Grumpy in Madeira

Bom Dia guys,

Today we’re off to the western side of the Island.

We’re going to Calheta, it’s approx 30km away from Camara de Lobos.

It’s probably best known for the golden sand beaches. Most beaches in Madeira are pebbles or black volcanic sand.

However, we’re not going there for the beach. We’re going to a supermarket for curry powder and South African bits.

We lead an exciting life!!!!!

Maria was born in Madeira. She was raised mostly in South Africa. We go to this shop for little tastes of the past.

Maria’s sister’s Filomena and Rosa live in London. They both bring curry spices over when they visit. Only we have quite a few curries, so the spices run out.

The shop is called African Roots Market and it has a huge selection of products.

We got a good selection of spices and some Romany Creams (biscuits). Maria doesn’t usually eat biscuits because they have too many calories. However, how can she resist when she hasn’t had them for soooo long (last time we came here).

🤪

There are a lot of tunnels out this part of the island. Some of which are quite long, 1.5km and 1.9km.

There is a section were you drive out from one tunnel and straight into another. It can be quite tedious. However, it is better than before the tunnels were built. Before, it would take hours to reach anywhere because of the mountainous terrain.

I feel like a Rato popping out of his hole and darting into another.

Or like Wackamole and a giant is waiting to crush you to fuck with a great hammer. WEIRD eh!!!

I’ll definitely have to cut down on the drinking.

Driving through makes me remember a time in Jersey. I was working as a Steel Fixer (rebar) with a lovely guy named Whiskey Jack (for obvious reasons).

We were working for a company that was building a culvert out to sea. We had to do “tide work” that was 6 hours on and 6 hours off.

We were finishing work at 8pm and starting back at 2am. It changed by 30 minutes each tide. We didn’t know what day it was after a while.

One day we got picked in the middle of the night by the company minibus.

We were going through the tunnel. I could smell the Whiskey on his breath and thought “here we go again”.

He spoke to the driver and me in a very quiet voice. “I was in the Merchant Navy years ago, boys,”.

We said “Oh yeah”.

He said “yeah I was in the deepest, darkest part of Africa”.

We said, “Oh yeah,” not really taking any notice of him. We were all very tired.

He carried on saying, “It was there that I saw the smallest bird in the world”.

“It was only 2mm long.”

We again said, “That’s nice.”

“Yes” he said “it was renowned for its call”. “Really” we said

He produced an ear-splitting scream of “WAAHHHHHHHHHH.”

We nearly shit ourselves.

The driver was lucky the tunnel was empty. He swerved over the road into the oncoming lane.

We yelled at Whiskey Jack that he was a silly old bastard. The guy doubled over laughing. Tears were in his eyes.

I might try that with Maria hahahaha.