
Work in Progress
Project Bathroom was finished last Friday. It’s amazing what can be achieved in a week: The bath is no more and a modern glazed walk-in shower cabinet with a rainfall-style shower head has replaced it. I find myself going into the room several times a day just to admire the new facility. Well, it was a long time coming.
I gave the whole cabinet (and bathroom—which I suppose we should now call a shower room) a thorough cleaning on Saturday, to remove any lingering muck resulting from the building work, and those irritating sticky marks left after the removal of labels. In future, I’ll be doing battle with the limescale residue from our very hard water; this may be why the new guest-room shower hasn’t yet been christened; (we do have two more shower rooms).
Over the years we’ve lived here and had work done to the house, we’ve always supported companies based in our local town, Manacor. This time we struggled to find a nearby business that was interested in doing the job, so we turned to British company, Handy Hands, based in the southwest of Mallorca. We were delighted with our decision, as the two men worked well, were pleasant to have around, and cleaned up after themselves. The latter is not always the case here.
A Woman’s Work?
Not long after we moved to rural Mallorca, in 2004, a mallorquín carpenter came to install new interior doors. He was a grumpy individual—perhaps because we didn’t have any working electricity sockets in the house and he had to use our mini-generator, which ran out of juice on a frequent basis and had to be topped up.
Spotting that he hadn’t brought a brush to sweep up all the curls of wood-shavings falling to the floor, I fetched our broom and leant it on the wall nearby—thinking I was being helpful. Ooh, the look he gave me! He wagged his forefinger from side to side, shook his head, and told me that sweeping was trabajo de mujer—a woman’s work. He downed tools and said he was going for lunch. Some two hours later, he returned, with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. Whatever he’d been doing during his long lunch break (which might not have been eating) had totally changed his mood—but he still didn’t sweep up his mess.
We’re Having a Heatwave … Tomorrow
Soon I’ll have plenty of time to admire the new shower, as I’ll be in the room painting the walls. It’s not decorating weather: the temperature is set to soar towards 40 degrees Celsius tomorrow. Apparently we’re going to have a heatwave. As it’s been in the low- to mid-30s for a good few days now, I’d assumed we were already having one. Silly me.
The long dry hot summer is upon us and standing under that new rainfall shower will be the closest thing to a bit of decent precipitation we’ll experience for a while. Just off now to Google environmentally-friendly cleaning tips for glass shower-panels . . .
NOTE
If you have a property in Mallorca and need some reliable and experienced British builders, I am happy to recommend Handy Hands, who work anywhere on the island. See their Facebook page for more information and photos of some of their work.
Jan Edwards ©2020