Travelling On

Karmacat

Thanks SL, I just re-opened the trips listing to check, and we're actually going *through* Sintra to Cascais itself.

"Depart from Lisbon through Monsanto park en route to Sintra. This
old-world village is nestled within tree-clad hills just north of Lisbon.
Discover the exterior of the Royal Palace, with its two oast house like
chimneys. The palace is Moorish in origin and is one of the oldest
buildings in Portugal. Enjoy a short stop in the square of Sintra, where
you will get some time at leisure to explore this quaint town.
Just before you arrive in Cascais, stop at Praia do Guincho, a popular
area for surfing. Capture the most westerly point in Europe, Cape da
Roca, and admire the surrounding scenery of the waves breaking over
the golden sand.
Then arrive in Cascais, a small sandy bay surrounded by shops and
restaurants. Take the opportunity to capture the modern marina, stroll
along the bay or relax in one of the cafés.
The return drive to Lisbon follows the River Tagus, passing the village of
Estoril on the way."

So I'm happy with that.  Got to buy my ticket to get to the cruise terminal today, Southampton - my grandad worked down there for a while as a teenager on a tugboat, so I'll be really interested to see it from a ship!  The wind is gusting badly here, so I'll have a quick walk to get some fresh air and call it quits.  More tidying and sorting in the house beckons.

Karmacat

Morning all yesterday was the special day at a local Victorian faux castle that has a stunning Egyptology collection, with my sister.  Awkward travel meant I was out of the house from 7.45 (!!! even when I worked, I never did that!!!) till 5.30, and that was with skiving off the last 90 minutes.  Catatonic in my armchair as a result, but splendiferous photos of the house, its contents and in particular the handling session.  We were allowed to handle everything without gloves, which is rare these days, and got told the story of the British Museum bringing down a scanning machine for a particular exhibit, plus a long term loan from the faux castle to a museum in Houston, Texas.  Amazing.

Today ... having done absolutely nothing last night, I feel a bit rested, plus its very, very grey out there, so here's the plans:

- washing machine on.

- tidy in the kitchen while thats running.

- out for a walk - get that fresh air during the morning, always a good thing.

- supermarket shop order.

- must try and do some finance things before I go away, and it makes sense to do it now, to have a bit of time for faffing and proving ID and so on.

- another bit of planning for the medium term is an Irish holiday.  This one would be on my own **happy jumpy smiley**.  Partly genealogy, around Dublin and Meath, partly astronomical, since yesterday I was hearing tell of the big telescope at Birr, which I saw on Sky At Night, but forgot about.  Since I'll be over there, why not?  Dont know when it will be, mind you.  Lots of prep work to do, especially on my own notes!

ETA - plus one remaining piece of handwashing.

Karmacat

Washing machine has just finished, and I was meant to be tidying the kitchen ... but I remembered I really, really need a dualUSB charger - without it, you're playing plug/charger tetris constantly, they don't exactly give you a lot of plug capacity in these rooms.  When you both have a kindle, a camera and a phone, it soon adds up!  So I was ordering one at Boots - apparently I haven't updated my account since before 2010, yikes!  So I went the whole hog, registered my Advantage card online **finally**,   clicked a couple of offers, and when I pick the stuff up at my local store (which avoids delivery charge, and is only ten minutes away) I'll be getting 517 Advantage points, which is apparently £1.29.  Much better than a slap in the face with a wet haddock

badmemory

piece of handwashing.

Not allowed in this house!   If it doesn't wash in a machine it doesn't come in the house & preferably with the possibility of tumbledrying.  But then I have a whole (very expensive) dinner service which never gets used because it won't go in the dishwasher.  Just think of the space I would make if I actually got round to putting it on ebay?

themadvix

badmemory said:

piece of handwashing.

Not allowed in this house!   If it doesn't wash in a machine it doesn't come in the house & preferably with the possibility of tumbledrying.  But then I have a whole (very expensive) dinner service which never gets used because it won't go in the dishwasher.  Just think of the space I would make if I actually got round to putting it on ebay?

That would definitely be my approach these days, but sadly I do have a couple of hand wash items which spend most of their time at the bottom of the washing bin (I won’t get rid as they’re nice items and one is part of my ‘funeral’ outfit...) ... thanks for the reminder Karma, I might just get that bit of washing done  today!

Ireland sounds like an excellent trip - genealogy and astronomy, how wonderful! We really loved it when we visited for a wedding a few years ago - must get back again.

apple_muncher

There's good reason why Praia do Guincho is good for windsurfing - it's blimmin' windy! Sintra and Cascais are simply beautiful . Savour them!

Karmacat

I promise the handwashing is only dresses that I've bought for weddings - I wear one or other of them about twice a year, and I'm willing to compromise on the handwashing to that extent.  Plus my sister bought me a cashmere shawl for my birthday, and ... what can you do?  It's not exactly hard

Other expenditure for the coming months - the fencing will have to be bumped up, I've just seen that two more fence panels (built inside my boundary, by the previous owners of this house) have been waving around after Dennis. 

Karmacat

I made a rod for my own back this morning, tried to do an online order for Asda - no more massive vouchers from Sains, so I'll go with the cheaper supermarket.  A new download from Firefox meant it was impossible to even see the log on page, even when I switched off the protection, so I went to I/Explorer, and the computer didn't like that much either, switched itself off 3 times, but at least I could log in.  Got to do something about that when I get back.  Thats all I've done, apart from peas and  lentils in the slow cooker!

apple_muncher

Shall I send you a hammer...??

Suffolk_lass

Karmacat said:

Other expenditure for the coming months - the fencing will have to be bumped up, I've just seen that two more fence panels (built inside my boundary, by the previous owners of this house) have been waving around after Dennis. 

There are lots of flirtatious fence panels waving at all and sundry round here (not ours - they have remained demurely in their frames) after observing Dennis. He had that effect on them.