Living in Portugal has its trials and tribulations and it's different ways of working and culture. A couple of things that I miss are the local postman, who mostly delivers the mail on a daily basis in the UK, right to your front door and he was always up for a chat. There is nothing like that in Portugal, you may be one of the fortunate ones that has a mail box somewhere near your home, ready for any unscrupulous individual to rifle through. We decided that the safer option was to have a personal mail box inside the local post office, but then we have to collect this on a regular basis (if we remember).

The second is the now disappearing in the UK, the milkman, who would rise every day at three in the morning, rain or shine, just to deliver milk to your doorstep. In Portugal as with the post and if you want milk, you have to fetch it.

........................so there I was, car keys in hand, about to exit the front door, when I was approached by the Kamp Kommandant asking where I was going. Not realising that I was under house arrest and needing permission to leave the "kamp" and, that I was required to fill in a daily activity sheet, I replied that I was off to the Post Office to collect the mail.

“O'”, the Kommandant said, "in that case, can you call at the supermarket and get some milk".
Ja vol mein fuhrer, I replied.

To which she said, "and if they have eggs, get six". I acknowledged my orders, clicked my heels and set off about my task.

When I returned, she asked me why I had bought six cartons of milk.

Because they had eggs I said.

What?

Is it me?

A22 Motorway Toll Update

How to put off people thinking of coming to Portugal; Lesson 1.

Recently the Portuguese population went to the polls to elect a new government and just like the UK, the populous decided that all politicians are a waste of time and couldn't elect a party with an overall majority.
A coalition has now been formed and the new government has given the go ahead for tolls to be introduced on the motorway that the previous government suspended as being unfair to introduce something whilst the then current government was in a state of suspension.
The currently "Toll Free" motorway runs the length of the Algarve, all the way across the border to Spain, who apparently have no intention of introducing a toll.
Even more sickening is the road was built with money from the European Union, which the Portuguese government has now sold to a third party (Via Verde) who have taken responsibility for maintaining the motorway and the gathering of all tolls.
No toll booths have been installed, this type of toll uses what they call a transponder, which you buy or hire and this clips on the inside of your windscreen. If you buy a transponder, and if you have more than one vehicle, you have to buy one for each, as they are married to the car, truck, van number plate. You pay around €27 and then you get billed for using the motorway by Direct Debit, unlike normal toll roads were you pay at the gate.
If you have a non-Portuguese registered vehicle, you have to rent the transponder by paying a deposit of €27 and a further down payment of €50, how you get billed or if this includes the use of the motorway, I know not. Either way it is going to make hiring a car at the airport very expensive.
If your car is not Portuguese registered; it’s a big brother way of checking up on you to see if you have outstayed your allotted 183 days per year in Portugal as the maximum period of renting a transponder is set to 90 days.
If you have no transponder, your number plate will be photographed as you pass under the registration point of which there are over 30 along the length of the A22 and your car could be impounded. Likewise, is another way of checking how fast and at what average speed you have been travelling between checkpoints.

Unlike most other places around the world, there is always an alternative to using the toll road, however on this occasion the only alternative is the death trap of a road called the N125. The N125 already has one of the highest mortality rates for any road in Europe and with the implementation of tolls on the A22, it is set to get worse.
Coincidentally, Portuguese Telecom are currently installing fibre optic cable along the 150 kilometre length of the N125, which means currently that the road is being dug up in kilometre length sections.
As if this were not enough to put people off coming to Portugal, the authorities have decided that traffic lights in a number of situations on the N125 are not a good idea and are removing them and replacing them with traffic islands. This is because a number of Portuguese do not understand the traffic light system and think that the Red light means that it’s safe to continue. Unfortunately, when they are following a tourist, the tourist stops at the lights and the closely following Portuguese driver is going so fast and is so far up the car in front’s backside, that he cannot stop in time and causes an accident.
All this together should make the normal 1 hour drive from one end of the Algarve to Faro airport something more like 5 hours when it only took 2 and a half hours 20 years ago if you choose not to use the motorway. Gotcha, and that’s progress.

Nice one Portugal.

It's getting too hot for the budgie

Things are really warming up now in the Algarve, even Dino, fondly called the budgie, is needing to cool down and stripping off for summer.

Macaw's are not sun loving birds like most people think, in fact Dino positively hates the sun and will not come out during the day unless he can find some shade. In their native climate in the Brazilian rainforest, they can usually be found in the tree top canopy out of the direct sunlight.

The picture on the left is some of Dino's recent molt.
So if you are into fly fishing or need a new pen, as you can see I have shed loads.

Erection in Progress

These are called Sisal plants, sometimes called Agar. It's a kind of cactus and you will have seen them when travelling in most hot climate countries. In fact some countries farm these plants and after many years they are harvested and shrredded then turned into string or rope.

We have a number of them around the garden and this particular one is getting excited, it seems to be getting an erection.

It normally looks like the one on the right in the first picture, then after a number of years, no one seems to know how many, it starts to shoot this enormous projectile from the centre of the plant which then grows at a rapid rate of knots.
The second picture on the right is only one week later and it must have grown at least 2 or 3 metres. After only 3 weeks from the start of its flowering, its starts to shoot the branches of its flowers.
After a few weeks of showing off it's flowers, the flower stalk will topple over and die. Sadly it will take the rest of the plant with it and this particular sisal will be no more.
Fortunately along the way, it's legacy will continue as it will have left behind loads of baby sisals which form around the base of the plant. In fact there are hundreds of the dam things which form from the roots of the plant and you can't get rid of them fast enough.

The Ultimate Fly Trap

Flies are always a pain in the bum and at this time of year we get more than our fair share of the pesky little blighters. However, I think that I have found the ultimate fly trap, it's called the Red Top Fly Catcher. It's been around for some time and is not cheap at €9 - €10 each, but I think it is well worth the money.
The instructions say that it should last for around 3 months and takes a couple of weeks to get going once you have activated the powder in the trap with water.

Within hours, mine was attracting flies, they were even queuing up to get in and going crazy trying to get at the solution which is in the bottom of the trap. They find their way into the trap, but they cannot find a way out, so after flying around for a while, they get tired and drop into the solution.
At the time of taking this photograph, mine had been in action for around 10 days and there must be over 5,000 flies in there.
As you can see in the picture, the mixture is at the bottom, the black part is all the flies that it has already caught, with more about to join the pile once they are fed up with flying around at the top trying to get out, they then collapse exhausted and fall to join their dead mates.

Mind you, it doesn't half smell, so you need to find a site around 10-20 metres away from where you are bothered by them, don't worry they will find it wherever you put it. Hang it up to do its stuff and at the end of summer, if the bags not full to over flowing with flies before then, put the dead flies into the compost bin.
Check out the video, below and look at the crazy flies.

You can get the Red Top Fly Catcher off eBay on the following link;

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=red+top+fly+catcher&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Another good Portuguese idea

The Portuguese are well known for their designs for traffic island displays. We have everything from a set of table and chairs, nurse's with babies, ships with fountains for sails, people looking at aeroplanes and many many more.
The latest that I have come across is the one in the picture on the left, an enormous 40 foot high palm tree, ...........with a twist.
What do you think of it?

This palm tree is in the centre of a traffic island just down the road from where I live in Praia da Luz. I really can't believe that it’s a Portuguese idea, but it sure is better than those normal ugly mobile telephone masts that are a blot on the landscape and are being erected in ever increasing numbers in most countries around the world.
Yep, that’s right, it’s a mobile phone signal mast, not a real palm tree.

In fact the second picture is a mobile mast by a golf course near where I used to work in Leicestershire, in the UK. It seems that if you make enough noise about what a blot on the landscape they are, you really can get something done about it.
The original Portuguese one was only 40 foot away from where the new one stands and was of the conventional radar type right outside someones lounge window. The local residents continuously complained and I think someone also tried to set fire to it. Eventually, the telephone company relented and put the palm tree mast up in its place, result.

Anyway, I think I prefer the Portuguese version.

Either way, anything has to be better than this monstrosity.

The Portugal News

Dino & his Dad(that's me) have made the Portugal News, in fact Dino has 2 mentions (one on page 20 & one on page 25), I only get a picture and if you can spot me on page 25, you will do very well.
If you need a clue, I am 2nd from the left, you might need a magnifying glass.
If you are in the Algarve on the weekend of 18th June, you can come along and meet us as the advert suggests, or just him if you like, he's more interesting than me.

http://epaper.theportugalnews.com/index.php?issue_no=1115

The Little Owl

Yesterday morningI found this baby Little Owl beneath a tree in the orchard, there was no sign of Mum or any noise coming from the surrounding trees. I made it some shade from the blisteringly hot sun and checked on it throughout the day and it looked increasingly weaker as the day went on, I even switched on the sprinklers to cool it down. Just before dark he was still there, but there was still no sign of mum.
First thing this morning I walked to the orchard and Mum flew out of the next tree, and I thought that was a good sign, unfortunately the little owl was dead.

Inspiration at it's finest.

Seve Ballesteros
9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011

Wow, the earth just moved

Another sunny day in the Algarve was started as usual with a cup of tea that I have just delivered to my beloved, something that she must have before she can move a muscle. I personally prefer coffee first thing in the morning and collected my cappuccino on route to the PC to catch up on the news.

Then at 7.36am precisely, when I had just sat down at the PC, I heard a rumble followed by a shout from above.
"We have just had an earthquake" she called out, apparently the bed shook, the chandelier swayed, the windows rattled and all I heard was a faint rumble.
The earth moved and it was none of my doing, but it did register a magnitude of 4 on the Richter scale and there was no tsunami to follow it.
The epicentre on this particular quake was only a few kilometres away in the village of Silves in the Monchique mountains and so far this month Portugasl has had over 50 earthquakes but this one was the biggest.

This link shows all the eathquake activity;

http://www.meteo.pt/en/sismologia/actividade/

The dreaded Red Palm Weevil makes a double strike

This is my friend Steve's house and once upon a time he had two lovely palm trees. Then the red palm weevil came along and gobbled them both up.

The only remedy is to chop them down and start again, 30 years later they will be as good as new, unless the weevil gets them first.

At least now Steve has a much clearer view and he won't need any fire lighters for years.

Breast Cancer Awareness 2011

We'll go to any lengths to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness, well these three will. Unfortunately I will be washing my hair on this particular day, else obviously I would have been there myself. Click on the link to see;

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=whittakerskydive

You just can't get the staff (2) ............

Just been to the UK to take the car back for an MOT as it had outstayed it's welcome in Portugal and returned to Portugal a few days later on a BMI baby flight from East Midlands Airport. I arrived in Faro but the luggage stayed in the East Midlands.

Two days later at 6pm last night, after a wonderful days golf with the sun blasting down and burning my head, I finally took delivery of the missing suitcase with all contents intact. Fortunately I had a spare pair of knickers available, unlike the three girls who were on my flight and who had packed their entire luggage into one case to cut down on the cost.

The geezer who delivered it told me that he had delivered 40 items of missing luggage during the day, which was an easier day than the previous one, when he had to deliver 80 sets of missing golf clubs.

You just can’t get the staff can you?