398.
I couldn't find my Reader's Card for the National Library this morning, and suspected that I had left it in a pair of jeans that were currently floating around in a metal drum full of detergent filled water. I had very little option, therefore, but to wait until the machine had finished doing its business in order to retrieve the errant piece of plastic. It was a tough decision, let me tell you. So, as a result, I missed the 9.18am train to Entrecampos. Washing complete, I unloaded all the clothes only to discover that the card was not there. I couldn't hang about worrying about it, as I had to be at the university for my 11.30am meeting - I just had time to catch the 10.48 train. I walked up the mountain to my office in Lisbon's blistering heat, and collapsed in a sodden heap into my chair for some brief respite before I had to make my way to another building for my meeting. I got there on time, but there was no sign of anyone else... so I waited. About 11.50, I got a phone call telling me that the meeting had been postponed until tomorrow. I resigned myself to another day in the library, but was worried about my missing card. I told the security people that I may have left it in the reading room, so they let me in to look for it (they know me anyway). The woman in the reading room was extremely helpful. She went to the machine that I had been working at and lifted it up. Lo and behold, there was my card, alongside a pile of requisition forms, sitting underneath the micorfiche reader. I thanked the woman, and apologised to the person who was using the machine at the time. With all this excitement going on, I really needed to calm down, and what better way to do that than read a 70 year-old Portuguese newspaper - better than mogadon. I took a break and went for a walk around Campo Grande gardens, where I photographed lots of flowers. I stayed in the library until it closed - working hard I was, then came over to Sílvia's house for my tea. I'm still there just now!

Last year Liam came across this monster in Blairgowrie