We're dreaming of a dry Christmas!

17th – 22nd December

We have made a more permanent base of the Algarve and will stay here until just after Christmas. The awning is up which gives us more space. We have also played tennis and been for a couple of runs. The weather has been disappointing, lots of rain and thunder. However today has been warmer and the rain interspersed with bright sunshine.

Krista has made the momentous move onto solid food - a thimbleful of runny baby-rice every night just before bed. She consumes it as if it is the first thing she has eaten for days. This is not the case but good to see that she already loves her food so much. She has quickly got to know her red and yellow spoon (that cost €5!) and the pot I mix it in and squeals and kicks whenever she sees me with them. I feel a little mean to show them to her in the morning when baby-rice is not on the menu just because I can’t resist her reaction!

At nearly 4 months we are moving into delightful territory with her. Aside from cooing, growling and kicking, she has learnt to give those lovely open mouthed, dribble-filled baby kisses when we ask her to ‘fais bisous’ (yes she does it in French). She has also fallen in love with the soft toy ‘Nemo’ that Graham won on the pier just before she was born. It must be the fact that he is a fellow red-head and that she can hold him in her own hands to give kisses.

The time has passed quickly here. We’ve done a lot of pottering and a little exploring. There are many beautiful sandy beaches in both directions from us towards Albufeira and Port Mão and something poetically ghostly how calm everything is out of season. Morrissey eat your heart out.

23rd December

In which the awning which was up, is down.
With gas and a problematic currency card finally worked out, Graham uttered the fateful statement ‘that’s everything sorted then’. Annie couldn’t help warning him off such utterances cynically sure, that the next crease would soon present itself for ironing.

So after a day of increased sunshine, fewer showers and a line of washing that was almost dry again; our hearts sunk to hear the rain return and the wind whipping up as we went to bed. Difficult to sleep with it battering down so hard on the caravan, we were awakened completely at three when it began to rock. The billowing and banging sounded far too close for comfort. Graham got up to look at the awning and was horrified to see that it had worked its way loose from most of the pegs and looked ready to take off with the next gust. All the things we had been so pleased to clear out of the caravan were soaked and covered in the gritty, sandy mud of the ground here. ‘I don’t know what to do’, said Graham, knowing full well that we needed to get dressed quickly and get the awning down before it caused serious damage to us, the caravan and itself.

There followed a hairy 30 minutes in which we battled in the midst of close thunder and lightning, and heavy wind and rain to get all our stuff into the caravan and the awning dismantled.

At first we thought it might be necessary to get into the car for safety, so bundled a for once sleeping Krista into a blanket. She was very pleased about the unscheduled wake-up and greeted us with a huge beaming smile. But maybe she sensed the urgency of the situation and when we realized we were in fact fine in the caravan, went soundly back to sleep. This was quite amazing for a girl who is always ready for a drink, particularly after waking.

Damp and wired, we were back in bed in about an hour. In the continuing storm we slept uneasily amongst dreams of hurricane and disaster until morning.
In the morning the clean up and damage assessment began. We were relieved and amazed to see that an awning we imagined throwing away had in fact escaped completely undamaged bar a few mud stains. While Graham cleaned and laid it out to dry, Annie and Krista set out on a mission-like stroll around the campsite to check out damage others had suffered. Not wishing similar misfortunes on others, it was just to reassure ourselves that it wasn’t completely due to beginner’s incompetence that our awning hadn’t survived the night.

I was well satisfied in this spirit with the number of awnings flapping on washing lines and the knock of tent pegs echoing through the air. Hurrying to deliver the news to Graham, I was further pleased when our sympathetic English neighbour Peter regaled me with his own heroic tale of holding onto his tent poles for three hours to prevent a similar disaster on his pitch. A jovial spirit reigned and as if having survived a bombing raid, campers from all the over the world bonded over tales from the night before and surmisings on how to best to repair the damage.

24th December

In which the awning is back up.

It’s a bit like the psychology of getting straight back on a horse when you have come off. An awning needs to go back up when it has come down. We have learnt our lesson and it is securely battened down with extra pegs and securing straps we spent €16 on at the European version of B&Q. See pictures of awning mark 2.
It continues to rain vigorously so Graham has also dug one of the trenches we’d judged our fellow campers far too serious for doing only a few days back… I always said camping was fine as long as it didn’t rain, hmmmmmmmm.

25th December

Merry Christmas. I think I’d prefer snow… Krista asleep, Annie listening to Lenny Kravitz, Graham refining his trench.