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.