After a week of mostly sunny weather in Figueira da Foz, with temperatures in the 20 - 25°, it was something of a shock to the system to watch rain turning to sleet turning to snow early yesterday evening.
We had left our hotel at 11.00 am, with our fingers crossed that we didn’t meet heavy traffic, as our flight was scheduled to leave at 14.15 and getting through security could be time-consuming. As it was we made good time but there was still not enough time to sit down to lunch in the airport before we departed. Never mind, we thought, we can get a sandwich on the plane. However, almost the first announcement on the plane was an apology for there being no hot food available. Never mind, we thought, a sandwich will suffice. No sandwiches either. Only chocolate and crisps and drinks! The plane had not been properly restocked!
When we got to Manchester I had to resort to buying us an overpriced sandwich from W.H. Smith as we waited for our daughter to collect us from the airport. Manchester’s Terminal 3, by the way is just about the most confusing and confused place at which to arrive. Finding the pick-up point was difficult, to say the least. Sign posts to the place petered out. Even when we found out approximately where it was, we had to cross muddy and grassy areas, with annoying kerbstones, as well as walking through a carpark: altogether difficult, sometimes dangerous and goodness knows how people with mobility problems deal with it!
But we got home safely, stopping off to buy bread en route, took some soup out of the freezer and settled in for the rest of the evening.
This morning we woke up to this view from the skylight window.
Rather different from yesterday’s early morning picture.
I took a look at the pavements and decided it looked dry enough to run. It was fine but cold. The weather could deteriorate later, so that was the moment to go. It was a little like running through a Christmas card at times.
Talking of Christmas, I read this morning that in Birmingham they opened up their German-style Christmas markets on November 1st, barely taking the time to remove all the Hallowe’en decorations. NOVEMBER FIRST!! That seems a little early to me. Surely there is a limit to the number of times you want to run around drinking gluhwein and eating wurst on the city streets. Not everyone who works in the city is happy with this. “It’s just not the same any more. It’s too commercial. It starts too early, and it’s got too expensive,” said Kate Jones, 46, walking through the market on her way home from work. “I’ve been working here for 20 years, and I’ve seen it get so much bigger. It’s not as intimate. I never really go any more, and I think a lot of people who live and work here feel like that.”
Personally, I’m not a fan of the Christmas markets, as I have explained at least three or four times who my Italian friend who gets very excited about them. There’s a prodigious amount of tat on sale - repeated tat on various stalls. They bring visitors into the city centre though. A spokesperson for Birmingham city council said: “The Frankfurt Christmas market brings millions of visitors into the city each year, providing a huge economic boost and we are proud that the market also provides jobs for over 350 local people working alongside German staff.”
Manchester city centre also opened the markets on Friday and seem very pleased with them. “We’re very proud that Manchester Christmas markets are the biggest Christmas markets in the country and are really pleased that since opening last Friday they have broken all attendance records,” said Pat Karney, a local councillor. “The intoxicating Christmas atmosphere across our markets is free for everyone to enjoy with no requirement to buy anything.”
Local bars and restaurants and cafes are less pleased as they lose customers. I am less pleased because it becomes hard to make your way along King Street, for example, a pleasant pedestrian street that is just about wide enough in normal times. It will be hard to window shop there next time I go to the centre of town!
So here we are, home again from our travels and suddenly having to think about Christmas!
It was nice to get back to a decent cup of coffee for breakfast. I have to say the breakfast coffee in our hotel was quite execrable. It came from one of those machines where you select an option: small black coffee, Americano, coffee with milk, cappuccino. We tried them all, individually and in combinations with each other. All rather weak and watery and in one case rather chocolatey, which was strange. So it was with great pleasure that I had two cups of coffee made with our trusty Italian style Bonka coffee maker.
In all other respects our hotel was excellent with friendly, helpful staff, some of them remembering us from last year (when the coffee was equally bad, so we should have known better!) Maybe next year we’ll have to go for hot chocolate or green tea!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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