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Wonders of technology. I am writing these words (and publishing them a little later) while I am traveling on board of a fast train between Lisbon and Faro at a speed of 220 kilometers per hour. As I have written earlier this week, the Alfa Pendular is the way to travel in this country, in between Faro in the South, over Lisbon to Porto in the North. I had a wonderful day today. Traveling to Lisbon is always nice, and especially today. A day to remember, a day to be framed on the walls of my memory.

I came by car this morning, together with Jerry, my business partner and John, a Dutch friend who helps us from time to time in delivering safes, or if we need some help on the technical department. Jerry nor myself are good when we have to solve technical problems. Fortunately, we have John’s expertise. Both Jerry and John solved the problems in Lisbon (one of our customers had a robbery, and the robbers tried to break into a Gifoa-safe (they did not succeed - but damaged the electronic lock), while I was visiting a new customer who had arrived from Costa Verde this morning. Alberto is a former police officer who runs a security company on the islands.

We had lunch together, and he told me everything (or at least, a whole lot of things) about his beautiful country. We both had a wonderful fish (sole), but he assured me that also the fish has an amazing taste over there! Apparently, it’s only a three and a half hours flight from Lisbon, to arrive in one of the paradises of the world. Nine or ten islands in total, all pretty close to each other. The economy is growing very fast. According to Alberto, Cabo Verde will become one of the next touristic paradises of this world. As a matter of fact, I’m already looking forward to jumping on a plane and fly to that destination to see it with my own eyes.

We spent quite some time together today, he bought a couple of our safes which we hope to be able to put on a boat that leaves Lisbon next Monday evening. Which is going to be a challenge. It was Friday afternoon, and our contacts with transportation companies situated in the Algarve had taken an early leave for the weekend today.  Every time we have a pretty special delivery, we are facing challenges to get these things organised. After all, this is Southern Europe. But if necessary, I will take the safes personally to Lisbon next Monday with our company van.

It’ll be another trip to our wonderful capital. With only a minor traffic jam just before crossing the beautiful Ponte de 25 de Abril. This bridge always reminds me of the two visits I paid to San Francisco, back in 1988 and 2001. The Golden Gate Bridge and the Ponte de 25 de Abril are twins…

And now, while still on board this fast train (we’ll be arriving in Faro at around 22.00h), I am going to relax a little bit and watch a movie on my laptop.

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