We went into Castelo Branco to buy supplies and update the blog. As we drove the people were leaving the Boom Festival, all their cars were covered in a thick layer of red mud; they could hardly see through their windscreens.
We called in at the campsite and said “Hello” to Glen (Mark was at the house); Nick was back – he’s been away for a month.
WE HAVE NEW FRIENDS!!!!!!
We had a call on our mobile; it was our new (to be) neighbours (Mark & Pam), we arranged to meet them at El Club at 7.00 p.m. El Club was lively (it’s only a cafe, not a club, despite the name); everyone was friendly (even the owner smiled!) and Pam and Mark were easy to spot – the only people sitting in the sunshine (the Portuguese tend to keep in the shade given the choice).
Mark and Pam were supposed to complete last Thursday; but it all went horribly wrong. First their car broke down in France, then Remax (estate agent) and their solicitor fell out (so much so that they had a phone call from the estate agent to say they were cancelling the sale and they only relented on the condition that their solicitor was not involved), so now they’re hoping to complete on Tuesday. After a drink at the cafe we invited them to our quinta for wine and beer; we ended up having a barbeque and they camped here overnight, sleeping in a tent on top of their Landrover, we didn’t get to bed until gone midnight (late for us). It was a good evening.
They are a lovely normal couple; Mark was a head teacher, he’s taught all over the world including Africa, where their daughter was born. And Pam is arty; she does papier mache and quilting, to name but a few of her skills (she’s even got her sewing machine with her in the back of the Landrover) – we’ll get on well. She did do a ‘proper job’ too, but I was more interested in the arty stuff! And it was so nice talking to another female; I’ve been surrounded by men for the last three months.
Pam and Mark have spent the last year working around Europe (a bit like WOOFING but not organic) and house sitting; now they’re thinking of setting up eco camping (in tepees) on their quinta here. We haven’t seen their quinta yet; we’ll probably go there on Tuesday, after they’ve completed, to celebrate. Mark is a naturalist/ornithologist, he takes wonderful photos of wildlife; and he has identified the birds as bee eaters, I would never have guessed that. He had a bird book with him and the gliding shape is right, but I’ve never really seen the top of them, which in bee eaters is really colourful, this explains why I keep going on about the yellow on them.
Tomorrow we’re meeting another expat couple (the gardening ones), who’ve invited us round to visit, and the Dutch couple we exchanged messages with re Portuguese language classes are over for a couple of weeks, from tomorrow, and they want to meet up; suddenly we’re getting quite a social life.
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