24February1996

24 February
My dear folks,

Let me begin by wishing Kevin many happy returns of yesterday. I think these birthday wishes should still be allowed because I wished them yesterday when they mattered & because I didn't have a dog's chance of expressing them at that point, not to Kevin at least. Yesterday was a very busy day, nearly as busy as today. In fact, days in Portugal have the habit of crowding more into 24 hours than in most other parts of the world.

It started late because I was catching up on a little of my sleep deficit. I didn't wake until well after 08.30 by which time the sun was up & Jones had coffee on the brew. We always have coffee & toast for breakfast. It's delicious. If the sun's up, we sit outside on the patio. Otherwise, we stay bums-to-the-fire in MCP's miniature kitchen.

Our builder, Geoff, called soon afterwards to patch up a couple of large cracks in one of the pillars supporting MCP's patio. We got him to replace 2 broken roof tiles at the same time & we caught up on his news. His partner, John, is back in England for a while. In a plot thicker than fiction, John's former wife had been shot dead during our absence by her subsequent husband, a rascal estate agent/builder who is sitting in Faro jail for his sins. Wife is in the ground & the family else is in shock. The ins & outs are beyond me although it sounds like jealous husband syndrome.

At Jones's request, I spent about an hour up the fig tree just in front of MCP, clearing out masses of smaller branches with metre-long clippers & then thinning out the boughs themselves with a saw. This was so exhausting that I collapsed on the bed for an hour. After that, I attacked my workshop. Unfortunately, there is a cement slab behind the workshop which collected a lot of water over the winter. This dripped into the workshop, causing heavy condensation which rusted everything in sight. It took me an hour to free 4 of Dad's clamps which had frozen solid & another to oil or grease the many tools crying out for love & attention.

There was just time for Jones & me to fall into a bath in Casa 3 (which is vacant & drying out after the rain) & then to hasten down the track on foot (by torchlight) to the hamlet of Paixanito where we joined the English neighbours for their traditional Friday night supper at the local. Happily, the track had been recently graded for 3 months of rain had turned it into an obstacle course. The local was serving tuna steaks - utterly delicious - & the occasion allowed us to bring ourselves up to date on what had been happening in the valley - or the glen, as our Scottish neighbours prefer to call it..

We walked back on what, I must tell you, was one of the coldest walks of my life. Neither the elderly ski jacket in which I was clad, nor the two jerseys beneath it, kept out the wicked wind intent on blowing us back down the hill. Although the Algarve is far better known for its heat than its cold (because the tourists come here in summer rather than winter), it has been freezing at night like the rest of Europe. The cause is the snow lying on the mountains to the north-east & the result has been layers of ice forming overnight where-ever water has been lying. We absolutely fell back inside MCP & got a fire going quicker than you can whistle Yankee Doodle.

This morning, we were meant to join our former tenants, John & Olive, at their new home for brunch at 0900. In fact, it was closer to 0930 since I woke late, couldn't find the car keys & then found myself on a lengthy deviation en route to the house some 10 kms away. Happily, this all mattered very little. We spent 30 mins admiring their home room by room & another hour seated in the kitchen over Olive's excellent muffins & apple pie. They are camping in parts of the house while the builders gradually complete it. Outside, a team was hard at work on the patio around their swimming pool & during the meal the local appliance retailer arrived with their new freezer. John is still warring with the absolute shit of a builder who is contracted to build the house - a truly evil man - but ought one day to be able to settle down in the sun & enjoy his home & his retirement.

We hastened back to find our lunch guests, Geoff & (his lady) Lynne, already waiting for us on MCP's patio. We cracked a couple of bottles of Portuguese sparkling wine in the sunshine & then took them off to a nearby restaurant for lunch. I made it quite clear to Geoff that this was a bribe for his services in the coming summer. He's an excellent plumber/electrician who has saved our Quintassential bacon on a number of occasions. He hopes to spend most of this year building new home for himself & Lynne - their property is clearly visible on an adjacent hill a mile away - but I've no doubt that we'll run into the occasional crisis this year & explained that I expected him to tear himself away from his labours & pop over here when we do.

We got back home mid-afternoonish to find 2 elderly Brits (& car) at the Quinta. They turned out to be a BBC couple to whom I had sent a brochure many moons ago. They were staying locally & had taken the opportunity to call. One's inclination on such occasions is to tell them to go away (that's the politest way I can think of putting it) but we spent nearly an hour showing them around, offering them tea & listening to their deadly account of his attempts to come off Valium & suffering withdrawal symptoms as a result. Let me spare you the details. With some relief, we waved them away.

I spent the following 3 hours (laying a thick cement bed on &) tiling the slab behind the workshop where water had been seeping through & rusting my tools. Tomorrow, I shall complete the job by grouting the tiles. We shall also be travelling over to the village of Paderne where our friend, Sheela, has been restoring her cottage & dividing it in order to let out part of it during the summer. At her request, we have prepared a brochure for her, based on our own & information she sent us (& several photos which we have scanned into the computer). Although we are fully booked over the height of summer, we plan to advertise again with a view to securing more spring & autumn bookings & we shall recommend her to those we can't accommodate.

That brings me nearly to the end of the day. Noite has spent the last hour curled in my lap. Time was when she would claw viciously if anyone attempted to pick her up. But she has become domesticated & only too happy to snuggle down in laps & enjoy modern comforts. Indeed, she is curled up beside the fire as I write. Jones has spent the evening translating our guest list into a format which Maria can understand ( i.e.. who is moving into & out of which cottages & when) and I have spent it writing this letter. I have to thank Cathy for her 2-page fax which we heartily enjoyed. Thank you sister. You may keep the snow in Germany. Here at least the days are beautiful - at last. I am very pleased to see that your fax finds to MCP's number more receptive than that in the laundry. You may send us as many faxes as you please. We send you in return our very best wishes, Hambachers & Calgarians alike.