ss_blog_claim=2c5faffa5fc090bdfc0171aeb30e392d Santa Luzia: Letter To Les.

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Letter To Les.


Great news last weekend. Lifelong friend and former work colleague Les and his partner Gill are to visit and stay with us in early June. This inspired me to fire off a long e-mail describing to Les a typical weekend  in our new life.
Not having touched on any of those dark secrets lifelong buddies share I am sure Les will not mind me sharing it with you and so reproduce it here in full.
I think it gives the flavour of the place.

Good Morning Les
I am just sitting having my morning coffee at Ria Cafe, the sun is shining, god is in his heaven and all is well here in Santa Luzia.
We have had a steady little weekend.
Friday night we went to Virgilio's with a group of friends. We had the usual starters of bread and sardine paste followed by conqillas (the small clams) then the usual chicken pork or fish  all washed down with four litres of white wine and topped off with coffee and a large glass of Figo (aguadente/firewater).
A wander down the front and an hour in cafe Santa Luzia was enough to ensure that I woke up on Saturday morning with a still bloated stomach and something of a muzzy head.
We ate a small breakfast of "cowboys" (bacon and beans) and bread and then both settled down in the armchairs that we have moved up onto the sun terrace to read and bask in the sunshine.
Having been invited over to Pete and Lynn's for a curry night that evening  we spent the whole day just lounging around reading and enjoying the occasional sounds of village life that reached us up in our hideaway, excepting of course one short interlude at Ria Cafe for a fix of caffeine and an hour on Facebook.
Saving ourselves for the evening feast we lunched on sliced ham and salad (very English)  consuming only half a bottle of wine with this frugal repast!
Arriving at Pete and Lynn's around eight along with five other invited guests we enjoyed a splendid evening of ethnic fare.
Popadums and somosas were followed by Thai green curry, Chicken Korma and Chicken Dopiaza with rice and plain, garlic or peshwari nann breads. As I was driving a couple of glasses of white and a couple of mini pretas were all I dared risk as accompaniment.
After dinner the ladies retired to the garden whilst us men remained at the table  each trying to outdo the other with stories of base depravity and over indulgence.
I judged myself winner!
We dwelt untill almost one in the morning and on arriving home I was asleep before my head hit the pillow and slept soundly untill almost 8.30 Sunday morning.
Having pretty much abstained from both grape and grain on Saturday night I woke up on Sunday with a much clearer head, which was just as well because Joan had on one of her cleaning, tidying and reorganising heads and was firmly resolved to involve me in every stage of the operation.
To forestall this I became very attentive both to her, offering endless cups of tea, cigarettes and other distractions from the tasks in hand, and also to the numerous aircraft endlessly passing overhead on their final approach to Faro airport.
Each time I heard the distant drone of jet engines I would immediately drop whatever I was doing and grab my binoculars to observe the graceful passage of the assorted Boeings and Airbuses, hanging it out until the plane had disappeared into the distance and the engine sound had subsided completely.
At some stage of the morning our friend Janice appeared at the door bearing fresh mackerel which here Portuguese neighbour had thrust upon her that very morning. This was despatched to the fridge alongside the Piexe Aranha which I had caught the day before from Santa Luzia's pier. Piexe Aranha (spider fish) is a member of the same family as the Weever and though one needs to be mindful of the poisonous spines on the small dorsal fin just behind it's head it is a meaty white fish which is excellent battered and fried English fish and chip shop style.
Notwithstanding this minor diversion the clean up continued apace but, having convinced Joan that a years worth of east Algarve magazines should be dispatched to the recycling bin down near the boat landing, I managed, for a short while anyway, to escape the house and the attendant chores .
I have however to concede that  Joan's need for a fresh pack of Chesterfield wasprobably as responsible as anything else for the granting of permission to dispatch this duty!
On my return I was delighted to be turned around post haste and dispatched to neighbour Andre's house. His wife Maryse had just rung to inform us that a local fisherman had delivered a large bag of fresh Choco (cuttlefish) and for just 12 euro 2 kilos were ours.
A half hours instruction on how to gut and clean the fish (the longest I dared to spin it out) was accompanied with an excellent bottle of french Chardonnay and I returned home ravenous for lunch.
Joan, as ever, did not disappoint. in her own inimitable fashion using the donated Mackerel, the piexe aranha, some chopped salad, a handful of broad beans and a couple of large potatoes she produced in her own inimitable fashion a meal fit for a potentate.
The reigning prince washed it down with the half bottle of white left over from yesterdays meal!
Joan's ad-hoc offering.

This morning of extended effort and conspicuous consumption of course called for a lazy afternoon lounging in the easy chair in that wonderful state of semi consciousness that only a bottle and half of  fine wine and a copious plate of food can induce.
My observations of the passing aircraft were now not so urgent but when I could raise enough steam I cast the occasional glance to the skies and the great silver machines seemingly gliding by.
By nine o'clock that evening I had recovered sufficiently to drag my weary body round to the Largo Do Igrejia for a couple of bottles of cerveja Preta in the Cafe da Villa in the company of friends Bill, Janice and her sister Joyce, and Maryse and her Daughter Aurora (( family of aforementioned french neighbour Andre).
As it was ascension Sunday a candlelit procession of the faithful had been organised around the village and this provide a spectacle for this heathen observer and the assorted onlookers to enjoy with their drinks.
Midnight heralded the end of my weekends exertions and my bed called irresistibly to my weary body and soul.A good nights sleep and as I said earlier all is well in Santa Luzia.
It is a busy life and not for the feint  hearted but I am determined to persevere and make a success of it.
See you very soon and give my regards to all in Leeds.

Stewart



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