The new acquisition has been put to good use right away, this past week. I had seen a few things on OLX and CustoJusto – the two largest second-hand sites in Portugal.
Second-hand shopping is fun,
although very different here than in the Netherlands. When returning the rental car I saw a second-hand shop: “Look, Broes, stop! Let’s have a look!” Second-hand shops are rare in Portugal, at least here in the rural areas, and they are usually ridiculously expensive.
Like this one. They wanted 950 euros for a wardrobe, while a big sign hangs outside: “Everything from 50 cents!” How did they come up with that? The only thing for 50 cents was a rusty cup.
You sometimes find the craziest things second-hand, but not here. In comparison: the Netherlands are full of such shops; you pay a tenth of what they dare to ask here. And you find much crazier/beautifuller/uniquer things. One of the reasons I went to the home country once a year. If you manage some holiday houses, you always need stuff.
“Oh boy, let’s split,” says Broes after walking through the shop for a while, “a salesperson on 2 o’clock.”
The entire second-hand story is based on our beautiful plans and good intentions, which will be fueled by an unnamed-force-behind-the-scenes. Nice mysterious sentence, isn’t it? I wanted to keep the mysterious part, but I can explain the rest perfectly well.
As you may have read in a blog from a while ago, dear readers, we are going to start a little renovation in July. The tenant of the Casa Principal has gone quite beyond her authority, it turns out, and has had an unauthorized cement kitchen floor installed. And a bath.
That’s too much weight for the construction because it was not designed for that, back in 1933. Back then, people lived a bit lighter.
So we are going to remove that, and then turn it into a beautiful kitchen and ditto bathroom again. Like this one, for example, which we recently picked up from the internet. Then a van is super handy, because this kitchen had to be picked up with a rental van.
With a van you can pick up tiles to beautify your bathroom, to make your roof waterproof, to protect your stairs from the rain. Wood to make beds, cupboards, doors, tables. Insulation against the noise of the neighbors and against the cold and heat. OSB for under your laminate. You name it, and you can get it with that super van.
“A handy van for a Handy Harry,” says my brother-in-law as he closes the hood of the newly purchased miracle. “He likes a sip of oil, but that’s not so bad. And I think he should be called Har.”
After last week’s request, we received quite a few nice names, but Har actually stuck right away
When I come in, I say: “Good morning, bom dia HH Master.” (It’s a Renault Master.) I’d like to be friends with my newly acquired supervan, and that seems to be going quite well. As if it wakes up from a coma, when brother-in-law Dick fills it with oil, coolant and tickles it a bit under its hoses. As if it shakes itself out, when we vacuum it, polish it and I burn incense in its insides.
HH Master stands for Handy Harry. So: Har.
Or, if more respect is needed: His Holiness Master. But I sincerely hope that it’ll remain Har.
.
We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 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 houses, rooms and a campsite.
You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.
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.
Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation
You can subscribe to this blog- see at the right side of this page »
You’ll get it every weekend in your mailbox.
On Sunday morning we publish it on Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.