Foster son Hugo had to leave in a hurry, already late for work, but unfortunately – a huge semi-trailer with a house container on top suddenly drove up, and the driver asked where he had to go, and thus got in the way.

All he had to do was turn the bend, to the old chicken factory that was refurbished a little while ago. I was already very curious about that… what is going on there, what is going to happen, who or what is planning something here? At first I was a bit afraid that there would be a factory because it looked very work-oriented.

It turns out to have something to do with the Mondego

It also seems far-fetched, a factory. Who is going to build a factory here and now, and what should they make there? Perhaps a hundred years ago, when the rice factory of the former owner of the Termas, Dom Henriques, was still in operation, but now most of the factories are in China, right?

In addition, the restoration of that old chicken factory ended with patching up the holes in the walls, a small shelter in one corner, and a few of those big house containers in the other corner. All equipment is stored there. So it turns out to be storage and canteen and office spaces – and, typically portuguese, the engineers / work supervisors are in a container that is on a higher spot.

They simply leave the excavators in the field. No one can get away with those anyway.

After a few weeks I was very curious and asked my coincidentally bumped-into neighbor when I went for a cup of coffee at the pastelaria. “This isn’t the municipality’s stalled sewerage project, is it?” I ask Josué, who caresses my cheek affectionately (that’s allowed if you’re portuguese, without having to think anything bad about it) and answers fatherly: “Oh no menina, no, of course not… this will be a side street for the Mondego. They go all the way to Quinta do Seminário, so that they also have water there when it gets dry in the summer.”

“But we have a lot of mineral water on that side, right?” I ask, and apparently I’m stupid, because: “That’s not enough to water all those fields, and besides, it flows to the sea, the other side of Quinta do Seminário … you always have to be able to pump enough, and if there is a dry year, or even dry years, this prevents a lot of problems.”

Now the Mondego is one of the few rivers that originates in Portugal itself

In Mangualde da Serra, to be precise. And is therefore one of the rivers over which the Portuguese have not had an argument (war) with the Spaniards in the past. That was such an important thing that is still celebrated on day 1 of December, even though it has been 384 years.

It is a very different way than how Mother Earth makes a river.

Mother just starts small, and as it happens with mothers, it grows big by itself. Now that is not a good comparison because we humans, for example, do not have access to something like rain. Rain, subterranean water streams, dew, vegetation… we do not have absolute power over any of that. And well… Mother does. So that’s no comparison.

How are they going to continue with that piping job?

I pass by there regularly (adopt a dog, and you know why) and I don’t see any connection options, for example, which you do with PVC drainage pipes. A piece that fits seamlessly into the next pipe. They have solved this perfectly with PVC water pipes.

Before I lose you now, dear ignorant readers, I sincerely hope that they don’t try to put those pipes together with duct tape, because then we probably can promote all kinds of water sports such as swimming, canoeing and waterboarding, no, sorry, waterskiing soon.

Then Mother probably took over!

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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 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

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