And now something completely different

Apenas para sacudir os velhos do Restelo. Nem tudo é mau, ou foi mau, neste Portugal à beira mar plantado.

"When Jonah was swalloed by the big fish, he was trying to escape to what is now Portugal. Here, Hannibal discovered the warriors, weapons and gold, to march on Rome; and Julius Caeser found the fortune, that paid the way to his conquest of Gaul and England.

During the Dark Ages further north, Portugal's Arab rulers made it part of the world's most advanced civilisation. After the Norman conquest of Lisbon, the new Portugal bankrupted Venice, and became the wealthiest nation in Europe.

Before he became Pope John XXI, João Hispano of Lisbon wrote one of the first modern medical text-books, consulted through much of Europe more than a century later. Portuguese Jews introduced tulips, chocolate and diamonds to Holland.

The Portuguese gave the English afternoon tea, and Bombay, the key to empire. They brought to Africa protection from malaria, and slave-shipments to America; to India, higher education, curry and samosas; to Japan, tempura and firearms.

Portugal entered the 21st century as the first European nation to have freed itself from communism, returned to democracy and set about rebuilding itself, as a vital part of the new Europe."

Page, Martin, The First Global Village, How Portugal Changed the World, (2002)

Só nos resta indagar, onde está este Portugal, onde está esta gente, para onde foi esta alma, será que se deixou corromper de tal forma, que ao 7.º dia adormeceu e.............(resta-nos apenas o, até me custa escrevê-lo, Senhor Eng.º Sócrates)