Window of Hope

So terrible about the explosion in Beirut... 

Here in Portugal, a window of hope - Sunday was the first day since March with no COVID deaths, and only one yesterday, and numbers going steadily down for the last nine days. And in an hour or so, the extreme risk of fires from strong winds together with extremely hot and dry conditions, also ends - though still a high risk until end of September.

Spent afternoon reading a Portuguese newspaper and news magazine - far more writing than the equivalent in the UK - good to catch up and understand more, especially as we don't watch telly. And to read some Portuguese.

Gratefuls:
- Portugal's sensible approach to the pandemic
- managing to book a place for a Brazilian family coming on Thursday, for the night
- sitting outside in the dark, eating dinner, and watching first Jupiter, then Saturn, then the moon rising, serenaded by the Roma church below us