Let sleeping dogs be economical with the truth

Fiona brought her two children and husband round to meet us. As previously advertised (by Fiona and by J), they were "scamps". F's husband, Michael, gave us his life story. He was supposed to marry an English girl until his non-English-speaking mother got cold feet. He wants to work in England but needs either a "sponsor" or to buy a Portugese passport. He manages a hotel but has a business idea of building basic accommodation for hotel workers. He just needs some money. He has another business idea of running a Subways stall. But not a real one to avoid the franchise costs. He just needs some money.

I got the idea that Fiona was slightly embarrassed by all this.

It is strange for us to be so, relatively, wealthy. The vendors in the shops and stalls and walking the beach see us as sources of income. They all talk to us as we pass - sometimes fluently, sometimes with just a few words. Most are polite, a few more aggressive (we daredn't walk past Lola's shop any more - "You promised that you would come back later!"

There are lots of dogs on the beach. Strangely, they don't beg for food. They seem reasonably healthy.

At the end of the visit, F managed to persuade her two children onto Michael 's scooter and the four of them purred off.