Weekly blog about holiday rentals and B&B Termas-da-Azenha, in an old spa resort in the Coimbra district. Only 12 km from the coast as the crow flies.
I have been listening for a year to the professora of the children, during the break. After the first confusion about where the boys (in those days 6 & 8) had to go to school, it turned out that they didn’t speak much Portuguese yet. And we were not exactly fluent, even though we had […]
Learning portuguese, poispois! Read More »
Henk comes by in the kitchen, when I’m preparing everything for the nasi goreng for tonight. “Come and have a look, if you can spare the time”, he says, and walks ahead of me to his workplace for today. Volunteer Henk has been here several times, parks his camper next to the reception, and starts
Volunteers: the yard wanderer Read More »
I’m recovering from my walk in Lisbon on an empty terrace on the busy road, almost where I need to be. Half an hour before the agreed time. I was – as always – optimistic, and thought I could walk from Santa Apolónia. A nice little walk from the trainstation to my destination. I thought.
A Day out in Lisbon on a scooter Read More »
Yeah, well, I can’t help it that my voice sounds quite sarcastic … “Eh … don’t mention it, senhor!” He came driving up, and could turn right right before me. He doesn’t have to stop and I just have to refrain a bit. With a little attention, it all goes by itself. Officially I’m on
Portuguese are machismo – or am I wrong? Read More »
“Yes … that is completely blocked …” I say somewhat delusively, “and I don’t really feel like messing around in it …” It also doesn’t smell particularly attractive, and I see granules of corn floating around in the brownish water. The neighbor also sees it: “Yes, we eat a lot of corn …” he says
Skeptical about the septic tank Read More »
You regularly see people play cards when you go to a café. Now the café visit has decreased a lot, and I don’t get there too often, but if – then almost standard people are playing cards. I did a lot of playing cards myself, 20 years ago. That was in the beginning, when we
Card tournament: the cards are shuffled Read More »
The day started this morning being very cold, improved itself quickly with a promising spring-like breeze, and gave the sun a hard push so that it quickly got warmer. The weather is much too nice to work Look, then you quickly realize where the advantages lie of entrepreneurship. You run risks, yes, but you can
When I read “painting”, I immediately get into a state of stress Clearly one of my flaws. After years of being a homeowner and therefore responsible for all maintenance, I immediately think of peeling windows when I read: “painting”. Painting wooden windows. Which you have to paint almost every year. Because it’s nice if this
About painting, about stress, and about a painting course Read More »
My driving license and my passport had to be renewed. Strangely, they would expire on the same date: February 27th. The gods certainly have had a good time with that. I’d become wise, and started my bureaucratic journey already in November. Piece of cake if you have to renew your passport abroad Just go to
Portuguese driving license all the way Read More »
Well … there we are, in the midst of our resolutions in the endless and slightly gloomy month of January. You’re a bit out of wack because you’ve lost your familiar routines, and maybe forever! (Projection, my dear?) They call this month nowadays: Dry January I suspect that day 1 of this month is the
Frozen in the front, baked in the back Read More »
