Letter from Espargal: 26 September 2014

It's been an up and down week, more down than up. A useful starting point might be 08.30 on Saturday morning when Slavic and Roslan turned up for work.

I set them clearing the undergrowth in the park while we went walking.

On our return, we embarked on the usual paths, steps and walls. We are gradually making the circuits through the garden and the park both more passable and attractive.

Mid-morning neighbours arrived for coffee and to see what's been happening in Mary's garden. Jones presided. After seeing our workers off, I joined them. As ever on such occasions, there was a tempting array of goodies on display. Jones, who's iron-willed, can pass the plates around without touching a morsel herself. I lack the will power. In fact, it's best if I stay right away.

After lunch I sat down with her to book a return train ride to Lisbon. The question was whether to slip out in the dark at the start of our holiday next Wednesday morning or to walk the dogs before we left.

We opted for the former. Portuguese train tickets are ridiculously inexpensive, certainly by UK standards. A first-class return to Lisbon for two pensioners costs a mere €55. Booking the tickets online took an hour and a lot of cussing. But that was barely the start of things.

No sooner had I printed out my rail ticket than my expensive, sophisticated three-year old Canon Pixma multifunction printer declared that it had the wrong print-head would print no more - a common problem as I discovered. To print Barbara's ticket, I fired up my old back-up printer. It too was in no mood to cooperate, refusing to print in colour.

On Monday I spent a fruitless half-hour on the phone trying to get through to Canon in Faro and a further fruitless two hours searching for the store, which had either moved or vanished. It certainly didn't exist at the registered address.

Canon Support in Lisbon said Canon didn't repair their own products. This was done by two authorised repair shops, one in Lisbon and the other in Porto. Best call them!

The helpful shop in Lisbon said they'd be pleased to help but I'd have to courier the printer up to them. I did a little mental arithmetic: it didn't add up. Print-heads cost nearly as much as new printers - that's before courier and service charges - a classic case of built-in obsolescence.

Finally I consulted my regular computer shop in Loule who advised me, in brief, to get a new device. After some research I selected a model, one that will print from our iPads, to be delivered and installed later in the week. I also ordered a print-head from Amazon so that at least the Canon will serve as a backup.

Back to Sunday: the wail of a siren disturbed our expats' brunch under the trees at the Hamburgo.

As we looked up, a police car hove into view, leading scores - perhaps hundreds - of buzzbikers on some organised ride through the countryside.

We watched in fascination as they clattered past us in an exuberant declaration of the joys of buzzbiking. Many of the bikes are decades old, kept alive by elderly men in greasy workshops.

The noisy, smoke-belching buzzbike is still the established transport of many thousands of Portuguese, especially agricultural and construction workers, most of whom seemed to be taking part.

Many of the motorcyclists wear old-style helmets with straps that fasten under the chin. As often as not, the helmet is merely perched on the rider's head - to comply with the law - while the straps flap around in the breeze.

One of our Quinta guests used to call them the Roundheads.

Vitor called to ask if he and Ana, could come that afternoon to pick almonds from our trees, as they had last year.

Ana bakes cakes as a sideline and is grateful for the supply. Some of the trees seem to have just a few nuts glued to their branches; others groan under their load.

The nuts are a key ingredient of local cakes and tarts. Ana is welcome to them for the trees produce far more than we could ever use and most would otherwise simply be wasted.

I wandered over mid-afternoon to find the extended family hard at work, two of them rattling the branches with long flexible sticks while the rest collected the booty from the nets spread out under the trees. Ana rewarded us a day or two later with an almond tart that served eight of us and would have served as many more.

Weather news: The equinox has brought mild sunny, cloudy days with misty valleys at our feet as we walk in the mornings.

We got back from Loule one afternoon to find that Espargal had been drenched in our absence. Just on an inch of rain had soaked the hill, the first decent downpour of the season.

The downside was the inevitably muddy dog walks. Thick mud and small stones get embedded in the dogs' pads. Plus they leave a trail of footprints across Jonesy's tiled floors. I didn't do my back any favours by bending down to help Jones cleanse their paws. Life's never simple.

Wednesday: My back felt better. Fatima cut Jones's hair; she always does a good job. We took May to lunch.

Thursday: My back felt worse. I booked an appointment with Jodi.

Ze arrived from Inforomba to install my new printer-scanner unit. I justified the expense of having him install it by telling myself that my back wasn't up to carrying such devices around.

It works just fine. It ought to. It's a beauty.

After lunch we drove out to Cortes to see how our German archeologists were getting along. They've been coming down each autumn for several years to dig out the foundations of a Roman villa there.

At a cafe close by we invested in a box of icecreams. We were welcomed with open arms, especially Prickles and Ono, who have known the diggers for as long as we have.

The team is gradually exposing the remains of a great agricultural villa. But the money for the project has run out and the group is fearful that they may not be able to return next year.

HAPPY DOGS

We wished them well and drove back to Alte for a session (me) with Jodi.

Friday: Shopping and a second session with Jodi. My back feels better. The weather forecasters say that we are in for a pasting on Saturday morning.

This may be my last blog for several weeks. On Monday we return to the notary to buy a plot of land from a neighbour. On Tuesday our house-sitters, Ian and Anne, are due down from the UK. On Wednesday we're off - due home again on October 15.