Can you stop the Rain

The young French woman above is Doriane Pin, and on the right is the car she uses for her day job. I have been following Ms Pin this year on TV as she destroyed all male competition in the Ferrari GTE European Cup series, winning 9 events to become champion.

On my first day in the Algarve, I set off to the Autodromo do Algarve racing circuit which is a leisurely 20 minutes from Turiscampo. Doriane, I discovered, was racing in the Le Mans 4 hour endurance race and €25 got me access to the circuit, the paddock and the pit lane where I could meet the drivers and meet my becoming hero. Doriane went on to win the event with her two co-drivers. And now the punchline, Ms Pin is 18 years old!

And then the rain came, two days of torrential downpours and high wind. My airframe awning collapsed and I had to get makeshift poles to prop it up. The awning leaked from everywhere. I rang the manufacturer’s who told me that because the awning had no rain on it for 3 years, the stitching stretched and needed to be soaked to tighten up. I said “oh yeah!!”. Next day it poured again and not a single leak. However, lowest night temperature was 20C and daytime 24C!!

Driving into the race track, a stern looking steward motioned me to come forward and he approached my window.

“Conas ta tu?”, he said with a smile.

This is Claudio, and he worked for Michael Smurfit in the K Club for 10 years. Amazing the power of a Dublin reg car.

When the rain stopped, I headed to my walking beach, Meia Praia, in Lagos. I always turn left on the beach, but this time went right and found a tiny beach bar “BamBamBeach” almost hidden in the sand dunes. It caught my eye because it had the Bitcoin symbol in the name.

Jim, the bar keeper, told me he was a Futures and Options trader for 17 years and that his boss, Didi Taihutto, was a Bitcoin trader.

Didi, who took this picture, told me that in 2016 he sold everything his family owned, including his house, and bought Bitcoin at $900. He said he started to sell it when it went over $40,000 a coin. Didi is a “colourful” Dutch character who lives locally. This is the family website: https://thebitcoinfamily.com

I do not recommend emulation.