Over the last three days the garage timber for the finish ceiling has been fitted to lay on the joists, next the roof membrane and last the insulation.

All that is left to do now is the roof tiles and fitting the Velux window over the storage room.

All the stone walls of this garage are now completed and the finished garage now measures 9.9m long x 6.5m wide and 4.6m high at the back wall.

Bojan an olive tree expert is hard pruning the four olive trees, in readiness for them being dug up and transported from Ulcinj near the Albanian border to my villa on Luštica, which is 108 km.

Stefan and Vlado are celebrating the fact they are able to officially come back to work, because all Covid pandemic restrictions have now been lifted.

This team of builders managed to work quite a lot over Covid in Montenegro, which has not been the case in the UK.

We are taking the roof off the original villa because it needs to be replaced as it was not structurally sound. This will enable us to build the walls up a bit higher so the four new larger windows on this top floor with be in their correct positions.

There are three other benefits of doing this major construction work, firstly this original villa will be at the correct height to be able to join the newly rebuilt villa, secondly the ceilings will be higher and thirdly the rafters will be able to be exposed.

The windows in the original villa are having real stone put around them and are being made the same larger size as the windows in the newly built villa.

On the lowest floor we have also made two, rather than the original one window there was on this floor.

A few months ago we suddenly had big problems with the previous stonemasons boss. We eventually decided it was best to go our separate ways as he had become extremely difficult to deal with.

It was hard to find another stonemason as they were either already busy working on other buildings projects or reluctant to finish what someone else had started.

I am also contributing to the problem as I have become more specific about how I want the stonework to look, after seeing various types of stonework. I now only want stonework that is fluidly organic in appearance. In this part of the world most stonemasons like doing easier straight lines, which is not acceptable.

Parking Space & The Precarious Parking Platform in The Distance

Today I completed the purchase of some extra land at Zabrdje, which is right next to the house I have already purchased. This land has two lovely trees on it, including an olive tree and I have purchased it to make the existing garden larger.

This extra land was for sale as part of a much larger plot and I only wanted to buy a third of it. The seller only agreed to sell me the third I needed if I also purchased a smaller plot on the other side of the road directly above my house, which was for sale at a much lower price per square metre than the rest of the land he had for sale. So I agreed to his stipulations.

Map of The Plots I Purchased

On the map above you can see my original purchase of villas and land on Plot 286. The new garden is about a third of Plot 287. The whole of Plot 229, on the other side of the small road above the villas, is for parking and a garage.

This smaller extra plot above the road and villas is actually a truly fantastic extra purchase, which will be excavated and used to build parking for five cars and eventually a garage. All the excavated stone will be used within this project, it will be like having my own mini quarry.

The existing parking platform that came with the villas is very precarious and extremely unattractive and I will be glad to see it go.

The purchase of this land had to be completed before the project could start.

It is now April I and have just been into Tivat in Montenegro to meet my new builders, well their representative at Prova Restaurant.

Prova Restaurant in Tivat

Stefan my new project manager for their company called Prostor-Projekt and is a very capable intelligent young man who speaks fluent English, which seems to be a rarity in the Montenegrin building trade.

Stefan works closely with Vlado an extremely knowledgeable engineer and building contractor with many years of experience, including designing and building the new cathedral in Bar, which is a costal town and seaport in southern Montenegro.

Stefan will start firstly by dealing with Herceg Novi Municipality on my behalf regarding the planning approval. I must now get on and finish all the drawings as soon as possible.

My New Project Manager Stefan

I felt extremely confident after years of dealing with different building companies in the UK, that I was going to be able to work really well with the Prostor-Projekt team as we think about our work and what needed to be done in exactly the same way.

I was doing a big refurbishment project in London, so I was really torn between wanting to stay and get more involved with what was about to get started in Montenegro and needing to rush back to my commitments in London.

Back to London I must go.

Over the last 18 months I have learnt to adapt to my new way of life and I have come to realise that I cannot let having a malignant melanoma ruin my life. 

I started the healing process by going on a family summer holiday taking our dog Otto, to Harlem in the Netherlands, where it was hot but not so hot that I had to hide away. I walked and cycled around this lovely country the whole time, which made me feel free to do what makes me happy.

Lovely Haarlem

I went to Montenegro in May and October, being the cooler months and just stayed out of the midday sun. In fact I discovered that these are the best times of the year to go to Montenegro as it is much less touristy. Everything looked even more beautiful and found out that these are also the most favourite times of year for local people as well.

While in Montenegro I had various meetings with builders and I am back on track to start this project next year.

After trying to change myself into another type of person, who enjoys being completely out of the sun, I began to feel a bit trapped by not being able to be myself anymore.

Inviting Sveti Stefan Beach

I started to think I should never go to Montenegro again, unless it was not summer. When the whole reason I had bought these properties was because I loved the sun and being warm and the sense of freedom it gives you.

I was really terribly confused by my new situation.

The one thing I did not mention in my last posting was that I had recently been diagnosed with the most aggressive form of skin cancer, a malignant melanoma.

In June 2012 I had noticed a tiny black dot on my upper right arm. I instantly knew this was not good and luckily within three days saw a skin cancer specialist, who immediately did a biopsy and discovered it was a malignant melanoma.

The biopsy showed the cancer had already spread, so after two more operations in quick succession the doctors hoped they had removed all the malignancy. The only treatment one can have after these operations is to have the skin all over your body and your glands checked every three months for five year.

Foolishly Out in The Midday Sun

I have natural strawberry blond hair and lots of freckles and knowing such people are the most susceptible to malignant melanomas, I now thought how stupid I had been to ever sit in the hot sun with my type of skin and hair colouring.

The doctors told me to never go in the sun again or I would die. From now on if I am in a hot country I must stay out of the sun and be completely covering up whenever I have to walk about in the sunshine.

The Sun in All its Dangerous Glory

In August on my last visit to Montenegro I had just had my last lot of stitches out and was feeling extremely vulnerable and unable to go out in the sunshine. I was in a sort of state of shock about what had just happened.

Overnight I had got to change from being a very active outdoors sort of person, into someone I just did not know how to be. I could definitely no longer go on holiday to hot countries without being constantly extremely careful.

I wondered what I was going to do now about my future life in Montenegro, being one of those hot countries.

Blue Horizon Hotel as it Used to be

We Stayed in Muo on The Other Side of The Bay of Kotor