Gridlock

Well thank you very much Mr Putin. I enjoyed reading the whole of Global while sitting in the queue for the bridge this morning.

Actually, as far as I can tell, it wasn't his fault! How does the Portuguese police cordon off a motorway? Block it where the slip road meets the highway, of course. So cars queue back down the slip road, and block everyone else behind.

Of course, it would be more efficient to block from the start of all roads leading to the motorway, obliging drivers to choose other routes while they still had a choice, but that would require more manpower. So f**k the economic considerations, let the drivers wait!

Salão Imobiliário de Lisboa

I went to the opening day of the Lisbon Real Estate Fair yesterday. As usual, a mixture of good and awful exhibitors and stands, with some very interesting development on display. In the interesting category I would include (in alphabetical order):















http://www.troiaresort.pt

Out of Time

Thins I haven't had time to blog about recently:

• Police concert - great, thanks Barclays
• Sócrates afraid of what - criticism so it appears, and doesn't care about civil rights
• Chief public prosecutor - another prominent figure who can't keep his mouth shut when he should
• Power cut - difficult to blog when the power is out. Good job Portugal is no longer a 3rd world country!
• Jardim Gonçalves - tough break, but what's 15 million to him?

What I've been up to:

• work
• more work
• photography
• did I mention I've been busy at work?

More later, perhaps...

Mordida de Cherne

Durão Barroso on the prospect of meeting Robert Mugabe at a summit that Gordon Brown is planning to boycott:

"Very often we have to sit in international meetings with people my mother would not like me to sit with."

Take that!

Slow Food

There are only two possible reasons for me continuing to frequent the McDonald's at Seixal service area - I'm more charitable than I would appear to the readers of this blog, or I'm an idiot.

The service is chronically slow, the prices higher than normal, the staff disinterested and often not all products are available. But still I stopped there today, thinking that we could save five minutes over going into Rio Sul shopping centre for the same meal. Wrong!

There were no burgers ready and the "Too Bacon" special was not available. As for the "Too Cheese", avoid it at all costs. For me it was "Too (much) Mayonnaise" - yuck.

So if you're on the A2, looking for a quick lunch, get off at Fogueteiro and go to Rio Sul, for better service and a wider choice.

CD of the Month (6)

Well it's four months since the last CD plug, and I think this disc has been in the car all that time.

Music Box is the classic Mariah Carey album, from the young and innocent days before the marriage, implants, ventures into rap and experiments in screeching rather than singing. The best part is there are no tracks that make you want to hit the skip button. It also includes a cover of the classic track "Without You".

Green Governance, or just Hot Air?

José Sócrates proudly proclaimed to the press last week that Portugal will surpass its objectives under the Kyoto agreement - reducing carbon emissions more than planned. So the Government can be praised for having a green country and taking initiatives such as obliging builders to incorporate energy-saving measures into all new buildings.

What he doesn't publicise is the tax administration's response to that change in the building code: the existence of these energy-saving measures has been added as another coefficient that increases the tax valuation of your house, used to define how much is paid annually in municipal property tax and sewage charges! Surely they should use the opposite approach and reduce the value of houses without such features. Add to this ridiculous measure the pitiful tax incentives given for individuals to install such measures and we can only conclude that the Government is only paying lip service to green measures.

As for beating the Kyoto objectives, we have to presume that they were under-ambitious if the Government can get away with this.