Friday, August 27

Irma has to work this morning so, for ecological reasons, I agreed to take a big bunch of lillies to Kamppi. I did some flower arranging when I got there, and then got the metro back.

Finnair had messaged to warn us to expect ”more departing passengers than usual” and they spoke the truth. Overcrowded would not begin to do justice to the scene when we arrived.

All goes well, the plane takes off, and about four hours later I take some photographs as we approach Porto. The clouds hover in little clumps over the outskirts of the city.

Landing will not involve any of the coronavirus testing we had feared and Booking.com have arranged a driver for us as part of their campaign to make people enthusiastic about travelling again. He takes us straight to our apartment in ”the historic old town”.

We will arrive in the middle of the evening and we will need supplies for breakfast. We find the Pingo Doce supermarket 200 metres from the apartment, and follow that with a celebratory beer at Poveiros, a little café next door but one to the supermarket.

Beer in Portugal comes in 200ml glasses. We will not feel too drunk.