Letter from Espargal: 11 of 2010

You'll have to forgive a rushed job, and one that's really just a catch-up. It's been a runaround week or two. We had four nights with my sister, Cathy, and husband, Rolf, in Berlin on the pretext of admiring their new apartment. Our thanks go to our neighbours, Marie and Olly, who stepped in when the house-sitters who were due to look after our animals had to cancel their trip because of illness in the family.

VIEW FROM THE APARTMENT
Although there are direct flights between Faro and Berlin, we found them mighty expensive. Instead, at half the price, we took the train to Lisbon and from there we flew with KLM, with a connection in Amsterdam. Schiphol Airport won us over. It's easily the nicest of all the European airports we've experienced so far - spacious, uncrowded, easily-navigable and with lots of facilities.

Berlin was mainly cold and damp. It didn't matter. We loved the new apartment with its space and high ceilings. It was one of several apartments in an old building with splendid views over a boat basin, just across the water from the apartment they'd previously rented. We spent three days visiting museums and galleries as well as seeing Avatar (again) and Alice in Wonderland in 3D, a format not available here in the Algarve.

Our return home coincided with the arrival of spring.

This week, for the first time this year, we've sat out on our north patio in the evening, sipping drinks and feeding almond nuts to ourselves and the dogs. Lest this seem excessive, let me say that we have more almonds than we know what to do with. The dogs love them. They often crunch the shells to get at the interiors although they prefer us to do it for them.

We visited Benafim to see how Celso and Brigitte are getting on with the refurbishment of Snack Bar Coral - now renamed France-Portugal (or Portugal-France). The pair of them were working hard when we knocked on the door. The place is still in a state of upheaval. The hope is to reopen later in the week.

Just across the road from the snack bar is the monument that Horacio (the builder) is constructing on behalf of Loule Council, in honour of a local woman who was a great benefactor. Horacio was pleased to show us around. Illustrated tiles will be attached to the main wall and there will benches for folk to relax and watch the passing show. Horacio is under pressure to complete the work. The constant rain over the winter has hammered his deadlines.

According to a headline in the local rag, the rainfall this past winter has been the heaviest since records were first kept in 1870. I spent 15 minutes removing mold that had collected on walls around interior windows facing the weather. In the cavernous bedroom cupboard I found a suitcase and a belt covered in mold. I fear to look further.

We've left the cupboard doors open to allow the contents to breathe.

The orchids are out, delighting us as they do every spring. There's a patch of naked man orchids at the top of the hill. And on our walk around the valley this morning we found some truly splendid "naked men", along with "early purples" and "woodcocks". The scillas and other wild flowers are also out in a glorious show. Farmers were hard at work in their vines to make up for lost time, pruning and turning over the soil.

If you look closely at this picture of telephone poles marching across the vineyards (from Benafim to Espargal), you'll notice that one pole is leaning over at an angle of 45 degrees. It's really being held up only by the wires - and the day it goes down we'll lose our phone line and our internet link. I reported it months ago to Portugal Telecom, who subsequently sent a fellow out to take a look. Evidently, it wasn't considered urgent.



SCILLA

You may recall that we visited the SA consulate in Lisbon six months ago to renew our passports. Mine arrived fairly promptly but there has been no sign of Barbara's. The other night I dreamed that her passport had arrived in the post. I was surprised (in my dream) that the passport was contained in an ordinary envelope rather than in registered mail.

I was recounting this to Jones the following morning as we drove down the hill. We stopped to collect the mail, and there - yes - was a card from the postman saying that her passport was available for collection from the parish office.

What I'm working on now is trying to dream up a few numbers for Euromillions; speaking of which, we had a double win last week. Pity it amounted only to 18 euros.