Britain’s love affair with the Portuguese Nation goes back a long way, some say they have been an ally of ours for 600 years, and modern Britain’s liking for this small country of some 11 million shows no sign of abating. Over 45,000 have made it their first or second home, with the majority choosing to be in the Algarve, although significant numbers live in both Lisbon and Porto.

The Targus estuary looking west. The city of Lisbon is on the right.

Many Brazilians, estimated in 2022 to be around 360,000, live in Portugal, drawn by the shared language and a generally safer environment to bring up children than in some parts of Brazil. Celina’s brother Carlos made the move in 2016 and hasn’t regretted it. Such are the shared history and values, the Portuguese airline TAP operate two direct flights to Rio de Janeiro and three to São Paulo every day.

One of the popular restaurants in Rio de Janeiro is Guimas, in the suburb of Gavea, and it’s been frequented by the Rocha Miranda family since it opened in the 1980s. Its name is a contraction of the surnames of the two couples who started it, Priscilla & Ricardo Guimarães and Tintim & Chico Mascarenhas. In February this year Domingas Mascarenhas, the daughter of one of the owners, opened a clone in Cascais and it’s already a big hit with the local Brazilian ex-pat community.

In another life I lived in Battersea and in 2006 a lovely couple lived next door; we lost touch. Anders, a Norwegian, messaged me via LinkedIn in 2022 and, in the exchange, revealed he and his wife Chloe were living in Cascais. We have met up during our visits to Estoril and this year were invited to Chloe’s birthday party. (Note 1) Do you look forward to going to a party, helping someone you know celebrate an event or do you make an excuse and hope they will believe the white lie – ‘I’m going down with Covid and don’t want to spread it/my grandmother’s died (again)/my son’s moving school/university/flat’?

It’s a wonderful word ‘eclectic’; you can sort of get your tongue around it! And so it was with Chloe’s guests, a ‘broad range of backgrounds, nationalities and personalities’. There was Bill, a dead-ringer for Wild Bill Hickock ….

…. who lives in Boston and comes to Portugal for a month to play golf.

I always find it a challenge to introduce myself to someone I don’t know, but Barry took the biscuit.

“Hello! I’m Richard and this is my wife Celina.”

“Barry; I am almost 80. What was your name? Serrine, Selina, Sharine?”

“Celina”

“I am not very good at names. I am 80.”

Not sure whether he wanted a medal or a kick up the proverbial?

In the UK we’ve got our knickers in a twist about the sensitivity of asking individuals where they come from. Some years ago, in Amber House we had a delightful couple of doctors, Maya, of Scottish/Japanese parents and Opel, who had very Eurasian features and, when asked, said he came from Nottingham. What I really wanted to understand was where his parents or even grandparents came from!

Chloe’s friends Gitu and Sunnil, sister and brother, were very chatty, and actually live across the valley from Celina’s mother’s apartment. Gitu volunteered they had been born in Bombay, which said a lot as it’s been Mumbai since 1995 (!), but their parents moved to Lagos in Nigeria when they were 5 or 6. At some point they must have moved to the UK, but I don’t remember when and maybe wasn’t told why. You remember the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972 expelling those 50,000 ‘South Asians’ (Indians) who had arrived during the colonial period and who had come to dominate the country’s economy? Most settled in the United Kingdom; maybe Nigeria did the same.

The theory of ‘six degrees of separation’ suggests that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. Intriguing, huh! At the party I experienced this in real life! Briefly, I (1) met Eleanor (2), a Russian-English woman who has a daughter (3), who’s great friends of the daughter (4) of Valentine Low (5) (Note 2), who’s the cousin of Katrina (6), my (1) first wife. Boom boom!

And there were others, like Brazilian Eduardo, studying engineering at the University of Lisbon, his father Eduardo, Chloe’s Kick-Boxing instructor, and his mother Stephanie, who were fun to talk to.

Toni’s daughter Ana (Note 3), who lives in Rio de Janeiro, and younger son Eduardo, who lives in Dubai, were already in Portugal when we arrived on the 18^th June but all three travelled north to Guimaraes and Viano do Castelo the following day. On their return Eduardo flew back to Dubai and Ana settled down in the Estoril apartment …… and three days later tested positive for Covid! We have all relaxed after the dark days of death and lockdowns, possibly being a little blasé about it – “Oh! There’s no need to wear a mask’!” – but there has been a marked increase in the number of confirmed cases, certainly in the UK and in Estoril Covid testing kits have become difficult to buy.  

Night follows day, as the expression goes, so a couple of days later Toni tested positive! We had plans to drive down to the Vilalara Resort in the Algarve, mid-way between Lagos and Vilamoura but his continuing positivity required a rethink.

Eventually only Celina and I flew from Lisbon to Faro for our three nights.

Couldn’t resist this delightful conversation by the pool

We flew back from Faro on a BA Euroflyer aeroplane operated by Titan Airways. Wonderful to be in a new Airbus 351; not so good to find the runway obstructed on our approach – abort the landing, power on, into a holding pattern then land ten minutes later, safely!

Richard 12^th July 2024

Hove

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Note 1 Is it still considered good manners not to reveal a woman’s age?

Note 2 Valentine’s a journalist, past Royal Correspondent for The Times, and author of ‘Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Crown’ (2022)

Note 3 Ana is a digital nomad, working for the Brazilian on-line company Nubank – “The Future is the reason we make plans”, but by choice lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.