That time of year has come again when it seems that Summer is drawing to a close. All the signs are there...
My children start back to school next week, and even though some Portuguese schools have another week (or two?) of holiday to go yet, the shops are full of "Back to School" offers on books, stationary and cartoon branded rucksacks. We're all set though, right down to new ankle socks and fresh haircuts all round!
The football season is well underway, with of course Estoril Praia playing their third match tomorrow evening with no losses so far! The stats suggest that Estoril have a 56% chance of winning and a 25% chance of a draw, which means that Academica have only a 19% chance of winning. But that's just the statistics and in reality anything could happen. The numbers for the following match next weekend against Braga are the reverse of those though, giving Estoril only a 20% chance of winning. And of course the European Campaign continues as Estoril find themselves in Group H with Seville, Freiburg and Liberec. It seems that a gratuitous trip to the UK for an Estoril v Tottenham/Swansea/Wigan tie, is at least for the time being, not on the cards.
My neighbour and his family, like many other Portuguese families, have now returned from their traditional August holiday in the Algarve. And it is definitely quite a tradition for Portuguese families to head south on the 1st of August and not return until the 31st. When camping with my family in Milfontes this July I noticed that a decent proportion of the site was crammed with caravans that had obviously not been moved in some time. Most had awnings that had been pegged down to cope with the winter weather. Some had fake green lawns with a tarpaulin covered bbq in the corner. A few even had small picket fences around the pitch with pot plants in the corners. On the Friday night of our stay the site suddenly became much busier than it had been as families arrived, un-pegged, removed tarps, lit their bbq's, and settled in for the weekend, only to pack up and disappear again on Sunday evening. But that was in July. In August, when presumably, families go for the long haul and camp out for the entire month, adjacent to the same families that they've been pitching up next to every August since, well a long time ago, well that, that must be quite an experience.
Of course our own seasonal summer visitors have also come and now gone. It's always really nice to have our family come and visit us of course, and for my wife, children and I to join in the holiday spirit with trips to beaches and museums. But it cannot last, and when the airport runs are done it's time to slip back into the daily routine once again, leaving a strange empty quiet kind of hole.
So that's it. Summer is over. All the signs are there. Well, I suppose it is, and yet it isn't. The weather report for tomorrow says that it's still going to hit 36 degrees, which is far from what anyone in or from the UK would call cold! And yet, on social media streams from England I already hear people telling tales of Christmas hitting the supermarket shelves and counting down the number of shopping days! Ridiculous! Yet on those same channels I have some very good friends who quite openly tell me how lucky I am to live here in the sun, where the summer holiday never ends. Well, yes, I am lucky to live here. But no, summer, even here, does not go on forever. It just lasts a bit longer than it does in England. Maybe tomorrow, I'll take a few minutes out from work to take a leisurely walk along the seafront, have a coffee and grab a huge handful of summer before it disappears? No rush though, eh? I'll take my time, thank you very much, because Summer in Portugal kind of fades away gradually with an air of stereotypical Iberian tardiness.
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