Elemental

But now we enter the time of year when most things are drab. Nature is in recession. And when you crave colour to stimulate the senses and awaken the spirits, these can be difficult times.

There are exceptions. There always are.

– Lev Parikian, Light Rains Sometimes Fall

Like our family and friends back in the UK, we too have been lashed by rains here for what seems like weeks. Our days have started to mirror those wet autumn half-terms when we’d mooch around the house, catching up with housework, reducing Monty’s walks to the functional rather than enjoyable, and finding ourselves feeling rather cramped and stuck and frustrated.

We were warned that Portuguese houses aren’t designed for the cold or the damp, despite the fact that certainly here in the north those are conditions to be expected, and our house is no exception. Lovely when the sun shines and we spill out of its doors and French windows to the garden and outside living area; now, however, we are battling to keep the floors dry and the condensation from dripping off the windows.

But – because there’s always a ‘but’! – there just seem to be these moments when the gloom suddenly lifts, the day throws something unexpected at you, and the cheer you feared you’d lost gives you a jolt, like one of those little cheek-tweaks that my Italian uncle always greeted me with … you know the thing? You know it’s coming but it still catches you out!

Just a ten-minute drive away, there’s a Roman site (Tongobriga) that the rainless day enticed us to. You’ve always got to innovate when you have a dog so going into the site to see the forum and baths was not an option, but instead we explored the little village, followed paths that led to and through the necropolis and the remains of Roman habitations, now filled with mossy puddles and providing Monty with the oldest paddling pools he’s yet enjoyed. A marked walking trail – the PR6 – skirts around the site’s perimeter, leading us to a derelict chapel and granite outcrops where fire-blackened eucalyptuses bravely seemed to be in the process of regenerating themselves. One sad specimen lay toppled, though, brought down by the recent rains. I always enjoy surveying ancient sites. I like to stand on a high piece of land and take it all in, more so than scrutinising detail. No doubt that’s because I can only really bring an appreciation of its aesthetics, having very little knowledge of the history beyond school books. And so as we stood at the far end of the fenced-in forum, and watched a wintry haze soften the mountains on the horizon, I offered a silent thank you for yet another ‘exception’ that our time here in Portugal never seems to fail to offer up.

#newlifeinportugal #LevParikian #retiringoverseas #marcodecanaveses #rainydays #Tongobriga