Week 3 – 28th March

Tony is still in England – lots of tedious course work I’m sure. He is staying with his old Uni flatmate, Mark, so I’m not sure it’s all work like he tells me.

We had the usual dramas this week- Joe tripped headfirst into the empty swimming pool, Daniel sprained his ankle…

It feels like we are really settled here at the moment. The Lucky Lucky Men know our faces now and no longer tout their catchphrase "Nice Family" at us, or maybe they just watch the boys being loons and have decided that we really are not a nice family.

Our route to school means we often walk by a new road under construction outside our apartments into town. Health and Safety doesn’t really exist here, so we walk on the pavement-less road and stop a couple of metres from the men swinging their pick axes and operating their CAT diggers and JCB tank-things. It really is Enid Blyton boyhood adventure-time. Joe is never happier than scrambling on mounds of dirt on a building site.

On the way home from school, we mostly walk along the beach and watch the windsurfers, kite-surfers and the boats. A favourite is the Neptunus yellow glass-bottomed boat which looks like a submarine.

There are between 50-90 British expats here depending on who you talk to. A lovely Chigwell man has offered to take Joe fishing on his boat, but he really has his sights set upon shark-fishing. He’s also desperate to try quad-biking. Holly fancies the island-hopping tour and Daniel just wants to play Lego.

It’s now weekend and a bit cloudy, so we went to the cake shop for brunch, and the kids are watching "Phineas and Furb" on Portuguese television with Walter and Maira. I have a nice chicken thigh in the slow-cooker for a scrummy Thai curry later on. It’s a huge monster leg, so I think they have some unmentionable poultry mutating here. Also, I’m not tempted by goat yet, but my Dad has an amusing goat curry story from Goa to tell you if you ever meet him.

We do have a few concerns here- the children worry if the Easter Bunny will come here as they aren’t sure that he visits Catholic islands. It will also be nice when Tony returns, as I’m sure people think I’ve been deserted out here- the Cape Verdeans keep asking where my "man" is!