Tag: Pontecarlo

Pontecarlo – 1st August

Pontecarlo – 1st August

My first job on Friday 1st August was to check how I did against my budget in July. I felt sure I had gone wildly over the £1,000 budget I’d set and I perhaps had if I included all the money Captain Caveman spent. I was lucky to have spent just £971 which included in Turkey and in the UK. I was still going to be in England for another 11 days, which wouldn’t be cheap and a holiday for Captain Caveman in Turkey was coming up at the end of August. I still left August’s budget at £1,000, optimistically.
While Captain Caveman made me tea, I made toast (on the grill, as there was no toaster). I checked July’s blog traffic to see a 13% increase in views on the previous month. The top 3 viewing countries were the UK, Turkey and Spain, followed by USA, Australia, France, Sweden and then Vietnam in 8th – back in the top 10!
We both worked hard all day but I decided I would try to finish at 4pm with it being the weekend. As luck would have it, I made a couple of last minute bookings, one for a friend and another for someone I didn’t know. It was cold out and looked like rain but at least we were warm inside. At lunch time we had salad and I messed about with my new case which was really easy to remove the detachable wheels of.
At 4pm there was an impromptu clearing up and reorganising of the bedroom wardrobe so that I could have space for my clothes. Captain Caveman found a load more crap that he didn’t want, including Christmas decorations, a tree and some dressing up clothes. There was a woman’s top with tags still on but a size 10 – I tried it on and it fitted so we washed and kept it. Captain Caveman also kept a couple of pairs of shoes and a polo top. He was getting excited as the bin man had been today which meant 2 of his bins were emptied and he could refill them. We had also hoped to see the Virgin internet man but he never came! We had thought we might go back to Sheffield after work but Virgin assured us that the man was definitely coming tomorrow before 6pm!

By 6.30pm Captain Caveman and I were off for a walk and to find a pub or 2 for a Friday beverage. I was a bit chilly in the summery clothes I had so I had to wear a fleece with shorts and sandals to try to keep warm. Captain Caveman had jeans, jumper and walking boots on so he was fine. We walked passed a diabetes clinic, the hospital, a quaker burial site and a big posh house before heading towards the church and castle. It was a good way to acknowledge Yorkshire day, sightseeing in Pontecarlo. Our first stop off was the Hope & Anchor pub which was very loud and busy. I tried the blood orange cider (it was too sweet for me) and we went outside to the beer garden. I was too cold so we had to come back indoors but Captain Caveman wasn’t too impressed with the acoustics. We decided to continue on a wander and head in to town, perhaps have a couple more drinks then go for a meal.



Captain Caveman and I were ‘out out’ in Pontecarlo.  We wandered via Pontefract Castle, the Elizabeth Love Museum, Castle Chain House and plenty of old buildings. We decided to call for a drink in the Irish pub, Galway Girl, where there was live music. Captain Caveman had a Guinness and I had a medium sized glass of wine for around £12. The music was good, the pub was busy and we had a couple of rounds in there. Captain Caveman suggested we try the fine dining restaurant next door, called Erubi. I was conscious of money and said we should go somewhere cheaper, we both fancied trying the Indian restaurant along the street.

Tulsi doesn’t have an alcohol license so, while I waited for a table (it was busy), Captain Caveman popped to the off licence for beers. He bought Belgian Blue for him and a couple of cherry beers for me – perfect.
We shared onion bhajis, poppadoms, a pickle tray for starter, had 2 main dishes and shared rice and garlic naan bread. It wasn’t cheap at £44.80 without drinks but it was absolutely fantastic and we ate all of it.  We didn’t manage all of the beers though so took them home. We finished our meal about 10.30pm and walked back ‘home’, it was really nice for Captain Caveman to be living so close to town.

Gratitude List
1. Getting organised at the house in Pontecarlo
2. Out out and live music in Pontecarlo
3. A tasty Indian meal with Captain Caveman.

Pontecarlo – 31st July

Pontecarlo – 31st July

Thursday 31st July was a busy day for both of us, work-wise. I tried my best to hit sales targets I had set for myself but had fallen a bit short. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a slow slog and it wasn’t going to make me rich over night, or even in the first couple of years. I was still very much enjoying being part of Resort Experts and felt I’d made the right decision by going back in to the travel industry. We both worked hard with a very quick break for lunch which was left over fajitas with added fresh tomatoes and mozzarella balls. We were both in the front bedroom using the camping table as a desk and 2 camping chairs – this wasn’t good for my back as I couldn’t really reach the table properly. I also had the empty box from my new suitcase delivery as a side table. When I got tired I lay on my front on the bed to type. The good news was that the internet was getting fixed tomorrow as Virgin had finally got the message and were sending an engineer out. We still didn’t have a mirror anywhere in the house so I searched for one in the stuff left by the previous owners. I found a small heavy one which wouldn’t even go in the bathroom. I stood it up in the corner of the bedroom until I found somewhere useful to put it.
By 6pm, Captain Caveman had decided to treat me to fish and chips from the nearest chippy. Carleton Fisheries only opens 4-7.30pm on the weekdays and just at lunch time on a Saturday – it got good reviews online. It was £8.70 for a portion of fish and chips which we got 2 of to take home. I had salt and vinegar on mine because I knew we didn’t have any condiments back at the house.
We sat in the camping chairs in the front room and really enjoyed them. I’d even go so far as to say they were as good as Tony’s in Mosborough. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a cup of tea afterwards as we didn’t have any tea bags or milk! Before bed I realised I’d forgotten to do my measurements yesterday or update my income and expenditure spreadsheet for the end of the month. I was getting a bit slack now that I was in the UK! August was looking to be a jam-packed month with the first 11 days of it being spent in England.

Gratitude List
1. Making do with the temporary office in Ponte
2. Leftovers for lunch
3. Amazing fish and chips for dinner.

Pontecarlo – 30th July

Pontecarlo – 30th July

Captain Caveman had meetings from 9am on Wednesday 30th July and I had them from 10am. My Giffgaff phone was not responding well to being a hotspot for me to work from so I volunteered myself to do the breakfast sandwich run. Tuck In (great name for a sarnie shop) was just a few metres up the road and I ordered a bacon and tomato sandwich for Captain Caveman and a sausage sandwich for me. The 2 staff in there were really friendly and were asking if I was new round here. I explained I was visiting my other half who had just moved in and that we hadn’t yet had chance to stock up etc. The lady there recommended we use the Olio app to get free or cheap stuff, which was really nice of her. The sandwiches were lovely and it certainly wouldn’t be our last time there.
I took some photos of Captain Caveman’s new abode and then noticed I had a Resort Experts review from one of my close friends and now a customer. It was lovely and I was really pleased as, for some reason, it’s often more difficult to convince friends to support your business, while complete strangers are more likely to buy from you.
I attended my last Substack Zoom training with Ade at 10am and added to my to do list to look at setting up a profile, next month. Hopefully, this would bring more strangers in to my online world for both holidays and my book(s).
I made a shoping list for the house and then got on with more work until Captain Caveman’s lunch break. We drove to the supermarket and here’s what we bought with prices in pounds;

Tesco Supermarket
Fajita seasoning 0.85
8 Tortillas 0.99
150g Raspberries 1.70
500g peppers 1.79
4 toilet rolls 1.80
1 kitchen utensil 2.25
650g chicken breasts 5.10
4 way Extension cable 6.50
Plug adaptor 8.00
Total spent £28.98

I was looking forward to being able to use my new clubcard but I only had an email with the number on. A member of staff had to come over and key it in as I hadn’t downloaded the app which had a pretend card on it. I was hoping I’d get sent a physical card but, apparently, not any more. We did get 28 club card points, though, but not much use to me in Turkey.
For lunch Captain Caveman made himself something and I went to the shop for a sausage roll. It was a minimum spend of a fiver on a card so I treated myself to something I’d not seen before – a Ponte Pig. It’s like a gingerbread man but in the shape of a pig and was very nice. The shop staff were all friendly and I was really liking Pontefract, so much so that I’d started to affectionately refer to it as Pontecarlo.

At 1.30pm there was a delivery and I was so excited that it was for me! Captain Caveman had ordered me a new suitcase with detachable wheels, and small enough to fit under the seat on a plane! It was great and I could get more stuff than I thought I would in it!

To celebrate my new luggage we decided to have a walk through the area to a pub, The Carleton. It was one of those Greene King pubs and seemed to be very good with lots of different events on. A board advertised a monthly dog walk on the last Sunday of each month and lots of quizzes. We had a pint there which was less than £9 for 2 and then we walked back for Captain Caveman to cook us our first meal at home.

He’d already bought a big electric paella type pan so we had delicious chicken fajitas. He made his own tomato salsa and we were grateful for the 2 plates my Mom had given us. We drank white wine which I splashed out £9 on for a bottle, at the local shop. We didn’t have any wine glasses so we drank out of Mr & Mrs mugs, left by the previous tennants. The food was tasty and we had a great first full day in Pontecarlo – still no internet as Virgin are shit, but that’s too boring a story!

Gratitude List
1. Breakfast butties from Tuck In
2. A first try of a Ponte Pig
3. A lovely evening with Captain Caveman in Pontecarlo.