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SPONTANEOUS SUCCESS
Chapter 7
One Door Closes
June 14th, 1967, just three months shy of my twenty-
first birthday. I’d just walked away from a lucrative job in
advertising. London was behind me, and the open road
was calling. I was bound for the Algarve coast of
Portugal, “where the sun dips into the Atlantic and the
villages are frozen in time.” That’s what the article in the
newspaper said.
My mission, shared with three friends, was to open a
discotheque in the idyllic fishing village of Praia de
Lavanda. But fate had other plans. The local builder, a
grizzled man with a face like worn leather and a
mouthful of missing teeth, raised his price, and our
dream was shattered. My friends chose to return to
London, but I stayed, driven by a restless curiosity and
the belief that when one door closes, another one opens.
I found a cozy room in a fisherman's cottage
overlooking a tiny beach. Every morning, I awoke to the
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