25th May CASTELO BRANCO

It’s been another sunny day and we’re definitely getting used to the heat; I was a bit worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to cope. It’s funny, when we were working and going abroad was a two week holiday once or twice a year, we wanted to tan as quickly as possible; so every time we went outside we’d head for ‘the sunny side of the street’, now I’m searching out the shade. We are still tanned but undressed we look weird; Brett looks as if he’s wearing a t-shirt and shorts in flesh pink (his head and neck are especially brown), and I look as if I’m wearing a vest and long shorts (my face looks like a panda in negative, pale eyes where I’ve been wearing sun glasses) – not a pretty sight, I keep telling Brett that once we get to the farm I’m going to garden in the nude – he’s says it will give Mr Luis a heart attack!

Last night I pipped and cooked up some cherries with fresh lemon juice, I had this with yoghurt for breakfast; lemons are really cheap here I can buy a big bagful for less than a euro and they are all unwaxed so the rind and zest is edible – we don’t have lemon trees on the farm, I will be planting some. So far, at the quinta, we have identified figs, kumquats, oranges, apples, pears, peaches and (not identified) quite a few trees which Mr Luis said have fruit which grow big (grapefruit size) and round, and is used for conserve – it is furry (like a peach), we’ll just have to wait and see. I want to put in avocado, kiwi, lemon, lime, and of course cherries.
We think we’ll be back in Britain in a month or so; we want to arrange for our tools and furniture to be shipped out, sort out what is happening to the Barn, and sell the van; selling the van will be a wrench but there’s no point in keeping it because we know once we have animals it will become obsolete.

Today we were both feel a bit crap (lurgy wise) so I felt that a bit of retail therapy might cheer us up (despite having spent lots of money recently we have nothing physical to show for it at the moment!); I explained it to Brett saying “if I was a girl I would want to go out and buy shoes” – I don’t think I’m not a girl, just not the shoe buying type (he understood). Anyway we went out and bought a couple of sun loungers; we can use them outside the van at the campsite (and leave them there when we travel out and about, so they won’t take up room in the van).