Morning. And another delightful morning here in Ansião. Sunny and hot. Just recovering from last night’s match where the touring party, Essex Seniors lost to the local team, Amigos CC in a 20 over game.
And we played under floodlights. The venue is an old football ground and it’s been converted into a cricket ground. Excellent game which my room mate umpired and I sat and did the scoring.
Just a great experience. I’ve watched floodlit cricket in England, but never been involved in either an umpiring or scoring capacity. It’s been a great laugh so far. The hotel is clean and tidy, but the town we’re staying in is rather quiet. Not a bad thing, but not much in the way of restaurants and bars.
Because of a national Portuguese holiday today, we have to move hotels to a place 30 miles away for a couple of days. Portugal is a beautiful country and the countryside is dotted with isolated villages and pretty greenery. I was so looking forward to this holiday and I haven’t been disappointed so far.
No game today, but the weekend will have games on both days. I’ve picked up a suntan and I haven’t been sitting out in the sun at all. It’s pretty boiling here, but at least it gets me away from a cooler England for these seven days.
It’s just great. So many memories to keep.
A.S.D Brooks
