FEEDING THE CATS AT DAVID AND SARAH'S PLACE.Quite a lot of stuff has happened this week, one way and another. For instance, one afternoon Jones put her pick-axe through the water pipe to Casa Nada. This happened as I was discussing a computer problem over the phone with a neighbour - and moments before I was due to run Dani and Natasha down to the bus stop. I can tell from the way Jones bellows “Terrrrryyyyy” that she’s run into an urgent problem. I made my apologies to the neighbour and went to take a look. The jet of water that was shooting into the air would have delighted the hearts of any budding public fountain engineers.
In view of the imminent arrival of the bus, I turned the water off at the pump-house as an interim measure before driving our workers to the bus stop (dogs in the back seat as usual; they think they now travel in the car by right). I got back to hear from Jones that she had confided the problem to neighbours, who were walking past the gate as they do on their circuit each day. Moments later, they turned up in the car with Fintan, another villager, who happens to be a retired plumber.
It so happened that Fintan had come along a few days earlier to take a look at a different plumbing problem, a leak in the pumphouse. It was only a small job, he explained, but he needed a couple of parts to fix it – which he subsequently obtained. Within five minutes he had cut and capped the holed pipe and in another five he had repaired the leak in the pumphouse. I was most grateful and said so – wondering whether the gentlemen would care to share a beer. They declined my offer although they accepted a large bar of Toblerone chocolate – our one and only, as I told them - that Jones offered them instead.
Happily, Fintan was slightly in my debt in view of my considerable assistance to him this past fortnight with his computer. He ran into a problem with a free security programme, which I resolved by stripping it off and replacing it (at his cost) with Kaspersky’s security suite. Well, I sort of resolved it because the new programme works fine but it won’t update.
NAKED MAN ORCHIDS. In fact, I was back at Fintan’s place this morning while John, another neighbour, who is a computer professional, tried to fix the update problem. In spite of much effort and cleaning up of the hard disk, he failed. As a result I will now have to take Fintan’s computer into my computer shop, which specialises in Kaspersky. At least, if I haven’t actually sorted out any problems, I have shown lots of good will – which, I think you’ll agree, at the end of the day, is what really counts. I have also been helpful to another neighbour whose strimmer wasn’t working. After explaining to him what generally needs to be done – clean the plug and filter, replace old petrol etc – I actually went along, prompted by Jones, to help him. We did all the necessary and the strimmer fired first time. Well, it sort of gurgled and died. After that it just coughed uselessly. I offered to take it down to Vitor, the village mechanic, who nearly always manages to sort these things out. As I say, when push comes to shove, it’s the good will that matters more than results.
EARLY PURPLE ORCHID. Jones – coming back to the damaged pipe – was most apologetic for her actions, especially as she had known that the pipe ran through the section of the garden concerned. I didn’t feel that the apologies were necessary but it was quite useful to have her feeling apologetic. This is because it would seem that not only had I inadvertently poisoned some of her favourite plants the previous week but I had also scarified a precious cutting while cleaning up the vege patch with the tractor.
This cutting, which had been given to her by Leonhilda - a Portuguese neighbour – was evidently a very special plant and likely to be irreplaceable. Jones was severely upset to have had it rooted up and she shared her displeasure with me. A couple of days later she later came across the cutting still attached to a clod of earth and has replanted it in the hope that it may sprout anew.
WOODCOCK ORCHID.I reported the situation to Leonhilda, who has given Jones more cuttings as well as some eggs from her hens to thank the pair of us for my work in cleaning up her (adjacent) field at the same time as I was scarifying mine. Like most of the farmers in the village, her husband has an older (two-wheel drive) tractor that struggles on the steep slope. What’s more, he hasn’t been very well or felt inclined to tackle strenuous work.
Another gift, a bottle of olive oil, came from the strange couple (Chico and Dina) whom we encountered ambling along the main road in the drizzle last Sunday afternoon on our return from Hans the baker’s place in Benafim. After encouraging a reluctant Stoopy to join Jones in the front seat and an even more reluctant Ono to occupy the rear of the vehicle, we shoe-horned the couple into the back seat. Dina is a very large lady and Chico is a very old man. Neither of them is exactly supple.
WILD TULIPS.On our arrival at their cottage Chico insisted that I should wait outside while he hurried in to fetch me something. It turned out to be 5 litres of newly-pressed oil. It was, he insisted, very good. And he spoke truly. I would much rather have left it with them but you can’t argue with Chico. If you do something for him, he does something for you. We are still working our way gradually and pleasurably through the 15 litres of fig liquor with which he’s rewarded me for various other favours.
On Monday night we went to Faro to see Dream Girls. We thought it was very well done and that Jennifer Hudson deserved her Oscar. I can’t pretend that it was my kind of music or that I enjoyed the company of a gaggle of teenyboppers who spent most of the film chatting, munching popcorn and consulting their mobiles.
Another night, Tuesday I think, I woke Jones around midnight (at her request) to come on to the patio to admire the eclipse of the moon. It was a full eclipse, visible across the length and breadth of Europe. The media had spoken about a “blood-red orb” - a bit over the top although it was certainly a striking phenomenon. We watched as the moon’s left flank began to glisten as it emerged from the eclipse and the light crept ever so slowly across its face.
The main news of the week, I think, is the hardest to convey. It’s the onset of the orchid season. The dull orchids have been out for weeks. But Jones has now spotted the first mirror orchids. On the path below the house she found Early Purples and Woodcocks although the latter were outshone by a grouping that I found on the road out of the village.
DAWN OVER VALAPENA. Orchids apart, the fields are ablaze with wild flowers. Some hide themselves under the trees or among the rocks. We never know when we’re about to stumble across some magnificent new specimen. I wish you were here to share some of our pleasure in these simple things.
No comments:
Post a Comment