Fish markets and dogs’ teeth
The alarm clock goes off at 5.00 am and Christopher jumps out of bed ready to explore the local fish market with Piero and Father Mario, I can barely utter two words ‘Forget it’.
It's probably a little too early to suggest that it was Caterina's idea that we all get up at this ungodly hour, so I leave her peacefully in bed. Piero and I set off with Father Mario in the 4 wheel drive of the Seminary. It’s pitch black and there is no traffic, although we do see some children in school uniform – at 5:15 am? Apparently they are going off for tuition before school.
We drive like the proverbial wind, and end up after 10 minutes at the wholesale fish market. This sounds very grand,
but is in fact a field with lots of lorries which have arrived straight from the different villages where the fishing boats bring their catch ashore. It’s all piled into baskets and set out on the ground. Small fish like sardines, mackerel, beautiful king fish, crabs, prawns – there was a good selection with even sale of blocks of ice. It’s very crowded with sellers, buyers and porters. The porters all seem to be women – it takes four to load a box onto their head
which are protected with what the Portuguese call a ‘mother-in-law’, a crown of thick cloth which sits on top of the head and provides a platform. Once loaded they sway away by themselves, as graceful as only an Indian woman can be!
From the
fish market we head off to the fruit and vegetable market in Margao town itself. At this hour of the morning the main market is not yet open, but the wholesalers are there with their lorries and barrows. I am reminded of Covent Garden market in London back in the days when it really was in Covent Garden (think My Fair Lady), with all the porters with piles of baskets on their heads. We buy watermelons and grapes for the students, and then head back to the seminary.
A very long day awaits us. Today’s task is to put the interim stretcher together, stretch the new canvas over the sharp dog’s teeth (which is what the sharp metal hooks along the sides are called), finish cleaning the back of the painting, secure the tears and inserts, put the new and original canvas together, finish removing the nails from the hardwood stretcher and turn the painting over one more time.
The students are getting up very early and travelling for 1 ½ hours to be here for 9.00 o’clock sharp. Joseph arrives punctually ready to roll, and with Piero and Christopher ably helped by Jo's driver Sammy) th
ey tackle the new stretcher. Under Piero’s guidance the stretcher is assembled and the new canvas is on in no time at all. Elizabeth, Caecilie and I are trying to finish the removal of the offending synthetic glue. Christopher has provided us with plasters as we all have injuries on our right hand from rubbing on the coarse original canvas.
Joanna having gathered Carlos fresh from the airport, Milena, Eveny and finally Manu all arrived ready to record today’s progress. We can now start the relining process. 
Piero starts applying the paste on the back of the original canvas and in no time at all everybody is on their hands and knees coating the japan paper on the back of tears and joints with paste. We are covered in paste, the smell is unpleasant, today’s temperature is rising way above the norm (34C) and we are forever checking that no fluff is deposited onto the original canvas while applying the paste. We seem to be getting airborne white fluff from outside (cotton?) but closing the windows is not an option.
Now the next dreaded task is upon us; lifting the new canvas with its deadly sharp teeth and slowly placing it with precision onto the old canvas. Piero is in charge to position it, and with his magic word ‘giú (down)’ we all place it down gently in position.
With a special wooden tool Piero presses the two canvasses together and the glue is spread more uniformly between them, the corner of the new interim stretcher is opened up one centimetre and it puts the two canvases under tension. More pressing, more paste, more muscle. 
It is backbreaking work and Piero is melting. Thank goodness Carlos and Joe are there to relieve him. The heat is drying the glue fast, the men need to work fast. This phase alone takes 3 hours and we are ready to eat - it is way beyond our normal lunchtime but we can’t stop.
The Seminary is empty today except for us, they have all gone for a picnic. We have yet again a delicious lunch with tomato and herbs stuffed fish, chunks of fried fish, several types of home grown vegetables, chicken in Asian sauce, rice with Goan curry and fruit (watermelon, local bananas, and the sweetest red grapes ever).
Back to the painting and guess what is next - our favourite task - lift the painting on its side and check it. We have a small problem, which is that every time we turn the painting we have to avoid the chandelier. I am sure that Del Boy and Rodney – for those of you who remember the TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses’ - would have had a heyday.
During all this Caetano has been banished to one of the corridors because of the noise and the dust as he works on the old stretcher. Ther
e are something like 800 nails to be removed, and the stretcher is made of rosewood and is incredibly tough. He has broken two hammers and one special tool brought from Italy, but has done an incredible job – there is no one else in the team who would have been able to do this.
Other 
members of the team are on different task – Manu has been given a panel that Father Mario had rescued from being thrown away, which is painted with the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus. Her job is to gently clean the surface, first one half to show the difference, and then the whole thing.
Once the painting is on its side we can see what has been achieved and it’s looking good. Everyone wants to be photographed in front of it, even though the job is nothing like complete. 
Caecilie, Elizabeth, Christopher and I head off to Margao on a shopping expedition looking for magnets to help with the removal of wrinkles. We eventually find what we are looking for, and once we are back at the seminary the next phase starts.
This involves putting the painting back down with a board underneath which is protected with a silicone covered paper, and then using three irons simultaneously to flatten out the wrinkles and to ensure that the paste has penetrated well through both canvases. This is more meticulous and backbreaking work, and we carry on until dinner time, after which we are all ready for bed.
but is in fact a field with lots of lorries which have arrived straight from the different villages where the fishing boats bring their catch ashore. It’s all piled into baskets and set out on the ground. Small fish like sardines, mackerel, beautiful king fish, crabs, prawns – there was a good selection with even sale of blocks of ice. It’s very crowded with sellers, buyers and porters. The porters all seem to be women – it takes four to load a box onto their head which are protected with what the Portuguese call a ‘mother-in-law’, a crown of thick cloth which sits on top of the head and provides a platform. Once loaded they sway away by themselves, as graceful as only an Indian woman can be!
From the fish market we head off to the fruit and vegetable market in Margao town itself. At this hour of the morning the main market is not yet open, but the wholesalers are there with their lorries and barrows. I am reminded of Covent Garden market in London back in the days when it really was in Covent Garden (think My Fair Lady), with all the porters with piles of baskets on their heads. We buy watermelons and grapes for the students, and then head back to the seminary.
A very long day awaits us. Today’s task is to put the interim stretcher together, stretch the new canvas over the sharp dog’s teeth (which is what the sharp metal hooks along the sides are called), finish cleaning the back of the painting, secure the tears and inserts, put the new and original canvas together, finish removing the nails from the hardwood stretcher and turn the painting over one more time.
The students are getting up very early and travelling for 1 ½ hours to be here for 9.00 o’clock sharp. Joseph arrives punctually ready to roll, and with Piero and Christopher ably helped by Jo's driver Sammy) they tackle the new stretcher. Under Piero’s guidance the stretcher is assembled and the new canvas is on in no time at all. Elizabeth, Caecilie and I are trying to finish the removal of the offending synthetic glue. Christopher has provided us with plasters as we all have injuries on our right hand from rubbing on the coarse original canvas.
Joanna having gathered Carlos fresh from the airport, Milena, Eveny and finally Manu all arrived ready to record today’s progress. We can now start the relining process. Piero starts applying the paste on the back of the original canvas and in no time at all everybody is on their hands and knees coating the japan paper on the back of tears and joints with paste. We are covered in paste, the smell is unpleasant, today’s temperature is rising way above the norm (34C) and we are forever checking that no fluff is deposited onto the original canvas while applying the paste. We seem to be getting airborne white fluff from outside (cotton?) but closing the windows is not an option.
Now the next dreaded task is upon us; lifting the new canvas with its deadly sharp teeth and slowly placing it with precision onto the old canvas. Piero is in charge to position it, and with his magic word ‘giú (down)’ we all place it down gently in position.
With a special wooden tool Piero presses the two canvasses together and the glue is spread more uniformly between them, the corner of the new interim stretcher is opened up one centimetre and it puts the two canvases under tension. More pressing, more paste, more muscle. It is backbreaking work and Piero is melting. Thank goodness Carlos and Joe are there to relieve him. The heat is drying the glue fast, the men need to work fast. This phase alone takes 3 hours and we are ready to eat - it is way beyond our normal lunchtime but we can’t stop.
The Seminary is empty today except for us, they have all gone for a picnic. We have yet again a delicious lunch with tomato and herbs stuffed fish, chunks of fried fish, several types of home grown vegetables, chicken in Asian sauce, rice with Goan curry and fruit (watermelon, local bananas, and the sweetest red grapes ever).
Back to the painting and guess what is next - our favourite task - lift the painting on its side and check it. We have a small problem, which is that every time we turn the painting we have to avoid the chandelier. I am sure that Del Boy and Rodney – for those of you who remember the TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses’ - would have had a heyday.
During all this Caetano has been banished to one of the corridors because of the noise and the dust as he works on the old stretcher. There are something like 800 nails to be removed, and the stretcher is made of rosewood and is incredibly tough. He has broken two hammers and one special tool brought from Italy, but has done an incredible job – there is no one else in the team who would have been able to do this.
Other members of the team are on different task – Manu has been given a panel that Father Mario had rescued from being thrown away, which is painted with the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus. Her job is to gently clean the surface, first one half to show the difference, and then the whole thing.
Once the painting is on its side we can see what has been achieved and it’s looking good. Everyone wants to be photographed in front of it, even though the job is nothing like complete. Caecilie, Elizabeth, Christopher and I head off to Margao on a shopping expedition looking for magnets to help with the removal of wrinkles. We eventually find what we are looking for, and once we are back at the seminary the next phase starts.
This involves putting the painting back down with a board underneath which is protected with a silicone covered paper, and then using three irons simultaneously to flatten out the wrinkles and to ensure that the paste has penetrated well through both canvases. This is more meticulous and backbreaking work, and we carry on until dinner time, after which we are all ready for bed.