Now, as this is my blog, which basically gives me the luxury of expressing my opinions I am going to do so. Firstly, I choose to live, work, procreate and generally exist here. I think the Algarve should be grateful for my presence as I am an all round jolly good bloke (that is a joke by the way, I am not that egotistical). No, seriously, I made a choice to come here, and I try my best to integrate here, I run a business that pays taxes and employs people, I attempt to speak Portuguese (sometimes quite well, sometimes not) but just because I was not born in this country it does not mean I am excluded from being critical. By criticising, we collectively can improve many of the things that function badly here, and thus, make a difference.
In the 5 years or so that I have been here I have seen major changes in many parts of day to day life, but not at the total expense of some of the great traditions. I thoroughly enjoy the fact that the local shepherd and his goats literally spend all day wandering around in the fields near my house, and I think it is great that he seems to eat mainly goats cheese for his lunch, and therefore you can generally smell him coming. (goats cheese has a particular aroma, all of it´s own). But less than 50 metres from this rural idyll, I have my ADSL, VOIP PBX, digital camera, hi-tech car etc. I like that, its nice and I only have to go and have a chat to him to remind me that I really should stop worrying about the mortgage(s), tax to pay, strange pains near my heart (an old injury from climbing too many ladders on a building site in Regent Street, or so I hope), and should, in the words of my five year old son, CHILL OUT.
Now, I seem to have gone off at a bit of a tangent, so back to the topic in hand, namely the reasons I love to be here.
The weather. Ok its obvious if you know anything about southern Portugal, but let me elaborate. No-one normal likes getting out of bed in the morning (my wife would stay in bed until the afternoon if she could) but when the sun is streaming through your bedroom windows, and you can step out the door and have that early morning sun, that´s warm but never hot, warming up your body, then life's good and I am not even tempted to go back to bed once I have fed the baby, number 1 son and dogs. Yes, they do get fed in that order, except when the baby shares his breakfast with Donny, who happens to be the biggest and stupidest dog. He also has no bollocks, but he was big and stupid before that , so it´s not really relevant. If the truth be told I just like to type word bollocks. Yes, I know it´s childish but it makes me happy.
Eternal optimists. This place has a really above average amount of optimists. Now, if you live here you may feel quite the opposite, but I am adamant about this. One example of this is when the big stupid dog had his stitches out after the removal of his bollocks. I took the dog to the vets, which is run by two young ladies, both petite. First I had to explain that Donny did not have his plastic trumpet on because he had used it to dig up large parts of the garden, and then carry the mud around. Donny is destructive as well as stupid.
The vet then clears the surgery of all other animals (as Donny is not vicious but just does not really understand the concept of being with other animals unless he is trying to play with them). Yorkshire terriers and cats do not really want to play, so it is always safer to clear the vets.So, the optimistic vet announces she is going to remove his stitches without anaesthetic. Now, partly because I respect here professional opinion, but more because I am game for a laugh, I go along with this. I decide that I should hold the sharp end, as I reckon there is less chance of the dog biting the bloke who feeds him twice a day than some woman who smells of other dogs and always inflicts pain on him. Oh, and I was nearest the only door in the room so if it all went wrong I would be first out.
So, there the three of us are and she starts to pluck at the stitches. First the vet gets flung off, then the assistant starts to be bucked around, whilst I have got his head in an armlock. Needless to say a quick jab and half an hour later it was all over.
In hindsight, there was no way this was ever going to work, but he vet was so optimistic about the whole situation we just went along with it. My definition of an optimist is someone who, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against them will always believe the best will happen. Imagine flying a plane. all the engines catch fire, there is no land in sight, the joystick comes off in your hand and your co pilot has a heart attack. If you are an Algarve optimist you shrug your shoulders, say pois (a Portuguese word I will try and explain shortly) and announce to all it will be fine and you actually believe yourself. I really like this attitude, although you have to be a bit careful as you can get frustrated if you do not understand it.
Pois. I think this is my second favourite word. Bollocks, I have decided, is my favourite, but at least I can say pois in front of the kids.
Now, Portuguese is generally agreed to be a complicated language to learn, particularly if you didn't like learning French at High School and bunked most of the lessons (earning a GCSE E grade no less) and were such a snotty teenager you gave up Latin "as it will never be any use to me ever". Oh, what an idiot I was, and how right Mr Melville, my latin teacher was. I am eating humble pie right now.
When I started to learn Portuguese I realised quickly there were no short cuts, but being impatient I found a couple that sort of helped.
- Any word in English that ends on ity can generally be transformed to Portuguese by removing the ity and adding idade. Proof-universIDADE, cIDADE, possibilIDADE. Neat huh?
- If you are ever stuck in conversation (particularly during a long speach by the person you are conversing with), pois can be used to fill gaps, agree or generally just confirm you are still breathing. Advanced users can use pois, sim or pois, não to actually express an opinion. I do not believe there is a single word in English that translates to pois, but of you know differently, tell me.
I hadn´t drunk coffee for about 7 years before I came to Portugal, but soon became hooked. It´s not just the fact you can have a discussion about which your favourite coffee brand is, or the fact it is a cheap quick pick me up or that I simply like the taste that puts it in my list of things I like.
I like the fact that there must be close on 30 different ways to have a cup of coffee. I am not talking about mochachocamintadecaff or whatever crap Starbucks et al are selling (N.B. these type of places seem to make "coffee" from some sort of syrup-anyone remember Camp coffee yeuch. If you don´t remember have a look at http://www.sybertooth.com/camp/.)
I know of at least three ways to request a normal coffee, which will result in the same drink being produced. I have seen children who go to the coffee shop before school and have warm milk with the tiniest hint of coffee, right through to those who only a bica dupla will do (two coffees basically but bica dupla sounds much better). I just think it is great that you can choose a coffee that would match your mood, in the same way you could choose what music to listen to.
Cakes. See "coffee" above for general idea. I truly believe if I ate a different cake for every working day of the rest of my life I would not have sampled one of every type of cake Portugal has to offer. I have a sweet tooth, so this is definitely a plus.
I also think it is quite convenient that you can obtain your entire calorie intake for a day from eating one cake. No need to eat any more that day,very handy if you are busy. Plus the sugar rush makes you work twice as quickly for a while.
Diversity. OK so lets be slightly more serious. I know more people from very diverse ways of life here than I could ever expect to have met in a lifetime elsewhere. Professionally I deal with everything from first time buyers to multi millionaires, sometimes within minutes of each other. It is an eye opening experience and gives you a good, rounded knowledge of people. I also have friends that are diverse. A typical night out will find a retired electrician (retired or work shy? you decide), me, someone's father in law/cousin/gardener, the odd algarve hippy (if they can be coaxed out of the MAMBA), a timber technician (a joiner, but I always think TT sounds so much more modern, and he is a modern man, I mean he drives a girls car), at least one builder and normally some poor sod who has to drive (but the air con guy has worked this out now so comes in his 2 seater sports car now).
Now, between these people there are normally 4 nationalities, an age spread of around 20 years, large differences in fiscal riches and varying bad habits. But, we all get on, have a great time and I have no doubt that we would not even talk to each other if we were, for example, in London where image is everything and I certainly only used to mix in my own social circles. I like the fact that we are all friends, that we can all learn from each other and that it is only because we are here that this happens.
Things that just grow in the garden, even if you are such a bad gardener you thought "round up" was plant food. I think the heading is self-explanatory. Lots of green things=lots of CO2 consumed and a nice environment to be in. And you don't even have to read an Alan Titchmarsh book. Hurrrah!
Generally
I think you have probably got the picture, I like living here! There are negatives, and many of them but at this stage in my life the positives far outweigh them. There are a few more positives that I won´t go in to chapter and verse on, but just consider:
Cheaper living
Much less stress
Being able to argue and swear in a different language
Tango and/or Lemon beer
Going to the beach in winter
