Mirinda has found the most amazing AirBnB property. It’s a few kilometres outside Santarém and is set in the most wonderful countryside. The house was built by the father of Carlos, the man who runs it. The father designed it architecturally to be of the same proportions to Solomon’s temple. Or the First Temple as some religious people call it.

Apparently, the dimensions and structure were divine instructions given to Solomon, and Carlos’ father followed the same information to build the house. That’s not to say that some god told Carlos’ father to build it that way. No, Carlos’ father just did it the same as Solomon’s builders. To be clear, there is no ark of the covenant inside.
However the plans were obtained, the house is fantastic. I think the next two weeks will be a delight. Though it is rather chilly at night.
But that was at the end of our drive from Santa Luzia and a morning coffee at the local café where we sat and listened to a woman say how much she hated visiting places where other English people visit. She was English. One of those horrid ones. We pretended we were Swedish so we wouldn’t get caught up in her diatribe. The American, Mexican and Dutch people near her, were not so lucky.
Eventually, we managed to sneak off and start our drive. On the way out of Santa Luzia we spotted a giant pétanque ground where many groups of players were indulging in a sun-drenched morning of throwing their steel balls into the sand. And why not! It was the perfect day for it, after all.
Which reminds me, yesterday I spotted some fellows playing cricket on a sandy football pitch down by the estuary, something I would never think to find in Portugal.
Anyway, sport aside, the day we drove through was beautiful. It was so boringly blue that a cloud made it interesting. And the sun! There was a lot of sun. It was so good, we had to stop at a very delightful services for a wander around, a beer and a roll.
We spotted this heavily bearded shepherd while we were there.

We even bought some jelly to take to the house. It’s a little known fact that Gary loves jelly.
The drive was only a little over three hours, so stopping halfway was a great idea, particularly given that we couldn’t check in until after 3pm. It was also quite expensive given the toll. We thought the road was delightfully devoid of traffic, but we think that’s because it cost a lot to drive on it.
Nevertheless, it was a very easy and enjoyable drive from one place to another, under the boring blue sky.
Having been shown around by Carlos, we headed off for food and booze in the close by town of Cartaxo (which is not pronounced Car-tax-o).
We didn’t find the recommended supermarkets but did manage to locate the Supermarche, so we went there. It seems the small town of Cartaxo has more than its fair share of supermarkets. It also has a very nice restaurant (Taxo) where we settled in for dinner.
And Gary, finally, had octopus. And it was very good.

What Trump did this week
What is with the trade war? Why did Americans vote for their goods and services to increase in cost? I thought they were concerned that the cost of bacon and eggs were too high and Trump promised them lower prices? Now, with his 25% tariff bollocks, he has effectively increased the prices on lots of stuff.
More importantly, why the fuck does the rest of the world bother trading with the US? Surely, this is a brilliant time to re-establish local, independent manufacturing and leave the US to drift away like the oily layer of slurry it has become. I know the rest of the world thinks this is insane and will continue to suck on Trumps pathetic teat. Stupid world.
Mind you, normal, nice, honest people often give in to bullies so, perhaps it’s just the way the world should be.
Mind you, given the shit that the US produces, why does anyone want it anyway?
And don’t get me started on Trump’s uber Nazi boyfriend.