They like their fish!

... I mean the Portuguese.

I was going through the proverbs about food and found this one:

"Mais peixe, menos salsa." - " More fish, less parsley."

http://www.gastronomias.com/proverbios.htm

I couldn't agree more - I loved their fish - sardinhas, doradas, carapão...

Fire!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsjB5--36gc&feature=related

I hadn't heard this song for years.

I only wish I could remember the name of the singer - a white lady... could have been American or British... I had her LP some 20 odd years ago.

The throw-away society

... is slowly but surely winning the maintenance game here.

My vacuum, which is about 3 years old, just refused to start last week. I talked to it; gave it the silent treatment... used the neighbour's one to piss it off . Not even a puff of dust in disgusted response.

So, today I went to what I knew to be a service for appliances.
Ah.

It is a service centre but not for any appliances. Any more.
The ones that have been chosen are air conditioners and TV sets (and not all TV sets, mind.).

The lady behind the desk told me that her vacuum went, too; and the technicians told her to buy a new one because the motor had died. (and obviously, there is no money (or spare parts? or the way the make them motors nowadays?) in repairing broken vacuums.

So, keeping fingers crossed (you know, the image of the fingers), I drove to another place that used to be only for TV sets... just to try my luck there.

They accepted the sick patient and gave me a receipt, on which were the phone numbers, name of the company, address and the model and brand of my  vacuum cleaner. 

I had a quick look at the paper in the car and read the finer print - After the 3rd day, if the customer has not picked up their appliance, they will pay 0.XX lv per day until they do so.

Hmmm.

Just to think I had to make a left turn (which, for the UK readers, is the awkward right one) to arrive at that place.

I can only hope my LG vacuum has a few more years left in it... at least 2 more??

Some thoughts on things Portuguese

What a lovely custom the people in Porto have - after a meal or having been to a concert or an event, they go to a pub or a cafe... to talk. "Conversamos". What a great way to show you like the people you are with and don't want to say Good night in a hurry.

Coffee - good strong genuine espresso. If you are in a hurry, try "café" - a thimblefull of caffeine that shakes you wide awake, right down to your toe nails.

Or, something gentler (double the size of the "café" but still quite small to me) – “pingu” – short coffee with milk.

My favourite is “meia leite” (half milk) – hot milk and espresso in a big cup.

Once I tried my Portuguese on a café owner and said I want a “cimbelino” – another way of ordering a short coffee but he corrected me that I really needed "café" (e nada mais! ).

If you are an art buff, like me, you HAVE to visit Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis.

I was completely ignorant of Portuguese artists and this visit, which lasted 3 hours, showed me great masterpieces. I am really bad with names but tried to remember two – Silva Porto and Henrique Pousão.

I loved Silva Porto’s art – big panoramic landscapes which lure the eye into wandering deep, reaching the horizon and then… a wisp of grass, an ever so imperceivable dot of red calls you back to the front of the oil and you can almost see the poppy waving to and fro in the wind – so delicate and yet so in place that without it the whole structure would be out of joint.

The statues of António Soares dos Reis are a joy to the modern, spoiled eyes, tired of posters and tv adverts.

They seem to always quote “O Desterrado” as his masterpiece 

but my heart was completely won by this little beautiful shy girl “Filha dos Condes de Almedina”.

I could write more and bore you silly but what is the point. Some things are better seen in person. Most things. Or all?