and all covered up before more rain comes along to flood them again.The problem with clay is that after a big downpour the water doesn’t go anywhere fast, and so the much-larger-than-needed hole for one of the tanks (our fault apparently!) was transformed.I commended Sr Manuel on a nossa nova piscina as we finally had a swimming pool deep enough to jump into...and weeks before we expected it!At least the lake benefitted from all the water being pumped out and down the hill – we are getting some good rain this winter, interspaced with nice sunny days.But as I write the rain is falling again and the moles have knocked it on the head for the day…or maybe the week.I can’t possibly wish for less rain…only that it falls on days when we’re not digging massive trenches!It’s the interiors which are taking most of our time right now – trying to decide on the right sofas, furniture and finishings for all the rooms.We’re thinking of something along the lines of this new place which has opened up in Alentejo a little north of us:The houses aren’t sealed yet as our almighty row with the unpolished concrete company continues.They asked us to pay, we asked them to come out and explain how they’re going to sort out our “50 shades of yellow” floor issue. Watch this space.Doors and windows will only arrive when they are finished...whenever that may be...but I suppose it’s better than them arriving un-finished.I’m imagining Santa’s little helpers already bored with dry January and trying to recreate the adrenaline of the rush before Christmas by offering to help put them all together while singing jolly songs.It may be a different scenario at the PVC place in Cercal, but that’s what I will keep imagining for now.Thanks for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.We had a whistle-stop trip to Lagos in the Algarve to visit the IKEA design studio in a supermarket and finally pin down the apartment kitchens.I’m not saying we’ve been there a lot, but Adriana the very patient and helpful designer recognised us and our project straight away.We tried to design the restaurant kitchen at IKEA as well, but rules suggest we will need everything to be in stainless steel – or Inox as it’s known here – and IKEA only have limited choices.Our pals Richard and Pauline run a fantastic restaurant in Carvoeiro called Earth Shop & Café and have been advising us.One of their best suggestions so far is a German company that delivers stainless steel kitchenware for half the price we can buy it second-hand in Portugal (why is it so expensive here?).So we’re shopping online for extractor hoods, ovens, sinks and inox furniture...trying desperately to keep control of the budget.As the moles will soon (hopefully) be heading down the hill towards us, I’d like to renew our appeal for help to get everything finished this Spring.We’ve already had a few folk fill in the form expressing an interest in lending a hand in exchange for a bed and digestibles.But if you know anyone who might be able to help at some point in February, March or April, we have some specific projects which will need some willing and able hands.Thank you for reading Off-grid and Ignorant in Portugal. We need help, so please share it.Top of the list are a shipping container conversion, an entrance wall, a bit of click flooring and a load of landscaping.Please spread the word (and the love). Here’s the link to the Google Form. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alastairleithead.substack.com