Letter from Espargal: 10 of 2011

Greetings from Espargal on a wet, chilly, windy morning. At least there’s a cheery fire in the hearth and no sign of any tsunamis rolling up the valley. The pictures from Japan that we’ve been witnessing these last few hours are an embarrassment to Hollywood’s special effects departments. When buildings go floating across the countryside and ships lie scattered sideways around their quays, you know it’s a good idea to be somewhere else.

ESPARGAL

In this regard, Espargal is as good a place as any. In fact, it’s better than most. I noted after downloading the latest update of Google Earth that Casa Valapena is situated 1,000 ft above sea level. This is quite reassuring. Although you may not associate Portugal with natural disasters, much of the country was devastated in 1755 by a great earthquake and tsunami.

The news from Casa Valapena is good. The topographers dropped by midweek with their report on the property that we are in the process of purchasing. The plot is something over half an acre in size. That this is barely a third of the area alleged on the title documents came as little surprise and no disappointment. (The estimated size of unsurveyed properties in Portugal tends to be pretty haphazard.)

As you will see from the adjacent picture, the property in question – outlined in green - juts deep into ours - outlined in red. (The purchase waits on the issue of the necessary documents by the ever sluggish local authorities.)The dark blue rectangle is our house and the light blue rectangle is Casa Nada. We will be delighted in due course to incorporate the plot and complete the exterior fence. To this end, our fencers came by on Thursday to calculate the distances and costs involved.

In some areas they had to be content with estimates as the thorny undergrowth is quite impenetrable.

Another visitor that day, a most welcome one, was the electrician who spent it completing the electrical work in the Bijou Ensuite. We’d been waiting several weeks for him to call. He’s much in demand and has fallen behind schedule, mainly because his assistant – a keen footballer - is out of action for several months following knee surgery. I gave what help I could.

There are situations, such as reporting whether a light has come on or feeding wires down a tube, where even the most unskilled assistance is useful.

Equally welcome, at the start of the week, was a visit by a PT (Portugal Telecom) technician, come to see why I couldn’t link to the internet in spite of Sapo, the ISP’s, considerable efforts. The reason was that the crappy (made in China) router issued to me by Sapo didn’t work. The technician grunted that he had a vanful of similar rejects.

He replaced the faulty router with a different model – with limited success. Download speed was pitiful but he went away promising to increase it. (He spoke truly.) My laptop talks happily to the new router by wifi but the desktop insists on a cable link, probably because of a non-compatible antenna. I have asked the computer shop to sort things out as soon as possible. But the bottom line is that both computers – Jones uses the portable – now have reliable connections at acceptable speeds – and I can’t tell you what a relief that is after a saga lasting three months.

Since getting back on net I have spent many hours seeking a hotel in Copenhagen for the three nights that we’ll be spending in the city either side of our planned Baltic cruise. I knew that the Danish capital was expensive but I had no idea how poor an opinion so many visitors had of its hotels. In this respect Tripadvisor has proved invaluable. Comments like “building site”, “terrible bed”, “filthy room”, “loud music” and “avoid it” were all too common. And the few “gems” were fully booked. I finally made a reservation at a hotel that I hope will be acceptable to Jones, whose fondness for bare bones accommodation I do not share.

Before leaving cyberspace let me add that I have been much impressed by a program recommended to me by Rolf. It’s called Dropbox and can be downloaded free. It serves to keep files on two (or more?) computers synchronised via the internet – so it’s both an automatic backup system and a means to allow people in different places to share documents. A generous allocation of space is allowed to users at no cost. Beyond this you have to pay a monthly fee. If there are any disadvantages, I haven’t come across them.

I have no dreams of my own to report this week but I can inform you that Jones found herself struggling to prepare a large, mysterious house for a stay by Queen Liz, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince William, who - it would seem - wanted somewhere quiet. And my sister confessed to despatching a midnight monster, a hostile hippo as I recall, by pinching its tongue – an unusual but apparently effective method that may prove useful to you should you be attacked by hippos overnight.

You may notice that I have spared you any mention of the animals (so far). That’s not because they make any fewer demands of us or our purses. The circus continues.

I am nearing the end of a learned tome, a book on attempts to trace the origins of language – The First Word by Christine Kenneally. She did an enormous amount of research and writes really well. One cannot help but be impressed by such a body of work. (The best I have been able to do so far is conversations between our grouchy former London cat and my niece.) Next to the memoirs of Uncle Max.