A question that’s on everybody’s lips: how will it be, our holidays in 2020?
I suspect that in many cases it’ll preferably not be a staycation. Most people have seen their houses enough now. The big question is of course when we can travel again. Now there are more big questions, but this is one that I already heard many times.
We now look out over a months-long desert of emptiness on the booking calendar
Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn’t it? It’s very ambiguous – on the one hand, I love all this time and space. Now I can do things that I wanted to do for years. On the other hand, it is very uncomfortable to have no coming and going guests after 20 years. No rooms to clean, no breakfast to serve, no questions to answer, no chatting with entertaining guests. No expectations about how much fun this summer will be.
Many people talk about face masks, so we can socialize again
Obligate everyone to wear a face mask in public, to wash your hands thoroughly after every minor event, a little alcohol to top it off (no, not for drinking, for spraying!) – that’s how we’ll prevent more trouble, and maybe go back to a kind of normal life. Many Portuguese already do this by themselves. All the oldies at the village supermarket wore a mask, except for one woman. She apologized extensively.
And before you know it, this will happen again: waiting until people are done talking
All of us outside, neatly waiting: “Bom dia, quem é o último?” – who is the last? I just needed a few potatoes, so I was a bit impatient. Only 5 people are allowed in the store at the same time, as if that helps, because everyone just stands as close to each other as always. The rest waits patiently outside. One old man helped someone who was struggling with her mask. A masked lady on a scoot mobile gestured decidedly that she wanted to park exactly where I was standing, cut the line in half, and then stumbled in right past everyone, saying she has to “talk to Irena.” Two ladies stood inside, with their already paid groceries, chatting for minutes.
Patiência.
Post-corona etiquette
Patiência – that is the first phrase to be learned in Portuguese. And it also makes sense, I noticed, because with all my thinking of how we’re going to get through this year without any income combined with all those masks around me, I came up with a great idea.
Those white things – you don’t want to be seen with that, do you? Certainly not during the holidays!
Of course we already have a lot of nice fabrics for the kimonos. There must be something useful amongst them. After half a day of YouTubing I know everything there is to know about masks. I’ve been trying something.
There are roughly 2 different models. The folded model or the cup model. I suspect the latter is best for people with a big nose. You have them with strings, with elastic bands, with velcro … and I came up with a genius system with a tunnel hem, a strap and an eye, but I could not yet realize that because I do not have the material.
That’ll also be a quest
But first I would really like to know from you all: would you buy a mask from Termas-da-Azenha? Like: how do we help the Termas through the winter? And ourselves through the summer?
Otherwise I’ll end up with all those masks. And no plans of robbing a bank or what.
Well, always a silver lining: I’ll have enough experience to sew nice bras…
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We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, Holland to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal. A big step, especially with two small children. We are busy to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa which has been turned into several holiday homes, rooms and campsites, with a https://termas-da-azenha.com/en/recreation/: swimming pool, indoor and outdoor games like pingpong, petanque, a FancyDressingRoom and a small café. You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.
The old bathhouse is going to be a museum, where you can see how things have changed. Since 2018 we call ourselves the first B&B&B in the world – Bed & Breakfast & Bathrobes. You can buy a home-made unique bathrobe/housecoat with us.
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