Hi!
After all I had the time to complete last Friday's chronicle and yesterday's too. See below to find out why!
Wednesday, 6 December
This lesson began, like most do, with me sneaking out of the office by five o'clock.
I went home, where I arrived a little past six. With some twenty minutes to change I proceeded to the first highlight of every lesson. When preparing for a lesson, I pick up the large plastic box where I keep all my riding stuff, drop it in the middle of the room, open the lid and take a deep breath. That horse smell melts me like butter on a hot day (I'll have to try sleeping with the box open the next time I'm home alone
).
Already conveniently inspired, I proceeded to change clothes and pack half-chaps, helmet, gloves and crop into an old school backpack. Today I had a windbreaker over me and the backpack, plus an umbrella. I always wear a pair of jeans over the jodhpurs - it's a twenty minute walk to the school and I don't want to be sexually harassed!
The way to the school was the same as ever, with the only difference that it was raining, so I had to dodge car splashes. When I came into view of the school I found it odd that there was no class in progress. OK, maybe they were afraid of the rain and stayed comfortably at home. As I was passing by the arena I noticed that there were poodles inside the covered arena (which is open on the sides). No problem, nothing much for sure! No one was in sight so I went for the bar, where I usually take the jeans off and put in the rest of the equipment. I opened the door to find Francisco, his wife and his two daughters inside. Eight eyes and four mouths opened in mild surprise. My entrance was received with the comments "Just look who has arrived!" from one of the daughters and "Are you crazy?" from Francisco.
When a small storm is passing over Portugal, the rain has been pouring down continuously for hours and the wind has gusts strong enough to fire car alarms. When the main bridges in Lisbon have restrictions upon vehicles allowed to cross, the ports are closed and the Civil Protection Service is issuing mild warnings to the population and is on the first stage of alert. When all this is happening I should not infer that lessons will carry on as usual!
Since I was there I used the opportunity to paid this month's fee. The system used at the this school (and common elsewhere) is for you to pay the twelfth month's fee over the first ones (first three in this case). So, according to this, today I was paying the last extended fee. Francisco looked at the money, looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked if I was still paying the extra. I said I was, this was to be the last time. He was surprised I had only been there for the last two months "I thought you had been around for longer!". I thought about replying "Yeah, I stay around after lessons so much that you have seen me at least four months worth!"! :-D
I ended up helping take care of the horses, which with all the driving rain and wind was, for once, really helpful. After we had closed up for the night I said my goodbyes and was about to leave, but Francisco was having none of it. Upon knowing I lived twenty minutes away he reinstated is concerns about my mental health and offered me a lift. As much as I insisted I was fine walking the distance, he was unrelenting. So I stayed a while longer as he finished up. No wonder he feels I've been around for longer than I have!
Pedro Fortunato
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr.html - Photos from my 7th lesson
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr2.html
After all I had the time to complete last Friday's chronicle and yesterday's too. See below to find out why!
Wednesday, 6 December
This lesson began, like most do, with me sneaking out of the office by five o'clock.
I went home, where I arrived a little past six. With some twenty minutes to change I proceeded to the first highlight of every lesson. When preparing for a lesson, I pick up the large plastic box where I keep all my riding stuff, drop it in the middle of the room, open the lid and take a deep breath. That horse smell melts me like butter on a hot day (I'll have to try sleeping with the box open the next time I'm home alone
).Already conveniently inspired, I proceeded to change clothes and pack half-chaps, helmet, gloves and crop into an old school backpack. Today I had a windbreaker over me and the backpack, plus an umbrella. I always wear a pair of jeans over the jodhpurs - it's a twenty minute walk to the school and I don't want to be sexually harassed
!The way to the school was the same as ever, with the only difference that it was raining, so I had to dodge car splashes. When I came into view of the school I found it odd that there was no class in progress. OK, maybe they were afraid of the rain and stayed comfortably at home. As I was passing by the arena I noticed that there were poodles inside the covered arena (which is open on the sides). No problem, nothing much for sure! No one was in sight so I went for the bar, where I usually take the jeans off and put in the rest of the equipment. I opened the door to find Francisco, his wife and his two daughters inside. Eight eyes and four mouths opened in mild surprise. My entrance was received with the comments "Just look who has arrived!" from one of the daughters and "Are you crazy?" from Francisco.
When a small storm is passing over Portugal, the rain has been pouring down continuously for hours and the wind has gusts strong enough to fire car alarms. When the main bridges in Lisbon have restrictions upon vehicles allowed to cross, the ports are closed and the Civil Protection Service is issuing mild warnings to the population and is on the first stage of alert. When all this is happening I should not infer that lessons will carry on as usual!
Since I was there I used the opportunity to paid this month's fee. The system used at the this school (and common elsewhere) is for you to pay the twelfth month's fee over the first ones (first three in this case). So, according to this, today I was paying the last extended fee. Francisco looked at the money, looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked if I was still paying the extra. I said I was, this was to be the last time. He was surprised I had only been there for the last two months "I thought you had been around for longer!". I thought about replying "Yeah, I stay around after lessons so much that you have seen me at least four months worth!"! :-D
I ended up helping take care of the horses, which with all the driving rain and wind was, for once, really helpful. After we had closed up for the night I said my goodbyes and was about to leave, but Francisco was having none of it. Upon knowing I lived twenty minutes away he reinstated is concerns about my mental health and offered me a lift. As much as I insisted I was fine walking the distance, he was unrelenting. So I stayed a while longer as he finished up. No wonder he feels I've been around for longer than I have
!Pedro Fortunato
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr.html - Photos from my 7th lesson
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr2.html
