Central heating is on my mind today, as I wake to the early morning sun streaming through the window.
Living in North America we become so accustomed to feeling warm in our houses in winter and then we cool them with air conditioning in the summer. If you have a fireplace, it’s not really for warming you up but it’s for ambience except, of course in farmhouses where it might be the source of heat like my friend, Lynda Cunningham.
When I woke I could feel my cheeks chilled. Of course the rest of my body is buried under layers, of a blanket , down comforter and flannel sheet! I’m warm, but I realize the air is cold in this house. I checked my phone for the temperatures and it had been as low as 5°C overnight and according to the weather app a severe weather warning. Oh not a problem at home when you set the thermostat at 68 to 70° but, here what do you choose? You open the door and the windows just to let the outside air in to warm up the house. Tiled floors throughout look lovely and are easy to clean but they are cold. I walk out onto the front porch and as the sun streams down it actually feels a bit warmer. It’s interesting because I’ve spent a lot of time in Ireland and of course I was born in England. I should know about this temperature change. In Ireland, my cousins have their Aga stoves , running a lot of the time. My cousin in Dingle has hers on 24 hours a day 365 days a year! A lot of these Aga stoves are hooked up to pipes that go up through the closet so you can dry your clothes and they heat the rooms-they’re wonderful . Look up central heating in Portugal. Heating is expensive here. Electricity is pricey here even though I see lots of solar panels on houses and there’s wind turbines, even solar farms. Most houses and apartments do not have heating. You have to buy those portable heaters and plug them in and be aware of the energy that they are drawing; you dress in layers and layers of, non-synthetic clothing and you take advantage of the heat from the sun when you can. Here I was the other day praising sitting inside a glassed in patio out of the wind, feeling warm and comfortable, drinking my coffee and eating my omelette. Not everybody can afford that kind of life .
I was looking forward to another day of no drama. I decided I was going to drive north of Vila Nova De Milfontes, to a bakery that’s very well-known. Apparently it’s open all day long so I thought why not? I hopped into the car, tapped the address into my phone and start it off. I got as far as the turnoff to Almograve and my Google maps quit, indicating it couldn’t find a connection? What? What is going on with my phone? I continued on into Almograve, down to look at the beach once again, and then turned around and came back to the house.
I had a message this morning from Vodafone telling me that I had to choose a plan. I did that already done that on Monday, I thought. I decided to call them. My phone wouldn’t work.
I messaged to Luis. He didn’t answer so I guess he was working. I drove down into Zambujeira and thought I’d go to the tourist bureau. They were closed. So I walked down to my favourite little shop and went in and whined to the owner. “please helpâ€! She was wonderful. She called the Vodaphone company, spoke to them with in Portuguese. She was put on hold, and then spoke to someone else, and so on and so forth. Finally, she got somebody to help; as we were looking at my paperwork I noticed that the receipt for the payment I made on Monday for €25 was for a number similar to mine but the last number was a nine instead of a four. That was the problem! Anyway, one fella got it straightened out and supposedly I will be OK. I have a credit with Vodafone! Ask me by the weekend if that’s true.
A caution to you when you are travelling for more than 30 days- maybe your home phone plan is easier to use. I have always purchased a sim card when travelling and never had trouble before but, next time I will do better research.
It’s going to be another cold night tonight with a low of 6°C and tomorrow’s high is only going to be 15°C. I know what you’re saying or thinking, that I shouldn’t complain because it’s really cold at home, but I only have a heater in the bedroom and one in the living room (they are weak!) and lots of blankets & without the sun I feel the chill. 🥶 At least the sun will be shining and there’s no snow!
Beach at Almograve
