Close Encounter with an Aspiring President

In the absence of any big news on the house, here's a little incident that gave us a laugh...

This evening, we headed up to Viseu, a nearby city that we like very much and where Megumi takes a dance class on Mondays. I often go with her -- to save her driving, which she hates, and just to enjoy the change of scenery.

Today, arriving about 6pm, we were walking towards the old medieval lane that winds up to the cathedral. We heard drumming -- a marching band that sounded much like a volunteer fire brigade band. It turned out not to be so; rather it was a group of drummers obviously involved in campaigning for next Sunday's presidential election.

They were blocking our way, so we simply kept out of the way behind other onlookers until they moved off up the lane. We followed discreetly behind. Noisy election campaigns are not our favourite kind of entertainment, but the drums and flags made for an interesting sight. Anyway, the drummers soon turned and started heading back our way. Immediately it was clear that they were accompanying someone; an older man who was shaking hands and waving to people on the street. A walkabout? It certainly seemed so. I guessed he must be a presidential candidate.

We were, as I mentioned, discreet. But not discreet enough. He noticed us behind a couple of other people, nodded at Megumi, and asked if she was Chinese. He appeared to be asking me, so I responded in my best Portuguese that she was Japanese. He asked about me, so I said I was British. We all shook hands. "Living in Portugal?" Yes. And that was about it; I just told him we were living not far away in Tabua. Obviously he was someone important -- a TV crew were recording his every move (and ours) -- but we really didn't have a clue. I did think I recognised his face from TV, but that was about all.

Later, I noted posters with the name Soares in large letters. On getting home a while ago, I discovered that indeed he was Mario Soares, ex-president, ex-Prime Minister, and ex-thorn-in-the-side of the Salazar dictatorship. We are rather pleased to find that we had shaken hands with someone we wouldn't be embarassed to be associated with!!