Aged Lotharios

Today I smiled.

I smiled widely because I witnessed two men- one at the bus stop, in his mid 50's and one on the bus, in his gray haired 80's and both, were admiring the forms of two women, barely into their 20's.

The first bore a lecherous grin that seemed to say "Phwoar!" as he turned to follow her rear as it shimmied away, while the second merely allowed his head to follow where his eyes were already firmly ensconced. 

Seems in the south of Brasil, the macho perv is well and truly alive.

It makes me smile.

Porto Alegre ladies...

Joao de Barro

Or John of Clay is a bird that commonly nests here in Brasil.

On this occasion, a pair nested on the outside of our second floor window.

Sadly for us, they left before we moved in.
Happily for a family of Sparrows, they left before they moved in.

As with our apartment, the Sparrow family have seen to redesign their living quarters and as we speak are; knocking through muddy walls and re-decorating with twigs and leaves.
I must say, it's coming along nicely.

A few other facts about the previous tenants;

Joao de Barro/ John of Clay has a Mrs, she's called Maria of Clay or Ladybug of Clay or even Sabiazinho in some places.

They are said to be happy, intelligent and when they sing it's a sign of good weather.

We need some of that here.

Books books and more books

I've been on a bit of a reading binge recently.
My tally is constantly hitting one a week. Sounds low, but it averages out to 52 books a year.

That'd be good, if it weren't for the fact that on average I buy or bought (when in the UK) 4 books for every one read.

It's hardly my fault there are so many amazing novels out there.

Here's a few I've read in the last month;

One Englishman's journey from one end of Japan to another using shoe rubber and a fluency in the language.
A joy from beginning to end.

Not just a collection of shorts (some good some bad) but a guide from the start of an exceptional career. How it all began.

Four shorts and everyone an original. The title tale tells how one businessman sees exploration and the only way to fund the expedition may very well be in optioning off the Moon herself.

Think War of the Worlds, but with Jellyfish and told through the eyes of a pair of journalists.
Highly recommended. Just can't understand why in a Hollywood where originality is so stale, this classic of sci-fi hasn't been told?

Torrential Rain in the South

Until the other day, it's been raining...a lot.

When I say a lot, I mean it's been falling from the sky like I left the shower on high.

Having taught Nikki at her office at the beginning of the week and not believing that the weather would get worse than an umbrella could handle, I set about the 30 minute walk home, with the rain coming down at an even pace.

I had agreed to get a taxi back, but given that it was raining, there seemed to be a shortage. I hailed and hailed, but to now avail. As such, I set about my journey with gusto.

I figured well, if it's going to rain, I'm going to get wet either way, may as well enjoy it...

Then the rain escalated.

Looking up into the blackened sky you could almost feel lightning and thunder cracking and throbbing behind the murky grey clouds. I brandished the umbrella like a weapon, but could not shake the memory of random cartoons where the character got zapped by lightning and his hair shot up in a spiky fashion.

Needless to say, I got a tad damp.

My jeans, jacket, socks and books all turned multitudes of shades darker and as such, my boots have only just- 4 days later, resumed their lighter brown appearance.

Here are a few images I decided to capture, standing in one of many puddles by the sides of the roads.

Nao Cachorros during renovation

So, as we moved into our new apartment, we've been sadly without mutts/puppies/dogs/pests/ flatulence chunky hounds. Here is what happened upon a recent visit to see our caramelo cardella, her cachorro charmoso and the rest of the crazy gang.

Pricilla and Joca decided it was time to leave. We'd happily have let Pricilla drive, but not Joca. That guy's Nuts!!!

Lilika (Nikki's dog) dozed on the back porch, sitting up.

Angelina the Muscle Dog stole centre stage.

In other news, we found the most disturbing child model on the front of a Huggies pack...what do you think?

Daily/Weekly Posts

The problem with daily or even weekly blogging is that you are, in fact, setting yourself a target and for those of us with either a lazy bent or a busy life, both timeframes can be difficult to meet.
That being said, I shall now do what I can to catch up on my musings and the rambling thoughts you have all come to read in the ‘tens’ of people.

The other day, on my way to give Nikki her weekly English lesson I chanced to look out of the bus (onibus) window and what should I see in the ground floor window of the apartment to my left? A Sex Doll. One of those blow-up variety. Now I’m not the kinda fella to cast dispersions on those gentlemen that find amusement and comfort In the rubbery arms of an artificial woman, but I do find the contrast between that and the seasonally confused trees shedding their yellow blossoms amusing.

Sitting in the coffee shop today, with Clarissa and her Mum- Nikki, I happened to glance across the street. On the first floor balcony I witnesses what can only be described as a very animated woman in her 60’s, flailing an arm in an all-encompassing swipe at a fly. The only thing that might have made this scene less subtle might have been had she been using a shotgun for the same purpose.

On yes, I almost forgot, we’re moving apartments. Or rather, we have moved apartments. In fact, we moved apartments and then, having packed, transported and moved in, we got the builders in. As it stands, we have a few, very capable men with sledge hammers giving a variety of non-load bearing walls a good seeing-to. You should see it. Dust and rubble everywhere and us, hunkered down in the back bedroom, clothes, chairs, tables and books piled high around us but…we’re in. We’re in our new home and we couldn’t be happier!

Well, we could, but we don’t care.

As of last night we were still awaiting electricity. As such, we drank red wine by candle light and gazed out of our huge window as the sun fell and the street lights lit our inebriation.
I’ll throw in a few photos for you curious folks.

We showed the new place to Pricilla and Joca, who are, rather than get under foot, holidaying at their Grandparents place with the other ‘Well Behaved Mutts’. They loved the new apartment. They’re getting a dog-run, effectively and all the pooping and peeing space they could want. Joca and I raced around the then empty apartment the other day, with a surprisingly sprightly Pricilla closely in tow. Needless to say, I won. The highlight of said race was watching Joca attempt to stop when his toe nails are slightly too long and he over shoots the ending.

We woke up for the first time in the new place to the sound of birds chirping. Actually, I was rudely awakened by very noisy winged creatures at 5am while Clarissa slept on soundly. Great.
Well, that’s ya lot. More on the Canada trip when I have a little extra time. A bit more on my new job teaching English in Viamao and an update on my children’s book- The Night the Llama Saved Christmas, coming soon to an Amazon marketplace in November, fingers crossed.

One of the many brilliant pre-sketches by Illustrator Tania Vicedo Molto.

Ohhhh Caaaa na da!

Yes, we have been and returned in one piece from the friendly country to the north of the U.S. and I must say, we loved it.

Starting at around midday in Porto Alegre, Clarissa, Nirlei, Cezar, Mauricio, Luciana and I hopped onto an aeroplane and high-tailed it (ha ha haaa) to Sao Paulo. Once in Sao Paulo, we boarded another flying vehicle and landed in the city of Toronto, when in Toronto, we jumped a train and choo chooooed all the way to Ottawa.

During our visit we managed to take in four of Canada's major cities; Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec.

Above is the skyline of Toronto, taken from a ferry crossing to the local islands on Lake Ontario.

So, starting in Ottawa we took in all the little Capital had to offer. That included a spectacular sound and light show projected onto the side of the 1927, Centre Block building on Parliament Hill called the Mosaika. This took the form of still and motion images set to music and displayed along the full length of the building. The most awe inspiring part clearly being when painted works of art appeared to rain from top to bottom. Beautiful/Lindo/Bonito!

Throughout our journey we stayed in what can only be described as the most opulent of hotels. The Fairmont chain is worldwide and in Canada in particular, it seems to have made the most of the Château's and castles around. In Ottawa, this is where we stayed;

A Castle, slap bang in the middle of Ottawa and a tourist attraction in it's own right.

My God was it HOT?! I know many of you reading may have this thought and I was guilty of it too; "If you live in Brasil, shouldn't you be tanned and used to the hot weather already?!"

Well, the answer is, I do live in Brasil, but despite it's confusing seasons, it isn't always warm (it is right now however) and as such, I am now a touch more coloured than my pasty English skin should be. 

Our time in Ottawa was brief, but we saw the Rideau Canal, the Parliament Hill area, the all important drinking and socializing area- Market Square and the National Gallery of Canada. 

The Gallery itself happened to be holding a Van Gogh exhibition, of which bore significant memories for both Clarissa and I, given that we attended a similar show in Amsterdam when we first met over 12 years ago and on this occasion, we managed to see, pick up and despite numerous attempts (we left it on the train to Toronto, only for a very well meaning woman to chase us down with it in hand soon after), not lose a print of the Almond Tree.

More to come...next stop- Toronto!