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Today was a very lazy Saturday. The weather was not fine, it was cloudy, rainy, and still pretty cool for the time of the year. But after all, today was the last day of February, still winter… what can we really expect? Ok, this is Southern Europe, but sometimes the dark blue Algarvian sky changes in a grey and cloudy sky as well.

So… no cycling today, as I never go out on the bike when it’s raining. As I stated it earlier on this blog, I will never win the Tour de France anymore. Instead of cycling, I decided to go for a walk in my neighbourhood. So I went to Cacela Velha, the old part of the village where I am living. In my humble opinion, this is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. Not only of this region or country, but in the whole world. It is a pitty that the light was not perfect, so the pictures below, which I took in the late afternoon, are pretty grey.

But one day, I promiss, I will take the same walk again, and the same pictures, with the normal deep blue Algarvian sky…

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Earlier today, I was doing some shopping to get some vegetables and other stuff in one of the supermarkets in Faro. There were not too many people in the shop, but I couldn’t help but notice one young mother with three kids, aged between eight and twelve (a rough guess, because as far as I know of, I don’t have any kids, therefore I am not good at guessing ages of children due to a lack of experience with them). The woman was English, and the kids thought mistakenly that the supermarket was a Portuguese playground. The mother was having some difficulties to keep track of her kids. Somehow, the way she was trying to handle them put a little smile on my face.

The clip below shows exactly what this mom was telling her kids in the supermarket. I think this mom tells her kids all these words every single day. It is hilarious, but being performed in a very talented way.

I consider this as a tribute to all moms in the world…

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Every year in February, half of the world is becoming crazy about Carnaval. Every year, I see pictures and movies about the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro and other cities in South America, and I can’t help wondering what it’s all about. Somehow, all my life, I have never understood the reason of this festival. When I was living in Germany a very long time ago, we had “Rosen Montag in Cologne”, and that gave us a good excuse to go out and chase some women. I remember we couldn’t wear any ties at that time, as we were sure to have them cut off by one or the other woman… In Belgium, we have the famous Carnaval in Aalst and Binche, a reason for the local people to get drunk for a couple of days in a row. In New Orleans, the Mardi Gras is taking place.

Unlike in Belgium and the Northern part of Europe, Carnaval in this part of the world is a national holiday. Nobody works over here in Portugal (and as a matter of fact, just come to think of it, yesterday I was in my office, but I didn’t receive any one phone call, no visitors, no business at all - I must have been the only one in Portugal who was working during this “long weekend”), so today I took the day off as well.

This morning, I went for a nice ride in the beautiful mountains on my mountain bike and came to the conclusion that we only have “Cols de 1° Categorie” over here. Maybe my mountain bike weighs too much to get to nice speeds… Especially with me and my 120 kilograms on it…

Anyway, this afternoon, I decided to go for a walk in Monte Gordo, where another Carnaval parade was due to take place. As I had recharged the batteries of my camera, I couldn’t help but take some pictures…

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The 35th Tour of the Algarve is taking place during this week. Today, the riders are doing the final stage in between Vila do Bispo and Portimão, in the Western part of the Algarve. As I am living in the Eastern part of it, and as it is a beautiful day, I am not going to watch today. I am going to relax a bit, and enjoy the beautiful sunshine over here. Yesterday however, the fourth stage of this year’s tour was a time trial between Castro Marim and Tavira. This is exactly where I live, as Vila Nova de Cacela is right in the middle of those two ancient Portuguese cities.

Obviously, I spent the whole day outside, and after having gone to Castro Marim in order to get a list with the starting order of the riders, I went to one of the mountains where all the riders had to pass. I know these roads pretty well, as I am cycling every now and then along them, suffering enormously on my mountain bike. For me, these are like “Cols de Première Categorie” in the Tour de France. My best time for the 35 kilometers in between Castro Marim and Tavira is around two hours. These professional athletes do the distance in about 40 minutes. So, I need more than twice as much time as they do. But then again, I am more than twice their age, and my weight is about twice as much as theirs… And I don’t have to win the Tour de France anymore.

However, I guess nobody is perfect. In my enthusiasm, I was taking a lot of pictures. But… I had forgotten to charge the battery of my camera the night before. Therefore, unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of stage winner Alberto Contador, who was climbing the mountain (where I was watching) at an incredible speed. But I took some pictures of other cyclists, most of them Belgian, or riders who are pretty popular in my home country.

I think next year, I will take some more time off and see a bit more of the 36th Volta ao Algarve.

Very expensive bikes of the Belgian Quick Step Team…

While the riders are warming up, the mecanics of the Quick Step Team relaxing…

Alberto Contador’s bike…

This stork hasn’t got a clue which circus is about to pass its nest…

Belgian Johan Van Summeren of the Silence Lotto Team…

Dutchman Steven De Jongh of the Quick Step Team…

Belgian Wouter Weylandt of the Quick Step Team…

Australian Robbie Mc Ewen, riding for the new Russian Katusha Team…

Frenchman Hervé Duclos-Lassalle riding for the French Cofidis Team…

Belgian Philippe Gilbert, riding for Silence Lotto Team…

Current Belgian Time Trial Champion Stijn De Volder…

Will he win this year’s Tour of Flanders again?

Italian Matteo Tossato riding for Quick Step Team…

Belgian Quick Step rider Kevin Van Impe overtaking Italian Pietro Cauchioli…

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I don’t know what to say, but I am impressed and sad at the same time. Ian Thiermann, a 90 year old American living in California, after having been retired for thirty years, is back at work. I think he had hoped to be able to work in his garden for the rest of his life. But life has got some surprises… He lost his whole fortune of US $ 700.000,00 through Bernard Madoff, and is now working at a local grocery store for US $ 10,00 an hour, handing out publicity to the customers. He has survived the big depression in the thirties of the last century, when his whole family lost everything they had, and is convinced he will survive this challenge as well. After all, he has to make some money in order to pay the doctor. I can only congratulate him, his wife and the owner of the grocery shop for hiring this fabulous old man. “You gotta be positive, otherwise life is too short!”. A quote from an almost ninety one year old man…

I am sure he is not the only old man that has to work very hard in order to be able to survive. I remember once in 2001, I was on a bus on my way to San Francisco International Airport. I was the only passenger on board, and was sitting in the front seat, talking with the female bus driver. She told me she had to work two fulltime jobs in order to be able to pay the bills. At the age of 78!

In Belgium, and probably all over Europe, a lot of people, even younger than me, are already counting the days to get to their pension. What they don’t realise is that the same things are going to happen over here in Europe as well. Sooner than most people can imagine, international governments will run out of money to pay the pensions. And a lot of Europeans will have to work at pretty high ages as well…

My respect goes to Mr. Thiermann…

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Every year, around this time, international cycle racing comes to the Algarve. This week, for the 35th time, the “Volta ao Algarve”, the Tour of the Algarve for professional cycle racers is being organised. The race started on Wednesday, and will end the day after tomorrow, on Sunday. Today, the third stage had its start in Vila Réal de Santo António, just around the corner from where I live.

Having grown up in Belgium, in a family with cycle race addicts, every year, I go and watch at least one time the start or the finish of a stage in this race. So this morning, I was in Vila Réal de Santo António and, as every year, I enjoyed being there. Obviously I took some pictures, and I am sure at least one person in Belgium will enjoy them as well. He probably will be a bit envious of not having been here today. I am talking about my father. So dad, I put these pictures below especiously for you…

Tomorrow, the fourth stage of the Tour of the Algarve is a time trial, between Castro Marim and Tavira. On pretty hilly roads, where I always suffer when going out on my mountain bike. I will be somewhere along the road, watching these professional athletes on their bikes, at speeds I can only dream off…

Enjoy the pictures below…

Catching up with my old friend Rik Van Slycke, currently one of the directors of Belgian Quick Step Team.

Stijn De Volder, former Belgian Professional Cycle Race Champion and last year winner of the Tour d’Algarve and the Tour of Flanders.

Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour de France, and last year winner of the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta de España.

And off they go…

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I received the clip below by e-mail earlier today. It describes a solution to impose the speed limits in the beautiful city of Copenhagen, Denmark. I haven’t got a clue if this is a true story, but it seems like a good idea to use these “bikini bandits” to stop car drivers of speeding. Although, having been in Denmark a couple of times in my life, both in winter and in summer… it’s usually pretty cold over there. I fear these “bikini bandits” could catch a cold or the flue pretty rapidly. So it might be fake. On the other hand, they might be useful in this country in the sun. The way the Portuguese drive their cars is pretty exciting. And I am very, very careful with my words.

Today for example, I saw a tiny little car, following a huge truck. And I mean… really following the truck. The tiny little car was less than two meters behind the big truck, during at least five kilometers. There was no possible way the driver of the small car, who was pretty concentrated on a phone call, holding his cell phone in one hand, and the other hand on the steering wheel, could see anything that was happening in front of the truck. Fortunately, the truck didn’t have to stop in an emergency.

I believe a law was changed last year. From March 1, 2008 onwards, in order to get a driver’s license, one must now be able to read and to write. Apparently, there is a whole lot wrong with the education of the people in this country. I especially remember a news report from the winter of 2003 / 2004, the very first winter I was living over here. In order to learn the Portuguese language, I was watching the news on television on a regular basis. According to a study that was carried out on a national level, more than 65% of the Portuguese people were convinced the aids virus was caused by bites of insects. As a result of that, during the next couple of weeks, in each television news program, a topic was included about having safe sex…

But anyway, back to the Portuguese traffic situation. Also today, in between Vila Nova de Cacela and Faro, a small distance of less than 50 kilometers, the Portuguese police was stopping vans in four different locations! Controlling the documents, controlling the goods the vans were transporting. I wonder if this is really necessary? Don’t they have anything more usefull to do?

Somehow, fake or not, I would prefer to see these “bikini bandits” along the Portuguese roads, instead of all those policemen…

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Doing business in this country in Southern Europe remains a challenge. A couple of months ago, somebody of our administration made a mistake when calculating the social security our company pays each and every month. Well, that somebody must have been me, as being the owner of the company, I should have seen it. So no big deal. A couple of weeks ago however, I received a letter from the Portuguese social security, explaining that due to that mistake, I had to pay a fine of € 48,85. The deadline of paying this fine was February 18th, meaning… tomorrow. Somehow, these huge organisations never put an account number on their papers, the only way of paying them is by “Multibanco”. The machine out in the streets.

Now, if there is something I refuse to do, that is going to such a machine and pay my invoices in the middle of the street, while standing in the wind, in the rain, or in the sunshine with a whole cue of other people waiting for me to end my things. I simply refuse to do this. Last week, I went to our accountant, and one of the girls over there volunteered to go and bring my cheque to the local office of the social security. Big mistake. The organisation refused to accept my cheque. Because, the € 48,85 was the sum I owed them until the end of January. I now have to pay interest on the days in February as well. Despite the deadline of 18th of February! So tomorrow, I will give the girl of the accountant a signed cheque, and she can fill it out when she goes to the office of the social security. I sometimes ask myself if or when the Portuguese will wake up to the 21st century.

On the other hand, business is taking up again. Slowly but surely. This month alone, I sold 25 nice safes to be delivered in Angola, Africa. Two huge safes for a customer in São Paulo, Brazil. And a couple of tiny little safes for different customers in Portugal. While delivering some of these tiny little ones earlier this afternoon in the Lagoa area (in the middle of the Algarve), I decided to take a break at one of the most beautiful beaches in Europe. I had bought a couple of croissants in a small bakery in Lagoa, and decided to enjoy the winter sunshine and the beautiful scenery. So the croissants tasted absolutely gorgious, and the walk was absolutely wonderful as well!

I was thinking about this blog. When I started it in early October of last year, my idea was to use this website as a storage place to put my pictures. Until today, more than 2000 people have visited this site, I have written 69 posts on different subjects (this is number 70!), and I have put no pictures in it. Or almost no pictures. So… time for a change.

The pictures below were taken earlier this afternoon, at “Praia Marinha”, very close to Lagoa, in the middle of the Algarve. I love the scenery over there. And every time I have visitors coming over, when I take them over there, they also love it. So… I also hope you will like them.

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I am back. If I didn’t come back, you might think that I had passed away or something, but that’s not been the case. I have been pretty busy over the past couple of days, and I decided to take this weekend “off”. Well… I have enjoyed myself intensively. The weather over here in the Algarve has been outstanding, sunshine from the early morning until the sunset, not a single cloud to be seen in the sky, no wind… time to get on the mountainbike and get in shape again. I hadn’t touched the mountainbike since end of November, so all the hills in my backyard have become “des cols de premières categories” as they call it in French. So yes… I was enjoying myself, and was a bit too lazy to start writing again. And today, as it was the third Sunday of the month, I paid a visit to the local flee market over here in Vila Nova de Cacela. Buying some fresh strawberries, some Alentejo cheese, a Belgian newspaper and then reading this Belgian news while sitting on a terrace in the Portuguese sunshine. Having a couple of beers with some Dutch friends afterwards… life can be beautiful, yes indeed.

Provided you know how to live of course. I read in my newspaper the story about the English kid, Alfie Patten, who became a dad at thirteen. At thirteen! Looking at his picture, he looks like he’s not older than eight. A child, becoming a farther at this young age. Insane! He was allowed to sleep with the fifteen year old daughter of the neighbours. Incredible.

What is even worse is that his parents are now making deals with the press to be paid for the exclusive story. I would be ashamed if this was happening in my family, let alone if this happened to my child. Lucky me. As far as I know of, I don’t have any children.

I just guess the British society should be taking a close look at itself. And at the education over there. In England, about twice as many teenagers get pregnant as in the rest of Europe. Something is really completely wrong over there…

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With the current communication tools we have, and especially e-mail, people all over the world receive a lot of information. Earlier today, I somewhere read that about 80% of all e-mails that are being sent around consist of spam. Every time I receive an e-mail from an address I don’t know, I always delete it. I don’t want to run any risks anymore. Only a couple of months ago, I received an e-mail which looked fine to me, but as soon as I opened it, my whole system was attacked by a very powerful virus. As a result of that, I had to buy a complete new hard disk. Fortunately, the computer guys were able to save most of the important information I had on the ruined disk. But sometimes, I receive pretty interesting information as well, for example the information below which I received earlier today from a very special friend of mine…

The things a cell phone can do:

1) EMERGENCY

The “emergency number” worldwide for mobile phones is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile area, and there is an emergency, just dial 112 and the mobile phone will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you. And interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

2) KEYS INSIDE LOCKED CAR

Have you forgotten your keys inside your locked car? Does your car have a remote keyless entry? This may come in handy some day. In this case, it’s good to own a cell phone.

If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, or with somebody else. Call someone at your home, or the person who’s got your spare keys on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cellphone about one foot from your car and have the person who has your spare keys press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. This saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. The distance is no object. You could be hundreds or thousands of miles away. So if you can reach someone who has the other “remote” of your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

3) HIDDEN BATTERY POWER

Imagine your cell battery is very low. Now, every battery has got a certain hidden “battery reserve”. To activate, press the keys *2270#. Your cellphone will restart with this reserve and show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone the next time.

4) HOW TO DISABLE A STOLEN PHONE

To check your mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: *#06#. A fifteen digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can call your service provider and give him this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that who ever stole it can’t use or sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

When I received this information, I decided to put it over here, as it is good information to know. Maybe one day, sooner or later, this information will be of help for you.

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