Événements

- Désolé, pas de traduction française disponible ---

Lagos Area Newsletter January 2021.
 
Hello Everyone.
I hope you all managed to stay safe during the holiday period though it was sad that we could only mix with few people.  I am sure that, like me, you have your ‘bubble’ and stick with those friends though the desire to see and talk to others is to the fore.
Which is why we are having ZOOM meetings – fortnightly on Thursdays.  It is especially useful for newcomers who perhaps have not had the chance to get out and make friends and helpful that some of us ‘old-timers’ pop along to impart knowledge of what life is like over here and to give them pointers about their locality.  It certainly works as one couple were approached simply because of the ZOOM sessions whereas it might have been months before they met anyone – the virtual introduction had opened the door for them, making friendships easier to form. The next ZOOM meeting is this Thursday at 4pm – we alternate between a morning session and an afternoon session – so please contact me if you would like to take part and I will send you the link to join in. Come along, reach out a helping hand and have a welcoming chat to the newbies.
And talking of helping hands, a member had been paying a monthly amount into the Bombeiros fund but then realised that the charges on a monthly transfer were ridiculously high so has switched it to one annual payment instead.  If you are thinking of setting up a charity amount for the Bombeiros then please make it an annual one to the account and save your bank charges.  The details are: Patricia Allen Fundo de Bombeiros, the account:  IBAN/NIB  (PT50) 0045 7191 4018 8770 5586 1  and the BIC/SWIFT is CCCMPTPL
Incidentally, the guys you often see at traffic lights wearing red tops, saying they are collecting for the bombeiros are NOT anything to do with them – and no money goes their way, either, so beware. Our fund pays for essential supplies when they run short – they ask if we can help to purchase items which we do when possible.  I would rather do this that give money directly to the force and our biggest achievement of course was buying a new Ambulance to replace an old broken-down vehicle.
We had a water bill for €900 in December – which is the first we knew of having a leak. On checking the readings, we noted that the next bill will be even higher.  We immediately switched off the supply and a plumber fixed us a temporary feed over the holiday period which also proved, luckily,  that it was leaking under the garden, not under the floor tiles.  However, the reason I am mentioning this is because when I contacted the water authority, they said that if I take the plumbers bill for the repairs to them, they will make a reduction on their invoices to reflect that it was a genuine leak and not just our usage.  They certainly would not have done that in the UK so we thought that was very good of them to tell us and worth noting if you are ever in that situation yourselves.
Well, January 2020 started with me in hospital (embolism) and ended in December 2020 with Terry having an osteotomy (some bones being broken and realigned) in his foot – and the year in between was rubbish too! This year has GOT to be better and with the vaccines around, I am now wishing you all a HNY – a Hopeful New Year for 2021 – hope that Covid will subside, hope that none of us get infected and the hope that sometime during the year we can begin to socialise again.  And in the meantime, there is ZOOM.  Come and join us.
Pat Allen,  Lagos Area Event Organiser
Pat.allen@zoho.com      lagos@afpop.com           Tel: 282-697-548                Mob: 938-358-699