10. Giving up is never an option..
This is the tenth part of our story so far, if you’d like to read the others then you can click on the links at the bottom of this story and read them for free.
The floor in the house was nearly finished, all the vigas/lintels and blocks were in place and now it just needed to be cemented. As I wrote in a previous blog, when we worked on the TV show we made friends with a lovely Portuguese family, Fernanda, her husband Jose and their son Rubin. They would often pop down to see us on the farm, it was always a brief visit as they didn’t really like dogs and our Portuguese was as bad as their English. Communication was always done via Rubin who was learning English at school. They called one day and Jose, who was a builder, offered to help Leon cement the floor now that the lintels and the blocks had been put in, he also insisted on strengthening the middle section. He told us how much sand and cement to order and they turned up the following weekend with a cement mixer and all the other tools that would be required. Jose, Leon and Rubin worked all day and finally the floor was cemented, we just needed to let it dry and we could finally move into the house. Winter was coming and as we had no heating in the caravan we were starting to feel the cold. We had no furniture at all so we took the cushions from the caravan and made a bed on the floor.
It was an absolute nightmare with the dogs as they all wanted to sleep with us and the cushions kept moving and we’d wake up halfway through the night on the stone cold floor. It was freezing in the house, the fireplace was throwing out smoke so Leon cut up an oil drum and shaped it like a hood inside the fireplace, it worked well and if you were sitting on top of the fire you could get warm. Leon wanted to insulate the roof but I was really worried about the cost of it and whether it would make that much difference, but I relented and we opted for the glasswool stuff and secured it in place using willow branches. It worked a treat and we were a lot warmer in the house. The dogs loved the fire and we burnt up all the old wood we had ripped out of the house, we also went around and collected the old dried up broom from around the farm.
Fernanda and her family called one day, on the back of their truck were some bags, a double bed frame, mattress and an old sofa. In the bag were some blankets and bedding. We were so happy and grateful to them, I have travelled all over the world and have never seen kindness and hospitality the way I have from the Portuguese people. Fernanda explained via Rubin the bed had been their first purchase when they got married, it was wonderful to no longer be sleeping on the floor. Beds in Portugal I think are a lot smaller than a UK bed, we would call it a three quarter, in between a single and a double. It was a bit of a squeeze with us and the dogs in it, we tried all ways to get them to sleep elsewhere but as soon as Leon and I would fall asleep they’d sneak in one by one and we’d wake up totally surrounded by the furries.
Leon was working as often as he could and the money would come in and go straight out again on food, we knew we had to find a way to earn more of a living here, we decided a glamping site would be a good idea and we could maybe combine it with the animal rescue somehow. We spoke to some family and friends who helped us to buy the equipment we needed. I spent weeks researching the different tents that were available and wracked my brains for how we could set it all up on such a limited budget. We ordered inflatable furniture, double beds, sofas and chairs, we also ordered two massive 6 x 4 metre emperor bell tents from China, they would take months to arrive as they were being shipped by sea but the furniture turned up within a few days as the suppliers were based in Portugal. I went shopping to Guarda and searched for bargains on all the items needed. We planned for the tents to have their own kitchen, dining area and en-suite bathroom. At this time we also set up a Facebook page called Heartbreakandhappiness to record our day to day life. We decided to put the campsite over the other part of the farm, the campers would get more peace there from the dog barking and we would also still maintain our privacy.
Leon was offered some regular work on an apple farm, the Portuguese couple, let’s call them Charlie & Sharon who had helped us lift the vigas in place, organised it for him, well Charlie did. It was terrible money 35 euros a day for backbreaking work but we had little choice and Leons farm work had become sporadic.Leon was working with a hammer drill and the vibration was awful, his hands were constantly buzzing and there were no gloves or anything provided. We were really shocked when Charlie told Leon the wages were dropping to 30 euros a day, Charlie dealt with all of it as Leon didn’t speak any Portuguese. Leon had to go and register with social security to be able to get paid and we also registered as Portuguese residents during this time. It was just before Christmas and it was a nightmare to get things sorted at the council offices. We were able to do part of the paperwork but had to go back after the new year to finish the rest. We spent a quiet first Christmas in the house with the dogs, I made dinner in the caravan kitchen and we sat in there to eat it. Although we were sleeping in the house we were still using the kitchen and shower room in the caravan.
On Boxing day we were listening to some music when we heard the most terrible screams, we looked out the window and in the distance we could see another farm where we knew he kept pigs. The screams were coming from a pig which was hanging upside down from a tractor type machine. There were a few men there and a younger child that we could see, it looked like they were stabbing the pig, we could see with Leon’s binoculars, we didn’t know what to do or why they would be inflicting such pain on the poor pig. We tried to shout but they didn’t hear us, it went on for ages and eventually we saw them slit the pig’s throat and the screaming stopped. It left us feeling sick and when we asked our friends if this was normal, they assured us it wasn’t. Thankfully this incident was a one off and not a tradition as we haven’t seen it happening since.
We’d been having a problem with the hunting dogs ever since we arrived at the farm, they weren’t kept in good conditions and we would take some food up to their entrance. They started to become friendly with us and some of them started to come down to our house. It wasn’t easy with our lot but we couldn’t not help them, they were starving, thirsty and freezing.
We became really close with them and asked the neighbour if I could go and help him with them, he never responded to me. He didn’t like that they were happier with us than they were at his place and started to take them over to his other farm, sometimes they’d run away and we’d hear them scratching at our door in the night, we’d let them in, let them get warm by the fire and give them some food. We couldn’t do much else and whenever one of them escaped he’d come whistling in the morning and the poor dog would go off with him.
Charlie & Sharon invited us over for New Years eve, they wanted us to go to Guarda with them to see in the new year. Socs had been really ill with some sort of chest infection and we were keeping the fire going all the time to keep her warm but as we were burning the broom and wood we had on the land the fire was going out quickly if we didn’t keep it topped up. We were reluctant to go out for new year to Guarda as it was a fair distance and they weren’t planning on coming back till the early hours, we didn’t want to leave socs alone and cold for so long, we also couldn’t afford it. We explained this to them, they suggested we lock the dogs in the barn for the night but we would never do that, Sharon seemed really annoyed that we didn’t want to go, we said we would go round for food with them but didn’t want to go on to the party later. When we arrived at the house to see them there was a definite atmosphere from Sharon, we tried to make light of it but at times you could cut it with a knife. We had food with them, kept it positive, thanked them and wished them happy new year and left to come back to the dogs.
Leon created an outside kennel for the hunting dogs as we couldn’t have them in the house with ours, they were now regular visitors and it was lovely when they came to see us. Some were friendlier than others and we became particularly close to a beagle, we called him Jeremy, we would often find him in the outside kennel, he seemed to escape on a regular basis. We even offered to buy them from hunting dog man but again we got zero response. They were wonderful dogs and it broke our heart to see them kept like they were. Jeremy would even sometimes bring a girl home with him and when we’d go to see in the morning she would do the walk of shame up the track and go back to hunting dog man.
Charlie and Sharon weren’t so impressed with our love for dogs and told us it wasn’t possible to just open a rescue centre, we wouldn’t be allowed to put a fence up without permission and lots of other things. She took me up to meet the local president and it seemed really complicated. He couldn’t help me very much so he suggested I go to see the big president in town. I made an appointment and went up to see him, thankfully he spoke really good English, I explained what we wanted to do and he was really helpful and told me he would help me with everything, it wasn’t so complicated after all and there was no need for permission to put up fences or anything like that. I had to create a project plan and send it to him by email. I did what he asked and sent it but I never heard anything from him again.
By now it was February and we had been in Portugal for a year, I decided to go back and see my mum, I kept looking for cheap flights and finally managed to book one, we couldn’t really afford it but with her being in a nursing home I knew she was getting weaker and after a long year I really wanted to see her and I knew she was missing me. Leon said he would manage with the dogs and he dropped me early to the train station one morning. I got the 7am train and was supposed to arrive in Porto just after 10am, plenty of time to get the flight which was at 1pm. The train was so slow and we seemed to stop in between stations, time was getting on and we didn’t move. I tried to ask someone what was happening but nobody seemed to know anything. We finally arrived in Coimbra at 12pm, I was still miles from Porto and the connecting train had long gone. A train had overturned on the track and I had been stuck for 5 hours. I ran to the taxi rank and asked how much it would be to get a taxi to the airport, he told me 130 euros. I didn’t have that type of money and I knew I wasn’t going to make the flight as I only had an hour to spare. I called my family and friends in tears, my trip to the UK was over and done with, there was no way I was getting back to see my mum and now booking another flight was impossible. I called Leon and got on the next train back to him, there was another 5 hour delay to return and I finally arrived in Celorico just after 5pm.
At this time Charlie told Leon that he had a different job for him, it was more money, 50 euros a day and working closer to home. He arranged everything again and Leon left the apple farm. We were really happy as the work was hurting Leon physically and his hands were in a bad way from using the drills, it was also really dangerous as they were blowing things up with dynamite all the time and I was worried sick about him daily. He started his new job and he seemed to be happy there, he got paid daily at first and again Charlie would organise it all and give Leon his wages. Sharon asked us if their teenage daughter and her friends could spend the weekend at our glamping site. The tents had finally arrived from China and our glamping site was nearly ready. Everything was brand new and it looked beautiful, I explained I didn’t think it was a good idea to have lots of teenagers in the tent on their own for the entire weekend where they would probably be drinking. If there was any damage we couldn’t afford to fix it and our glamping site plan would be over before it began. She was really annoyed that we wouldn’t allow this to happen but there was no way we were going to do this.
Charlie also wanted Leon to do a work exchange, he would come to work at our farm and Leon would go to work at his farm one day at the weekends. We agreed and Leon went to work helping him to clean out a massive barn full to the brim with sheep shit. Leon came back absolutely stinking from head to toe, we didn’t have a shower at the time so he had to wash in lukewarm water in a bucket. It wasn’t ideal and when the next weekend arrived and Charlie asked again Leon said no, he was too busy with the glamping site and anyway it was Charlie’s turn to come and help us, he never did. At this time Sharon started to be really awkward, she was rude to Leon when he went there to go to work in the mornings, she wanted Leon to use Mandy for him and Charlie to get to work rather than using their truck but Mandy by now was totally illegal on the Portuguese roads and in the morning there were loads of GNR around, it also meant that I was stranded at the farm all day. She wanted to have transport so that she could drive to take care of their sheep rather than walking. Leon was coming home from work annoyed at her attitude with him as we had done nothing wrong.
Around this time Frankie appeared in our life, Leon was working in a village close by and there was a stray dog there, all the villagers were feeding him and nobody knew where he came from. Leon made friends with him and came home telling me about him every day. I wanted to help this dog but we were already snowed under with ours and Paco who needed a lot of care and attention. One day Leon came back from work really upset, he had seen the dog again and this time it was limping, one of the villagers told Leon a car hit it. I told him we’d go back and find it, we drove Mandy over the back roads to the village that Leon was working in. The villagers saw us and we told them we were looking for the dog but none of them had seen it that day. Leon went to the places he had seen him before, I only knew it was a white dog and male, we were just giving up and about to go home when I saw a white flash in the distance. I pointed it out to Leon and he did a big whistle, suddenly this dog came flying towards us and practically jumped into Leon’s arms, they had certainly made friends already. We put him in Mandy and the villagers came out to see, they hugged us and told us they were very happy that he was now going to be safe. We named him Frankie after the village we found him in.
Frankie was very thin and we took him to check for a chip but there was nothing, I advertised him on Facebook but no one came forward. He was wonderful with me and Leon but not so friendly with the other dogs and he absolutely hated Paco, he attacked him one day while we were over the campsite and after that we never left him alone with Paco again. Frankie became an outside dog and Leon built him a kennel right in front of our house, we had to keep him on a very long line so that he didn’t run off, we were desperate for some fencing but funds just wouldn’t permit.
We were regularly posting updates on our Facebook groups and one day I had a message out of the blue, it was from a man who had been following our story and he wanted to help us. He offered to pay for some fencing for us to make it easier for us with all the dogs. We were really shocked and humbled, we gratefully accepted and he sent us the money to be able to fence around the house. Leon was working with Charlie every day and told him what had happened with the man and the donation. Charlie had been organising the money on all the jobs and a few days later Leon came home without his wages, he said the job they were working on was being paid by cheque and they had to wait for it to go through the local council before getting paid. We didn’t think much of it at first and assumed it was normal, but days turned into weeks and he wasn’t paid at all. He told Charlie if he didn’t get his money then he was going to stop working, Charlie responded and told him to use the fencing money that we’d had as a donation. When Leon told me this I was furious and I hadn’t realised that Charlie knew about it. Leon explained to Charlie that money was not for us but for materials for the fence and dogs. Still no money arrived. Leon refused to work at that point until he was paid, it was nearly a thousand euros and by now we had absolutely nothing. Charlie stopped answering the phone to Leon, he wouldn’t respond to any messages, texts, we even went to the house and they wouldn’t answer the door. Leon went to see their boss and he told Leon that he didn’t owe him anything, he’d given Charlie all Leon’s wages and Leon must speak to him. At this point we knew we had a major problem, Charlie had ripped Leon off. We tried everything for weeks to make contact and resolve it but we were just totally ignored. We were in serious trouble financially and surviving on friends and family sending us money to keep us going. We spoke to the man who’d given us the fence donation and explained our situation, I asked him if we could use the fence money to keep us going, otherwise there would be no farm to fence. He totally agreed and thanked us for asking him first. Now we had a temporary reprieve and we had to start thinking fast on how we were going to make our way forward here, giving up was not an option.
Many people have expressed an interest in helping us so if you would like to support our project then you can make a one time donation or even support us monthly using Ko-fi. All help is gratefully recieved, we have a lot of money to save to finish paying for the farm and the expenses for the dogs are never ending…Thank you :-) Please click the Ko-fi image below to be taken to our page. If you prefer to use paypal then you can send a donation to chris1212preedy@gmail.com
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