Month: August 2020

They’ve had a bit of rain in Melaque; the water was a metre deep in the main square.

We have seen a lot of info and media on the storm that hit there. One Canadian resident has been living there for forty years and has never seen anything like this. Homes and businesses have been flooded, roads washed away, mudslides; a total disaster. Except, we were told that a lot of the Mexicans were wadding through the water with grins on their faces, so you can get the attitude of Mexicans. They know that a week or two from now things will be back to normal.

The following video is the main square in Melaque. Bear in mind that the lagoon broke out and there are crocodiles swimming about. Hope these can be played, I copied them from Facebook but haven’t done this before.

Mexican homes don’t have carpets or drywall so when all this is over they will get a hose and wash out their homes. A lot of finishings were damaged and had to be thrown out. The local military is helping out with clean up, but from the videos I’ve seen, the locals are all pitching in without waiting for help from elsewhere.

We were concerned about our car in Pinal Villa so Mike got in his “Bocho” (bug in Spanish) and went to investigate. We didn’t ask him to do it, he did it just cos’. What a great guy, thanks, Mike. He told us his story: after driving through holes ten feet deep in water and fighting off angry alligators, chickens and goats, who wanted to use him as an island, he managed to fight his way to our casa where everything seemed to be fine. We relayed this info to our Landlady who couldn’t get out there, so she was happy.

We weren’t too concerned about the stuff we had left in the house because we had stored the booze in a high cabinet. Our clothes may be fine too. Also, the house is about a metre up and off the road anyway.

We can’t wait to be back there. I would like to be there now, just to help out in some way. Mexicans are resilient though and will bounce back the same way they did from previous storms and earthquakes.

Getting older but not getting old.

I was relieved to realize today that I’m 75 years old, but that converts to 62 American so I’m younger than I thought. Whew! 

I have noticed though, that things are slowing down a lot. When we came back from Mexico I went onto the roof to put up the TV antenna. Because I’m now only  62 I jumped on to the ladder and dashed up…three steps in and I was puffing like an old geezer. Not a good idea; I’m not as limber as I was before. I get on the roof and things start to spin and I have to sit down to reorientate. I have now arranged the antenna so I can take it down from the ground. It would be embarrassing to have to be rescued while crying for my Mum.

We spend a lot more time at the Doctors; well, on the phone with the Doctor. I just had to have a series of shots in my hip because it’s becoming painful to walk. I had X-rays but my arthritis hadn’t progressed. So I guess I’m just a wussy.

When I use my power tools I’m aware that at any time I could lose my driving finger so I take lots of care. It would be frustrating as hell to have to shake a fist instead of showing a finger. I’ve noticed when I’m working that I work ten minutes and then take a twenty-minute break. If it’s in the afternoon most of the breaks include a glass of beer or wine. Falling asleep signals the end of the workday.

I’ll be getting one of these, except I will have a pair of huge speakers blasting out AC/DC and waving a huge Canadian flag as I mow down pedestrians using my space on the sidewalk. I’m looking forward to being an obnoxious old bastard. Some people say I already am. I believe that practice makes perfect. I think I’ll look into it sooner rather than later.

One of the best benefits of getting older is that we can go on wine tours at any time of the year. First, we grab a bottle and head over to Jim and Ylda’s and then on to Art and Linda’s and then to Ron and Petty; etc, etc.

We continue the trend when we get to Mexico; first Jim and Lyda and then Art and Linda and then Mike and Pat; you get the idea.

They say that getting older is not for the faint of heart which is true but with the right attitude I can be a whole lot of fun.

I called Big Boys Toys and asked when we would get another service guy. I also requested that they not sent the original one as he was very know-it-all, as well as very rude and condescending.

We had an electrician show up who tried to diagnose the problem. He was a really nice guy but found that part of the fireplace had to be removed before he could do anything. So back to BBT.

They had to send two guys out this time and because of scheduling problems the obnoxious guy had to be one of them. Oh well! I’d just ignore him. This happened to be on pub day and Rosalie being the great wife that she is, said that she would cover for me while I was out having fun.

On my way home I had to stop off at Home Depot for some supplies. Afterwards, I called Rosalie and asked how the repairs were coming along. She asked me to talk to one of the guys and guess who I got? He told me that they had run out of time and I wouldn’t get the job done that day. I expressed some frustration but let it go. Rosalie called me back and told me that the guy had said to her “If he swears at me again I’m leaving.” I was somewhat taken back by this because I hadn’t sworn at him.

On the way home I was getting really angry so when I got there I confronted the guy and asked him exactly what I had said. He said “Well bloody well get the job finished” At that point, I lost it and did swear at him. He had boldly lied to my face. He also said that he hadn’t said they were finished for the day.

I was still pretty angry so when the idiot went out to his truck I cornered the other guy and reassured him that I wasn’t mad at him; he seemed somewhat relieved.

I called the service manager and explained the situation and we agreed to talk the next day. When I thought about it later I realized that the service guy had picked a very stereotypical English expression that I would most likely never use; I’ve been here in Canada too long.

After they left I checked all the plugs; the one that hadn’t been working, now was, but another one that had been working, now wasn’t. We still had no propane hot water and had to use electricity, the heat in the main area still didn’t come on, but the air conditioning did instead. The 12-volt system was still screwed up even after I had explained the problem.

I called the service manager the next day and listed all the problems, again saying that I didn’t want that fool back. He said that he had a problem because they only had one mobile service guy. I agreed to give it one more try and resolved to call the store owner if this idiot couldn’t fix the problem.

This is an unpleasant situation but through it all BBT has been nothing but courteous and respectful. These are only teething problems but unfortunately, there is also a bit of decay from one guy.

 

I kind of expected a few early problems with the new trailer and we sure got one.

Waking up one morning, I noticed that the GFI breaker had tripped. I reset it and made some tea. Then I noticed that there was no power on the TV.  I checked it out and sure enough, that outlet was dead. As we are under warranty I called Big Boys Toys (BBT) and arranged a service call.

The next day a guy showed up and started to investigate.  After about 3 hours, he had torn the place apart and declared that there was a melted wire behind the fireplace. He couldn’t do anything about it right away as he didn’t have the parts.

During all this, he was trying to lecture us on proper RV power management. I rapidly came to the conclusion that he didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. I politely let him ramble on until he decided to go away and leave us alone.

He had to put back the electrical panel and plugs before he left as well as a chunk of panel he had to cut out to get behind the fireplace as he didn’t know how to remove it to get at the wiring. He then informed us that most of our outlets wouldn’t work over the weekend. Sure enough, we only had the GFI circuit working. But wait… he then noticed that he had forgotten to turn on two of the breakers so some power was restored.

After he left Rosalie was getting dinner ready when she noticed that the fridge wasn’t working. I tried to move it to plug it into an extension cord but it was too heavy. So for now, we have a bar fridge in the kitchen and all the beer and wine are outside getting warm.

Monday morning I will be calling BBT and asking for an electrician as this guy obviously had no clue. I’m not surprised as he told us that his trade was as a carpenter.

 

Wednesday morning we were up early and full of excitement for today we get our new home.

Our appointment at Big Boys Toys was at 9 am to start our orientation. The young guy doing it was happy that we were experienced RVer’s. It made his job a lot easier. A lot of questions were asked but nothing too challenging.

Our orientation finished early, so Ian, the owner who was to deliver the unit, wasn’t quite ready to leave so we took off as we were expecting Peter and Suzie.

There was a lot of anxious waiting until I finally got the phone call that they were at the gate. They pulled in and I must admit that at this time I was getting a bit nervous. I needn’t have worried though as Ian Backed it in, bang on target with help from his lovely wife Shannon.

She and I looked at it and neither of us could believe how well it fit our existing deck and sunroom. She said that she hadn’t seen a unit fit so well. Of course, I took all the credit for that. I had done a lot of measuring and at first, couldn’t believe it would fit so well. Even the steps for the previous trailer fitted exactly.

They unhooked the trailer and left. I sat and finished my beer and then grabbed a level to see what need to be done. I checked all over and everything was perfectly level just as they had left it. It was pure luck but again I took the credit. I dropped the stabilizer jacks and we started to move in.

Later on, Peter and Suzie left after devastating our stocks of booze and food and we took a deep breath and started to relax. Soon after Peggy dropped by for a glass of wine. We had nice a chat with her and just as she was leaving Delaine and Joe showed up. Lots of nice friends, but that’s what Spidey is all about.

The following day was Beer Day so I did very little for the trailer but had some great beer. We also spend a lot of money on accessories like new sheets and stuff.

I have had a few little jobs to do such as adding shelves to the medicine cabinet. Why do these designers think that we need a 15″ high shelf? Dumb!

Our new TV is great but like me isn’t smart. However, we watched a few shows on it and decided that the quality wasn’t too bad. We can always buy a TV box for it.  We now have to decide whether to keep it or the old one which we are both fond of.

I wish Covid would go away, we need a good party.