Portugal: Lost Amongst Wolves

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I've been in Portugal for 2 months now and there are some things you just can't get over here. For example, I haven't been able to find mint sauce, veg stock cubes, baked beans, weetabix (unless I travel far), other food items, duvets, etc.

Last week I came across a company 'Algarve Freight' who ship items from certain stores in the UK to Portugal. So I give it a go ... it was as simple as:

1. Ordering a duvet from Argos and shipping it to their Basildon address
2. Ordering ASDA shopping online (minumum £25) and shipping it to Basildon (£3)
3. On Friday the shipment leaves Basildon, on Monday it arrives in 'Almancil' which is about 45min drive for me
4. Then I pay for the shipping ... for ASDA €10 per crate (I got all my shopping into 1 crate) and €10 for the Argos package.

This is soooo cheap. In fact the 1st thing I did when I got back home with my ASDA shopping was make a baked bean omelette with red thai curry paste and wasabi paste. I've never bought wasabi paste before but I needed to make up £25 for the ASDA shopping cart and ended up buying the wasabi ... now I put it on everything, including cracker biscuits.

Almancil is very near the tourist hotspots such as Albufeira, Vilamoura, Quinta Do Lago. I decided to go Tuesday of this week. I put fuel in my car ... and the great thing here is that Diesel is cheaper than Unleaded ... great because I have a diesel.
After a nice drive on the A22 toll road (always empty coz people dont like paying the toll), I picked up my items from Almancil.

I wanted to check out Quinta Do Lago and Vale De Lobo (valley of the wolves) as I've heard many celebrities own property there. So off I go ... keeping an eye out for any wolves. Oh man, what a dream world ... this place reminded me of Sentosa ... pure perfection. It is well-known for golf courses, posh houses, a place for rich people. There was a beach there also, but like the numpty that I am, on a hot day when people were wearing very little, I was walking down the beach with jeans, 3 layers and a coat ... u see its been cold and raining (monsoon style) for days, but it just happened to clear up for this day for me (and monsoon the next day again).

I had a lot of fun exploring Vale De Lobo ... and then I realized I'd been walking for miles and I didnt know where I was .... basically I'd lost my car. Now I'm glad I have a smartphone again, Google Maps was my saviour.

On with my journey ... as I'm wondering how to find my car again I hear noises ... I look up and catch a couple having sex in a car ... I was half-tempted to ask them for a lift back to mine ... car I mean, not my pad ... Actually, I should have just gotten in and drove, lols.

I need to start having adventures with other people ... it makes it easier to take pictures of urself. U see, I saw this wooden lifeguard type tower in the middle of nowhere and wanted to take a pic of me on top. I balance my camera down below with rocks and set the timer (max 10 seconds) .... and I run like a mofo up to the tower .... there are people wandering by (too far to ask for assitance) who are basically seeing this Pakistani guy constantly runing Baywatch style, sprinting up and down the ladder, falling flat on his face, scratching himself in nettle bushes, puffing, panting and posing like he's Mitch Buchanan. Finally I get a half-decent pic (attached) ... mission accomplished.

After finding my car, I drive to Quinta Do Lago which is as beautiful a place. There was a fatastic restaurant by the lake with a great view, nice furniture, comfy settees and candles and wicker baskets outside. I go inside and ask a silly question ... "is it possible to eat something in this place? Im searching for food" ... at 1st she didnt understand me (Ive realized even when i say the right thing here, it takes a few goes before people understand what Im saying, not sure if its because I dont have a Portuguese accent or whether its because its me ... in the UK it was the same). In the end I ate nothing because every item had meat in it and I wanted a veggie option. This girl was crazy, even when I said I dont eat meat, she'd try to help me by pointing to an item and saying "this is lettuce, tomatoes, ham ... you can eat this" .... "no waitress, i dont eat meat" .... "ok i understand, well this item is lettuce, tomatoes and sausage, you can eat this" ... ermmm no crazy waitress girl, u makin me scared and I have to leave.

Eventually I go home and set my duvet up and make my baked bean omelette (I felt like I was on crack for 2 days afterwards, the brain wouldnt work, Im scared to open another baked bean tin now).

What else happened this week? Well, many of you will know I'm an xFactor fan, even buy tracks on iTunes ... yeah baby. Since moving to Portugal, I've tried to find a way to watch iPlayer and ITV Net Player which isn't possible if you have a non-UK IP address. I've tried using proxies, managed it once for about 1hr ... but it's a ballache. Last week I foud a program called Expat Shield which is pretty good ... it VPN tunels u in thru the UK, the only thing is ur download speed goes right down to slow ... quite a lot of buffering going on.

However, all this time I've been catching up on xFactor vids on uTube and I could have watched the live shows. I have an app on my iPad called 'FilmOn' ... dont know when I installed it but I saw it and thought "Oh my, whatever on earth is this fine-looking app?" And I open it and see I can watch all UK channels for free. So last night I watch xFactor live ... get in.

Anything else? Hmmm, ah yes, yday I purchased a 140w bulb ... didn't know you got anything more than 60w ... Im thinking to replace all bulbs in the pad with 140w ... then get on a sun lounger in the middle of the room, top up with tanning lotion, some beach music, bikini TV channel on FilmOn app ... annnnddddd relax 😊

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