Portimao part 3

‘ Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.’ Jonah 1: 17 ( Here is a narrative, with twists and turns and quite unexpected in its outcomes for Jonah. A good read!)

This post will look at a fish and a plant! The fish is a sardine, and the plant is Oxalis.

‘ Life is rather like a tin of sardines – we’re all of us looking for the key.’

Alan Bennett ( He is an actor, author, playwright, and screenwriter.)

And

‘So when I cease to be, I want to go back to the sea! Oh, for the life of a Sardine! That is the life for me!’

Charlie Chaplin

The sardines in the canning factory Portimao were soon in their tins. Women worked skilfully by hand. Stomach out, head off, washed and on wires to be steamed, hand packed and checked so the tins looked ‘pretty’. Oil or sauce squirted on by machine. The tin sealed and the whole washed again, only then ready for the shop shelf.

Before this, there were decisions to be made. Was the weather good for fishing? Were the fish in, and where was a good place to drop the nets? When should they quickly trap the sardines and bring them in with a rhythmic sea shanty? Some days, the canning factory worked other days it didn’t it all depended on the answers to these questions.

Clocking in and leaving your baby in the nursery run by the factory, all depended on the sea and the catch. The babies were bathed and fed, their baths and beds lined up. The fish were canned. A natural rhythm out of human control.

‘ I spotted a can in the corner whose red label read sadness . Was there so much of it they could can it and sell it? A bolt of pain went through my intestines before I realised that it was not sadness but sardines.’

Alksandar Herman

The museum in the factory is well worth a visit. I enjoyed seeing some Roman jars and coins found in the Portimao area and which were well presented.

Here’s a scene from the sardine factory and some of those shapely Roman jars.

Women placing the sardines,each fish separately on a rack space.

November, December, and now January, the Algarve has had the bright wild flowers of Oxalis here and there. I have watched a child pick a large bunch and sail it in a tub across a puddle. The plant has made the cliffs a bright green and the roadsides bright with their lemon yellow. I will share a little of what I have seen and paint a while, too.