Retro Nº1 – 20th February 2005

If it’s money that matters – You are in the wrong place!!!!!

A good week yet again in the Algarve. didnt have a lot of work this week, only managed two and a half days. This is not normally a problem as i have an agreement with russ my boss that when there is no work, i can go surf – without pay of course.  One big issue with this is that you need some waves to surf.  South and West coast beaches were as flat as a witches tit!  so i had a bit of a depressing and boring week. Then payday came and of course my earnings were very low, so on friday night, i did my food shopping for the week, put my rent money away and fuelled my car which then left me with the grande total of 10€ for spending money! i wasnt the happiest bunny in the world.

Saturday came and i went on surf safari with the two german girls, kati and franci.  Same old story though, no surf.  I am not grumpy very often but this week things were wearing thin.   As a last effort, we hit tonel, one of my local beaches.  James was there too so all four of us headed onto the beach complete with surf gear.  there was a small wave, not ideal for a big board, but we gave it a go anyway.

The surf effort was mediocre at best. i had to use my 8.5 board as the 10.2 is being repaired so i really struggled to get any rides.  i had two but they werent exactly classy.  i got out to have a cup of tea and then realised i had left the kettle at home, so no tea!! we sat on the beach until 4.30 in glorious sunshine, the sound of the waves crashing in front of us and finally everything was peachy again.

compare my saturday afternoon to yours in blighty! suddenly a smile came back to my face.

Ii left the beach and also franci and kati, they wanted to stay to watch the sunset. i headed home to have some food. washed out the wetsuit, put the dinner on, made a cup of tea, turned the stereo on and watched the sunset from my terrace to the sounds of the red hot chili peppers – under the bridge. as if by magic, i was back in heaven…….what a glorious place this is.

On saturday night i headed to the dromedario to spend my well earned 10€, of which i only managed to spend 8.40€ and still managed to get pissed!!  for the first time i am aware of, there was a fight in the bar. the bar is a great place to be, if you dont want to climb up on the bar and dance, step aside, because the bar staff will do it for you.  The police came in at two and told the owner to close up for the evening, they are having a bit of a clamp down here at the moment.  during august all bars are allowed to stay open until 4am.

The first year i came here i was talking to the bar manager. he told me there was a nightclub here in sagres, i was surprised. i asked him what time it opened – he said ‘when i close’ i then asked, ‘when do you close’ he smiled and replied, ‘when i want to’ .  a little different now, last year they changed the rules. the club can stay open till 7 or 8am depending on how busy it is.

Because work was slack, i had time to check over the love bus. the rear brakes were completely worn out – i mean nothing left of them at all.  there are also a few oil leaks which means it wont pass its MOT here in august.  So with a little sadness i realised that the love bus’s days are now numbered.  it is just not worth fixing the leaks, gearbox out, maybe even the engine, and i do need a left hand drive really, overtaking is a real pain in the ass. so i am on the lookout, either for a left hand drive from england or to buy a portuguese registered car here instead.

The bus has now covered 195000 miles and still never misses a beat. looks like work will be a bit busier this week so can earn a little more cash. surf forecast is still lame so wont be missing too much at the beach. so i guess thats all for this week.

keep warm

çiao

wayne