Friday 13th

I started the day by informing our friendly estate agent [nope, still feels odd] that the man had once again not put in an appearance to fix our entrance door. He seemed genuinely depressed for us. However, on a much brighter note, he told me to be up at the house this morning between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM when an electrician would (might?) turn up to fit our electricity meter and connect us to the supply with a fuse, for which I’d have to pay 20€. Good news! Off we set.

On approaching, we spotted a business card poked into the door frame of Casa from the aluminium man who, it seems, had turned up in the dark to try and fix our entrance door. Bother! I had maligned the poor fellow.

Anyway, sure enough, shortly after 9:30 AM a small white van turned up and our electrician zoomed off to the electricity supply cabinet in the under-build of our block. Readers may remember the fun and games, together with the occasional spot of profane Spanish, that had been involved in connecting us to the water supply. Thankfully, no such issues were involved in our electricity supply and we were very soon connected. Another job that we’d got done during the week was to have some lights fitted by a local electrician. Now we could test them. All but one worked. The extractor fan in the downstairs shower room also worked but the extractor fan in the upstairs bathroom remained silent. Still, our light-fitting friendly electrician will be returning to fit further lights and a heating/air-conditioning unit at some time in the near future. So, we should be able to get those two glitches sorted out then.

Even better news: whilst our electricity meter was being fitted, the aluminium man turned up and started working on our accursed entrance door. There is a God! [Nah, just kidding!!] He fitted a higher security lock barrel which, with the door open, seemed to work alright. He shut the door and fiddled with the lock again. For the second time this week I believe I heard a little invective in Spanish. The new lock now refused to work. Unwelcome feelings of déja vu swamped me. The new lock continued to refuse to work even after removing and refitting. Furthermore, the old temporary lock, once refitted, now steadfastly refused to work as well. Déja vu was now rampant. Our entrance door was clearly jinxed. Well, it is Friday 13th, I supposed.

Mr Aluminium asked if there was another way in. This question did not inspire confidence in a satisfactory outcome. “Only through the window from which we’d escaped a few days ago”, I replied. Mr. Aluminium had removed not only the lock barrel but also the entire multi-point locking mechanism a couple of times now. “How about a new locking mechanism?” I asked, using grunts and gestures. “Si”, he replied, muttering something further about Benissa [a local town] and treinta minutos [30 minutes]. Armed with the old locking mechanism, off he sped.

It was actually about an hour but he did eventually return with a new mechanism. At long last, once fitted along with the new security lock barrel, we finally seemed to have an entrance door that would lock and, most reassuringly, open again. Sighs of relief all around, especially from Francine and I but also from Mr Aluminium.

We now had a door that locked, a water supply and an electricity supply. Water and electricity were most exciting ‘cos we could now have our white goods delivered, fitted and tested. A swift trip to our friendly local supplier got us an arrangement to have them installed following the midday lull, at about 4:30 PM. [In Spain, the midday lull lasts until 4:00 PM.]

After lunch, we returned to Casa to wait. Another white van appeared bearing our fridge/freezer, dishwasher and washing machine. Two men, whistling happily, carried our goods in and fitted them. There was one small difficulty – we had two machines requiring a water connection but only one water supply point under the sink. As I zoomed off to get a couple of plumbing accessories to convert the single connection into two, Testing of the washing machine commenced. I returned with the plumbing accessories. Our washing machine had not worked properly. Well, it is Friday 13th, I supposed once again. No second machine of the same model was available – they’d have swapped it there and then if one had been. We began by saying we’d leave it until we returned in March but then thought better of it and decided to pop back down to the shop and see if another brand would suit. It would, for an additional 22€. The swap was arrange and our fearless fitters retuned at about 6:30 PM to swap the machines over. Our replacement machine seemed to work properly. Phew!

It was now 7:30 PM and I was ready for a drink. The day, our last in Spain for this trip, ended with a very a pleasant meal out with our friends without whom all this would have been considerably more difficult.