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I have written this before, and I fear that I will have to repeat myself in the future on various occasions, but living and working in this sunny country remains an unbelievable challenge. Was it Alexandre Dumas, the famous French writer, who once said that Africa starts at the Pyrenées? Spain has changed, that’s for sure, but I am not certain that this is the case for Portugal. European economists fear that the crises that started in Greece a couple of weeks ago, will now come to the Iberian peninsula, and especially to Portugal. With the mentality of the Portuguese people, and especially, the Portuguese politicians than run the government, this does not come as a surprise to me at all!

What happened? A couple of months ago, I discovered a new product, a sort of dietary supplement that contains Resveratrol, Açai, Pomegranate, Green Tea, Grapeseed and Aloe Vera. According to what I heard and read about this product, it would be wonderful. I started taking it sometime in November of last year, and I couldn’t believe the results I was feeling after having been on this product for only ten days or so… Yes, I love it, it tastes fine and it makes me feel absolutely incredibly amazingly unbelievably fabulous !!!

So, early January, I ordered two boxes online, directly from the manufacturor in the USA. The total value was only US $ 40,00 and they charged me US $ 47,52 for shipping and handling. The order was sent by FedEx to Portugal, but to my big surprise, the manufacturor in the USA called me a couple of weeks later, telling me that FedEx had returned the order because they had problems with my address, phone number and e-mail address. I immediately contacted FedEx in order to find out what had happened. Apparently, that company does not phone any mobile numbers (because too expensive???), but decided to try to contact me on my fax number. No, they never sent a fax, the phoned the number, and were pretty surprised that there was no answer. Then they sent an e-mail to a non-existing e-mail address (only God knows how they got to that address), and then they returned the products back to the USA.

The American company then sent the products through DHL. And earlier this morning, DHL contacted me, to notify that I have to pay an extra € 79 and some eurocents for VAT and import taxes!!! Believe it or not, the total value of the products I have ordered was US $ 40,00 (which is more or less € 25,00), and on this small amount, I have to pay an extra € 79,00 for taxes!

DHL told me they are going to deliver the package, maybe tomorrow, maybe on Monday, maybe on Wednesday. I asked the DHL lady to give me a call about one hour in advance on my cellphone, so I could be at home by the time they come to deliver the goods. The lady told me that was not possible. If there is nobody at home, they will leave a note, to notify me they will have been here and that nobody was there to accept the package. Then they will wait until I contact them, and then they will come back!

This same thing happened a couple of months ago as well. I remember that I could not find any sign of a contact telephone number on that note they left behind at that time. A simple phone call to my cellphone number could avoid a lot of hassle. But apparently, these large companies can’t communicate in a normal way anymore.

In those big companies, the art of communication was left behind somewhere in the past century.

But I am anxious to receive my new pack of products. Next time, I am not going to order the products online anymore. I am going to jump on a plane, fly to Florida, and get a full years supply of products directly from the manufacturor. And I might have a couple of drinks in Orlando’s Church Street Station. I come to think of it, I haven’t been there in quite a while. And above all, this will be cheaper than relying on incapable transportation companies that have to charge far too much money in taxes by an incapable government.

And I must admit, I won’t care if in this case, Portugal looses some (an insane lot of) money in taxes. This can only happen in Africa. So yes, Portugal must be the most northern African country!

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I have been living in Portugal since September 1, 2003. In all these years, a lot of things have happened to me in this amazing country, some wonderful things, some good things, and some pretty bad things as well. I can live with a whole lot, based on the experience of a journey through life for almost fifty years right now. Earlier today, I paid a € 250,00 fine. It is the first time in many, many years that I have received a fine, and it certainly is the very first one since I have been living in Portugal. I feel that I hadn’t done anything wrong, but having talked to two lawyers around this case, I felt there was nothing I could do but paying this ridiculous sum of money. However, I sent a registered letter to the local police station, expressing my feelings around this case. I couldn’t help but publishing the letter on this website. I wonder - and seriously doubt  it - if Portuguese police will even have the decency to respond to this letter. I will keep you posted on it… Enjoy.

GUARDA NATIONAL REBUBLICANA

Comando Territorial Faro

Destacamento Territorial Tavira

Posto Territorial Castro Marim

Rua S. Sebastiao, n° 53

8950-121 CASTRO MARIM

29th of January of 2010

Your Reference: 27/SC/10

Your letter of 13^th of January of 2010

Dear Sirs,

First of all, I want to apologise for writing this letter in English, but my Portuguese is unfortunately not good enough to express my feelings regarding the above mentioned case.

Earlier today, I have paid the sum of € 250,00 for a fine which your officers gave me regarding an infraction of my company van on 15^th of December of 2009. I have serious doubts about the legality of having received this fine.

Let me explain what has happened.

On the morning of the 10^th of December of 2009, I suddenly realised that I had forgotten to take the van to the inspection. My mistake, but I guess nobody is perfect. As I would NEVER drive a car that has not been to inspection, I kept the van on the public parking where I had parked it the day before, and I immediately called a towing service to take the van to the inspection as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the towing service could only come on the 15^th of December, some time in the afternoon. As I have another car within the company, I didn’t see any problem, and drove the other car during those days.

However, on the morning of 15^th of December 2009, while walking along the street, I noticed that somebody had ran into my van, damaging it severely at the back left side of it. As this had already happened a couple of times before, and as I did not see any notification from the person who had bumped into it, I took the wrong decision of calling the GNR. In a normal civilised country, one expects that the police is there to protect and to help hard working decent people. What a mistake this was!

About 15 minutes later, the GNR arrived into my street, and started taking notes. Your people asked me to present my documents, and the papers of the car, and to my very big surprise, your people gave me a fine of € 250,00 because the van had not passed the inspection.

The van was NOT taking part in the traffic, it was parked legally alongside the road, waiting to be towed away to the inspection. I would have easily accepted this fine if I had been driving the van, but this was not the case. Therefore, I have some real doubts about the legality of this fine!

By writing this letter, I want to express my disappointment in the actions of the GNR. I have been living in this beautiful country since the 1^st of September of 2003, and during these six years and five months, quite some things have happened to me. One evening a couple of years ago, I was attacked by some crazy young Brazilian in my house. I didn’t bother to call the GNR, as this young guy had already ran away. On two earlier occasions, some unknown person had bumped into my van, seriously damaging the car. I did not bother to call the GNR, as I didn’t know who had done this. Only a couple of weeks ago, my other car was seriously damaged by some unknown vandals. Believe me, finding a car with two tires flat (because somebody used a knife to cut the tires to peaces), with the wipers missing, and the back door seriously damaged as well, does not give a good feeling. However, I did not bother to call the GNR. But on the morning of 15^th of December, I did. And today, I seriously regret having done so.

All of my life, I have been driving an average of 50000 kilometres per year. Having come to live over here since 2003, that has not changed. This means that I have already driven a whole lot of kilometres with several cars over here as well. As you can undoubtedly check, I have never received any kind of fine at all. I also want to mention the fact that, while driving the van, I get stopped AT LEAST TWICE A WEEK by GNR throughout the Algarve. One day a couple of years ago, I was stopped THREE times, on one morning, in between Vila Nova de Cacela and Faro, a short distance of about 50 kilometres. THREE times, I had to show all the papers, THREE times, I had to explain to your people that I wasn’t carrying anything in my van, and THREE times, I was asked to open up the van and show your people that I was telling the truth. Isn’t this a little bit over the normal way of doing things over here in this country?

Let’s do some mathematics: 2 times being stopped by GNR per week, times 50 weeks per year, times 6 years, makes a total of more than 600 times passing a check-point. And yet, on not a single occasion, GNR could find anything that was wrong with my papers or my cars…

Never in my life, in not any country in which I have lived, worked or travelled, have I been stopped that many times by local police. This only happens in Portugal.

And now, while I did NOT drive the car because of the fact that the inspection had not been done, you gave me this fine. This also can only happen in Portugal.

In an era where crime is rising very rapidly throughout the Algarve, where a lot of people who live over here are being mugged and robbed on a daily basis, where the level of violence against middle aged and elderly couples living in isolated areas has reached unprecedented levels, writing out these kind of stupid fines is not a good sign.

In the foreign community that is living in the Algarve, already a long time, word is being spread that the only goal of Portuguese police is to collect as many fines as possible. I could never believe this, but today, after what has happened to me earlier last month, I have some serious doubts.

With regards, from a very disappointed Belgian who still loves your country…

Gino Van de Walle

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Around this time, Yves Leterme is being sworn in as Prime Minister of my home country. What a disgrace! He won the elections in June of 2007, almost two and a half years ago. He then tried to form a government, in which he did not succeed. He needed help from his predecessors, who solved the political crisis that was caused by him, in order to become Prime Minister for the first time somewhere in March of 2008. Leterme was Prime Minister of Belgium until December of last year, when he was forced to resign due to the Fortis scandal, the Belgian bank that was sold by his government to the French. Herman Van Rompuy then became Prime Minister, and worked silently during the past couple of months.

Somewhere during the last summer, he became Minister of Foreign Affaires, until last week, Herman Van Rompuy was chosen to become the first President of the European Union. A very capable politician moves on to Europe, only to be succeeded by the most incapable politician throughout the Belgian political history.

By having him back, Belgium is cruising directly towards another political crisis, a crisis not seen before in Belgian history. Leterme is not capable of running the country, that’s a fact. He has lied to parliament, he has lied to the Belgian people and he has won the elections in 2007 by promissing irrealistic promisses. People like him do not deserve a second chance.

But apparently, some Belgian politicians do not agree with this, and are giving him a second chance. I can only hope it’ll be the last one.

I don’t have the capabilities to look into the future, but I don’t give it a lot of time before his second government will fall. A time-frame? Let’s say Eastern of 2010 to end this new government, followed by new elections in June of next year…

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My home country Belgium has made a fool of itself one more time in front of the rest of the world. Not only has my country more ministers than any other country in the world, with more governments than a country as China for example (and there are only about ten and a half million people living in Belgium). There are the “peaceful fights” between the Flemish speaking in the North and the French speaking in the South (I always call myself a “Dutch speaking Belgian” as I hate the separation between the two regions) and as a result of this, there are various “Flemish authorities” who think of themselves that they are very, very important. The people working over there have egos which are almost rising as high as the Mount Everest.

What has happened? Two professional tennis players, Yanina Wickmayer (WTA-18) and Xavier Malisse (ATP-95) have been suspended to compete during the next year because they have forgotten to fill out their whereabouts as the WADA always expects every athlete in the world to do so. The ban is effective immediately, and lasts until November 4th of 2010. They have been suspended by the “Flemish Doping Court”. This means that Yanina Wickmayer has to stop immediately to compete at the B-Masters in Bali where she started yesterday. The only thing they can do is go into higher appeal at the International Sports Tribunal, TAS in Switzerland.

Wickmayer (20) made three times a mistake against the system of the whereabouts, which every athlete in the world has to fill out. Malisse (29) failed in filling them out twice, and missed one doping controle. They have not tested positive, but according to the rules, three offences is the same as one positive test.

They both have a logical explanation for their mistakes. Wickmayer said that the password to log in didn’t work, and the registered mail that was sent to warn her arrived while she was competing somewhere abroad. Malisse says that he couldn’t fill out the details because he didn’t have internet in the hotels where he was staying and on the tournaments where he was competing. And he forgot to tell the WADA that he was going to stay in the States instead of participating at Roland Garros in Paris where he was invited to have a doping test done.

So far the rules. Rules which are pretty insane in the first place. WADA expects every athlete to tell them where they are going to be, on each and every hour of each and every day, for the next three months. I don’t even know where I will be tomorrow or Saturday. I only know that I will be in Canada next week, but don’t ask me where I will be next Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. Somewhere in the greater Toronto area, that’s the only thing I know. So I honestly believe it’s against the human rights to ask every athlete to fill these details out in a system that is pretty difficult to handle in the first place. And don’t forget that a lot of professional athletes are not amongst the most intelligent people anyhow (but don’t get me wrong, I don’t know Wickmayer nor Malisse personally, so I don’t know about them).

But again, this tiny little region in Western Europe which is called Flanders has got an organisation that wants to be more catholic than the Pope. For once we have an excellent talent coming up (after Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters - who both are returning to professional tennis again), the Flemish anti-doping authorities are just ruining two magnificent careers of two young athletes.

The Flemish should become a little more chauvinistic and take a look South of the Belgian border. I’m giving only one example: the French have tested the French professional cycling teams on average three times less than they tested the foreign cycling teams.

When things like this happen, I am not proud to be a Belgian. As a matter of fact, I feel deeply ashamed to be a Dutch speaking Belgian today…

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It still strikes me to see how many really stupid people are around. Being a Belgian living abroad, I am always interested to read what is going on in my home country. I hardly ever watch television, but due to the internet, I am keeping in touch with the homeland. On July 23rd, a bunch of real stupid people have caused a lot of nightmares for some of the Belgian politicians. That day, a young Belgian woman Lesley Deckers, together with her “boyfriend” Lahoucine El Haddouchi (originally from Marocco) board a helicopter to see Bruges from the air.

While approaching Bruges, the boyfriend gets a gun and tells the pilot to land the helicopter inside one of the biggest Belgian prisons, in order to free three Maroccan “friends”, Ashraf Sekkaki, Abdelhaq Melloul Khayari and the real boyfriend of the girl, Mohammed Johri. These three guys jump on board, but apparently the helicopter is overloaded, so they kick out the guy who hijacked the helicopter, Lahoucine El Haddouchi. Asshole number one has bought himself a one way ticket to jail, and is now risking a sentence of twenty years for hijacking a helicopter and taking the pilot hostage.

The three crooks and the girl fly away, they steal a car, commit four bank robberies in order to get some cash, go undercover in an Amsterdam hotel, and after one week, they decide to go to their home country, Marocco. On their way to Marocco, Abdelhaq Melloul Khayari is spotted by Paris police, succeeds in running again, but gets arrested in Brussels a couple of days later. He can consider himself as the lucky one, as he is now back in a Belgian cell.

The other two finally make it to Marocco, only to get arrested over there. Johri got arrested some time last week, and Sekkaki, being considered as the most dangerous of the trio, got arrested last weekend. The good news is that they have been arrested in Marocco, and having the Maroccan nationality, they will not be handed over to Belgian justice, but they will be trialled in Marocco. They will be charged with hijacking a helicopter, taking hostage a pilot, stealing a car, four bank robberies, and undoubtedly, another couple of things. They are risking at least twenty years in a Maroccan prison, which cannot be compared with the luxury of a Belgian cellblock. I honestly believe they are back where they really belong.

In the meantime, the girl is still missing. Belgian police think she is still alive, but I can only imagine what this girl has gone through. Having been on the run with three criminals who had been put away for several years without having had contact with a woman…

In Belgium, they have the “law-Lejeune”, which makes it possible to get parolled after having served one third of the sentence. E.g. a life sentence in Belgium means that one usually gets out of prison after having served ten to twelve years. Johri only had to serve three more years in the luxury of a Belgian cell in order to be a free man again. In Marocco, no such thing exists. Twenty years in prison means… twenty years in prison. In Belgium, big criminals are usually hold in a cell alone. They have television, they have a bed, they have the possibility to exercise, they are allowed a one hour walk in the open air. No such things in Marocco. Each prisoner in Marocco has on average three square meters of space. They are thrown in one room, thirty, forty, fifty prisoners, all together, with only a hole in the ground to relieve themselves…

Medieval circumstances. But isn’t this what most Muslims want? Don’t they want to take this world back into the middle ages?

Anyway, these stupid people have really made some wrong choices. Although the year is not over yet, they  have already deserved the title of “asshole of the year 2009″. I found the clip below on YouTube. It gives a nice view on what these assholes can expect for the next twenty odd years of their lives…

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I have written it here before, and I must write it here again. Portugal must be the most Northern country of Africa. This can’t be Europe. With their mentality, the Portuguese will soon become the proud owner of the poorest country in the European Union.

This morning I am having an appointment to see my doctor. The appointment was made about three months ago, as I see her every three months. After every visit, I immediately book a new appointment. Which makes things easy. I was scheduled to see my doctor at 09.30am. I arrived around 09.00am and cued up for about half an hour until it was my turn.

Apparently, a new good looking long legged bitch is now running the administration at the local health center. I told her my name, and told her that I had an appointment at 09.30am. To my big surprise, the bitch told me that she didn’t care at all about pre-booked appointments, and that since she has become in charge of the whole thing, people are being treated the old fashioned way on a “first come, first serve” basis. I also found out that there were about nine people who had come in earlier than I did, and I immediately realised I would be losing at least two to three hours of this beautiful and sunny Monday morning. So I wanted to book a new appointment. The bitch told me that this was not going to be possible, as she didn’t have an agenda. So I accepted the fact that I would be losing the biggest part of this Monday morning, I went to have breakfast on a local terrace in the village, and came home where I am now writing these words. Once this article is published, I will be doing some administration for my company and will go back and see my doctor, which will be around noon.

I realise it is hard to believe, but this is Portugal at the end of July of 2009. A country in which it is still possible that a local health center is run by a customer unfriendly but good looking bitch, who uses medieval tools and a “kiss-my-beautiful-ass-mentality”. As a matter of fact, I just come to think of it. I am glad that I am living alone. Imagine me living together with a woman like her. I think I would go into politics, and become Minister of Foreign Affairs, in order to be able to travel away as much as possible and as far as possible!

But fortunately, the sun is shining today. As it is shining about 330 days a year. And I will enjoy the rest of my day, once I will have seen my doctor. And I will enjoy the rest of my week, while the bitch will still be harassing her customers who need to see their doctor…

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I came back from Canada more than a week ago. Since then, I have been very, very busy with the company over here in Portugal. One should think that during the holiday season business would go down a little bit, but this is not the case. And obviously, you will not hear me complain about that aspect of my life.

Thinking back of my Canadian trip, I must say that the business part of it went very well. I succeeded in doing the things I wanted to do. And as I always do, I took some time for “pleasure” as well. Toronto remains a beautiful city, despite the strike of the city workers that caused all the garbage remaining in the streets. The Niagara Falls were still amazing, as they always have been. And during the last couple of days, I went up north, to stay in the middle of Ontario’s beautiful nature. Despite the many mosquito bites that I still carry as a souvenir, it was a wonderful experience. There are countless beautiful lakes, amazing woods and wonderful national parks in that area.

Thinking back of those last three days, I got this crazy idea… I am thinking of renting a cottage in the neighbourhood of one of those lakes, which must also be close to one or the other airfield. Because I would love to restart my flying lessons. I flew small planes, until I moved to Portugal in 2003. Since then, I haven’t done that anymore. And I must admit, it is one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done in my life. And as flying lessons in Canada are a lot less expensive than in Europe, I might as well take them over there. It is a crazy idea, and I will not do this during this year anymore, but maybe some time in the late spring or early summer of next year. I’ll keep you posted on that.

But one thing is certain: Canada, you will see me back. And probably sooner than you can imagine right now!

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Since yesterday, I am in Canada. I arrived some time during the afternoon, and for once, the sun was shining over here. Last time I was in this magnificent country, it was FFC, which stands in my “Gino’s language” for “Fucking Freezing Cold”. I guess being here in the month of January had got a lot to do with it.

I crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time back in July of 1988. Yesterday, it was my 21st Atlantic crossing. 21 years ago, I travelled all over the place, from New York to Florida, to Texas, Nevada, California, Utah, Louisiana, Michigan, and from Detroit I drove a car all the way to Montreal, in order to fly back to Brussels. Although I had been doing business for six years or so (and I already knew my way around), I had learned a lot of things about the “American way of living” during that very first trip. I discovered a lot of “24/7 restaurants” over here (which means that these restaurants are open 24 hours each and every day). I discovered the drive-through restaurants and coffee shops. I learned how to drive with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour, and I learned a lot more things.

But above all, I discovered the use of telephone. Although during that time, back in 1988, I had already a car phone which was a thing with a weight of more than 2 1/2 kilograms. It was fixed in the boot of my car, and cost me a fortune to use. Being in America for the first time back in 1988, I discovered that almost everything was done over the telephone, from booking hotels, rental cars, Las Vegas shows, making reservations in restaurants, to getting all kinds of information… one just picked up the phone and made the call. At that time, my English was good enough to understand everything.

That has changed over the past 21 years. Before leaving Portugal, I had made a reservation in one of the many hotels in the neighbourhood of Toronto International Airport. As a matter of fact, I did that online, in the Lisbon airport while I was waiting for my flight to Munich which connected me to my Toronto flight. This morning, I tried to make another reservation for another hotel in the Toronto area. So I picked up the telephone and called a couple of hotels. I guess my English has become very, very poor, as I couldn’t understand anybody who was working in these hotels. Now, don’t get me wrong, I always stay in Holiday Inns, so these are not poor quality hotels. Apparently, the staff of most of the Toronto hotels has become immigrants who speak very heavily accented English. Fortunately, over the past 21 years, mankind invented the internet, so I went online in my room (free Wifi!), and booked another hotel online.

Robin Williams calls it a linguistic adventure to go out drinking with a Scotsman, because you just can’t fucking understand them. He’s right, I went out drinking with a lot of Scotsmen when I was doing business in the United Kingdom a couple of years ago, and I couldn’t fucking understand them either.

But trying to book a hotel in the Toronto area by phone is yet another linguistic adventure. I just experienced this earlier today.

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Next Saturday, the 2009 Tour de France takes its start in Monaco. Having been a cycle fan all my life, there is no doubt that I will be following this year’s event pretty closely. As has been in the past for the last decades, a lot of words have already been written, a lot of press coverage has been spent even before the first stage takes off. But seldom has it been like this year.

First of all, because the boss himself, seven times winner Lance Armstrong has returned to professional cycling again. Despite him being the outsider, I am personally convinced that he returns to France in order to make a serious attempt to win the event for the 8th time. Armstrong is part of the strongest team in professional cycling as far as the big events are concerned (Giro, Tour & Vuelta), but the Astana team was banned for participating last year for the stupid reason that in 2007, a couple of their riders had been guilty on doping. The French ASO (Amoury Sports Organisation), the organisor of the Tour de France, didn’t even listen to the arguments of Belgian Johan Bruyneel, the new boss of the Astana team. He had changed the whole team, put in place one of the most complete anti-doping controlling systems, new management, new directors, he had changed everything but the sponsor’s name.

ASO, considering themselves as being more catholic than the Pope, decided to ban Astana last year. So watch out for their revenge this year! I honestly believe (and hope) that the Astana team will win this year’s event. I’d even say more: I hope they will get the whole podium with winner (Armstrong or Contador), second (Contador or Armstrong) and third: (Leipheimer or Klöden). We’ll only know for sure about this Sunday July 26th. But it would be another first: never in the rich history of the Tour de France did one team win the whole podium. I only hope nobody of the riders will have serious accidents.

However, the “pre-Tour de France winner of 2009″ is undoubtedly the Belgian Quick-Step team. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Tom Boonen who was caught on cocaine during an out of competition test. You can read my story here. Just like he was caught last year. Last year, ASO banned him from participating of the 2008 Tour de France. Knowing the French a little bit, there was going to be no doubt at all that they were going to take the same decision: banning Tom Boonen from this year’s Tour as well.

Guess what: they took the same decision. A decision that is now being contested by the Belgian Quick-Step team. The day before yesterday, a French court (with French judges, being pretty “chauvinistic”, declared themselves not to be able to come to a verdict. Now the Belgians are going to proceed before the French Olympic Committee in order to get a permission for Tom Boonen to take the start in Monaco next Saturday. Pretty short notice. A couple of the “judges” over there are lawyers working for ASO! I don’t think the  new Belgian champion will participate in this year’s Tour. I can be wrong, but call it a “gut-feeling”.

However, there can be absolutely NO DOUBT at all that the Quick-Step team has gained a lot of advantages and publicity out of Boonen’s mistake.

First of all, they were furious, which is completely normal. But: the whole European sports press was covering this story, giving Quick-Step a lot of publicity.

Secondly: the team suspended Tom Boonen for a couple of weeks of participating in other races. Word goes around that he had to pay a € 250.000 fine to the team. I also have a “gut-feeling” that Tom Boonen will be “convicted” to stay in the Quick-Step team for the rest of his career. Just like ASO, the Belgian Quick-Step manager Patrick Lefevre pretends to be more catholic than the Pope as well. He is a good leader, and has a big impact on his riders’ lives. But… he knows nothing about doping. Although he’s not from Barcelona (Fawlty Towers’ Manuel). And he doesn’t want to know anything about it… And, he can’t afford to lose his champion to another team. So he will have “convinced” Tom Boonen that he’s got no other chance than stay with his team. At a much lower monthly salary than before. Still being overly paid, but then again, he’s a sports star as well! So Quick-Step is spending less money to their star!

And thirdly: the whole European sports press is curious whether or not Tom Boonen will take the start next Saturday. Giving Quick-Step a whole lot of additional press coverage again.

But then again, as soon as this Tour takes the start, ALL riders and ALL their teams will have become no news anymore. As the whole world will be focussing on Lance Armstrong only!

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The day before yesterday, I decided to combine business and pleasure. Having said that, I realise that most of my life is a combination of business and pleasure. I honestly believe that we must live in the NOW. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow will come. Eventually. But we have to live right now, and enjoy each and every second of each and every day. After all, the only certainty we have in this life is that we can’t survive it. And once the time has gone by, it doesn’t come back. I have decided already a very long time ago that I will not let my past ruin my present. Unfortunately, far too many people are not living right now, but are still stuck somewhere in their past. Ok, so be it.

As I had a couple of new clients where I had to deliver new safes, and as they were all situated in Alentejo, one of the most beautiful regions of Europe, I decided to carry out these deliveries myself. Normally I hire a transportation company who does this kind of job, but I wanted to keep some contact with my new customers as well. So I loaded my van on Tuesday, and left home early on Wednesday morning.

All deliveries went very well, all the customers were very satisfied, and if they are satisfied, I am even more satisfied. Having finished the deliveries, I decided to take some very small roads on my way back to the Algarve. I had my camera next to me. I stopped on various places, walked through little villages, saw some old ruins, and fully enjoyed each and every second of that day! As a matter of fact, it was just a perfect day. Only too bad I didn’t spend it with you.

Anyway, the pictures below give a nice idea of the region.

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