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10. Expats who arrive without any real money, or a plan, then blame Portugal when it all goes ass-over-tits. Expats who arrive with more money than I did.
9. Visitors who forget that roads are for cars. Walking slowly, 6 abreast should be reserved for anti-A22 demonstrations, not seaside resorts.
8. Portuguese family reunions held in supermarket aisles. Tourist family meetings, held in the supermarket cereal aisle, to determine if the box with the rooster logo really is Corn Flakes. Their attempts to read the box just to make sure. Abandoned, sideways trolleys. Supermarkets.
7. Portuguese people who insist in responding to my attempts at speaking the language, in English.
6. English people who automatically assume that ALL Portuguese speak English, or that shouting somehow aids comprehension.
5. Paying 12€ for a bottle of Real Lavrador house wine. Paying 12€ for ANY bottle of house wine.
4. Restaurants that do not sell domestic bottled beer.
3. Loss of Sky TV during a rainstorm.
2. The (mainly) Portuguese people who will not neuter their animals but instead dump the unwanted litters into the garbage bins.
1. The state of the road between Algoz and SB Messines, Estradas de Portugal for not resurfacing it, the mayor of Silves (Ola, Sra Soares!) for not pressuring Estradas de Portugal into resurfacing it and the mid-road cavern that tore a thumb-sized hole in my tyre last week.
Right, I'm off now to buy a tyre. Até logo.
4 comments:
Im so with you there and completely agree, especially with the slow walkers in the road, supermarkets and portuguese speaking english as you attempt to speak portuguese! Great post
Like it, j1mbo, although , hardly surprisingly given the name of the Blog, a tad provincial.
From a more Northerly perspective (it`s my privilege and pleasure to now live just South of Coimbra, the ancient capital of Portugal), AND a little licence, I`ve addressed your question to MY world. It was interesting to discover that we share the majority of the kernels of displeasures; and particularly satisfying -having dropped out the `bottled beer in Restaurants` and `supermarket reunions` themes, neither of which are simply an issue for me- was that I couldn`t even find a replacement tenth annoyance with this beautiful environment.
So: MY list
a) reduced to nine items
b) in a general `annoyance factor` reverse order &
b) arranged in escalating groups –
• three things that I find mildly irritating, yet to some extent balanced by the knowledge that not all people are obliged to share my preferences, particularly when they`ve been resident much much longer than I !
• three general gripes that I feel would apply wherever I and people were to co-exist +
• three real buggerations = on any one of which I could write pages …..
9. The state of the roads when we first arrived, and to which we have absolutely no doubt they will return.
(-rather ironic-) Note: the current massive but temporary improvement is recognised as probably the single thing for which we feel grateful for the existence of the EU.
8. Constant Losses of electricity, probably averaging a couple of times every week of the year (now late August, and yes, been off for various periods, at least six times and for up to a couple of hours duration , within the past four days!)
7. Portuguese people who insist in conversing with me in English. Although this seems to be mostly in a(n always reciprocative ; i.e. only after I`ve made however bad an attempt to speak in Portuguese!), THEY are entitled to want to learn too, if it was really omportant to me, I could simply travel further of-track, and it`s ultimately to my advantage.
6. Those “(mainly Portuguese) people who will not neuter their animals but instead dump the unwanted litters into the garbage bins” mentality, and vice-versa, of hunters (cacadores).
5. Visitors and locals who forget that roads are for sensible -at least safe, please- driving by all.
4. Paying more than 5€ for a litre jug of ANY house wine – in fact, in general, being treated in ANY respect on terms that are different to those applied to any other resident of Portugal.
3. Gated communities - never can quite decide if whatever`s in there is afraid of being caught, consider such a supposed manifestation of their supposed breeding is somehow more obvious and permanent than just the occasional bottle of over-priced wine being consumed in an over-priced beach hut, or just too proud to mingle with the people, a piece of whose country they have decided to annex.
2. Expats who arrive -clearly without any real plan- then blame Portugal when it all goes ass-over-tits. In fact, generally blame Portugal and the Portuguese for their perceived Eden-imperfections, all the while conveniently forgetting the benefits.
Including those who have “left all that behind”, and then try to inflict their own pressures, guilt trips, and frustrations on innocent locals.
1. (Invariably loud-mouthed, seriously-deteriorating-with-alcohol, and embarrassingly often) Brits who automatically assume that ALL Portuguese exist for their -the Brits- entire service and convenience; devoid of individual lives or self-respect.
Automatically covers “English people who automatically assume that ALL Portuguese speak English, or that shouting somehow aids comprehension”.
Consider that this should really come in at No.1 (QED) AND be simplified to
“ill-mannered ignoramuses”, anywhere. assuming it’s their mission (through an osmotic membrane, you understand; no personal effort involved) to mandate the type of behaviour that then the whole country must mimic – just not successfully!
Well, there`s a startpoint anyway.
I've got a headache!
Our experience around Porto last year when they introduced something similar in Central Portugal suggests that this is going to be chaotic. We tried and tried to find a machine or alternatively to pay for using the motorway. Visited 3 post offices 2 tourist offices and still waiting for reply to my email to the highways people!
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