Assorted Crawfs are having a few days away from it all in the Algarve:

The Algarve. Think of the Algarve and you think of sunshine breaks and relaxing holidays. You imagine golden beaches on the coast of calm sea waters, sun-kissed tourists relaxing and sampling the delights that this wonderful region of Portugal has to offer.

Everywhere you go, you are surrounded by bright colours, from the golden sands, to the crystal clear waters, the clear blue skies, the vivid green grass, and the white-washed walls of the buildings in the Algarve’s old towns.

The rain? No-one mentions the rain which washed away yesterday. Or what about the beyond excellent badness of the road-signs, absence of.

Anyway, there is an indoor pool out of the rain so I can practise standing on the bottom at the deep end (using the steps to prevent upward movement to the surface) and holding my breath for as long as possible.

In English we refer to this area of Portugal as ‘the’ Algarve. Some people also still take about ‘the’ Ukraine in referring to the current state Ukraine. Here is a handy gallop through some of the issues surrounding that ‘the’ when Ukraine is in a sentence.