Dim & Lia were the 4th generation living in 9Arches.
Their real names were Gualdim & Getulia.
These names were given to them by their Godparents.
In the late 19th or early 20th century, parents did not choose the name of their children.
They were made known to them on Christening Day in church.
Their children’s name finding ceremony was almost always disturbing and somewhat unsettling so, it is probable and quite natural, that people you meet in Portugal born last century, have nicknames.
Dim was always very enthusiastic, impetuous and full of life and nothing or no-one seemed to stop him.
The family, when referring to his deeds, would tell his wife: “ Lia, put the brakes on!”, everytime Dim thought of something new.
One day, they were both in Lisbon in the summer and it was very hot. Cars did not have aircon - you just opened the windows.
They were on a very narrow road, on a curve, sitting behind a yellow tram which seemed to have come to a sudden halt, so no-one could move in any direction.
Then it was found that the conduction power lines over the tram had come loose from the overhead guiding track and the tram was going nowhere.
Cars started honking, people moved towards the tram, travellers left their seats and came to look, and a crowd soon gathered to comment on the event.
After a few moments, Dim turned off the engine, opened the door and said to Lia:
“I’ll be back in a minute”.
He was not looking at the tram in front of him but to the half-open door of a small old drugstore shop.
All Lia could see was an old man standing behind a thick wooden counter.
And that’s all she would see for the next hour.
Dim standing in front of the counter, speaking to the old man.
From the beginning, the old man kept gesticulating and Dim kept re-assuredly patting him on the shoulder and soon they would be both smiling again.
Once in a while both Dim and the old man would look up and have a belly laugh and the talking continued.
Men arrived to fix the lines and started to move the crowd along.
“Dim!” Lia called nervously “They’re fixing the tram!”.
But all Dim would do was look lovingly at her, make a sign with his hand to quiet down and wait, and he would continue waving his hands enthusiastically to the old man.
The tram was ready, the crowd dispersed and cars started honking again.
“Dim, please, you must come back immediately!”
And finally, with a grin on his face and the drugstore owner standing at the door waving back at them, Dim turned the engine on, and handed Lia a square piece of thick grey coarse paper.
“This is for you”.
Lia wondered what he could have bought from that old drugstore for her.
She slowly opened the parcel and it was a glazed terracota wall tile.
It had been hanging behind the counter and in the shop for over 100 years.
The one hour talk was all about the owner insisting it was not for sale. It said:
“Enjoy it because you won’t take it with you”.
