On Friday the cable guys came back saying they had a solution to fit the MEO cable into the apartment ... and it worked. I have a working internet at the moment with TV and landline package. Having said that, I get 10Mb in total (paying for 24, but lucky to have 10 where I am .. even tho a couple of blocks down they have fibre with 100-400Mb). Over here the TV box that records, etc is plugged into the router ... so basically if I have the TV on, my laptop has an 8Mb download rate, with it off it's 10Mb. Downsides: 1. Im in a contract for 24 months (and I dont even know if its viable for me to stay here long term yet, something I need to write about when Ive ... read more

I remember when I 1st arrived in Portugal with my good friend, we went to a special place (where we had a special moment last time, don't be jealous Bhaji Coote) ... but I remember being saddoned. That special place is called Pego Do Inferno and if you're friends with me on FB, you will see it on my cover photo, the waterfall. That entire area was amazing .... and that photo was only taken in April. Yet in September when I went back there, really looking forward to it ... I found nothing but destruction. The wooden bridge burnt down, no waterfall, no lake, no stream, burnt barren land for miles, buildings smashed to the ground ... something very wrong happened there. Well, that something was forest fires in July. This was huge, the sky ... read more

This week's adventure happened on a weekday as I needed to go to Faro (where the nearest airport is to me). When I purchased the apartment in June 2010, it was done through a bank called BBVA. I have a bank account with them, they supplied the mortgage and take payments out of this account ... they take the equivalent of council tax and buildings insurance out too ... it's simple here, everything is done for me. I didn't browse around to find a quote for buildings insurance ... I just see the cash taken out of my bank account twice a year. Anyway, I have a bank account here but no debit card to use it. I've been trying desparately to get one since moving here, but the Portuguese don't make things easy. Before requesting ... read more

Thought I'd mention something about the guttering system in the apartment block I live in (Im on 2nd floor) ... it's very bizarre. At the end of my balcony there is a hole with a gutter for rainwater to go through. However, it isn't like in the UK where there is a full pipe going into the ground ... nope, the water just goes through the hole and drip down through to the apartment below. They also have a balcony with a hole and the water goes through that and drips down to the ground floor .... straight onto their garden tiles. It's not a very good system. Especially when you do what I did an hour ago ... I mopped the apartment (Sunday is my cleaning day) and was mopping the balcony ... got distracted ... read more

Today we'll have a science lesson about car headlamps. In the UK where we drive on the left, the headlamps are designed so the beam shines all the way across left-to-right below center and then it dips up shining to the top-left (dipped beam, not the high beam when u flash someone). It doesn't shine to the top-right otherwise it would blind oncoming drivers. In Europe where we drive on the right, it does the opposite and the dip kicks up to the left. It's important when driving a UK car in Europe to not blind other drivers. When I brought my UK car over to Portugal ... I bought these adhesive stickers that you put on the headlamp unit which (i thought) would convert the beam as if it was a European car ... i.e. ... read more