Lockdown Portugal

So arriving in a foreign country, foreign language and LOCKDOWN, has made for some adaption. In South Africa when the beaches were shut us surfers freaked out!!! well I have to tell you surfing is currently banned here, but no-one seems to listen. I must add however, that the Portuguese are amazing, they are friendly, and live with smile on their faces, everybody we meet is friendly and helpful. This is a wonderful city.

There are roadblocks everywhere, – I am not sure what the police ask, but am equally happy not be to be asked or stopped, although being a foreigner with them could make the situation easier, as not understanding may be a great excuse.

Today’s mission was dropping the car off at the airport and negotiating our way back to the City. This needed some serious brain-power, as firstly the ticket machine took some figuring out and once we learnt that we could get English information. Our destination was Liberdade, which is the centre of Town, and from there we would figure the way home. The cost per ticket from the airport was (euro 2,50) which is R45,00 which really isn’t bad. The journey took about thirty minutes. One other thing THANK YOU ‘GOOGLE MAPS’ – you are currently our most used APP, and best friend, I love your voice so much!!!!

The airport was dead, the METRO empty, – its the weirdest world we seem to be living in, they say the government here will re-evaluate the LOCKDOWN on the 15th of March. The one thing I really miss is no shops are allowed to sell a coffee, and thats all I have wanted since arriving!!

Figuring out the lines was easy once you’ve put it together, we took the ‘purple line’ from the Airport to the City Centre, and the other lines are Yellow, Green and Orange, and then you look for your stop or closet station. (Got this one waxed!!!!)

Sometimes it is easy to forget that one is in Lockdown, as there is so much beauty, so much to see, so much to take in, so much to learn and lots to consider.

So we living in this strange situation, where normality as we know it is not how life is, and one wonders when our old normality will resume?

So my mode here is to do one or two constructive things per day, and today was two ticks 1) took the car to the airport 2) found how to use the METRO. Must say it feels good to make strides forward, and as my friend Chris Bertish says ‘one stroke at a time’ , so we practicing these wise words as we move towards tomorrow.

As a film Director, visually this city is a dream, and I look forward to connecting with other creatives and seeing what I can do here to contribute and grow the Industry.