Voicemails for Isabelle is a surprisingly good film. We finished watching it today. We had started watching it after our return from Portugal. All four of us have been watching it together but have not watched it in one go. While it is not the ideal way to watch it, it worked for us.
Today was a bit stressful as we had a clear the air discussion with the children. The relationship between the two has not been as ideal as we would like. It is not as bad as it has been at times, but they were very mature about it and afterwards we all chilled by watching the film.
Like many Rom-Com’s it has a predictable plot, though the start is different to most. The acting is good, the film flows well and it has a charming character as the lead. In addition it has an enjoyable soundtrack. Not as good as other films, but it features Taylor Swift, an artist the family all love. I am glad I watched it, and while I would not go out of my way to watch it again, I would not channel hop past it.
Yes we lost. It appeared more of a surrender. What gets me is that the Argentine team were so dirty. At least until we scored. After that, they played football and we let the comeback team of the tournament do the same again. While I do not know as much about football as others, I would have kept pace on the field rather than taking it off. When we were defending, there was no threat that the Argentine team had to worry about. We have many players with pace who would have allowed us an outlet to punt the ball upfield to, not just Saka, but others as well.
But while many in the Argentine team were dirty gits, Messi was not. He was amazing. Anyway, two more years until the next tournament. And Arsenal will need to ensure that our players get time to rest.
We are home, and are exhausted. We left our apartment early in the day. Last night I ended up swearing at the children as one decided to pack at ten at night while the other was trying to sleep. While the apartment is nice and has a great location, it has no air conditioning and sleeping has been an issue in the last few nights.
The journey back was not too eventful. We arrived at the airport with time to spare, Portugal appears to have suspended the EU passport checks which have caused chaos for British travellers, which meant that we arrived too early. But having heard of planes leaving passengers behind, we did not want to risk that ourselves.
Our issues were once we landed. The taxi we booked was not available and a slightly smaller car was sent instead. But the M25 was very busy and our journey home took about two hours longer than normal. And it was so hot! I did get to watch the England match on my phone but there was a lag which meant that I saw my daughter respond to the radio before I saw England go behind. We were exhausted by the time we got back home, the heat and being trapped in the car not being enjoyable. I decided to get our dog who was at in-house-boarding in Ipswich. Leia loves it there and loved seeing me. She expected the rest of the family to be in the car, but they needed to rest at home. The dog-sitter is amazing, she loves Leia and wanted to chat, which meant that I missed the equaliser and ended up watching the highlights to see the two England goals.
I knew England would have to attack as the DRC would defend, I just did not expect us to go behind so quickly. But I had faith in the team and we got the result we deserved. Our next game will be against a team playing at home, at altitude, in a stadium they have rarely lost in. But that means they will be attacking us…
But we are at home, and we are happy to be so. It is back to work for me tomorrow, hopefully it will not be too much of a shock!
We split up today. My wife was keen on visiting Quinta da Tôr, a vineyard with pools. Our son was not too keen so stayed in Santa Luzia. It was the right thing for him to do. He would not have liked it here, and we loved it. Good wine, friendly service and pools to both swim and cool down in.
As for the Strait of Hormuz, I naively thought that things would be sorted after the latest peace deal was agreed. But I forgot about the greed. I had realised that the reason oil prices are manipulated by the weekends was based on computer algorithms running. I came to this conclusion when I was wondering why the market kept falling for the same lies. To me, it would be logical for the market to anticipate this and switch off the algorithms, or at least prevent them from making oil trades, over weekends. I do hope that this is all sorted out properly and soon because, as it is, too many farmers have not been able to fertilise crops and the longer this continues, the longer Trumpflation will increase global food prices.
Trump may berate NATO nations for not providing him with direct aid in his diversionary war from him being in The Epstein files, but I am glad that we are not helping him directly to strike Iran.
Today, we left Villa Stofero and its tranquil gardens, its pool and its working TV. We are now in Santa Luzia. The apartment has a bigger living space than before, two private balconies and is in a village. Down the road from where we are is Taberna Amoro.
Over this holiday, I have had average meat courses most of the time. Today I had the best beef I have had this holiday. The service is friendly, we ate outside in the back garden which did mean we were exposed to some tobacco smoke. I would recommend all the places I have posted on this holiday, this place foremost of all.
We had been to the nearby market earlier in the day for lunch were we had some local food. I liked the pork sandwich which I had, my son hated it. I felt the fries were from the freezer and were underdone. It may be that my enjoyment of dinner was based on how bad the chips were. The kids had been shopping and my daughter bought herself a bracelet. My son bought a present for a friend. It was an experience that is one we normally would not have on holiday and it added variety to the holiday.
Today involved dinner at a distance from our villa. It is our last night here and our hosts recommended this place. It has a great view and the friendliest service we have had so far. I loved the traditional food, but sadly ate too much at lunch so could not enjoy it. If we do return to this area of the Algarve, we will probably return here as well.
Today we returned Praia dos Caneiros and enjoyed a meal there. We actually did not go on the beach, but instead went to the restaurant we had been to in the past. It brought back many memories, but we all agreed that while the food was very good, it did not deserve the price.
Thanks to my son, my daughter he and I actually went to some caves first of all. There were some rocks afterwards where some teenagers were reenacting a scene from the Twilight films by jumping into the water. Well, one of them did, the others watched. It was amazing to see but the beauty was spoiled by some leaving litter behind.
After that, we drove to Carvoeiro where the children went shopping. We had been here in the past and while we did not recognise it at first, we did remember it, each of us recalling different things about it. But we did not remember the restaurant we went to before, not that I think it is there anymore.
It was after that which is when we went to Restaurante Rei das Praias. I would love to return to the beach. Fingers crossed…
It was a penalty. For Ghana. But apparently I am wrong, and I am glad I am wrong as England would have lost. Ghana played well and England was not varied enough for most of the game to adapt. With taller players than ours, sending balls into the box for them to head away was not a good idea.
Towards the end of the game, players who could dribble past others were played, notably Eze and Saka and it appeared to make a difference. But the pace of Ghana was a big issue for us. Hopefully this is a learning experience for our manager and team, one which will take us to lifting the trophy.
My sweepstake team, Uzbekistan did not do well and my hopes for them playing England in the final appear very unlikely.
Family wise, we spent most of today at the villa, going for a swim and a drive. My daughter had some work to do, so we left her to it. The holiday continues to relax us.
Another relaxing day. My wife and I woke a lot later than the children. We talked about what we could do and I ended up taking my wife for a drive along memory lane. I had hoped to visit Praia dos Caneiros but it was not to be.
Later we returned to Loulé for dinner. While the rest of my family have enjoyed many great meals, because I am squeamish about sea food, I have not. But Restaurante Bica Velha has given me the best meal at a restaurant in Portugal so far. My son booked it, we are glad and may return. The picture, edited with an app is of part of the town, on the way to where I parked our car.
On a different note, my wife has not been too happy with the resignation of Starmer. For the record, she has not been his number one fan and we have had many a discussion about what she thinks is wrong with his policies, but she and I agree that he has done a lot for the nation. The country was in a much worse position when he took over and while there is a lot to do, so much has been done. We both agree that we want the economy to be better, but it is still doing well compared to our peers. Thanks to Starmer, not counting Israel and the USA, the UK is respected again across the globe. The NHS is in a better place as well. I just hope that these improvements continue once Starmer is evicted from 10 Downing Street.
Today is Father’s Day, and in our family another important celebration. My wife had booked a restaurant for lunch with amazing views and fantastic cocktails. If you visit, see Vinnie.
The food looked as spectacular as the view, though it was a bit hard to find on Google Maps. Fortunately we did not obey the instructions and found it anyway.
This morning, we travelled to Loulé, a nearby city to visit the Saturday market. It was a very enjoyable day. My daughter and I got to visit the castle, the family tried some seafood (not me) and we took in some of the sights. We may return again, but there are other areas to explore.
My wife found this place for somewhere to eat outside. Parking is available, but is interesting to use. In fact I ended up going for a drive to park. Basically you essentially park part-blocking the pavement, and while you can do so driving in to park, I prefer to reverse park as it is easier to leave. The food is nice in this restaurant and it has an interesting view. Would I return? Yes. I suspect my family would agree,
What a game. And what a day. Family first. We are now in Portugal. I finished work late on Tuesday and was not around when Leia was dropped off at the dog sitter we use in Ipswich. My daughter said that she whined as she was being left. Yesterday, we woke up early to be driven down to Gatwick. I slept most of the way in the back of the taxi, to the annoyance of our children. My wife and I split up from the children, they getting drinks in a different part of the airport to us. We were also separated for the flight, which again, I slept through. My wife has booked our stay and it is amazing, but I have been bitten, lots.
Anyway, the football. I worked out how to use the TV and watched a lot of the match on RTÉ and I have to say, they analyse football better than British pundits. An example of this was with the goal by Jude Bellingham. Noni Madueke provided the pass for the goal, but also, importantly, made a run afterwars which stressed the Croatian defence and their goalkeeper as Bellingham could have crossed it too him. RTÉ noted this, the off the ball run by Croatia being missed by the British pundits for their goal. While pundits blame our defence, the runs by Croatia were good and I am not sure there was a right decision to be made at the time by our defenders. This means that while I can watch ITV and BBC coverage here, I will stick with RTÉ.
First of all, family. Our daughter is back. I worked this morning and at lunch, collected her from the station. We were all happy to see her, but I think that our dog showed it the most and for once, did not ignore her.
We spent time chatting with each other and later, watched The Devil Wears Prada. We are thinking about watching it on the weekend. My son left first, but he has exams coming up, and my wife left later, she having done a lot of exercise today.
Watching it with my daughter was useful as she did point out things to me which I had missed before. It is a good film, and I have no style or sense of fashion. I look forwards to watching the sequel.
We watched this film as a family yesterday, and got to take the dog with us. We had different views about the film, but I loved it. My wife felt it was too long, I am not sure it was the right film for my son, and my daughter did not think it was as good as I thought it was.
The strength of the film is in being able to talk about it afterwards. While you can do that with any film, this has more to discuss than most I have seen.
If you do not want any spoilers, do not click on the links to find out about the controversy surrounding it. I loved the film, and would watch it again. But none in my family would join me if I did so.
First of all, family. We drove to Bristol to collect my daughter. So the family are all back together. We met up at a restaurant where I was able to charge my car. The change in the weather has made a difference to its range, something I knew before, but this has been a big difference.
Once at home, we wound down to relax, watching The Out-Laws. For those who have yet to watch it, don’t. The Guardian rated it one out of five. I would have to agree. It did have some genuinely funny lines but this is not a film for me.
As for today, I went to the Gaza protest in town at lunch. As before, I did not take part in all the chants, but while the world is watching Iran, the world is not taking notice of the continued ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Bethlehem was mentioned at the protest, but many forget that the way to get the world to take more notice is to focus on the plight of Christians in Palestine. Sadly, the world seems not to care about the plight of Muslims. Also, the protest showed the effectiveness of The Epstein War, as the attacks on Iran were mentioned, but no one mentioned how Epstein files containing allegations against Donald Trump which had been made by a thirteen year old girl. For those who are interested, I have posted a timeline before.
Anyway, it is time for the cup final. I am going to be very nervous until it is over. Fingers crossed that I am in a good mood at the end of it.
Yesterday we took my wife to Suffolk. One of the places she wanted to go to was The Westleton Crown. We have been here a few times before and loved it. But it appears to have changed hands. The food there is good, but the reason we returned was because the food used to be exceptional. It was a lovely day out for her, my son the dog and me, but it is one I doubt we will repeat.
We went down to London to see my mother for Mother’s Day. We were to meet my brother, but due to a mixup with times, that was not possible. We were almost late due to issues on the A12, but got there in good time. While my daughter was not there, my Mum was very happy to see my son. My wife had bought her a selection of gifts which my Mum loved. The food was good, parking was available around the corner and the dog loved it as well.
I don’t know if the traffic would have been worse if The Epstein War was not taking place. It was something my Mum did want to discuss, even mentioning that a group of young men, who came into it, might be sent to fight in it.
Which brings me to the next topic, The Epstein War. While prices go up, it will cause harm to our economy. Living in Colchester, we heard some helicopter activity from the nearby base and my wife and I hope that this does not mean we are to help. Trump is an unreliable ally. While the first casualty of war is the truth, Trump is notorious for being ignorant about facts, and lying about them if the facts are inconvenient. An example of this is Trump blaming Iran for the murder of schoolgirls and their rescuers early in this one sided war.
In addition to this, Trump has stated that NATO allies would not come to defend the USA, even though the only nation that was invoked Article Five, is the USA, and allies heeded the call.
Ignoring the ethics of joining in a hugely illegal war, Iran may be able to overcome or bypass any naval escorts with huge waves which overwhelm the defenders. I don’t like the regime in Iran, not just for the way it exports terror, but also for the way it murders its own people. But in this conflict, Israel and the USA are in the wrong, and if anything, I back Iran in its call for compensation as a condition to end the war.
My wife and I drove our daughter back to Bristol today. Due to driving by electric car, the journey is longer than it has been when we have used her hybrid as we need to stop to charge the car. Which means it is about a twelve hour day. She can and has used the train, but I like the drive there. My son spent the time in Colchester recovering from a hectic week and greeted us on our arrival.
While the drive was exhausting, it was worth it. The picture is taken from when my wife and I had lunch while my car was charging. Our dog got to eat as well, and we may return here if the weather is good (they do not allow dogs inside).
My daughter, being back in Colchester was happy to get post. It was addressed to those in the house who can vote, which made me think it was from the council about voter registration. She was shocked to see that it was Reform UK trying to get us to vote for them.
So far, we have been blacklisted by The Tories (I debate them) and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I want to know how we can get Reform to block us as well. I do not believe in being rude to them, I believe in robust debate to hold them to account, which, as I have posted before, is something our media do not do.
