The Great Depression was, ultimately, a good thing for Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish furniture maker. In reaction to his business struggling in 1930, he started building miniature scale models of his various designs, to show to potential customers. This inspired him to branch out into toys, and, in 1934, he gave his company a new name based on the Danish for “play well”. In 1947, injection moulding as an industrial process was introduced to Denmark, and Christiansen, ever enterprising, bought an injection moulding machine for his company. In the same year, he obtained samples of plastic, interlocking Kiddicraft bricks. In 1958, he patented a toy brick with cylindrical protrusions on the top face, and hollow tubes on the undersides, and Lego, as we know it, was born.

Fast forward to 2025 and Lego seems to have weathered several storms. Despite its patents having expired all over the world, and competition from many copycat manufacturers, Lego is still a prestige brand, and, astonishingly, manufactures more tyres every year than any other company in the world. The question of copies is ironic, since Lego arguably copied the interlocking concept from Kiddicraft.

All of which is an introduction to the fact that one of this Portugal trip’s greatest hits was a non-Lego rip-off pirate ship kit that Bernice spotted in Maxstock. Tao is a great Lego fan, and we have been fairly impressed with the quality of the significantly cheaper copies we have bought him a few of in the last year or so. The pirate ship was a particular hit, not only because it feeds into one of his favourite imagination games, but also because the ship comes equipped with an anchor that can be wound up (not, sadly, by turning a capstan in a horizontal plane, but rather by turning a cog-wheel in a vertical plane, but you can’t have everything). It also features a ship’s wheel that actually turns, a rudder that moves from side to side, a trapdoor that reveals a treasure chest with jewels, and, the cherry on the top, a cannon that actually fires a Lego cannonball an impressive distance. This guarantees hours of fun as you fish under the cupboard with a broom handle, in an attempt to locate the fired cannonball.

It was probably a mistake to follow up the pirate ship (which was our last Shabbat’s present to Tao) with a film night on our very last night in Portugal (Sunday night) that featured Disney’s 1952 animated Peter Pan. While Tslil was a little concerned by the darkness of a few moments, and I was appalled by the shameless sexism of the portrayal of Tinkerbell, the mermaids, and even Wendy, Ollie enjoyed his first entire film, particularly the ticking crocodile, and Tao was captivated by Peter’s antics, delighted laughed hysterically at Smee’s bumbling ineptitude, and completely captivated by Captain Hook’s suavity and sinister aura.

What this meant on Monday morning was that Tao insisted on wearing his magician’s cape – inside out, so that the scarlet lining was on the outside; he also insisted on a long-sleeved t-shirt (despite temperatures in the high 30s), because it enabled him to hide his hand and clutch a terrifying hook fashioned from a tube game. Hardly any area of the house was safe; at any given moment, the sofa, or the kitchen table, might be requisitioned as Hook’s pirate ship. Unfortunately, his pirate’s hat has, over the last months, been ravaged in numerous near-fatal encounters with opposing navies and other enemies, so we will have to be sure to bring out a sheet of black sol (a kind of centimetre-thick, rubberised foam sheet, a little more flexible and durable than card, that can be easily cut, shaped and stuck, and is used in craft projects) for making a tricorn.

In all of these games, as in so much of their lives, Ollie is both a valuable playmate and an eager sponge. By osmosis, he seems to be absorbing more and more of Tao’s knowledge of arithmetic, as well as his abilities for very rich imaginative play and construction work, with Magnetiles or Duplo. He also unerringly echoes some of Tao’s favourite phrases, with very accurate intonation. As the boys grow, one of the great pleasures during our visits is to see how well they get on together.

On Sunday afternoon, we all went down to the gym for a private unveiling. After huge efforts over the last couple of weeks, with Grandpa chipping in as floor-layer’s first mate, and Micha’el and Tslil putting in long hours, the gym is now virtually ready to open, and they hope to start taking paying customers in another week or so. It certainly looks and feels a very professional space, and, having tried out, for the briefest of sessions, the multigym and the rings, I can vouch for the enthusiasm and positive attitude of the personal trainer, as well as the challenge of bodyweight training.

This family outing was also an opportunity for a whole range of family photos. Needless to say, we have taken hardly any photos on this trip, but we certainly made up for it on Sunday, and have a number of great shots to take home.

Apart from pirates, Monday morning was spent packing, clearing away, ticking our way through our ‘leaving Portugal’ checklist, and wondering whether the industrial action at Lisbon airport would affect our flight. I am writing this from the departure lounge. So far, things have gone smoothly (although I am once again reminded of the man dropping past the 29^th floor of the Empire State Building). If you are reading this on Tuesday morning, then you will know that we are safely back in Israel, in Zichron Yaakov actually, ready to resume our adventures with Raphael and catch up with Esther and Maayan. All the family within 24 hours! Bernice and I never dreamed we would have so much to look forward to in our retirement.