Letter from the Algarve: November '08
I have just
returned from a quick trip to the UK. Ughhh! It was cold,
wet, and dark. By 8.00 p.m. I was ready for bed, thinking it must be
close to midnight. It had been dark since half past three. I have had
to eat indoors every day instead of out on my balcony, or by the pool,
and every time I come indoors my shoes are wet and covered in mud.
Now I am back I can wake up again, and stop hiding from the outside
world. The oranges are now ready. I have picked a bagful which I am
juicing. They are also rather nice squeezed on my pork chops.
The olives are also ready. I have picked one bowl of them, and they are
resting in the dark, covered with salty water. I shall be up the ladder
tomorrow collecting the rest, and they will go in a bucket of salty
water. This gets changed every week for about three months. That's when
I shall test the olives to see how they are coming along. If they are
still bitter I will give them some salt shock treatment, and then
bottle them in a mix of water, oil, lemon juice, and julienned
vegetables, cut very small.
The bees are very busy at this time of the year as the nispirus trees
are in flower. They look like horse chestnut trees with white cones of
flowers. The trees at the bottom of the valley look as if they are in
flower. They have a magnificent crown of white. It really looks
impressive. A friend comments on it. Those are the occasions I love.
"They are amazing flowers you know," I say. "Just watch."
I clap my hands and the white flowers all burst up in the air like an
explosion. They were, of course, roosting egrets.
My next door neighbour's water supply is on the blink. This is the
trouble with these third world countries, you get so used to services
working without hassle that when you go back to wells, pumps, and pipes
that you have to maintain yourself it all gets a bit stressful. The
Portuguese encase everything in concrete so when something moves, and
it always does as we are in an earthquake zone and there are tiny
movements happening all the time, the pipes are put under pressure, and
over time the odd one sheers and we have a major leak. There would be
no problem if they weren't in concrete, or the joints were flexible,
but the locals cant work that out.
There are three broken pipes, one from the swimming pool and two on the
supply from the well. The water supply line was amazing. The break
consisted of a two inch gap. Water was effectively squirted across the
gap from one part of the pipe to the next. How the heck it worked as
well as it did I have no idea. No wonder there were always airlocks.
Today we will go down to the local market and stock up. Our neighbours
will be out in force selling potatoes, tomatoes, and every conceivable
vegetable in every conceivable condition from perfect to absolutely
appalling. At the moment the worst looking fruits are the pomegranites.
They are generally split open showing rows of red seeds like crooked
teeth.
Shopping bags full, we will stop by the street canteen for a flat
doughnut dipped in sugar, and then its back home for a coffee on the
verandah, our backs to the bougainvillea, looking out across the valley
under a cloudless sky. Nice!
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