My childhood was spent in Southern Bavaria, with winters lasting months and the joys of 2 foot long icicles hanging from the roof. I remember coming home from many skiing trips, fingers - despite gloves - frozen blue. I KNOW about cold. And as for England: when I was an Au Pair in Hertfordshire, living in a 14th Century country house, I have never been colder! What did we do? We coped without complaint.We used hotties, we had 4 layers on at night. We cooked breakfast with knitted gloves on!
I have lived in and near Lagos for 9 years now and yes, the winters have been getting colder. Yes, the traditional buildings are not equipped for that - they didn´t need to: climatic change? But if you are talking about “archaic building methods, terrible quality construction” then presumably Mr Smith refers to more contemporary buildings...in which case, before he bought / rented, he should have checked the insulation? And I have that sneaking suspicion that Mr Smith´s email is less about the elderly dying in Portuguese winters than his high energy bills and those of his fleeing friends....
People come to the Algarve and expect it to be tropical, even in winter. Well, do your research. You will find that the “winters” last for a few weeks and that is that. And as for the prissies that go “back to Finland” (because there it´s cold most of the time and so the homes are of course warm and insulated) I am pretty certain they will be flocking back in May - November (Covid permitting) because after all, it´s rather lovely and hot here for 10 months of the year !
So my message is: stop complaining about high energy prices. Get your woollies on, put some logs on the fire and enjoy the sunshine!
JEANETTE FAH
BUSCH, By email