Reflections

I wonder if anyone actually reads this stuff? I'm still amazed at some facebook and twitter stuff, ie " Susan wrote...just went to the washroom, wiped and flushed toilet, washed hands with new soap form body shop"........... Like, who gives a flying f#*%, get a life..... Ahh a skeptical and cynical Olous here, it's Tuesday October 6th, 2009 and I'd promised I'd put my own dribble here. you are now warned.


Well we are secured three abreast with an American boat "Resolution" a Tartan 37 from New Jersey. I was surprised that It has only be in the last few weeks that we have starting seeing other boats from North America, one being a friendly couple from San Francisco, and another Canadian guy from Ottawa, both of whom have been sailing for many years and have no end date to their travels. Speaking of end dates it looks like our end is coming this spring, as we have accepted an offer to work back on the East Coast.


Too our surprise Funchal is a huge city in comparison to most of the places we have been. With a population of over 125k with at least another 100k of visitors flying in or on board one of the many large cruise liners coming in every day. With all the noise, people and big city lights, we almost retreated back to the solitude of Porto Santo, Madeira 's smaller Northern Island that we had just spent the last week at.
However we needed to stick around to pick up Mary aka "Grammy Clause" aptly named by the kids, who is visiting for a week, thus we decided (ok I was ordered) to stay put for a few days.

Having arrived in the Madeira's, it does truly feels that we have arrived in the tropics, the sea and air temps are almost the same, being in the mid 20*c.
Northern Spain and Portugal have great beeches and hot air temperatures but you wouldn't stay in the sea for too long without having a wet suit.

Also changing is the culture, history, arcitechture and of course the people as we move away from the main land Europe into Atlantic Islands .
This last trip to Coastal Europe has really firmed up for us, just how young North America is. History has a whole new meaning, something along with languages I regret not paying enough attention too back in school. When we arrive in Spain there was lighthouse restored from 200 AD and many of the building from even earlier, most dating a few hundred year before Christ. As a side note I wonder just how boring our world history would be without religion and conflict.
You also realize just how much importance the Europeans place on their ports and shipping in general. It is refreshing especially as many in marine business in Canada have to fight with the various governments and public opinion just to maintain existing marine infrastructure we have. Even our larger ports are all too quickly receding into condo ville.
The Port Offices and captains houses here are second only to the churches in statue. Even with the newer deep draft Container ports deflecting the traditional traffic away from the historic downtown locations, the ports have quickly expanded the tourist and pleasure boats markets along with the short sea shipping trades. It has been over 10 years since we last in Portugal and Spain and in that time Vicky and I have read and seen expansion of existing marinas and a huge growth of new Marina's, EU monies taking credit for much of this.
While I'm on a little rant, lets talk about wine prices. How is it that you can go to any supermarket in Spain and/or Portugal, fill your cart up with various bottles of wines, local, regional and international, go to the check out and be shocked at how low your bill was. like 20 Euro's? Impossible, it must be a mistake I have a dozen bottle of wine, some beer and even some food for the kids... " Ah yes the teller sayes I forgot to charge you for the 15 cents for the plastic bags.
Most of the wines are only a few eruos with some under one euro, that's less than $1.40 Canadian. It works out that if you want to go with the 10 liter box wine, (the cheap stuff) it is than 30 cents Canadian a liter! how is that possible, water is more expensive. Even beer was working out too less than 25 cents for a 330 ml can. For some reason the exported German beer in Spain won the cheapest award, not bad tasting either, a pilsner called Finkbrau..... Hey it noon time, taste test time for a cold Finkbrau ...back later. (ya I know I shouldn't complain about twitter/facebook people)

ahh that was dam good, I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's the heat, or the sun's reflections off the water, or just the fact I don't have to go to work this afternoon.... 9 out of 10 for the German Finkbrau. Anyhow even if us Canadians pay double the wine prices here, ( to pay for the valuable shipment, tug and port services,) we are still being raped, the booze boards and commissions are a total scam, I suspect left over from the probation era. why do we have restricted outlet stores? Distribution is heavy controlled and I suspect everything is heavily taxed and regulations beyond belief.
We need some good old fashion hangings to deliver the that much need message. we pay way too much. The nation as a whole needs to raise up and revolt on Parliament Hill, a few swinging senators and mps should get the message(S) out... let the market dictate what and how much is brought in and make the tax reasonable on this important staple of life.

Our leaders need to take some of our tax money and travel more, not only within our country but aboard, (limited to non tourist locations) , get them off the beaches, and out of the hotel lobby bars and into the towns and city centers. Outside of the wine, they would also see that on environmental issues we in Canada are far from leading the way, infact we have a long way to go. Even some of the town which appeared to be lost in time here in Spain have things like new generation hybd electrical bus services. Mass transit is just a way of life and done well. Electical cars and bikes of every descriptions are permitted to use the roads or have specials lanes, although not an green move, it interesting that four wheelers and off road trikes are permitted on the roads. I know a few people in New Brunswick and NL would welcomed this move, (although your still not allowed to shoot anything that moves)
Walkways and bike lanes are made everywhere, some towns like La Coruna have public bike system you can rent form one location (an automated bike rack) and drop off at another. This not a tourist thing, Wind Generator are standard everywhere, Garbage and recycling almost every location, even things like oil recycling and batteries. Coming form BC which I believe is leading most of the country, but they are still way behind Portugal (not a rich nation in comparison) It more than just the recycling, small thing such almost all public lights being motion activated, in washrooms, sidewalks and street lighting, Water conservation projects, sewage plants and recycling water, (Vicky has a story about this back in Australia) also being tough on plastic bags, they are taxing plastic bags (even in Ireland) ,....Canada should do this instead of our wine.


European Public works and projects in general seem to be significantly different, when they build something, they build it to last for generation to come. Simple things such as bench seats can be solid stone, common hand rails almost exclusively made of stainless steel. Construction of walkways which have point loading I'm sure in excess of 10 tonnes per square meter and never of wood or prefab sheet metal. Formed engineered Concrete and stone with structure steel and stainless everywhere. Dock and wharf construction is also well done, although I must say I've seen similar good work at some of BC ferries major facilities, it's not your typical wood piling with a poured concrete cap which dominates the east coast.



Well I'd better stop ranting and go with promises to talk more about the travels, maybe beeches, palm trees and those who inhabit them, as this I suspect will become more and more prevalent with our Island hoping ahead.

All is well with family and boat, we are here in Madeira till Mary flies out on the 12/13th of this month. We are then off to the Canary Islands. Not sure where we are going to go yet however a friend I worked with at the Ferries has relatives that own a bar in Tenerife, thus we have a mission.

Olous Out.