The greenest grass
We are already way into October. Daily life got it’s routine back, and it is the same routine like always and everywhere. Days pass by so fast. The alarm clock, breakfast, work, coffee breaks, lunch, work, tea breaks. Then some weed pulling / hiking / grocery shopping, house keeping (make a choice, depending on nice and need), dinner, Netflix, knitting (at the same time and/ or other way around) shower and sleep. Next day: repeat. Weekend: some room for other people, activities, chores and getaways. (Why do I have to spend one third of my life sleeping?!?) Will my fantastic view on my mountain also become routine in the long run and start boring me? The nonsense of life is starting to scratch between my ears.
Even when you transport yourself to the end of the world to escape a normal life, it will come with you. Your daily needs are knocking on your door wherever you are. Live me, because I want to exist! In the end we all want to eat, safety, a warm house and healthy body to live in? We want securities and not too many worries. We want to detach ourselves from time to time, from all the crises in the world. We want to see our loved ones, talk to them, feel them, touch them and feel loved. And the grass is always greener somewhere else, on my mountain or in your meadow, right?
Bubbling inside
Sometimes I miss Amsterdam. Our Dutch home still feels like a temporary solution. Even though it is a cosy apartment, we have no personal connection to Rijswijk or Den Haag. Even the people in the Den Haag tram are less familiar to me than the unknown travelers in the Amsterdam tram. At the same time I also realize that in the end it does not matter where I live. As long as I can dive into my own bed in the evening it’s fine. I do not feel Dutch and not Portuguese. I could also live in Italy or in Ireland. When I am in Portugal I will never become Portuguese. But I also never felt like a true Amsterdam person, I had no warm connection with the neighborhood we lived in the last 20 years. I got really fed up with all the tourists in the nicer neighborhoods of the city. I just happened to live and work there. But there are 40 years of living and working in Amsterdam, full of memories. And now I’m in Den Haag and in Vilar. Where do I really belong?
We meet friends from New York, and from Simi Valley. Who are fed up with the US and consider moving to Europe. But how and where do you go? What do you take and what do you leave behind? How does that work out with children and grandchildren? What are your plans anyway, for this last trimester of your life? How do you manage two homes? How to organise a building project from the other side of the world? Or is your real wish just to go away and explore the world?
We talk to friend from Europe. Some really cut the ropes and left France for good. Others might leave but foresee a long period of care for their elderly family members. Or they want to move away from the busy western part of the Netherlands, but realize that an affordable and quiet place in this crowded country is near impossible to find. Some buy a house in France, an apartment on Mallorca, have a plot of land on Cyprus. Maybe someday? What are we after? And so, everyone appears to be restless.
Bubbling outside
In our house there are also bubbling sounds. The tubes of the floor heating are filled with warm water. Everything is buzzing and boiling. As the heating goes on, it is soon unbearably warm inside. Great, it works, now switch it off! Outside we still have 20 degrees! Now the thermostats are being installed in each room or space, so we can adjust heating accordingly. Now the big guess is how the PU floor will react to the changes in warmth, will it crack….???
Around the house water bubbles through all the drains. Yes, it rains! Sometimes it pours hours and hours from a windless sky. Next fierce winds and stabbing sunlight is flogging the house. Even the garden furniture almost lands in the pool. There is always a downside / be careful what you wish for. But the water is much needed, nature revives quickly.
Horizons
Finally we have time to go out and do other things than constructing a house. We spend a weekend at and around the thermal baths of São Pedro do Sul. Visit the abandoned villages of Pena and Macagoso. Desolate mountains, undefined little roads to nowhere make us want to leave before sundown. We scurry around the Mercado de Santana, where you can buy everything you need. Or we have lunch with friends in Nazaré. Meet others in a museum in Lisbon.
And we look forward to the coming weeks where we’ll be in the Netherlands. A true Dutch November autumn, cold and wet. Pea soup, stew, biscuits with chocolate sprinkles, Sinterklaas marzipan and pepernoten (can not be translated, you can only eat them).And we look forward to the holidays in December which we plan to celebrate with our family in Vilar and Lisbon. All those ways to get rid of the daily routine!
