Sunday, November 27, 2005

All systems go...

We had another challenging week in Portugal but came back with some reasonable compromises so I guess it was a success of sorts. I'm proud (I think) to say that I managed to find an equal compromise in terms of late nights and workload, but still got my fair share of local wines, Super Bock Stout and 10 year old port. One of the team made a trip to the supermarket across from the hotel and managed to get a bottle of whisky, gin, rum, vodka and a litre of wine for less than £11! Consensus amongst the rest of us was that it wasn't a bargain, but was in fact rude to take all of those in exchange for such a small amount of money. Perhaps we were just bitter as it was too late to do any shopping ourselves by the time he'd told us.

Food-wise, there were no real suprises until the last night when I had the chance to exorcise the demon of my last untried "guilt" food. Having previously tasted my first veal across there and felt incredibly guilty about the wonderful flavour (apparently it is a local speciality), last week's "sin" was pate de fois gras. Yes, I do know where it comes from and I know it isn't right, but I felt the need to give it a try. Quite honestly because it was bloody expensive and I wouldn't risk spending as much of my own cash without being certain that I would like it. The verdict? I'll keep that to myself for fear of losing any more readers.

Just for a laugh on the way back from the airport on Friday, I thought I'd ring my solicitor to see if anything had changed while I'd been away. Apparently all of the paperwork has changed hands and sale completes on Monday (tomorrow!). Cue busy weekend packing and collating my belongings from all corners of the folks' house and as if to add temptation to coax me away, the Tap have got that delicious Fugelstou stout back on again, so not much achieved yesterday then.

Rather more fortunately, I did stumble across a closing down sale in a local electrical store this morning so I'm now equipped with a new telly and all the kitchen gadgets I could get my scruffy mitts on. Last thing to track down is a dining suite so I can entertain the family on Christmas day, but given that I've taken the last of my holidays for the move and I've seen little available for delivery in less than a week, they could be eating from trays on their laps.

Oh, and just to add a little more fun to the proceedings, I've started sneezing for England today so a fully fledged case of man-flu is sure to follow...

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