APAPS 22.9: The Signs They Are A-Changing

 

Before we get on to discussing  APAPS walk 22.9 at Poço Frito, there is some “Housekeeping” to attend to, boring although this may be to some of us. (You can skip this stuff if you don´t want to plough through it)

In the Comments section of APAPS Blog 22.8, which was the one about alfarrobas and arrobas, Paul a Pé had waxed lyrical, or at least lengthily, asking several questions and challenging me to check the facts.

This is what he wrote:

First:-

As Google did not seem to know of the real APAPS, I delved into Blogger and saw that the Blog I was reading was entitled WAPAPS 2016 - 2022. Not sure when the 'W' was dropped, but I went back to the first one I could find, APAPS 1: What´s In A Name ? or APAPS begins again. which can be found at https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/preview/3695417294945570434/6137167831772377736
There I discovered the Meaning of APAPS,and why John was not fazed by the replies he received to his mention previous walks. Over to you to fact check, John.

I was confused by this. What facts and why?

And then Paul again:-

Facts! Why should they get in the way of a good blog?. No, as far as the comments go, we must be factual accurate and fastidious. I was merely asking you to confirm that what I wrote was true, and not something I had imagined. Also, the first blog from August 2016 mentions 'resurrecting' the WAPAPS. Were there any previous walks under the WAPAPS Banner, and were they blogged? If so, where?

And another thing: why was the last blog post on this 2016 blog about the Christmas lunch on 9.12.2015 at Bistro Rainha which I don't recall, posted almost exactly 6 years after the event in Dec 2021, consisting of these two short sentences
"18 walked for 2 1/2 hours; then 24 lunched at Bistro Rainha. The scribe´s thanks to Yves for some very professional photos."
And where were Yves´ very professional photos?”

Still Confused? I bet you are. I am. Anyway, here goes.

The explanation of APAPS, which started 94 WAPAPS blogs ago is “Amigos dos Pequeno- Almoços Peripatéticos de Silves.” Probably not grammatically correct but hey! Let it be.

We started our breakfast walks on 29^th July 2014 but it wasn´t until the start of the third breakfast season that we started to blog them. This was because up until then Blogging , be it AWWs or whatever, had been very much Paul´s personal territory onto which  we did not dare trespass even if we had known how to do it, which we didn´t. Then, gradually, he had begun to admit some of us into the esoteric secrets of Blogging and let us try our hand at it. In APAPS seasons 1 and 2, we had contented ourselves with taking silly photographs of participants´ legs and we had the odd clandestine breakfast, (identities redacted for the sake of prudence). 

Guess whose?

So APAPS Blogs did not begin until 2016.

The Christmas lunch at Bistro Rainha on 9.12.2015 was an AWW lunch, nothing to do with APAPS. There was a walk from Casinhas that morning which I don´t remember particularly although it´s possible I was the Leader. -here are the Starters - 

 and here are a few of Yves´ photos from the lunch. Paul was not there, nor were Myriam and Hazel.

The only explanation that I can give of why the blog of that event now consists of two short sentences and no photographs, and why it now appears to have been published in December 2021, is that the AWW blog is now open to a lot of different contributors, one of whom may well have looked at the original blog and then have mis-edited it and re-published it in the wrong place. Thus history gets re-written and distorted.

End of “Housekeeping” spiel.

A lot to read in all of that, so I will not need to write so much about our latest walk but, first, an explanation about the title to this week´s piece. For the past couple of years, I have been referring to the establishment at Poço Frito as Café Martins. Not very observant of me, because in fact, for the past year or more, after it had a make-over, it now refers to itself as Snack Bar Martins. It´s a wonder that some of us have not got lost trying to find a place that nominally no longer exists. In the old days, the place was a bit shabby, but spruced up, it looks much better.

Then

Now

Presumably, a Snack Bar , on the Michelin Scale of things, is one grade above a mere Café, so I shall have to be more careful with my description of it from now on and pay attention to the signage.

More signage. Poço Frito now has one of those new bus stop signs that are appearing all over the place

and the sign for Caravela is still pointing determinedly 90 degrees out in the wrong direction 

Who pays for a café upgrade? Not the tenants, I suppose, who are at best temporary. Maybe the coffee suppliers do? And who is, or was, this Martins fellow and what did he do to be commemorated in this way? The present tenants are the third lot we have known since eating there and their name is certainly not Martins. Was he a Local Hero or a Resistance Fighter? Rod will know.

And now, at last, we can come to the walk. A coolish and overcast morning. The Leader, as ever, had to possess himself with patience, waiting for the ever-talkative group to join him for the Starter Picture.

The contents of the numerous beer bottles behind him had not been consumed by him while he waited, although they could well have been given the time it took for people to get organised. In the words of the song, "Oh, when will they ever learn?" But I mustn´t start being provocative, must I ! No, the Snack Bar was still shut at that stage of the morning so no coffees to start with, nor beers neither.

Picture duly taken, before we set off, Yves gave us an update on Terry Ames´ medical situation. So we were a sombre and very thoughtful group as we began our walk.

An uneventful walk it was too. Familiar tracks, with some minor variations. 

Good to have Janet back with us after several months absence.

Fertile fields and their farmer.

Some animal life. Goats and their fierce watch dog.

Are they pets, with their red collars round their necks ?

A static rocking horse

The photographers then took a sudden interest in old trees, to good effect.

And Yves took his life in his hands to photograph a speeding train.

The Track, and all the Statistics you could possibly wish for

Back at Snack Bar Martins just before 10 .00, we found Paul and Rod already there, eager for their breakfast and/or coffee.

Compared to the previous breakfast there, there was more food on our plates this time, thanks to Maria who had had a quiet word with the proprietress about quantities.

After the noise of the various conversations had reached record decibels, things quietened down a bit and we were treated to a full scale Chinese Tea Ceremony with dry flowers magically growing in the tea pot.

Tea, not red wine.

Tea, not white wine either

Myriam was presented with a portrait of herself by Yves.

And he had the last word in T-shirts.

Shurley shome mishtake?

To conclude, here is one more in our musical theme these past few weeks, which has been that of the moon. This week it has been the Sturgeon Moon. Nothing whatsoever to do with the uncrowned queen of Scotland but apparently an excellent time to catch the fish of the same name. A difficult image for us amateurs to photo but there are some excellent shots available on the net for which our thanks.

And that theme reminded me of this week´s tune which was one which my mother had on a 78 rpm shellac record given to her along with an old fashioned wind-up gramophone by an aunt of hers. The sound came out of a His Master´s Voice type horn, and the needles were little chips of sharpened bamboo. If you wanted to increase the volume, you could substitute metal ones for the bamboo needles and, if you wanted to increase the volume to the maximum possible, you would open two little doors at the front of the gramophone´s wooden cabinet to let some more sound escape. Technology as it was. More moon music next time. Meanwhile.....