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How’s That!

Cricket and the Silver Coast sounds an unlikely combination, but you would be surprised. This weekend CG is planning to score at least 50 runs at a match played between Oeiras (his team), and a touring side called Follies Farm from England.

The Boy King, Jake the dog and I will be there sharing a picnic and cheering him on in a scene straight from the heart of the English countryside.

Finding a cricket team for CG was one of his conditions to moving to Portugal four years ago. Thanks to Google I was able to put him in touch with Sandy who appears to be the force behind cricket in Portugal and has recently built his own pitch, in a beautiful spot near Santarem. The locals, who pass by occasionally on match days, seem totally bemused – it really is unheard of here and usually confused with polo on the rare occasion that the subject is raised.

I will report back next week as to CG’s score, but fingers crossed it is reasonable as the matches here are not too frequent.

For more information on cricket in Portugal click on the link:

http://www.icc-europe.org/PORTUGAL/index.shtml

I may have mentioned in recent weeks that our chickens are laying very few eggs at the moment. It seems to be the case with most of our friend’s chickens too, so perhaps a seasonal thing, but yesterday I noticed a couple of chickens perched on top of the fence ready to leap into the hedgebank. Having encountered this situation before, I realised that they have probably made nests there and are secretly laying eggs under the cover of the brambles.

I have searched and searched but so far found nothing – it is all getting very annoying, especially as I actually had to buy chicken food and eggs at the same time last week. I will keep looking and perhaps try clipping their wings, not something that I look forward to doing really. The best thing is that one of the most likely spots is under our neighbour’s fig tree, so I am able to have a snack while I look. The figs are very small but quite the sweetest I have ever tasted, I also toss the over ripe or spoilt fruit down into the chicken’s run below the bank, goodness knows why they want to escape from the run, it sounds like heaven to me!

My dear parents have now returned to the UK after a lovely two week stay in Portugal, so with the Boy King back at school my plan was to get down to a big project on the farm, Roly’s new house for instance, or varnishing the doors, windows and shutters, the list of jobs is endless. Then on Thursday evening we had a call from CG’s brother announcing that he and his wife would be arriving on the 29th. They are a lovely couple and we have been nagging them for ages to come over, so I am really not complaining but I have to say that after all these weeks of visitors I am dying to get on with something! Perhaps they could give me a hand…….

Several weeks ago, on a particularly cloudy afternoon CG, who has a bit of a knack for this sort of thing, predicted an Indian Summer, and I have to say that he was absolutely right. The weather here on the Silver Coast lately has been splendid, perfect for our imminent visitors and perfect for replacing the barn roof, which is still far from finished……………

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