Dear weather, think about your behavior
Inevitably I caught a cold. I was still a communicative outgoing person back then, so I kept on talking to people and going places. This influenced my voice a lot, first it started getting lower and then it almost disappeared. I missed a trip to Sintra which was organized by Student support unit NAP and for which I paid. And then university started. To all the people that said “Oh, enjoy sunny weather in Lisbon!” and “It is so much warmer in Portugal than in Austria”, I dislike you now. Why didn’t anyone say “Bring warm clothing, woolen socks and sturdy shoes”?.. When I was writing my first blog entries I was sure it will be warm in Portugal really soon. I was expecting sunny weather, at least +20 degrees and lazy strolls to the beach not later than on the 1st of March. Lessons learned: don’t trust people’s subjective beliefs about weather [and prices].
It is the second week of March, it is still cold, there is still no central heating, I still have runny nose and it rains most of the day every day since 26th of February. Let’s not neglect mind-blowing gusts of wind turning your umbrella inside out. I took a decision to buy a cheap small umbrella, which got wrecked literally in one day. After I got caught in the rain couple of times, I bought a big one. I have to say it is extremely ugly, but I clench to it every day as a crazy old woman and it pays off.
I actually promised myself to stop complaining. Promises-promises. Now it’s high time to discuss the pros of the rainy weather.
- I am having fun guessing if I should wash my clothes. We hang the laundry to dry on the balcony, some of it on the clothes line so there is a big chance the additional rinsing will be performed by rain. One night a stormy wind blew my sweater (together with clothes clips) to the top of the annexe below the balcony. After two days the sweater vanished from the rooftop and another two days later it showed up in the stairway of the house. It turned out the cleaning lady was nice enough to care and took my sweater down.
- I finally appreciate the price and an awakening bitter taste of the local espresso (they call it “bica” here), without my caffeine fix I am just sleepwalking.
- People whose will is strong enough to leave the house in these 10 minutes when the sun slightly peeks out (this one is not about me) are taking admirable pictures of the reflections in the puddles.
- It is the most appropriate time to visit the museums. I went to Azulejo museum and to museum of Art, Architecture and Technology MAAT (free entrance every first Sunday of the month, yay!) with my friends.
- We went to the huge and most important warm shopping mall Colombo for shopping.
- Finally, isn’t the weather the reason for me writing this post?
