26February1996

My dear folks,

Tonight Jones & I had a bath, the 2nd of its kind. In the nature of things, such baths are taken at sunset & they are taken in Casa 3 since there is no bath to speak of in MCP. We work outside until the last glimmers of lingering light linger no longer. Then we rush to MCP to gather our bathing requirements. These include a large whisky which it is my duty to convey safely along the path into the Casa 3 bathroom & to deposit securely on the soap dish. The February sun heats the water in the solar panels to a delicious, if not a roasting, degree & provides for a deeply satisfying joint bath. Outside the temperature falls sharply with the arrival of darkness. To ward off any such chills, we turn on the radiant heaters attached to the bathroom wall.

There Jones & I lie in the soapsuds & plan our future. Sometimes it's long term plans like when will we win the lottery & what will we do with the money & sometimes it's short term like what will we have for supper. After we've dried ourselves, Jones puts on her artificial (very artificial) leopard skin coat (that Maureen donated to her) back to front so that the warm bit is inside & we flee back down the path to the blaze that is (hopefully) waiting for us in MCP. Noite is certainly waiting there, curled up on the chest beside the fireplace & trying to get as close to the fire as she can without falling on the floor. She got too close yesterday & toppled down, taking her pillows with her.

Then we have supper over a bottle of red wine - tonight it's Angelus Barraida Reserva 1991 & not a bad little tipple. Barraida is one of the wine-growing regions of Portugal, along with Estramadoura, Douro & Dao and the (green) verde production in the north. Jones made a rice & goo dish which was delish. We followed it with the last of the (Lemon & condensed milk on a sponge base) dessert that we brought back from Sheela the day before. Sheela is a friend who bought a falling-down cottage in the hinterland some years ago & has been restoring it on a shoe-string ever since. To support her cause, she has had a mind to divide it in half & let the better half in summer. A local builder has been doing the necessary construction while we have been advising her on lettings & developing a little brochure for her.

So we drove out on Sunday morning to compare notes. The road winds for 45 minutes up through the hills where we came across various groups of cycle racers sprinting for dear life ahead of the inevitable support van with extra bikes on top & passengers hanging out the windows, shouting advice. Never mind that there was no warning of their imminent arrival, four abreast, around the next curve. Never mind that 5 gypsy carts bearing 20 gypsies should be simultaneously appear on the opposite side of the road. This is Portugal where such things are taken in one's stride.

We found Sheela's place & devoured the curry lunch she had prepared for us & admired the progress she had made with the restoration. We also played with her dog & discussed minor changes to the brochure. Then we drove home. My task for the afternoon was to sort the Quinta keys out. This proved vastly more complicated than you might imagine. If you add 5 dwellings, 3 pump houses, 2 gates, 1 laundry, 1 pool, 1 post-box, 1 workshop, 2 cisternas & 2 safes & multiply them by about 10 keys each you may begin to understand why. There are sets for guests, Jones, Maria & me. We move around clanking like the governors of her majesty's jails. Each time we hand out a set of keys to guests, we get it back divided & subdivided according to the guests' fancy. So sorting out the keys becomes a major project.

Hannie, our Dutch guest, invited us up for sundowners with her & her 2 dogs. They're' occupying Casa 4 which they like lots. She's keen to come back again for 4 months next winter. The place is perfect for her. It gives straight on to the fields, it's handy for the beach & - most important of all - its owners like dogs. Most other places she tried were interested until she mentioned dogs when they closed the door in her face.

Monday morning brought with it our first visit to the local Makro. Or, more correctly, the first since I managed to persuade Makro in Britain to issu**e a card to the 90 Shirland Road Management Co. of which I am chairman. It doesn't do a lot of managing but our auditors were able to persuade Makro that it does sufficient. For the occasion, we were joined by John & Olive (who came in their own car) & by Maria & daughter, Jacqueline, who came in ours. The Makro store is 30 mins down the freeway near Albufeira.

We ran into a problem at the door where I gleaned that there was a limit of 2 people per card rather than 6. We pleaded innocence & ignorance so persuasively that the doorman ushered us through. Heartily relieved, we spent an hour rifling the store, arriving with 3 vast hyper-trolley loads at the checkout & piling J & O's car high with our loot for the trip back home. They helped us unload & joined us for quick lunch. I managed to persuade John to continue his labours at the Quinta until such time as he is fully occupied at home. He's to join me on Friday when we hope to paint the interior of mould-ridden Casa 3.

After lunch I shot down to town to buy some sandpaper & grouting & then spent 3 hours sanding down & varnishing the worst of the weather-beaten doors & shutters on Casa 4. The unhappiest shutters were those on the upper bedroom window. I had to stand on tiptoe on top of the ladder to get them off & again to try to get them back. The ladder didn't much like it & neither did I. But the shutters have a new lease on life. So do various doors around the place. Amazing what a coat of varnish will do.

Another project of mine has been to tile a concrete strip between MCP & the workshop as it had been gathering water which leaked down into the workshop. I managed to find some 30 of the old tiles from the cottage & they fitted perfectly into the available space. Yesterday I grouted them & today I mopped them clean. They looked much better than I might have hoped. I might go into the tiling business myself or at least share my trade secrets with Conal who seems to be learning none from Brendan's tiler if I read Cathy's news aright.

Jones meanwhile had gone into the garden for the first of many days of weeding. The task ahead of her is staggering. The weeds have run absolutely riot. We had another shower of rain last night & I'll swear the blighters were six inches higher this morning. Happily, the weather's been mainly sunny to slightly cloudy for our stay & seems to be drying the place out. The wind has been bothersome, strong & cold, of the whipping-hats-off heads variety. But at least there's been lots of sun & it's glorious already, warming the heart as well as the body - such a tonic after London's winter misery.

I've noted from Kevin's fax (last night) & Cathy's (this morning) that you've not had the same good fortune, not yet at least. It's the saving grace of the Quinta & sorely needed after all our weeks of rain. Our neighbours were turning green with mould themselves. Let me say a special thank you for those faxes which I read once to me & once to us. They are greatly appreciated. Cathy I'm pleased that your German fax machine likes talking to MCP's number. That's enough for today. XXXX