Dear Editor,
We live north of Loulé and the countryside is beautiful. But the litter is terrible and is getting worse, or so it would seem.
The other day we went down to Loulé on our road which leads up to Querênça and we were amazed and delighted to see half a dozen men from the Loulé Câmara picking up all plastic and rubbish from either side of the road – wonderful!
That evening we went up to Querênça to have our usual coffee and tapas and the road was being guarded by the GNR. I asked what was going on and was told that President Cavaco Silva himself was there opening the new Library.
It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed seeing all the locals out enjoying themselves, as we do in the UK when our Queen pays a local visit. BUT what a shame, one week later and our roadsides are again full of litter, plastic bottles and the like.
I wish that everyone would play their part, Portuguese and expats alike, and keep the Algarve clean and tidy the way it was when we came here 25 years ago.
The graffiti is also getting very bad in Loulé. I cannot believe that a couple of months after the renovation and placement of lovely statues on the bandstand in the Avenida it is already daubed with someone’s signature. I just wish we could catch them and make them scrub it off and get a hefty punishment.
Just wanted to get this off my chest and I hope that President Cavaco Silva pays us a few more visits, it seems our only hope. Meanwhile, I shall continue to pick up after these litter bugs that pass my area!
JANET BENTLEY, by email
