Tonight when sticking on the flood lights and making sure the electric fence was working it hit home that this is not normal and what quality of life is this. Yes we can eat vey well cheaply in comparison to the rest of the world and our medical services if you are on private schemes are world class for now. Education is still in my opinion better here than most other countries and why we moved back from the UK for my kids to benefit.
Now that we have returned from our 6 day trip in the Algarve which was not holiday ,but more of a fact finding mission firstly to see if we liked the place. The next question was could we see ourselves living here and the answer was a definite yes.
I have to admit I enjoyed everything and I kind of miss the place already for what it offered. Safety is always going to be on your mind especially if you live in Johannesburg as you have to be vigilant at all times. I am not saying there is no crime in the Algarve, but there is a massive difference.
The ability to go for a walk or ride a bike and not have to go to a gym to keep fit which is not me. I would be active every day if I could by doing exercise outside. Friends of mine were attacked on a cycle trail last year so nowhere is safe.
What was noticeable was many people were out walking along the beach front in the evenings and many of these people were the older generation and families. Parents and their kids all riding bikes and not stuck at home in front of the tv or computer. This is not something we see here even though lately we have been getting lots of outsiders walking their dogs or running around our gated community due to it being safe.
All the time I was in Portugal I never saw one electric fence and it is refreshing to see when coming from a country with such extremes. I don't ever think I can let my guard down due to the way you have been conditioned to think as you have to. Many may not understand how tiring this is eve when living in a guarded neighborhood. It is far worse outside these communities as I never slept much from Thursday until Sunday morning due to literally guarding the house and family. This paid off as over the 3 years we lived in that house our neighbors were attacked a total of 13 times between them and us not once.
Friday and Saturday nights in the early ours I often here gunshots echoing around the valley and the tracker helicopter chasing stolen/hijacked cars. The noises are a constant reminder of how bad things are out there beyond our gated community. My daughter and grand kids moved into their new home last weekend and they have no extra security besides a boundary wall that I could climb over. I have no doubts they will be robbed during the day time when no one is home and it is a matter of time as the statistics are not on your side.
In South Africa you need money as all the extras are not cheap like private medical and private security plus the extra precautions like electric fencing, house alarms and external motion beams just to have a decent nights sleep. I know for certain we will be moving within the next year or two as the differences in what lifestyle is available is so vast.
