Watching the birds.

Another year has stealthily slipped by and on the 12th of September I became entitled to yet one more candle on my birthday cake. Thanks to a 5 o'clock flight from Ryanair and permission from my manager to finish a couple of hours early Joan and I flew out on the 10th to spend an extended weekend and celebrate my birthday in Santa Luzia.
In actual fact I returned home on Monday the 13th in order to commence work at 5.30 am on Tuesday, Joan remained in town until the following Sunday, ostensibly to prepare the house for the string of friends who will be visiting over the next month or so.
Whilst we do not rent the house commercially we do regularly allow friends and family the use of the place and it gives us enormous pleasure when they report how much they enjoy Santa Luzia. Over the years that we have known Santa Luzia we have introduced more than sixty people to it's delights, many of them returning on more than one occasion, and we like to think they have all done a little to contribute towards the local economy during their visits.
During the 2 days we were in town I struggled to obtain any fishing bait from either local outlets or the usual places in Tavira. As a consequence the fishing rods remained at home and instead I made a couple of excursions by bicycle to observe the bird life of the Ria Formosa through my newly acquired binoculars. We spent the afternoon of Saturday the 11th at Torre de Ares and on the day of my birthday I set off under a blazing sun and peddled to the Pedras Del Rei entrance to Barril Beach. After tramping several kilometers across the sand dunes of the nature reserve I was rewarded with some excellent views of a flock of about 30 African spoonbills.

Spoonbill on the Ria Formosa.

I also observed Flamingos, willow warblers, Herons, storks, plovers and seabirds galore.

I returned home that afternoon with that feeling of inner peace the splendid isolation of the Ria Formosa reserve provides along with two very sore upper arms due to my wearing a cap sleeved tee shirt in the deceivingly fierce September sun.

The Algarve Tourist association have recently launched an English language brochure promoting the Algarve as a birdwatching destination and Santa Luzia is an ideal location for such a holiday. Many species of waders and sea bird can be observed without even leaving the village and the marshes of Castro Marim and the wetland habitats around Olhao are all less than 20 minutes drive away.

Pop goes Santa Luzia

Next weekend sees the traditional fisherman's festival in Santa Luzia and work commitments mean that sadly I will be missing it.

I have however discovered that the Almadrava Association have organised what appears to be a pop music festival for the month of September.

Now I am not exactly a pop fan myself but if the stage is to be set up where they do it for the fisherman's festival then a comfy chair outside Fergus' Bar Mundo some 500 meters further up the promenade might be very acceptable.

I gleaned the information about this from the Facebook page Santa Luzia "Capital do Polvo" Algarve. which I recommend to my readers as a great source of information.

I reproduce above the program for the festival Sons da Ria.

Festas Dos Pescadores 2010.

I reproduce above the official program for this years Festas Dos Pescadores .
Every year I have tried to find and publish details but it has never been possible to obtain the information. This year however is different because Santa Luzia now has a Facebook page and that's where I found it.
I have added a link to the page in my Algarve links on the left hand side of this page, visit it today and sign up as a friend of Santa Luzia.

I fear that this year will be the first since we purchased our house in Santa Luzia that Joan and I will not be able to be in town for the Festa. I am committed until November at the earliest to Jet2.com and the month of August is our very busiest so no chance of a holiday.
It remains to be seen whether Joan will swan off and leave me to fend for myself!!

All Change..................home and away.

My career at Jet2.com has taken a new and interesting turn.

I have been anointed crew bus driver due to the previous incumbent having a severe problem of "mind over mattress".

Tom was a cordial, willing and pleasant young man but he could not apparently get himself out of bed on a morning with any degree of reliability and unfortunately for him, if your planes are to be on time, the crews must arrive before the passengers.

Hence on Wednesday gone he got the bullet and I was offered the dead man's boots.

I have to say they fit very nicely, 2 earlies, 2 lates, 2 days off. Earliest start 5-30am latest finish 6-00pm ....................bliss.

Having already booked a flight with "Ruinair" for the 21st of June (5 quid) magnanimous Jet2 agreed to honour it as a pre existing holiday. I have to be back on station by the 26th June so intend to be in town for 4 days.

Our friends Steve and Maria returned last week from a 10 day visit and though they are no strangers to the village, I am pleased to report that Santa Luzia worked it's magic on them and they are eagerly anticipating a return visit.

During their stay Steve and Maria encountered a number of people who are regular readers of this blog.

Willy and Tricia from Dublin were in town as were readers from Horsforth here in Leeds whose names completely slipped Steve's mind ( I find Sagres has that effect too) .

In particular however they befriended a Scottish/Canadian couple ( and here I have to confess that it is my memory that falters as I can only recall the name Angus) with whom they shared meals at Tridoce, televised football at the Paderia and maybe just a few drinks with Fergus at Bar Mundo.

I thoroughly enjoy writing this blog but it is enormously gratifying to get some feedback and find that others enjoy it just as much and may even find some of the information in it useful.

Should any of you have any stories or information relating to Santa Luzia do not hesitate to contact me. I have no objection at all to a little interaction and in fact would positively encourage it.

I am looking forward this visit to seeing how the two new developements on the promenade are coming on. The former Cafe Anna-Rachel and the garage like building which stood at the side if Canto Azul have both been demolished to be replaced by three story buildings consisting of a ground floor commercial space and apartments on the two upper floors. Both developments are due to be complete before summer and it will be interesting to see if the commercial spaces in particular find tenants.

The single story building just behind the roundabout
which has been demolished to make way for a three storey apartment block.

I was delighted on looking through my archive of Santa Luzia pictures to find the above example of the double garage doored single storey building on the promenade which has been demolished. When we first used to visit Santa Luzia this building was still in use as a storage place for the fishermen's equipment and during the hot summer months it was always festooned with octopii hung to dry in the sun.

This local delicacy is cut into small cubes and chewed. It is pungent with a mouthwateringly strong seafood flavour and particularly complements an ice cold Sagres beer.

The first time a friendly and obliging local fisherman carved me a lump of this I was little short of horrified. Not because I have any problem with octopus, on the contrary, I love the stuff, however my years in the licensed trade have often brought me into contact with drugs and drug users and the generous brown lump of dried tentacle dropped into my outstreched hand bore an uncanny resemblance to the very finest Lebonese black canabbis resin!!

Misunderstanding resolved I chewed the offering with a gusto which delighted my benefactor and we went on to have a twenty minute conversation, unfortunatly that was some years ago when I had no Portuguese whatsoever and whilst I grinned and nodded with enthusiasm I understood not one word of what he said!!!!

Done and Dusted.

I am writing this post today as a sad and poor substitute for being in Santa Luzia.

Having bobbed across for 2 days last week and found it very acceptable we had planned to do the same again this week, however, Mount Flapperrapperpapperjjack or whatever it's called had different ideas.
Our flight from LBA was cancelled due to volcanic ash. We thought we could circumvent the situation by switching to East Midlands Airport on the 11th but Flappathingymajig was having none and that flight was cancelled too.
The moral of the story......................never argue with a volcano, especially if you can't pronounce it's name.
Our visit last week was however very therapeutic, the sun shone gloriously and the fish were biting. I had to strike a compromise deal with Joan and apply a little paint to the walls of the house but there we go.........................life is not all beer and skittles.

I have to sadly report that the partnership deal between Fergus and Peter & Tanja has floundered.
As I have no wish to engage in the politics of the matter suffice it to say that other "interested parties" made the situation untenable.

ICE CREAM

Other developments in town which i have so far failed to inform you of include the opening of Santa Luzia's first ice cream parlour.
Situated almost immediately next door to Restaurant Capelo on the promenade Quiosque Muxagara is sure to be a great attraction during the season.

Quiosque Muxagara.

Despite ice cream being a very expensive luxury in Portugal there is nothing the Portuguese enjoy more than gathering the whole family for ice creams. When you observe three generations of a portuguese family gathered around a table tucking into "Copas de gelados" the joy and pleasure is palpable.

In this respect I believe I may have Portuguese genes in me somewhere.

I shall be one of their best customers and to this end have already perfected the phrase "Uma copa com tres bolos se faz favor".

Opportunity knocks.

Having commenced my new occupation with Jet2.com I had reluctantly resigned myself to the fact that I would be unlikely to visit Santa Luzia before mid autumn at the earliest until, that is, the lovely Joan got sight of my work roster for week commencing 25th April.

A split shift 5 -00am to 5-00 pm on Monday 26th followed by a three day break and a 5-00 am start on Friday 29th provided a window of opportunity for a flying visit.
Ryanair flights from Leeds & Bradford at 19-50 on the 26th at £11 and Jet2.com flights at 11-50 at €69 on the 28th turned the opportunity into reality.
It is only 2 days but we are excitedly looking forward to meeting all our friends, catching some spring sun and checking out how the dehumidifier has coped since we were there in February.

In particular we are looking forward to enjoying a drink with dutch ex-pats Tanya and Peter at Bar Mundo where they have entered into a kind of loose agreement with owner Fergus
(Regular readers may remember my post of November 2008 People 3. Fergus bar mundo).

Peter and Tanya in Bar Mundo.

Bar Mundo suffered a similar fate to our own house during January whilst Fergus was back in the UK for a month visiting his elderly parents. Water had penetrated in numerous places and the dreaded black mould had firmly established itself from floor to ceiling.

The unflappable Peter and Tanya took this major set back in their stride rolled out the dust sheets and transformed the place.

Earlier opening means you can now enjoy early evening or pre dinner drinks at Mundo as well as the usual late night service. Furthermore by sharing the burden with Fergus the bar is now open 7 days a week and plans are afoot to introduce a limited snack menu.

The transformed Bar Mundo.

I will be avidly watching the weather forecast for the Algarve as I desperately need to see the sun which barely appeared for us in February. It is many months since I had a fishing rod in my hands and for me sunshine is an essential element to any fishing expedition.

Breaking the mould.

Last year was the worst winter in the Algarve since records began, until this year that is.

The whole world witnessed the tragedy that unfolded in Madeira with the unparalleled loss of life due to the severe winter storms and mainland Portugal has not been spared the vagaries of mother nature.

While last years winter served up record breaking temperature lows this year has been warmer but infinitely wetter. Grey skies and persistent rain have been an almost permanent feature since mid December and whilst there have been numerous instances of flooding the real problem has been the insidious intrusion of water into every nook, cranny and corner of just about every building in Portugal.

27th February and though the rain has stopped high tide and a strong westerly wind combine to drive yet more water into the streets and buildings of Santa Luzia.

Arriving on the 23rd. February we entered our house to be greeted with something like the scene from a horror movie. The walls glistened with condensation and our possessions, furniture, crockery, carpets and clothes were mouldering with fungal growth. The house glowered with an all pervading sense of decay.

Thus the tenure of our stay was to be spent washing, bleaching and disinfecting those of our possessions that were not immediately dispatched to the rubbish bins.

Having restored some kind of order we resolved to prevent further episodes with the introduction of a dehumidifier. Our sortie to Worten, the major electrical retailer in the new Gran Plaza shopping centre, revealed that this was by no means a unique idea.

There were non to be had at any price, anywhere. Two days and more than a dozen electrical retailers later, having finally got my tongue and brain around the Portuguese word desumidificador, we tracked one down to Makro in Olhao.

€119 secured us what appeared to be the last desumidificador available in Portugal.

The elusive appliance was set to work immediately and throughout the rest of our stay removed a minimum of 6 litres per day of moisture that would have otherwise condensed and dribbled down our walls.

After days of cleaning scrubbing and de-mouldering "Casa Stig" looks less like a scene from a horror film and more like it should.

There have been a number of developements started and one new business has opened in the village since our last visit just before christmas and I shall tell more of these in a future post.

New Horizons.

We have been in the pub business for over fifteen years and throughout that time we have experienced the steady decline of that famous and beloved institution.

Increased bureaucracy, supermarket beers that are cheaper than bottled water, rocketing business rates and energy prices and finally the ubiquitous smoking ban have all conspired to see last orders rung permanently in thousands of British boozers.

The Cross Green will we fear soon be joining the ranks of much lamented former community locals.

Joan and I came here as a temporary measure in April 2007 following the sale of the lease on our previous pub "The Hope Inn". My mother, though terminally ill, was still very active and more than a little demanding at the time and moving away was really out of the question, so a temporary tenancy of The Cross Green suited both us and the pubco.

My mother sadly passed away in March of 2008 just as the recession began to bite and as bookings for the working men's rooms here at the pub and consequently takings over the bar also began to evaporate like raindrops in the Portuguese sun.

It became evident that we would be fortunate to break even let alone make a profit.

We quickly came to the decision that another pub was not what we wanted, a move to Portugal would be preferable but I can not call upon my pension for another 5 years so that also was quickly ruled out.

To further complicate the matter the banking crash and credit crunch have so far thwarted all attempts to sell my late mother's house so, as executor of her estate, I am pretty much tied down until the economic situation improves.

Honest hard work then seemed to be the only option open to me and the search for a suitable position commenced in earnest towards the end of last year.

I am pleased to announce that the search ended yesterday with the offer of employment as airport passenger service agent for the low cost airline Jet2.com at Leeds and Bradford airport.
(Book your cheap flight via the link on the left of this page and I will see you in the airport!!)

"What's all this got to do with Santa Luzia?" I hear you asking.

Well not a great deal really apart from the fact that the summer months will be the busiest of times for me from here on in and my new prospects will severely curtail my ability to visit and enjoy it's charms. It is already clear that I will be unable to attend the fishermen's festival in August and I will find myself regularly yearning for Minha casa linda Portugese.

To this end I am paying a visit prior to taking up my new appointment on the 8th March.


I shall be in town from the 23rd of Feb to 2nd of March.