Pruning the Palm Trees and Fixing Umbrellas

I didn't know that some palm trees need to be pruned. The other day I heard all this noise and talking outside our bedroom balcony and went to see what it was. I'm glad that I was dressed for the day because as I came around the corner into the bedroom there was a man in a bucket, who turned his head and looked at me as I came to the sliding glass door. He was using a small chainsaw to cut all the dead fronds off the tree. They worked on several trees for several hours and then packed up and went away.

Later the umbrella repair/knife sharpener guy came along blowing his flute and looking for customers. This is a job that is a cultural heritage type of thing that they don't want to let die out - the government pays these guys a wage to push the bike around and play this type of pan flute to let people know they are in the neighborhood. (Remember the ice cream trucks that used to go around neighborhoods when we were kids, playing music to let you know they were coming?) Usually on the weekends he is out playing the flute earlier than he should be but I guess on this Saturday he had to wait until later in the day to do his rounds as no one could have heard his flute above the chain saw noise.

Big Game in September

I'm a little behind with the blogging but have a few minutes now, so will try to write at least one...

I can't remember if I've ever mentioned Benfica and Sporting, two of the well know soccer clubs and top rivalries here in Lisbon. We happen to live between the two stadiums, about a 15-20 minute walk to either of them from our apartment. At least twice a year they will play each other and they have a custom that is interesting to see. It is also the times of the year that you will see the largest amount of police, police vehicles and vans, police dogs, and medical vehicles all in one place at one time - well, maybe the Pope's visit to Lisbon topped the Benfica/Sporting games but it would have been a close call. It is surprising to see so many security personnel and vehicles when most of the time you rarely ever see any.

The home team fans gather at their own stadium and then walk to the "away" game stadium. The police block off the streets and then escort before, behind and along the sides, the huge mass of people that are walking, singing and chanting as they go. One of the streets that they take passes right in front of our building, so on that day we know to leave or come before or after the crowd has passed by.

The visiting team has to stay in the stadium for a whole hour after the end of the game and then they are released to do the return walk with all the security again. If they let them out at the same time it would be too hard to control the crowd.

The last game they had was September 19 and Sporting lost to Benficia, so they were a little more subdued on the walk back to their stadium but that didn't stop them from stopping in the walk from time to time to loudly cheer their team and sing the team song.

Embarrassing to say, as I was taking pictures from our balcony, I had to delete one that I had taken and had not noticed that 3 of the male fans had come into the yard of our building and were using the bushes to relieve themselves of some of the beer they were drinking.

The team colors of Sporting are green and white, Benfica's are red and white, and I can't help but think  of the Harry Potter movies and the "teams" when I see these fans. (Side note: it was too dark to get a good picture on the return walk that night. I'd intended to get one of all the police vans but missed that one too.)