Travels – Page 7 – Mick and Liesel's Antics

More beaches, birds and boats

After breakfast, I blogged for a while, after which Helen took me and Liesel back to Manly where we enjoyed a walk along the seafront, bumping into Bambi and Gypsy. What are the chances? Well, of course it was a planned meeting.

We continued along to Shelly beach, seeing a few more water dragons on the way – or were they the same ones again? I guess we’ll never know.

We had a drink in the Boathouse, where we were joined inside by pigeons, and by brush turkeys. I had an iced coffee. A proper iced coffee as I’ve always understood it: coffee with ice cream, a thick milk shake. As opposed to American style iced coffee which seems to be a teaspoon of actual coffee in a cup of ice cubes.

Helen and Bambi had other commitments, so Liesel and I walked towards Queenscliff: it’s a target but we also wanted to investigate the swimming pool there.

Much of the beach was taken up by the many Surf Life Saving Clubs from New South Wales. Lots of competitions in the sea featuring mostly young, fit people.

My ears perked up at one announcement, however. This was the last chance for the 65-69 and the 70+ competitors to come to the starting point. Well, sadly, I hadn’t registered and I didn’t have my budgie smugglers with me but mainly, I’m not a good swimmer and certainly not a surf life saver. So I thought I should give the others a chance.

The whole scene was very festive, so we sat and watched for a while.

We never did get to see the pool at this end of the beach but instead, walked back to Manly.

It took a while for me to stir my stumps in the morning, but Liesel was working anyway. We had planned to go for a walk around Narrabeen Lagoon, but we didn’t quite manage. While Liesel was at home working, I went off to the Mall for a couple of things. The battery icon on my pedometer was flashing, so I replaced the battery. It’s very important that my step count each day is accurate. Liesel and Helen just don’t understand that future historians won’t be able to study my step count spreadsheet properly if there are gaps due to ‘a dead battery’.

More importantly though, I needed a SIM card for my phone. I was hoping to get by without one, but after a few days, I realised that the phone’s gobbling up data way faster than anticipated, and I don’t really know why. So I now have an Aussie SIM card and I am back on the Optus network, just as I was five years ago. If you call or text my UK number, I won’t be able to respond for a while.

I took the 193 bus home. This is the one that goes up and above Helen’s apartment, so I can walk down the 70-odd steps to her place rather than up the intimidating hill.

Helen was off work today and despite the heat, she was outside weeding. Did I offer to help? I was about to, when she came in. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Later on, I was sitting outside writing, when I was attacked by a beastie. It was small, white and dangerous to know.

My extensive research leads me to the conclusion that this is a baby praying mantis. No matter how often I blew it away, it returned to my left arm. What’s wrong with my right arm, I wanted to know. At least it didn’t bite, but it was very difficult to focus the phone camera on it.

Another sunny day greeted us. Helen was working in Curl Curl and she kindly gave us a lift there. We applied sunblock while sitting in the shade of a bus shelter.

We came across some good news: 1000 native trees for Curl Curl!

As part of the NSW Government’s ‘Greening our City grant’ program, 1000 native trees will be planted in this area.

Once the weeds are under control the first trees will be planted in 2024. Planting will continue into 2025 until all 1000 trees have been planted.

By the end of the project, over 30 different species of native trees, shrubs and groundcovers will be planted, with more than 3000 plants planted in all.

The public is invited to get involved and participate in the planting phase of the project

Together can make Curl Curl a cooler, greener, and more connected place for our community and wildlife.

So the sign said, at least. And I thought, I could help out here. Then I remembered, I didn’t even help Helen in her own backyard, I’m not going to be much help planting trees.

We followed a very pleasant path along the coast, all the way back to Manly. We encountered loads of dogs, none of which showed any interest in us. And, where they were supposed to be on leads, they were on leads. How about that, English dog walkers?

The hike was mostly flat, but we took fequent breaks anyway, mainly to keep my SoB under control. And yes, I do see the irony in coming all the way here for some sunshine, and then taking every opportunity to sit in the shade.

Again, we didn’t have our swimwear with us, so we couldn’t swim in this open air pool. One day, though, it does look very inviting. And away from the relatively violent sea: you can see the waves crashing at the back.

In Freshwater, there is a Public Art Installation in McKillop Park, as part of the Coast Walk public art program.

This public artwork is by mili mili, a First Nations-led public art team

Here is a sneak peek at the sculpture: it’s currently hidden behind a fence.

Also in Freshwater, we sat and watched a learner surfer. The waves here are much smaller than we’ve seen elsewhere, but he seemed to be making progress.

The beach is picturesque, yes, but just look at those clouds! Liesel described them as ominous, but it didn’t feel like rain was coming.

We thought we were being followed, and when we turned round, guess who we saw?

Not enough birds? In a park in Manly, we encountered a swarm, a flock, of cockatoos.

Liesel went for a massage while I wandered around. Again, I am in admiration of all the young, fit life savers. Three Beans called my name again and I later found myself in the Manly Art Gallery and Museum. It wasn’t very busy, but some of the artwork was interesting.

The Secret Lives Of Us by Ashley Jean Gerber

The artist says: “My artwork comments on the diversity of Sydney, as seen within Taronga Zoo. The inspiration to use photography as the medium stemmed from my deep admiration for the stillness and reality that is captured. Patience is also a very enjoyable part of the photographic proccess, as taking the time for that perfect photo makes the outcome extremely satisfying.

The focus on animals is not only because of my diversity concept but also because I have always had a strong and deep connection with animals – often I find them easier to communicate with than humans.”

Walking by the wharf, I enjoyed the antics of this chap.

Despite the many signs telling us of their presence, I never saw any little penguins. I met Liesel in the library: she’d had a really good massage and felt much better for it.

After my best night’s sleep so far on this trip, we returned to Curl Curl. Liesel swam in the pool at South Curl Curl, but I really wasn’t in the mood for a dip. The water was cold, but still, Liesel got a few lengths in.

I sat inside to drink my coffee milkshake, and then I watched a surfer for a while. He waited for a suitable wave, stood up, and began to ride the wave back towards the beach. I could do that, I thought. Then he fell off. I could definitely do that, I thought.

Back to Manly by bus, lunch at Three Beans, then, for the first time this trip, we took the ferry to Sydney’s Circular Quay

First sighting of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, both iconic

Because our book said you had to catch the ferry to Cockatoo Island from Barangaroo Wharf, we traipsed across the city. On arrival, we discovered that we could have caught our ferry from Circular Quay after all. A long, hot, sweaty walk through the city, all for nothing!

The ferry ride to Cockatoo Island was short, and smooth.

We were here for a nice walk, it’s more of a historical site than we’d anticipated. The island has been used as a convict penal establishment and more recently for shipbuilding. Not a lot of vegetation remains, so it feels a bit stark, compared with other places we’ve seen recently. But I thought this was quite pretty:

Sunset Sessions is a series of musical shows taking place here on this small island until April. I don’t know who was performing tonight, but way over there, at the Accor Stadium in the old Olympic Park, Helen and her friend Helen were amongst 75,000 fans watching P!nk in concert.

It started to rain while we were on the second of two ferries taking us back to Manly. It should have been quite refreshing after a hot day, and it was, a bit. From the wharf, we walked over the road and dined at Vietnam Why Not. Why not? No, that’s the name of the restaurant. My tofu satay was delicious but boy, was it hot, spicy hot I mean.

The bus took us to Brookvale Oval from where we walked back to Helen’s. Yes, we walked up the hill, and again, I managed it in one go. Even if I did have to lie down indoors afterwards!

Beaches, birds and boats

Liesel and I gatecrashed Helen and Brent’s regular Sunday breakfast date at Little Collins, a lovely little place in Freshwater. Aka Freshie. The meal was great, but even though we’ve come all the way here for some sunshine, we did have to ask for the blind to be brought down to shield us from the Sun. When I say ‘gatecrashed’, don’t worry, we were invited. This is Helen and Brent’s regular Sunday morning, before he goes off to the daily grind.

After Brent left for work, the rest of us drove into Manly. We wandered around the street market for a while, before the main event, the reason we were here: we’d all booked a massage.

Helen and Liesel went to the massage place and I was left to my own devices. Which meant of course, after a break of five years, a return visit to Three Beans Coffee. I enjoyed my coffee and pastry while sitting on a bench, in the shade, by the smaller of Manly’s two beaches.

As the time of my appointment approached, I hoped the recently consumed, large, very tasty, very enjoyable croissant wouldn’t affect my appreciation of the massage. It didn’t. It seems the therapists are allowed to use a lot more force in Australia compared with those at home. I thought I’d come away with bruises all down my backbone, but there is no external evidence of the pain and discomfort I went through. But, I think everything, every muscle, tendon, ligament and bone, that was displaced during the 24 hours sitting on a plane has now been put back where it belongs.

Back at Helen’s we showered off and Helen’s friend Jacqui collected and drove us to a barbecue at Nat and Rob’s house. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and the view from their place is stunning.

View from Nat and Rob’s house towards Sydney

Helen lived with Nat and Rob for a year between moving away from Manly and moving into her own place here in Brookvale. Nat and Rob have two boys, about whom we have heard a lot over the years: Hamish and Sebby. So, what do all these people look like? Where are the photographs, Mick? Again, I failed to take pictures of people. I’ll be getting the sack at this rate.

There was a lot of chat during the afternoon, and to accompany the music, the soundtrack outside was supplied by some crows.

A few of the guests made use of the open-air pool, but Liesel, Helen and I had left our swimwear back at home.

Rumours that the telecope is used to spy on the neighbours are, of course, unfounded. But I did manage to focus on Sydney or Westfield Tower or even Centrepoint Tower as it used to be known. Trying to get a good photo though, with my phone, through the telecope, proved impossible.

We sat outside eating, drinking, chatting until late in the evening. Seb and Hamish went to bed. Brent joined us after work. The incense sticks seemed to do a good job of keeping the mosquitoes away, although Liesel did find a bite on her ankle a couple of days later.

Later on, I felt bad, because while most people had been drinking, Liesel remained sober and was thus able to drive us home in Brent’s car. This left Jacqui to walk home on her own. If I’d been more on the ball, I would have offered to do the right, gallant, thing. Grrr.

I’ll be trying to keep the Antics reasonably up to date, and with this in mind, I sat outside and did some writing in the morning. Liesel is doing some work here on and off, for Amrit too, so we can both keep ourselves busy, in between walks and other activities. While sitting outside, we saw a beautiful blue butterfly fluttering by, but never settling long enough to be photographed. Later research suggest it was probably a blue triangle, and we’ll certainly be on the lookout for more examples. Helen was elsewhere, working.

It was another beautiful day, and we walked back to Westfield Warringah Mall.

Bin chickens! No, that’s not an Aussie expletive, but the name given to the white ibises that wander round, looking for food and redistributing litter from the bins. We saw one on a school playing field and of course, my first response was to take its picture, even though we’ll probably see thousands more in and around Sydney. Quite rightly, Liesel was concerned that a casual observer might think I was taking illicit photos of the students at the school. You have to be so careful these days.

From the Mall, we caught a bus to Manly but we didn’t realise this bus went the long way round, via Freshie, and we recognised some of the locations from our walk a couple of days before.

As we walked by the beach, we shouted words of encouragment at the beautiful young people playing volleyball. We would have joined in, obvs, but we didn’t have our outfits with us.

No, of course we didn’t really shout at anybody, words of encouragement nor anything else. We walked along the path to Shelly Beach, a familar route from years past. It was good to see the water dragons are still thriving and yes, I took a picture at the first opportunity. This one’s quite well camouflaged.

We passed by more dragons on the way back to Manly, some underneath benches on which people sat, totally oblivious to the menace underneath them. Here’s another one, more out in the open.

The wildlife wasn’t wholly reptilian on this jaunt. We encountered our first brush turkey of this trip too. It had to be shot.

Shot photographically, I mean.

Back in town, we purchased a snack which we consumed on a bench looking out to sea, watching the swimmers and surfers having a great time. Then came the announcement. At home, bluebottles are harmless, if annoying, flies that come into your house and then can’t find their way out again. Here, bluebottles are nasty, common visitors to Sydney’s beaches. Also known as Pacific man-of-war, we usually think of them as jellyfish that can sting. The public address system told us that several had been sighted close to the beach and that it would be a good idea to leave the water. Some people heeded the warning, but many didn’t.

Liesel had an ice cream and I had a mint choc chip milk shake before catching the bus back to Brookvale.

A couple of fellow passengers were very obviously out of their gourds on chemicals, harmless enough, but the girl was very talkative and she was eccentrically adorned in the head department. Like a new Steig Larsson novel, almost.

It wasn’t planned this way, but Helen arrived from work in perfect time to pick us up from the bus stop.

Brent works on Saturdays and Sundays so his weekend is Monday and Tuesday. On his day off, he drove us all to Long Reef for a very pleasant walk around the headland. I can’t remember who first noticed the pelicans on top of a lamppost.

Further along the path, we watched a young paraglider take off. No long, fast run-up like you always used to see, just a short, sedate walk to the edge and there he was, gone. Liesel and I didn’t need to say anything out loud, our respective looks said that that was something we don’t need to try, thanks very much.

Actually, it does look fun, but I’m sure if I had a go, I’d forget how to use the controls and then crash into a bush, like the one time I rode a moped.

The other day, I failed to take a picture of the blue triangle. Today, I successfully captured possibly its earlier metamorphic self: a very hairy, spiky and slower-moving caterpillar.

The path was well-made, it was a very comfortable walk. Brent spotted a native in the bushes.

We didn’t actually see him poke his little blue tongue out, so this might be another misidentification.

Dee Why beach looks very attractive in the distance, and I’m sure we’ll pay a visit one day.

Dee Why beach with the back of Helen and a tantalising first glimpse of Brent

At the coffee shop, I surprised everyone by having a mango juice instead of my default, hot, beverage.

Today Liesel and I had our first Aussie pies of the trip. Helen, Brent and I chose pies with a spicy Mexican bean filling, absolutely delicious, and Liesel opted for a spinach and feta cheese filling. Not sure it was feta though.

We’d had enough sunshine and fresh air, so in the afternoon, we treated ourselves to a movie. Bob Marley: One Love was very interesting, but we agreed that the ending was very sudden. One of the main attractions, was the air-conditioned cinema! The woman in front of left after about half an hour, maybe she was expecting a Bob Marley concert. The four of us were the last to leave having watched some of the credits.

Hoyts, the cinema, is in the shopping mall. After Helen and Brent went home, Liesel and I went shopping. Or, to put it another way, after a coffee, Liesel went shopping and I just mooched about.

As shopping centres go, this is quite a pleasant one. I just wonder what it’s like if it’s ever as crowded as Manchester’s Arndale Centre, for instance?

In the evening, we visited the Harbord Hotel, known locally as the Harbord Hilton. Not because we were slumming it for the night, but so that we could join Helen and Brent’s team for the Pub Quiz, aka Trivia. We were joined by Jacqui, who we met a few nights ago, and by Jo, another friend. Team name? Norfolk ‘n’ Chance featuring Blue Meanies. Liesel and I are the Blue Meanies, since we’re both big fans of the Beatles. Right, Liesel? Oh and no, I still didn’t take pictures of our new friends.

We enjoyed the quiz, in fact we did quite well considering other teams had up to 15 members!

Brookvale!

Singapore Changi Airport is, I think, our favourite airport, on planet Earth, at least. We only had a couple of hours to pass between flights to enjoy the quiet atmosphere, helped a lot by the carpeted floor. We missed out on the butterfly farm and the koi pond this time, but I’m sure we’ll visit those attractions on another occasion.

The other thing I like is that the airport authorities here haven’t felt the need to cram the space with ‘retail opportunities’. You can walk quite a long way along wide, spacious passages without seeing a shop, not even a coffee bar.

The only downside is that the cigarette smoke doesn’t know to confine itself to the designated smoking areas.

The second flight wasn’t as comfortable as the first: more crowded and hotter. Plus, my neighbour smelled really bad. Again, the crew acquired some decent veggie food for me. So, five stars for Singapore Airlines.

On the way to Sydney, I watched one complete film, Dune, and maybe half of another, Meg 2, during which I nodded off, but, to be honest, I don’t think I missed much.

Helen picked us up from the airport, it was lovely to see her, after having had not much sleep for 24 hours. This was our first visit to her (not so new, now) apartment in Brookvale. Needless to say, we didn’t do much before going to bed. We didn’t have the best night’s sleep ever, of course, but it was nice being horizontal. We couldn’t help but notice how much warmer it is here than at home. Funny, that…

Meanwhile, back at home, Martha and William were celebrating World Book Day. Meet Hermione Grainger and Mr Fox:

Helen was woken up by a kookaburra, but I didn’t hear it, so I must have slept for some of the night.

We drove to Manly passing by some familiar but mostly unfamiliar sites. And I did manage to take my first wildlife photo of this trip.

Maybe not the most exciting creature, I know, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

The plan was to have brunch with Helen’s lovely friend Bambi and her gorgeous baby Gypsy. We met at The Pantry, on the sea front, where we have eaten before but not for about five years.

Sun, sea, sand and blue skies, what else could you ask for? Well, in my case, a veggie breakfast. It was a joy to meet Bambi after all this time, Helen’s told us so much about her, and I think most of it is true.

So, what does she look like? I’m sure we’ll be taking pictures of grown-ups over the next few weeks, but yes, of course I took pictures of Gypsy!

The next port of call was the shopping mall. Liesel bought a pair of sandals, having thrown the old ones away. And I bought my first Aussie coffee on this trip, from Café Léluna. Very nice, very tasty.

Back at Helen’s place, it was nice and quiet, apart from a few exotic birds. I hope to be able to identify them at some point. Either there’s a very talented blackbird around, or maybe a mynah, or someone really did set off a car alarm.

In the evening, Helen’s partner, Brent joined us for dinner. It was the first time we’d met, of course, and he seems like a very nice young man! So what does he look like then? Well, you’ll have to wait to find out.

Because I have now disappeared from the UK for a while, my final Wythenshawe Radio show for the time being had the theme of Disappearance. You can listen here. You don’t have to, of course, but… FOMO?

Helen was working all day Saturday, so Liesel and I went for a walk. We planned to visit Freshwater Beach. Well, the first thing we noticed was, how hilly it is around here! Another stark reminder of how flat Northenden and Wythenshawe are. Again, we resolved to go for walks further afield at home, try and conquer some of those Peaks. Just to say, I struggled on some of the slopes.

I don’t know if Google Maps just likes to play jokes, or I’m still half asleep, but at one point we turned right when we should have turned left. We never did make it to the beach. But we did come across Freshwater Brewing Co where we enjoyed a coffee and a muffin (Liesel) and a huge almond croissant (Mick). It seemed a shame to miss out on the beach, but we decided to cut our losses and head back to the shopping mall again. We knew that, from there, we could walk home. And there’s plenty of time to visit all the various beaches around here.

Yes we did and sorry we didn’t visit this establishment

It’s late Summer, early Autumn here, although it feels like mid-Summer to us rain-drenched miserable Brits! Some of the flowers here are beautiful of course, with lots of bougainvillea all over the place.

We found our way home, taking our time. Even though this was meant to be a quick, gentle, introductory stroll, we walked over four and a half miles, so it was good to stop and have a lie down.

Well, I haven’t so far taken pictures of Helen’s friends and partners (apart from Gypsy) but I did capture some more wildlife.

This little chap was visiting Helen’s patio and of course, I couldn’t approach too closely.

I thought I’d take a look at the night sky. Such a dark sky, despite being close to the big city, Sydney. We’re hoping for more dark skies later on, and after a bit of experimenting, I took this picture.

I was very pleased it came out so well. The only accessory to the phone I used was a chair , on which I had to place the phone, pointing in the right direction. I set the timer so there would be no vibration at all.

And a jolly good night’s sleep was had by all.

And we’re off again

With just a few days to go before our epic trip to Australia and beyond, it was time to do all those last-minute jobs. Checking visas, finding passports, seeking out Aussie dollars left over from last time, and, of course, packing. For the first time in many years, even I am travelling with a large case, not just a backpack. So, one of the LMJs was to retrieve that case from the storage facility. We managed to consume most of our fresh fruit and veg before passing on the last few onions and spuds to our neighbour Ravi. The most exciting chore, though, was buying snack food items for Helen and her friends and for my sister Pauline, who’ll be joining us from NZ in a couple of week’s time. Lovely, tasty food items such as Hula Hoops, all flavours, Mini Cheddars, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Galaxy Minstrels, Twirls, Maltesers, Marmite, chocolate Buttons and chewing gum. Mind you, I visited six shops in Northenden before finding plain Hula Hoops.

We collected Martha and William from school. William proudly waved his wrist-band at us: “I bashed my head today” it said. He was alright though. We walked to the playground having said we’d buy them an ice cream in lieu of the normal snack. Upon seeing that the ice cream shack was closed today, William burst into tears. Thank goodness the nearby café sold ice cream and was still open. The children had ice cream, Liesel and I had carrot cake. The café was meant to close at 4pm, but the guy said the place would remain open for longer as it was such a lovely day. And it really was a nice day. Later on, both the children were running around in short sleeves. We said hello to the ducks as we passed by.

At the end of a school day, William especially has loads of energy to burn off. We ran around the playground, some of us faster and for longer than others. He climbed a lot and used the slides and swings. Martha had a good time too, and spent some playing with her friend Katie.

Somebody lost a friend today, let’s hope they’re reunited soon.

One unexpected surprise was seeing this newly married couple posing for pictures in the park. Very elegant and with gorgeous outfits and yes, I did ask permission before taking some pictures. Unexpected surprise? Isn’t that a tautology? Oh well, too late to edit that now.

Congratulations and best wishes to this happy couple

For the second week in a row, we had to return the children home quite early, as we had tickets for another gig in Manchester. This time, we didn’t even consider taking a tram.

After parking up, we looked for somewhere to eat. Lots of options, and the first venue we tried was full: we’d have to wait half an hour. I suggested hijacking a Deliveroo driver, but Liesel vetoed that idea. Eventually we found a pizza place, Noi Quattro, which I think is Italian for Northern Quarter, and that’s funny because it is actually located in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The pizza here is possibly the best we’ve ever had. Highly recommended.

And then on to Gulliver’s, tonight’s venue. Sadly, we had to stand for the whole show, and that’s not something either of us enjoy doing any more. Support was Nathan Ball, who was with Martha last time we saw her, in Bath.

We enjoyed Martha Tilston’s set as usual, but she has such a large repertoire of songs now, she doesn’t always sing our favourites. And while I enjoyed her covering Kate Bush and Portishead, it seemed a wasted opportunity: she could have performed a couple more of her own songs!

The drive home was straightforwrad, thank goodness, straight to bed, and up early for the start of our new adventure.

The taxi was on time, and for the first time, we flew out of Manchester Airport Terminal 2. Check-in and security were no big deal. Singapore Airlines is probably our favourite at the moment. Although we’d forgotten to order vegetarian meals, two of the stewardesses in particular went out of their way to make sure I didn’t go hungry! As I told Liesel, my next wife will probably be a Singapore Airlines air stewardess.

Both of us had aisle seats and unoccupied seats next to us. My near neighbour was flying to Brisbane and then taking a cruise up to Cairns. I thought, we should do that one day too.

For a 13-hour long flight, it wasn’t too bad. I managed to watch three whole films, two for the first time: Oppenheimer and Barbie, both being on my ‘list’ since realeased last Summer. The third was Chocolat which I don’t think I’ve seen since it was released 24 years ago, and the book itself is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. I thought I’d watch it again because right now, I’m reading another novel by Joanne Harris, Gentlemen and Players, and I thought, well, I’ve seen it before, so if I do nod off, it won’t matter so much. Reader, I stayed awake.

Watching the flight progress, I was quite excited when we flew the length of Malaysia, past some of the places we’d visited a few years ago…

In totally unrelated news, it seems I am practically related to JRR Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. How so? Well, before we left England, and before our subscription to the service expired, we watched the biopic Tolkien on Disney+. In this film, John Roland Reuel Tolkien’s wife Edith was played by Lily Collins. She is the daughter of Phil Collins, the musician. I was born at Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford, and so was Lily Collins. How do we know? Because at the time, Sarah was working at Mount Alvernia Hospital, and she told us that Phil Collins’ wife was having a baby there. That baby must have been Lily. Possibly born in the maternity ward where I first saw the light of day a few decades earlier. And she ‘married’ the renowned author. I can’t work out how many tenuous degrees of separation are involved here.

Excuses, excuses

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed the absence of a blog post this week. I can’t really explain what happened, except to say, I was busy, I was doing other things. I was almost done, but then I was overcome by a sudden fit of existential dread, I was taken on a wild ride through the realms of the unconscious mind and then, of all things, I was swept away by a whirlwind of emotions.

Later on, I was called upon to save the world from an ancient evil, and while pursuing that task, I was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a time-traveling wizard who led me to become lost in the labyrinth of my own thoughts.

Actually, this is a good one: I was just about to finish, but then I was struck by a bolt of inspiration and had to start over. Yes, I was almost done, but then I got lost in the infinite possibilities of the multiverse. But I think the real reason for there being no post this week was, I was on the verge of completing the task when I was struck by a sudden bout of procrastination. Sorry about that.

Heartfelt thanks to my mates Albert Camus, CS Lewis, Sylvia Plath, JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Gabriel García Márquez, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett for supplying these excuses. I’ll be back soon.

Not much

Well that was a quick week with not much going on. After many years, I had my chipped tooth repaired. And a couple of days later, I donated another armful of blood. My back recovered slowly: I think this was the worst, longest-lasting back problem since I stopped working. Towards the end of the week, I went out for a couple of walks, but nothing too strenuous.

Liesel went out or a walk with Sue, to Chorlton Water Park, with a view to leading a group here at some point. She doesn’t often take pictures, but she got a couple of crackers today.

It seems that herons allow Liesel to get closer than I’m able to: maybe it’s something I said.

It was a very nice walk, maybe just a bit muddy in places.

Remember, remember, it’s now November, so of course that means that since before Halloween, there have been fireworks going off most nights. I don’t want to turn into a grumpy old man (too late, says Liesel) but I’m pretty sure fireworks are much louder and more unpleasant than they used to be. I totally failed to capture any of the displays through the window, but if you’re interested, I have a set of photos of the bright night-time sky, glorious in its greyness.

Autumn draws on and when the Sun’s out, the seasonal colours really do show up beautifully. I think this is the prettiest tree in Northenden right now.

As I took this picture, a lady at the bus stop commented on how pretty it was, too.

Someone got in touch on Instagram, a total stranger, but an interesting character. I wondered what sort of scam it was, so I kept myself entertained for half an hour chatting with her (or him, of course). Turns out, my ancestors have been talking to her, and she can help me unlock whatever it is that’s caused me to be held back. I had to light a candle, burn some sage and get a bowl of water. I was in bed at the time, and I wasn’t getting up for that sort of nonsense. So I used AI, specifically Dall-E to generate a ‘photo’ of my candle and bowl of water.

My Goddess, yes, that is how she described herself, complimented me on my set-up. Then asked for $50 for a reading and did I have Paypal. Good night, Goddess. I put my phone on to charge and started reading my book instead.

Liesel and Sue went for a nice walk at Alderley Edge too, another one I had to miss. Don’t worry, I kept myself busy on the computer.

The horses came over to see whether Liesel had any spare wellington boots. It’s nice to make friends when you’re out walking in the muddy Autumn countryside.

Meanwhile, I saw the first Christmas tree of the year, over there in Wythenshawe. Did it make me feel festive? No, not really.

I’m sure it will be delightful when it’s decorated. But look at the sky. This week, it’s been raining a lot, and the blue sky was a rare sight. But I shouldn’t really complain about the weather here when it’s so much worse in Anchorage. When our friend Una opened the garage door, she was met with a wall of snow, eighteen inches deep. I’ll never understand why Alaskans don’t hibernate. Polar bears have got the right idea.

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow

Brrr.

You can warm yourself up by listening to Mick’s Music Mix: the theme this week is Alliteration, what a wonderful way to wind up the week.

Lisbon back to Northenden

We slept well on our first night in the capital. The air conditioner was great. The shower was one of the best we’ve ever used. So much so, we packed it up and took it home with us.

I think it’s fair to say, we ate too much breakfast. I certainly did, and had to have a nice long rest afterwards. The view from our window was of the street behind the hotel, and nothing wrong with that.

No, this isn’t where we stayed, but we did think about buying a luxury apartment here. This building ceratinly stands out, very vibrant.

After breakfast, we walked to pick up a bus, a Hop On Hop Off bus tour of Lisbon. We didn’t hop off and hop on again, we just stayed seated, for the whole trip around the city.

This park was named after King Edward VII who visited in 1903. The Portuguese monarchy was abolished in 1910. Pure coincidence, of course.

The English commentary on the bus was interesting but I’m still not sure it was a human voice, I strongly suspect it was computer generated, it was trying too hard to enunciate everything much more clearly than a real person would do.

The bridge over the river Tagus that we’d traversed by train was designed by the same folks who designed San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. I tried to get a decent picture from the moving bus: maybe this is where I should have hopped off for a moment.

After the two-hour bus tour, which would have been quicker if there hadn’t been so much other traffic, we went for a walk in the park looking for somewhere to eat lunch. We found a very nice place, where I was asked to take my hat off. So I did. I didn’t want to suffer the same fate as this poor creature.

I can’t tell you how relieved I was when Liesel declined my offer to buy a bottle of old port. She was right though, it was too early in the day to start knocking back the hard stuff.

Yes, we were indeed back in Eddie the 7th Park, with its views over the river. From here, it was a relatively short walk back to our hotel.

Oh wow, a lizard. It was quick, darting from one bush to another across the path, but I was quick too and just about captured it!

And what pretty flowers.

It was beautifully hot and sunny here in Lisbon, but one thing was missing. A swimming pool. We’d dipped our toes in two separate pools so far, and my mind drifted back to this refreshing swim in Caldas da Rainha just a few days ago.

I had to set the alarm for 3.00am. Got up, quick shower, packed, taxi to the airport, through security in no time. Our tickets said Easy Bdg Yes. Easy boarding. All that meant was, we could get to the place where we stood waiting for the bus a bit sooner, the bus that would take us miles across the airport to our plane. After which, it was a free-for-all to get off the bus and board the plane. Good old EasyJet.

The end of a holiday is always an anticlimax, but seeing a sunrise was the most exciting part of the flight.

We escaped from Manchester Airport quickly, a taxi took us home where we sighed. It took ten minutes to unpack and here we are, back to normal.

There is a splash of Autumnal colour in and around Northenden, as I saw on my first walk up to the coffee bar. Well, there was no milk in the house, that’s my excuse. Groceries were delivered later in the day.

Despite the rain, we went out for a walk every day. I realised, if I didn’t go out whenever it was raining this lightly, I’d possibly never see the outside world again!

Given the weather, it wasn’t surprising to see mushrooms growing on our patch of grass slash moss. What was surprising was seeing mushrooms growing in one of our car park spaces.

In the olden days, when you had a Covid jab, you had to sit and wait for fifteen minutes before they let you out. Just in case you felt bad or faint or something. Not now. We both had our latest booster, and the pharmacist didn’t even wait to see that there was no bleeding, never mind sit down and wait for a while. We were dismissed before the needle was discarded.

So we were, unexpectedly, early enough to catch up with and join the regular walkers over in Wythenshawe.

One of the real highlights of the week was seeing Miriam Margolyes on stage in Salford. Many people have recommended her new book, Oh Miriam, especially the audio version.

At The Lowry, she was in conversation with comedian Fern Brady, talking about the book, her life and as normal, she didn’t bother to censor her thoughts.

We were invited to babysit one night while Jenny and Liam went out to escape their children. I mean, to try and escape from an Escape Room while we looked after the children.

Pizza Express in Didsbury was the venue for our evening meal. They were magnificent, they ordered their meals very politely, and, best of all, they ate everything. And they were great company.

At home, we read them stories before bed, and William’s reading is coming along beautifully.

This week’s radio show is full of good advice. “Don’t do that!” Songs that tell you what not to do. But one thing you should do is listen to it here on Mixcloud.

Albufeira back to Lisbon

We’re staying in a lovey house near Albufeira. But it only felt right to go and explore the town proper. The beach looked inviting, well, apart from the ranks of chairs.

The town was old, very narrow streets and the shops of zero interest to us. It must be overwhelmingly crowded at other times of the year, but it’s still interesting to see touristy places like this.

After lunch, rather than walk back up the stairs from the beach, we took the lift. Yes, a lift from the beach to street level!

We returned to our house for a few hours, during the hottest part of the day, spending time in and out of the pool, chatted a bit, and generally relaxed as much as possible without actually falling into full siesta mode. The reason for this? A return visit to the lagoon to see the birds, specifically the flamingoes, and to watch the sunset.

Catherine brought a monocular (like binoculars, but for people who can’t afford a full pair 😉 ) and while it was good to bring the birds a bit closer, I was unable to successfully take a close-up picture of the flamingoes through it. Not enough hands.

The stork was a little closer to us today, but, all together now: I really should use my real camera with a zoom lens!

Sunset looked promising with some fascinating cloud formations. During the next hour, I took many photos. I’m only going to upload a couple of hundred here.

We walked further along the boardwalk today, before backtracking, crossing the dunes and witnessing the Sun’s departure from the beach.

There were a lot of people also here to watch the sunset. But I think the small group of people sitting around a fire, yes a fire on the beach, might have had other ideas.

I think we all spent some time in the pool during these few days, but photographic evidence is limited.

What’s better than seeing a sunset? Seeing another one the following day. So that’s what we did. But to earn that sight, we went for a walk along the clifftops first. You know Crunchie bars? Well, the orange stuff that’s covered in delicious chocolate is actually mined here.That’s what the earth looks like, anyway.

Praia da Marinha is a lovely place, the beaches looked very inviting and there were a few people in the sea.

Our hike was higher up though, looking down at the beaches yes, but also at the caves. The path unulated a bit and I found some of the climbing a bit awkward, especially knowing I’d have to come back down later on.

Some of the rocks were by now well worn from the footsteps of twenty thousand billion visitors, and it was fun spotting some of the fossils, some more obvious than others.

This schooner was by far the most interesting boat out on the water. We’d thought about joining one of boat rides to and into the caves, but having seen some of them from above, I’m glad we didn’t. They all seemed so overcrowded.

The geology of this area is interesting, and we learnt that it’s being scrunched up as Africa is moving in a northerly direction at the rate of a couple of inches a year.

Yes, of course I checked. The spines are very sharp.

The rocks and stacks changing colour as the Sun went down reminded me of the changing colours of Uluru at this time of day.

No idea who these people are, but they insisted on remaining and having fun in front of the setting Sun.

And the skies, now a water colour painting, were a fabulous way for our time with Catherine and Hans to come to an end. Thanks again for inviting us to join you here!

Catherine and Hans left us really early, bound for Germany on their way home to Alaska. After they’d departed, I went back to bed for another hour of slumber. Liesel, on the other hand, enjoyed playing in the pool.

Rubbish bins are communal here, rather than belonging to each house, so I took some rubbish down the road to dispose of. It was a nice day for a walk down the road. The walk back up, after a full breakfast, not so much! Glad I don’t have to do that every day!

We had to leave the house by 10 and the taxi took us to the railway station. And from here, the day was full of disasters. First, we had to wait a few hours for our train and we thought we’d just pass the time in the town centre. But the railway station was a long way away from all the shops. Oh well.

Liesel crocheted a sheep while we were waiting. I was less creative. I went outside to the nearby café and bought some coffee. No takeaway cups, so I carried actual china cups and saucers back to our seat on the platform.

I walked up and down a bit for some exercise. Mostly we had the place to ourselves, but a group of locals turned up and had a very loud conversation. I’m not sure they caught a train anywhere in the end. The most interesting plant at the station was probably the fig tree, even without any edible fruit on this occasion.

We knew trains were due when more people turned up, headed for Lagos or Faro. But when the Lisboa train was due, ours, that’s when the hordes really did descend on us. And we were aghast at the size of some of the cases. One person couldn’t even lift her own luggage, she had to rely on the good will of strangers.

The train wasn’t as packed as we feared, we didn’t have to fight for our reserved seats, this wasn’t Aviva after all.

I walked along the carriages to get a coffee for myself and water for Liesel. I tried to pay, as usual, with my phone. No: cash only. Oh well.

We tried not to get too excited about our arrival in Lisboa. Just as well. At Pinhal Novo station, just before ours, the police took a long time escorting some passengers from the train. I think their crime was being drunk and a bit lairy. Oh well.

Excitement built as the train crossed the very wide river Tagus.

And, at last, our stop: Entrecampos. We all stood up, got our bags down, and prepared the leave the train. The driver had other ideas though. Having been delayed earlier, I think he just wanted to get home for his tea. So he closed the doors and set off. We and dozens of others looked at each other in disbelief. Someone had words with the conductor who made an announcement in Portuguese, but all we could do was wait until the train stopped again. Oh well.

Our plan was to take the metro to our hotel, but in the end, we took a taxi, which of course, drove underneath the very railway station where we should have left the train. And what a hairy ride. Certainly the scariest, fastest, most rubbish taxi driver it’s ever been our misfortune to use. Oh well.

At the hotel, we were upgraded to a better room. Hooray! And it really is one of the best hotel rooms we’ve ever stayed in. We walked up the road for dinner, which was acceptable, nothing special, but no need to go back. Oh well.

Still, here we are, looking forward to exploring the capital.

I think Cath and Hans enjoyed the radio show which we listened to as it was broadcast on Wythenshawe Radio on Friday afternoon, they were very polite about it anyway, but if you would like to hear it, click here. What’s the theme? “I don’t know…”

Lisbon to Albufeira

While walking around in Caldas, Liesel had purchased some cough sweets for me. It was nice to be able to stop coughing for a short while. But now, in Lisbon, I had little time to think about minor medical inconveniences.

The good news is, our second bus would depart just a few bays away from where the first one had parked up. Our tickets were scanned by the driver, Liesel boarded and I had time to visit the public convenience conveniently located just another few bays away, but there was no time to visit the shop to buy anything.

When I got back to the bus, I thought it was strange that the lady driver had been replaced by a large man. But these things happen. A commotion from behind, some plonker bashing on the window, calling my name. Oops, it was Liesel. Yes, I am the plonker for very nearly boarding the wrong bus and ending up in Timbuktu or something.

The display on the bus showed that, as we proceeded in a southerly direction, the temperature outside was slowly rising.

Our final destination was Albufeira on the south coast of the Algarve region. An area visited by my baby sister Pauline half a century ago! Our friends from Anchorage, Cath and Hans, are staying here for a couple of weeks and they very kindly invited us to join them. Which is why we’re here at this time.

Hans picked us up from the bus station very quickly and took us back to his and Cath’s house a bit outside the main city centre. Hans drove a car, he didn’t literally pick us up. Not in this heat. It’s a lovely house but what drew our attention first was the pool. Having dipped our toes yesterday in David and Glen’s pool, we now had a taste for such luxury.

We sat outside and ate and chatted and watched the Moon rise, following Jupiter into the sky. We spoke about mosquitoes, but I don’t think we encountered any. And we both slept much better. Since you ask, my coughing fits were by now less frequent and less violent.

We sat around a lot but Hans drove us to see Praia dos Arrifes, a beach with cliffs and golden sands.

I found the walk along the rocky, undulating path quite difficult, because I was wearing sandals. But I managed not to trip or fall or slip or twist an ankle.

We love birdwatching and so the walk on the well-constructed boardwalk at the lagoon, Lagoa dos Salgados, was brilliant.

We have our herons at home of course, but we only usually see only one at a time. There were dozens here, some in the water, some standing by the water and many higher up, not quite hiding in the bushes.

There was one stork too, standing in the water and, best of all, a long way in the distance, flamingoes. They migrate here from Africa to enjoy a cooler Winter. Well, their timing is a little off this year, I think! It was the first time Liesel and I had seen flamingoes in the wild. But, as I say, way, way over there.

Here for the birds but we stayed for the goats and sheep, being shepherded underneath the boardwalk. Yes, of course I started singing that song from The Sound of Music.

The boardwalk came to and end, so to complete the loop, we walked over the sand dunes and back along the beach.

As always, it’s a good workout walking on sand, and through the sea when a wave deigned to wash over our feet. It was sparsely populated, and we can only imagine how busy the beach gets during the high tourist/visitor season.

On the way home, we stopped off at a supermarket. The man at checkout asked if we really wanted the pineapple, freshly imported from Azores. Well, yeah, why not? Because it costs twenty-eight euros. Blimey! Liesel gently cradled it back to the shelf.

Indoors, Hans kindly shared his bottle of beer with me, Chimay, brewed by Trappist monks in Belgium. Mmm.

Again, we sat outside chatting and watching the Moon rise, about an hour later than last night, which meant of course that we got to bed about an hour later. And we had a good kip. Followed by an early rise.

Yes, a relatively early rise. Why? So we could visit a couple of places before it became too hot. So grateful to Hans for doing all the driving, thank you!

We drove to Alte and amongst other things, we admired the many, many, many roundabouts, each adorned with a sculpture or other work of art.

These might be the only dolphins we see on this trip, but as Liesel said, it’s unlikely that anyone would drive across rather than around the roundabouts.

Alte as its name suggested, was high up in the hills, and in fact, quite hilly. Some of the street art is good fun.

It was good to see that yarn-bombing is a universal phenomenon. It looks like the local equivalent of the WI ladies have been very busy with their crochet hooks.

There is an amphitheatre, with an old stage made from stones, although I suspect some of the seating is more modern. We had a nice, easy walk, taking into account the temperature, the gradient and how our various bodies and muscles were reacting. The cobble stones were as slippery as those in Porto, and vehicles, mostly very small cars, navigated the narrow streets in a very skilful manner. We just jumped out of the way when necessary, cowering behind wheelie bins.

The colour of the earth matched the temperature beautifully, too. Here and there we saw cactus, but maybe not as many as I’d expected.

There is a castle in Silves which we visited. Another hilly place, of course!

Photos displayed in the church of St Mary, of local people, somehow hinted at an Islamic past. And, sure enough, we enjoyed picking out the Islamic geometric patterns at the castle and elsewhere.

The castle is a main visitor attraction and so was probably the busiest place we saw on this trip, apart from the bridge in Porto. We walked around the ramparts, with no safety net, something I’m sure wouldn’t be allowed in England, unless they installed railings. Being the king of the castle has its benefits, we could see for miles in every direction, buildings over there, well-organised crops over there and, best of all, if you found yourself between two of the merlons on top of the battlements, you could enjoy a nice, refreshing breeze, for a few moments.

We stayed at the castle for lunch, rather than, as originally planned, walking down the hill to a particular place, and all the way back up again! Yes, I think the need for comfort outweighed the need to walk and increase the step count. I don’t think any of us expected it to be this warm at this time of the year.

Over lunch, Liesel started telling us about Dora B Trail. The name rang a bell, maybe an old mutual school friend of theirs? But no.

Door of Betrayal

In most cases, medieval castles had several doors of different types, although small in number since these were vulnerable points of access and needed their own defence mechanisms. In fact, it was common to find multiple defensive devices associated with the doors, such as corbels with machicolation, flanking towers, pits, barbicans, etc.

As well as the main door, which connected the citadel to the old city, there was also the so-called ‘Door of Betrayal’, opening on the opposite side of the main door and with direct access to the outside, in a disguised form and with smaller dimensions. Through this access it was possible to carry out raids on the enemy, as well as to discreetly bring in military reinforcements or supplies. We cannot exclude the existence of other false doors, the purpose of which was to break up besieging forces who, after making their breach, were not led to the interior of the fortified compound, but rather to dead-end Compartments.

We decided we all need a Door of Betrayal at home too, a way to get rid of unwanted callers.

On the way home, we stopped for popsicles.

Very nice, very tasty and very refreshing. As always, we’re thinking, we must remember this place for our next visit. And next time, we’ll come a bit later in the year, when it’s cooler. And then, of course, we might be more inclined to visit the archeological museums and other venues inside. But that’s all in the future.

Porto to Lisbon

So it’s now late in the afternoon. We went for another walk, again in the direction of the river. The plan was to walk all the way back to Jardim do Morro from where we could watch the Sun set. We walked along some streets we’d not seen before. Best of all, there was even a branch of a much loved, much missed high street shop from home.

Well, I do recall the last time I visited a C&A, in London’s Oxford Steet. And on this occasion, I felt no urge to go in and buy another green coat. I was warm enough, thank you.

And as the Sun moved lower in the sky, it beautifully illuminated the local architecture.

After all this time, we are still finding churches dedicated to Saints we’d never heard of before. We found our way back to the Luis I Bridge, but this time, the upper level, along which runs the train track. We found it, yes, and so did hundreds, possibly thousands of other people, all here for the sunset. Which is strange because the Sun goes down behind buildings and trees here, it doesn’t disappear into the ocean. As each metro train passed, the bridge shook, but everyone moved away from the tracks, and only a couple of drivers had to toot their horn to warn people.

Looking up towards the gardens, we could see it was already packed, so we decided to stay on the bridge.

Watching the Sun and the people. It wasn’t a spectacular sunset, depending on your criteria, but I got a few good pictures.

No point boarding the metro here, so we walked towards home, and took public transport a bit later. For dinner, we ate at a place called Mamma Mia, a mere four-minute walk from home.

It didn’t take long to pack in the morning, but the walk up the hill to Marquês was tough!

Some of the paving stones and tiles felt quite slippery, even with my trainers on, so I can only imagine how perilous it is to walk around this hilly city when it’s been raining.

Two rides took us to the main railway station, Campanhã. Now, I don’t know if we missed a sign, or just decided to follow the wrong people, but it was a ridiculously long walk from the metro to the station. There were no signs, well, until we saw one directing us to the bus station. Then, as I was thinking maybe we should backtrack, I saw a very tiny little sign, with a titchy tiny rendition of the CP logo (Combiois de Portugal, the train operator), along with a minuscule arrow pointing up a long slope. Other people were plodding upwards, so we thought, why not?

This long haul took us to beneath the station platforms, hooray! That’s progress. While Liesel looked after the bags, I went for a wander, to try and ascertain where we should be. I found a toilet, I got some water, I saw TV screens with useful information, including the fact that our train would depart from platform 6. I also noticed that if we’d got off the metro and turned left instead of right, we would have found the station’s main entrance straightaway. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we tend to arrive at places far too early. If there’s a 50-50 chance, sorry, but I’ll get it wrong.

Our train arrived, and we found our carriage and our seats. Numbers 32 and 38. Aren’t we sitting next to each other, asked Liesel? Yes, of course we are, said I. But the seat numbering system is bizarre. I couldn’t work it out at all. But yes, 32 is next to 38.

During our trip, we had to change trains at Alfarelos. If we’d wanted to avoid the 2½ hour layover here, we could have caught the 6am train. And if we’d know what a dry, deserted, desolate place Alfarelos station is, we might have given that option some serious consideration. The Portuguese countryside was interesting but then, so was the book I was reading. But Alfarelos?

In the small café just over the road, the elderly lady had no English. My limited Portuguese deserted me so I felt bad that my request for an americano sounded so brusque, but in the heat of the moment, I forgot the words for ‘please’, ‘por favor’. As the lady wiped and swept up all around us, we realised: she’s hinting, this place is closing.

Fortunately, there was an air-conditioned waiting room at the station, and a WC, but no other facilities. And it really was too hot to walk around. 98°F, 37°C was the highest temperature we recorded. Hot, and dry, and no breeze at all.

As my addled brain carried on addling, I realised that there is a lot in common between Portugal and Japan. For instance, thank you: ‘obrigado’ and ‘arigato’. And the station announcements, even here at this small place in the middle of nowhere, are preceded by quite long, very melodic jingles, just like in Japan. And another rule or convention in both places is: no tipping.

One other couple was waiting for the same train as us. Other trains came and went. A few people came and went. One poor soul approached the ticket office, which actually was staffed. She’d caught the wrong train and needed to go back somewhere. This isn’t the sort of place you’d want to be stranded.

Our train arrived and we departed for Caldas da Rainha. The view from the window was unchanging for miles and miles. Liesel crocheted for a while, I read and did puzzles. I went for a walk, but was limited to two carriages. What I did find was that the other end of the carriage we were sitting in was much, much cooler. Its AC must have been working.

The railway station at Caldas da Rainha is very pretty, especially once you get outside.

We had to wait a while for a taxi, so I walked around a bit and decided to answer the call of nature. The toilet’s over there, in one direction, but you have to get the key to the door over there, in the opposite direction, just go to the last door. I took the key back and vastly increased my step count for the day.

The blue tile panels at the station depict various events and people from the town’s history.

The taxi arrived and took us away from the town centre, up into the hills. Some of the roads are very steep, even cars have to take a run-up, or so our driver would have us believe. Twenty five minutes later, we arrived at our destination where my brother David and his wife Glen gave us a very warm welcome and a very cold beer.

This was only the second time I’d met them both, and a first time for Liesel. They live in a large house, not quite in the middle of nowhere, but certainly not on top of the neighbours.

We sat outside and chatted for a while, drank beer, cooled off. I’d mistakenly thought it might be cooler, higher up in the hills, but no.

Apart from the main house with its many rooms and hidden nooks and crannies, there are many outhouses. In one email, I now realise, David was joking about their goats. They don’t really have any. Just one cat and a budgie.

I’d forgotten that David has a very slight Liverpool accent, and also, having lived in the Netherlands for four decades, there’s a bit of Dutch in there too.

If you’re in the area and need a lemon, this is the place to come. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a productive lemon tree. Not even my sister’s in Christchurch, sorry Pauline!

There are apple trees too and a couple of grapevines. The nearest village is a nearly half-hour walk down the hill, and we thought we’d pay a visit the following day. But after a hard day’s travel and a hard day’s night, not sleeping well because of the heat and a bleeping mosquito, but mainly because I had acquired an annoying cough, we decided to stay put and have a ‘rest day’.

And that was exactly what we needed to do, a bit of pottering about and a guided tour of the garden.

Liesel and I even donned our costumes and ventured into the pool for a while, which was very refreshing indeed. I like the Sun a lot, but even I found myself thinking ‘it’s too hot’… and I believe this lower tolerance has become worse since I had Covid that time. Sitting in the shade, trying to commit the blue skies to memory, so that the dark grey skies at home lose their hold over my mood.

David was a Japanese warrior in a previous life and he now has a collection of Japanese swords. He showed me one, which I actually touched, by mistake, but I could see how sharp it was. And during another conversation, I again realised that Portugal and Japan are natural soul mates in the sense that both have very fish heavy diets.

David likes to cook and he prepared chili con pumpkin for us. It was quite spicy. In fact, it was very spicy. Actually, there came a point when there was no more steam left to come whistling out of my ears. It was very nice and very tasty, but boy, was it hot!

Flight features a lot in David and Glens’ lives too. Glen worked for KLM for over 40 years. And David enjoys building model aeroplanes. He showed us one by dragging the box out from under the bed. It’s a Freewing A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” Twin 80mm EOF jet, in case you want to order one too.

Here is an impression of what it will look like when complete. For now, none of the wiring has been connected, there is no battery nor remote control, so it won’t be flying anywhere any time soon. When complete, it will be over five feet in length and have a five-foot wingspan. It takes up far less space, in its place, in its box, under the bed!

This was our second and, for this visit, final night wih David and Glen. I’m sure there are many more family stories that we can share.
Thank you both again for your welcome and your hospitality and for the fantastic weather! But for now, time to move on.

I tried to book a taxi online, but the app didn’t work. It couldn’t allocate a driver ahead of time. And, because it therefore didn’t know who the driver would be, it couldn’t calculate the fare. Uh? Error, you can’t do that. No, but you won’t let me do anything else either! So David kindly booked a taxi from a different company for us. It arrived earlier than anticipated to take us back to Caldas, this time to the bus station.

The hour wait for our bus passed quickly enough, we each explored that part of town near the bus station while the other guarded the bags in the café. In which, they’ve been very creative with a (n apparent) random collection of leftover wall tiles. From a distance, you can see an image.

Although three buses left for Lisbon within 10 minutes of each other, we actually managed to board the correct one. In between sight-seeing through the window of the bus, we read and crocheted, guess who did what?

Just outside the capital city, we passed under this:

Ooh, exciting, an old Roman aqueduct. The map says: Arcaria do vale de Alcântara do Aqueduto. Roman? Well, some of the actual contruction workers might have come from Italy I suppose, but this is one of Portugal’s most remarkable examples of engineering from, wait for it, the seventeenth century.

We passed by another Lisbon landmark, but we’ll explore this city more fully later on.

Our main concern right now was that our bus was running a little late, we had a connection to make, and we didn’t know how far we had to walk from this bus to the next. So it was a relief to finally arrive at Lisbon’s bus station, disembark and retrieve our bags from underneath.

Did we catch the next bus? Did we reach our final destination? DUN. DUN. DUN DUN D-D-D-D- de de de di de dun de…