There are situations in life that put everything into perspective. Everything else is of small importance. You even become religious to give you strength and you pray for your loved ones.

Situations where you feel useless, where there is nothing you can do. And all you can think is the ones you cannot help.

All I can do is pray and send my strength and hope with all my heart that everything will be ok.

Força Maria! Muita força! Vence!

The only country I haven’t visited in the United Kingdom is Scotland. But that is about to change

About 12 years ago I went on a trip to Republic of Ireland. It was the first time I left Portugal and I was going to visit a country I have always loved even without being there. On our way there we stopped at a few cities in England (including London) and Wales. Ireland was all I expected and more. I could really feel at home there. After the Republic of Ireland we went to Northern Ireland (very different from Rep. Ireland, the atmosphere was a bit tense at the time) and finally back to Portugal. The trip didn’t include Scotland

Although I’ve been to Wales again this year (will post about it at some point) and I’m planning to go to Ireland again, I still haven’t had the chance to know Scotland.

Fortunately, I will attend a conference this week in Edinburgh!! I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon and coming back on Friday. Hopefully there will be some time to get to know the city. I’m told it’s lovely! I bet it will be freezing though
I’ll try to remember to take some pictures and post them

EDIT: I hope I don’t get lost… I really have some difficulties in understanding some Scottish accents

Yesterday, 10th June, was Portugal day! It also mark the death of Luis de Camoes, the poet who wrote an epic celebrating the Portuguese discoveries in the 16th century, and it’s the day of the Portuguese comunities around the world! Special day! You can see more here

and daily in the last 3 weeks: ‘Ok, we’ll sort it out for you and give you a call back today‘

My phone never rang. Not ONCE!!!

If you want something done, do it yourself!

When someone comes to your house to fix something (electricians, gas people, painters, etc) it is polite, if not mandatory, to offer them:

In England-A drink, i. e., tea or coffee and/or some biscuits.

In Portugal-You fill your fridge with beer or take them to the nearest cafe on their break and buy them some.

(After 3 weeks of chasing the estate agency and desperation we finnaly have our boiler fixed!)

I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time now…

I was very surprised to know that there are so few holidays in England. I soon found out that besides Easter, Good Friday and Christmas, there are no religious holidays in England. Well in Portugal they make the majority of them. Most people in Portugal don’t even know why there’s a holiday. All that matters is that you don’t have to work that day

After reading this, you may think that Portuguese people are lazy. Well it’s not exactly like that. Working conditions are very different, pay cheques as well, and there are many differences in the number of hours people work in a week.

Basically, if you are a civil worker in Portugal not only you do nothing during your hours of work, you also have a lot more days off. I must say that although in England civil workers have as many days off as everyone else, opinions about them are exactly the same (it must be a global problem )…

The major differences are: In England there are no religious holidays (besides the above) and if Christmas and New Year are on a weekend, an alternative day is given.

In Portugal you have loads of religious holidays, no alternative days are given if they are on a weekend and if you are a civil servant and the holiday is on a Tuesday or a Thursday, chances are you’ll get the Monday or the Friday too.

Total number of bank holidays in Portugal: 14 (8 religious) + one regional holiday=15 Although more for civil servents (this year around 5 more days) and some may be at a weekend.

01st Jan: New Year

Tuesday 47 days before Easter (mobile): Carnival

Friday before Easter (mobile): Good Friday

Sunday (mobile): Easter

25th April: Liberty day

1st May: May day

Thursday (mobile): Body of Christ (or some other translation)

10th June: Portugal day

15th August: Don’t know the translation but it’s to celebrate the rising of Mary’s soul (death of Mary)

5th October: Republic day (when we ended monarchy in 1910)

1st November: All Saints

1st December: Restoration of Independence (We had 3 Spanish kings ruling Portugal because of a succession crisis. This is when we ended that!!)

8th December: Don’t know the translation but it’s the patron of Portugal Imaculada Conceicao.

25th December: Christmas

Plus one day that is the patron saint of a region ( in Lisbon it’s Saint Anthony on the 13th June)

Total number of bank holidays in England: 8 (3 religious)

01 Jan: New Year

Friday before Easter (mobile): Good Friday

Monday after Easter: Easter Monday (don’t know the reason but maybe because Easter is on a Sunday)

First Monday in May: Early May bank holiday (May Day)

Last Monday in May: Spring Bank holiday ( Reason? Maybe just because they felt like it? No idea)

Last Monday in August: Summer bank holiday (what about Autumn and Winter?? Again no idea about the reason. Do you need a reason?)

25th December: Christmas (can be a different day if the 25th is on a weekend)

26th December: Boxing day (day after Christmas on the next Monday if 25th is on a weekend) This one I know the reason! Comes from the day when the boxes of donations on the churches were opened to give money to the poor

There you go! Another big difference between these countries.

Although it saddens me that I can’t have the Portuguese holidays off (not the religious because I’m not religious), I still remember them and celebrate them!

And I can’t complaint because being a student I have a lot more holidays than the common worker in both countries

P. S.- Christmas and Good Friday are called public holidays and the others are called bank holidays. The reason? Google it is you are interested (which I doubt ). This post is too long already

is to realise that no matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen or spoken to them, your true friends are still there. I’ve been blessed with such good friends all my life. And it’s so good to know they are aways there, not once, not twice, but  every time I need them. As I am there for them.

Maybe that is what makes it so difficult to be here. I left that back in Portugal. But even so they are there. And so am I.

Thank you

People can say what they want about England, but in my opinion, they have one thing in which they are better than anyone else in the world: their bands!!! We can start with some of my favourites:

MUSE

Depeche Mode

Placebo

Cold Play

The Mission

The Sisters of Mercy

James

…….

Not forgetting the classics (some of them not to my personal taste but admit they are genius):

Pink Floyd

Queen

Beatles

The Rolling Stones

Led Zeppelin

The Who

Sex Pistols

Dire Straits

The Cure

Madness

The Police

…..The list is endless

And then we also have:

New Order

The Verve

Blur

Oasis

Stereophonics

Keiser Chiefs

Prodigy

The Killers

I could be here all day… I’m sure I forgot many, and I’m sure you have many more to add to the list

Thank you England for some of the best bands in the world Although sometimes I have a hard time living here, I also have the bands to help me get through it.

Should we decide in the heat of the moment and when we feel like we can’t take it any longer?

Or shall we wait untill we calm down, not making decisions based on just a few, recent experiences?

But if we wait, how long shall we wait? How long until it becomes the right decision instead of the heat of the moment one?

Bear in mind, if you feel like you can’t take it any longer, even 1 day is an eternity… But making a decision based on one month when you had years before that is probably not the best action…

Difficult one…

Muse= Musical Orgasm!!!!

(Orgasmo musical no original)