How is the Algarve Surviving?
We are still having lunch on the patio
Maybe it is a good thing that Portugal is stuck right on the edge of the EU. And maybe it is a good thing that Portugal is not what you might call a modern industrial state. With modern industrial estates taking a severe bashing these days from lunatic Greens, who wish us all to regress to the dark ages, those countries who didn’t get that way to start with are at an advantage.
One thing we need to do here and that is stock up with the latest technical hardware while it is still available, and maybe fill the garage with plenty of staple foods. I’m stocking up with cereals and rice, and plenty of canned goods.
One thing we dont have to worry about so much as those of you living in the frozen North, and that is the rather crucial matter of keeping warm during the winter months. I took a photograph of part of the garden today from the balcony. We have clear blue skies, and it is lovely and warm, the doors are open and lunch is on the patio. And if you live in the country the heating is free by using the dead wood from pruning the surrounding trees.
It looks as though the manic rush for buying properties here in the deep south has abated. Maybe folks have run out of funds. Last October’s figures showed housing valuations rising by 18.8% over the previous year. However, things do not appear to be continuing with increased valuations. For instance the number of bank mortgage assessments has decreased for the fourth consecutive month, showing an 8.6% reduction from the same period last year. This is also reflected in the third month of reduced mortgage loans. However, still the most expensive regions in Portugal are the Algarve and Lisbon. And rather a lot of people do buy here with cash. Anecdotally the property market is still flourishing.
Maybe some people are deciding to ‘wait and see’. I am clearly not the only one who looks around and wonders what the heck is going on. I am glad I no longer live in Northern Europe, and that I am not dependent upon any government funding, and I have organised things so that I am not completely dependent upon income from Europe.
Next week I assume we will get deluged with visitors escaping from the horrors of the north as we slide into Christmas and a new year. I shall not be going anywhere this year. I have a horror of travelling by plane. Once upon a time, way back in the distant past, travelling by plane was efficient and reasonably pleasant, now it is a nightmare. We are treated like cattle, shouted at, harried and hassled at every turn, and what should take minutes takes hours.
Twenty years ago when I commuted across borders I would arrive at an airport about twenty minutes before my plane was due to hit the runway. There was maybe one, or at most two other people at the check-in. We were through the gates within five minutes, arriving at the departure gate ten minutes before take-off — just in time to get aboard and stow one’s baggage, and we were off. Now the whole ghastly business takes two or three hours (that is, if one’s plane isn’t delayed for hours or cancelled).
I hope that next year I will be able to join a flying syndicate and avoid major airports entirely. That will depend on whether my trading systems continue to deliver the goods. The indices are doing a lot of mucking about at the moment which is requiring a lot of adjustments to the system. Once we’ve got the changes working consistently I shall be adding a further blog showing what we’re doing and offering the system to the public. You will be the first to know when we are open to the public.
I shall also be going back to delivering these blogs on audio if I get the time to record and video them, and the software decides to behave itself. In the meantime, have a good week.
john