Adeusinho Portugal

So after much umming and urring, changing of minds and a lot of effort, we are leaving Portugal.

For those of you who regularly read my blog you will know that we have been through difficult times whilst living here, mostly brought on my the Global Financial Crisis.  We have been here 4 and a half years and tried to make it work, probably we didnt always make the best decisions which led us to the wrong place but that's life right!  You cannot see what is ahead so you make decisions with the information you have at the time, things havent turned out the way expected and led us down some hard roads.

So now we have the opportunity thanks to some very supportive people to make the move and a fresh start. Although sad to be leaving and disappointed at how things have turned out.  In truth it has taken me a while to get my head around leaving and the hope that we could find a way to stay, but now I see there is no way forward for us.  The situation in portugal is grave and will take several more years to improve.

So now instead of looking back, I can move on firmly looking forward, something I feel essential to creating a new and better life for ourselves.  It is a fresh start in a new part of the country with new opportunities to seize.  I know things wont be easy, but they cannot be as difficult as they have been!

This move has been on our minds for several months, while waiting for opportunities to come and most importantly a passport, without which we could not go anywhere, something so simple can be the key to a big decision.

So with a tinge of sadness but a heart full of hope, we say goodbye next weekend.

More strikes!

Today here in Portugal, there is yet another workers strike.  Firstly, dont get me wrong I am not against people having the right to strike but at the moment, it is seems to be every other week.  The workers unite to show their dissatifaction at how things are, lack of jobs, increased hours, increased taxes, reduced wages, but every other week!!  Striking every other week, will not make any difference.  It would be more effective to all combine for one moviment, after all arent they all striking for similar things.

And what they need to remember is everytime they take a day to strike, production is heavily prejudiced, putting this country further back in its efforts to pull itself out of this financial crisis.  Things are not easy, nor are they very fair, but you should be grateful for having a job.  Especially for all of those who are not in a job and for every time you strike a day, that is potentially another job in danger as companies struggle to survive while output is reduced through striking.

The strike which took place two weeks ago, caused some big problems for several people and businesses and was reported around the world, as I heard from several family and friends.  The leader who planned this strike was seen encouraging the crowd, which then turned to chaos causing injury to both protesters and the police.  It was awful to watch as it seemed like complete social breakdown, which went on for several hours.  Making Portugal and Lisbon especially, look unsafe and out of control.  I know of one hospitality business which lost several thousands euros of business, due to these events, as the clients pulled out due to the events of this day!  How many more businesses had the same problem.  We are desperately trying to bring people into the country and these events just put people off.

People need to see the bigger picture, striking every other week, only damages the country further and makes the struggle worse.  We need to work together, except the situation and build a better future!

No lunch for you my dear.

Here in Portugal as is well known, things are not good in terms of economy and crisis.  This recent event to me is the complete reality of the situation.  Obviously these things dont happen on a daily basis but this is an example of things happening.

A few weeks ago here in the Algarve, a little girl was left to go without her school meal.  The issues surrounding this is conflicting and I am not sure exactly what the situation on the day was, but this is what I understand to have happened.  The girls mother was behind in paying for her daughter's school meals, anywhere between 75cents or 30 euros, the mother had been asked to pay the backdated fees, which were payable direct to the school.  The mother works during the school office time and could not get there in time on this particular day.

So the school made the decision not to feed the child, a primary school age child, even a dinner lady offered to pay for the meal but was told not to.  So this child went hungry!!  In a modernised country, who lets a child go hungry for 30 euros!  The school's reason was that they have debts in terms of their food costs, and this is understandable, but they surely should have alerted someone to this particular child's situation, rather than just not to feed the child?  I think for an educational facility where the child's welfare should come first, this is completely unacceptable and the school has failed in its role.  If a child was potentially being neglected or hurt in some way would they not have a duty or conscience to do something, make someone aware, is this not a similar thing?  I know everyone is under financial pressure, but this is too much.

I love Portugal, but am sad to see how things have changed, time to move on!  

This annoys me about Portugal

So Portugal is in big trouble financially, with Troika in place, things are tough.  One of the measures they are using to increase productivity is to get rid of some of the national holidays.  Here in portugal, they have lots of public holidays, I can never remember exactly how many but there are a lot.  So they are in the process of getting rid of four of them.  But not only do they have these public holidays, but they have extra days such as now, Carnival, although not an official public holiday, most businesses and public operations close for two days. But what is even worse is the 'ponte' (meaning bridge in translation) so before or sometimes after depending on what day the holiday falls on, they give an extra half or full day.  Many private companies will give a friday if they holiday falls on thursday and so on.  But the government is also in the process of cancelling these 'pontes'.

However, what has bugged me, is that about 3 weeks ago, the Prime minister said there was to be no 'ponte' given for Carnival this year.  Therefore companies were supposed to continue as normal, no closures etc.  However, it appears that no-one has taken heed of this, even to the point that my daughter's public school, closes at lunchtime TODAY and stay closed for THREE days next week, not even the normal two for carnival period.  And yet, who will pay for this lack of productivity, closures, the government.  Now I understand that local governments have the power to decide how to spend the little money they have, but it does just make me wonder WHY?  And maybe understand why Portugal is in the state it is.  Get to work people, you have another 14 holidays to come this year!

I apologise if I sound like a 'slave driver' but there has to be limits, why should you have an extra half a day for a holiday which is taking place next week, and even so it is not an official holiday, although everyone treats it like one.
I also apologise if I have any of my details wrong, this is just my opinion and view of things.

Being an expat.....

Being a British expat is not easy in these times, at least not for me and many people I know.  Many people who have had successful businesses for several years have seen their life turn upside down in the financial crisis.  People who have made their lives in another country which has become their home for decades are now having to give that life up and go back to their home country in the hope that 'home' will provide the shelter and support they need.  These are sad times in this case, for both the people who are losing their 'lives' and those who are then affected by that in a secondary way.  Something which keeps coming to my mind is all the restaurants and bars that are closing and how that affects these holiday resorts for now and the future.  Also all the expat services which are a great support to the expat community are disappearing, again making the expat's life more difficult.

For me, all I seem to hear are stories of problems and distress, not to mention the tough time we ourselves are having,  the job market is very small with no support.  Some of our good friends have decided to go back to England in the next month and it has put me into conflication.  What should we do, what can we do? Should we stay or go? It makes me remember and examine the reasons we came here, it's a big mess in my mind.  All the things to consider, quality of life vs cost of living. education, future prospects to name a few. How do you weigh all these different things up?

Then on the other hand I have read a couple of articles, posts lately about people talking about emigrating out of the UK, because of the lack of jobs, cost of living - the complete opposite of what I am thinking.  At the moment there seems to be very few people doing well and the people who are surviving here are generally people who have online businesses or can work remotely, such as designers, writers etc, the people who do not rely on the geographical location for work opportunities.  I know no where is having it easy at the moment in terms of lack of work, rising costs, austerity measures, the list goes on, but how do you make that decision of what's best without having just a 'grass is greener' mentality.  It is a normal reaction when times are hard to want to run home, isnt it?

Portugal in tough times

Today I feel saddened by the news of Portugal's ratings slipping down to the lowest level.  I dont pretend to know or understand too much about this rating system and its affects, but one thing I do know is that these rating agencies have far too much affect and influence on these things. 

I feel sad because I have become protective of my adopted home of three years, and feel this is a low blow that it really didnt deserve as it tries to get back on its feet.  Portugal is a great country full of pride and tradition and it has had a long and impressive history.  It was once one of the strongest countries in the world, with the biggest empire and most discoveries.

They have asked for help and been given it, they have a new government who are already making changes and setting plans in motion to turn things around.  They havent even been in power two weeks and before they can even do anything, show even the smallest progress, they get this blow.  The measures being put in place are tough, very tough and no doubt will push Portugal to the limit, but they are backed by the other European leaders and the IMF, so why did this rating agency feel the need to push them more.  Surely they deserve a small chance, how can a rating agency make this decision so soon.  It almost seems they are trying to crash the Eurozone.  And what about Greece, surely they should be in this situation, after one attempt to sort themselves out they are needed more help!  Portugal deserves a chance before you condemn them.