Letter from Espargal: 24 of 2011

JONES DAWN

Friday morning: Choppy waters! It hasn’t been the best of weeks. Still, it’s had its moments. On the bright side Chris Jones and family flew in from Vancouver – via Gatwick - last Saturday afternoon pretty much on time if pooped by the journey. It’s a long flight across Canada and the Atlantic, and longer still with children on a budget airline. Some warm hospitality and a night’s sleep restored their spirits, Marie’s pool refreshed them and the dogs quickly adopted them as part of the family.

ON THE ROCKS

Chris is Barbara’s nephew. He and his wife, Jane, emigrated from South Africa to Canada several years ago; their children are Luke (10) and David (4). With luck I’ll post on the blog some of the photographs that Chris and Jane have been taking.

The family keenly anticipated the arrival from Johannesburg last Tuesday of Jane’s sister, Nancy, and party – three adults and three children – for most of whom we had booked a holiday villa close by.

JANE, NANCY & THEIR MUM

Nancy works for an airline, which was due to fly the group into Lisbon early Tuesday morning via its European hub. After much head-scratching - this is the holiday season and the trains are crowded - we made rail reservations for the final leg from Lisbon to Loule. We knew that the party would have to scramble from plane to train. But we reckoned that if we met them at the airport, we could get them into taxis and 10 minutes down the road to Oriente Station. They’d let us know that they were travelling with cabin baggage only.

PETER WITH SISTER, JANE

Enter Robert Burns with his lines on “the best-laid schemes”. The airline cancelled its overnight flight to its European hub. Nancy phoned to say they’d be arriving a day late. I called Portuguese Rail; “you can exchange the rail tickets,” a nice lady said, but you can do so only once. Back we went to Loule station.

BJ WITH KIDS

Wednesday morning at sparrows, after a restless night, Jones and I set out for Lisbon, Ono and Prickles on the back seat as ever. It’s easy driving on the magnificent toll road that links the Algarve to the capital. We were about half way there when we had a text message from Nancy: their connecting flight to Lisbon was also delayed “for (dubious) technical reasons”.

RELAXING IN LOULE

Let me keep this short. The delay was about three hours. The visitors missed their train. But we thought they might make the afternoon train instead. I waited at the airport; Jones waited at the station booking office, ready to purchase new tickets the moment I sent word.

TB WITH THE KIDS

At last, the group came through into the concourse. We hastened to the taxi rank, where the queue moved with snail-like indifference to our impatience. I exchanged anxious texts with my wife. Our train leaves in 15 minutes, I told our taxi driver. He had us at the station in five. Jonesy was at the entrance, clutching the tickets. Up the escalators we went, two levels to the main line. With some satisfaction and relief, we bundled the visitors into their railway carriage. Then we drove ourselves home.

Am I making too much of such a mini-drama? Well, it took up a lot of emotional space. I should conclude by saying that Chris and Olly met the travellers at Loule station and brought them back for a glorious reunion. They are now as happy as clams in their holiday house, the cousins revelling in one another’s company and the pool as much as the adults. The weather continues torrid; temperatures have been in the mid-30s all week.

Still on the bright side, I have my smartphone back. Its vital organs have undergone a total transplant. It was obviously in a bad way. Happily, the phone was still under guarantee and the repair has cost me nought. What a pleasure it is to have it at my finger tips again instead of wrestling with primitive 20th century technology.

Having said that, the week brought more than its fair share of unwelcome news. Cathy has flown from Berlin to South Africa for the memorial service for our last surviving aunt, Mum’s sister, Iris, on whose farm north of Pretoria we enjoyed many happy holidays as children.

JOYCE, AS WE REMEMBER HER, WITH TOM

Closer to home, one of our first neighbours in Portugal, Joyce Shubrook, has died, several days after suffering a stroke in the wake of a heart attack. Joyce and her husband, Tom, really introduced us to life in the Algarve when we bought the Quintassential back in 1987. For decades they had been the mainstay of the local branch of the expat association.

JOHN IN HAPPIER DAYS

Another old friend and neighbour, John Vincent, who has been in poor health for some time, is being admitted to a nursing home near Loule. He and his wife, Olive, had been hoping to sell their home near Almancil and return to the UK, where their families live. Given the current state of the market, they would be very lucky to do so.

The pleasure of entertaining our visitors has been dulled by these unsettling events.

GRANNY WITH DAVID AT ZOOMARINE

Saturday morning: We joined the gang for supper at the Hamburgo last night. They had spent the day at the Zoomarine park and were in great form as they showed us their pictures and related their adventures.

JANE DUSK OVER ESPARGAL

Towards the end of the meal, I had a call from Olive. She said the doctor had just phoned to say that John had died. It was a mercy but not a surprise. He had gone downhill rapidly, as was evident when we visited him at the nursing home yesterday. We will assist Olive with the funeral arrangements today. Rest in Peace Iris, Joyce and John.