It's all so exhausting

No really.
You are expected to haggle over everything!

my first steps 'outside'

The Moroccan men keep calling me Fatima - well really! D'you think they're trying to tell me something???

Lovely!

cool?

Joe lost his shoes just before we left the Algarve. So now he's reduced to wearing these beauties. He dropped his computer in the water again at the same time but it's (miraculously?) still working. I tell you folks, if you want to buy a tough laptop - get a Dell.