Last Photo Together

A reflection in the windows of the posh Sana hotel on the waterside at Parque das Nações in Lisbon. We walked along the front to the Vasco da Gama shopping centre for a Brazilian rodízio, and then scootered back, as were running out of time to get Ju and Tom to the airport for their flight back to Manchester.

Many hours later, they are still waiting in the security queue, and I've spent the entire time filling in forms for our flight tomorrow to the Azores, hugely complicated by the fact that, although we are British, we live in Portugal, and have EU vaccination certificates - a possibility obviously not considered by the makers of the online forms. And, this morning, we didn't get any breakfast until we'd gone to a clinic in Reguengos for Ju and Tom to get their second of three (expensive, and unpleasant) tests done.

As Julia said after using up her phone charge filling in their locator forms for going back to UK, the combination of Covid and Brexit have really made journeys way more stressful, especially as you're never quite sure whether you've actually got it all right.

Still, I am hugely grateful:
- that Ju and Tom made the effort to spend these days with us, it's done us so much good
- for a peaceful hotel room near the airport, that I will enjoy after turning off my laptop
- that we're not going back to an empty house just yet

Oh, and have added an extra of a hoopoe we saw in the park; have tried many times to get them on our Land, but they are very shy and blend in totally with the colour of the ground. It confirms what I think - that it's often actually easier to see wildlife in the city than in the countryside.