(it was) a portuguese home

So many things run through my head...

A song... a very popular song In Portugal... "E uma casa Portuguesa" (It's a Portuguese home) with the voice of Amália...

Thos balconies are so very Portuguese.. made of iron, crafted at hand (you can tell because of the irregularities in the design).. Those balconies were not for leisure. You hardly can put a chair there.. they were used mainly to air the house, to check the door if someone knocked, to watch the religious processions, to dry the carpets, to have a peep at the street and check who was passing by... but you hardly would see someone reading there the paper, having a drink or whatever...

We are reserved persons

When i first went to Scotland i get shocked for seeing , from the street , families in their living rooms, in the evening, perfectly visible and exposed to the street... that doesn't fits in our mind.. we are reserved, we shut the blinds, the curtains, whatever.. it's discomfortable only to think there is a possibility someone can see us from the outside...
same way I will never understand the american suburbs with those properties without fences and gates ...

I could also talk about how do I feel when I think of these beautiful handcrafts going derelict and mainly.. disappearing for good.. like the wood framing behind the balcony.
It's a culture in dereliction too.. ia way of life almost extinct.. a shame.

But.. who has the money these days to build with handcrafted elements, with wood framing, with floors and ceilings made of thick solid oak, with walls made of stone ...

Only corporations can buy and keep these buildings with their original features. The most beautiful buildings are occupied these days by .. banks... the others are in the process of dereliction.