Weathering the tournament.

There are two very small Chinese boys playing in the chess tournament here. Brothers, they look as though they are no more than six or seven years old. The organiser of the tournament assures me that they are older, probably nine and ten. However, because they are of very slight build they look considerably younger.

Parents of other, older children ruffle their hair as they pass, in that continental European way that accepts that children belong to everyone and deserve love from us all. Not the British way at all. No doubt somebody would be asking for parental permission before any hair ruffling could take place.

Apparently their parents have brought them from Lisbon to spend the week playing in the tournament here. The organiser questions their readiness to play a tournament like this one, which has some very strong players. He says that they are losing just about every game and he usually finds one or other of them, if not both, being comforted by their mother at the end of the evening as they dissolve into floods of tears. Is this part if some rigourous training routine to toughen them up for future tournaments? If so, there is clearly some way to go.

Perhaps Phil should consider himself fortunate not to have had to play either of these small boys. At least one of his opponents was not a great deal older. That young boy’s English was impressively good. Something must be going right in the Portuguese education system.

As the week has progressed, the fine and sunny weather of earlier in the week has disappeared and we have regressed into more normal November weather: wet and blustery and a little on the cold side. It’s just as well I managed walks out to the lighthouse and along the beach on finer days. Here are some photos to remind me of the blue skies of just a few days ago:-

And later in the week:-

My favourite graffiti girl:-

And the sign outside Fifty's Tavern:-