tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57533964623632035862011-11-28T00:56:56.633ZLife in the Algarve from the eye of the storkBig Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.comBlogger181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-55694555998179885832011-10-10T20:09:00.005+01:002011-10-10T20:52:55.450+01:00

Is it really 4 years since I gave the benefit of my thoughts on the Algarve - unbelievable.This short intermission was caused by my having my head to the grindstone in the UK, and now, pausing for breathe whilst seeking my next opportunity to add grey feathers I suddenly find I have time to think about the things I love again.Much has changed in the beautiful landscape around the Algarve; the

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-46642363465978700462007-06-20T10:40:00.000+01:002007-06-20T11:19:14.265+01:00

Is it just me or is there nobody in the Algarve at the moment? Usually by the end of June the place is really building up with tourists, the beaches are busy, supermarket is packed and you need to book your favourite restaurants in advance to get a table.Not this year. Tumbleweeds are blowing down empty streets, deserted beaches stretch out for mile after mile. Everywhere is strangely quiet.

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-58848352928667433932007-06-11T19:55:00.000+01:002007-06-16T18:18:39.845+01:00

Some years ago I was responsible for a business based in Madrid. I loved Madrid and my love for seafood came from those times, fab tapas bars with sizzling prawns on the griddle and beautiful dorada and lobster....yummy! Anyway, I digress, the business had as a customer Madrid council, and I was alarmed to find that they owed us for 3 years worth of service without paying. I needn't have feared

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-38431198026699395002007-06-10T22:11:00.000+01:002007-06-12T18:07:52.054+01:00

Well im back! after a while offline due to moving boxes in the UK (see last blog below) my broadband has been delivered to my new box which is even smaller yet more expensive than the last one. The reason it's more expensive and smaller is because it's in central London.As I got back the other day and was waiting for the lift to my 2nd floor box, a woman came along to get the lift too. Forgetting

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-53838953365769389202007-05-19T08:31:00.000+01:002007-05-19T09:12:34.380+01:00

So I'm stuck in my little box, otherwise known as 'Luxury Apartment', in the UK. It's compact and bijou....why anyone would want more than 20m2 of space to live in I have no idea. Currently, every small plot of land in the UK is being built on, usually in a vertical direction. Pokey little houses with cardboard walls are described as Executive Homes, although no self respecting executive I know

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-38024626821984713992007-05-12T17:27:00.000+01:002007-05-13T20:35:22.980+01:00

Sooner or later I had to come to the subject of driving.It's particularly relevant now as there is a traffic roundabout building blitz going on near us. At least 10 new roundabouts have popped up in the last few months, reminding me of those suspicious man-made looking crop circles that appear overnight in country fields each year.No, the roundabouts are not being constructed by aliens dressed in

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-7264865422233588362007-05-09T21:01:00.000+01:002007-05-12T18:07:28.545+01:00

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-9539060185280177642007-05-05T14:21:00.000+01:002007-05-05T14:55:46.393+01:00

I always see red when people visit another country, or experience another culture, and view it with a condescending attitude.....which brings me to the subject of rubbish.You may be aware that the UK is in the middle of a wheelie bin frenzy, and that the local election results have been swayed by the rubbish issue. The heart of the issue is that local councils in the quest for being seen as '

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-22189567671867234702007-05-03T17:37:00.000+01:002007-05-03T08:52:07.470+01:00

I remember when a certain mobile phone company in the UK launched its service and decided to brand itself 'Orange.' Everyone in the phone industry fell around laughing at the total stupidity of this bizarre and meaningless drivel, and the vastness of the marketing money being spent. Now, they are laughing on the other side of their face as the whole world knows that the future is bright. The

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-46936289358860193262007-04-29T18:06:00.000+01:002007-04-29T19:50:58.121+01:00

I have finally realised THE major difference between the UK and Portugal. Yep, you guessed it, it's ready meals.Never has there been a bigger cause of breakdown in family life in the UK than the ready meal. Sadly, the individual ready meal is totally responsible for the huge, and growing, number of single households in the UK along with the growth in divorce. People realise they no longer need a

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-71277185247239964472007-04-24T09:57:00.000+01:002007-04-24T11:36:56.247+01:00

I read an article today about men engineering getting dumped by their girlfriends as it was easier to be the dumpee than the dumper. This satisfies the womans inherent need to be the aggrieved party and the mans need to be free. One of the suggestions is to ask your girlfriend who her dream date is, to which she will inevitably reply 'Brad Pitt. And who is yours?' to which you reply bluntly 'The

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-29037722664302958052007-04-22T13:47:00.000+01:002007-04-22T18:32:05.136+01:00

Thinking of buying your dream home in the Algarve? Think again if you plan to cover the mortgage cost with rentals to holidaymakers.In the style of overbloated, beaurocratic governments the world over, the portuguese government has created a kafkaesque nightmare world of licensing, this time for holiday rental properties. These licenses are very complex, difficult (sometimes impossible) and

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-79359682315361616532007-04-21T15:48:00.000+01:002007-04-23T16:21:43.501+01:00

The funniest story i read this week concerned the Sudanese man, who, on hearing a loud sound outside his house at midnight one night, went to investigate and found a villager having you-know-what with his goat. The village council of elders decided that the guilty party should do the decent thing and pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars and 'marry' the goat to escape being reported to the

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-52161520185765197932007-04-16T20:38:00.000+01:002007-04-26T19:20:01.501+01:00

When i was little, knee high to a stork, at the bottom of our garden was an embankment. At the top of the embankment was the main line London to Sheffield express train. Apparantly, the ground shook and the house shuddered each time a train went past. You know the sound, the faint hiss from the tracks growing to a roaring crescendo as the last of the steam trains went by (gosh - am i really that

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-64787905260410237822007-04-15T14:32:00.000+01:002007-04-15T15:12:02.006+01:00

When i first visited America 15 years ago i was struck by the number of people walking around carrying plastic coffee cups with those beaker style tops beloved by babies. At the time I wondered why they had to walk and drink, rather than waiting to get to the office before having the coffee. Seemed a bit odd, the whole drinking on the move phenonemon. 10 years later and the UK, slavishly

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-70900160585279335522007-04-14T14:57:00.000+01:002007-04-15T11:06:27.781+01:00

Seems odd in a country of low crime that we all have bars on our windows.When we arrived three years ago we didn't have bars, however, after being burgled within two weeks of moving here, it was either move back to the UK (seemed a bit like falling at the first hurdle) or increase our personal security. After conversations about the prison aspects of bars on all the windows we decided our

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-16801789892092812032007-04-13T17:37:00.000+01:002007-04-13T18:19:33.355+01:00

Little stork is, unfortunately, in the throws of revising for her IGCSE's, the international version of the english GCSE's. Very stressful for the stork family! Yes, despite looking like a dusty mexican hacienda, the school does indeed prepare all students to pass large numbers of exams and go on to study for 'A' levels with the ultimate aim of either;a) becoming a beach bum orb) attending a good

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753396462363203586.post-61714258951243098332007-04-12T17:18:00.000+01:002007-04-24T11:26:12.079+01:00

Well its Easter, and the weather isn't so great here. In the UK the sun is shining and apparantly everyone is on the beach, in their bikinis, slapping on the factor 30 due to the savage strength of the rays. Kids are stuffing their faces with ice cream quickly, before it melts down the chin creating a three wet-wipe incident. Of course, the news is full of global warming threats so that must be

Big Storkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13651334019381938340noreply@blogger.com0