Today's post was going to be about Portuguese food - inspired by a rare disappointment in a restaurant on Wednesday night - but the pros and cons of food here is a massive subject and requires more thought. I will need to break it down and digest it properly. Instead I have a much more pressing and immediate situation to report.
As the temperature of Lisbon hovers around the 36-37ºC mark even walking along the streets can seem something of a chore but those of us who have lived here long enough know that there is at least one relief to be had from the baking heat - the gentle spray of liquid from the balconies above!
The first number of times this happens to you, as in most cities, you assume that it is something related to an air conditioning unit and you hope, as you feel the trickle roll down the back of your neck, that pigeons weren't using you for target practice. In Lisbon, however, you hope and pray for air conditioning drips because the alternative (at least in my eyes anyway) is almost as bad as the thought of pigeon shit.
As I have mentioned before, and as anyone who has been to Lisbon can confirm, Lisbon is very much a living city. By this I mean that the majority of spaces in and around the city are very much multi use. There are apartment blocks everywhere and most of these conform to the same rough design - with the verandas at the front all having the same handy drainpipe flowing straight onto the street.
In a style evocative of medieval waste disposal (throw it out of the window and hope no-one is passing below) the dregs of cleaning those apartments more often than not ends up dripping out of these spouts and onto the heads of those unlucky enough to be walking underneath. (We even have a device in our apartment to unblock the pipe when it gets blocked with...whatever.)
So bare in mind, here in Lisbon relief from the heat comes at a price!
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In a move which shows I am, at least in some ways, developing Portuguese traits yesterday, as the temperature reached 36ºC I bought a new jumper. (Well S bought it for me - she's obviously a driving influence.)
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I have, of late, begun watching an amazing Portuguese comedy show 'starring' a character called Bruno Aleixo. Here's one of his great bits of advice:
Roughly translated: "Men with earings: they're drug addicts!"
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HI!
ReplyDeletei'm portuguese and i lived in an other continent for some months. And I came back because I didnt like it at all. Why dont you do the same? It is said that Manchester is such a warm welcoming city. Not to mention the food. Go and be happy!
best regards,
Ana
Dear Ana,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. You are very much right in the fact that Manchester is a very warm and welcoming city and the food is indeed amazing (not to mention the beer!) but I fear that you have misunderstood the sentiment of this blog. I love living in Lisbon and I hope to do so for many years to come but I also hope that the city will continue to give me many things to write about...these aren't complaints (well perhaps some are) but rather my musings and critique. Lisbon, and Portugal, is an amazing place that provides both outsiders and insiders moments of happiness, frustration, amusement and anger and this is just a record of mine.
Thanks,
A