A Day of Extremes

Saturday, October 19, 2024

If there is a movie buff in the family, it is my wife. I enjoy watching a good film, but my wife, loves movies and the movie industry. So when she heard that the Tribeca Film Festival would be holding a two day event in Lisbon while we were in Portugal, it became an immediate fixture on our calendar.

Yesterday - Friday, 18th October - was to be the day that we attended. We would see two movies, bookended at either end of the day with interviews with Robert De Niro and Whoopi Goldberg.

However, the World, Universe, God, Karma, Luck or however you see our lives being orchestrated, had other plans.

We were up early and making good time, in fact just about to shut up the house, when I noticed a puddle of dirty water in one of the showers. I checked the other one. Same problem. Then there was water coming out from behind a toilet, a drain access point by the toilet, another one under the stairs.

Towels were deployed in large quantities (ie most of the towels that we owned) to try and mop up the mess. I ran out to the local hardware store to procure a plunger, some gloves and a couple of other tools, all with the hope that we could dislodge whatever was causing this water incursion. Nothing worked.

We contacted our local, and very good plumber. He dropped whatever he was doing and came over. By the time that he arrived the puddles in the showers had miraculously receded and the water had stopped entering elsewhere. Our plumber was baffled and called the local municipal water. He suspected a blockage in the main sewer and would return when the municipal guy showed up.

A half hour window turned into an hour and already we had canceled a meet up with an old Maui friend who was in Lisbon for work. The initial talk at the Tribeca Festival Lisboa with Robert De Niro, was now also on the cards.

The municipal worker opened the drain in front of our house. I’ll spare too many details, but it wasn’t pretty to look at…or smell! A combination of lazy workmanship by whoever remodeled our house (they’d tip concrete into the drain, partially blocking the outlet), and former guests putting stuff down the drain that should not have been there, had caused an outlet blockage, thus the back up into the house. The municipal workers will be out again this coming week to break up and clear away the concrete.

That done and with many “Thank yous,” we closed up the house with minimal cleaning up, and got on the road.

Once in Lisbon, we checked into our hotel and caught an Uber across town to the Festival,…and that is where we spent the rest of the day. Sadly we did miss Robert De Niro’s talk, but we saw two films and a wonderful, inspiring, closing interview with Whoopi Goldberg.

An Uber back across town, a light meal and then back to the hotel to rest. What a day of extremes.

We have considered going to the Festival again today, the second and final day. This would include the closing film, which includes De Niro in its cast and a talk by the Tribeca Film Festival founders, Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, but we have a house that needs airing and cleaning. We have juggled various permutations, but we decided on heading home.

I finish writing this late Saturday night. The clean up has been done and the house feels fresher. Tomorrow we’ll take the big pile of towels to the launderette. The final part of the clean up will then be done.