Birthday evening recap

The evening was brilliant.

The Irish bar believes in free admission to the birthday boy + 1. Nice.

A bit of pool, I won (though it's entirely possible my extremely competitive girlfriend let me win), a few Weiss beers, cheesy wedges, a few more beers from the local supermarket and a tragically bad film-Slugs (http://www.cultfilmzuk.blogspot.com.br/2012/04/slugs.html).

A fun night all told.

Birthday!

33...and counting.

You won't believe it friends and fans, but I'm running.
Yep, exercising, me.
It's been a while...let's say, since Grimsby, 10 years since I ran regularly and that was little more than a few times.
I'm even enjoying it too. Helps when your dedicated girlfriend follows with a stick.
I'm not enjoying the push ups, sit ups, crunches, etc...

We were out running through the park the other day and got stopped by station 4, Record TV. A national television station. They wanted to interview sporting people about potentially putting signs up in English for the foreigners when the World Cup starts.

Low and behold, they got a Brit and his Mrs. What luck.

Q. What do you think David? 


A. I think it's a great idea, we don't actually know any other languages.

Tune in and see Clarissa and I on National telly- http://rederecord.r7.com/

Off out for drinks in an Irish bar (closest to home spun comfort) and a bite to eat.

Thanks to you all for the birthdays messages.
Miss you all.

PS. there's a rather large sofa here and two friendly dogs if you fancy a trip south. Though the weather has just changed...bit chilly now.

Herb Garden

Viamao

I accompanied Clarissa to Viamao the other day, the former capital of Rio Grande Do Sul, a small town, just outside Porto Alegre where she works once a week in a small clinic. Everyone smiles. It's like going to Bakewell-Derbyshire. Her boss, Lara even set me up in the spare examination room, so I ,could read, write, pretend to play doctor and generally stay out of trouble.

It was a productive day. Finished my first draft of the children's book I've been working on for the the past 4-6 weeks. not happy with the ending, but first drafts are made for amending. I'd been looking for an illustrator for a while, but it seems that publishers tend to use in-house artists, so that's one less thing to bother with.

This town feels like any other, a community. The stress/tension that the big smoke provides seems little more than a very light mist here.

Had to go to the dentist, that was the reason for accompanying Clarissa to work. Urgh. Never liked it, never will...but Dr Fernando was great! 'No pain', were his reassuring words instantly. He had a big beaming smile. Pigeon English meets pigeon Portuguese (his and mine), funny...and educational. A good cleaning and no berating for three decades of neglect, lovely bloke. A hearty handshake and 'Muito Obrigado'.

Joined a site called meetup.com before I left Britain, designed for ex-pats. So far I've been unable to find any, but I shall keep looking.

I'm beginning to settle in. I was understandably apprehensive at first, but I'm a naturally polite/pleasant person, so a smile and 'Nao Compreendo muito bem' (I don't understand very well) goes a long way.

The cultfilmzuk blog is going well. Simon added half a dozen (seis/meia) reviews the other day (taking some of the weigh off my shoulders) and after monetizing the site before I left, the adverts have so far brought in a whopping...25p! Oh yeah! Big money. Thankfully I'm not doing it for the cash, but a few clicks on the ads would be nice. Either way, it's fun and occasionally funny.

I've only been here two weeks...feels so much longer! The apartment is now littered with plants and we even have a balcony herb garden, complete with 4 chilli plants! I have a home and I have a family.

Porto Alegre Observations

9 storey high palms line Control Square and separate two of the main museums. In a city populated with skyscrapers, Porto Alegre seems supported by nature. The light breeze, even today on an almost Autumn day, does little to alleviate the heat that tingles the skin. Not that the residents seen that bothered. They wear a variety of clothing, no matter the weather, ranging from business dress, traditional Gaucho, high heels, jeans, shorts and almost everywhere you look, Gremio FC shirts.

The people, I'm relaibly informed, sought to succeed from the nation, only to sadly fail in the attempt. But all credit to a city of 2 million that takes on a country of 192 million. Their charisma and attitude are as varied as their dress sense. With fashion reviving the 1980's, I feel a little out of place in my shorts and shirt combo.

Walking through one of the many parks in the city, I'm surprised by the dedication to exercise. It's seems everywhere I look women wear lycra and jogg the paths, while the elderly make use of specifically designated exercise areas. The guys seem to either walk bare chested or sport their football shirts.

The other day was 'Military Day'.

I'm unsure how often this occurs, but the crux of it was, what seemed to be a full regiment of varied army personnel setting up exhibitions, tents for free health checks, promotional material and even a few tanks dotted around. Not that you got to drive them, much the chagrin of my girlfriend.

Every sunday, stalls dot the road that lies parallel to the park, selling woodwork crafts, flip flops, antiques, books, snacks and a multitude of other items, most familiar, some not. If you find yourself missing the home comforts, the centre of our local park boast a fleet of peddilows, giant Swan shapes, foot driven like everywhere else. I had to smile when I saw them.

Bamboo is a common feature here. Sure, the weather's right for them but my naivety prior to arriving left me with a look of surprise on my face when I saw just how much there is. I keep expecting Kung-Fu Panda to leap out.

Born and raised in Sheffield to two loving and polite parents, I was taught patience, respect and yes, polite behaviour. That is something that seems lacking in most major cities, London in particular. It seems so here too, sadly. There's this awful rush that seems to invade the residents. Clearly, the ones I know are lovely, but I'm such a relaxed individual that when that rush comes, I'm more than willing to step aside and wait for the chaos to disperse. Maybe it's just the working mentality? That need to get there as fast as possible, get things done and move on? Because it isn't there at night.

We've been out a few times so far in my short stay and I can't say I've seen anything akin to a hurry at night.

Driving. Now there's something new to me. Not that I'm driving myself (not after the boat or my early endeavours on the moped) or that driving is a foreign concept to me, but drivers all around the world are different. There's a frantic hurry to driving here too, but it's understood.

Quick signals, even quicker turns, no crashes. Really. I can't believe it. None so far anyway.

I remember my father talking about driving in the U.A.E. It was a case of drive as fast as everyone else, get where you're going and dodge the dead camels on the side of the road. Not that there's any camels here, but you get the gist.

Dogs. Lots of dogs. Everywhere.

Brazilians seem to love 'em. Clarissa has two, Joca and Pricilla (he's boistrous to say the least and she's  three legged, big-boned and adorable) and her family has seven. Yes, 7!

Having never been a dog person, or rather, never had 'em as pets for more than a few days (a greyhound when I was 9...didn't get along with the cat, surprisingly) I was unsure how I'd be received. I needn't have worried, they love me. Even the yappy wee sausage dog that hates newcomers likes me, or at least tolerates me. That's a step in the right direction.

So far, all's well and I'm liking my new city.

This is similar to our boat

The River Grey

On Saturday, 14th April, Clarissa's family and I decided to venture out onto the Guaiba river in their new speedboat. Something I'd been looking forward to immensely since hearing it existed a few months prior. The night before, the heavens opened and the sun soaked tarmac of the roads below our apartment ran with torrents. This, we thought might put a dampener on the prospect of a marine voyage, but the following afternoon, there we were at the boat club, rain still falling, but confident the grey and black sky would lighten soon.

Boarding the boat, Clarissa, Cesar (her dad), Niki (her mum) and I prepared for the afternoon delights. We'd brought sandwiches from the club and settled down to enjoy them while Cesar sadly, had to endeavour to fix the ignition socket. Seems the mechanioc that gave the boat it's M.O.T. not one week earlier had missed this 'trivial' element. Th ignition had fallen to the bottom of the control panel and as a result, my pro-active girlfriend and her dad had to remove said panel and retrieve the starter.

Niki and I, being blonde and of little use in this effort, simply sat at the rear of the boat and ate our sandwiches. Very tasty too. With the boat duly fixed, we slowly traversed the other moored vessels (that would be all of them) and headed out onto the grey seas.

Looking back, the weather, the ignition and the fact that we were the only people headed out should have been a clue.

Once we cleared the jetty, Cesar allowed me to drive. That's right, Me! To clarify, when I was 16yrs old, I owned a Moped. I crashed it...a lot! I even collided with a stationary car because I had my head down and failed to pay attention to the stop in traffic. I don't drive either.

Cesar didn't know any of this. Had he, he might not have been so willing to let this 32, almost 33 year old blonde, dazey bloke stear his brand new boat...but hey, you live and learn.

I didn't crash it.

Really. I did however come close to bottoming out the boat. We were within a few feet of the riverbed before my beloved girlfriend (also far too trusting of my abilities...and she knows better) advised me to correct my heading.

Relinquishing command of the vessel, Cesar took over and I happily finished my sandwiche. All of half an hour later, Clarissa and I were sitting on the deck of the boat (bow? stern? I dunno?) and appreciating the stylish houses that encircled the river.

I suppose we'd been out around an hour. Clarissa and I were having a blast. The boat certainly goes fast and I had a grin on my face like a demented child at Christmas. Cesar suggested we come inside as the waves were becoming a little more volatile than we had imagined they might. By this time I was a touch damp around the legs, but still happy.

The the weather picked up. A lot!

Clarissa had earlier pointed out a rather larger black cloud that was approaching from not too far away. By now, it was almost on top of us.

Clear weather, calm waves, no visibility issues...we'd be back in 10-20 minutes.

We did not have clear weather, calm waters or clear visibility. We had, black clouds, heavy rain, high waves (3 metres-our boat being around 4 metres high) and were, at this rate, quite a way from home.

Clarissa stood at the front of the boat, next to the steering wheel, doubling as a spare set of eyes for her father, who stood behind the plexi-glass, while she held the plastic access sheeting (that you walk through to get onto the deck) and got a touch damp. Niki sat in the passenger seat, while I relaxed, as best I could on the seats at the rear.

Twenty minutes- approximately, of bumpy weather followed and a good few gallons of polluted river water drenched my girlfriend thoroughly. Again, I sat at the rear and calmly accepted my diminished role as passenger.

'This never happens' were Niki's words when the weather lessened. I smiled and suggested 'What's life for, if not for living?', relieved that the experience was over.

It wasn't!

The lull lasted five minutes, at most. Weather and waves bombarded our vessel again. At this time, Niki suggested we don our life-vests, strategically located under my arse. I pulled out two for our Captain and First Officer, then another two for Niki and I.

Never skilled at dressing myself, it took me a few minutes to place the vest correctly over my head and tie it tight. Thankfully (if you can say that), the other members of the crew were a touch too busy to notice my clear ineptitude.

I said little throughout our adventure. This would later be referred to as 'calm'. Realistically, I think I was just at a loss for words.

The boat rocked side to side, forward and back as the waves assaulted our 6-man berth and showed no sign of stopping again. Had it not been for the sounding depth, we'd have pulled into shore long ago, but the river yo-yo'd between 12 metres and 2 feet in depth. Guess where it was most shallow. Yep.

Clarissa and her father dedicatedly and skilfully stared down the storm, zig-zagging between the high riding, crashing waves. By this point the inside was just as wet as the outside of the boat. I may sound melodramatic here, but hell, you go out there and tell me it wasn't bloody dangerous.

After about 3/4 of the return trip, Clarissa had to join me in the back. sea sickness had taken it's toll and I was there to lend a helping hand. She didn't vomit, amazingly. Neither did I, even more amazingly. Niki took over and finally we reached the marina.

Relief does not cover the feeling I was experiencing at this point. Joy as well. Joy that I hadn't yakked and neither had my hero girlfriend.

She stood there, right in the face of the storm, took all the waves there were and then some. Incredible.

My first words upon the end of this voyage? 'Again Again!' Somewhat revelling in what can either be seen as calm comedy, designed to lighten the mood or hysteria...you decide.

As we pulled into the marina, we moored the craft and headed for the club. A touch damp I might add (think , cat in a bathtub). Clarissa got there first, only to be asked upon her arrival, 'Were you one of the people rescued?'.

Rescued?! Pah!

Who needs rescuing?!

Thinking back and planning for the future...we might read the weather report next time.

Arrival

On the 10th of April I boarded the flight that would to take me across the sea to Brazil and to a completely new life.

12 years ago I met a beautiful Brazilian girl across a camp site fire in Munich. We stayed "together" (email, phone and visits) for almost two years, we then sadly separated.

In January 2012, we reunited and now, I'm an Englishman living in the sun.