Kalamunda Farmers Market

Held on Sundays and 25 minutes drive away, but well worth the trip. Val wanted me to buy some fruit and veg for our upcoming trip to Wellington Dam with the Nats Club. The produce was very diverse: lots of interesting plants not available in your local nurseries. Also, an amazing selection of home-cooked meals and treats for dogs. Who knew? There was so much to choose from: bread, olive oils to sample, strange mushrooms, crepes…

I’ll have to go again with a shopping list, now that I know what to expect.

Election

I really don’t like elections. In Australia, voting is compulsory. You can be fined if you don’t cast your vote. Also, the voting system is extremely complicated, with separate sheets for the upper and lower house. I can’t be bothered with all that. I just scribble on my ballot papers in a silent protest.

In England, it was a different story. I worked on the elections: it was a nice little earner! I was in effect getting paid twice, since my branch library was turned into a polling station for the day.

Yesterday, I went to an “early voting” place as I’ll be away from home on 3rd May which is the actual election day. Many people had the same idea. When I arrived at 8.45 am there was already a long queue. There were representatives of all the major parties asking people if they knew what to do: so complicated is the process. I brushed them all off. It took me 35 minutes in the queue. Luckily it was a warm morning or it would have been a cold and draughty wait.

Later, I enjoyed a Moroccan inspired meal in my tagine:

…followed by papaya which is in season right now:

It is delicious served with fresh lime juice. I used to have it every day for breakfast in Singapore.

This is interesting:

https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/find-legal-answers/books-online/hot-topics-voting-and-elections/compulsory-voting-and-against

Coughs and Sneezes

Since returning from Portugal I’ve done nothing but cough and cough. It is a so-called “dry cough”, whereas on holiday I suffered from a “wet cough”. I think I picked up both on the plane, going and coming back. 

I tried everything, before finally seeking medical advice. I saw a new doctor at the surgery and she was extremely thorough, writing down everything on a piece of paper, as well as handing me several prescriptions. She even gave me some alternatives, which I found a bit disconcerting as I didn’t know which to choose. First was a chest X-ray which showed nothing untoward. She took a nasal swab and sent it off for testing, including for COVID.

In the meantime, I started taking antibiotics: two types together. Surely these will kill off whatever I’ve got! My biggest problem is trying to sleep. The doctor recommended stacking up three pillows in order to sleep on a slope. This is not easy. Here is a pic of all the remedies I’ve tried:

L to R: 3 antibiotics, a non prescription sleeping pill, a medicated cough pastille and a butter -menthol sweet.

You can see I’m getting desperate! Fortunately I was not on any regular medication before all this, which apparently is very good for someone of my age.

Here is an update on Rocky, photos taken a week apart.:

The skin had to be tightly stretched over his knee and as the wound healed it probably itched a lot. He tried to lick it all the time, so first he had to wear a muzzle and then a pair of human exercise shorts to keep him off the area. All because of that inconsiderate Staffy owner.

Dog Attack and House Renovations

Having a swim at lunchtime means I can usually have the pool to myself. Today there is a man standing in the water looking at his phone: just reading the news, he said. That just tells you how hot it is. (35 degrees).

Another pleasure of being back home is enjoying my own shower. Travelling the world is great, except for having to get used to temperamental showers wherever you stay. This reminds me of when I was working in Singapore, living in university accommodation. An American colleague had his father to stay, who announced that the shower was the worst he’d ever had. The water just trickled out. 

The colleague’s wife was from mainland China. Her father said that their shower was the best he’d had in his life. The water was hot!

After that digression, I’ll progress to the terrible dog attack incident. C and Rocky were out for their usual early morning walk at 6.00 am. Rocky was on a lead. (That’s the law here for greyhounds). Suddenly, a Staffy rushed up to them and bit Rocky. The owner apologised and said his dog was on heat. He offered to pay for the medical treatment, probably not realising how expensive that would be.

C had to walk her injured dog home, in pain and limping, then get him in the car and take him to the Vet Hospital (where he had been a regular blood donor in the past). Before he could be admitted, they required a deposit of $1500. It was Saturday and an emergency surgical team had to be called in. Fortunately, the owner of the aggressive Staffy agreed to pay this. The total bill came to well over $2000.

These gruesome pictures show the wound just after it had happened. Greyhounds have extremely thin legs, with little to protect them. They were bred to run, that’s all.

A week later and he is almost back to his old self except for a slight limp. The incident was reported to the local Ranger (himself a greyhound owner co-incidentally). So we’ll see what happens…

As well as all this, C is having major renovations done in the house: a new bathroom, toilet, laundry room and kitchen. The tradesman starts work at 7.00 am, not the preferred wake-up hour for a teenager. E complains that he starts banging away and puts on his pop music as he works, or talks loudly on his mobile. I advised E to escape to the university library for the day. Rocky has to be shut in at the other end of the house while all this is going on. He must be traumatised as well.

A few photos of the work in progress follow:

The floor tiles are a grey colour and C will paint the walls in a matching shade.

The last one shows some of the kitchen units stacked in the living room.

Reflections on my Holiday

Back home now, where there is non stop sun and a heatwave forecast. Quite a change from the Portuguese weather.

A few reflections from my holiday follow. The Lisbon Lounge Hostel was in a really good location, once you had mastered the maze of small streets in which it was situated. The staff were friendly and very helpful. The major drawback for me were the stairs: it’s an old building so they can’t install a lift. I always had to rest half way up! Another issue were the doors. Every room had a noisy door that banged as it opened and shut. My private room was next to the bathroom, so I heard a lot of opening and shutting.

The location was excellent, a few minutes walk from the Metro and from the major Rua Augusta which led down to the river. There were lots and lots of eateries nearby and ATMs everywhere. I don’t know why Lisbon needs so many. Most eateries had an outside area, where the Portuguese love to sit even in the coldest, wettest weather:

The amount of rubbish which accumulated every night was astonishing, but it was always cleared away by the morning.

I went early in the season, hoping to avoid the crowds, but there were crowds in all the major tourist spots. The weather was really changeable and unpredictable: the forecasts often wrong. But I made the best of it!

I had my swimming costume with me, but it never came out of my backpack. Now it’s getting lots of use at home.

Severe Weather Warning

Depressao Martinho: Chuva forte e persistente dias 19 e 20-MAR. Vento forte. Risco de inundacoes. Fique atento. Info: www.prociv.gov.pt / 800 246 246 / ANEPC

This warning popped up on my phone. I thought it was for the afternoon, so I ventured out at about 10.00 am. The storm came early! At Belém on the river it was difficult to stand up or walk in a straight line. Fortunately I had my Camino wet weather gear on. I took a few photos and then retreated inside:

Monument to the Discoveries:


Looking towards the bridge:

Tower of Belém, built as a fortress in 1514 - 20:

I couldn’t really see what I was doing, it was so unbelievably stormy:


This seemed like a better option:

Back near Cais do Sodre, I decided to have lunch in the market: along with a million other people. It was hard to find a seat, even for one:

I ordered fish soup. It really warmed me up!

The fresh produce part of the market was closing down, but I managed to buy some mandarins from a young Nepalese man and chatted to him about trekking in Nepal years ago:

Sintra and Cascais

This is the most popular day trip from Lisbon. I had such a good day! The weather improved and it was even sunny for most of the time. There were 7 of us in the minibus plus the driver, Juan.

In Sintra, we visited the Pena Palace. Juan had us walk up through the garden first. It was an artificially constructed garden (something like Araluen) with lakes and duckponds. Originally it was the summer palace of King Ferdinand. It was quite a steep slope, but when I was flagging, Juan gave me his arm so that I wouldn’t slip on the cobbles and steps. He was very thoughtful.

The palace is at the top of the garden:

At the top, there were views on all sides. It was apparent why they had chosen to build the palace there.

The gate in Moorish style. Juan is on the right in the black jacket:

Inside the palace was a treasury of periodic furniture and porcelain:

Cloisters:

The parts of the buildings painted red denoted it was original, as opposed to later additions:

Bottom right of the stained glass in the chapel is the homage to Vasco da Gama:

After the palace, we drove down into the small town of Sintra for lunch. Several recommendations were given to us, but I chose one with plenty of inside seating:

The waitress was doing a flambé of some kind. This was mine:

Small broad beans featured in many of the dishes. Someone must have spent all morning shelling them!

Back in the minibus, we drove to the most western point of Portugal:

There were warnings to stay on the right side of the fence, or you would be breathing your last!

An enterprising person had set up a pina colada stall.

Usually this place is really, really windy. We were lucky today.

Next was a scenic drive to the seaside resort of Cascais. Juan recommended an ice creamery. This was the first time on this holiday that I felt like one:

It was delicious: pity about the hat!

The Marina at Cascais.

Some lads were playing football on the beach. I was sitting on the sea wall when their ball hit a woman on the head just below me on the sand. She took it very well but it must have hurt her.

This was our vehicle. I got the front seat, as I was the last to be picked up in the morning. All in all, it was €90 well-spent!