Leaves and efficiency

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This week in Sintra they started giving the vaccines for the B-group people for the A-virus - later than many other cities in Portugal. I was called in as well and was also given the tetanus - they saw on the computer that mine was out of date. Sometimes things are efficient like that here, two vaccines at the time.

There are many things that I wished were more efficient here - faster response to many bureaucratic issues, for example. But some things I wish at times were not so efficient. Like the street sweepers. There are many in Sintra, and to be honest they do a great job - the streets are very clean here, even after the market of São Pedro. If you see the grounds at 6pm on the day of the market, it's a disaster - but the morning after you could never guess it had been a market day the day before. That is great.

But this week after the rain the big oak trees dropped their leaves - HUGE yellow, read and green ALL over the roads of Sintra. I collected many on my way to the vaccine, they were beautiful and made the Sintra roads look so cozy and 'autumny'. But then they were gone. The efficiency of the sweepers is amazing. Now I am just happy that they are giving some more rain for tomorrow so I can walk on the leaves again, maybe collect a few more before they are gone again!

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