Note

It’s been a week since my last full post. I have to say in my 66 years on this planet I have never been as stressed and have collapsed twice.

Dealing with the owner of the house, José Capinha and his agent Norberto Isidro is mind bogglingly difficult.

Nobody does what they say they are going to do, they try to wriggle out of every commitment—it’s wearing, upsetting and am sure it’s taken a few months off my life.

For the regular readers of our blog, VIBES, you may recall a post Normality is underrated which talks about my Obsessive–Compulsive Personality Disorder (ODPD) with a side order of Autism.

On Wednesday I had a total meltdown.

This situation does me no good at all and this post won’t contain any further negativity—I just want to focus on the good things that happened this last week.

has been enormously stressed also—she is the rock I cling too when I go down. The most peaceful place on earth is when we go to bed and snuggle next to her body. The connection we have is deep. She is an unbelievable partner—talented, intelligent and wise.

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The first thing that strikes me when I wake up in the morning in our new home is the quality of the air and the tranquility.

There is a lot of construction going on around us, so at times you hear noise associated with that: the reversing alarm of trucks and diggers, plus the occasional drill occasionally breaks the spell.

We do have a very vocal owl which does create a lot of racket about this time in the morning—0559–but the most beautiful sound is that of the Ocean, especially following a storm.

Foz do Arelho is sandwiched between two world class surfing beaches, Peniche to the south and Nazaré to the north. The waves can be enormous creating an unmistakable roar as they crash onto the beach.

The largest wave ever surfed was recorded at Nazaré, with Rodrigo Koxa riding a wave of 30.9 metres in November 2017.

During the winter months, from October to March, when powerful Atlantic storms generate large swells, waves regularly exceed 20 metres during peak conditions—that’s fucking big.

////// Saturday December 7th

We needed a new BBQ grill, some bolts to put up a washing line—critical in the Starlite Campbell household—something to cover the base of our artificial Christmas tree—which is of course is black—and of course food.

I have been so ill that my usual enthusiasm for cooking has waned as has my regime of practice and playing. I haven’t picked up a guitar for three weeks. Oops, I said no negativity.

We tried to find a grill in our local hardware shop Leroy Merlin but were disappointed. They didn’t have any and the shop was expensive. We used shop at a branch in Valencia, Spain when we lived there which seemed better, but that was eight years ago.

Maxmat was our regular choice in Samora Correia and conveniently located next to supermarkets Continente, Pingo Doce and Aldi. Here it is close to two Chinese shops and Pingo on the edge of town.

We managed to find a grill, but not the size I had measured, thinking in all the stress I had measured incorrectly. We bought one which looked right from the photos—560mm—but albeit stressed my ability to use a ruler wasn’t affected. The grill is an unusual size—620mm wide—and took it back for a refund later in the week.

We did visit the two Chinese shops but didn’t find what we were looking for.

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Joana and David, who came to our house for dinner the previous Wednesday, mentioned there was a Christmas market in town so we parked up by the hospital and walked down.

It was a delightfully small and packed with artisan products. We are skint right now but took the cards of stall holders we loved. We loved a lot.

Walking into town we happened by Restaurante Casa Antero where we had visited last week and planned to lunch, only to find they close at 1500 on Saturday and don’t reopen until Monday.

There was a large crowd of people outside eating and drinking so we went over to find the delicatessen—Dona Quieria—we had visited last week had partnered with the Casa Antero to run this little event. Deli for the cheese and ham, Antero for their signature wine.

Frederico, who has served us last week came over with his delightful girlfriend to say hello. It was a great event. Caldas is a great city.

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There are loads of great restaurants here and I had a look at Tripadvisor to find somewhere cool and inexpensive for tonight.

Solar dos Amigos popped up as one the best so I called to make a reservation. It’s ranked #2 in the area, it’s Saturday night and as you would expect was fully booked. The guy told us we could rock up and wait to a table. They opened at 1930 and we arrived at 1900 to find people already arriving.

It is located in a very quiet village to the northeast of the City and took us 12 minutes to get there with just an 18 minute drive home.

We walked in to the smell of freshly bleached floors—old school—to be greeted by an older lady who we later found was the owner and called Luisa. She directed me to a waiter who spoke great English, asked if we had a reservation and almost immediately guided us to a table in the main room where the huge grill is located and the main cooking took place. Result! The early bird and all that.

They were clearly going to be busy as there were lots of staff buzzing around the place.

The decor was really traditional Portuguese as was the menu. It looked expensive until you understand the food culture here.

There are usually two prices—half dose (portion) or full. In the past we have made the mistake of ordering a full portion each.

Unusually, we wanted the same thing, lamb chops and ordered half a potion between us which was perfect when it arrived. I love finding new food and ordered a starter of Morcela de Arroz—basically blood sausage including rice—which I had had before but this one was exceptionally good.

The lamb was some of the best we have ever tasted and the side dishes of sweet potato, black beans, rice and beans, cabbage and fries were amazing. They brought seconds at no additional charge.

The wine of course was sensational and overall it was a fabulous experience.

The Portuguese eat very fast and whilst we were dining, the tables were filled for a second sitting. We don’t, and love to luxuriate in the romance and experience.

We walked out to an amazing site of about 30 people waiting for a table—chaos! It was only 2100 but I think we overstayed our welcome. The bill was very reasonable and left very happy campers.

We dined in the room where the grilling was taking place, hence very smokey and we both left smelling like a couple of freshly BBQd Chorizo.

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This has turned into a monster note so I will post the rest of the week tomorrow.