Letter from Espargal: 19 October 2018

When a dozy dawn eventually rubbed the sleep out of its eyes this Thursday morning, we had no idea what a treat we were in for.



It was Marie who called at lunch time to say "Look up"! Wow! Jones rushed to get the camera. I alerted other neighbours.



The sky was full of big birds - scores of them, swooping, swirling, circling, wheeling, ducking and diving, with never so much as a flap of the wings



They are Griffon vultures, huge raptors that gather in the Algarve each October for their migration south.



After entertaining us for the best part of half an hour, the birds peeled off half a dozen at a time and headed south in a patchy line. What a treat!



It's a dull, somewhat showery Thursday as I write. There's a fire in the stove, as much for cheery company as warmth. At the end of last week the (background) TV packed up but, to their credit, the suppliers replaced the faulty digibox the same day.


AUTUMN SNOWFLAKES AMIDST THE LEAF-LITTER IN THE PARK
On Saturday morning Slavic and I took a pump and hose down on the tractor to rescue a neighbour whose septic tank was full to overflowing; family visitors were due shortly and the council honey-wagon was several weeks overdue.


CLOSE-UP SNOWFLAKES
"You and Slavic are my heroes," the grateful neighbour commented - the first and last time I'm likely to earn the accolade. As it happened, the honey-wagon turned up a day or two later to finish the job.


LUNCH ON THE LAWN AT QUINTA DO MOINHO
I left Slavic mid-morning to take Jones for an eye-test in Loule where, to our great surprise, we discovered Llewellyn and Lucia. They had motored down from Lisbon for a catch up following their arrival from London some weeks ago.



Accompanied by Douglas and Roxy - of course! Unlike our lot, their dogs are well socialised. For once Prickles didn't seem too put out.



Sunday evening we joined Mike and Lyn at the Wok in Loule for a "serve yourself as often as you like" meal. In truth, the array of food on display was excellent and most people did. The couple - bird lovers both - have been staying next door and will be most put out to learn that their return to the UK preceded the Griffons by just a few hours.



On Monday I invested in a couple of rodent traps in a bid to remove a creature whose patterings can be heard in the roof of Casa Nada. Each morning I check on the traps. So far the creature is keeping its distance.



On Tuesday, after the chimney sweep had called, we left the house to Natasha. That evening, Jonesy and I celebrated at a local restaurant over a special bottle of wine. This week marks 39 years of marriage - and that's to each other.



As ever the beasts have taken up much of the week. After our walks we have had to indulge in much paw-mud-removal, not a popular exercise. Between times we have collected several tubs of carobs for Armenio. We - mainly Jones - have also spent hours getting Casa Nada ready for house sitters this coming week.


LAST LOOK AT THE GRIFFONS
After handing the zoo over to them on Thursday we will take ourselves off for a six-day local break (interrupted by an exam in written and oral Portuguese on the Saturday.) So NO blog next Friday. Back in November.


Until then, FIM

Letter from Espargal: 12 October 2018

I can think of few better ways of introducing a blog than with a picture of Marvels of Peru, flowers that are flaunting their exuberant colours around the garden at present.



Here is Slavic seated beside Mini and relaxing (over an invisible beer) after a hard Saturday morning's work. I was on the other side of the table, having waved a grateful goodbye to Brian and Nancy who were setting off for a well-earned break in Lisbon.


Behind them they left a pair of undies and a bluetooth speaker that I mailed to Lisbon by express post on Monday. Impressively, the items were delivered the following day as Brian proved in this picture. (Brian spent much of his cameraman's life shooting video of correspondents clutching microphones in similar pose - minus the headgear.)



Also in the Lisbon area, Llewellyn and Lucia and their dogs are settling into life in Portugal. Their rented cottage on the fringes of the Sintra Cascais reserve is close to the beach, much to the approval of all concerned.


WATER BOMBER APPROACHES
They had a dreadful scare last weekend, waking in the early hours to warnings of an approaching wild fire. The blaze came too close to their cottage for comfort in spite of the efforts of  hundreds of fire fighters and a number of water-bombing aircraft.


AMARYLLIS BELLADONNA
Right across the country the heat has finally eased off (after the hottest Portuguese September on record). The garden is showing its gratitude for our house-sitters' hard work in our absence.



On Tuesday we supped with Mike and Lyn, long-standing UK friends and  frequent visitors to Portugal. Over dinner Mike and I compared car-door-bruised thumbs. Daniella the waitress, whom we called to judge the comparative gravity of our injuries, pronounced his the more impressive (although I'm not convinced).



Prickles is proving as prickly on our return as he was when we left. He calls loudly and repetitively for food that he promptly turns his nose up (at), rejecting dismissively today what he condescended to eat yesterday. We still love him although I couldn't say why.



At the end of a hard carob-picking day we sit down to sun-downer baggies (in this instance a whisky) and the distribution of treats to the eager beasts. Care is required to avoid generous deposits of slobber over one's pants.



Wednesday I visited the council to discover why it wasn't sending the sewage removal tanker to an increasingly desperate and imploring expat neighbour. Turns out that the August visitor influx had left the council facing a huge honey-sucking backlog; meanwhile grimacing residents just have to cross their legs or resort to buckets.



Thursday - that's now - dawned wonderfully drizzly, our first rains of the autumn. The downside is the mud that accumulates under the dogs' paws on our walks and the consequent imprints all over the floor tiles. Pally likes to make the most of the conditions.



Autumn crocuses springing up in the park signalled an approaching and very welcome change in the weather. As I write, Barbara is attending a ladies' lunch at the Alte hotel to mark the umpteenth anniversary of the foundation of a local ladies' group.


THE GALS
She has gone with another member of the group who lives just down the road, leaving the dogs to keep an eye on me. Barbara became a founder member while we were still at the Quintassential although she has long since retired from active duty.



After my customary muesli, fruit and yoghurt and lunch, I plan a refreshing siesta and a cup of tea before a gentle stroll along the concrete paths in the park. Life's tough but there's no point in complaining!


THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Letter from Madeira: 6 October 2018

Beware reader. This is more of a holiday picture-history than a blog - and quite a long one - with rather of lot of pictures of ourselves. Scroll up at your own risk!



Just over a week ago we took the Alfa Pendular express to Lisbon. It's a great train, supremely comfortable and capable of well over 200 kph.



Behind us we left Brian and Nancy, who had agreed to look after the beasts.



Bless them!



We had labelled the dog pill boxes, given the couple two days' training and abandoned them to their fate.



Terminal 2 at Lisbon airport is the crowded, dismal hall used by the budget airlines. Terminal 1 is smarter but just as busy. The authorities are planning a new airport and not before time.



Our destination, Funchal, the capital of Madeira, is barely two hours from Lisbon. We had booked three days at the Albatroz hotel, which is sited immediately below the runway, within easy walking distance of the terminal.



We loved watching the approaching aircraft circle around the bay and then swoop in low over the hillside. Pilots require special training before being permitted to land at the airport, whose cross-winds are notorious.



The hotel boasts spectacular succulent gardens.



As well as two sea pools that we exploited morning and afternoon. Jones would leap in and gasp.



I preferred to immerse myself gently, generally backwards.



Fishermen throbbed past the hotel day and night, sometimes in boats rather smaller than I'd have fancied.



Guests are welcomed with a bottle of Madeira wine, a fruit bowl and a honey cake.



Which is very nice!



Like most diners we took our meals on the patio. Black scabbard fish with a banana topping is a regular dish.



Flocks of sparrows (?) arrived to peck a living on the twice-a-day watered lawns.


REFRESHMENTS AT THE WHALE MUSEUM SNACK BAR
One day we took a bus to Caniçal , a little town that hosts the island's whale museum. The lower floor relates the rather gruesome history of whaling in Madeira. The upper floor has a display of impressive exhibits and video explanations of how cetaceans function and are able to dive to more than 2,000 metres.


WHALE-SPOTTING LOOK-OUT HUT - MID PICTURE
Madeira is still ringed by whale-spotting look-out huts from which watchers, intent on spouting whales, would signal with sheets to the whalers waiting in harbours below.


ROLLER-BLADE RACES ALONG THE FUNCHAL FORESHORE
Another day we  visited Funchal, where the foreshore had been closed off for the city's annual roller-blade races. This is serious stuff.



From the foreshore the Teleferico cable car hoists visitors up to Monte, high on the hillside above the sprawling city.



The upper slopes showed  blackened evidence of the fires that raged there two years ago.



A favourite snack bar serves the best coffee and home-made cakes in Funchal. The views come free.



Monte's spectacular church overlooks the whole city. It was the scene of a disaster last year when a falling tree killed 13 worshippers and injured many more.



On day 4 we rented a car and travelled across the island to the little town of Porto Moniz, home to one of the world's great sea pools and a favourite venue of ours. It was our third visit.



The small fishing harbour lies invisible below the railings. The spectacular backdrop speaks for itself.



Rooms at the Aqua Natura hotel overlook the pool and the waves breaking noisily on the rocks below. Once again, we'd swim morning and afternoon,



Before retiring to the patio for a pensive baggy (or two)!



Breakfast came with champers and a view across the vast and empty Atlantic.



Along the coast is the village of Seixal, which boasts a couple of much smaller pools than that at Porto Moniz. And unlike the big pool, they are not monitored. You swim at your own risk.



Also at Seixal we discovered a beach, the first we'd come across, composed of a fine (somewhat muddy and not terribly inviting) basaltic sand.



But at least it was an improvement on the shingle beaches that were interspersed with cliffs across the rest of the island.


WAVE BREAKING OVER THE SEA POOL WALL AT SEIXAL
Beside the beach a generous sea pool had been constructed. We watched as a huge wave exploded on the rocks below, soaking an unwary couple on a day tour who were making their way along the wall.



Our regular walk (for refreshments and minor groceries) was to the village of Santa Cruz whose flower display speaks for itself.



Our last night was back at the Albatroz in preparation for an early flight the following day. (That's the end of the sea pool that you can see peeping out in the centre of the photo.)



And so home again, with easyJet to Lisbon and a very (very) slow train to Loule. We arrived 90 minutes late, most grateful to the patient neighbour (Fintan) who was waiting to meet us.


BRIAN DRYING NANCY'S HAIR - NOTE THE WRIST GUARD!
Nancy, we discovered, had fallen the previous week and broken her wrist, requiring Brian to take over most of her duties. Even so, the pair had walked the dogs twice a day in our absence and had the garden looking as happy as we've seen it. Thanks Nancy and Brian. Come back soon!



That's it folks!