18th May CASTELO BRANCO

We’ve spent so much money today and that’s only the start of it. First thing we went to the Mitsubishi dealer to pay our deposit for the truck (1000€); we had to get the bank to write us a cheque – that cost 6€10. Next we went to pay the taxes for the farm, 5% for agricultural (rustic) land and .8% stamp duty (2711€50), then we had to get out 500€ cash to pay for our lawyer, plus cash for our translators, the notary takes ‘multibanco’ card so we didn’t have to get money out for that.

By Monday we’ll be the proud owners of ‘Fonte dos Clerigos’!

I have got a cold, I’ve been feeling absolutely lousy for four days now – who gets a bloody cold in the summer?

When we were in Portugal a couple of months ago I was buying Vinho Verde (1L) from Minipreço (supermarket) on special offer for .79€, now it’s 1€79 – Brett keeps telling me it’s still cheap, but I remember the reduced price, it’s a very palatable wine (but I can get 1L rose for .75€ and it’s not bad), decisions, decisions............!!!!