Sunday ; Cloudy, mild, windy.
Well ! ! ! Late night as we were going to bed (somewhere around 1 AM), I walked over to the bedroom window to close the blinds, and looked down on the courtyard behind our condo building at the crowds of partying drunks and hooligans below just in time to see a group of six young men, all dressed head to toe in black, each brandishing a bottle of champagne, each shaking their bottle and spraying one another, when … <sputter> … one of them took a run and flying drop kick at the sliding glass entry doors of the Spar grocery store. Not once, but … three times ! Until the doors finally broke and tumbled into the store.
A loud burglar alarm began to howl. The other five young men made a quick exit from the courtyard. The asshole who broke the glass doors seemed to be in no hurry. He strutted around for awhile, obviously proud of his achievement, then entered the store over the broken glass doors and came out after a few moments carrying two bottles of booze (grocery stores in Portugal sell booze). He proudly strutted around a bit more, then calmly walked away.
So … for the sake of a couple of bottles of cheap booze, he caused thousands of dollars in damages ! ! !
We are appalled and disgusted. And you wonder why we have evolved into being “anti-alcohol” ? ! ?
A few minutes later, ten policemen showed up ! On foot ! Having walked over from the nearby police station, I assume. <wince> It takes ten cops to respond to a small grocery store’s burglar alarm ? ? ?
Today was windy, making our two exercise walks not particularly pleasant. I baked ! And worked on trip planning for next winter. And worked on year end financial matters. And posted my blog entry.
Monday ; Sunny and mild.
Long walk in the morning. Shorter walk in the afternoon. A few grocery items at Spar. A few grocery items at Intermarché. Spar’s sliding glass entry doors being repaired. Quick service ! Worked on year end financial matters and next winter trip planning. Reading a book … on the i-Phone ! Napped !
Tuesday ; Sunny and mild.
Today was a long and somewhat difficult day of getting to, shopping at, and returning from Aqua Shopping Centre, one of Portimão’s two large shopping malls.
We left our condo suite around noon, and were back home at 6:30 PM. It seemed like a longer day than it actually was. And it seemed to be more stressful than it should have been, especially when compared to some of the other “adventures” we’ve had in the last couple of months.
We caught the #35 bus very near to our Praia da Rocha condo and rode it to the Aqua Shopping Centre near the north end of Portimao.
I got all the information I needed at the Vodafone store regarding cell phone service in Spain, Malta, and Greece, for next winter’s travels. And I bought a Vodafone Traveller SIM card to use immediately upon our arrive in Spain (or wherever) next November. Well done, Daniel !
I bought a notepad at an arts supply store. I shopped at a few different computer and technology stores for a computer mouse and pad. The touchpad on my laptop has died, and I wanted to buy a mouse as a replacement for the dead touchpad. Much faster and much cheaper than replacing the touchpad on a four year old computer. We went into the extremely large supermarket “Auchan” and found a mouse and pad in their electronics department that were cheaper than the computer and technology stores, and decided to buy them at the Auchan later in the day when we were doing grocery shopping.
We went to the mall’s very large food court and wandered around considering our options, eventually deciding to eat at Fourchette, a buffet cafeteria with traditional Portuguese foods. It seemed like a great opportunity to try a variety of traditional Portuguese foods. And we were right ! It was an excellent dining experience at a reasonable price.
After lunch we returned to Auchan. We selected a mouse and pad from Electronics. We selected a glass casserole dish and a wineglass from the Housewares department to replace the ones we broke in the condo. Then we spent too much time browsing the extremely large grocery store section. It was 5:30 PM by the time we paid and left the store.
We walked to the return bus stop location, then waited for the #35 bus back to Praia da Rocha. It was running about 15 minutes late, in rush hour traffic. It became dark as we were on the bus. We arrived back home at 6:30 PM.
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm, another lovely day.
This morning we had a long beach walk, this time to the west, on a new to us stretch of beach. HMPH ! As an old and (formerly) obese man, I hope I can get away with the following criticism ; obese women should not sunbathe topless on public beaches !
This afternoon I gave myself a beard trim, and with a great deal of coaching, Joanne gave me a pretty darn good haircut. We decided that it was more likely that I would get a decent haircut from Joanne with coaching by me, than by a Portuguese hipster barber / stylist whom I can’t communicate with effectively.
I have been in areas of Mexico where the hairstylists seem to have only one definition of what a man’s haircut should look like. And that style doesn’t suit me. The same holds true in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada. HA HA HA ! And it goes double here in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, where the barbers / hair stylists all seem to be addicted to cutting men’s hair extremely short on the sides, with a precision “fade” to longer hair on top. And “sculpted” razor cut beard trims. Thanks for the good haircut, dear. And your patience !
Late in the afternoon we went for another long walk, this time to the east, a little further than we have wandered to the east before. And discovered some interesting viewpoints that we had not seen before. This is a lovely and interesting beach resort town.
Thursday ; Sunny and warm.
Morning long walk to the west. Afternoon long walk to the east, then down to the beach and back home along the boardwalk. A bit of grocery shopping at Intermarché. Lunch, nap, early evening exercises. 2022 financial reconciliation and analysis. 2023 financial planning. Filling out U.S. IRS 8840 forms for the very last time !
Friday ; Sunny and mild.
Every day I read aloud my daily journal entry from one year ago. It gave me great pleasure to read this date’s entry from last year, when we bid farewell to our xenophobic, Christo-fascist, passive aggressive, winter home community of Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park in Yuma, Arizona. Farewell, assholes !
This morning we went for our regular long walk. And that included stopping at a local travel agency to buy tickets to a bus tour tomorrow to the weekend market in the town of Loulé, about a couple of hours east, about halfway between here and our next destination in the Algarve. That trip was what Joanne wanted as a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas, my love !
Another long beach boardwalk afternoon walk. And our regular pre-dinner exercise session. We bought salmon at Auchan a few days ago, and tonight I concocted a mustard vinaigrette salad dressing and brown sugar glaze to coat it with for baking. It’s cooking now. Wish me luck ! Joanne is making a Camembert risotto using a Camembert cream cheese I bought.
Saturday ; Praia da Rocha to Loulé, Algarve, Portugal & return
Cloudy and chilly in the morning, sunny and warm in the afternoon, cloudy, chilly and windy in the evening.
This morning we left our condo at 8 AM and walked a couple of blocks to catch a tour bus to Loulé, departing at 8:10 AM. The bus picked up a few more passengers in other towns on the way, then arrived in Loulé at 9:30 AM. We had three hours to wander, sightsee, and most importantly, shop. The Loulé Traditional Market has been going on for hundreds of years. And on Saturdays, there is also the Mercado de Ciganos (Gypsy Market) which in North America would be known as a flea market. Visiting this town and its markets was Joanne’s requested Christmas gift.
Our first destination after getting off the bus was the Gypsy Market. <blink blink> I bought Joanne the most amazing local product as a birthday gift. We are both thrilled about it. I won’t reveal it until her birthday. Stay tuned ! I found a suitable Thank You gift for our next door neighbours back home in Steinbach, to express our appreciation for them collecting our mail all winter. But … I was unable to reach a satisfactory, negotiated price with the vendor, and left without buying it.
We wandered from the Gypsy Market through town to the Traditional Market, housed in a large, old, magnificent Arabic inspired market building, and all around its exterior perimeter. We bought some fresh produce, items that we have not seen elsewhere in Portugal, such as artichokes and Brussels sprouts. After seeing as much as we could, we began to wander back towards the bus pickup point. We stopped at a pastelaria and bought a pastry and can of iced tea. We sat down in a nearby park to rest and have our snack.
We walked back to the Gypsy Market and I paid the vendor’s price for the gift for our neighbours. After wandering through town and seeing similar products I realized her price was more than reasonable. We got on the bus at 12:30 PM and were back home at 1:45 PM … hungry, tired, but had a great day !
DSK
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