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That's me done for now. All packed up and ready to go... to spend the weekend in Santa Catarina... before returning to Lisbon on Sunday night, just in time to catch 40 winks before I have to be at the airport to check-in at the ungodly hour of 6am. Still, it means that I will get back to Dundee at a reasonable hour - a whole 12 hours later. Anyway, that's Monday, this is Friday. I have a whole weekend of hot sunshine and no National Library to enjoy before the voyage back to Snothotland. Rather than rushing things on Sunday, I went to the Colombo shopping centre and bought a wheelie case with a long handle. I also bought some trigo de mandioca - Brazilian food for the making of, and three bottles of Alentejan olive oil, which ought to do us until I come back sometime in late-July / early-August. Since I had bought a Sete Colinas card for the public transport, I decided to head out to Belém - simply because I hadn't been there yet during this visit, and, as anyone who knows will tell you, a visit to Lisbon is not complete until you have been out to Belém. After a couple of hours walking around in the late-afternoon sun, it was time to head back to the flat and food. I decided to go down to my favourite restaurant and say até já to the benfiquistas before I left. They kindly agreed to let me take their photograph so that you could put faces to the characters. The one behind the counter is Manel - he is the owner and chief benfiquista; the one on the other side is André, the waiter. A couple of nice guys who are fanatical about their football, and who serve a good meal at exceptionally low prices to boot.

Last year I remembered those who died to give us the freedoms we take for granted