Letter from Espargal: 15 February 2014

The only two issues this past week have been the yucky weather and our vanishing TV. The latter vanished even further when the two commercial channels, ITV and Channel 4, followed the BBC in pulling the plug, leaving us with Sky News, CNN and a dozen "don't bother unless you're desperate" options. The change-over also left us bereft of UK radio by satellite.

Warning: Stand by for a high tech letter!

The local English-language press has been full of adverts for alternative suppliers of British channels. As far as I can tell, these all involve paying entrepreneurial types a lot of money to install equipment that will download UK video via the internet for a monthly fee. That in turn assumes a robust broadband connection from an ISP that permits virtually unlimited downloads.

Until the dust dies down and the stronger contenders emerge, we don't plan to sign anything. But we have taken interim steps. After much consultation with my cyber guru, Llewellyn, I trekked around the major electronics suppliers in search of several items of equipment. In this I was moderately successful, coming away with a booster device for the house wifi (Devolo dLan 500 AV wireless) and a (Cambridge) wireless speaker that picks up and amplifies the iPad audio.

It's quite fascinating to sit with my half dozen favourite radio stations visible on the iPad (TuneIn) radio app while the audio from the chosen channel emerges from the speaker on the far side of the study. Apart from occasional buffering, the signal is as good as that we used to get by satellite. So at least we are able to wake and retire to our regular stations. To lose quality TV is unfortunate; to have lost radio as well would have been a real disaster.

What I couldn't find in my tour of stores was either the box of tricks known as an Apple TV or alternatively a cable - to connect our iPads to the lounge TV set. Every single stockist was sold out and awaiting supplies. It would seem that the English speaking community had descended like vultures on the electronics stores the day the BBC went down, stripping them naked of all such equipment.

One salesman commented that it was the same story across mainland Europe and that it could be some time before suppliers were able to respond to the demand. Given the uncertainty, I've turned to Amazon.

In the meanwhile we are using two avenues to watch UK TV on our iPads. The first is via the website, FilmOn, although how long it will be able to maintain this service (in view of legal challenges) is another question. The other, using the Virtual Private Network I invested in last week, is via the BBC's iPlayer site, which allows UK viewers a week to catch up on any programmes they may have missed. Both approaches are working after a fashion, if you don't mind the small image and a bit of fiddling around. The audio - through the wireless speaker - is more than adequate.

Forgive me if you should think this to be a great deal of fuss about very little. It doesn't feel that way to us. The great advantage for northern expats of migrating to sunny southern climes is to enjoy the best of both worlds, the culture of the old world with the climate and low costs of the new one. And to find oneself suddenly bereft of a medium that for years has filled one's winter evenings is like coping with the death of a friend.

After some thought I also installed an anti-virus programme on my android smartphone, given the evils now threatening such phones and the personal information that an attacker might gain. Vodafone, my supplier, has been pestering me for some time to install its security software (€2 a month) but after reading critical reviews I thought better of it. Instead I opted for a free version from Kaspersky, whose security products I've been using satisfactorily on my computers for years.

I don't know about the electronic media in your part of the world but it seems to me that every time I turn something on, gender issues (or the weather) are under discussion. There is evidently a dearth of female company directors, investment bankers, members of parliament, government ministers, bishops and similar eminences. I do hope that satisfactory appointments to all these positions can be made soon so that radio and television hosts can talk about something else for a change.

THERE'S NOTHING TO BEAT A SLEEP-IN

Mind you, while on gender equality, I won no kudos from my wife for my "intolerant and grumpy" comments on four befeathered male ballerinas who were capering about a stage as alternative swans in some idiot's TV ballet production. (I tend to curse aloud at such lunacy, which - understandably - sometimes upsets her!)

Call me old-fashioned but I can't handle cobs in the corps de ballet, however many feathers they tuck into their tutus. When it comes to swanning around, I'm all for old-fashioned pens.

As to the weather, as you may have gathered from the pictures, it's been dismal. We've been encased in mist for much of the week. A fine unrelenting drizzle has penetrated every nook and cranny of the garden and the patios. A patina of moisture glistens on every surface.

Most of our old towels have been employed either to dry off the dogs after our daily slithers or to protect the hallway tiles against their wet paws. The sun is merely a distant memory. There are no stars for me to examine on my newly downloaded, much-lauded Star Walk app.

If this sounds like a complaint, it's not. I'm all too well aware how lightly we are getting off. Portuguese TV shows miserable people wading through inundated villages up north, UK TV is full of storms and floods and CNN carries on about the dreadful snowstorms in the US.

If the price that Algarvian hill-dwellers have to pay for global warming is merely a damp and misty fortnight, I can live with it. As so often, we give thanks for the central wood-fire that keeps the house so cosy, whatever the elements. The dogs, when not upstairs with me, just camp around it, giving little growls if any of their companions should intrude on their perceived private space. Fair enough!