Mostly what I have done this week is to perspire. {Jones is a minimalist perspirer(?) perspirant (?) sweater!} However, I have not perspired as much this week as I expect to do next week when temperatures are due to rise to the upper 30s. Fret not! I am aware that few people - if any - will be interested in how hot we are in the Algarve or how profusely I am perspiring. But perhaps, during the next ice age, some curious researcher will come across the blog and be astonished to learn that where glaciers hold stead, cicadas once serenaded the scorching hills. (They are shrieking to high heaven as I write!)
In the interests of medicine I could post a picture of the multiple itchy heat bumps embracing my midriff but in the interests of good taste I shall stick up one of Jones's flower photos instead.
ROTATING VESTS AND SHIRTS
Mild surprise has been expressed about the quantity of beer that I confessed to consuming during the height of the Algarve summer. It occurred to me that I might have given a wrong impression, ("taken out of context, M'lud!") .
The beers concerned were of modest size - 33cl cans - and consumed by the half dozen only on the hottest days and over the course of several hours. I never had the least sense of intoxication although I did enjoy some good siestas. As I pointed out to my correspondent, any serious beer drinker would regard such modest consumption as bordering on abstemious. Anyhow, that's all history; it's Lidl's alcohol-free beers to which I now have recourse.
This month's Kaspersky internet security bulletin gives details of the latest ingenious scams and fiendish ransom-ware traps that threaten the well-being of computer users, often masquerading as emails from one's bank or the likes. Although all my documents are automatically backed up to Dropbox, pundits give warning that "the cloud" offers no protection against computer kidnappers; one has to use an independent back-up drive to be certain of protecting personal information.
Taking the warning to heart, I had a chat to Inforomba about the best back-up devices and opted for a capacious high-speed USB stick. On to this stick I have now copied all my text, picture and music files - many thousands of them. I'm in two minds about whether to back up my gmail files - that's after much reading about the various options.
Whether I shall be sufficiently disciplined to make regular back-ups in future is another matter. Since these files contain details of all our dealings, as well as personal stuff, their loss would wretchedly complicate our lives.
NOTHING LIKE A DIP AFTER A HOT WALK
Still on matters computorial, we were anxious after hearing of the Istanbul airport bomb to ensure that our nephew, Bevan, had not been a victim as he is a frequent business visitor to the city. So I sent him a WhatsApp message - to which I received no reply; not for several days that is. When a response did come, it was from someone who said I had the wrong Bevan. A peek at the accompanying WhatsApp picture confirmed this.
I was mightily puzzled as WhatsApp is meant to obtain links only from one's phone-list and the guy concerned wasn't known to me. (He subsequently had the civility to inquire whether our Bevan was okay. I was able to reassure him that our nephew had missed the bomb by 24 hours.) Bevan later confirmed that he did use WhatsApp but not at the number I had for him. This has since been rectified.
PLUMBAGO
I continue to receive daily invitations from senior members of the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund to collect the vast funds waiting for me if only I will pay the necessary duties. Today's, written in the usual excruciating English and warning of the dangers of impostors, comes from "Ms Christine Largade (sic)" via her yahoo account. Like the UN Secretary General, the director of the FBI and other worthies, her office appears to be based in Benin. One can only think that the West African scammers on the far side of these emails must continue to make money from new idiots although the scams themselves have hardly changed down the years.
If all this stuff seems very dull, it's because there is little new to say about dog duties, gardening and field clearing, which I have reported ad nauseam. We are concerned about a small stray bitch, obviously domesticated, that has recently appeared in the village. She's been on heat for several days, attracting the inevitable attentions of the male strays. It's only a matter of time before she pups. Jones and I are hoping well before then to get her to the vet. The hard bit will be releasing her back on to the streets afterwards. My heart goes out to these unfortunate abandoned animals. I often reflect that, as a species, we humans first seduced dogs, then we either abused them or betrayed them.
IT'S A DOG'S LIFE
Mind you, there are exceptions!
TOMATO SANDWICHES ON STILL-WARM BREAD AT THE PRIMEIRO DO MAIO SNACK-BAR
We watch dismally as the pound continues to slide, wondering whether and when it will hit bottom. All the pundits are agreed on is that it has further to go.
MISTY MORNING
At last Portugal's football team would appear to have gelled. It's extraordinary that they will be going into the Euro final this Sunday after winning just one match - the semis against Wales - within 90 minutes. Time and again they've scraped through.The nation will go crazy if they are successful again on Sunday. Fingers crossed.
SLAVIC, NATASHA AND HER SON, ALEX, AT THE WATER PARK
I frequently make mention of Slavic, Natasha and Alex. Here they are at a local water park. Natasha and Alex have just returned from an international gymnastics competition up north where he secured fourth place.
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