404.
Before you wonder, I'm back in Dundee. Since I was travelling all day yesterday, and didn't manage to take any pictures, I am posting one of the many hundred I took during my Portuguese trip. Now, to matters of a more pressing nature: I'm not sure I like the insinuation that I have an easy life. I work very hard for the miserable few euros that get tossed in my direction every now and again. It is no easy life reading books or working at a computer most of the time, especially when my commute involves leaving this beautifully verdant land of Scotland and travelling for 12 hours to arrive in the oppressive heat of that beautiful land of Portugal. So what if I spend some of my time meeting friends and eating well-prepared freshly caught fish in inexpensive restaurants, drinking a couple of ice cold beers or vinho verde at beach-side cafes? It is all part of my job. I have to know what the Portuguese know, do what the Portuguese do, say what the Portuguese say. Yes, I even have to eat what the Portuguese eat and drink what the Portuguese drink. I have to 'become' Portuguese - for only by 'becoming' Portuguese can I contextualise their politics, their history and their culture. Therefore it is my (tax-deductable) duty as a researcher to travel within the country and go to markets and festivals. I would be a poor researcher if I didn't visit beautiful places with my Portuguese friends - even to the extent of going to the beach with them. You might think that it is an easy life, but you don't have to live it. Oh, what I'd give for a 9-5 office job in wet Dundee. The next time you see an image of mine from Portugal, just think about all the effort that has been involved. Mine is a very hard life... sometimes I even need to be in the office by 11am (and remember, my office is 1,500 miles from my house - so I usually need to travel there the day before). I'm not bitter, though. I will continue this arduous task stoicly and without complaint. Naaaaaah. I didn't think you'd believe me! I have a great life, and I wouldn't swap it for anything! This boy got it right. Last Friday, I went for a walk out to Belém, where I was taking photographs (as usual). This little boy and his two friends were walking around the fountain when they spied me with the camera. "Oi, turista", they shouted, "tira a nossa foto". I felt like telling them that I wasn't a tourist, but that I was a professor at the university, and that I had forgotten more about their country than they would ever know, but then I looked at myself standing in the middle of the park in Belém wearing shorts and with a camera hanging from my neck. I took their photo.

Com os seus amigos

This day last year marked the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings