No prison warders in sight

There may be no prison warder but life feels just like being jailed but having committed no crime. Automatically moving back if someone comes near. The only contact with the outside world via the phone or Whatsapp or Skype.

Short term release to go to the shops but it's taken so long for the shops near me to impose distance rules. Basic hygiene is still not as good as the little supermarket in a village close to me. The national chains where very slow but are getting better. 

While being in my prison i am busy but i need a square metre of mirror to make the mirror i have got ready to prepare.

That's me busy in my prison so what are you doing i would love to hear.

I had a space between the window and where the sliding door is going to go. I used the gap to put three shelves and each shelf was three pieces of wood glued together. I also made three vertical cuts to put some Walnut into the shelves.

Here is a cheese board in the shape of Africa it's made out of Chestnut and this one now needs a Food grade oil so that it's safe using it for food preparation. 

This is a county in the UK as it's for a customer this is the rear as i don't want the customer to see it yet.

Well as you can see this is Australia but this is the frame after i cut the Australia board from it. But this is the Australia mirror, i am also making Africa the mirror. USA the mirror. China the mirror and China the cheese board.

A time to be proud

Tonight at 8pm i changed channels on my TV but i couldn't understand what i was looking at. What was shown was people standing at the door to there houses and clapping there hands. 

At 10pm i saw the news for the UK something i don't normally do, perhaps i should more often. There where scenes all over the UK of people at 8pm standing at the doors to there houses clapping. They where clapping in support of the NHS and for all the care workers from cleaners right up to the very top Doctors.

I had missed the event and it did make me feel incredibly proud even though i no longer live in the UK.

NHS you are loved by one and all.

What will the world look like after the Virus

What will the world look like after the Virus.

Food shops are open but that's all i saw today but nothing else. How many people will be out of work after the end to this Virus a lot i think. Many businesses that are not doing well will just close and there staff will be out of work.

But what about young people who are finishing school only to find no work. Even for those coming out of University after studying for a Degree what do they do. Imagine after the transport industry has mass closures what this means is more unemployment.

I live out in the country but how about people in the cities i fear for a world that will change and not recover for a very long time.

What a shock i got

I mentioned yesterday about if you can help then please help.

I have just had a talk to someone i know personally who went out shopping and called to a local hospital. When they got to the hospital they where not allowed in but found hospital staff who had worked many hours and where having a few minutes rest. The food was donated to the hospital staff who gratefully accepted it.

If you look at the bigger picture this act was something that will not be forgotten  by those involved. It reminds me of something i did during the fires here in Portugal a couple of years ago. The feeling i got was something i will never forget.

So my friend your gesture will not be forgotten.

An urgent appeal

There are so many people who at these difficult times need help. I have readers from over 82 countries and i thank them all every one of them. May i ask if you know of someone near to you who needs some think of help Please offer help but don't put yourself in danger.

At this time your help may be just what that person needs.

Even a simple phone call to check that that someone who may needs help that call could make a difference.

Good luck and Stay safe

This Blog is about me BUT

It's been great to tell my story all about my life in the sun BUT.

Today i had a call form a friend to say to be up early because he was going to help me with something that was to heavy and to big to manage on my own Great now that would let me carry on with lots of other jobs until. An hour later he called back to say that the Government had declared that the country was in a Lock down. No travel and you can only go out to buy food.

After recent trips to Makro i have enough to get me by but the only thing i am short of is onions. I have lots of onion powder but it's not the same. There may be people near where you live and if you can do someone a good turn then think about other.

So i will finish by wishing each and every reader who reads about the life of this old Scouser.

On a recent shopping trip

On a recent shopping trip i called to a Makro trade store. I have a trade pass and decided to do a little shopping and the one thing i notice that nobody was told but everybody was keeping gaps in queues etc. The one things i noticed was that it looked like nobody was stock piling.

I next called at a local Aldi again people where keeping gaps no panic buying everybody well behaved. The local Minipreço supermarket close to where i live  also provided no hand spray.

I needed Yeast for my breadmaker and i go to a supermarket in a village near to me. I called on my way home and as i went into the store i was stopped to have some hand jell put on my hands. This was the only store that i had to rub Jell into my hands before i entered the store.

Sadly the National and International stores seemed to offer no hand protection.

Floods what did they do

Over about the last month or there about the UK has been flooded and i am told it nearly sunk.

I was walking by a river near where i live that had flooded some time ago. After the flood the river was widened quite a lot. The problem was the UK did not a lot apart from having flood defences in some places and some of these didn't work.

The pictures below show just what was done along this river. I am told that after the flood the local council had diggers go into the river to cut the river bank to make the river wider.

Trees are normally planted away from the river not right on the river side.

This is the best shot showing a stretch of the river with the trees right on the river edge. It works here but in the UK the owners of the side of the river would refuse to allow the rivers edge to be cut or they would want millions to give up there little piece of river to help avoid floods in the future.

Here you can see the bank being cut back if you look between the trees. The same between the trees of the picture below the river is being made wider due to recent floods.

Bacalhau salt Cod NO

One of the local supermarkets had an offer for fresh Cod not the salted Cod that is common everywhere. In over 10 years coming to Portugal and living in Portugal i have never seen fresh Cod on sale before.

The Cod was priced normally at 12.99€ per kilo but reduced on offer at 5.99€. At the supermarket They had 4 steaks for sale or one whole fish greedy me i got the whole fish. The fish weighed 5.185 kilo or about 11 lb the sales girl couldn't find bags big enough for the fish to fit in. It took some time for the fish to be bagged up for me but soon i was on the way home.

Below i have a picture of the fish on my work surface, i put my Iphone next to the fish to to show scale so you can see it's huge. I kept the bones and tail to boil down to make stock to be used for soup.  I managed to get 20 portions out of the fish and it's now all in my freezer. Below is the receipt showing the weight and price. So Peter got a bargain

A new country

I am pleased to say a big well come to a reader from A Southern African country. This country brings my readers now at 80 countries the country is Lesotho and thank you for reading my Blog.

This week another i have just noticed another two new countries where i now have readers. Turkmenistan and Namibia so i am up to about 82 countries something to be proud of.

I am looking forward to more countries joining my readers.

Panic buying

During last week i had a phone call from someone who was at the time short of transport. This person asked if i would that them shopping i said that they had only done a big shop three days ago.

No it's because of the Virus, i said why and i got the answer about the Pandemic after seeing the news the World Health Organisation had not declared a Pandemic. But my friend was sure there would be and they wanted to stockpile food. What i said was not something i could print. This was stupid as at point there where no cases of the virus in Portugal.

Now they had there own transport again i am sure that they will be out filling the house white as they say dry goods i say let them.

An exclusive

It's sad that over four years my Spice supplier has ceased trading due to ill health however there is still a supply of stock i can make use of. In the UK lots of Spice suppliers mostly sell to the public or they are very big and don't want to deal with someone who wants orders of 28 kilo each time. The quantity weight limit is due to using UPS as a courier where over 30 kilo there is a premium  price over 30 kilo packages.

One product i have that is very popular is Smoked Paprika but it's the same as you get from any supplier until now. I have searched far and wide until i found a supplier in Hungary. Hungarian Paprika is known to be the best in the world and i have just found a supplier.

It will be nice at the markets to be able to say these Paprika's are exclusive to me, the supplier has said that they are exclusive. Paprika in Hungary is graded by what is call the ASTA systemI will be buying an ASTA 190 that is a hot Paprika. A ASTA 160 that is a sweet Paprika and a smoked Paprika. I don't know if i will have these new product ready for the first market in April but i hope i can get them in time.