The Friday Food Truck

in a small village in Portugal

There are so many ways to tell the time without clocks or watches in the village.

There is the sound of Mikelina racing back and forth down the street to feed her goats with her dogs hanging from the car windows and yapping in excitement. This happens daily between 9 and 9:30 in the morning and then again between 6 and 7 pm.

And there are the church bells, which ring out 50 times each day, a minute or two past each hour and each half hour, with an extra two rings thrown in for good measure at 7:25 am and 7:25 pm (reasons unknown.)

And then there is the blaring of a small truck horn Fridays between noon and 12:30, letting the residents, particilarly the elderly without cars, know the mobile market on wheels has arrived and is open for business in the chapel parking lot.

Granny Cabbage and Senhor Manual are regulars, lining up to buy the food and extras like coffee, tea, bread and tins of fish that they do not grown themselves on their small farm patches.