25th of April 1974 is a very important date in Portuguese history. It was the day when 48 years of dictatorship ended and democracy began! The revolution was peaceful and is also know as the red carnation revolution.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about and don’t have the patience to read much, here it is in a nut shell:

(for those who want to know more, click here)

Portugal was under a dictatorial regime for 48 years. The dictator was Salazar. Things were not easy, especially for the ‘lower’ classes. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how bad a dictatorship is…

One of the things that came with it was a horrible war with our colonies of the time that wanted independence. Many lives were lost and it got completely out of hand.

A revolution was planned by military people. The April Captains, are they are remembered. The plan was to abolish the dictatorship, begin a democracy and end the war.

On the morning of the 25th April 1974, the signal that everything was ready was sent: A song played on the national radio. And troops began marching to Lisbon.

And after a few hours of tension they did it. The dictator at the time (no longer Salazar) gave in.

The revolution was peaceful, only 4 people were killed (by the regime), and the reason why it’s called the red carnation revolution is because soldiers had carnations on their guns.

And freedom came We are now a democracy!!

This is a very special date for me personally (as it must be for many other people). If it wasn’t for this day, I would possibly not be here!

My father was arrested a few times for conspiring against the dictatorship. My parents fell in love during the time he was in prison and my mother visited him frequently so that he wouldn’t give in to the torture and psychological pressure. They fell in love and started dating when my father got out. At the time of the revolution my father was in prison again.This time he would stay there for a long time Two days after the revolution all political prisoners were released. Including my father. If it wasn’t for that he would probably still be in jail (or worse) and I wouldn’t be here!

So for you all Feliz dia da Liberdade!!!!

A arrancar cabelos!!!

I’ve been looking for a box to store my CDs so that I wouldn’t leave them everywhere, cases on one side, CD on the other. After a long search I managed to find one that gives easy access to the CDs, makes them easy to identify, and is only for the CDs and not the cases. This was hard enough. Most CD storage ‘devices’ are either for CDs with the cases or don’t have the easy access I was looking for.

I finally found it on amazon and ordered it on the 18th Feb. It would be sent on the 21st at the latest. So I waited… On the 8th March I decided to email them and see what was happening. I must point out that I’m talking about other companies who sell on amazon, and not amazon itself. Received an email saying it was out of stock! Why did I have to wait 3 weeks and email them asking about it for them to see it was out of stock???

Anyway, another company was selling them, so I ordered it again the next day. On the 13th I receive an email saying the order has been shiped! Usually takes 3 or 4 days to arrive. Good news!!!

Wrong! The order arrives late and when it does it’s floppy disks!!!! FLOPPY DISKS!!!! Who uses floppy disks???? Another saga to find a number I could call. Finally find it. They say they are terribly sorry and that they would send the right product immediately, I would receive it in a couple of days, and I could even keep the floppy disks! How nice of them!!!

And I wait again…

…

And I go to Portugal…

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And I come back…

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And I wait…

…

On the 13th April I phone them again. Surprise! They are out of stock!!!! And they didn’t realised it before?!!!! AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH

So I find another company and I order again. Not much hope this time…

Then I go to Tesco with Russ (o Jumbo ca do sitio). We go in different directions and when we meet again he says: ‘honey, there is something I want to show you’

And there they were!!!! The CD storage box!!! Dozens in front of me!!!

Because I was waiting for the other order and because they were more expensive at Tesco, I decided not to buy them.

The next day I receive an email saying the other company was out of stock!!!!!! Can you believe this????????????

Because I don’t have a car I’ll have to wait for the next opportunity to go to Tesco

I accept bets on that when I get there they have sold them all!

While still in Portugal we went to see a football game of my team, the great Sporting. Russ as been wanting to see a Portuguese match live so my dad took us. Dan also loves football so we invited him. The game was a bit slow but in the end we won 2-0 just as Russ had predicted

Russ and I were supposed to meet some of my friends for some drinks later. Because the match ended a bit late, we wouldn’t have the time to take Dan home (my house in Almada where they stayed), have dinner, and meet my friends. So my dad invited Dan to have dinner with us and then he could take Dan home while we met my friends.

Unfortunately, I received a phone call from my friends cancelling the drink so we would have time for everything.

Dan’s immediate concern was, as he said: ‘Does that mean I still get fed or will I be taken back to Almada?’ LOL

Of course we would still feed him!!

I translated it to my dad. He laughed and said that because Dan cheered for our team he deserved dinner. Eh eh eh

Hope you liked it Dan!

He says with a very ‘from-the bottom-of-my-heart’ face:

When you are sad, I am sad.

When you are happy, I am happy.

When you are angry, I am usually in trouble.

I managed to download a few pics I took when we went to Sintra. I will still add some more on my images page when I get them. These are just a few that I took with my phone. Not really a pic person…

This is the view to Palácio da Pena, on top of the mountain. Seen from a stone throne built so that the Queen could admire the palace.

Below is the entrance of the palace.

We then went to the most western place of continetal Europe, Cabo da Roca. No picture of that yet but you can see it at the website I refered to earlier.

After that we had a few minute at Guincho Beach. where we can see Russ having his first contact with an Ocean!!

We ended the day at Cascais. No pictures again. Been there so many time it didn’t make sense to take them. But it’s a nice place with a very famous beach.

Lovely day! Great weather and the views were amazing!!!!

10 days in Portugal…. Never enough…

As usual I had a very good time. Not much of a holiday as I didn’t rest much, but did wonders for the mind!

As I said I took Russ (again ), Becca, Olly, Phil and Dan with me.

The first two days we all stayed at my house and I took them for a bit of sight seeing and food so they would get used to how things work. I took them to the castle, where I worked as a tour guide some years ago. It was good to be back!

After those days I decided it would be good for me to say at my dad’s. The others were obviously interested in sight seeing and I was interested in seeing my friends and family. Also I needed a rest from England, and speaking English all day was not going to help (although I still had to speak English with Russ he’s getting close to being able to speak Portuguese )

It was great to see my friends! And to see that some things don’t change, like their friendship. Dinner at Vanda’s (although she had a rough day she still managed to make the delicious chocolate mousse and we all had a great time), coffees with Rita and Xana, seeing my mum, my dad, my step mother, the fantastic food, the good coffee (finally),… I could keep going…. There is no place like home!!!

I met with the others to go to Sintra on an 8 hours tour. I thought it would be worth it although i’ve seen it hundreds of times. Absolutely gorgeous!!!

I was going to add some pictures to this post but I forgot the cable to download them so I’ll have to do that some other time.

I’m sure once Olly and Becca get their website working they will have many for you to see. And all the event will soon (I hope) be described by Russ on his own weblog. But don’t take my word for it

In the mean time I found out this website with wonderful pictures of Lisbon.  It will give you an idea of the city as we ‘alfacinhas’ see it.

And now I’m back to England and the terrible coffee. Sorry but it’s hard to get used to it

I managed to avoid Milton Keynes for a bit longer and stayed the last few days at Russ’s with his family. It has been wonderful a usual

Will tell you more about it some other time The post is already too big