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Newsletter March / April 2009 - archive
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by: Carol Carpenter |
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Hello--- anyone out there? Are any of you actually still reading these
newsletters? Somebody speak to me please---- not a single
comment last time! I really
don’t mind if you say I sound boring or you are fed up with them or even
“shut up Carol”, is better than no comments at all. Absolute silence!!! -
even from the Crane’s. Now that really is bad, Michael - I honestly never
told anyone about your ‘Full Monty’ on the Cruise last year - OOP’S
sorry!! Oh well you can’t win them all, I have tried to find you a
replacement but as yet nobody has volunteered so I guess you are stuck
with me, for the foreseeable future. I shall get the boring bits out of
the way first, like the weather, the economy, the effects of the credit
crunch etc--- well I have to stretch this newsletter out somehow, I will
then inform you of our shambles of a village – enjoy, well at least try,
anyway. |
After suffering one of the worst winters we were all hoping for a really
good February. This was not to be as the bad weather continued with heavy
rain, strong winds and high waves which caused a lot of damage and
devastation across the region. The Algarve was put under a yellow alert
situation the second on a scale of four, during the first week of
February. The ports of Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Tavira and Olhao were
closed by the maritime authority over this weekend “because waves of 7
metres were recorded by buoys out at sea”. The access to Faro Island was
restricted to permanent residents and the maritime authority registered 17
incidents at sea which included the grounding and sinking of recreational
boats. In Ferragudo 3 sail boats were grounded on Praia Grande beach with
one being smashed against the rocks. Although this recent bad weather has
brought disruption we still need more rain to fill the reservoirs to
sufficient levels for 2009.
Apparently the Arade dam is still only 56.1 per cent full while the
Barlavento dam is at 74.5 but reservoirs in Silves area are now at normal
levels. |
The governor of the Bank of Portugal has said “The economic outlook in
Portugal is worse than anticipated.”
However, he also said that while they were worse than announced on January
6, they were not as bleak as painted by the European Commission. The
European Union has warned that unemployment could hit nearly 9 per cent in
2009.
The construction industry in Portugal registered a fall of 1.1 per cent in
2008 according to the Portuguese Construction Federation. FEPICOP, the
Federacao Portuguesa da Construcao, said although the crisis was more
intense than had been forecast, they did expect some recovery in 2009. |
Hotel occupancy rates for the month of February in the Algarve have fallen
to the lowest since 1995. Villamoura, Quarteira and Quinta do Lago all
experienced a decrease of 33 per cent. Albufeira suffered a drop of 25 per
cent. The lowest Hotel and resort occupancy occurred in Lagos and Sagres,
which were only 26.4 per cent full. The biggest drops were felt in 5 star
accommodations as more people were opting to stay in lower- rated hotels
and apart-hotels. The number of tourist from UK, Germany and Spain fell in
2008 being replaced by visitors from France, Holland, Russia, Poland and
Brazil. |
On a more cheerful note which really did amuse me, there is a ‘beat the
credit crunch’ street party, hosted and organised by several businesses in
Almancil, due to take place on Saturday, April 18. The event is organised
by the Griffin Bookshop, Joro Lda. and Rui’s Chicken and will include a
variety of activities such as cookery demonstrations, salsa dancing,
children’s entertainment and book signings with Clive Dunn and other local
authors. Brilliant! That’s the spirit - it’s a shame we will be in the UK. |
Professional Dutch chocolatier and pastry chef Jack Breedveld, a local
resident, hosted two chocolate exhibitions at his home in Vale de Milho.
On Sunday February 8 he hosted a Valentines chocolate exhibition. Visitors
were able to purchase a selection of freshly made chocolate confections
including filled chocolate hearts, marzipan figures, truffles and
bon-bons. We were unable to attend but according to friends they were both
well attended. If you would like more information, please call 939 792 911
or email:
jackgeback@msm.com |
Since returning from our Panama Canal Cruise on March 6 the weather here
has reached over 20 degrees. At long last spring has arrived. We arrived
home to find the garden in full bloom, it looked really colourful with all
the seasonal flowers and I have never seen the Jasmine looking so
beautiful. The wet weather obviously did them a power of good. It’s great
to go on holiday but it’s also great to be home. |
I shall refrain from boring you all to tears with a running commentary of
the cruise, as I think you all suffered enough last year, so I shall just
tell you the highlights and that it was fantastic and we had a great time.
Our ports of call were Haiti, Columbia, Panama Canal – unfortunately for
us though we choose the wrong tour, if you are thinking of going you
should avoid the Dome train tour, which proved to be thoroughly boring,
with very little information on the Panama Canal or the building of it. I
was very disappointed for Roy, as he had wanted to visit Panama for years
and was informed that at the Pacific end there was a museum. He was so
disappointed to find only a rather tatty observation area and a café.
Definitely a tour to avoid as it was over 100 dollars.
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Please find these photos and more in large
formats
here [opens new window] |
The next port of call was Costa Rica and a visit to Sloth Sanctuary and
where I fell in love with these delightful creatures. We also enjoyed a
tour through the rain forest and Roy actually got me in a canoe. Six
people, in a canoe, with all the men on one side going along at an angle,
was definitely not a good idea and I spent most of the journey saying
“Don’t you DARE move” to Roy which they all found highly amusing. Half-way
down this river the guide passed us details of all the creatures we were
likely to see on route. To my horror staring at me was the eye-lidded
pit–viper one of the deadliest snakes on earth. I remembered watching a
program on Costa Rica where this guy was actually looking for and had
found this snake, it is the brightest yellow, deadly, but quite beautiful.
I remember mentioning it to Roy whose comment was, “That’s deep in the
jungle and the chances of seeing one is nil” - obviously not then as I am
now looking at a picture of one that we could possibly see on route. The
jungle is so quiet during the day but at night apparently the noise is
horrendous. There were a lot of colourful birds and huge lizards which
moved so fast that we were unable to take any photos.
A little later the canoe in front of us came across a Cayman but
unfortunately we could not see it. After a few minuets the lady in front
of me saw a snake pop his head out of the river, now everyone was saying
“Don’t move Roy” we all survived the trip however and it was really great
fun. Although I know I am very girlie and absolutely hate all creepy
crawlies, I would actually love to return someday and help at the Sloth
sanctuary for a few weeks, they are such adorable creatures. Our next port
of call was Grand Cayman which we have visited before and is a delightful
island. On this cruise we also had five sea days which enabled us to relax
and enjoy the ships entertainment. We can really recommend this cruise -
the ship was Royal Caribbean ‘Jewel of the Sea’ and was superb.
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Please find these photos and more in large
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here [opens new window] |
“What’s happening to our village?” CVO alterations are an absolute
nightmare. It is a shambles down at the square.
(You can follow the progress
here webmasters note). Last year I was shown some
really colourful patterned slabs which they said were going to be laid as
the calçadas was so dangerously slippery. Where are they? They are laying
more calçadas and the slabs are more like concrete blocks. There are some
dark grey slabs being laid but nothing looks like the plan I was shown, it
looks more like a tram way than anything else. They have widened the
pathways of the in road from the chemist up to the post office, with
calçadas on this side and also extended outside The Irish Times.
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Please find these photos and more in large
formats
here [opens new window] |
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On the opposite side they are laying the slaps. The road is about a car
width and they have dark grey stones set at an angle about 1 metre apart
all along the edge to avoid parking on the pavement. There is rumour that
the road past Sully’s bar will be a down road, but it will be a very
narrow turn as these blocks are not leaving much space. There are no
spaces left for the planting of trees so they will probably be in tubs.
They have erected red and black parasols outside the restaurants in the
square, but the toilet block is not yet built although they have cut out
the side of the cliff close to the road and rebuilt the retaining wall.
This is where they were also laying bricks in a reddish brown colour
before realizing that a digger was needed and promptly took them up again!
The village is in utter turmoil and it has affected every business. The
restaurants by the beach were all closed and they have lost a huge amount
of money as they still had to pay their staff. Yesterday I could not walk
down to the beach as they had closed it off again. Utter chaos!! - the
square was supposed to be completed by Easter - April 9 was the date, but
to do that they need more workmen. I went in to speak to Jorge only to
find him off sick, I hope it’s not stress related. He was quite happy to
discuss the changes before but now they tell me that I must speak with
Lagoa Camara.
There have been so many complaints from the public and businesses, so
perhaps that’s the reason. More than 30 businesses have signed a petition
to stop the road works until after the summer season. I was told June 6
was the actual date for completion of all the alterations somehow I don’t
see this happening. The Monte Dourado road is also a nightmare as the
traffic is coming down at horrendous speed. The traffic is also going up
this road which is proving to be extremely dangerous and very noisy. In
the summer months there are a lot of children on this complex so I think
they should make it one way at least. That’s about all the update for the
square at present.
Just before our trip we went to Colina da Lapa for a drink with Andy,
Lesley and little Rebecca. It’s such a shame that not many people know
about this place. It’s quite a large complex with a large swimming pool,
children’s pool, table tennis and pool table, a good sized sun bathing
area, pool bar and BBQ area and a very large terrace. It has a really nice
cosy bar and restaurant with a good menu and is very reasonably priced.
There is a good size children’s play area and a new building being erected
for activities. It also has a lawn bowling green and on Sunday mornings
Tony Westwood the golf Pro holds coaching lessons for children. There is
also a small shop adjacent to the restaurant. It is run by Diago and
Trisha a really friendly couple who have great ideas for the summer. It’s
a really nice place to eat or just for a relaxing drink especially for
families as you will know the children will be kept amused and in safe
surroundings. That same day I also met Daisy who I am happy to say has
found a new home.
There is a new café situated at the beginning of the in road next to the
golf shop called Fabrica Velha reasonably priced and really good coffee.
Their cakes and fresh bread looked delicious and they have a very
impressive display case of all the speciality cakes they can make. The
owner is Portuguese, very friendly who also allowed me to take some
photos, well worth a visit.
Harald and Kim, although continuing
Ele e Ela,
have now taken over the Medina Restaurant which they plan to open on May
4. It will be an International menu but will also have small dishes
similar to tapas, wine will also be available by the glass.
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Please find these photos and more in large
formats
here [opens new window] |
The St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Carvoeiro went really well this year
with Eilis Barreto of Dirty Nellies again supplying her delicious
Irish-Stew. After this delicious meal and several Guinesses everyone took
off for the famous bar crawl. Graham, then led the parade to The Irish
Times where Eilis and several others gave a great performance with their
singing followed by a game show. The celebrations continued into the early
hours and a great time was had by all.
The St Patrick’s Society party held again at Vila Petra in Albufeira was
also a great success. This year the entertainment was provided by Kiss FM
along with the newly formed “Tamar” Nigel (of Klonakilty) and Iona who
gave a super performance. Tamar will also be playing at Ma Ja’s on
Saturday 11th April.
Well that’s all for this month I think I have covered just about
everything. We are now off to the UK for 3 weeks for dental work, attend
the International Optical Conference and most importantly to spend time
seeing the family. Hopefully by the time we return the square will be
finished.
Ciao
Carol |
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