I completely forgot to have dinner last night, even though I prepped my meals for the week! My mind was all over the place, but basically I was supremely rattled by the latest wave of guests who checked into the apartment. My immediate neighbours to the left are a retired couple that don’t say much, just appear quietly on the balcony and stare out onto the river. It’s a bit strange and almost creepy, but they are pretty harmless. It’s the occupants of the Room #6, to my immediate right that have me in a spin.
I’m beginning to think that room is jinxed somehow, because there has yet to be an occupant of that five-person room that hasn’t left it in a complete mess. The last wave consisted of four Germans who arrived for the bull run, got raving drunk with the rest of the town, and walked away with the room keys. One of them had such a hangover he left his phone in the bathroom and then returned after he was several kilometers out of town already. Then there was a couple travelling to Morocco by car (they started from Paris). They were nice enough but boy did they leave the room beyond recognition! This time around the room is inhabited by four men, whose language I understand perfectly but refuse to let on that I do. For the first time in months ever since I moved in, I don’t feel safe. Not even in the quirky whacky hostel in Graça did I feel this way, and the weirdo turnover there was even higher!
Usually I engage in polite conversation with whoever I run into in the kitchen or the hallway. But with the creepy and leery looks I got from these guys, I took care of my business as quickly as possible and practically ran back to my room and locked myself in. Thank goodness I don’t share a common balcony with them! Let’s just say that after this experience, I am very much looking forward to moving into my own place. I am so done with sharing a kitchen and bathroom! I could probably spend my life in a studio apartment with no bedroom, but kitchen and bathroom a sacred to me, they are the soul of the home and as such should never be defiled. I’m not exactly OCD about order, but I do insist on cleanliness and tidiness. Neither one can be present when you share the space with strangers.
Meanwhile, the heatwave tearing across Europe seems to have given the Iberian peninsula a miss this time around. Or at least, by Portuguese standards. We’ve had gorgeous temperatures hovering around 33-35C with clear blue skies, which of course set the stage for the most spectacular light at dawn and dusk.
FrogDiva Thoughts 