IMF - Lagarde on Portugal

yes incredible, this is the price for all the latest mod cons, irrigation systems, air con, underfloor heating etc etc

Has she not heard of cutting ones cloth to make ends meet.

You can live & survive in a different way if you have to, without any of those aforementioned items. In fact many of the Portuguese already do (estrangerios also) and have done for a long long time.
If you can't afford the standard of living you're used to, then you have to change it.

Has she not heard of cutting ones cloth to make ends meet.

Have to admit I haven't , though I have heard of cutting one's coat according to one's cloth.

yes incredible, this is the price for all the latest mod cons, irrigation systems, air con, underfloor heating etc etc

having said that my edp for two months was 261, and I don't have any of the afore mentioned items

I spoke today with a Portuguese woman who works at psychiatric clinic in Faro, she says they have lots pf people now needing help with depression over money problems which is hardly surprising

Quite a few people I know seem depressed and terribly worried even if nothing much has changed in their lives (which is the case of people that have little and have always lived with very little). The general mood is very depressive.

And yes, for that kind of bill I have thought of underfloor electric heating, for example, which is notoriously expensive to run. Some people never paid much attention to the running costs of "must have" items. Until now, that is...

<thinks>Note to self!
Barla - "Yes!"
Alter-ego - "Remember when you were in Pompei recently!"
Barla - "Yes!"
Alter-ego - "Remember seeing that wood/charcoal fired underfloor heating Roman Villas were equipped with?"
Barla - "Yes!"
Alter-ego - "Is there a market here in Portugal for wood/charcoal fired/bio/solar powered roman_underfloor_heating 2.0?"
Barla - "Hmm! Possibly! Maybe you should talk to a local "empreteiro" about it!"
Alter-ego - "Aaaaargh!
<exits stage left, screaming flailing arms wildly!>
</thinks>