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Many, many years ago, I once saw a show of the famous Dutch artist Toon Hermans. He was talking how his life was just like a wave. A wave in the sea. Why? Because a wave goes up, and when it is at its highest point, it goes down again. And when it is at its deepest point, it goes up again… And when it is at its highest point, it goes down again… and so on. Having been in this life for 48 1/2 years, I must admit, he was right. That’s what life is all about. Good days, bad days. Adventurous days, and lousy days. Sunny days and rainy days. Days when everything runs smoothly like a Swiss clock, and days in which nothing goes like it should be going. Today, I lived through a day with mixed feelings, with ups and downs. I sold a couple of safes, which is always nice of course. After all, that’s what I am doing over here in this country.

I made a lot of phonecalls chasing my money. I still have a couple of customers who are overdue in paying my invoices. One was even complaining that he had to pay an “old” invoice, dating from some day in July this year! I told him that, if he always waits that long before paying, he will always be paying “old” invoices. Do these people and companies realise that we have to pay our invoices as well? If everybody acts like this - and in this beautiful country, unfortunately, a lot of people and companies do - they get a chain reaction on the go. Everything stops. And that’s not good.

Another one of the simple facts of life is that, the older I get, the more younger people there are around. As Frank, a good Belgian friend of mine who recently had a serious heart-attack as well (I survived a pretty serious one on my 46th birthday in April of 2006 - nothing to worry about, only the good die young) wrote me the other day: “there are more younger and beautiful women around than twenty years ago!”. That is true, but a lot of these young business people are enormously dependent on the internet.

I have a friend over here in the Algarve who literally couldn’t live anymore without internet. He told me once that he had been without internet during one week, and he literally was lost. He didn’t know how to find a telephone number of a restaurant, because he didn’t have the yellow pages in his house. What would happen if, for one reason or the other, the internet broke down? How many people would survive?

I sometimes ask myself how we did it twenty, thirty or more years ago? I started my professional career in the summer of 1982. We didn’t have a computer at that time, no internet, no mobile phones, no faxes. I just had a fixed telephone at my home and my office, an agenda and a block note. And an old fashioned typewriter. That’s it.

Only at the end of the eighties of last century, faxes came around. But the first guy who had a fax couldn’t use it, until there was another one who bought a fax. I still remember how we were looking with very big eyes full of astonishment, when a paper came out of that machine with a complete letter on it! We didn’t know what was happening…

I had to think about this earlier this afternoon. I needed a price urgently for transportation of a safe to Funchal, Madeira, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. When I need something fast, I pick up my cell phone and call the guy. He’s much younger than I am, so it was not a surprise for me that he told me he was going to look it up and send me an e-mail. I told him he had to call me instead of writing e-mails…

What is happening with the normal person-to-person communication nowadays? In these days, full of wonders of technology, we chat and see each other through webcams while we are on different continents, but we hardly know the guy next door…

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First of all, we didn’t win the Euromillion’s jackpot last Friday. All we won was a lousy € 9.00! The good news however is that nobody in Europe has won the jackpot. This means that next Friday, we will be winning the nice sum of € 42.000.000,00! So I will be playing our numbers again. As I have been doing every week over the past four years.

Two weeks ago, on a late afternoon, I received a phonecall from a Portuguese journalist working for one of the big newspapers in this country. She was working on a story about the economic crises, and the kind of impact this had on our business, the safes business. She asked me a thousand questions, and I answered each and every one of them to the best of my abilities. At the end of the interview, I asked her when this story was going to be published. I wanted to read this story in the newspaper itself, and keep it for my personal archives. She didn’t know at that time, but she promised to send me an e-mail as soon as she knew the exact date.

The next day, a Saturday, we thought it would be appropriate to put in an advertisement in the same newspaper for our business. We wanted to have it published on the same page of the article. I immediately called the newspaper, but they said nobody of the publicity department was working on Saturdays, so I had to call back on Monday. That Monday, I was told the article had already been published two days before! Despite the fact that she promised to send me an e-mail, the journalist had not done that.

I wanted to buy the newspaper anyhow, so I went to the local newspaper shop. They told me they were going to “back-order” the newspaper, and it would come the next day. Guess what? The next day, the newspaper hadn’t arrived. I went to the shop each and every day over the past two weeks, and only yesterday, the girl working at the shop told me it was not possible to have a “back-order” of a newspaper that had already appeared! I just don’t know why she didn’t tell me that two weeks ago.

Some time last month, I ordered through the internet a couple of food-supplements with an American company. The total cost was US $ 184.00 (included in that price was +/- US $ 15.00 for shipping - express delivery they called it!). About four weeks later, I received a telephone call from a person identifying himself as a UPS collaborator. He informed me in a very rude way that my order was going to be delivered the next day. He couldn’t give me an exact time (which I can accept), so I arranged for somebody to be at my place to receive the order. Guess what? Nobody turned up, nor did I get a telephone call from UPS with any kind of explanation.

A couple of days later, I was advised again of the delivery by a friendlier person, identifying herself as another collaborator of UPS. The parcel finally arrived, aproximately five weeks after having been ordered.

But: I had to pay an extra € 124.00 on top of the original amount of US $ 184.00. I had expected to pay normal import taxes but not such an outrageous amount of money. Taking a careful look at the invoice, the € 124.02 is split up as follows: Tax € 23.50, VAT for importing the product € 48.33, and accessories of € 52.19. I can eventually accept the fact that I have to pay taxes and import taxes on the product. But upon telephoning UPS to ask what “accessories” mean, nobody could give me a decent answer. I was told that somebody was going to call me back with an answer, but until now, two weeks later, this has not been the case. I have made several phone calls to UPS and sent them various e-mails regarding this subject, but until today, not a single one of these e-mails has been answered by UPS.

I have already ordered many products from American companies through the internet, but I have NEVER paid such outrageous amounts of taxes and “accessories”, which were charged by transportation companies. As a comparison, during the month of August, I ordered through the internet eight bottles of a food-supplement (good for eight months use) in the United States at a price of US $ 40.00 a bottle. I paid a total amount of a little more than US $ 335.00 (8 x 40 + shipping), and the order arrived 10 days later by US Postal Service, at my post-office in the village where I live, without any extra costs for me.

Could it be possible that UPS, a large American company, has been addicted to the Portuguese mentality and does not value their customers anymore? I will keep calling and sending them e-mails, until I get a decent answer from them. One should expect at least some decent service as a customer!

Apparently, only my cleaning lady has got a good productivity! Every Wednesday morning, she arrives at 08.30am, throws her keys and purse on the kitchen table, takes the cleaning tools and starts cleaning the house from the top bedroom down to the terrace in the backyard. Each and every Wednesday morning.

It’s such a shame that too few Portuguese people have the same mentality as my cleaning lady. But at least, the sun is shining!

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This morning I read astonishing news on the website of one of the Belgian newspapers. I click on these websites to keep up with the day to day things happening in my home country. The astonishing news was that Paris Hilton, the very famous and rich American girl, has missed lots of millions in the Italian lotto. Apparently, she had been playing on the Italian lotto with a couple of her friends, and she didn’t win! Wow! Well… I have news for you too! I have been playing on the Euromillions for four years now, and I have missed a lot of millions of euros as well!

About four years ago, the Euromillions came to Portugal, and as soon as I found out about that, I decided to gamble a little bit. Together with Jerry (my business partner) and Roland (a Belgian friend who happened to be visiting us that specific week), we decided to play together on a regular basis. In the early days, Corien, another Belgian friend participated as well. She played a couple of weeks together with us, until her husband found out about it, and he forbid her to risk the ten euros she was investing in the game on a weekly basis. He forbid her a lot of things, and as a result of all this, Corien left him and went back to Belgium. It still strikes me how many men turn out to be real assholes when they’ve been married for a couple of years…

Anyway, back to the Euromillions. As I said before, we haven’t won, yet. Although we have been playing each and every week, for a little over four years right now. For people living outside Europe, here’s a little explanation how the game has to be played: you have to choose five numbers out of fifty (1 - 50), combine these five with two “star-numbers” to be chosen out of nine (1- 9), and if your combination is picked by the computer on Friday evening, you win the jackpot. Each week, the jackpot contains a minimum sum of € 15.000.000,00! If nobody wins, this money is added to next week’s jackpot. Tonight, the draw is about € 28.000.000,00! Twenty Eight Million Euros!

The jackpot has been won by Portuguese people on a regular basis. Believe it or not, but it has been won twice by people playing in the same newspaper shop in a tiny little Portuguese village. This village happens to be Vila Nova de Cacela. Yes, it has been won twice in my village! And no, unfortunately, I was not one of these winners!

But why is this game so popular over here? Is it because of the culture in Southern Europe? When I look at the success of “El Gordo“, the famous Spanish lottery which is promoting the December draw again, with a jackpot of, believe it or not, € 2.380.000.000,00 (3.652 million US $), it could be one of the reasons. Maybe the poverty of the Portuguese people plays a role in the popularity of the Euromillions. Compared with other European countries, Portugal has got the lowest salaries in the European Union.

We know the chances of winning the jackpot are pretty low, but it gives us fun and pleasure, each and every week, to be able to brainstorm what we will do next week, once we have received the millions!

I believe the very first time Euromillions came to Portugal, the jackpot of more than twenty million euros was won by two Portuguese middle aged couples. They invited the press, and were having a big party. Less than six months later, one of the husbands was complaining in the Portuguese newspapers how his life had changed, and how he was regretting the fact to have won all that money. He even said he was going to give the majority of his money away to a church! What a fool.

Jerry, Roland and I know exactly what we are going to be doing with the € 28.000.000,00 that we are going to win tonight. And rest assured, we will not invite the press nor will we give our money to the church. At least, I will not give my part to the church. What Jerry and Roland decide to do, that’s going to be their responsibility!

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Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a Belgian friend, with a link to a certain website which lets the whole world participate in the American elections. It says literally: if the world could vote for US president. Just click here, and see the amazing results. Well, they are not that amazing. Apparently, the whole world wants some change, after eight years of George W. Bush.

What amazes me is that even presidential candidates make so many mistakes! One would imagine that especially people applying for this office (president or vice-president) are intelligent and well-educated people who know what is going on in the world. At least, that’s what I expect them to be. And then, I have to read that John McCain has even asked his enemy, the Russians, for money in order to beat his opponent! Somebody in his team made a little mistake by sending a letter to the Russian embassy. I don’t blame John McCain. But he’s responsible. Obviously.

But what is even worse than asking money to the Russians, is spending tax money on personal things, as his running mate Sarah Palin has been doing since she has been the governor for Alaska. Before being presented as the official running mate for vice-president on the Republican convention in August, this lady had a “make-over” done. She spent US $ 150,000.00 to look a little better. A little surgery over here, and a new wardrobe over there! No wonder that a teenage son of one of my friends over here told me she was a “milf”. I didn’t know what he meant with that, until I googled the word. Well, I can agree with that.

According to my Belgian newspaper, this lady spends on average US $ 4,716.49 each and every month at the hairdresser’s. Where does she find the time to be a “hockey-mom”? Where does she find the time to lead her community, or do any kind of decent work, if she spends that amount of money to have her hair done? Or is she being robbed by her hairdresser?

If my memory is correct, it was Bill Clinton who introduced the “soccer-moms” into one of his campaigns more than a decade ago. And the term: “It’s the economy, stupid!” brought Bill Clinton the victory against George Bush Senior, because the latter didn’t pay enough attention to it while campaigning. And according to specialists, John Kerry has lost the 2004 election already in April of that year, when it became public that he had his hairdresser flown in to do his hair for the inexpensive price of US $ 3,000.00! He had to appear in one or the other television show that day!

I wonder how the U.S. citizens will react to Mrs. Palin’s economic views. She’s been spending over US $ 20,000.00 for plane tickets and thousands of other dollars for hotel rooms for her kids! She billed the state of Alaska US $ 17,000.00 for sleeping at home! For sleeping at home! Can you imagine?

It is easy to blame Joe the Plumber for not paying his taxes. Maybe he should be rewarded for not paying his taxes? Because if this is the way politicians spend the taxpayer’s money, one should think twice before paying them.

Does Mrs. Palin realise that there are many American citizens who don’t make any money anymore? Who have lost their houses because they couldn’t pay their mortgage anymore?

Please Mrs. Palin, wake up to reality! And don’t blame your hairdresser if you lose on November 4th! And otherwise: soi belle et tais-toi! That’s French. And no, I am not going to translate it into your language!

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My business partner Jerry has returned to Belgium this morning. As always, he drives the car to our warehouse and showroom in Almancil (a 40 minutes drive from where we live), he leaves the car over there, and takes a taxi to the airport, which is only 10 minutes away. It would be ridiculous to pay € 25.00 per day to leave the car on the public airport parking, instead of leaving it in our own place. The challenge each and every time is in finding a taxi.

Yesterday, he had to call five different taxi companies, until he found one that was willing to come and get him in our office, this morning at around 07.00am. The trouble is that we don’t have a number on our location. For one or the other reason, nobody in our neighbourhood has a house number. When we rented the place a couple of years ago, even our landlord (who’s living just next door), didn’t know the number. We have a huge Gifoa-publicity panel on the wall. And we are located exactly at kilometer 96 on the “Estrada Nacional nr. 125″, the biggest national road which runs all through the Algarve, from the Spanish border until Sagres, in the West. Aproximately 15000 cars are passing our front door each and every day. Lots of them are taxis. A couple of our neighbours are large companies that have been here a very long time, and these companies all have huge publicity panels in front of their doors! But explaining the taxi-companies where we are situated, isn’t just enough. They need the house number!

By coincidence, yesterday afternoon a taxi had a puncture at our doorstep. Jerry asked the driver if he could come to get him this morning. This guy answered that he had the day off today, that he wasn’t going to be working. When Jerry asked him if his company could send a taxi, the driver just shook his head, didn’t even bother to answer the request, and continued changing the wheel of his car. He just couldn’t care less.

It was only after Jerry had spoken to a taxi company, and he had promised to take a small map with our location explained on it to them, that he could make the reservation. What a huge productivity!

In our five years of existence in this country, our company has hired a couple of collaborators. This has always been a huge challenge. When Portuguese people come in applying for a job, they all want to earn a salary which exeeds the norm, they want a company car, a company cell phone and a laptop provided by the company. And then they want to send e-mails to prospects. As if doing business was that easy.

They have certain rights. The employer has to pay them fourteen times a month’s salary, each and every year. While there are only twelve months in one year. But ok, they have that right, so they are protected by law, so we pay fourteen months!

But what they sometimes seem to forget, is that they have certain duties as well. Coming on time for example. Showing up in the morning is one of them. Doing the job they were hired and trained for is another duty they have.

Unfortunately, some Portuguese people seem to forget these duties. One of our ex-employees stopped showing up on the job. She just didn’t come anymore. Just like that. Without any warning at all. When we sent a registered letter to the address we had in her file, the letter came back. Returned to sender! Person unknown. She now demands a couple of thousands of euros, because we did not send her a letter of dismissal in time.

We did, but it came back! I wish her a lot of success in her future jobs. And no, I will not give her a letter of recommendation!

Portuguese productivity. The lowest productivity in Europe. According to the Portuguese television news. Based on personal experience, I can only agree to that!

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I just got home from the local “gypsy market”. Every third Sunday of the month, this kind of flea market is organised in our little village of Vila Nova de Cacela, in the beautiful and sunny Algarve. As every month, the whole village is literally invaded by thousands of people. Local people, tourists, foreigners living over here, even busloads full of Spanish people all come to walk between the various stands of all the different market vendors. Different? I’ve been living over here for a little bit more than five years, and it seems to me that there is absolutely no difference, and nothing changes. These markets are organised, almost each and every day in different parts of the Algarve, and we always see the same things for sale.

The German couple selling flowers, plants and young trees have been on the same spot for more than five years. The lady selling plastic pots and laundry baskets is greeting everybody with a wide smile. There is the food section, where one can buy artisanal made honey, olives, cheese, ham, and the very nasty smelling salted codfish (yes, nasty smelling, but when cooked right, a real delicacy!). One can buy the same leather belts and purses at the same price in at least ten different market stalls. The stands that sell clothes (from underware, socks and pyjamas to winter coats and boots) tend to attract most people. These textiles are usually sold at very cheap prices…

There is also a section on the local market which is disgusting. Over here in Southern Portugal, one can still buy living animals on the market. Not only young and exotic birds and goldfish, but also rabbits, chicks and small baby ducks are being sold to each and everybody.

This morning, I witnessed a really disgusting scene. I was sitting on a terrace with some Belgian and Dutch friends, enjoying the sunshine and a nice cup of coffee (and later on a couple of beers), and in front of us, an elderly couple was selling underware and socks. Their kids were running a market stall next to them, and they had a little boy (not older than three years old). All of a sudden, the little boy was running around, pulling a baby duck which had a cord tied on one leg. It was disgusting. The baby duck wanted to escape, didn’t know what was happening, and was in real panic. The boy’s parents and grandparents couldn’t care less, and were laughing with it.

The whole terrace was crowded by foreigners, and we were all disgusted by this scene. We started telling the parents that we didn’t accept this behaviour, we even wanted to buy the duck from this guy. First, daddy didn’t react at all, but after a while, he reluctantly put the duck in a carton box, and didn’t care anymore. Unfortunately, as is always the case, police was not in the neighbourhood. Otherwise, we would have filled out a complaint against such a behaviour.

It is a shame that little children are being raised in such a way that they will never show any respect for other living creatures.

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We are less than three weeks away from history. Will the world be welcoming a black president of the United States, or will the world see  a female vice-president? I have been following these elections from a very far distance, and each and every day, I am more and more astonished with the way politicians are acting at the other side of the pond!

Four years ago, nobody over here in Europe had heard of Barack Obama. And I must admit, I had never heard of John Mc Cain neither. The majority of the Europeans are hoping for change, and would like to see Obama as the first black president in the history of that country. Obviously, he’s in the lead, according to the polls. According to the specialists, he can’t lose anymore! And he’s good at public speaking! One of the best I’ve ever seen. But that doesn’t mean anything. I just wonder how the average Mr. and Mrs. American with the funny baseball caps on the heads, will react, once he or she is in the moment of electing. Will they go for change and choose a black man, or will they prefer an elderly, “more experienced” man in the White House?

I just find it very hard to believe that even a presidential candidate, running for the most important office in the world, has been panicking while choosing his running mate. When it became clear that Hillary Clinton was not running for vice-president, Mc Cain wanted to have a woman for the job! What a mistake to make! Not in choosing a woman as vice-president, but in choosing Mrs. Palin.

Because this lady can see Russia from her bedroom window, she claims to be very good in foreign relationships. In her humble opinion! Well, it is not because I can see the beautiful Atlantic Ocean from my bedroom window that this fact makes me a good fisherman. I am not. I love to eat fish, but I let the catching of the fish to some more experienced people than me. It worries me that such a woman is only one failing heart-beat of a 72 year old man away from the most important office in this world, if the average American will not vote for change.

This week, we have also met John the Plumber. I am pretty sure that this guy already regrets the comments he’s made when he saw Obama earlier this week. Nor will he like the fact that his name was mentioned twenty six times in the last political debate between the two candidates. His life has completely changed over the past couple of days, expecially since the media have discovered that this fellow hasn’t been properly qualified to do his job and that he has forgotten to pay some of his taxes. Nowadays, most media expect average people to be more catholic than the Pope when it comes to these kind of issues.

But how would Europeans like to have an immigrant elected for an important office? In Sint-Niklaas, a small city in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, a black man was elected as councillor in the city board. Nevertheless this man is Belgian, he was born and raised in my home country, he speaks the language perfectly, a lot of people were making a lot of problems about him. Some even refused to be married by him.

And in Rotterdam, the second largest city of the Netherlands, a Maroccan immigrant has been elected for mayor. He’ll be the first “Maroccan Mayor” in Holland. The second largest political party of Rotterdam is furious about this fact!

So, I am really curious to see who’s going to win in the United States, on November 4th. By the way, if I had been American, I would have voted for Hillary. If she had been the democratic candidate of course…

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A couple of years ago, I arrived at Heathrow airport, London. In the arrivals hall, a huge Christmas tree was being built. I thought the English had become insane, because in my humble opinion, it was far too early to even start thinking about Christmas, let alone, building a Christmas tree! I still remember the date, it was 16th of October. I can’t remember the year anymore, but I can still remember the day as if it happened only yesterday. Way too early!

And I have the impression that each and every year, local governments are starting to build the decoration for the Christmas season a little earlier than the year before.

I am living in a very small village in Southern Portugal. The weather is still wonderful. To give you an update on today’s weather (and a small tease for the Belgian friends who are still living in Belgium and reading this blog by the open fire): while the cleaning lady was cleaning the office this morning, I stepped outside on the terrace, and I staid there all day, sitting at the garden table, working on my e-mails, my quotes, concentrating on my business and doing the things a man has got to do in order to make some money. As a matter of fact, I am writing these words at the same garden table… Believe it or not, but today, municipal workers appeared in my street and started putting up the poles for the Christmas decoration in our tiny little village. While the fall has just begun. The grapes have disappeared from the vineyards only a couple of weeks ago and the elderly salespeople selling baked chestnuts are appearing on each and every corner of the streets in Southern Portugal and Spain.

On a hot September morning, only a couple of weeks ago, I received publicity of a well known Portuguese supermarket at my doorstep. Six complete pages were wasted on the promotions for Christmas, ranging from chocolates and Christmas cakes to plastic Christmas trees, balls and bells and every other product one can expect to be in the shops in the middle of December! While the beaches were still crowded with tourists, and the temperature rose almost to thirty degrees Celcius. Very soon, Bing Crosby’s White Christmas will be playing in the streets and shopping malls. And this won’t stop until January.

This means that we are living three months a year in the Christmas mood. A little bit of mathematics teaches me that this is 25% of the year! Twenty Five per cent!

Too long. Too much Christmas for me. The Portuguese, just like the English a couple of years ago, have become insane!

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Four times a year, we have a business club dinner. The business division of the “Nederlandstalige Club Algarve“, an association of Dutch speaking people living in Southern Portugal, organises a wonderful evening with a nice dinner. It is always organised in the clubhouse of a unique golf club in the neighbourhood of Albufeira, which is pretty central for the people living all over the place in the sunniest part of Portugal, the beautiful Algarve.

We had our third dinner of 2008 last week. What an unforgettable experience it was! Ben, the recently elected new president of the business division of the club, had organised the evening, and as a special surprise, he had asked the catering department to serve a real Portuguese dinner. As a starter, we received the typical “entrees”, a selection of Portuguese cheese, ham, the wonderful tasting “pasteis de bacalhau”, and the olives which one can find in at least a thousand different tastes over here. Then came a Portuguese “sopa de pedras”, a soup with a lot of meat in it, followed by the unique tasting “chicken-rice-curry”. Apparently, a very typical plate, cooked in an ancient way. In a nutshell, the cook throws the whole chicken in the cooking pan, head, feet, every part of the chicken just goes in the pot, and once it is ready to be served, well… they just serve it. When I saw the plates being served on the tables, I was thinking back of the old army days, when our Regiment was on exercise somewhere in a wintery German landscape, and the regimental cooks threw our meals in our soldiers plates…

47 people attended the evening last week. 46 of these people had already been served the meal. And everybody was watching their plates, reluctant to get started to “enjoy” the meal. And all of a sudden, the waitress served a beautiful plate, full of freshly steamed vegetables together with a lovely grilled fish filet… and she came directly to me! Yes, this fish was served, exclusively to me!

Fortunately for me, Ben, our president, knows that I eat everything but meat. He had ordered a “fish-dish” for your servant! Yes, there used to be a time that I ate a lot of meat, but that’s already a very long time ago. About eight years ago, I decided to stop eating meat, unless I was invited for some dinner. And about five years ago, I completely stopped eating it. I prefer fish nowadays.  So, whenever and wherever I am invited for lunch or dinner, I will always make it clear that I don’t eat any meat anymore!

Well, I must say, I enjoyed every second of last weeks’ business dinner. Later that evening, Suzanne, an incredible sympathetic Dutch owner of one of the best restaurants in the Algarve, was making a remark with our president. I must say one thing: You don’t want to mess with Suzanne! Believe me, you just don’t. This lady knows exactly what she wants! Passing Ben and Suzanne, on my way out to the terrace which overlooks the unique greens of the golfclub, I couldn’t help but hearing the remarks she made about the dinner, and I turned to Ben, telling him that the fish had been excellent! “Fish, what fish?” Suzanne wanted to know. I will never forget the look on her face, when I described the wonderful fish I had been served that evening.

I am pretty sure that during the next business club evening on the first Monday of December of this year, the food will not be typical Portuguese anymore.

Every last Thursday of the month, we have another dinner with a group of Dutch speaking business men over here. These evenings are completely different. We always choose a different restaurant where we meet each other. These evenings are always organised by Erik and Eric. One is Belgian (Dutch speaking), the other one is Dutch (also Dutch speaking)! These are “men-only” evenings. Marsians together. We have a welcome drink, we have a starter, we have the main dish, dessert, coffee and pousse-café. And afterwards, some more drinks… Somewhere between the starter and the main dish, and the main dish and dessert, we have our “world-famous-five-minutes”.

This means that every new attendant, if he wants, can introduce himself and his business in simple words, and he’s got exactly five minutes for doing so. We have had a lot of five minutes speaches, and we have learned a lot of each others different businesses, and the challenges we have in coping with Portuguese regulations, customers, habits, etc…

At the end of this month, the dinner will be organised in a restaurant in my street, in Vila Nova de Cacela. For once, I will not have to drive back home. Next time, I will be able to walk to the restaurant. We are all curious to hear René, my Dutch neighbour who rents campers to his customers. If you ever come to Southern Portugal, and you want to experience this beautiful country in a different way, come and rent a camper from René, you will be more than satisfied! René has missed a couple of our evenings, because he is attending evening school in order to learn Portuguese. So the whole team is anxious to hear René present his company in Portuguese. He’ll have exactly five minutes to do so.

Once dinner is finished, we, being Martians, have a couple of extra drinks. And a couple of more drinks…

On the mornings of the last Fridays of each and every month, life is challenging!

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Today, I received very sad news from Belgium. Luc, my ex-CO sent me an e-mail, announcing that Ivan, a fellow officer of our Regiment in the Belgian army had passed away. He had been ill for some time, and last Thursday, he lost his final battle. He was only 49. This news struck me like lightning at a clear sky.

Not that we had ever been close friends. On the contrary. We had many disagreements on various topics, and it was clear from the beginning that there would never be a close connection between ourselves. We were too different as a person for that. But I respected the work he did, his commitment for doing the job right, his enthusiasm while presenting the new exercise he had been preparing and working on for oh so many hours, and above all, his huge passion for the rich history of our beloved Regiment. He absolutely knew each and every detail of all battles our Regiment had fought in both World War One and Two. I honestly think he had the same feelings of respect for me as well.

But, we never expressed it to each other. Although we should have done so, we just never did. And that is regrettable. Life is too short for having disagreements with each other. Maybe we need to do more what we feel at the moment, and not worry too much about next year. Because, next year might never come!

Which makes me think of the end of July, 1998. Ten years ago, I was driving my car and passing the house of my “ex-uncle” Mark. Mark had been married with a much younger sister of my mother, and had gone through a difficult divorce. He was only ten years older than me, he started dating my aunt while he was in his early twenties, and given the fact of the little difference in age between ourselves, we had built a relationship as friends, more than a normal “uncle - nephew” relationship. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years after his divorce, and while approaching his house, I was thinking of pulling over to say hello and have a chat. As “old friends” should do from time to time.

But for some reason or another, I did not stop, I did not make the time to see him. I told myself I would do that the next time. I just postponed, procrastinated. Guess what? There never came a next time. Less than two weeks later, Mark, while jogging with a friend (he had always been a very sporty man), had a heart-attack, and he was dead before he hit the ground. He was only 48. The age I am at right now. The age Ivan had, nine months ago.

Regrets. So many unspoken words which should have been spoken out loud and clear, which could have turned the disagreements into agreements.

I learned another lesson today. From now on, I will do what I feel that I need to do at the moment.

Ivan, may you rest in peace.

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