Liquid Tales

A few months ago two lovely friends Janet & Olly asked if we would like to join them in a short trip to the Isle of Scilly. Of course it took a few seconds to accept. Another friend & neighbour Richard is also joining us. So we are off on Friday and I’m so excited. Olly – Olly Day the very talented singer, comedian, entertainer noted for his end of the Pier shows at Cromer and Gorleston to name a few & Janet a glamorous journalist, chicken keeper & gardener extraordinaire ( the good life comes to mind) are taking a few extra days and travelling ahead of us. All flights from Norwich to Exeter on our date are full so Richard kindly offers to drive the three of us to Exeter on the Friday morning to catch the sky bus flight from there to St Marys airport at 4.14 pm. I do not relish an early start but with Easter traffic chaos predicted we don’t have a choice. The weather is usually a few degrees warmer in St Marys apparently but looking at the long range forecast it is not looking brilliant unlike the forecast for the mainland U.K.!

On Thursday morning I receive a call from Richard, he has had a call from the airline to say our Friday flight may be cancelled due to bad weather conditions in Scilly! The airline advise Richard that if this is so we will be taken the following morning to Penzance – Lands End to catch the ferry to Scilly! This will mean a very early pick up of 6am Saturday. It sounds horrid. What should we do? If the flight is cancelled we have very little chance of booking two rooms on Good Friday for one night at short notice. Roger is on the golf course so I can’t ask his opinion so I decide to take the last two rooms at the airport Hilton for Friday night. If the flight does go fine – if not at least we have a bed for they night. I send a message to Janet to warn her we may arrive at the accommodation a day late. ”Oh bugger!!!” Janet’s typical reply but we are not letting it worry us we will see them but a day later than expected.

Later in the day Janet calls me to say their flight too has been cancelled due to fog in Scilly. They were due to fly to Scilly from Penzance. So they now have to find accommodation overnight and will catch the ferry on Friday morning. What a pain. Richard is picking us up at 7.30 am on Friday so I quickly make some sarnies for the journey then I’m off for an early night!

Grounded!

Olly & Janet making the best of the cancelled flight….

I was up very early worried about our only clean undies left outside all night after we had heavy rain! Dried them on the room heater while I finish packing which seems much easier than the rush before we came out. I strip the bed and put a load of washing in Rita’s machine. I am impressed by the short cycle and everything comes out brilliant white. I must check the instructions on my machine when I get home. We pack the luggage in the Turnbull’s car and head off into Luz for yummie bacon & egg baps, healthy orange juice and delicious coffee. It’s beautiful & sunny so we sit outside again. The beach looks wonderful and is the perfect place to take a long look before heading to the airport. Rita drives and as we are early we decide to drive to Praia do Faro for a last drink. The beach is fabulous. We sit in a busy little bar right on the beach. Back at the airport still more time to have a glass of wine with the Turnbull’s in the sun outside the airport before checking in. We hug and say goodbye. We have been made so welcome and are so relaxed ready to hit anything that comes along again! Check in was very smooth and quickly we are through to air side. This is our fourth trip out of the U.K. since last October and it’s definitely getting much easier and feels safe. Roger purchases some spirits to stock our home bar and I pick up a few bits of cosmetics not available in duty free on the way out. The Ryanair flight is smooth and we land early at 18.30. Masks are worn everywhere inside shops and bars in Portugal and Spain, at the airport and on the aircraft. However after we land in the U.K. we notice that in the queue for immigration only 50% of people are wearing masks. A dramatic change as soon as we land! There is quite a queue for immigration but it moves quickly and we are soon collecting our one checked on case. We are out of the airport and on our way down to the train. I had booked an open ticket hoping for the direct train to Norwich. However the 19.15 had been cancelled and we were told we would need to catch the Birmingham train and change at Cambridge this was due at 20.21 so a real disappointment. We have a large Costa coffee and relax in the waiting room. We catch the said train tired and ready for bed. In Cambridge we get off the train and change platforms. The Norwich train is ready in the station so we make ourselves comfortable with our luggage and heavy duty free purchases of booze and confectionery. Half way to Norwich I realise we have left the cabin bag on the Birmingham train. There is absolutely nothing we can do and I am just praying the dirty smalls are not in that case! I ring Birmingham but the lost property is closed until 9 am in the morning. We arrive at Norwich and taxi home. Piles of Roger’s birthday cards greet us on the door mat. The house is freezing so we turn up the heat make a cuppa and find our warmest PJ’s, jump into bed for a warming cuddle. Reflecting on the two weeks we have enjoyed the company and warmth of our hosts at their beautiful new home. Thank you Rita & David 😘

It’s a fabulous sunny day. 18c but a strong wind. We sit on the balcony enjoying the sun. David FaceTimes his children about their mum’s wedding the day before. Rita is busy washing and ironing. Today we are meeting friends for lunch so reluctantly I leave the sun and get ready for our trip down to Pria de Luz. We have been invited for pre ( late) lunch drinks at Izzy & Chris’s house on the way down into the village. When we arrive we are greeted by two large lively springer spaniels called Reggie & Ronnie. Two more guests arrive who are introduced as Geraldine & Stuart from Ireland. They too have just moved to Luz and are looking to buy a house and retire here. Izzy showed me around their garden and their huge property which has amazing views of the sea. They have started redesigning & modernising the house but still have a lot to do. After a livener we drive to the beach to our restaurant Paraiso da Luz. We have a fab table at the front in full sun. The large stunning beach is busy yet still allows plenty of room for everyone. After a leisurely lunch David drives us back to Ché Turnbull where Rita crashes and the three of us watch a few episodes of Bosch ( second time round) before we all give in to sleep.

Next morning . It’s our last day. Having had a wonderful sleep I try and pack a few items ready for our flight home tomorrow. David has an appointment in Lagos with his consultant at the hospital to assess the damage to his shoulder. DT & Rita drop us off at Lagos harbour so Roger & I can explore the old town. We have a wonderful walk through the Old Slave Market up to the castle and back down again through the small winding cobbled streets. Tempted to stop for coffee we decide to head for one last look at the marina and the beautiful boats. We meet up with the Turnbull’s and decide to lunch at The Quay. After a lively discussion and a huge lunch we head back home. Later we watched David’s film choice.’He Who Would Be King’ with Sean Connery & Michael Caine. Rita makes some delicious broccoli & cheese soup which finishes me off. I went to bed early and updated my blog and left the boys watching the Hunt for Red October – a brilliant film ( so they say) about a Russian submarine captain who defects to the West.

It’s a bright start to the day but cold and windy. 11c. DT has risen early and walks into the village to pick up his car, on to physio then picks up the usual fresh bread rolls for breakfast. Today the Turnbulls have invited friends for lunch. We leave Rita to prep for lunch which she insists is easy and doesn’t need help with. We retire to our quarters to shower and change. I do a bit of admin and write up my blog for the previous day. Roger reads up on a Portugal travel book looking for our next trip I guess. A memory pops up on my Facebook page taken eight years ago when we visited James & Leslie in New York. It’s was a very cold evening and Roger is dressed in his NCFC hat & scarf with our young grandson on his shoulders. A flash & eight years later our handsome almost 13 years old grandson is now taller than both of us. At 1 pm guests arrive. Two lovely gay husbands called Steve & Paul and an Irish lady Barbara accompanied by Billy her fluffy white dog with avery loud sharp yap. The boys brought their adorable cocker spaniel called Archie. Rita served a delicious lunch of Chicken Caesar, mozzarella, basil & tomato & a warm bean salad with baby new potatoes. All my favourites. Afterwards we had homemade birthday cake. The wine was flowing and the conversation extremely varied. One of the boys had been a ladyboy bar owner in Thailand and a hairdresser to the stars including many famous people including Danny La Ru & now owns many properties in Jersey. His partner Paul an amputee I found very interesting. We talked about his life changing operation and other health issues. He was a very bright techie a subject close to my heart. Paul went on to set up DT’s Tv system for him and after they all left we settled in for a quiet few hours on the sofa in front of the blazing fire. We watched a black & White classic ‘ Witness for the prosecution’ a 1956 film with Marlene Dietrich & Tyrone Power.

Saturday we stay in bed and feel extremely lucky. Our bed is so comfy I could stay here all day. Roger and I put the world to rights as usual R of course has brought me tea and a kiss. We wait for noise from our hosts before we decide to shower and dress. DT is up and sorting the fireplace, clearing and relaying the fire ready for tonight bless him. Eventually we all emerged and decide on bacon & egg rolls in the bar by the beach. The coffee is so good so is the fresh orange juice. It’s not very warm or sunny but I have my cardigan and scarfe . I notice some very young glam girlies with next to nothing on – are they mad?😆. We leave and drive to Lagos where we enjoyed a lovely walk around the town. Rita buys some great bits for the house in a fab little boutique. The boys wander up the street to find a bar so we carry on window shopping. I have been looking at silver jewellery which I love and find a necklace. I can’t believe the price which is heavily discounted. We catch up with the boys but it starts to rain as we walk down to the front and find the Cantina (Adega de Marina) which by now is my favourite restaurant as the sardines are to die for. We spend two hours in here with carafes of wine then the boys decide they need to watch the Norwich v Brentford match so DT drives home and we stop at the local bar. Poor result for Norwich and the boys are disappointed as it was a “6 pointer” for us – whatever that means!!! My sister Cece texts to tell me some great family news which cheered us up so Rita and I stayed on in the bar opposite their house while the boys went on home. When we got back to Chéz Turnbull the fire was roaring away so we settle down and watch another great film, ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’ starring Gregory Peck. Another classic movie. Rita tries to feed us with pate and cheese – just to finish us off. The boys stay up and watch a war movie. Rita and I retire to bed to read.

It is our hosts birthday. I have brought cards over from Norwich from some of David’s children so I pop these under his door. David leaves for his physio at 8am. It’s pouring with rain – not the best weather for a birthday. While he is out we shower and dress. I FaceTime with Joolia complaining I haven’t heard from her in days. She explains that her new little girl Snowy needs a long walk every morning at the time we normally speak! So I am taking second place but I don’t mind as the Gilveys are so loving their new addition. I Snapchat Aspen to wish her a good last day at her latest placement at Sheffield hospital. She now has a brief break to study before her next placement. I can’t believe she is almost through her second year as a student nurse. David returns with fresh bread rolls and croissants so we have a delicious breakfast and fresh coffee and decide what to do today. Due to the wind and rain it’s not exploring weather so we take it easy for an hour or two and watch Rita make a carrot cake – one of Davids favourites. Around midday the sun comes out so we drive to Davids favourite little bar in Espiche. We meet more of the Turnbull’s quirky friends here and enjoy an hour or so of banter. Rita then drives us into Luz to a restaurant called Latitude. We are just in time as the kitchen closes at 3pm. The menu is mainly tapas which three of us go for but Roger decides on a three course with his main dish being roast duck Portuguese style. To celebrate a famous man born in 1946 David picks a fabulous bottle of red wine from the Douro. Rita and I stick to the white wine. We then stroll along the prom to The Bull and enjoy a drink in the sun, meeting a guy called Jonathan who once lived in Mattishall Hall in Norfolk. Now well over the driving limit we leave the car and Uber home. A pleasant evening is spent in front of the fire watching TV eating carrot cake.

We wake to lovely sunshine. Judy is all packed and ready for her flight home today. We all decide to go into Luz to have bacon rolls and coffee. Today we are going to Seville for a few days. On the way we drop Judy at the airport. Such a shame she can’t stay longer but she has her own reasons to to rush home. Wink wink. It takes around 45 minuted to the airport in Faro where we all say a sad farewell to Judy. Rita does a fabulous drive into Seville. It takes around two hours and with great sat nav directions we make it in great time. We find our booked apartment quite easily. Unfortunately David can’t get the keys to work for the doors. The boy have to wait for the cleaners to turn up to find our what’s wrong. Us girls are dying for the loo. So we trot off to the bar on the corner where we enjoy a couple of glasses of wine. Much later the boys join us and we find out the cleaners have serviced the wrong apartment and we have the apartment above it. Just five flights of stairs! Also they had quite a way to find the car parking space allocated. By now it’s 5.30 pm. We all move on to a bar by the river as we are starving only to discover that the restaurants don’t open until eight pm? We wander along the river to the bridge where it seems very lively. We see a tapas bar that’s open which is all we want. We grab a seat outside and sit down and peruse the menu. A very sweet young lady approaches us, we assume she works for the restaurant but she was just from a very friendly crowd of youngsters enjoying an early evening drink. She helps us chose items from the tapas menu and tells us all the places we should visit whilst in Seville. We have a few laughs with her and agree her choice of tapas are really good. After we have eaten we stroll back in the direction of our accommodation. We stumble across a small traditional Spanish bar in a back street. It’s full of atmosphere with many hams hanging along the ceiling and delicious tapas displayed in cabinet’s. Rita, DT and myself continue on the vino whilst Roger orders a brandy, they serve him a treble. We are enjoying the atmosphere so have another round. This time Rogers brandy is even larger , I’m not sure I’ll get him up the five flights of stairs. Back at the accommodation which is almost next door, the keys wouldn’t work in the outside lock again. Luckily we have two sets & Roger’s work. The accommodation is spacious and light but in need of a little TLC. Nevertheless we all agree it’s in a perfect location of Tirana a now favourite part of this beautiful city. My sore throat has now turned into a full blown cold.

Next morning we decide to explore the other part of the city so walk along the riverside and cross the bridge towards the cathedral. We have all been to Seville before, the last time being with Norwich Inns (our pub buying group) in 2014. Another memorable trip. We find a coffee shop and partake of ham rolls or toasted sandwiches with fresh orange juice and fabulous cafè con leche. We wander on and Rita spots a famacia so we both get some meds – me for my cold and Rita for her allergies. We book the hop on hop off bus and as we are waiting for the next bus David feels he need the loo badly. He is no longer interested in the bus tour so wanders off on his own to explore the loos of Seville leaving the three of us to take the bus tour. After a while we pass through a very atractive large square in Alameda area so we decide to hop off and find somewhere to meet up with DT. We choose a rather traditional looking place called the Maestro Rufino in full sun, with a spot of shade for Roger and order some white wine. The young portly waiter is very friendly even telling us he is hung over with a dicky tummy ( not sure we are happy to be served by him) but cheerfully manages to upsell a bottle of wine to a magnum, suckers that we are. We text DT our location unawares of the distance he has to walk to find us. We are peckish by now so order some tapas which are amazing. We have smoked salmon and advocado on orange biscuits, tuna loin with juicy tomato, tomato salad, potato salad and braised oxtail of those that I remember. We watch out for DT and wonder how long he will be. Eventually he turns up having done 16000 step to find us, it was way further than we thought. He arrives a bit hot and bothered poor boy with quite a lot of wine to catch up on. We hear of his escapade’s including having the set of keys that didn’t work so couldn’t get into the apartment. He found a little bar on route to relieve himself luckily. As he soon resumes usual cheerful self he soon perks up but is not hungry so we have another magnum of wine and put the world to rights. After several hours sitting in the sun enjoying life we decide to make a move and stroll around the streets of this area admiring the architecture. We are way off route so decide to take an Uber back to our local area. DT is still not 100% and my cold is raging so we head home for an early night. Around 9pm.

Wednesday morning we are woken by dustmen at 7am. Any slight noise in these narrow backstreets echo’s, much different from the day before which was a Holy holiday and very quiet. We pack and leave the apartment at 11.00 as DT has arranged a late check out for us. We turn in a different direction today and stumble across a wider lively street with many café bars and shops. We have breakfast much the same as yesterday in a traditional Spanish café again the ceiling full of drying hams. A lovely cheerful seniorita serves us. We wander on through this pretty esplanade Rita buys some delicious looking epinadas for our friend Joe who we are meeting later. We visit the market. We all say we could spend a day in the market trying out all the little tapas bars. The food looks awesome. Time is getting on so we head back to the apartment where Rita and I sit on the sun terrace and wait for the boys to collect the car. Time to leave this wonderful city. All of us decide our visit has been so enjoyable that we plan to visit again soon. Rita drives us back to Portugal. The scenery is wonderful. We pass olive groves and many orange trees. The land looks very dry. They are seriously in need of rain in the this part of the world. Especially Portugal. David tells us there is a serious water shortage here which is very alarming.

We stop over in Carvoeira to meet up with Joe – his wife Marie is still in Norwich. Joe has driven over from the UK with Ché the Yorkshire terrier. We meet in a fabulous restaurant called Villa Medici where we were greeted with a glass of Moët by Joe. We all had great pasta, more wine and a grand catch up. Later we drive back home to Luz where we chill for the rest of the day and watch TV – sadly DT can’t get the Norwich match so we watch a girlie series then a thriller film.