Sunday ; Sunny and mild. This morning’s early walk was just meandering around town for the better part of an hour, then a brief stop at Spar to buy a few grocery items before heading home to our resort to have lunch. Just before arriving back at our resort Joanne stumbled and fell. <sigh> Every winter … at least once ! This year … fortunately … she did not get injured (as much as she usually does !). She was behind me, fell against me, and then onto the lawn beside the sidewalk. Grass stains on the knees of her pants, a slightly bruised hip.
We went to the swimming pool for an exercise session late in the afternoon, hoping that the “weekenders” would be gone and the pool wouldn’t be too crowded. It wasn’t crowded, but … ! There was an elderly German woman in the pool, with wet long hair, uncovered by a bathing cap, which is a requirement of this resort for EVERYONE using the pool, maybe that’s a Portuguese federal regulation. As we have learned living in Steinbach, Manitoba, people of German descent can NOT be told what to do by their government … or any other authority. There was a thirty something mother with two girls, one about eight or nine years of age, the other a few years older, on the cusp of puberty, as evidenced by her body. Both girls wore bathing suit bottoms, but were topless. It seemed to Joanne and I both, that by the time a young girl is developing a narrow waist, and wider hips, and budding breasts, that it is time to wear a bathing suit top in the swimming pool … n’est-ce pas ? ! ?
After our exercises, we each went to our gender specific change room. In the men’s room, I opened the door to the steam room. There was a man inside … coughing ! I closed the steam room door and opened the sauna room door. There was a man inside … coughing. I closed the door and went to take a warm shower. There was a man in the shower room … coughing ! <sigh> I walked over to the change room to get dressed. There was a man there getting dressed … and coughing ! ! ! ! ! FFS !
And you wonder why we continue to wear our masks … EVERYWHERE we go ? ! ? Including in the swimming pool !
I wonder how long covid or common cold germs can survive in the steam room ? Or sauna room ? Or humid shower room ? Or humid change room ? Or swimming pool ?
I concocted a variation of chicken pot pie for supper tonight, using puff pastry dough I bought at Continente a couple of days ago. It was pretty darn good.
Late in the evening we had a Zoom video call with Joanne’s sister in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Monday ; Sunny and mild.
As I was cleaning my eyeglasses this morning, one of the teensy little screws in the frame popped out, and the left lens fell out. Joanne and I searched for a long time, but were unable to find the missing teensy screw. F*** ! ! ! I did not pack an eyeglass repair kit (with teensy screwdriver and teensy screws … I have two of those kits at home !), but fortunately did pack a spare pair of eyeglasses to bring on this trip. So … I have a functional pair of eyeglasses, but no longer have a spare pair, so … better not be any more eyeglass “incidents” on this trip.
I asked at the front desk where can I find an optical shop ? Well … not in this small resort village. The nearest optical shop is in the large shopping mall we were at a few days ago in the nearby city of Tavira. I don’t really want to go back into the city again, so I am not going to do anything until our next destination in a few weeks.
This morning we walked along the waterfront boardwalk in town, then meandered around through town, for about an hour. Sat on a bench in a park for awhile, enjoying the nice weather, contemplating the meaning of life, searching for the holy grail. HA HA HA !
Neither of us wanted to go to the swimming pool late this afternoon so we went on another long walk instead. Around the resort grounds, along the estuary / river waterfront until we reached town, then around town for about half an hour until we began to feel cold.
In the evening I worked on finalizing our plans for a trip to the Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario and Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario in June.
Tuesday ; Sunny and mild.
This morning I broke my comb … using it as a “crowbar” … sort of. On our early walk around noon we wandered around town trying to find somewhere to buy a comb and a couple of AAA batteries. We found batteries at Spar, the small supermarket in town. We were unable to find a comb. We are puzzled by the lack of “dollar” stores and Wal-Mart type general merchandise stores in Portugal. Where do Portuguese people buy combs ? And batteries ? And eyeglass repair kits ?
This afternoon, with Joanne’s assistance I “MacGyver’d” an eyeglass repair using a needle and thread to substitute for the missing teensy screw, so I now have a (tenuously) functional spare pair of eyeglasses.
Today was the final day of “early bird” pricing on tickets for the Shakespeare Theatre Festival in Stratford, Ontario and the (George Bernard) Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario. So … I bought tickets to two plays at each theatre in June. The purchase process did not go well and took much longer than I had expected, but … “all’s well that ends well”. (With thanks to the bard.) HA HA HA !
Late this afternoon we went to the swimming pool for an exercise session. As we walked out of the resort building’s glass doors the “resort cat” we have named Scrunty rushed in … with me in hot pursuit … and quickly strutted across the lobby loudly “advising” the front desk staff that the cat food dish outside the door was empty. As I caught up to the cat and bent over to pick it up, the front desk staff waved wildly and spoke loudly in Portuguese, looking panicked. One of the staff mimed a cat scratching. Yeah … no … I don’t think so ! I picked Scrunty up and began heading back to the door. Scrunty growl-moaned a warning at me and extended his/her claws. Yeah … no … I don’t think so ! Knock it off, ya little asshole ! ! !
Wednesday ; Sunny and mild.
I woke up early this morning and was unable to fall asleep again. So … I finally got up and made a special breakfast while waiting for Joanne to wake up. I baked brie and multi-fruit jam in puff pastry. WOW … excellent !
On our early walk today Joanne suggested we stop at the street cat thrift store and look for a comb for me. I couldn’t imagine why a thrift store would have a comb, but … she is convinced that one can buy anything or everything at thrift stores. <shrug> HMPH … she was right ! (As usual !) She found a wooden comb. Looks expensive. Why would a comb be made of wood ? I picked up an English language paperback book priced at €1, plus the wooden comb and a tea ball. The store clerk charged me half a Euro (about seventy-three cents Canadian) for the comb and tea ball. OK … seemed more than reasonable.
We went to the swimming pool late in the afternoon for an exercise session. It was unpleasant for me. The pool was way too cool for me. And crowded, again, as it has been since the weekend. With three generation family groups. Is this a “school winter break week” in Europe ? I couldn’t even enjoy the steam room or sauna. I am not comfortable sharing the confined space of the small sauna and small steam room with unmasked people. Joanne and I wear our masks everywhere, all the time. And are in an extremely small minority here in Portugal. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I think we will avoid the pool until Sunday late afternoon.
I cooked an excellent omelette for supper ; diced potato, sliced leek, diced cherry tomatoes, diced turkey ham, shredded mozzarella cheese.
Thursday ; Sunny and warm. Two long walks today in very nice weather.
On our early walk we went to the mercado and bought fresh fish. And vegetables and fruit. I bought a tuna steak for myself, and a salmon fillet for Joanne, for tonight’s supper. The fishmonger sliced a tuna steak for me off of a large, fresh chunk of tuna. Recognizing that this is the third consecutive week that I buy fresh fish from her, today she “pitched” her sashimi grade tuna for me to buy next week. She explained that the (Atlantic) salmon comes from colder waters off the west coast of Portugal, as opposed to the warmer waters here on the south / Algarve coast. She was surprised to learn from me that Canadians are quite familiar with salmon, and she did not know that there is a difference between Atlantic salmon and Pacific salmon(s).
Joanne prepared cole slaw and Bok Choy fried rice for supper, I cooked the fish. On our afternoon walk I reached as high as I could into a lemon tree overhanging a sidewalk, and helped myself to a large lemon to use in tonight’s supper preparation. I hope that’s not a crime here in Portugal. As it was in Arizona ! HA HA HA !
Friday ; Sunny and warm AGAIN. Two long walks today in very nice weather AGAIN.
On our second walk we walked all the way to the train station in the nearby town of Conceição, where we arrived by train from Praia da Rocha a bit more than two weeks ago. It was about 3 km. in each direction. Joanne thought that was too far to walk. I persuaded her that it could and should be done. She reluctantly agreed. It was a nice walk in nice weather. We got to see quite a bit of the town of Conceição. I’m glad we did it.
Shortly after lunch the cleaning staff showed up to clean our room. We went downstairs and read in the lobby for about twenty minutes, then returned to our room. Inexplicably, the hinge on our entry door was broken. I went back to the front desk and requested that maintenance come to fix it, which they did promptly. While the maintenance staff were here I asked them to also fix the bathroom door which scrapes heavily on the floor when being opened or closed. They also fixed that promptly. This resort is in need of a bit of TLC. It seems as if things only get maintenance attention when guests ask for it.
In the 2 ½ weeks that we have been here we have needed maintenance attention for ;
TV remote control
range hood light bulbs
range hood fan (not functioning AGAIN as of this morning)
shower curtain
shower hose
entry door hinges
bathroom door hinges
Saturday ; Sunny and warm.
I baked brie (and tropical fruit jam) en croute AGAIN as a breakfast treat. MMMMM !
Again, due to very nice weather, our two walks today were longer than usual. With stretching exercises following our late afternoon walk.
This afternoon I worked on some planning and confirming travel and accommodation details for our next destination, back in the Azores. And did some planning of road trip details for our June trip to the Shakespeare and Shaw Festival Theatres in SE Ontario.
Watched the CNN live coverage of the shooting down of the “Chinese Spy balloon”. <rolling my eyes> Lots of “world superpower” posturing, by both China and the U.S. !
DSK
P.S. ; Mary-Lou ; My reply to your comment is posted below your comment, on Jan. 8 to 14 entry.
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