Books

One of the people in the local FB group has posted free books.  She's left a few boxes of books on a table outside her gate for people to take as they're passing.

driveway

Kindness both in making it look like there's someone at our empty house, & in providing parking for people that need it.  

The people from the business opposite have been told it's ok to park on our drive, & today we let neighbour's visitors park there.

Chicken Guy

I've mentioned before that our 'new' Saturday routine is to support our local restaurants by treating ourselves to a takeaway. There's a chicken van that parks up in the car park of a local shop each Saturday morning which we often use. Last week we phoned in the morning to order our takeaway but they weren't there as the weather was awful.

On Friday night we received a phone call from the guy who owns the shop. He was telling us that Chicken Guy was considering not coming again as he didn't have enough pre-orders. Heads up! 

So we pre-booked and had a lovely chicken takeaway in the Spring weather yesterday. Very grateful to Shop Guy for thinking of us and thinking to call. Yes I know he gets additional business from Chicken Guy's customers so has a good reason for wanting him to succeed, but all our small business owners need to work together in these weird times. 

Free courses

I love free courses and when I was trawling around the net last night looking at them I stumbled upon a couple which friends might enjoy. Passed them on. 

Exercise

 An exercise studio in Dublin is offering the volunteers free membership to their online classes (live sessions & recordings) as a thank you for what we do.

We spend our time looking after others, who takes us of us?  Let us show our appreciation 💖 

CDs

One of the volunteers who worked here years ago is a marvellous musician, and a while ago she ran a crowdfunding campaign which I supported in order to produce an album.

Just recently she messaged me to apologise that it had been so long and to ask where I would like CDs posted to. I had 4 CDs to share, but 5 potential recipients - so she gave me an extra so I didn't have to make a decision :)

The first couple arrived at their destinations yesterday and it feels lovely to share.
 

Feijoada

Dinner last night was a big bowl of feijoada, bean and meat stew.

The lady who runs the restaurant gave my partner a big pot of the stew and some cooked sardines. I guess it must have been the end of the afternoon and what wasn't used would go in the bin. Waste not, want not! 

It was delicious, and very welcome. 

Lego

My kids are older now, and no longer in need of our rather huge lego collection. I could try and sell it, but a lot of it originally came to me via FreeCycle years ago so that would seem wrong. 

So I contacted someone I know in the local council, who has spoken to the local social worker and identified a couple of local families with kids who could make good use of it. 

So happy to know it'll go to good homes. I'll start washing and bagging it tomorrow. 

Agave & Yukka

My neighbour has huge agave & yukka plants growing by the road. She'd obviously hacked them back recently as there were baby plants scattered all over the place. I stopped to pick a few up and to my huge embarrassment she appeared as if out of nowhere. 

I didn't really follow, but 'come back tomorrow' she said. And when tomorrow came there was an animal feed sack stuffed full of more mature plants waiting for me. 

I'll give one to the friend who I recently gave some cacti to and the rest are going along the road. Did you know cacti and succulents make great fire breaks once they get big?

Translation

I've just been calling my 'native speaker' kids to help a friend work out what's wrong with her car. The language she claimed the garage used wasn't in the dictionary, but the kids worked out that was because some of it was informal speech and some mispronounced / heard. Anyway, now she knows. 

Tax time

Yuk, it's that time of year when we have to think about our taxes. And one part of that here is validating all your invoices on the finances website. 

Yesterday I was stuck with one section so my son helped me out by finding me some articles to read through that were helpful. I also posted a question on a local FB group. Someone there replied complaining about a problem I'd read about earlier. She was most grateful for a link that answered her question. 

This morning I got an email from a friend asking about this very same topic. I was able to screenshot the whole process, so hopefully it won't take her as long to work out as it did me! 

Support Local Business Saturday!

 

Support Local Business Saturday has rolled around again and my family loves this new tradition! 

This week the chicken truck we'd intended to use was closed because of the bad weather so we opted to spend more money and get a full on restaurant take away. Blow out! 

Each meal is complete, with soup, bread, a main, salad, a desert and a bottle of wine. The main is the only part you choose. The rest is whatever they include. When I unpacked it, there were two soups? Weird. But when I checked I realised that we had two portions of a fish based soup and one of another. I don't eat fish, and I am so touched that the restaurant remembered and packed me something different specially. 

Meetups

Meetup groups exist because they're created by people who want to meet people, shared interests etc. or just to get to know more people.  I've met some lovely people through them, and appreciate that there are people out there willing to make the effort to meet new people.  Most of the group I'm currently in are people new to the area, which makes for a transient membership, and lots of people looking to make friends. 

I'm thankful for being included in the group, & that people are coming to an online lunch meeting I organised.  

Cacti

Partner will be picking up a few groceries for a friend today and dropping them in. So I'm sending along this bag of cacti pieces to plant as well. She was saying that she'd like some. 
 

Rehoming our Rabbit

We sold some piglets to a couple who came over with their kids to collect them. I gave our lonely rabbit to their kids (with the parents' permission!). I'm sure it'll be happier with more attention and the kids were so excited to have an addition for their mini-farm.

(It probably goes without saying that this isn't actually the rabbit in question!)

Tools

 

A friend is kindly helping us sort out some of the stuff in the house.  Starting with the tool cupboard.  The pink flowery tools are mine, a present from friends when I first got my house.  My first proper toolkit 😍 til then I'd had some of my dad's spares.

The same friends as gave me the tools also saved money from the rent I paid them to buy me things (eg cleaning supplies, kettle, welcome mat) when I moved into the house.  I was staying with them & this was my first house.  I bet they loved being able to shop for me, & being involved in me moving.

I have been spoilt by the kindness of my friends, especially when I've been off sick & suffering.

Cat carrier

Three of our cats had sterilisation operations booked on the same day this week. I'm very grateful for the kindness of our neighbour, who loaned us an extra pet carrier. 

The vet gave us a call the day after the op to check that all was well. I thought that was a lovely touch. 

Pulling together for subsidy help

In this country any financial help you get towards education is based on the scale of 'family allowance' you qualify for. As the kids have barely set foot in the school in person this year I didn't bother applying for subsidies this school year. So yesterday, when I got an email from the school talking about issuing computer equipment to the kids I was woefully unprepared with any of the paperwork.

My son is at home just now so sprung into action for me as I was working all day. He spent ages speaking to various people at the school to find out exactly what paperwork I needed, which was a specific piece of paper issued by social security. He phoned the lady in the local office, who thankfully is a parent at the school and recognised my difficulties. She issued the paper without my being there in person, and my son's mother-in-law collected it on her way home from work. 

Son then managed to get it scanned for me, and I had it emailed to the school by close of business.

To say I'm relieved and thankful would be such an understatement! So many people's kindness working together to help me out. 

Shopping?

My boss asked if we needed anything & said he'd be in town shopping anyway so it's no bother, & when husband was ill & we were isolating one of his workmates asked if there was anything we needed.

Chickpeas

My partner is a fussy bugger, and won't touch chickpeas or most other beans. Last lockdown, we were eligible for free school meals. These came in the form of food parcels, and always contained a packet of beans or chickpeas. 

Today I bagged them all up, together with some other groceries with long shelf lives, and will donate back to the local council for their food bank program. Grateful that we have the luxury of being fussy about food. 

Cat advice

My friend was a bit worried about her cat who was limping. I was able to give her some advice about what to look for and thankfully the cat seems to be improving without need for a vet visit. 
I didn't do anything special at all, but I think I helped her feel a bit more confident. 

(This isn't her cat, but my gorgeous Suburu. Just showing her off)

LDV

I'm the not-so-proud owner of an old minibus which is sitting rotting in my driveway. It's not driven for years but I've not got around to scrapping it. 

I saw a post on Facebook the other day of someone scuppered because they had an MOT approaching and their supply of parts from the UK was caught up in the Brexit / customs fiasco (this model of van isn't produced here in Portugal).

Today she came over and we were able to find some compatible parts which will help her out. 

Japonica

A friend has been trapped in the UK due to covid travel restrictions and has been missing his home here. 

I popped over to check on things, and sent him a photo of the first japonica blossom.

Above and beyond

Today I'm being grateful that my job allows me opportunities to go above and beyond. Students sometimes have issues that are really hard for them but easy for me, and it makes me happy to make them happy by helping. This morning I've been proofreading and editing a CV for a PhD student. It just about melted my brain, but she was so grateful for the help.