Family value

Half our quartet have been in the public eye this past weekend. Agnes was in Foyles, Bristol speaking at a publishing event; and Thomas was quoted in an article entitled "Who said Britons were drunk, dirty and deplorable?" in Saturday's Guardian. "People here do it slowly but surely," he was quoted as saying (a line which needs a little context).

White Lisbon

We've been looking at Mini and Leo's photographs of Lisbon, following their return from spending last weekend there. I recalled our May 2010 visit to the same fleamarket they went to, this church forming the backdrop. Meanwhile, Spring seems to have arrived here, with temperatures in the upper teens, and lunch outside these past two days! Normally, I don't think of sowing vegetable seeds direct into the open ground till March, but yesterday I made a start with the Musselburgh (leek), Salad Bowl (lettuce), radish, Boltardy (beetroot), Early Nantes (carrot) - and of course the traditional spring onion, White Lisbon.

Pilgrim places

From Salamanca, we caught a train to Lisbon on Saturday last; and after two happy days there, we are now back home again - via another five trains (Lisbon - Hendaye - Toulouse - Paris - London - Cheltenham).

R.L. Stevenson wrote that "to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive," and, although it's nice to come home, I'm inclined to think he was right, at least so far as pilgrimages are concerned. We loved our four weeks' walking on the Via de la Plata, but are not sad only to have managed half of it. Santiago de Compostela is the focus for most of the other walkers we met, but it doesn't seem to us particularly necessary to get there. Indeed, many V. de la P. pilgrims are said to be disappointed when they arrive, such is the touristy hustle and bustle of Santiago - a great contrast to the weeks spent amidst such a stunning variety of things natural, studded with mainly small places to stay en route.

Perhaps it's different for pilgrims to Fatima and Lourdes, most of whom do NOT walk there: we passed through them both on our way back from Lisbon!

Lisbon: Alfama

Not far from Thomas's flat in the Largo da Graça lies the oldest, and still one of the poorest, districts of Lisbon. This scene in the Rua da Regueira exemplifies tha Alfama: a family lives above its small shop, the washing dries outside the window from which the caged bird's song melds into the noise of traffic - cars in the narrow street always threatening to knock over the produce. Worse still must it be to live on the Number 28 tram route: this climbs precipitously from below the Cathedral, the driver having to get out every now and then to help his colleague in an oncoming tram push a car out of the way.

What a contrast to the sweeping modernity of the Vasco da Gama Bridge, the Centro Cultural de Belém and the fabulous Gulbenkian Museum!

Portugal: Sines

From Toledo, we travelled back to Madrid, and thence overnight to Lisbon. Coming off the train (still swaying to the motion) Thomas met us - after a somewhat anxious wait - with a hire car; and we were soon on our way Southwards across the Vasco da Gama Bridge (the longest in Europe) in the warm Portuguese sunshine.

He had selected Sines for our out of town experience - a couple of hours away from Lisbon. The road was empty, as was the coastline when we arrived nearby. We walked along the deserted beach: I resisted Thomas's urging to me to swim, even when he pointed out an area of specially warm water - just by a power station outlet.

Sines boasts a world music festival - in the Summer - and a magnificent Centro Cultural Emmerico Nunes: Caroline disliked this building intensely, while I was rather impressed. It did look odd, though, stuck in between the closely-packed, small-scale white houses and shops of the little town centre. Just further South along the coast is the rather more charming Porto Covo: we visited it the next day (in even warmer sunshine).

Meanwhile, in Sines we ate our best-yet fresh fish, grilled, sitting outside the little restaurant A Castello, near to the birthplace of the said Vasco da Gama whose statue towers over the harbour.

Fit to print - 2

Two months ago, I posted an update on Davis family news: perhaps it's time for another one.

We took the house off the market a couple of weeks ago, as of course nobody is buying houses given the economic crisis.

Meanwhile Edmund and Claire (who sold last year) and their boys have been enjoying the huge garden of their rented property, particularly during this Indian Summer: at present their plan is to go on renting where they are in Hampshire.

Leo is off to Japan for a fortnight in four weeks' time, to stay with Mini and her family. Mini has a part-time job in Winchcombe: her visa has been extended till next May.

Agnes, apart from looking after Ida, is busy drawing children's book illustrations. She has been looking at possible places to live, and just missed getting a cottage in Kington (near the Welsh border), which would have suited well.

Thomas has settled on a flat in Lisbon, has started learning Portuguese and enjoys the warmth of the place (in her various manifestations). We shall visit him in November, when we plan to be InterRailing, initially with the Russells: Paris, Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid are our first stops. The dining-room is full of guide books and maps.

And last night, at our Everyman Theatre, the local MP, Martin Horwood, presented Caroline with her Cheltenham Arts Council award, for the contribution she has made to the arts in Cheltenham over many years. A proud moment!

Thomas

Thomas celebrated his birthday yesterday. In Lisbon.

He moved there a couple of weeks ago, and is busy looking for a flat - with a good view over the river. He seems to have his IT pretty well sorted, as calls to his London business number go directly through to him - at no extra cost to the caller apparently. The next challenge is to learn some Portuguese, but meanwhile he is busy enough with work for his English clients.

Neither Caroline nor I have been to Portugal: we are planning a visit in November - assuming our sale board still remains up. The Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable arrived on the doorstep yesterday, together with a map of all the train lines indicating the scenic routes. A fascinating read, although, as Conan Doyle wrote about its predecessor, "The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited. The selection of words would hardly lend itself to the sending of general messages."