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"We are back in England and that's all I want to say. I have been having a great time at both of my Granny's houses and at the hut, and it's great to be back in England with all my lovely friends. See you all soon."
- Harry

We would all like to thank Psand.net for their generous hosting of SpudZone.

Older stories: Nathan's birth | Jason and Melissa's wedding

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21st May 2002:
England is firmly beneath our feet. We landed at the end of April and spent a week or so getting an MOT on the truck and sorting out telephones and so on. Many thanks going out to the White household (Barrie, Rachel, Joseph and Zac) for their help in sorting our English lives out, and to Pete, Becky and Ella for persuading me to buy a new bike, instead of dinner, and then feeding us!

The Welly Throwing 2002 was great fun, with good weather as ever. The turn out was slightly less than previous years, but never-the-less we had some spectacular entries. Many ex-champs returned to attempt to regain their titles. Many congratulations to Julie (girls), Jacob (kids), Jodie (blokes), and Danny (cheats). We expect some incredible entries in the cheats section next year. (Pharic takes a massive 253 metres in the "extreme cheats" section by writing distance on the board himself, and Becky gets a commended for getting the measurer to run off with the Welly and drop it beyond the 50 metre mark.) Expect to see a page dedicated to the Welly Throwing competition very soon. Contact us if you have been a winner as we are going to get an engraved trophy sorted out, with the previous 4 years winners. We are having a little trouble with our collective memories!

We then went to the Home Educators fair down in Charmouth, right by the beach, where we had great fun. Harry spent lots of time with many of his mates who came over from Portugal to the fair. We did fossil hunting, lots of art and crafts, parachute games, outfit making, face painting behind our ears!?, lego sessions, scooter riding, circus skills and so on and on. There was a midweek cabaret, and Anonymous Dave was coerced into taking part and doing a small "act" which involved playing a rather shaky character, who to deal with his stage fright, had to do his act down amongst the audience rather than on stage. Having cleared half of the front of the audience he proceeded to clamber over those who didn't believe him with a digeridoo and a pair of stepladders. Once there, after some dithering and getting Micky (his glamorous assistant) to climb the stepladders and hold a microphone up, managed to play the digeridoo whilst balancing it on his chin! This was followed by much mirth and applause, and from then on Dave could go nowhere without shouts of "Anonymous Dave!" , "there's that loony" , and "How can you be anonymous, you're called Dave?". Anonymous no more. We also spent some lovely time in Charmouth with Pete and Polly at the Dorset Dub House, much love going out to them. Polly took some lovely photos of the lads, so expect to see them up shortly.

1st March 2002:
Greetings SpudZoneViewers. March has welcomed itself in with lots of April showers. Just in time because Hazel, Pharic, Zeb and Barnaby have just gone home after staying with us for the week, during which the sun blazed like an English summer. We had great fun while they were staying, Zeb and Harry got on like a house on fire talking their crazy home made "poo-pot panguage". We went to visit "Little Portugal" which is a minature garden with all different sized houses. We ran around feeling like Alice in the Wonderland. There is a photo to prove it. The sun has just come out so the chances of getting much more gossip are low! I'll see if I can get any of the rest of the family to come up with more later....

20th January 2002:
Happy New Year spudfans.... 2002 is the first symmetrical year number since 1991, and the next will be 2112. We are presently looking after a small farmhouse, with chickens and a terrier called "Bertie". It's in a lovely place about 8km from Arganil, and looks down the valley at the village of Coja. We have lots of walking distance neighbours, and a regular free cinema 2km away. We will be looking after the house until April when we will be heading back towards England. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone. Before this though we are looking forward to seeing Haz,Phaz,Zeb and Barnaby who are coming to see us during half term! Wahhoooo.
Nat has popped out his first top tooth (3 in total), and can now throw himself at anything he isn't supposed to, so his personal space is expanding fast, and very soon he will be crawling. Harry is being fantastic help with him. Harry has been collecting the chicken eggs in the morning, and then scrambling up his own breakfast which he says he "loves". Much lego still pervades the household, and with so many young neighbours in the area there have been some BIG sessions going on. We are all very healthy, if only we could get a little more sleep.

2nd December:
Muito bom dia SpudGroovers! Nat's got two new teeth. Spud and Nat are getting on like a house on fire, Nat's been trying to join in on Lego sessions, he's being a big dood, sitting at the table by himself wolfing down pear and baby rice.Harry is being "grossed out" by mashed nanas and the like. Harry Potter frenzy has enchanted the Gough posse, we've gone careering of the end of the books and.... We've been enjoying some gorgeous weather to make up for this time last year. Still parked in Fran's garden in Portugal, looking forward to them coming home soon. We are not coming home before Christmas, but will all be coming back to the hut for a couple of months in the Spring... look forward to seeing everyone then.

18th October:
Ola Spud Pals! In an attempt to keep the SpudZone current here we are spillin' the latest gossip. Not that much has happened. "They" say that when you write letters regularly it is easy to find things to write. Not so with SpudZone gossip, we haven't encountered any circuses, missiles, police, globetrotters or magic men for a while. Actually the latter is untrue. We did see magic men in Coimbra recently while Granny & Grandad Peeb were here. There was a magic week in Coimbra where world famous magicians did theatre and street shows. We watched three shows and loved them all, met all the magic men and are now in contact with one who is living in a truck in Portugal (what a great idea!) - he advised Harry to become an accountant! Not only this but Harry took part in his street show. JJ (the magic man) got Harry to hold a lit cigarette, which he did with some disdain, then instructed Harry on how to look cool. This Harry did with unnerving ease, prompting JJ to warn him not to steal the show! JJ then stuck the lit cigarette, and another he was smoking into his closed fist, right in front of Harry's nose. They both disappeared completely. Harry still talks about it (he didn't see how it was done - and neither did I!) Since this the family truck-hold has been magic-crazy. Cut and restored ropes, colour changing cards, disappearing coins, you name it, it has been occurring. Apparently JJ has two photos of this happening, we will try to obtain them for SpudFan perusal. Thanks for the inspiration JJ.

12th October:
Back in Fran's beautiful garden, and Pat Telecom has fitted us a phone line into the truck, which is great because our mobile phone has been broken for a while. It also means that we can get online to keep the SpudZone more fresh and happening. Fran and family have just returned to England so we are house sitting for a few weeks. Pat, Helen and the Freaks are parked right next to us so we'll expect to see some Barbies launched into the sky by some method by the time Fran returns! We wish them a great visit to Inglaterra. Recently we have been visited by Granny & Grandad Peeb. It was lovely to see them, we spent some lovely time together and sampled much local bar food, as did the bar cats. I advised avoiding the chicken foot soup for various reasons.
Nathan Peter has a Portuguese birth certificate at last, they have finally accepted, on word from the embassy, that his name really is a name. Great. Soon he can get a British birth certificate and passport. Then he will be allowed to leave Portuguese borders.
Giles and Fran are coming out to see us in a fortnight. We're really looking forward to it.

21th August:
I heartily recommend a job in the British Consulate. Easy life selling very expensive pieces of paper. I was led to believe they were there to help your average British Citizen, but no, they are there to go to lunch.

20th August:
Some people have asked me why this news is always about a month late. I wonder the same thing. Anyway we've just come back from the beach, after saying goodbye to Pete, Becky & Ella. Just after getting to the beach Barry & Rachel turned up and found us beach hanging in Quiaios (anyone been to a place with such a heavy emphasis on vowels?) where the surf is reasonable, and there is a huge light house which illuminates the night sky. Due to the car park nature of the car park we were in we drove off up the coast to Praia de Mira (reasonably vowelly) were we stayed and beach-hung some more for a few days. One day, while we were there, lots of police turned up and cordonned-off an area of the dunes. Curiosity being the better part of stupidity off we went to see what they were cordonning. We got a look from the cordonning police officer like he had a dead rat under his nose, so we approached friendlily and drawing up our best Portuguese asked him "Whasappennin'?" he spouted loud and fast about bombs and stuff, so undeterred we had to have a look. Lo and behold there in the sand was an unexploded French missile. Barry helpfully told the Policeman that it was probably off a frigate, and off we wandered. No sooner had we got to the waterline than a news crew with camera came down to ask us "Whasappennin?" and mustering my worst Pigeon Portuguese I spouted loud and fast about bombs and stuff. On looking round the military had turned up and were in the process of clearing the beach telling people to leave their stuff behind. Stupidity having gone far enough we legged it back to where we were camped and just as we were forgetting the excitement the truck rocked to a huge explosion in the dunes. I can say that I don't think anyone got hurt, but I didn't fancy running back over to check. Exciting stuff. In fact the excitement was so much we went to a bad circus to calm down. It has been great fun seeing Barry & Rachel. A big hi to Joseph & Zac from us all. No wait, it doesn't end there we then went to the mill where Nathan was born and Ian, the guy that owns it, had turned up from England bringing with him a video projector. So Barry and I built a scaffold frame up the side of the truck and stretched white plastic table cloth over it until about 20 feet high. We put a big speaker either end of the truck and Ian set up his projector on his Army Beetle, spread lots of cushions around, set up a cocktail bar, and invited lots of people round, and as it went dark we watched a silent movie. When everyone gathered we watched a Hitchcock film called, I can't remember - a something of evil. a touch of evil maybe. Anyway the film was much more memorable than the name and I think without fail everyone had a fantastic time. On-home entertainment. Wow.

7th August:
Hi Spud Fans! It was the lad's birthday last Sunday and we had loads of fun. We took the truck back down to the mill where Nathan was born and had a birthday party by the river. Harry had a Stegasaurus cake in neon green with a magic re-lighting candle on it, which kept at least 15 of his friends busy blowing for some time! We set up a disco with crazy kids tunes, and Spud span his own tunes which included a fast trot circus tune and the ace of spades. Ollie had his huge crash mats out so there was much leaping about. Jamilla, Stepanie and Orin stayed with us afterwards on the terrace, and eventually after a really hot day after we drove up into the mountains and stayed in the cool. Now we have come down out of the mountains and have headed north to a place near Ponte de Lima, and met up with Pete, Becky & Ella who have come down for a couple of weeks and are staying in a gorgeous old farmhouse with a swimming pool, so we have parked up by the nearby church, and have just had a swim and some dinner with them. It's great to see them down here. Harry & Ella have been having a ball!

12th July:
We have just re-surfaced after birthing enough to get back to the great world wide web of intergalactic communications. So you can be expecting slightly more news chat from now on! Giving birth is the only real hot news at the mo, and Clare is writing up her birthing story for all the active birth crew and anyone else who feels like getting "grossed out". I will type it up soonish. The next news will be Loures festival, no doubt, which is a festival of performing arts and alike, where I am doing the sound-track to a circus show, and playing records after. Getting paid for playing records is more like it... Other hot news would be that Harry has learnt to swim, and can get from side to side of the river. He's also starting to get the hang of reading, writes a mean birthday card, and can add up (at least up to the end of his fingers!). His Portuguese is coming on well, although he won't admit it at all. Harry and I also got hauled in to the Police station the other day and questioned about not having our passports on us, which we had on us (it's illegal not to have your papers on you in Europe, which is why we always carry them). Five police stood about scratching their heads, while one asked questions for about an hour, looking at our passports and telling us we had to have our passports at all times. After nearly two dozen times of telling him that we did indeed have our passports, and that he had them in his hand they all suddenly looked very sheepish and told us we were free to go and carry on enjoying our holiday in Portugal, whilst all muttering "sorry" in the best English they could muster. Harry enjoyed it lots it seems.

14th May:
Harry and I have just been to see the Harlem Globetrotters in action in the sports hall in Poiares. They are TALL. They ran about slam - dunkin' and high - fiving each other lots, and were pretty snappy with a basketball! They roll the ball around their body and it sticks to them as if glued. Scoring baskets from the half way line with their back turned! Harry wasn't so chuffed because he thought he was supposed to be having a go, but loved the really tall 'dood' who hung upside down off the basket when he scored.

12th May:
We have spent the weekend in Coimbra which is the city below Porto. Showing there was the "Ha musicos invisiveis na cidade" which roughly speaking is "there are invisible musicians in the city". This was a display of old and modern musical machines, including small music boxes, large and loud fairground organs, juke boxes, a stereo gramophone (and a pocket one!), a fully automatic model orchestra, a huge water powered set of African drums, a MIDI controlled saxophone player .... you get the picture. It was brilliant fun. Harry played several complex pieces of music by merely turning a handle, which he thought was "the business". He got to play on some crazy instruments which closely resembled tuned television aerials, and also have a romp about on a bean bag which would have filled the hut!
We also went for a stroll in the botanical gardens, which are stunning. We didn't spend anywhere near long enough there so we are planning to go back and spend a day there monkeying about amongst ancient trees.

7th May:
Just got back from Jason & Melissa's wedding near Mouronho, Portugal. The ceremony lasted for about a week in all. Not that surprising! It was a great time. All the children had a go at May Pole (more like May Twig) dancing (no wonder we had to practise at school!). I'm busy composing a few words and getting some photos developed so more news on this soon(ish). (are there too many brackets in this paragraph?)

27th April:
It's Jason & Melissa's Wedding on 1st May so we are getting ready to take the truck up into the mountains and celebrate. We are going up into the mountains for a few days, it will be the first time we have gone on an outing in the truck for 6 weeks so it's exciting. Lot's of Harry's mates will be at the party, it is going to be great fun. We will probably get a quick welly throw in just to keep up the May Day traditions!

We have several really nice private spots to park for giving birth and Clare is looking really healthy, so we shall be starting to "nest build" after Jason & Melissa's wedding.

March:
We are just behind the courtyard of a beautiful house just outside Lombada, Portugal. It has an adventure playground in the woods next to the truck, with scramble nets, a pirate ship, swings, and big musical instruments. (Chad & Max know the ones!) Today we cleared out the loose wood from the woodland floor to reduce the fire hazard, and had a small fire (as soon as it gets really hot they are banned). There is a large fireman crew here (called Bombeiros) and they all have a great selection of old and new fire engines. As I'm typing this of course it's starting to rain!

It's been scorching here for the last week or so. We have got Helen & Rowan staying with us at the moment, and we went fishing for the first time this year - we caught some minute tiddlers!! It was great fun.

Love,
Harry, Nathan, Clare & Dave.

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