Another day in Paradise .......

3rd June: BRETT'S BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Brett!!!

We took a day off today and set off to explore some of the surrounding countryside; we ended up at Monsanto (voted the most Portuguese village in Portugal), where we had lunch - a typical Portuguese meal, griddled ham and cheese toastie with hot sauce and onions, it was HUGE and delicious and, with drinks, cost a mere 8€ (about £6.50 'real' money).

As Brett needs nothing, and I couldn't think of anything to buy him (that he wouldn't sneer at, like his Christmas present ..... a wind-chime made out of a coconut shell in the shape of a goose!!!), we agreed that his birthday present was getting his gym set up and being able to work out again. So he had a workout while I prepared dinner.

Pam and Mark came round for the birthday meal: toast topped with black pudding and mango puree (we had it as a tapas in Spain, it was delicious), sticky lemon chicken (a staple, but so tasty) with rice, followed by cheesecake. Between the main course and the pudding we did a lap of the track Brett has been strimmering around the quinta - it was a lovely evening with a beautiful sunset.

We had the fan on when we went to bed and were woken up by the inverter alarm (it goes off if the batteries are getting too low and things need to be turned off). Brett tested the batteries, they were fine, so don't know what that was all about (Mark I can hear you muttering ....... "Chinese, what do they expect").

4th June: BRETT CONTINUES TO STRIMMER

We went into Castelo Branco to buy a new head for the strimmer and a few other bits and pieces; but we were home for lunch and Brett spent the afternoon widening the track he's strimmering, (1)  so we can drive around it (it's a lovely drive through the olive groves) and (2) to act as a bit of a  fire break.

We had an email from Gary inviting us down to his quinta this evening to meet 'Pinky', the kitten he rescued from a skip. He found him last week, in a skip, tied up in a plastic bag and his back legs weren't working, so he took it to the vet and had him X-rayed - the poor little thing had been shot, three times, and had pellets lodged close to his spine; the vet took the pellets out and Gary picked him up yesterday.  This evening you wouldn't have know he'd been through all that trauma (apart from his bald patches and stitches) he was playing just like any kitten of about six weeks old - thank goodness Gary found him.

We timed our walk around the quinta this evening, 20 - 25 mins, and so far the track is only halfway round our perimeter! When Brett was strimmering this afternoon he called me, on the walkie talkie, to ask me to bring him some  petrol, I couldn't find him for ages (I went the wrong way!).

The rest of our furniture arrives tomorrow, so it's going to be a busy day.