still in the UK ...

Here we are now in Novemebr and I have been reading about different folk I know in Portugal who are harvesting their olives.It seems to have been a patchy year for them.Some have had a bumper crop with branches snapping due to the weight of the olives.Others have expeirenced a wash out.Few olives or infected with olive fly.In the same village people can have such different harvests.It could be the local micro climate or it could be the care given to the trees at pruning time for example.I just wish I was there.We really wanted to plant at least 20 Olive trees this year ,ideally ag 3 and older but sadly it was not meant to be as we are stuck in the UK.But things are changing ......
Youngest daughter age 13 has now made the decision to be home schooled.An excellent choice for her in my opinion.Lots more freedom to develop her own interests rather than continuing to follow the crowd.
Husband has handed in his notice as he just hates his job now ,with a passion.As he works in the 'caring' profession this is not a good way to feel.In fairness he enjoys communicating with those he looks after but hates the bull that goes along with this money making rather than caring industry.
Older daughter is unhappy and bored at school.A massive change for a studnet who loved school until last term.Its all changed for her now as she has hit teen years big style.Why?Why?WHY? are the questions she is asking constantly at school.Justify..!!this in turn is making the staff see her as a problem to be dealt with rathar than someone to respect .In turn she is switching off.We are not so sure about home schooling for her as she is in a GCSE year and if we take her out of school I am not sure how she will do..motivated ?
And me?Well I am now fully established working for myself ,setting my own timetable to meet the needs of myself and the family.Portugal is becoming closer ,more of a reality.And we are now fully in the situation that it would be cheaper for us to live in Portugal.
Both girls resisit the idea of full time living in Portugal but are more open now to being there for long stretches of time in order to get the building habitable.This is progress on a grand scale!
Alas owing to the time of year we still can't go!Can't afford to rent over there and the property is in no way habitable for winter.Current plan is that husband heads off in Jan to get started on the building ,weather permiting.We will follow around March/April time and stay for 4-6 months and then see what happen next.We aim to have the building dry and habitable for next sept/oct time.
It will be a small kitchen/lounge area (with mezzinaine sleeping area)and a bedroom bedroom .Outside shower room and compost toliet.We intend to use a lot of clay for interior walls and floors.
I am getting excited and think the delays in acheiving our dreams have meant we have had more time to think about the building and what we need from it and so have managed to simplify the whole plan!