A22 Update (Part19) From the sublime to the rediculous

As reported a couple of blogs back, the worker on the A22 didn't get shot at, he was hit with glass that fell from the overhead gantry as some unhappy person decided to take a rifle and shoot out the overhead cameras.
It would appear that Rooster Cogburn of the Algarve has been working himself along the motorway and been having shooting practice at the cameras.
Now the already depleted police force have been told that they have to stand guard at each of the 10 gantries along the A22 motorway. That's 2 policemen working 8 hour shifts, 24/7, 60 policemen sitting doing the crossword on the motorway, while Pedro bandit has a field day robbing houses along the Algarve and not a policeman in sight to catch him.
Another great Portuguese idea.

Mr Bean - Nativity Scene

A22 Update (Part 18) Man gets shot at

Taken from the Portugal News, 17/12/2011

An employee of the company Euroscut, which manages and maintains the Algarve’s recently tolled A22/Via do Infante motorway, has been injured while tending to a vandalised toll gate after a car was shot at.

It is believed the man was injured with shards of glass that flew from the targeted vehicle, but PJ police have yet to determine from where the shots were fired and the circumstances surrounding the incident. The attack took place on Tuesday night near the Guia toll gate, which had been set on fire.

The Portuguese are not very happy............................, who said he was Portuguese.

A22 Update (Part 17)

As reported last week, the A22 motorway, started to charge tolls on December 8th, yesterday as it happens.
Baring in mind that it has been around 12 months in the planning, the authorities chose to implement the start date on a Bank Holiday, not that anything like that matters to the Portuguese, they have Bank Holidays for anything and yesterday's was for the Immaculate Conception, now there's a story.
Anyhow, no matter, it's a nice way to cheer people up and get them in the festive spirit just before Christmas, especially when a good number of Portuguese may not be celebrating this year as around 15% of the population are unemployed, I understand that it is even higher in the Algarve region.

I just happened to be flying back from the UK on the 8th of December, I needed the motorway to get home, or risk being killed on the notorious EN125, which is the only alternative road.
As previously mentioned, the toll road will not be administered by the usual roll up and pay at the booth style, this stretch of motorway works by each vehicle having an electronic device(a transponder) inside the vehicle and as you pass a check point, your transponder clocks up the toll, You then pay by direct debit or just roll up at the post office and stand in the queue with your transponder for 2 hours and 45 minutes and pay accordingly.
Well, this is how it would work if you could get a transponder, which are not available anywhere, they seem only to have made enough to send one to each post office for you to buy at €27 a time and when you get there, that one has already been sold. Obviously you ask when the next one is coming in and will be greeted by a vacant look, 12 months in the planning doesn't seem to be enough time to put these sort of things together.
So what then, you may well ask, for the Portuguese who do not have a transponder, you can go to the post office, trying another one will not help because the queue's are the same, and you will still stand in a queue for 2hours 45 minutes and pay for the trip which you have just made on the motorway by telling them your vehicle registration number, which then checks with the gizzmo on the motorway, all done by internet, marvellous really.
Waiting time now 3 hours as the internet is down, again.

However, if you drive a foreign registered vehicle and again have no transponder, you could try the same queue, waiting time now 4 hours, because it's old Senhora Costa's turn and she wants to tell the nice lady behind the counter about her chickens that have stopped laying eggs, don't worry, keep cool, your turn will be soon.

Finally you reach the counter and it's now time for the clerk's tea break and she will be back soon. When she returns you will be told by the clerk, "we have not been told how to charge foreign vehicles and no we do not have any transponders, PROXIMA(NEXT)".

And you thought waiting in a NHS hospital was bad.

A Kindle Christmas

It will soon be Christmas and my Mum and Dad who are now 83 and 84 respectively, never know what to buy each other at Christmas.
I remember many years ago, Dad thought it was a good idea to present Mum with a nicely wrapped box with bows on on Christmas morning, when she had opened the box and found that it contained a brand new shiney Morphy Richards iron. As you can imagine, it didn't go down too well, they never spoke for the rest of the festive season and there was no Bing Crosby on the gramophone that year.
I suppose his logic was, my wife buys me a Black & Decker drill, so I'll get her an iron. I think he said he was going to get the ironing board to go with it but decided against it, wise move.

Now they are in their 80's and not wishing for another quiet Christmas, they have given up on surprises and have asked each other what they would like and have decided on a Kindle. I think that they should just about be able to manage working it once they have got someone else to load the books on for them. However, Dad was troubled when I made the mistake of telling him that I had one which I thought was fantastic and they can hold over a 1000 books. His reply was, doesn't that make them very heavy, out of the mouths of wrinklies, bless.

A22, It's Official

The long awaited decision and the saga of the A22 toll road is finally over, well according to one local news source anyway.

Over the past 12 months, neither government party it seemed dared to make a decision for fear of losing votes on whether the A22 motorway, which was built with money from the EU, should-or-shouldn't become a toll road.

The previous government opted out of making a decision, stating that it wouldn’t be right having already called a general election and deferred the decision until after the election. The new coalition parties also bottled it and passed the final say to the President of Portugal, who by Portuguese law had around 30 or 40 days to make a decision, one way or the other.

Not needing the full amount of time available, he has decreed that as from December 8^th 2011, motorists must start to pay to use the motorway, or use the notorious EN125, which has the unenviable statistic of the having the highest traffic accident and death rate on a stretch of road of this size in the whole of Europe.

Being unable to make one decision, the Portuguese parliament now has another hot potato to juggle, should they agree on the proposed increase in VAT from the current rate of 6% to 23%, which is the standard rate in Portugal (and you UK residents thought that 20% VAT was bad enough) on items like golf fees and other sporting events, which currently enjoys the lower rate. Some organisations have seen this as an opportunity to make a few extra Euros and have already started charging the new rate when it will not becoame law until January 1st at the earliest, once and IF parliament ratifies the decision, how dispicable some greedy gits are.

Let us not forget that golf was one of the reasons for people originally coming to the Algarve, when Sir Henry Cotton built the first golf course at Penina nearly half a century ago.
Now there are around 35 golf courses along the Algarve which brings in 1000's upon 1000's of golfers and tourists each year. Now they will have to pay to use a toll road to get to each golf course and then possibly pay more money to play golf, or use death highway, leaving an extra hour to get to their desination and then risk getting there in one piece.

Not finishing there, should they wish to dine out, they will then have to pay the new rate of vat on their meals, which has recently increased, from 13% to 23%.

All at a time when everyone's pocket is being squeezed and perhaps a great number of people might just end up going to Spain to play golf or maybe elsewhere, nice one Portugal, another great way to build the tourist industry.

My Pal Ben the Boxer

Only a few weeks ago, I wrote of how I enjoyed taking my friend Bob’s dogs, Ben the boxer, and Mel, the all kinds of everything, for a walk along the cliff tops between Burgau & Luz on a beautiful sunny day in late October.

I had done this walk with the two dog many times previously, Mel forever the wild one, running off into the scrub searching through the undergrowth, barking and chasing anything in site and Ben wanting to do the same only now getting older. Ben with a mind set of a 12 month old puppy (seemingly like all boxer dogs), bringing up the rear as his poor little legs would no longer go at his favourite pace.

Little did I know then, that this would be my last walk with the two dogs, as Ben has had to give in to getting older and became quite ill over the last couple of weeks and sadley had to be put to sleep on Friday evening.

On Friday morning, knowing his fate later that day, I went to see him to say goodbye. I was greeted by a dog rapidly waving his backside from side-to-side in the absence of a tail still as he was desperately still trying to be that 12 month old puppy, which is how I will always remember him.

Ben, who was only ten years old, has been buried along with his favourite ball in Bob & Anne’s garden so we that we can still go and talk to him and remember together, those wonderful cliff top walks.

Thanks for the memories matey, God bless.

I told you it gets windy

Just been to the UK for a few days and the weather was terrific, I was originally a little worried as when we left Portugal the temperature was in the high 20's.
However, while the sun shone in the UK, it looks like the winds came in Portugal.
In fact Faro airport reported a tornado which uprooted trees and removed parts of the terminal roof and ceilings causing havoc and long delays at the airport.

One report in the local newspaper also said that a large number of greenhouse's were damaged in the area. This made me smile as the only greenhouse's that I have seen in Portugal are poly tunnels, which I would have thought in a tornado would now be half way to Spain, it obviously got lost in translation.

As we have a fair bit of land we have been paying a local guy, to plough the land to keep it tidy. It has not been farmed for over 50 years and the soil is very heavy and full of clay.

About once a year we have been paying a local guy to plough the land to keep it tidy and keep the weeds down which is not nearly enough, especially by August when the wild fennel plants are fully grown and covered with snails. This is ok if you are a snail lover and the Portuguese certainly are as the snails live on the wild tarragon and this then gives the snails a flavour of aniseed.
That has all been ok, but for the last 2 years the Gypsies have found our snails and then they come along with their brothers, their wives and Mum's brother's and their kids, some still in nappies and not forgetting their dogs.
It matters not that the land is walled or fenced as they do not give 2 hoots about boundaries. Last year when the gypo's arrived, we hadn't realised they were on the land so didn't know how long they had been there, probably from first light. By the time I shoo'd them off, they left behind empty water bottles, empty cigarette packets and cigarette ends that they had carelessly flicked away, which could so easily started a fire.

But the most disgusting item they left behind was junior gypo's dirty soiled nappy that had been removed from the babies bum complete with contents and just left it on the ground.

Right, that’s it I said. You won't find any snails next year, because I'll clear the land and remove all trace of wild tarragon plants.

So I bought a tractor, as I have a big birthday this month, it's a birthday present from my mother-in-law who sadly died earlier this year.

It's a boy's toy thing really and I am having loads of fun clearing up the weeds.

We are well into October now and the Bee-eaters have long gone back to Africa, the tourists have gone home, well most of them anyway, now is the favourite time for wrinklies and golfers and they have been very fortunate, the weather for the past few weeks has been absolutely fantastic, its still 30 degrees yet again today, needless to say the heating is still not switched on, even in our house.

So much so that we have been invaded by dragonflies who have appeared in their thousands and who are enjoying the hot weather.

As my good friend Bob has gone back to the UK for a few days, I decided to take his 2 dogs for a walk along the cliff tops today, it was glorious. We managed to get down to the water’s edge in one part and got soaked when a sneaky little wave caught us unawares, mind you it cooled us down a bit which was very welcome.
As you can see by the last 2 photo's, these are the reasons why the authorities are telling you not to sunbathe close to the cliff edge as if frequently crumbles away and has always has caught some sun worshippers this year by falling on top of them, killing some and injuring many.


You have been warned, ............again.

Re; Another memorable day out,

Thank you for those that have informed me of the misdemeanour with the last blog entry; Another memorable day out, at least I know that someone is reading them.

While I was creating this entry, the Brog Prog, kept insisting on crashing, rather like the Blackberry phone software, I know not if it was the software or my PC throwing a wobbler.
The strange thing is, it looks fine on my screen, I have tried many times to re-create it and starting over but for some reason it still insists on being difficult, although the last entry at least looks readable.