Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

little odd and constrained at first, as we hadn't seen each other for at least
[nine] months. Maureen said 'oh dear' several times during the first moments
of our reunion! I almost turned tail and went back on the next train; just joking,
I'm so glad I didn't! Marrying her was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I had met the cost of my parents coming over for the wedding and they
were staying in the Holmes’ villa, ‘Boa Vista’. The next day Leonard Holmes
took us to Sintra to collect drinking water from the usual azuleijo-tiled spring,
and the rest of a set of Caldes crockery breakfast dishes Maureen had been
buying for us. In the evening the two of us had a lovely drive along the
Marinho.
Monday 7 June was the day of our civil marriage performed by the British
Consul, a lady. It was not very impressive, except that the rules provided for
the Consulate door to be left open so that if necessary an objection could be
made! Afterwards we bought a small wrought-iron, tiled table and Maureen
got her hair done! That evening we had a reception (cocktail party) for about 80
people as our wedding luncheon two days later, after the Church wedding,
was to be small. The wedding was in the small English church, St Pauls, in Alto
Estoril, at 12.30 pm. It went off well and Maureen was looking divine in a 3 4
length white grosgrain dress (the fashionable 'Princess line' so I was told) with
a small bolero jacket. Sheelagh was bridesmaid, in white embossed organdy
over pale blue taffeta dress, and my brother Michael was the Best Man. After a
delicious happy luncheon at Boa Vista on the terrace and in the dining room
with the usual goings on, speeches and jokes, of wedding receptions, Maureen
drove me off in Bonnie's Triumph Mayflower car, to the old walled town of
Obidos, about an hour's drive away. I still hadn’t a driving license!
We spent the next fortnight driving around Portugal, much of which I had
never seen and some of which Maureen hadn't either. We visited Luso, Tomar,
via the beautiful Mondego river valley and stayed at the Castella-do-Bode
pousada, on the edge of the Tomar Dam. On to Santiago do Cacem, via Evora
where we visited the Roman Temple of Diana and then to the Algarve via the
charming little fishing village of Sines followed by a rather dull run through
the Alentejo to Praia-do-Rocha. While there we visited Cape St. Vincent and
delighted in the bright pink and red geraniums that covered the banks on each
side of the road much of the way. We spent two nights in the Hotel Bella Vista
which was rather expensive and too large and formal for our liking; also, we
didn't care for the attitude of the staff. So to their dismay we moved next door
to a small pub–like kind of hotel, appropriately called the "Penguin". It was
rather old and grotty, let into the cliff in whitewashed tiers like a Tibetan
monastery, but much more homely. Two queers owned it, though at the time
they were away and some friends of Bonnie and Len, who had been at our
wedding, were looking after it. And so ever after, Bill and his wife ‘Billie’
Neville, (who habitually wore a monocle!), told everyone that they had been on
our honeymoon. We had a drive to the spa in the hills at Monchique via Silves,
a rather dull trip but with pretty hills, although it was really too hot to enjoy it.
462