Favourite places

Sunny Sunday morning in Funchal.

Quite a few of my friends head for The English Church. I’m not a Catholic and I’m a novice where Portuguese is concerned, but I love to sit in the Cathedral and stay for most of the Sunday Mass.

For various reasons I’ve spent a lot of time this holiday thinking about people I love and changing circumstances. When I arrived I heard that a close friend had passed away. A lovely lady with whom I’d had many wonderful Madeira adventures, so young. So full of life. So cruel. She should have been here this week.

Our family has some difficult and distressing situations too and I’ve shed some tears this week. An hour of quiet reflection helped.

I then headed off to my favourite bar, high above the Sao Tiago Fort and looking over the harbour and the sea.

It’s near the university halls of residence and popular with locals. It’s a different clientele and is vibrant and friendly. You always end up in conversations there. Fabulous.

This ship sailed sparkling by. For those of you who know Madeira, it isn’t the dolphin-watching replica of the Santa Maria. I later saw it moored in the main harbour, and you may notice it has a German flag....

We have 23 degrees plus and wonderful blue skies as you have deep snow, chaos and traffic problems. I hear we are expecting the huge storm to hit here tonight-so I may not find tomorrow’s return quite going to plan.......