Welcome to America. An espresso in Portugal is €1.20 give or take a few cents. San Francisco airport $4.50 (before tax) 🤯
I was in a coffee shop in Lisbon and I noticed that there was a young woman reading a book. Maybe nothing unusual about that, except she was totally engrossed in the book. She didn’t look up as others came and went, as there were noises of activity around her. I am so used these days to seeing people on their phones or computers in a coffee shop (looks at himself), that this was a very refreshing sight.
Finished reading: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 📚
Adeus Portugal. Até à próxima. 😢
🌧️ Today has been off and on wet, but it is really coming down now. I hope that we don't sail away.
🌧️ Today has been off and on wet, but it is really coming down now. I hope that we don't sail away.
I understand people’s annoyance at the clocks going backwards and forwards twice a year. However, I do like that time once a year when the day feels that little bit longer, or at least the morning does.
Though it normally takes me a week to get over the clocks jumping forward in the spring!
I think that I’ll look to have a notebook beside my bed to record the dreams that I have. I seem to forget them so quickly and easily once I am awake. Last night I had a dream about my late dad that I wanted to tell my mother about. I can’t do that now. The dream has vanished into the ether.
Photographs from Estremoz Saturday Market
Friday, October 27, 2023
Some more images from last week’s visit to Estremoz Saturday market.
Hopefully I’m not posting some political or subversive message here? “Go with the flow,” would suggest not. Spotted while in Lisbon.
Well apparently the sun is rising right now…7:54am. Perhaps it’s time to get up? Portugal seems to have this effect on me. I can’t get up?!
I don’t receive a lot of eyes on my website, but views in the last few days had dropped to zero…or so it seemed (I subscribe to @vincent’s wonderful Tinylytics service). I was pottering around on the backend of Micro.blog yesterday morning and found out that somewhere along the line my Tinylytics settings had disappeared. I’m guessing that they got lost in a recent update, and I didn’t think to check on them. A reminder to myself going forward to check the settings of Micro.blog plugins that I update.
Books in Lisbon
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
I returned home yesterday from a couple of days in Lisbon with an unplanned cache - four books. Three of them came from a new discovery, a small bookshop that only carries books in English, Salted Books. The shop has only been open for a month, but apparently they are doing very well. Long may that continue. While I was looking through their selection of books, there was a clattering of bottles going on behind the counter.
VPNs
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
When to use a VPN and when not to, that is the question? So here I am, sitting in my hotel room in Lisbon. I am on the hotel’s WiFi network. I do not have a VPN fired up. In fact most of the time I do not use a VPN. When I do it is Mullvad. I did use Nord VPN but the longer contracts, it is possible to pay for Mullvad on a monthly basis, did not play well with my ambivalence towards using a VPN.
Back in a warm hotel room drying out clothes (the heating cranked up to dry out those clothes) after a good pizza and browsing books in a bookshop. I love a good bookshop, even if 99% of the books are in a language that I don’t understand. I still came out with a book…in a language that I understand. 📚 🍕
Well I just got a whole lot wetter than I thought. It is pouring here in Lisbon and I didn’t think that I would be dealing with wet clothes. It seems that I did not pack appropriately. The next 24 hours will be fun - squelch, squelch.
🚘 Heading to Lisbon today.
🚘 Heading to Lisbon today.
The fisherman returning home, or maybe he is on his way to the fishing grounds?
Walking around the market in Estremoz yesterday.
