Blossom. Eating out in Braga. Out and about in Braga. And the odd times we live in.

 

 

The cherry blossom around here might not be quite so brilliant as in Japan but still it gives your heart a lift. siddenly all the bossom trees are quite splendid.

It was jasmine I noticed in Braga, where we had the best lunch of our stay in Portugal this time. We asked our landlady in the boarding house on the edge of the old quarter if she could recommend somewhere good to eat. She told us the name of a place just a few hundred yards away, moderately expensive, she said, but very good.

 

As it turned out we had walked past A Cozinha da Sé several times, the entrance just an unprepossessing door of a scruffy looking small square, near to the passageway through to a day centre for old folk. Somehow it looked like a community soup kitchen rather than a classy restaurant. Even the name, Cathedral Kitchen, suggested something of the kind. But we gave it a try, following the landlady’s suggestion. 

 

 

inside we were directed into the courtyard behind the indoor restaurant area. Shaded with very effective sun-umbrellas and perfumed by a jasmine tree, it was delightful. 

 

Opposite was, indeed, the day centre for old people. 

 

Between the two was an open courtyard with an old well in the middle, now sealed off, presumably so that neither drunken restaurant patrons nor doddery old folk could fall in. 

 Here are some more photos of our stay in Braga. 

Yesterday I read that our very rich Prime Minister is concerned that we have a “sick note culture”min the UK, and so he is targeting people in receipt of benefit payments. Apparently there has been an increase in the number of people taking time off work for chronic sickness and mental problems. This has occurred since the pandemic, he tells us, implying that people got used to having an excuse for not going to work. He wants to crack down on it. He seems not to believe that many cases of taking time off for sickness are not a question of habit acquired during the pandemic but a genuine consequence of having had covid! 

Here’s an ironic/sarcastic comment from Newsthump: 

“Rishi Sunak to end “sick note culture” by putting coma patients to work as draft excluders”.

Today i read that residents of the Canary Islands are protesting against tourism. Not tourism as such because, of course, tourism is their main source of employment and income but it’s all getting out of hand. Too many tourists and probably too many houses turned into lucrative air b’n’b establishments are making it impossible for local people to afford to live there. Modern problems!

It’s a funny age we live in. 

 

Here’s something I read about the Labour Party and its approach to the election:

“ Labour has appointed a dedicated employee to work with influencers and seed positive messages about Keir Starmer’s party on TikTok and Instagram, as the UK’s political parties prepare to target “microinfluencers” during the general election campaign.”

“The intention, according to political campaigners and digital marketing consultants, is to cut through to niche audiences hooked on scrolling through videos on their phones.”

Across the Atlantic we have a presidential candidate, an ex-president, on trial for illegally covering up payments of hush-money payments to an “adult film star” (not a porn star but an “adult film star”! please note. It must be weird for someone accustomed to bossing others around to find himself being told off and ordered to remain quiet by the judge.

Strange times indeed!

 Life goes on, stay safe and well, everyone!