Happy Mother’s Day to all, including my own Mum. Hope everyone had a lovely day, although if it’s like my home, you were probably ignored until you received a box of choccies and the kids got all lovey-dovey in the hope of a choc or two.
Monday was the going-out anniversary for Tony and I. We have been seeing each other for 14 years, and next month we’ll celebrate 10 years of marriage. OMG! Knowing Tony, I’ll be showered with gifts and exciting nights out. Alternatively, it’ll be "here’s a box of Black Magic m’dear".
Our exploration of the island is on hold until Tony comes back to share it with us, but I am finding out bits and bobs locally. The hotel across the road has a great sandy playground and doesn’t mind us using it. The quaint old port part of town hosts a fab deli/café, so I’ll be having a delicious brunch here next week to celebrate Tony’s return. The kids will be on the stone jetty wall, watching the crabs scramble about.
It’s the local Secondary School holidays here. I now run an unofficial creche in our empty swimming pool for a 1,2,3,6,8,12 and 13 year old. In true local style, I do it in a relaxed way, from my balcony with a book in my hand.
I’m getting to know the expats now, and there’s a hell of a lot of Brummies and Northerners here for the sunshine, I guess. Steve is a landscape gardener here and has helped me scrounge some nice plants from other people’s gardens for our own apartment block.
I wish my brother would visit here, as he would fit in straight away. Please take note, Steve, if you’re reading this!
This week has been even more chilled as I have a good routine. Danny now goes to morning class instead of afternoon, so he does more grown-up play, instead of tennis etc. Still not sure what exactly that is, as he informs me on a need to know basis. On Thursday, his class was filmed by a Portuguese TV crew, for a program called "Pearls of the Ocean," and he even denied a camera-crew being there.
Joseph has left Murdeira Infant School as he’ll join Holly in the more formal Letrinhas International School after Easter. So both elder children have learnt lots of Portuguese in the mornings and we’ve all played in the afternoons. Now they are established with friends, I can sit back and get on with jobs (reading, cooking, learning Portuguese…). There is a daily play-out time with friends around 4pm until dinnertime at 6.30ish, then games until 8ish and bed. Joe and Holly are fully-fledged whist experts, except they like to save all their trumps until the end for a big ta-da final flourish. Don’t know where who they got their show-off genes from!
On Saturday, the children just wanted to play inside with their toys, and we made Easter Bunny Masks etc. Muffin-making has also become a core activity- there is no squash/cordial juice here, just sachets of powder mix, so we have tried a variety of cupcake flavours – cola, guava, strawberry…
Today is Sunday, and we’re heading for one of the best surfing beaches on the island. Our island of Sal has produced a world champion windsurfer, and professionals of other hard-core wave sports. I’m hoping the kids will be inspired today by the fun out there. It really wouldn’t bother me if the children were happy surf-dudes or successful business-folk when they’re older. I just hope they apply themselves to something, unlike their drifter Mum. (Although, I must admit that I’ve had a lot of fun drifting!)
Tony returns to Cape Verde tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to his suitcases coming home.
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