Silves Double Whammy

 

Last week we gave you a Double Bubble. This week, we have a Double Whammy, so to speak. First up is the Christmas Lunch organised so well by Hazel; then there is the Silves Bubble´s Walk, taking place once again on a Thursday.

Act One: Behind the Castle

Hazel´s brief and factual report goes as follows:-

“On Tuesday 15^th December, 9 WAGS gathered for the Christmas lunch at Recanto dos Mouros, the restaurant at the back of Silves castle also known to some but not all as The Benches, They were Maria, Myriam, Paul, Andrew, Lindsey, Rod, Susan, JohnH and me. We had the private dining room all to ourselves!

Two tables were set: One for the four men and one for the five ladies. The day was dry and it was warmer than it had been at the weekend. The atmosphere was fun and friendly. We were thankful that we could meet and enjoy catching up with each other. The food was delicious, the service attentive, and cost very reasonable.

We remembered to drink to the health of Absent WAGS ! And now a seasonal poem.

If you look for Me at Christmas

you won´t need a special star -

I´m no longer just in Bethlehem,

I´m right there where you are.

You may not be aware of Me

amid the celebrations -

You´ll have to look beyond the stores

and all the decorations.

But if you take just a moment

from your list of things to do

And listen to your heart, you´ll find

I´m waiting there for you.

You´re the one I want to be with,

You´re the reason that I came,

And you´ll find Me in the stillness

as I´m whispering your name.

Love, Jesus.

Hazel ”

Early arrivals helped Hazel decorate the tables and  Starter photos were taken, two WAGS missing, for reasons explained later.

Com mascara

e sem mascara

Once the Frews had arrived, unfortunately delayed a bit after something of a contretemps with a pickpocket (is “carteirista” the appropriate word, one wonders), we sat down to our meal. Rod noticed that there were four candles on our table which reminded him of the Two Ronnies´ Fork Handles sketch, a reference which was totally lost on Andrew who had left the UK before TV was invented. So, if I can find it, we will conclude this blog with that sketch to let him know just what he missed.

The segregated table arrangement which had worked so well the previous week for the encounter between the Lagobrigenses and the Silvenses at O Cangalho worked equally well for this three-cornered encounter with two Padernenses joining the other two groups.

Only three were wearing team colours.

Paul announced at the start that the men´s table would talk about nothing but women and sex, not necessarily in that order, but in fact the only time after that that word "sex" was heard. it  came from the ladies´ table; the men were remarkably restrained in their behaviour. Indeed, after Hazel had said Grace, Andrew and JohnH could be heard agreeing that the short Latin Grace “Benedictus Benedicat”, as used at their respective schools, was up there with the best, although Andrew favoured a slightly longer version, perhaps “Benedictus Benedicat per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum Amen” is the one he had in mind.

Paul tried to lower the tone of the conversation, as he so often tries to do, by saying that his favourite Grace is:-

Through the teeth and round the gums

Watch out stomach - here it comes!

(User Warning: That´s your poetry ration for the week all used up!)

but the men´s discourse soon returned to consideration of more serious topics, such as credit card theft and residençia renewals. What the ladies talked about has not been divulged but clearly it could not have been too serious.

The customary gourmet pictures were taken.

There was bacalhau somewhere, but it seems to have escaped the photographer´s eagle eye.

"I am not a cake person"

Not only had Hazel organised the restaurant booking, the table decorations and the name cards complete with menu choices written thereon but she even managed to top the meal off with her fabulous home-made mince pies. Mr Kipling´s variety didn´t get a look-in.

Andrew had to leave early for a meeting, but that didn´t seem to phase Lindsey as she relaxed after the meal.

and we concluded with a Finisher´s photo, eight out of the nine diners.

Now we await Rod´s report on the Silves Bubble walk on Thursday 17^th December for Act Two Herdade de Parra.

Ah! here it is.

"Hi John, herewith; no time for much padding!

A unilateral  decision to once again postpone our walk from a very wet Wed to a dry Thurs proved the right one except for those who still really like padding around in the mud all dressed up in rain gear. In the event  Maria, Yves, John, minus Hazel otherwise engaged, but plus Dina ("welcome back after too long"), and Rod met up at the Para e Fica bar  on a splendid sunny morning.  After the now fairly obligatory coffee and some seemingly inconclusive negotiations about possible lunch reservations, we set off up to the Herdade de Parra energetic (or something) Mata Reserve. 

 The chain across the entrance to the Reserve was lying on the ground so with scant attention to the now rather wordy cautionary notice we continued on our way, nonetheless keeping an eye out for signs of wild life.  First stop was the Reserve HQ cottage, all locked up with little sign of recent activity other than a large aviary cage, home to a number of pigeons. But here Maria did spot something approximating to wild life, in the shape of a rather clever donkey, a male one by the look of its appendages. 

We then followed the contour track which circled the hill and promontory.

 Not in any way a demanding track but it does afford quite splendid views of the middle section of the Odelouca Reservoir and beyond to Picota and Foia, bathed in soft winter sunshine and with silence  just broken by the distant buzz of a forestry chainsaw. 

 We then observed a series of air contrails making their way westwards, , which our resident aeronautical expert assured us were USAF heavy bombers.

At the end of this circuit the track arrives back at the Herdade HQ cottage and then back up the main track.

 What was  a rather modest walk even by WAGS standards was made up for by the long slog back up to the road, achieved at no great pace  but at least non-stop. By the time we arrived at the entrance the chain had been mysteriously hooked back up again, by whom we know not. This made us scrutinise  the warning notice a bit more  comprehensively however and from this we gathered that, although we were in the fire alert low season, we were permitted entrance only with the prior consent of the Herdade organisation. How rigorously this was imposed we know not although we do know that on an earlier occasion we had been politely advised that dogs were not permitted.

So back to the Para e Fica where Yves ordered a caneca but forgot to specify that it should be a full one. 

He then had a superb chicken leg in compensation.

Luckily, the ever friendly Ana Maria had ensured that, for the rest of us,  she still had an ample supply of her principal dish of the day... a quite delectable arroz de polvo. Earlier there had been some minor debate about whether it was to be male polvo (octopus) or polva (octopa) but, come lunch time, we were so hungry that we didn´t pause to search for evidence of gender and the gourmet photographer could scarcely get a shot of it before the plates were emptied.

Yves, in his guise as m. H.C.B., the renowned French camera man, then for the second week running pulled off one of his magical presentation tricks. This week´s lucky recipient, Maria, was happy to unveil a copy of that picture that H.C.B. had been at so much trouble to take on previous WAGS walks, as you may remember. Maybe oi polloi (οἱ πολλοί, vernacular for "the general public") may be allowed to see the picture in this blog one day?

Happy Christmas, Rod."

And to conclude, it seems appropriate to revive the old practice of having a Caption Competition. Here is the picture:

Now, think of an appropriate caption and send your answers, on an electronic postcard, to pauladev@gmail.com.

And finally, for Andrew, the four candles sketch:

Thankyou John, and especially Hazel, for faultless organisation and going the extra kilometer by providing the decs and the Mince Pies. In fact the decorative Christmas trees were a big hit with Myriam, so much so that we have 2 of them decorating our dining table, although they are luxury ones being created from Tomorrow magazine rather than the economy Lidl handout.

The sum total of our Crimble decs - 2 modest poinsietta and 2 luxury Christmas trees.

       I feel rather guilty about the Lagos Bubble not featuring a walk, (nor even a virtual account) although we did go out for a wander round on Thursday to visit the Loja das Animais where friendly owner Joao Noel (there's the Christmas link) helped us out with my rather sick and miserable female Zebra finch, Bianca. he ended up giving her a tiny pill (to us) but old-fashioned gob-stopper size to her, using a special push pipe to open her beak and deposit the pill in the back of her throat. The operation looked quite brutal as he squeezed her fragile head in his horny finger and thumb, but she came through fairly unscathed, and seems to be somewhat recovered now after 3 doses.

   Anyway I feel I must add some information for when we look back on these halcyon days of lockdown, and solitary confinement, so I have unearthed a treatise on the name of virus from the pages of The Oldie, which goes in to the Latin derivation  No doubt Terry will be over the moon to read about this! (sorry Tel- it`s only padding!)

The Romans would have recognised the word, and associated it with kings and snakes.

What is the origin of the word coronavirus? With grim certainty, it's bound to be the word of the year.

It's a hybrid word from the Latin corona, meaning crown, and the Latin virus, originally meaning a poisonous secretion from snakes - ie a kind of venom. Scientists gave the virus the name because those knobbly bits on the surface of the virus are like the crests and balls of a crown.

In Latin, corona originally meant a wreath of flowers, sometimes of precious metals (the Oxford Latin Dictionary is my source). You see these delicate golden wreaths of flowers across the ancient world, in Greece and Rome. The Latin corona is derived from the Greek, corone.

In time, the word corona was lent to all crowns, whether floral or not. Crowns - or coronae - were worn in the ancient world by kings and were also placed on statues of the gods as offerings. In a mocking way, coronae were put on slaves' heads, too, when they went up for auction. They were even worn as a cure for headaches.

Virus, too, is originally derived from the Greek, ios. As well as meaning a poisonous secretion by snakes, it was also used in Latin to mean a poisonous emanation from a plant, a poisonous fluid, a nasty manner of speech or disposition, an acrid juice or a magic potion.

Used together, though, the words corona and virus have only one miserable meaning these days.

And there we go. As Lord Nelson may have said in the hour of his death `Thank God I have done my duty`. Now there is an opportunity for discussion - what Nelson`s final words were!  I had better not start but maybe another day. We need a Nelson now  to lead us against this virus with some aggression, discipline and consistency.

And on a less serious note!