I love airports and airlines.....

So much for no blogging - my flights delayed :( I expected it for one out of 4 but I didn't think it would be the 1st one!!!!! So after all those effusive goodbyes I just keeping talking as normal!!

There was a culture clash at the airport this morning. I have Austrian blood therefore I turn up punctually at airports or train stations to make sure the system runs on time. So I turned up to the check-in counter two and a quarter hours before scheduled departure time. To find no-one at the check-in counter. I forgot this is Portugal – “no rush, theres plenty of time before the plane leaves”. However I was flying to Germany – so there were about 20 Germans who like me had turned up to ensure everything ran smoothly. Who were also looking a little disturbed that no-one was there to process them efficiently ;) Two hours before departure (1 hour before boarding) one hostess arrived to open a counter. Well actually to change the sign over, log in, call her mate upstairs to find out the goss, then check a couple of people in. At the sight of 3 checkin counters being reduced to one the Portuguese started a mad scramble towards that counter to push their way into the one line. The Germans stood firm – the board had said there would be three counters so there will be three counters, oder? 10 minutes later another hostess came in and repeated the same performance before starting to check people in. The third completed our allocation about 15 minutes after all this started. The Germans started trying to calculate which attendant was averaging the quickest checkin speed and also tried to form 3 lines. The Portuguese (those that weren’t already through) tried to keep the lines chaotic as theres no way of overtaking people if theres a clear order!

Ive just been very cruel and mean to both nationalities. But the thing is I love them both. Its funny but Im going to miss Portugal even for 2 weeks. Little things – like the knowledge I wont eat decent bread in that time. The chaos and the “don’t worry it will happen” attitude is something I struggle to deal with yet enjoy so much – the fact that whatever we do at work, whether we make a million or lose a million Friday night will still consist of a few beers, a good dinner and an argument about what makes good olives.

My last night in Portugal before Xmas was spent having dinner with the geo crowd here. I mentioned before how this dinner came about – but didn’t tell how much planning had gone into it. Nor how many lists of who was coming, what to buy, how many bottles of wine were required had been written on the knapkins at Cancela at lunch. But it was also no surprise to get to the place and have to go out shopping straight away!

JB was cooking shark – he’d never done it before and Im still not sure why he picked it. However he had the best guide anyone can have – Mum’s recipe! Plus he had the best help ever (the lovely Inez) he turned shark into bread and fish soup. Well “help” might be an understatement since she did most of the cooking. For those playing at home the key ingredient is coriander and lots of it.

The main course was served promptly at 10pm. Of course we didn’t go hungry – finger food consisted of the usual chips, pastries and 4 bbq’d chickens. That’s for 12. Who are fitting into a 2 bedroom apartment whose kitchen barely fits one, let alone half a dozen. Bugger being able to swing a cat (or a shark!) – I suspect the cat would struggle to swing a mouse!

After dinner we played “Secret Santa” Portuguese style. We each brought 3 presents worth 50c each (some of us were a little blonde and left the first lot at home – so had to buy another three just before!). You put them into a pile and everyone picks three. Then you take turns rolling a dice:

1. steal a present from someone else


2. give a present to somebody


3. trade presents with someone


4. everyone gives a present to the person on their left


5. everyone gives all their presents to the person to their left


6. Open a present!!!

You can probably tell its Portuguese. The rules are complicated. Theres enough trading, negotiation and theft that you can carry out a black market away from the main game in present trading or hoarding. There’s one present that’s always stolen – in our case the biggest, which ended up being 2 bread rolls! A certain amount of strategy and poker face can go on. The game goes until every present is opened. In reality it goes til you’re too pissed, bored, or the girls have eaten/hoarded all the chocolate.

Then dessert (at midnight). Fruit soaked/saturated/drowned in rum with melted chocolate as sauce. But then it was over. One minute 12 in a room the next just me trying to get some sleep before the chaos of Lisbon airport. No idea what happened to the threatened drinking til 4am. Well actually i got a phone call at 2am to be told that I was going to be picked up and taken out in 15….. Im still not sure if I dreamed that.