WAGS 2023 05 08: Relatively Speaking, or Is This The Thin Edge of The Wedge?

 

“Relatively Speaking” because we were joined by siblings of two of the WAGS, namely Isobel, sister of ChrisW, and Angela, sister of JohnH.. This was possibly the first time in WAGS history that two such close relatives of regular WAGS have joined in.

And “Thin End of the Wedge” because this was probably also the first time in that same history that there have been more non-walkers than walkers at a routine WAGS lunch. True, it has been threatening for some time that actual walkers would be outnumbered, but now that it has come to pass, maybe it is time for Paul to change the name from WAGS to something else to record the pre-eminence of the lunchers over the walkers. WAGLS possibly?

As for the walk itself, six brave souls turned out for early morning coffees at Casa Esperança before setting off on a pleasantly fresh morning, just before 9 am.

The Starters; Hazel, ChrisD, Rachel, Angela, Myriam: and JohnH behind the camera.

The same walk has been done several times in the past so there is little point in describing it in any detail. However, there were several encounters en route this time which made it quite memorable.

The first of these was when ChrisD and JohnH were accosted by a large Frenchman on a bicycle exercising a dog which looked like a very young Sascha. In French, he accused the two of us of being English, which accolade  ChrisD accepted in good grace but to which JohnH, with his limited command of French – especially that early in the morning - managed to refute. The rest of the conversation which was friendly enough was carried out in the local lingua franca, that is, in badly spoken Portuguese.

Then we strolled gently on.

After a bit, Hazel left us to go back home to do the cooking.

The next encounter was with the Standing Stone first erected some seasons ago by Yves. It remains in remarkably good shape, and now it received a couple of carefully placed additions.

Then a little bit later, we passed that sprawling building site where previously, on one of our Breakfast walks, we had met the owner and had learned about his development plans. This time, Myriam interrogated him a bit more about his personal details and this is what emerged.

He is Joaquim Candeias Manuel; he has three children: a son who is a colonel in the Air Force, and two daughters, one an economist and one a TAP pilot.

What he is building is a condominium to consist of 12 suites, with 16 bathrooms, a swimming pool, and, on the roof, a sun deck designed especially for ladies. ( Previously he was planning only 11 apartments but now he is being more ambitious !)

However, not much progress has been made over the past 8 months.

September 2022

May 2023

There is clearly some way to go before completion and sale, but he says that he has to finish it within the next 2 years before he turns 80, because ( so he says) there is a law** that, after he reaches 80, he can only sell the property provided he has the written consent of his three children.

(** Myriam has since obtained legal advice that no such legal requirement exists, although the children should, naturally be informed and consulted before such important decisions are made.)

As his labour force seems to consist of just one man and a wheelbarrow, Anxious Buyers, do not hold your breath.

The next encounter was with a rather elderly fellow spraying his orange bushes. Myriam, of course, inquired exactly what it was that he was spraying and why. ...herbicide or pesticide, weeds or bugs?

He seemed somewhat unnerved by such direct questioning and a bit unsure about what it was that he was actually doing, but in the end it was concluded that he was spraying against the moscas.

The final encounter was with a young man who came bicycling down a path through some scrub land and then, stopping to chat with us, graciously invited us to cross his land any time we wanted to, saying it was a very good path. We may take him up on that offer in the future.

Filling the cisterna for the avocados

Then we made our way through the ever- more extensive and thirsty avocado plantation with all their wired fences, and back to Casa Esperança for refreshments and the lunch.

Track and Statistics

Following up on our analysis of historical native distamces,7.00 kms is neither a porankusena nor a parasang. Perhaps it is a légua, an old Portuguese measurement, being a word derived from the Latin “leuca”, ultimately Gaulish Celtic “leuk” and equivalent to the English word "league". In this contect, Myriam commented on last week´s Blog that

"Don't know any Chinese similarity to Parasang. This has aroused my curiosity. Will do some research.

I just know growing up using 3 different measurements.
The 尺=0.3333 metre; the UK foot=0.3048 metre and
the metric metre!"

I´m not sure what her measurement with the Chinese ideogram is but it may well be one known variously in Honk Kong and Macau as the Che, the Check, the Cheh, the Chek or even the Chheck. She might also have grown up with the Cheung (3.715 metres) and the Braça (2.2 metres.)

At Casa Esperança, the full complement of lunchers gathered  and then the usual group photo was taken with a minimum amount of fuss.

Front Row: ChrisW, ChrisD, Rod, Hazel, Dennis.

Middle Row: Antje Myriam, Geraldine, Maria, Dot, Rachel, Angela.

Back Row:: Isobel, JohnH

and then drinks resumed and the meal commenced. This was a delicious cock-a-leekie soup, complete with traditional garnish of prunes, plus breads, hams, cheeses, etc.

"Mmm, that was delicious"

Thanks to Hazel and Geraldine for preparing the meal and thanks also to all the participants who raised €160 for donation to the Lar de Crianças Bom Samaritano, Portimão.

Conversation over lunch was wide ranging. If at times difficult for your Blogger to hear what was being discussed further along the table, there was certainly a lot of laughter at the Western end.  At his Eastern end of the table, some rather more serious discussions were taking place: about currency manipulations: about national economic fluctuations over the years: and about the comparative political efficiencies offered by democratic versus autocratic systems of government.

And on that important and weighty subject, we will leave it to our friends The Long Johns to have the final word.