SORRY FOR NO RECENT UPDATES

I have been a bit busy lately plus having had a bad cold. I went down to the Salgados lagoon on Tuesday intending to take some pictures. Having arrived there, I realised I had forgotten to charge my camera batteries! I shall try again tomorrow, Friday.

For the time being, I can tell you that the lagoon is very full with a large number of birds of many species on and around the water. It was a nice sunny day. Plenty of people were down there enjoying a walk on the beach and watching the birds. The beach café was open.

Today, here is my mention of the mundanity of everyday life. Over the past couple of weeks I have come to realise that I have many socks in the drawer, but few pairs! So, this afternoon, I sat down in front of a huge pile of socks! About an hour later I have half the quantity and a plastic bag is filled with assorted items for the recycling bin.

Have you ever done that?

Some more pictures

Some pictures I took on a walk around the marina area last Thursday and some of the beaches. It was a nice sunny day but windy, so the people on the beach were well wrapped up.

http://1drv.ms/1ySJeRp

The picture below is of the fishermen’s harbour to the west of town.

It’s cold here!

We have had several days now of very cold weather, by our standards at least. Daytime temperatures have been no higher than 13 or 14C, at night it has fallen to 4 or 5 C in some spots. That’s 3 or 4C below normal February numbers. I blame Spain, the wind is coming from there!

It’s nice enough if you can be out of the wind, but not so if sitting watching a football match in the teeth of a gale as I have been!

Picture below was taken Friday lunchtime. The first blossoms are appearing on the trees despite the cold weather. The big building is the Hotel Montechoro.

Trees coming into flower

Paderne – some pictures

Paderne is a village a few miles to the north of Albufeira. It’s a quiet place as a whole, although the football club (my reason for being there) is a busy little place and obviously a social centre for the village

Just a few pictures on a dull day that was also rather windy.

http://1drv.ms/1BROUNg

Potholes in Albufeira’s roads

The very poor condition of some of the local roads and streets around town is exercising minds at the moment.

If you visit Portugal, read this thread on the Albufeira.com furm

http://www.albufeira.com/forum/potholes-in-albufeira-roads_topic8842.html

Sample

Estrada dos Caliços Albufeira

Bright winter sunshine in the Algarve

Taken Wednesday 28th January at 1.45pm – the people you can see near the pinnacle were running around with  their shirts off like it was midsummer. The sun loungers haven’t moved since October!

Albufeira beach 28th January 2015

Abandoned homes left to rot – Loulé, Algarve, Portugal

Sights similar to these can be seen in almost every town in the Algarve region, possibly in Portugal. Whole streets of abandoned homes are simply falling into ruin, in this case right in the centre of town. You can see by the modern aluminium doors that these homes have only been recently abandoned. Once a roof tile comes loose or a crack appears, the deterioration is very rapid. Click the image to see full size.

These little houses are no longer popular, being very small and having no garden and no parking space except in the street. The law does not permit their demolition until they become a danger to citizens.