Yearly Archives: 2013

Next Car Boot – Sunday 7th July 2013

Amovate’s Car Boot is held at the Old School House grounds in Vales, every 1st Sunday of the month.

 

Car Boot Rules & Regulations

Amovate Car Boot Sale

In the interest of health and safety and the comfort of all those who attend the car boot sales, the committee would respectfully ask you to observe the following instructions.

  • The gates will open for stallholders at 07.30hrs, and for the public at 09.30 hrs.
  • Payment by stallholders will be made within one hour of entering the Amovate grounds.
  • The toilets and bar area will be opened at 10.00 hrs until 13.00 hrs.
  • Any stall holders still selling goods at 13.00hrs will be reminded that they must vacate the Amovate grounds by 13.45 hrs.
  • Electrical equipment must not be tested in the Amovate building
  • All stallholders must take away their own waste.
  • You enter the Amovate grounds at your own risk; the committee do not accept any responsibility for your vehicles and contents.
  • The Amovate committee equally do not accept responsibility for any transactions made in relation to goods sold at the car boot sale, including the item purchased being fit for purpose.
  • All Dogs brought onto the Amovate premises must be kept on a lead

The committee reserve the right to refuse entry to any stall holder who do not abide by the above instructions.

On behalf of the AMOVATE COMMITTEE

Thank You for Your Support

Castro Marim 2 – 1 Aljezur

This week’s report from our Guest Reporter:

On a grey blustery day Aljezurense headed to the far east to take on Castromarim in Monte Gordo.
As usual Aljezur gave away a goal in the first 10 mins trying to play their clumsy offside trap when neither centre back had the speed to match the centre forward.

Aljezur dominated the play in the midfield with Dani 23 making some great runs, Lawrence 8 working hard and Eddy 14 making valuable contributions. Djiga 5 at left back was excellent as was Rafael 15 at right back with Pop 18 and Pipi 10 using their speed Aljezur looked certain to equalise.

However the finishing of Joao Luis 7 left a lot to be desired as he wasted a fantastic opportunity in the first half and to more in the second half. At last the coach replaced him with Sam who immediately showed he is recovering from a one month long knee injury and with Jardel 16 replacing Noel the attack looked far more potent and a goal looked certain to come!
Pipi 10 Diogo decided to argue with the ref and got a yellow card, stupidly kept arguing and got sent off for the same reason!
With 10 men and attacking flat out, unfortunately, the defense were even more open at the back and Castro Marim scored with virtually their only attack of the second half (2-0 down)!

Interplay between Sam 9, Dani 23 and Jardel 16 almost provided a goal and should have provided a penalty but in the end the only consolation was an excellent bent free kick from outside the area by Dani 23 to make the final score 2-1, Dani rewarded after another excellent performance.

Aljezur really should have won this game but the offside trap has cost them at least 6 goals this year and they look a better side when they playing a sweeper behind the back three. Eddy 14 has looked particularly good in this role.

Sam looks to be fit again and should add a little potency up front and although Luis 25 has stabilized things in goal the return of Toco 13 should secure the defense more.

It is a shame that Beja & Kieran have not been training as the team need their quality on the ball. If all the best players are fit Aljezur could have a far better second half of the season.

Plunging Pound

Plunging pound to cost Britons £1billion in lost travel cash and higher mortgages for expats.

From The Mail Online

British holidaymakers, overseas property owners and expats are nearly £1 billion a year worse off because of the plummeting value of the pound.

The UK’s economic woes have stripped hundreds of pounds a month from those with mortgages and pensions that have to be transferred in to euros.

Every day since the currency plunge began at the start of the year more than £10 has been wiped off the annual income of a typical expat living in Spain.

Families who travel to the U.S. and Europe are also being forced to cut back on their holiday spending by hundreds of pounds.

Fears over further plunges have led to a sales frenzy of currency cards, which travellers can load up with euros or dollars at that day’s rate. Specialist International Currency Exchange has seen orders for pre-paid euro cards soar by 547 per cent in the past month, while those for the U.S. dollar card are up an astonishing 1,050 per cent.

The value of the pound in your pocket has dropped by 7 per cent against the euro and U.S. dollar since January.

Early last month, one pound would have got you €1.24 or $1.63 — last night it stood at just €1.15, the lowest for 18 months, and $1.52, a near three-year low. In 2007, when the banking crisis began, £1 would have got €1.43 and $2.04.

The slump has pushed up the cost of travelling abroad for Britons, with everything from sangria to ski passes becoming more expensive.

Experts believe sterling will plummet further against the euro as Britain balances on the brink of a triple-dip recession.

Nearly 400,000 Britons live in Spain; 152,000 in France; 104,000 in Germany; and just under 30,000 in Italy —the majority are retired.

While the weekly basic state pension is £107.45, currency specialists say the average amount claimed by a British couple living in Spain is £628 a month.

This would have given them a monthly €778 at the turn of the year. But now, at a rate of just €1.15 euro to every pound, they would receive only €722 — a drop of €56 or nearly £50.

This has wiped £600 off their annual income over the 58 days since the slump began — a massive hit, especially for anyone on a small fixed pension.

If even just half of the 686,000 expats receiving a pension in Europe suffer such an income drop, it will lead to an income loss of more than £205 million.

A family of five who booked early in January for a trip to the U.S. must plan to spend an average extra $330 dollars — that’s £217 more — on food, drinks and shopping. Britons who go on holiday to the U.S. will be £72.4 million poorer.

Since last summer, the euro has fallen roughly 10 per cent. This means £500 in your pocket can buy just €575 compared with €640. In total, figures suggest British tourists who travel to the Eurozone this year will be £304 million a year worse off.

Owners of second homes in Europe and the U.S. must fork out more. For those with mortgaged properties in the Eurozone it will be an extra £55 a month.

In total, the estimated 500,000 Britons with an overseas mortgage in Europe must find an extra £216 million a year to cover the average mortgage.

Add this to nearly £600 million lost on holiday spending and pension income, and the total approaches £1 billion.

The drastic currency slide is down to a number of body blows being dealt to sterling’s reputation. Since the turn of the New Year, a growing lack of confidence in the UK’s stuttering economy has convinced financial investors such as pension funds and banks as well as foreign exchange speculators to look elsewhere.

Where once the pound was seen as a safe haven — meaning they were confident its value would rise because of promising growth — it has begun to lose out to the U.S. and even the Eurozone.
When Moody’s, a ratings agency, decided the UK was no longer worth its so-called ‘triple-A’ rating late last week, it prompted a fresh sell-off.

Now there is burgeoning concern that the Bank of England could also add to the pound’s woes.
If it unleashes a further bout of Quantitative Easing (QE) — its policy of printing money to try to kick-start economic growth — a knock-on effect could see the pound’s value deflated further.
This is because QE keeps interest rates low, which, in turn, makes sterling an unattractive place to invest for returns.

Read more:  Click Here

“Tax Receipt? Show Us A Search Warrant!”

If you have not already seen it you may like this article from The Algarve Daily News about the new idea of getting a tax receipt for every thing you buy. Here is the answer. Read it all the way through.

Paula Teixeira da Cruz, Portugal’s Justice Minister

Paula Teixeira da Cruz, Portugal’s Justice Minister, says no one can be forced to show invoices outside a shop, “You need a search warrant.”

The Justice Minister today clarified the legal position that citizens are not required to show anybody an invoice even if they are approached by a tax inspector on leaving a shop or restaurant.
Teixeira da Cruz believes that there has been “a hoax” around the subject, noting that there are limits to tax inspection.
“If I am leaving an establishment, no one can go up to me and search me to find the bill. You need a search warrant.”
On February 13th the Ministry of Finance reported that “the new rules create the necessary conditions for surveillance activities by the Tax Authority which can be carried out outside shops to ensure that consumers actually have got invoices for purchases made.”
Vítor Gaspar’s ministry could not say how many people so far had been fined, nor the value ​​of any such fines.
A week later the Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs, Paulo Nuncio, insisted that the obligatory issuing of invoices is aimed at combating tax evasionassured but admitted to Parliament that no widespread tax snooping initiative was in operation.
This system is in chaos as those responsible for devising and running such iniatives, deeply unpopular with the public, could at least launch them in a coherent way with clear guidelines.
One loophole is already being explioted by thousands of Portuguese shoppers who are demonstrating a finely-tuned sense of humour.
There is no law that states that the name on an invoice must be the purchaser’s, so jokers across the land are obtaining invoices in the names of V. Gaspar and P. Passos Coelho and other ministers who already, according to tax office records, have made purchases far in excess of their ministerial salaries, triggering an automatic alarm bell to ring in their local tax office for living far beyond their stated means.
An upright sort of information source such as algarvedailynews would be foolish to pass on these numbers, so here they are:
Miguel Relvas NIF 158792793
Vitor Gaspar NIF 120528223
Passos Coelho NIF 177142430

Aljezurense 1 – 0 Armacenenses

On a blustery afternoon Aljezurense had a hard task to subdue the high flying Armacenense team who were 4th in the League. Aljezurense again fielded a side that had not yet played together either because of injury or the managers choice. It was not inspiring for the supporters to see Kieran and Noel on the bench and with the third string keeper in place due to injuries.

In fairness the keeper had not been seen by the majority of the supporters, but although not the tallest of custodians he was about to show everyone his ability.

Aljezurense started kicking with the swirling wind that favoured the home side slightly, everyone watching was pleased to see the first 10 minutes  pass as generally this was a time they went behind. Andre 20, restored now almost fully fit and  Tiago 5, gave the side some stability and with Eddy 14 seated in the heart of the defence, an unusual position for him, Aljezurense thwarted the visitors attacks.

Lawrence 8 and Dani 23 battled hard in midfield and for most of the first half they held the upper hand.  Joao 7, and Diogo 10, were released time and time again only to be stifled by an outstanding goalkeeper whose agility was first class.

Few opportunities came the way of the visitors and the odd chances made were smothered by the new keeper.

Aljezure were at least holding their own and as half time came the supporters were talking up a draw as a result to give them a much needed point.

Half Time Aljezurense 0 – 0 Armaceneses

 In the second half, Aljezurense faced not only the force of the visitors’ attackers, but also the wind which appeared to have strengthened. The visitors showed little  resolve and this gave Aljezurense the fillip required and their confidence grew.  A one-two played between Dani and Lawrence gave the opening required and Lawrence’s shot from outside the penalty area swerved into the top angle of the goal only to see the visitors’ keeper tip the ball onto the bar and safe.

Game on –  Joao, Dani and Diogo all hit shots goal wards but alas the goal required did not come. Three changes were made, Andre was replaced by the long throw specialist Rafael 15, Joao by Jardel 21, and Noel 17 came on to strengthen the defence.

The visitors were still trying to breakdown the home rearguard but anything that got through the back line was dealt with magnificently by the new keeper.

With time running out a point looked certain then up popped Rafael.  A clearance from the visitors, defence was challenged for, and Rafael chested the ball forward, his strength forced him on from the halfway line and he played the perfect pass for Pope 18 whose intelligent run had left the visitors’ defence flat footed.  One touch and his perfect cross was met by the marauding Jardel who smashed the ball home for a well deserved goal.

The last 5 minutes or so left to play including overtime, saw Aljezurense battle hard and at the final whistle were worthy winners.

Picking Man of the Match was a very difficult job as probably for the first time the whole side played well, battled and looked like they wanted to win. The new keeper was outstanding and his kicking a much needed acquisition to the side’s defence.  Lawrence and Dani bossed the central area with Eddy giving a bit of stability centrally, although this position is not really his forte. The movement both defensively and attacking was inspiring at times, and I am sure the opposition were stunned by Aljezurense as their league position is no indication of the game they played today.

May be the light at the end of the tunnel.  With Kieran to come in and Noel and Andre returning from injury, the defence is strong with Tiago leading as captain from the front. The midfield looks a little more settled and both Dani and Lawrence have a big part to play in the last 9 games. Joao and Jardel are battling hard to play centrally up front, both have ability although Jardel offers a little bit extra with his strength to force defences into errors.  The flanks look good as well and Diogo and Pope have great pace which unsettles defences.

Well done everyone –  a great win, and the beer, I am sure tasted much sweeter on Saturday Night.