Doing the right thing is not always easy

Sometimes doing the right thing is not easy.  Sometimes doing the right thing will protect vulnerable people but bring a world of criticism down on your head.  Sometimes doing the right thing makes you second guess yourself.

What do you do when someone has knowingly put themselves and others at risk?  What do you do when someone repeatedly breaches clear directions, agreed boundaries and codes of behaviour?  What do you do when someone escalates issues when you are trying to keep it low key?  What do you do when someone takes no responsibility for their own actions?  What do you do when someone does not realise their own vulnerability and continues to put themselves at risk?  What do you do when someone tells half-truths and changes the narrative knowing you will not breach confidentiality?  What do you do when others support the unacceptable behaviour putting people at risk?  What do you do when others accuse you of over-reacting when they only know half the story and you cannot tell them the whole story without breaching confidentiality?

I have found it quite exhausting to stay staunch and do the right thing.  I have found it demoralising when misunderstandings are perpetuated.  I have found it challenging to keep reinforcing the agreed boundaries.  I have found it disappointing when colleagues fall short in their support.  I have found it disheartening to be painted the baddie when I have done the right thing.  I have found it dispiriting when I have been yelled and spoken over when I am trying to explain things.  I have found it unbelievable that people do not know or understand the law.  I have found it discouraging when people do not accept that a conviction means that I do not personally have to have an opinion on what happened.  I have found it depressing when there is no response and ongoing delays to getting to a resolution.  I have found it hard to trust in my gut that things will work out in the end.

I have sought out pleasure in nature, cooking, craft, property and garden design tv shows.  I have uncharacteristically done lots of gardening.  I have found people think I am an amazing gardener – I am not.  Really, I am not.  I do not have any green fingers or thumbs.  Perhaps it is all the energy going in that has made the garden lush this year?  Weirdly I have been able to replant things and they thrive.

Madrid to Valencia

Day 22: Madrid to Valencia on the high speed train, after a quiet morning packing up the new suitcase, which is slightly larger than the old one, and has four functioning wheels, which is perfect. Andrew booked first class tickets on the train, so we could use the lounge at the train station, and we got lunch on the train too. There was internet and power on the train so I was able to do some more blogging for those who do not have facebook. The train was fast and hot…but we were in cool comfort inside. There was very high security at the train station and all bags were scanned before getting on the train.

Our hotel is the blue building and a cute lizard on the yellow building to the right. The lobby has quite graphic colours and art.

Our room is very comfortable and we had complimentary chocolates on the bed – always a good way to start a stay somewhere. Our hotel is just opposite the huge Mercado Central Market, which we visited right away. It is the largest market in Europe, I understand.

We found a cake shop just before the market closed – perfect timing really. Tough choice on what to buy though…

We chose a couple that were actually frozen desserts.

Then we had a wee wander around the area. There was a rubber duck shop – who knew that was a thing?

Andrew’s Madrid Scenes

So Andrew went out and about and visited the National Prado Museum and came back waxing lyrical about Goya, Rubens etc. He was told off for taking photos and he did bring me back a serviette from there.

Andrew also captured some other legal images on his walk to and from the Prado. There was a giant rabbit – not sure why…

And Mario was there, again, not sure why. Andrew also took some photos of doors for me – what a great guy.

Madrid

Day 21: Madrid. Expecting a high of 35°C today. We went out early…well, when I say early, it was after 10am, to buy a new suitcase. There was a charming little Spanish man who spoke very little English that helped us, and apologised for his lack of English, which was of course so much better than our Spanish! Then it was back to bed for me, but Andrew went solo sight seeing. There is big wide footpaths both sides of the four lane street, and they do a good statue on top of buildings.

This is the lobby and outside of our hotel, the Emperador.

The Ministry of Justice had great doors, the lights for crossing the street encourages you to go two by two, and the temperature got hotter than forecast.

Lisbon, Portugal to Madrid, Spain

Day 20: 8th July 2023, we flew from Lisbon to Madrid. The airport at Lisbon was seething with people and was very noisy. The Portuguese people are very expressive and verbal. In keeping with all our previous flights, with the exception of the Swiss Air flight, this flight was delayed and our plane was 45mins late leaving. We missed our slot with air traffic control, so we waited on the plane all that time – it is a long time just sitting on a plane. I now have Andrew’s cold.

Our hotel room is lovely, which is great as I don’t think I will see much more of Madrid than this.

My suitcase did not survive the cobblestones and hills of Sintra and I saw it go when the taxi driver wheeled it from the hotel to the car. We think it is terminal and we need a new suitcase.

National Tile Museum in Lisbon

Day 19: Lisbon – today, we went to the National Tile Museum, which seemed a totally appropriate thing to do in Portugal. The museum is set in Madre de Deus Convent, founded in 1509 and its collections allow a journey through the history of tile, from 15th century till present days and you can find more about it here.

These two were in the entrance. The first room had very modern tiles.

And then there were really old tiles

And of course, the building had internal courtyards

And religious tiles

And there was a chapel which had a very ornate nativity scene, and there was a wedding going on.

We were just in time for the kiss.

The colours of Lisbon.

Sights on the way to cooking class

There were such varied sights on the way to cooking class, and some were most unexpected. Like the costume place that had a male mannequin dressed as a bride. Perhaps it is a thing here?

Then there was the park that had the traditional pigeons that you get everywhere, but had the added interest of other bird life – geese and roosters!

And we came across this office for smart people (which as really a smart car place – but great title for where you work) and then this wonderful office for swimming – which was in a multi-level park.

There as a glimpse of the sea over the cityscape viewed from the park with the swimming pool.

And a beautiful yellow tiled building. It was a beautiful sunny clear day.

Lisbon Cooking School

Day 18: Lisbon Cooking class! I have been looking forward to this since I booked it months ago. First, we visited the market and had some tastings of breads, cheeses, pork, then back to the kitchen to cook!

There was a wide variety of fish available at the fish market. We tasted pork, cheese, breads, more cheeses – cow, sheep, goat, and mixed cheeses. There were lots of olives for sale, of course, and the biggest peppers I have ever seen. We then walked back to the school for our class.

The chefs had prepared a survival kit for us with breads, cheese, meats, olives, beans, chorizo, and green wine. The chorizo was cooked on this special ceramic plate and was just delicious.

Our class had people from USA, and Canada. The balding guy was from Quebec and he worked for Alstom, which Andrew used to work for, and the young guy next to him, was from Saskatchewan, and is a radio ham! Andrew was so well connected! We all had our individual jobs to do. Andrew & I were on the gazpacho.

Ready for lunch and we all sat down and feasted on mussels first.

Then our gazpacho which was delicious. Watermelon was the secret ingredient. There was of course lots of salt, pepper, vinegar and olive oil. I did the chopping of the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and Andrew was in charge of whizzing everything together. We also had a OBGYN, from Colorado, who did the fine cutting of vege to be used for garnish.

The main dish was cataplana which is cooked in this special clam like pan and has vege layered on the bottom and then the filleted fish (I was pleased I was not on that station) and then some prawns. It tasted so good.

Orange roll to finish with berries. Everything was delicious and we had a great time. Our fellow students were lovely, and some were in the restaurant trade in Canada – a mum with her two daughters and their partners, and a friend of the mother. She had two restaurants in Thunder Bay, Ontario. There was the guy from Alstom from Quebec and whose wife was a social worker who works with people with mental illnesses. There was also two doctors from Colorado. And us, from NZ. It was such a good experience and I would recommend it to everyone.

There was a shop where you could buy things that were used in the cooking and also some towels that one of the chefs embroiders and crochets the edges – so we had to buy one of those.

Sintra to Lisbon by train

Day 17: Sintra to Lisbon. Poor Andrew is still not feeling well, so we had a slow morning, packed up, and he had a rest before we took the train to Lisbon.

Sintra has lots of natural springs and they have warnings that the water is not safe to drink, but I guess they were safe to drink some time ago if they made such fabulous places for people to rest, recover, and refresh.

Today was the day of brightly coloured objects with the Green Man at Sintra and the bright pink snail at Lisbon.

Rossio Station at Lisbon is decorated with crests celebrating food and wine.

This is a typical street scene in Lisbon with tables outside and staff touting for business. There were more cobblestones here in Lisbon and my suitcase is only just hanging in there. There was this lovely sculpture outside Rossio station.

The main street has a pedestrian space which is tree-lined on both sides of the road which is lovely to walk down and has cafes and lush gardens. And the first photo has a statue of what looked like Neptune.

Our room in Lisbon has pictures of doors above the bed, which we took to be a very good sign, as we have been taking pictures of doors on this trip.

Monserrate Palace and Park

Day 16: Sintra – today we visited Monserrate Palace and Park, which was just lovely and not crowded at all, which made such a pleasant change.

This is the view as you walk in.

And this is the view from the bottom of the lawn, looking up to the main entrance.

The library had the most wonderfully carved door, and some books on some of the bookshelves.

There was even a dragon lurking in a corner.

Monserrate did not disappoint with more stairs for Andrew.

After dinner the men would retire to the billiards room on the left and the women to the sitting room on the right. Both lovely rooms.

The music room had busts all around the room, so you would always have an audience.

There was a lovely marble handrail on the stairwell to the bedrooms on the first floor.

This is the view from the first floor gallery.

This is the entrance to the garden.

The water lilies were in flower on the lakes. There were only one or two roses in flower though.

Pena Palace

Day 1: Sintra – Pena Palace… always on my go to list…well as soon as I heard about it. It did not disappoint, but it was busy. You buy tickets for a particular time and have to be there at that time to be let in. It is a 30min walk from the gates through the gardens.

I understand it is like this all day everyday, with thousands of people going through, and if you miss your time slot, you miss out.

One of the dining rooms

One of the bedrooms.

There was a definite lack of mattress on this bed, but I like the dining table in the bedroom.

A lovely internal courtyard, with covered walkways around it which keep you cool.

This was the bedroom for the lady in waiting.

The most extravagant telephone room ever!

There were some great moustaches to be seen.

Ornate plaster ceilings.

I particularly loved this mother and daughter matching outfits. Andrew said it would be super useful if you lost your child and you could say, they were dressed just like this.

This was the tea room – I think I could happily have tea here.

The lighting was not subtle or understated. The light fixture on the left, was one of six in that room.

Lovely stained glass windows.

The Stag dining room was quite unusual with its round table with the middle pillar. The kitchens on the right were fabulous and I am sure we could whip up a storm in there.

Outside at Pena Palace is lovely too with the brightly coloured walls.

The handrail on the stairs were made of brass and were very intricate in their design. I really liked it.