CD of the Month (12)

It will be no news that I am a long-time Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler fan, so here's the track that really got me hooked, on late-night radio 30 years ago.

A Filha do Capitão

My third review of a José Rodrigues dos Santos book. I do read other things, but people keep on buying me his work - I've already got the next one waiting to be read.

This story, set at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, was of particular interest to me, taking place in locations that I know and depicting the trench warfare in Flanders in World War One, where my great-grandfather died. It traces the life of a boy born to a poor family, through his seminary education and expulsion, and into the military academy, from where he ended up being posted to Flanders in the Portuguese Expeditionary Force.

There is a great detail of descriptive writing, detailing life in rural Portugal at the end of the 19th century, impressions of a youth's first visit to the grand city of Lisbon, doubts about theological matters, a lot of football, all of which described with JRS's cutomary skill. But, just like the allied forces in Flanders, the writer gets really bogged down in detail when describing in interminable detail the layout of the trenches and their ridiculous names.

Fortunately, that purgatory is relieved by the romantic liaison between the Captain and a French girl, whose life up to that point we have been following in parallel to his, visiting Lille and Paris with wonderful details that fit in perfectly with my memories of both cities.

Not a book for everyone, as it's rather heavy (perhaps even muddy) over large sections, and the title is a bit optimistic, since even two chapters from the end the daughter hasn't surfaced in the narrative, which rather gives the game away. But I enjoyed it!

Market Prices?

Under the Portuguese government's residential housing rescue plan, the government sponsored property fund will buy your house and rent it back to you if you can't meet the bank's instalments.

Sounds like a reasonable measure, until you ask what the price of the house will be. "Market price" Of course the existence of a market price depends on there being a functioning market, which there isn't! So written valuations must be obtained from two Stock Exchange approved valuers. But even that doesn't get around the problem, as the valuers' comparative valuation basis must be "market price".

While they will be in huge demand, they will probably continue to be badly paid by the banks for their expertise. I'm glad I'm not in their shoes. Actually I am a valuer, but I'm not risking registering and assuming that responsibility for the pitiful fees that banks have paid in the past. It's a sad reflection on the risks of doing business, don't you think?

There is a twist in the tail though. Property tax (IMI) is payable based on the tax department's formula-based valuation of your property. So surely, either the fund should buy your house for that valuation, or the tax office should re-base the valuation formula (downwards) to reflect the new reality of market prices, for there to be fiscal justice!

Fallen Out of Use

Entering Philadelphia's City Hall through the southern archway, heading into the central square, you pass a sign indicating the way to a nuclear fallout shelter. I never expected to see that.

Is it still available, operational? I wonder.

The Mayor's a Nutter!

No, I'm not being rude about present or past incumbents of Lisbon, London, Seixal or Marco de Canavezes. It just tickled my sense of humour that Philadelphia's mayor is called Michael Nutter...

Philadelphia

Not a film revew, like so many others. No! At the ripe old age of fortysomething, I've finally visited the US, in fact this post is being written in the airport departure lounge.

As a Brit, I flew in with a sceptical attitude, and have been pleasantly surprised. Downtown Philadelphia is secure, friendly, not overcrowded and has a lot to see. In fact my only complaint is the unseasonably cold weather this week.

The historical part is, in fact, historical. It goes back to the origins of the country and, at Independence Hall, an apparently balanced view is given of the events that led to the Independence of the 13 original states from Britain and France. The Liberty Bell center then moves the original ideas of independence and freedom, through the battles to end slavery, conflicts with the Native Americans and giving the vote to women.

So all in all, a pleasant surprise and a city to be recommended for a few days as a tourist.

Tomar and the Convent of Christ

It's sometimes difficult to get time off, but last Tuesday, instead of working, I took my parents to Tomar. It's a very pretty little town, with narrow streets and a river with a variety of bridges of different heritages, but the star attraction is the Convent of Christ, on the hilltop overlooking the town centre.

As a photographer, I could have spent days there, capturing the historic details and sculptured adornments. Our mistake was to have lunch in the town before attacking the convent, so we were rather rushed and tired before we reached the end.

Enough to say the convent is HUGE! Better to arrive mid-morning, explore some, have a snack lunch at the café, and continue all afternoon. Photographers should note that the most famous photographable detail, a huge manueline window, is only in full sun from mid-afternoon. Another hint, take a tripod to capture the atmoshperic interiors - I took one but was in too much of a rush to use it.

All in all, highly recommended - possibly the most impressive historic building I have yet visited in Portugal.

Back to School

Due to the happy coincidence of only being able to take my third week of holiday when my kids have already returned to school, I had the joyous experience of being able to go to my elder son's school presentation meeting.

Now entering year 10, it is an important year and I was expecting the othe parents to have understood the objective of the meeting - for the school to tell us what will happen for all our children, the rules and any changes from last year.

• It is NOT a forum for each parent to raise questions specific to their child.
• The school rules HAVE been thought through, and are thus NOT negotiable.
• Opinions on the Government's regulations NEED NOT be given, as there is no Government representative present.

I was amazed by the lack of understanding of such obvious principles among a number of parents, and their total disregard for the time wasted for everyone present. It was most as bad as those condominium meetings where everyone who goes has something to say and pet hate to air.

With that level of education among the parents, I can't see much point in their paying the rather steep fees charged to have their children at the school. They won't get far setting that kind of example.

Copycat Criminals

The recent wave of bank robberies seems to me typical of the relaxed but opportunistic Portuguese attitudes.

In general, the Portuguese are not physically violent; though very prone to verbal abuse. We can even see this in their approach to bank robbing - weapons are carried but never used. The impersonal institution loses a small amount of cash while customers are rarely victims. This is hardly "violent" crime, as seen in other countries.

Why this sudden wave of crime? Because the media has explained clearly and repeatedly that the probability of being caught is practically zero. The crimes last only a few minutes and the police are unlikely to get there in time. It's similar to the chronic disregard for traffic law, which has fallen significantly as the chances of being caught increase.

I don't think this recent increase is due to the recession, just opportunism, a fad that will wear off soon.

Kung Fu Panda

It's holiday time again, and that means getting away from work and pampering the kids. So I took the younger one to see Kung Fu Panda.

Now even at 10 years old, he's understood that such films are better in English with subtitles, not dubbed into Portuguese. So we went to Rio Sul in Seixal, bought our tickets and popcorn and sat in the cinema - first to arrive! 10 minutes later the doors clicked shut and the film started, with just the two of us in a 100 seat theatre! I don't know how the cinema makes money in these circumstances, but we were very comfortable.

As for the film, it's good for 10 year-olds, but has little to keep an adult's attention. The story line is weak, even compared with other recent Disney efforts, the characters rather shallow, and the action and comedy cannot make up for this shortfall. That said, there is action, and comedy, especially in the training sequences, where Panda takes on the master in a fight to get food.

Overall, hardly a Disney masterpiece, barely worth seeing unless you really have nothing better to do with holidaying kids.

Popular Taxation

The introduction of IMI (Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis) in 2004 was a great step forward in balancing the taxation of property ownership in Portugal and stopping evasion on property transfers, now subject to IMT (previously SISA). The basic rule was that all transactions would be assumed to have been carried out at a price based on area, location and year of construction. Thus under-declaring transaction values to avoid transfer tax became pointless and practically died out since assessed values were very close to real values.

Property was thereafter taxed annually based on this same value, making property ownership a rather painful pastime, particularly for well-off people with large and new houses.

However, the property crash has caused a glitch in the system. Owners are now being taxed annually based on values that they cannot hope to achieve in the open market.

So what was the government's reaction? Tweak the tax rate downwards! That has a number of political benefits, such as benefitting the middle classes directly, while the reduction in tax revenue is hidden from the deficit calculation as the tax income was allocated to local authorities, not to central government. Of course, the underlying principle is wrong: there was nothing wrong with the tax rate, only with the property valuations, but since when has logic applied when votes are at stake?

I wonder what they will tweak next, as elections approach. Perhaps they should have left this one to next year, as there isn't much room for manoeuvre anywhere else...

Via Errada

I have been a fan of the Via Verde system for many years; since it was invented, in fact. But as a Company, I am less than impressed, since it has a tendency to behave rather like the armed wing of Brisa!

Now it's clear the non-payment of tolls is a crime, but is it so prevalent that drastic measures have to exist to prevent losses to the two companies? I suppose that VV only has to pay Brisa the tolls it receives, not the total value of all cars that pass, irrespective of managing to take their money.

Have you ever tried to tell Via Verde that you want to cancel one of their identifying gadgets? As they can't be switched off, they have to be returned. I have one on my desk at work that belonged to the late Technical Director and was in his company car. I sent the office boy to return it for cancellation, only to find out that huge amount of paperwork would be required. I also have a device, somewhere, that I haven't used for 10 years. It appears on the database in my name, but I can't do anything with that record, as the website doesn't behave in the way set out in the FAQ!

Quite frankly, the site is awful, built on an old version of SAP. How do I know? Because the pages come up with the SAP logo, not Via Verde!

I've also heard that the GPS system the company is plugging has the annoying habit of telling you to slow down as you approach the VV corridor. Good job I didn't buy one, as I would want to return it in that case, which I guess would be impossible.

You might think that a leading, innovative company like Via Verde should be good at customer service. Think again!

CD of the Month (11)

Not a very original choice this month, I know. Queen is the classic, the greatest band ever, cliché of the month, superlatives cannot do them justice.

And then there's the song: when Freddy Mercury was starting to become ill, to write this song is just amazing.

Of course, I could have put up the image of Innuendo, which is also impossible to take out of the car when its turn comes around. But this collection of Greatest Hits is, by itself, an amazing collection, full of powerful, fun, well written, well performed tracks, so here it is...

How to Win an Election

So Zimbabwe is going to get another term of Robert Mugabe as president. He has managed to intimidate the opposition into submission, through mass persecution and execution of voters and candidates.

Of course, it helps that Zimbabwe has no oil reserves and it's a US election year, otherwise somebody would be invading to stop the genocide...

Illegal Immigrant

Last Friday, I failed miserably to renew my residence permit and driving license to show the address where I have been living for 2 1/2 years. I got together all the papers that I had needed the last time, in 2003, and went off to the Loja do Cidadão in Setúbal.

I quickly (only 1 hour) found out that the driving license application requires updating the residence permit first. Much later, I discovered that the numbered queuing tickets at the SEF counter are completely irrelevant - you can only deal with the staff by appointment, made online or by phone.

So off I went to www.sef.pt, only to find that my residence permit apparently has an invalid number, so I can't book online. And the phone number is a call centre in Lisbon, where it was a municipal holiday last Friday - hence my availability to go to Setúbal! So nothing doing...

Of course, I don't actually need to update these documents. The driving license expires in 2024 and the residence permit in 2013. So why bother trying to update them? After all, if I get a traffic fine, it will be sent to the wrong address. Fine by me!

I don't know how easy, or difficult, such formalities are in other countries, but my advice in Portugal is, if you can get away with it, don't bother!

Transport Strikes

The recent (and ongoing) strikes by truck drivers over the cost of fuel are valid tactics in renegotiation of transport prices when fuel costs are skyrocketing. But I fail to see what this, in general, has to do with the Government. Most sectors of the transport industry are not regulated by the Government - the suppliers and purchasers of the service are free to negotiate prices. So surely the truck drivers were barking up the wrong tree. They should be threatening their customers with non-delivery.

But then the fat cats waded in, and the big transport firms managed to extract tax and training benefits from the government - pretty irrelevant if the basic service makes a loss. Strangely, the regulated sector hasn't been making much fuss, particularly the busses, though the taxi drivers are right to appeal for the Government to approve a fare increase.

Once again, backroom deals with fat cats determine Government strategy, and the real problem goes unaddressed...

CD of the month (10)

I'm no expert on musical genres, but I know what I like, and this, Sade's debut album, is one of the all time greats, whether we call it easy listening, groove, soul or something else.

With a majority of original tracks, Sade Adu and her band invented a new sound and niche, which proved so successful that they were quickly imitated, though nothing that matched the pioneering quality of this album.

One of my all-time favourites.

Clube de Fado

I know that clicking on Google adverts on your own site is tecnically fraud, but this site appeared in the sidebar, and I couldn't resist.

I can't vouch for the restaurant itself, but its website is very attractive, with lots of information including the full menu with prices (a bit high, but possibly justified). So I might just look it up.

Oh, and if you are tempted to follow the link, check if it is in the sidebar first, and earn me a cent or two.

Portugal Verde

This weekend saw the Portugal Verde exhibition at the Cordoaria Nacional in Belém, Lisbon.

Unfortunately, I can find little positive to say about it. The location is bad - badly signposted, cold and dark. The exhibitors had very little to offer - mostly big corporate names showing off their green credentials, such as Refer, Delta Cafés, the Port of Lisbon, ANA Airports.

The offer of green goods was also rather weak - Junkers and Vulcano only had solar panels for water heating, which have been around for years. Honda was there, of course, though it's hybrids are hardly emissions champions, if you look at the new car emissions tables.

I liked the big exhibition of recycled materials for contruction from Matrec and the environmentally friendly house sponsored by Philips. It's a shame the rest was so feeble, including its website.

Consultant speak

This week's project progress meeting with my friendly consultants produced an unexpected development in business English, while the meeting took place in Portuguese.

Analysing a function that needs to be implemented but has never existed due to the small size of the company, they suggested that it might be outsourced, or insourced! Logical, but wrong.

So should the function be outsourced or in-house? I don't really care. But anyone suggesting it should be insourced will be banished to the outhouse!

Idiot of the Month

I know the month's far from over, but José Socrates' smoking incident is so stupid, there's no doubt he gets this month's award.

Just what was he thinking (OK, he wasn't thinking)? Didn't he hear the warning, in 3 languages, that smoking is not allowed. TAP even gives you the number of the Decree Law which prohibits smoking - probably signed by the Prime Minister at the time, one J. Socrates!

Makes you wonder how many other laws he has passed that affect him personally, but that he is blissfully unaware of.

The excuse session was also embarassing - "I didn't know." Better not to clarify anything than to say that.

Garden Obeslik

Garden furniture is usually boring and functional, with little concern about looking good. But just look at this from Dedon.

Its a set of four chairs and a table which, when not in use, stack to form this obelisk. It's a shame my "terrace" is actually only a veranda, too small for such a design statement. On the other hand, don't ask the price if you would normally furnish your garden using moulded plastic from your local supermerket...

Identity Loss

We laid my grandfather, Harry, to rest last week, aged 93. Little did I imagine when I started this blog using him as my pseudonym, that it would outlast him, but here it is.

I tried Googling him before setting off to the funeral - no trace. I hope that Blogger doesn't lose these two years of ramblings, or else nothing will remain but a plaque and some memories...

Reference Sample

Every so often, currently once every couple of years, I need to get out of Portugal to refresh my perspective on the quality of life here. 5 days in the UK have done that - nice to be back...

Language Going Nowhere

The Brazilians have a lot to answer for in the corruption of the Portuguese language but, to their credit, the Portuguese generally do their best to resist.

The latest mess I have come across in this area appeared in a proposal from a marketing agency to apply their talent to redesigning our company stationery. Nothing unusual there, except that the word they use for stationery is estacionário. They have got to be kidding!

Admittedly, there is no single word in Portuguese to describe all the headed paper, envelopes, visiting cards and so on that fall under the title "stationery" in English. So some idiot went to an English-Portuguese dictionary, looked up "stationary" and found "estacionário". Brilliant!

Of course, the idiot didn't know (or didn't care) that "stationary" means stopped, while "stationery" refers to those products sold by a stationer. So let's just use the wrong word, and get on with it. It's easier, and etymology is a bore, anyway...

Mark Knopfler in Lisbon

Mark Knopfler played at Campo Pequeno in Lisbon last night. I took my guitar-crazy elder son. It was SUPERB! Backed by excellent musicians with dozens of guitars and other instruments on stage, one of the all-time great guitarrists gave us a great show of musical prowess, though with his usual low-key presentation style.

I was worried that, like so many musicians who have been around for a long time, he would insist on playing only his recent music, but I was proven wrong. The balance between Dire Straits and his solo work was perfect. When the audience started getting restless with the wonderful, but unknown, recent guitar work, better known tracks appeared to liven us up again. Starting with Sailing to Philadelphia and Why Aye Man, he went on through more recent songs, that I must admit I can't name, to excellent versions of Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing and Telegraph Road.

Campo Pequeno was packed with a very participative audience, including a lower than usual quota of adolescent idiots to disrupt proceedings. At the end Mark Knopfler and the band appeared impressed by the audience's enthusiasm, playing four encore songs, including Brothers in Arms before being sped away in comfort leaving the fans to face the only negative experience of the evening - more than half-an-hour to get out of the underground car park. So while I can recommend Campo Peqeuno as a venue, don't even think of parking there.

Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke was one of the most inspiring authors of my youth, when I used to devour science-fiction books from my local public library. I suppose that I started with Islands in the Sky, a boys' story about life on a space station in orbit about the earth, before moving on to many other fiction and non-fiction books.
I particularly remember his non-fictional writing, such as theories on geo-stationary satellites, which he proposed in the 1950's, and his tales of life in Ceylon (A View from Serendip). A quick review of the small part of my book collection that has been brought slowly from the UK confirms his preponderance in my reading habits.
The great man passed away this month aged 90. May he rest in peace.

CD of the month (9)

Another iconic 80's album to show my age, Avalon by Roxy Music is classic pop with a soulful edge that many others tried to imitate.

While Brian Ferry's posing makes me cringe, his music is simply sublime, so here's the title track as my mp3 of the month...

Blackberry Obsessives

To have staff who are contactable 24/7, to give your company the cutting edge - any top manager's dream. Can't see it myself.

• With my phone (from Palm) I can pick up my email whenever I want, just like a Blackberry. If there's anything urgent coming up, I can set it to check my mail every 3 minutes. What's the difference between that and "push-mail"? Even if I push mail to my staff, I run the risk of them being too busy to deal with my latest missive. Getting up and wandering over to see what they are doing is far more effective.
• All Blackberry owners that I have know are far more stressed than they really need to be - that's not good for business.
• Blackberry keeps all your mail on its servers. Do you trust them and their government not to pry? No surprise that the French government has banned its staff from using the service.
• How secure is your Blackberry if you accidentally leave in on a train or restaurant table? Your mobile device must just be a backup for your fixed system. Once you've read the mail, delete it.

The FT sent me a free copy of Who Moved My Blackberry - gave me the willies. Not for me, thank you very much, and I'm much more prudent than the twit in the story...

Birth Rate Incentives

The Jornal de Negócios today stated that the Government has announced that single-parent families will get 20% more family allowance, as an incentive to increase the birth rate.

I was somewhat puzzled by this. Are they implying that women will have more children and then split up with the father in order to get more cash from the State? Doesn't that bring social problems that will weigh on the State budget? Or are they proposing Michael Jackson type surrogate mother arrangements to encourage single fathers?

Somebody's done their sums wrong, it would appear...

Subsidies for Fools

Even though the new Lisbon airport will now be built in Alcochete, the "Otários" (fools) are still fighting their corner. Last week they came up with the idea that the Ota region must now be considered disadvantaged and thus requires government investment to make up for the airport not being built there! Logically, this investment should be added to the cost of building the airport in Alcochete. Will that still be a better solution in this case?

Not surprisingly, the Government agreed to consider this request. Don't forget who are the major landowners in Ota, who would be expected to show their gratitude for receipt of such investment. And the poor little property speculators, taxi license sharks and City Council employees who stand to lose from not having an airport on their doorstep.

So let's subsidise them all. It's clearly an important area, more so than the deserted regions of the interior, for example. Or maybe the Government could take another difficult budgetary decision, and not throw public funds to speculators and sycophants.

Artistic Licence or Bad English

As one of the pedants who greatly enjoyed Eats, Shoots and Leaves, the ultimate English grammar book, I am often distressed by incorrect use of English in song lyrics, in particular when the correct words would have fitted perfectly well with the music and the rhyme.

Of course, even Queen abused the language when they felt like it, but the other day I came across a great, easy-listening song where virtually every line is incorrect. The song is "If I Was a River" by Tina Arena; its very title makes me cringe!

Let's see: a phrase expressing doubt requires the conditional tense, as far as I remember. So it should be "If I Were a River". How would that leave the song? Sounds OK to me. I tried it out on my 9 year-old son, translating it into Portuguese: "Se eu fui um rio". He corrected me immediately: "Se eu fosse"! So what is it with these people? I guess the options are:

1. English is not the songwriter or performer's first language;
2. The phrase is correct under "American English" grammar rules ("anything goes!")
3. Nobody gives a damn, as long as it sells!

So. Rant over. I'll just retreat to my Financial Times and G&T!

Flying Off in the Wrong Direction

Richard Branson's stunt of flying a Boeing 747 from London to Amsterdam using 20% bioethanol seems to me to be heading in the wrong direction. For a start, why take such a huge, heavy, gas-guzzling plane on such a short hop? Unless of course it was fully laden.

Then there is the collateral effect of large scale bioethanol production - grain prices have gone through the roof. So the (roughly) 100% of the world's population that needs to eat, is being screwed by the eco-friendly posturing of the 2% (my guess) of the population that "needs" to fly. If flight were to be made significantly more expensive, its carbon footprint would be reduced by having fewer planes in the air.

Given that the fliers are generally well off people, shouldn't we be thinking of a fuel surcharge whereby they subsidise the people that the World Food Program doesn't have funds to feed, increasingly the middle classes in developing countries, due to the huge rises in basic food prices? Along the same lines of reasoning, we could extend that charge to the hedge funds and commodity traders that are reaping huge profits buying stakes in foodstuffs when they have no intention of taking delivery. I'm not usually in favour of intervention in markets, but something needs to be done.

Office Annoyances

I've been meaning to do this one for ages, but today I was more annoyed than usual:

• Colleagues who use the last of the water, but don't change the bottle on the cooler.
• Colleagues who take stationery items that they don't need, never use, and know someone else ordered specially, just because the items are interesting.
• Colleagues who join us for lunch and insist on individual bills when it saves them money, but never when they have eaten or drunk more than the others.
  
• Staff who go for a cigarette break within 10 minutes after clocking in or before clocking out.
• Staff who are always present when their boss is around, and never present when the boss is out.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on for ever, but it wouldn't be very original.

CD of the Month (8)

The Corrs are one of my great favourites, despite being relatively recent. I saw them at the Pavilhão Atlântico last year, with my older son - a great concert!

Their Unplugged album shows them at their best as spontaneous, talented musicians, though with a huge backing orchestra, and reveals cover versions of some unexpected tracks, such as Everybody Hurts.

Recycle This!

This should be the title to an Al Gore type educational movie, starring Billy Crystal as the conservationist and perhaps Michael Caine as the big bad polluter. Actually it's only the heading for my own personal attempt to encourage readers to recycle.

In Portugal, recycling is optional and not easy unless you live in a built-up area. We have recycled glass for years, because we don't use much, it's easy to store, doesn't smell and is 100% permanent, no decomposition at all over time. But it wasn't until we found the right size of boxes at Ikea that we finally got round to recycling paper and packaging.

It's been quite a surprise. Our "general rubbish" volume has fallen 70%! We now have to take the recycling bags with us when we go out, as the nearest recycling point is at driving distance, and the volume going to the landfill is almost none. But that's no big deal. So if you don't recycle yet, WHY THE HELL NOT!!!

(Nothing worse than a born-again recycler, eh... )

Diary Entry

Today was Dad's 66th birthday - congratulations.

Younger son learned to ride a bicycle - that's important for a young un!

Nothing earth-shattering to write about, good night...

Conservation Area - Build if you can!

I was out yesterday in the Serra de Arrábida, doing a spot of Geocaching (of which more on another occasion) and was amazed to find, up on the top of a hill, apparently new houses. All along the road that crosses the summit are markers defining the limits of plots.

The markers are painted with the red letters "AXL", which everybody south of the Tagus knows stands for António Xavier de Lima, known for being the major landowner ever since the 1974 revolution. How he can possibly have registered the land and a zoning plan in a Conservation Area beats me, but there is definitely construction going on up there. Does Setúbal council know, or just choose not to look?

Another example of the sad culture of getting away with as much as possible...

Mythical beast from Funchal

BANIF's new image has me rather baffled, I'm afraid, not helped by the coincidence of the teaser campaign, that had the Centaur image but no name, with RTP's screening of the Chronicles of Narnia, featuring large numbers of centaurs, fauns and other mythical animals.

So having established that the stylised centaur logo represents the Banco Internacional de Funchal, I still don't understand. Could it be that the Mad Hatter who runs the archipelago has decreed that centaurs do, in fact, exist, and thus needed one of his key local businesses to support him? Does anybody have a better idea?

Golfing on a Wii

Saying how wonderful the Wii games console is would be a post that's only two years overdue, though we only got one for Christmas, but I'll say it anyway. Despite the inferior quality of the graphics processing, the Wii, with its Sports games and innovative wireless game controllers, is great for getting us couch potatoes on our feet and leaping around.

And having gone and hit some golf balls today, after a sickly month of January, I find an interesting side effect. While playing Tiger Woods Golf 2004 on the PS2 was disastrous for my golf, the 2007 version where the Wii obliges me to practice a full, slow golf swing, appears to actually improve my game! Strangely, after playing the real sport, I can't hit a thing on the Wii...

Unfortunately, the console is right to tell us to take a break every so often. The realistic sports actions do tire muscles, despite the light weight of the controller, and seem to aggravate my injured shoulder almost as much as the real game: extra realism I'm not sure the game developers were aiming to simulate!

Publicidade Parva

What on earth do MediaMarkt think they are doing, using an actor dressed in full Scout uniform to portray the fool (parvo) in their recent advertising campaign? The Scouts simply cannot be depicted like this. It's a scandal!

Of course there are two guilty parties here, the company and the idiots from their advertising agency. Unfortunately, the scouts are too restrained to react. On the other hand, it would be easy for irate parents to block access to the stores. Hope they do!

As Intermitências da Morte

English review of a Portuguese book - poor start because I can't translate the title!

As a package, the book is somewhat over-the-top. With its dust cover endorsed by Greenpeace as being made from environmentally friendly paper and its dense text implying that fewer pages were needed to print it, we quickly conclude that this book is unusual.

It is very difficult to get into, mostly because of Saramago's refusal to use conventional ("correct") punctuation and layout. And it goes through stodgy patches where the author seems to be regurgitating a thesaurus that he swallowed earlier. But overall it's an interesting read, with a satisfying ending. So if you are prepared to put up with a Nobel laureate showing off his technical ability just for the sake of it, in Portuguese, this may be worth a read.

Oh yes, what's it about? Death, I suppose, not from a metaphysical standpoint, but more an essay on a hypothetical idea. As I said, literary technique above all other considerations.

Blameless

Everybody knows that corruption is rife in Portugal. Now the President of the Lawyers Association has gone on the record to say so, to be promptly called by the Attorney General to clarify his statement.

Fortunately Jose Socrates has cleared the air by stating categorically that the members of his government are not involved. So it must only be all other parties, prior governments and levels of the State structure that are corrupt (I dare not use the word "bent"). That's a relief!

Strange Goings On

While wandering round the "Mata dos Medos" above Fonte de Telha beach, looking for photo opportunities, I found numerous locations where, seemingly, a group of people get together to drink whisky and smoke cigars, leaving carnations and a dish/ashtray at the scene. This was one of three, apparently recent locations about 10 metres apart beside a path.

I found many more, so it is not a one-off activity. Very strange, I thought.

Timming and Tunning

It is wonderful that my native tongue is that which is misspoken by more people worldwide than any other.

This week received a proposal for professional services, in Portuguese, which included a timetable for carrying out the work labelled "timming", and passed posters advertising a "tunning" meeting. This notwithstanding a rule in Portuguese that double consonants are only used with the letters "r" and "s".

Both errors are unacceptable. Coming from a professional firm that boasts that the staff involved in the project will have significant international experience, specifically in the UK, I can only conclude that the Partner did not read the proposal that he signed off on, since the word "timming" does not exist.

On the other hand, "tunning" is a word, derived from tunn, an archaic liquid measure. Probably not relevant to the car modification scene. The organisers of a tuning event, should really know better! One thing I think I'm sure of though: if their timming is off, their tunning won't work!

BCP Privatisation

The BCP farce has also emphasised a sinister side to Portuguese politics. With the Government putting forward a Board of Directors for the bank, it is easy to conclude that such a move represents the privatisation of the second largest Portuguese bank, second only to the State's "official" bank, the CGD. But that, in itself, is not the sinister part.

The sinister part is the argument among major political parties as to who, from each party, should be appointed to the Board of BCP. Does either party have members qualified to fill such a post - apparently not! Never mind. It is in "the national interest" to ensure that all political parties are duly represented. What a load of bull****! The national interest lies in ensuring that the Board is competent.

As the State is not a BCP shareholder, what has the government got to do with the matter? Apparently the politicians do not understand the difference between Government (the elected representatives at one particular time) and State (the structure set up to run the country, irrespective of who is in government) - the majority are only in politics to make a quick buck anyway.

Fortunately an alternative list of candidates has emerged. It will be a shame for Santos Ferreira to have resigned from the CGD and end up without a job, but that's politics!

BCP Directors unfit?

Once again the genius who runs the Bank of Portugal (BoP) leaves us amazed. After many, many years of supervising BCP, he reaches the conclusion that no former Board Directors (Administradores) of BCP may run for office in the new administration! However, no details are released of formal action being taken against any of them, for breach of statutory duty, negligence, fraud, tax evasion....

Hang on a minute. If the BoP has such sweeping powers to disqualify directors, what took it so long? If not, as appears obvious, where is due process?

Once again, he had descended from his ivory tower, issued inane statements and retreated, leaving everyone to wonder what is really going on. How did the BoP inspection teams fail to analyse the loan write-offs to related parties? What does the BoP really do, other than pay fat salaries to its staff? I said he should go two years ago. How much longer must we wait?