Walking into town to the market yesterday I stopped on a bench to check how much loose change I had in my purse, an important consideration for later in the day when I would need to leave a tip in the restaurant at lunchtime. An elderly lady with a floppy straw hat and pulling a shopping trolley came and sat beside me. Having established that if she spoke slowly there was a good chance I could understand her, we had a bit of a chat in my halting Portuguese. She told me she was in her eighties and, thanks to God, she was still able to get around. Well! Good! We went our separate ways!
Later in the day, returning from lunch I met her agin, sitting on the wall near our hotel. She seemed delighted to see me again. Such is life!
There was some kind of festival going on yesterday evening in a square on the other side of the river. I had noticed a marquee and stage being erected earlier in the week. All afternoon we could hear them testing the sound system. As I returned from leaving Phil at the chess tournament venue in the evening I could tell that it was all systems go. I briefly considered donning mu roving reporter hat and going across to observe, maybe take a few photos. But I was rather hot and sticky and just wanted to get back to the hotel and cool down. Maybe my intrepid photo-journalist days are behind me.
The music was still going at 1.00 in the morning but as festivals go it was really quite restrained. I remember a year when we stayed in a hotel on Santiago de Compostela, adjacent to the park where the local festivities were going on until 4.00 or 5.00 am. From what I have seen, which is probably quite limited, I get the impression that they clean up quite quickly after these local festivities, not leaving a Glastonbury mess behind.
Incidentally, here’s a link to an article about an organisation called WasteBar in the Netherlands. They take their food van to festivals and accept payment in cigarette ends (“Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic waste in the world, with more than 4.5tn butts produced every year.) and in plastic waste.
I’ve lomg been aware of the litter problem with cigarette ends but apparently it’s not just litter; they contain plastic, heavy metals and other toxic substances, and they can be incredibly difficult to remove from the environment. I used to have a German friend who had a little tin she carried around to he cigarette ends in. An excellent environmental protection idea but there was a part if me that was repelled by the idea of having to empty it later - the foul ashtray smell!
As a consequence of the loud music - not to mention another late return from the chess tournament by Phil - I once again opted not to run this morning but stayed in bed a little longer. The tournament finishes today and so we can return to normal bedtimes!
I have expressed on more than one occasion my dislike of the idea of going on a cruise holiday on one of those huge boats, the ones that recently had problems with hantavirus and the like. Here’s a link to an article about someone who sold up all his belongings and now lives on cruises, with the lady he met and married on … wait for it … a cruise. In bis fifties, he reckons he has found the ideal life style. I wonder if he’ll feel the same in twenty or thirsty years!
I wonder about clothes. Do people who live this way not grow tired of their limited wardrobe? Do their clothes not wear out? Do they buy new clothes when their boat stops for a day in a city somewhere? And do they just throw away the old items? Not very environmentally sound! But then, maybe chugging around in a large ship, burning fossil fuels and possibly polluting the oceans is not too sound either!
So it goes!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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