Today's module is very important and it could save you a lot of money! We're off to the petrol station (the gas station, if you prefer) to show you how to put the right fuel in your tank ✅ Hint: in Portugal, diesel isn't called diesel... The crucial vocabulary and phrases are here. See also my chat with @Colin Ross-Jones this morning about the future of fossil fuels in Portugal, and what we might be driving in years (maybe even months) to come...

Truly free now, Portuguese culture has just lost one of its greatest musical icons - Jorge Palma. Find out more about him and his legacy, and impact, in our revived 'Who's Who?' here. And hear his music, thanks to @António Ferreira, here. Where are you going, who are you speaking to and what will you say, in Portuguese, TODAY, hoje? And will you mention Senhor Jorge? Image: José Goulão from Lisbon, Portugal - Jorge Palma, CC BY-SA 2.0

***You'll be seeing some BIG changes with this community, and here's why*** The best time to learn Portuguese was twenty years ago. The next best time is now. If you think you’ve heard that formula before, it was originally about trees, but I’ve seconded it for my purposes today, as I wish I’d started learning this country’s language a couple of decades ago, when I was just about to visit for a recce, and ended up falling in love with the place. Back then, on my first 'deployment', I remember getting a briefing from my host, which had me learning “Olá!” and “Superbock”, as well as surprised (and warned about) the Spanish similarity, and preferring Sagres anyway in my Central Portuguese location. There, I managed to get by, having a haircut and wet shave based entirely on mime, trust and hope - a formula that has done me proud to this day. That fact-finding, curiosity-satisfying and bond-creating trip was a great success and come this September, I’ll have lived in Portugal for nine years. I'm staggered by how quickly that time has flown by, which is of course what happens, when you are having fun. But I’m also shocked by my poor grasp of the Portuguese language after all this time. I live side-by-side with the lovely people of Portugal, and on the kind of reflection that big anniversaries bring about, I poignantly note that I have made so little linguistic progress. It’s embarrassing, frankly. At this point, the excuses can begin. “It’s a difficult language, even the Portuguese themselves admit this,” say other awkward expats when asked the “how is your Portuguese question”. “I’m too old, and I’ve always been rubbish at languages,” replies another, when the subject comes up as it invariably and eventually does. And, worst of all, as if we were not embarrassed enough already, “everyone speaks English here anyway!”. If we live here, and haven’t in reasonable time at least grasped some of the basics (hello, how are you?, thank you and goodbye), we might and probably should feel a pang of shame or awkwardness. These basic courtesies are what people might learn for a city-break or two-week vacation, and certainly not overlooked if actually resident somewhere, anywhere. Knowing your name, ordering basics in a restaurant, counting, the days of the week, and asking for help, all for example, could also be seen as basics for anyone with longer-term intentions to remain.