And on the 7th Day he Blogged

Hell of a week, but I am back, determined.

My kitchen looks like the city of Homs after Bashar al Bastard’s revenge on the opposition, no dead Syrians, but there is a cockroach corpse…

Last Saturday, I got in a huff. My blog They Say it’s in the Genes has lost it’s graphics again which took the whole play on words jeans/genes out of the game. It has happened before with my original blog. It was my only blog that I had resurrected on Blogspot, done simply because the template wasn’t available on WordPress free. But in a pique on Saturday, I resolved the situation and created a reasonable resemblance, facsimile, copy, call-it-what-you-like. Then I struck problems transferring the posts (50 of them) across. Unwittingly, I had chosen to do the task on the night Brazil went out of Hora de verão (Daylight Savings Time), so I screwed up the sequence and dates of the first few posts…

Yes, it slowly dawned on me what the problem was. Sunday, I moved the remaining posts and all was okay. Lethargy set in, by Tuesday it had become apathy. Wednesday, I recovered somewhat and made two posts on Eco-Crap that took most of my available day. Thursday was just screwed up with the split day at work. Today I woke, low and behold, it is the 7th day since I have posted here. Deep shame set in; well it did until I got my first coffee.

This morning I read the news. Yes, newspaper and coffee are still my standard breakfast, even if the newspaper is electronic; it saves space on the kitchen table.

The Anglican Cathedral in Christchurch after the 6.3 mag earthquake in February 2011

The landmark of my childhood, under whose shadow my mother caught trams with me in my pushchair; under whose gaze I guiltily smoked my first cigarette is to be demolished, apparently it cannot be saved. It is structurally damaged beyond repair.

“a new cathedral with a different design would be built in its place.” BBC News

That would signal the death knell for the city. Christchurch, a city often referred to as ‘more English than England’ will have lost its identity. It would no longer be the place where I was born, merely a geographical location. In a rare moment of solidarity I agree with a politician, ‘Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the decision to demolish the cathedral was “heartbreaking”.’

Rio, looking from above across Botafogo

Yesterday was Rio de Janeiro’s birthday, the city was 447 years old. I made a small BBQ and had a beer to celebrate. One does these small things. In a bar full of Brazilians, the question was asked; “Whose birthday is it today?” The only person with the answer was not Brazilian; yes, me.

The photo shows Cristo Redentor perched on the top of the mountain called Corcovado (The Hunchback) to the right, Pão da Açucar in the middle, both famous landmarks of the city. Copacabana is over the hill to the right and to the left the suburb of Flamengo. Niteroi is in the background on the other side of Guanabara Bay.

Now, I need more coffee, I must set my kitchen to rights and blog the rest of the day away.

Later.