Perspective

Well this is not strictly an "Algarve Life" post but what the heck. Lots of good and bad events have occurred recently, some directly to me and people I know and love, some to people I will never ever meet. Just because I will never meet them, and I do not know them (or anything about them) I have decided it does not mean I can not write about how they affect me and the people around me.
So, here are all the happenings, in no particular order:

1. Summer started. If you do not live here, you might think I am KP. but let me explain. There comes a time of year when the fire no longer needs to be lit, barbecue cooking becomes commonplace (which cheers my long suffering wife up as one of the laws of the world is that barbecues can only be operated by men), the kids stay up late and are happy to lay in bed with us in the morning and wake up slowly (nice for me too as 25% of my family (IE the non-barbecuing wife) are allergic to mornings, we only seem to drink vinho verde and beer (red wine in the cellar til next winter) and most importantly, everyone seems to be happy. Now, I love the summer and this might influence me slightly, but I really think the long days and warm nights cheer everyone up.
2. My sister announced she is getting married. No big deal really, but it makes me realise that the soppy girl really has grown up. However, she lives in a bungalow and is under 40, which I find a bit worrying. To be fair, one of here neighbours had a wholescale cannabis farm in their house, so at least it is not a boring area.
3. Sadly, a young girl has been kidnapped in the western algarve. All I can say is that until you have children, you could never understand how the parents of Maddy McCann must feel. I find it peculiar that the tragedy of this family has seemed to come to the forefront of thoughts here. Everyone I talk to, whatever nationality is preoccupied with this terrible act. We live in a country where the children are king ( I know of not one restaurant where children are not welcome at any time of day) and there is genuine horror that this could have happened here. Why is it that the tragedy if these poor people is something that occupies out thoughts all the time when we do not know them and never will?
4. I fell out with my dad. So what, you may say, but it is a long time since he really annoyed me and I really made him aware of it. For once (and rarely) I lost my temper. Do I regret it?No, but I am not looking forward to having to make the peace as, sadly, I feel I can not wait for him to do so.
5. My eldest son (sweet boy number 1) went to the zoo. Well, more than that, he went away for a whole day, on a coach, with the school, hundreds of kilometres away. It just made me realise that despite the fact he really is a lovely grown up boy, he is only a boy after all. And hey, if the boy who pinched him and made him cry on the way home doesn´t watch out, he will practice his newly learned self defence tactics on him next time. (PS don´t tell his mum because she is very much an advocate of telling the teacher and making the peace). She could be Swiss really. Or French.
6. A good friend, that I have not seen for about 3 years, also announced he was getting married. I was sure he was gay. This will entail a large party (sorry wedding) where I get to see all the people I used to work with when I had a proper job. Oh well, can´t wait for the stag night.

All of this, coupled with over consumption of vinho verde, has put me in a philosophical mood. Now, we often have to remind ourselves we do not live in the real world. The Algarve is most definitely not the real world. I have lived in the real world and I can still remember it, so no problem. I do worry how my kids will grow up, because I don´t want them to be narrow minded, but we can worry about that later.
It´s very hard to explain but I feel very happy to be here right now (here being the planet earth, not my nutty house in my office plinking keys on the PC). I am looking forward to renewing old friendships at the forthcoming weddings, swimming on summer evenings, lazy mornings (well at weekends), and the baby learning to speak. All small things I suppose.
Despite all of this, I feel very sad about the kidnapping of this little girl, and it is a feeling that I can not shake off, like (sorry) a veruca before I found out about that liquid nitrogen you could get from the chemist that gets rid of it quicker than a fart clears a lift.
I think it puts life in perspective, and thats just how I feel right now.
Sorry if that´s a bit morose this time, but I promise a happier post next time (and hey you try and write something cheery whilst listening to Ray Lamontagne)