I hope that you all had fantastic weekends. I certainly did. The weather (Here I go again!) didn't quite live up to expectations, but it was warm enough even though the clouds persisted in obscuring the sun for the most part.
After work on Friday I was really quite tired, but despite my lethargy, I decided to go to the bar anyway where a couple of hours ticked by over what was probably two or three too many bottles of Sagres. Talk was made of the impending and important match between Estoril and Benfica due to be played out on Sunday evening. Meanwhile the news played out on the television, complete with the ever present and very handy "ticker tape" device across the bottom of the screen allowing for at least some basic level of understanding of the news to be had.
Saturday morning and my better half graciously let me lie in for a while. Ta. Then shopping. I had a some jeans to exchange and a newspaper to buy. The shops were busy with New Year Sales and the now somewhat stale Nativity Scene was still there, with surprisingly, some persistent interest from parents wanting to photograph their children in front of the scene. I'm guessing that the nativity will not be there for much longer and probably by next weekend it will be replaced by a raised up stage with a shiny new car on top or a kiosk proffering introductory rates on a new credit card. Thankfully I didn't have to be there long since my lovely wife had offered to spare me the supermarket anguish and do the grocery shopping herself later. Again, Ta!
Saturday afternoon was the time for Adventure, at least for some of us. My eldest had decided just before Christmas that he wanted to join the local scout troop and so after some investigation on Google Maps on my wife's part and a request that I key in the address of the Scout Hut in to our new Sat Nav, She and He bundled themselves into the car and set off for an afternoon of high adventure at the Scout Hut and the Supermarket. Meanwhile, with the two youngest suitably entertained with new DVD cartoons, I settled down with my newspaper and the dictionary for my own afternoon of adventure. "A Bola" is the Portuguese sporting newspaper, obviously focusing largely on football, and I wanted to both learn more about the importance of Sunday's match and also practice my Portuguese. I turned the pages until I found an article about Estoril Praia, opened up my dictionary to the Portuguese half and proceeded to translate as best I could. It was slow going. But worth it I think. Firstly because it opened my eyes a little to the colloquialisms of the author's writing style; I had to do a double take when my dictionary returned the word "Canary", which of course was perfectly correct as Estoril play in yellow! However, more importantly, next time I will grab myself a pen and notebook too, if only to extend the longevity with which the information stays in my brain.
Sunday morning and, as I had promised myself in my previous post, my family and I made our way towards the sea. We'd packed up a a towel and a change of clothes for the kids who, of course, always seem to get completely soaking wet even though they only paddle in the surf up to their ankles. We'd also managed to squeeze a radio controlled car and two scooters into the boot of the car too for the kids to entertain themselves with along the promenade. This was a good plan it seems, since having the toys to entertain them meant that they didn't moan like fury at having to walk all the way between Monte Estoril and Cascais. What was not such a good plan was leaving the rucksack containing the changes of clothes in the car! As predicted the kids wanted to go down on the beach, and as predicted they wanted to go paddling, and, as predicted, got completely soaking wet.
We ate out for our Sunday lunch, which was a trifle extravagant, but delicious all the same. The Taj Mahal. the world's only (at least in my understanding) Indian Italian restaurant. Which is great for our family, since the two little ones don't much like Indian food, but like most little ones, absolutely adore pizza. Then, with full bellies, we walked (or scooted) back along the promenade to Monte Estoril where we'd parked the car. Driving back home we of course have to pass the football stadium where I would shortly be witness to the downfall of Benfica against the awesome might of the Estoril Canaries. There were already more than a few stalls set up outside the ground selling Benfica merchandise and roasted chestnuts, and the road was seemingly busier than it usually is at that time of day, but probably due to the slower traffic caused by people rubber necking at the presence of the TV trucks and Police cars.
I had previously arranged to meet up with my amigos at the local bar for a couple of beers before the match, which is exactly what we did. Also at the bar was a guy called Jamie, who we'd been introduced to a while back. Jamie (which I'm sure is just the English version of his real name) played as goalkeeper for Estoril Praia back in the late 70's and early 80's and is something of a local legend in the neighbourhood. And he always buys us English guys a drink. He told us that he wasn't going to the stadium to watch the match because he was torn between supporting Estoril or Benfica. Apparently it is quite common in Portugal to support two teams, unlike the very British paradigm of fiercely backing your local team even though they might be struggling to stay afloat at the bottom of the third division. And when we got down to the stadium ourselves we were genuinely surprised at how few yellow scarves and hats there were on show. I guess that an awful lot of the usual Estoril supporters had put their yellows away and got their Benfica reds out of their closets. Predicatably, Benfica won, but we took solace in the fact that Estoril managed to at least put one away into the back of the net, against Benfica's three.
All in all, a good weekend. And mostly because I made some time to do the things I enjoy and enjoy the things I did. I spent time with my family on the seafront. We spent some money and ate out. And my team played the biggest match of the season. What a fantastic weekend!
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