I got up early today — yesterday’s forecast predicted rain here, beginning in the afternoon. Our 2:40 tee time looked like it might be too late for us to get one more (dry) golf game in. So at 7:30 I called the course and switched our time to 8:40 am. If we could finish our game in 3 to 4 hours we’d be home, high and dry, by noon.

The wind was cool and the waves on the beach below us were big and white. So I packed my hoodie, my poofy vest, and my rain jacket. When we checked in at the clubhouse, Dave asked the lady if she thought we were making the wrong call. She shook her head — and said ‘there will be rain’. Not too many other cars on the parking lot, and we only saw one other golf buggy anywhere on the course. 

But we’re Canadians, and we’re tough. And besides, tomorrow’s forecast looks worse and the day after that I’m outta here. We’ve got to make this work.

First tee: Driver hits it high and right, but it rolls down the big slope and it’s playable. Second shot lands on the green. Putt, Putt. Par.

Second hole: Good drive, a bit right, but playable. Second shot ricochets off two trees and lands on the green. Putt. Putt. Putt. Bogey.

Third hole: Good drive, but a bit left. Wedge shot to about 2 feet from the hole. Par.

Fourth hole: Short drive. Good second shot. Wedge onto the green. Putt. Putt. Par.

Fifth hole: Par three, 90 yards, green is WAY down below us, surrounded by bunkers and anything that’s not on the green rolls way down into bushes. Tee shot misses the green left, ball is at the edge of the bush. Wedge over the green, ball lost in the bush on the other side. Drop a ball. Hit it back over the green, ball lost in the bush. Drop a ball. Okay, this isn’t going so well — why am I even doing the play-by-play? Nobody wants to read this! Nobody cares about my GAME. Tell ’em what they wanna know, why don’t you…

But how’s the weather? Well, the light rain we had for the first 7 or 8 holes wasn’t too bad — the cool wind was drying us off as fast as the rain was wetting us. But then the rain got a bit more serious. And we were getting quite wet. Okay, VERY wet.

By hole 15 I was REALLY looking forward to the finish. But we persevered. And although Dave could barely (or not at all) hold onto his club after each swing, we would NOT throw in the towel. We couldn’t throw in the towel — we only had one towel between the two of us, and we needed it to dry the seat on the golf cart so we wouldn’t get our pant seats all wet. Okay, our pant seats WERE all wet anyway.

We skipped the after-game beer and loaded all our wet gear into the car and went back to the apartment. Because it was our last game we took all our golf gear up to our fourth-floor apartment so it could dry out and I could pack it all for the flight home.

I ate the sandwich I’d made in the morning, and Dave boiled up a cup of tomato soup for each of us. All our heaters were on ‘high’. And then the cleaning lady came in and did a quick cleaning of our bedrooms (but skipped the living room and kitchen because we were in there). I don’t blame her for the ‘quick’ job — I had my golf bag emptied and every chair and table now had golf paraphernalia and wet clothes draped over it. And the wind was HOWLING around our doors and windows and the rain was pounding the windows and all that was left for us to do was to sit in our comfy chairs and watch TV. So eventually I download the Oscar-nominated best picture “Get Out” and we watched that. Interesting…

We had happy hour and then at around 7pm we headed out for supper. We made a quick stop at the SPAR to get some groceries for tomorrow, and then went across the street to one of the two Indian restaurants. We shared three mains and had a fine meal. 

Shortly after 9 pm we were back at our stations in front of our TV. Dave was blasting away at his iPhone Scrabble game and MaryLou was getting the latest news from her Facebook friends. I was busy adjusting my load of laundry — making sure that each piece some hot air from one of our space heaters. 

Dave found ‘The Thin Red Line’ movie on a Dutch channel on our TV and we watched that and had our nightly ice cream and port. And that was the end of Day 21 here in the Algarve. Looks like my last day here will be just as wet!