Chewing the Treat

It’s never a great idea to get your figs mixed up with your dog treats.

The kindly market stallholder in Alcacer do Sal handed me a few figs to ‘try before I buy’. Placing an item in my mouth I felt that the crumbly texture was not reminiscent of the humble dried fruit. Eewww! Unwittingly I had placed the doggy treat within my mouth by mistake. DO NOT try this at home. I had to cover my oral displeasure as I did not want the chap to think I was reacting to his delicious figs so, with slight of hand, I removed the offending object and quickly replaced it with the delicious fruit. Thrilled with my ecstatic reaction, he offered Mr Fluffy a swig of his ginger liqueur which he had, rather worryingly, secreted in the glove compartment of his van.

The Algarve is lovely with beautiful beaches and fantastic weather but we felt that as soon as we ventured inland the people became friendlier and the atmosphere more chilled out – less touristy. In Melides, where we stopped to pop into a market, a chap knocked on Dickie’s window. He wanted to tell us how much he liked English people and what a great time he had working for Mr Richards in Bristol. ‘Did we know him?’ After happily showing us his goosebumps, which he proudly stated was his physical reaction to seeing an English couple, he strode off with a whimsical expression and I felt that, in a small way, we had made his day.

the boys chewing the fat

The trip had started well and became even more pleasant when we pulled up at our lakeside venue.  Graham’s magician friend JJ (who we had previously found in Silves) was parked in the van next door. Mr F enjoyed helping JJ clean the roof of his van and we spent a couple of days sitting in the sun and testing Hugo off the lead which went pretty well until a car, dog or person came into view. He’s a very naughty dog. Now off to Evora for some very big stones.