Lisbon Oriente

Nuno looks like a slightly shorter, stockier, Portuguese Craig Charles. He is begging for money because he has overspent on a big weekend in the capital with friends and his card has been eaten by a cash machine. He needs to get to Encontramento. I give him some change and then decide it'd be good to hear more of his story so I ask him if I can record it. After a thorough retelling of the tale I gave him the last euro he needs but he insists on guiding me around Lisbon first. We walk along the dockside of Expo , Lisbon's large commercial district built in 1998 and populated by glassy malls, restaurants, large towers and a telecabine. Nuno is not happy with Portugal's current state. He says that it is areas of beauty, surrounded by problems, staring at a computer monitor floating folornly in the river. He is also worried about the lack of motivation among the young, stemming, perhaps, from poor job prospects. Nuno, at 33, has just quit as a security guard and has started work in call centre. We are now in the mall, only the second largest in Lisbon, and after he has kindly shown me exactly where all the facilities and exits are (He used to work here) he wishes me luck. I wish him all the best with the call centre, hoping he will become a manager there. "Yes," he says, "but that is the dream".