Monday 15 November 2010

Touching Story: Death of a Portuguese Legend…

…O Snr do Adeus, a lonely man who waved at passers-by in Lisboa and became a well-known figure in Portugal, died last week.  Car horns were sounded all over the country, even in our rural neck of the woods, in honour and rememberence.

Here is a sweet video of Senhor do Adeus, standing and waving on his favourite corner, where there is now a movement in favour of erecting a statue to him.

Here is a some more biographical information, from the Expats Portugal website here:

For many years he stood in different corners in Lisbon, in the evenings and through the night, waving goodbye and blowing kisses to cars passing by.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiVISmYe_1Q

born to a rich family, he studied law and philosophy but dropped out because "it was too boring". Only son, he travelled the world with his mother. When she died, he found himself alone in the world. To escape his loneliness, he started waving to people in passing cars. When people started waving back, he made his mission in the world to give people a moment of hapiness and human contact by waving and blowing kisses at them.

He told a journalist: "[loneliness] is a wicked lady that chases me through the empy walls of my house. To escape, I come here [his favorite corner in a major Lisbon avenue]. This is my way of communicating, of feeling people"
a few hundred people staged spontaneous memorial services by standing in corners and waving at passing cars.

He achieved his life dream of becoming an actor by taking part in the first portuguese zombie movie, a short film named I'll see you in my dreams, where he played a Criswell spoof.

His friends created a Facebook page in his memory, who already has over 14000 fans: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/page...2920264127

A petition has been started, asking City Hall to place a commemorative statue in his favorite corner: http://www.petitiononline.com/ADEUS/petition.html

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