- Wear heels. It's the pavements. Some clown in planning thought it a great idea to pave the streets of Lisbon (and the whole damn country) with little squares of rock. Mostly it looks pretty but on the whole - totally useless for stilettos and kitten heels.
- Speak English. Well ... you can but ain't no one gonna talk back to you. Trust me ... I've tried (in desparation).
- Avoid beggars. Not that I mind them. I don't, not a bit. Usually I just trip over them. Actually ... they're a bloody nuisance. I might start paying them to stand up, instead of lying around the (break your neck if you wear heels) pavements.
- Complain. About anything. Not that you don't have nothing to moan about. I can think of ohhhh a dozen things. But no one (here) likes a moaner. That's something you do under your breath and behind closed doors. Just so you know ...
- Get any sleep if you're a light sleeper. Or a deep one, come to think of it. On account of the 6 nights a week trash collection. Done roughly around the hours of unreasonable and stupid o' clock in the morning.
- Find pillows that are made for anyone that's taller than 36 inches. Unless you're prepared to pay stupid money for them in El Corte Ingles. Which I'm not.
- Speak in Portuguese in a shop/bank/anywhere without *whoever* looking fondly on, listening intently and making you feel like a two year old learning to string a sentence together.
- Join a queue and expect everyone else that's already in it or about to join it to observe queue etiquette. I don't think 'waiting your turn' is a part of the Portuguese culture. Or maybe it is - and they pretend otherwise.
- Get through a single day without drinking alcohol. Sorry. Tried it. Soooo anti-social. No can do.
- Buy fish and chips. Not that I want to. I don't even like them. I'm just saying ...
Here's another thing you can't do - avoid cafés full of yummies ...
2 comments:
Neither can you walk around in the drizzle without an umbrella up & not be stared at or drink coffee with milk after 11am and not be thought of a)a tourist &/or b)7 yrs old. Probably not just in Lisbon either...
Errrr lol that is all very true. Unfortunately. But I guess what makes us sooooo British is the fact that we can do most 'unnatural' things with great aplomb ...
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