Out and about in the world.

The beach here at Figueira da Foz is well provided with boardwalks. The beach is extensive and I imagine that in summer the sand gets very hot so the boardwalks are very necessary. In the evening they are eerily lit from underneath. Anyone arriving here for the first time after dark must seriously wonder what it is all all about.

As well as the boardwalks there is a dual path, one half for walkers and one one for cyclists, stretching from the end of the beach where the causeway to the lighthouse begins all the way along to nearby Buarcos. Both are generally well used.

Running along the path this morning I spotted a couple pushing what looked like an oversized baby-buggy. As I got closer I saw that instead of an oversized baby, the buggy contained a large black Labrador dog. Presumably the dog has some problem with its legs but the owners still take it for walks along the beach path. Excellent idea! I have seen people using actual baby buggies to carry smaller dogs such as Pomeranians but never a specialised one for larger dogs.

In general the Portuguese are pretty good at learning foreign languages, well English at any rate. This is often explained as being the result of watching foreign films in the original version with Portuguese subtitles, rather than dubbed into the local language, which is what happens in Spain. Good at speaking they may be but they are as bad as the English in the mis-use of apostrophes. We have seen the “Gin’s and cocktails” bar and the “Fifty’s Tavern”, to name but a couple.

As a rule, however, their use of English is accurate, even idiomatic. And then I picked up a leaflet for the gum at the hotel next door. It advertises itself as a “Fitting Point”. Oh dear, yet another misused ...ing!

Out in the wider world, I see that the sexual harassment accusations continue apace. Now it is Dustin Hoffman’s turn. Who will be next? It begins to sound as though more than half of the MPs in Westminster have a dodgy past. Parliament always seemed a bastion of male privilege but really, all this sexist stuff is rather over the top. Did they ever think about the job instead of watching and lording it over the few females who worked there?

And some joker cancelled Donald Trumps Twitter account. He was a Twitter employee on the last day of his job with them and as a parting shot he closed down the president’s account. The blackout may have only lasted a little over ten minutes but, oh,  how satisfying it must have been to feel that power!