Two Hamburgers Later

I have no idea, it popped up when I googled ridiculous

I had most of my day’s posting done before 4am,

Yes, I know that’s ridiculous, okay?

I woke again about 8:30, and blogged a little more.

That was so exhausting that I retreated to Nap-fu practice and rewoke about noon.

More coffee.

And I made two hamburgers for lunch, actually they were hamburgerlettes, tha buns were so small. I ate the second at the botequim with beer.

Now one of the regulars was there. He had been there since 9ish, I know that because he nearly ran me over while I was standing drinking coffee in the middle of our newly carpeted bit of road admiring the asphalt .

Now, this guy is a nice guy. He’s merchant marine retired and full of stories. But when he’s chapado (drunk) he is intelligible and his most profound statement is something like “AAAARRRGGGHHHH!” with which he punctuates any silence. I couldn’t take it, I came home after one bottle and retreated to a further Nap-Fu.

Another door knocker with bible in hand this morning. Did he get a short shift. He complained that I wasn’t very considerate, to which I replied neither was he knocking on peoples’ gates. He seemed rather stunned by my retort, and stood there blinking in disbelief before toddling off to annoy the early morning chorus at the botequim.

I made this this morning in the early hours.

In the early hours I have my strangest ideas. 3am and coffee do wonderful things to the brain, some people call it inspiration, I call it insomnia.

It alludes to my long-held belief that we (our species) are not of this planet.

Ever figured out why they can’t find the missing link… there isn’t one to find.

I was working on the idea, that we are indeed from elsewhere, somewhere that we were expelled from. Maybe another human like species put all their meglomaniacs on the bus and that is why we are such a pathetically insane bunch. Our collective meglomania has been expunged in some to the point that we became normal, and are ready to put the remaining meglomanics on the next bus to go and terrorise another world.

I haven’t read the full story, just the headline, some idiot wants to open a witchcraft church school somewhere in England. Smacks of Hogwarts. Why? What would the curriculum be?

New Zealand politics has been rattled. The publiction of a new book about the incumbent prime minister’s party’s dirty tricks. Looks like squeaky clean John Keyes is really an A grade slime ball. Oh, and this is just before October elections… This should be fun.

The Chinese have pissed off the Americans. An armed Chinese Su-27 buzzed an American fighter in international waters, coming within 10 metres. Now as a person with limited aviation experience, I can assure you that 10 metres is damned close when you’re thumping along at 600+ knots, close enough to cause skids marks in a pilot’s underwear.

The Russsian convoy has retreated back to Russia. It appears that the relief was intended not for Ukranians but the pro-Russian sympathisers.

That’s it!

The night has been shattered by a rausous cacophony. My concentration is totally destroyed. There are some that would call this music, however, I certainly don’t  SOngs where the same six word are repeated ad nauseum to an infantile beat.

The chances of getting anything coherent from me now are gone.

I feel a thought coming; one that is commensurate with the current effluent music.

Later.

 

It’s never too late

Before we head off into the second week of the New Year, I’m going to hit the ‘Thank You’ key.

There are some people out there who deserve a BIG thank you, who have followed, visited regularly, commented and generally supported my various blogs over the past year.

In not particular order…

Andrew from Hong Kong has a photography blog All downhill from here mainly birds, he visits here almost daily hits the like button and leaves comments.

Chas Spain Design has an art blog, another regular hitting the like button and leaving comments.

Rachel over at quakerattled comes from my home town, but moved to Auckland because of the earthquakes that flattened our city, visits, comments and likes daily. She has recently been touring England writing and photographing her travels with the family and is about to return home.

Small at Reduce Footprints, a great environmental blog, a superb resource for anyone bent in that direction. I have been following Small since her first appearance in the blogosphere and we have at times been partners in crime. She is on her annual hiatus presently, hopefully to return on 22nd Jan.

Set the Tempo is where you’ll find Kymbo from Down Under. He visits, comments and likes on two of my blogs on a daily basis. I love his byline: “A little of this and that, not too much of some things and way too much of other things…”

Conrad at Wine Wankers, have a great blog, and another The Lords of the Drinks, both regular visitors and likers.

Fromage Homage is a turophile, has a cheesy blog teaching us about the wonders of British cheeses… who ever knew?

I’m going to stop here, I could add many more, but I have to get to the supermarket; I’m out of… well, just about everything.

So for the ones I didn’t dig out of the trash file, you’re not forgotten, whenever you visit here, I do eventually get to your blog too. Now I’m feeling guilty that I haven’t included everyone…

I’ll leave you with today’s art work…

Even my Coffee Hates Mondays

It’s true, watch what happens…

It’s a terrible state of affairs. What would you do if your coffee behaved like this?

I didn’t get here yesterday. It was the planned BBQ and I had much to do.

The laundry lady came and went. I blogged while she was here and got most of my blogging done except here and Eco-Crap, which I’ll have to rectify later.

Once she was gone I launched into BBQ-mode. Salads, meats, nibbles, drinkies,

*Oh, poo, that reminds me, there’s a two litre bottle of Coke still in the freezer!*

Phew, no explosion, but there’s now a two litre brick of brown ice on the bench.

I don’t normally have coke in the house, but this was a freebie I got when I ordered home delivery pizza. I don’t drink the stuff, but the kids demand it.

All was ready at the appointed hour.

I lit the BBQ just after midday, all was going well.

The appointed hour was between 12 and 1pm, came and went, No EX.

2pm, came and went, no EX.

2:30pm, the EX phoned, ‘we’re on the bus’

3:30pm EX and kids arrived.

She always does this, it’s a Brazilian trait. After twenty plus years here, I should have expected it.

I had meat on the grill, so the locals at the botequim were the beneficiaries as were a group of the local kids. I was also famished, so I didn’t wait, I had lunch – at lunchtime!

There was also a party at the botequim, birthday party for Reimundo’s daughter with music, so while we had ours in the yard the gate was open and we enjoyed the benefits while we ate, drank and talked.

Cloro in Black & White

Cloro loved it too, he’s cool now with the world outside and spend much of the time bounding (he doesn’t just walk, he’s a toddler) between the bar and home. Now, Cloro is a cat, cats love paper bags. Cloro found the empty charcoal sack… guess what?

You got it, he became a black and white cat.

He’s also a boy-cat, he didn’t mind the dirt at all.

About 5pm the Antarctica BOA van came with live music, so we shifted to a table out in the praça. Emmylee ran round taking photos until the battery gave up exhausted… 141 of them, about half of which were mysterious blurs. Have to teach that girl how to take photos. The ex danced samba, I watched, my legs were on the verge of not behaving like legs, not because of the beer, but just exhaustion.

Emmylee is growing up, she’s a big girl now, seven. But she’s a Brazilian girl and she knows how to dance.

Dancing is something that Brazilian girls do well, Emmylee is no different.

About 9pm and we tidied up the bagunça (mess), and they went home, the house returned to it’s normal calm and I wasn’t far from the Land of Nod.

The ‘exploding coffee was from this video clip… I just couldn’t get the .gif to work.

Am I, in fact, my Father’s Son?

I believe I could be. I share too many of his traits right down to the wonky big toenail on my left big toe not to be.

Do you remember these guys in the picture on the right?

If you don’t, maybe you shouldn’t be reading this blog, you’re too young.

Of course, they are the Beatles about the time I first remember them.

Apart from my father’s love of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, treacle and gardening, I share my father’s prejudice.

In yesterday’s post I likened rap music and passinho dancing to crap; I haven’t changed my mind.

But, I did reflect on the matter. My opinion was a reflection, an absolute mirror reflection, of my father’s opinion the first time he heard the Beatles.

New record player with the long spiky thing that held the records aloft before playing them

I was 12 at the time. During an after school visit to my friend’s place, Richard put a 45rpm record on one of those new modern record players.

The record was the Beatles. This was my introduction to the ‘fab four’.

I got home and turned on the old valve radio in the livingroom; you know the ones that took a week to warm up.

That was where my father found me, lying on the floor listening to the Beatles…

“What’s that rubbish on the radio?” My cue to turn it off. “The radio is for listening to the news and cricket!”

I was duly chastised.

Yes, I am my father’s son.

I forgot…

Yes, old age is certainly creeping up.

I had meant to add this clip at the end of Sunday’s post.

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I just love the pan pipes from the Andes, makes me homesick for Peru.

And this one, this one could well be the group we listened to at Rumillacta, I can’t gurantee that.

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The Fatted Calf

Well, not actually, rather a fatted me. But the title just seemed to fit after yesterday’s.

Some of the goodies on offer

The music started and I fled in a taxi.

It’s only a five minute trip and my table was being prepared as the waiters saw me walk hobble in the door.  My table is about half way down the restaurant, I always sit at the same if it is free. By the time I got there, doffing my hat on the spare chair whilst the other was held ready for me, my beer arrived. Chilled handle, sem colarinho (no head), placed exactly where I like it. Apart from greeting the waiters as I entered, I hadn’t ordered my beer; it just arrives and is often on the table before I get there, if one of the waiters has spied my arrival outside.

The restaurant is probably the classiest in my wild west part of Rio, it’s also the most expensive. The price of the evening rodizio is R$34 (about USD18) plus drinks; beer at R$6.90 a handle. Now that may not seem expensive by 1st world standards, but here it is. So I expect the service, I am also one of their more regular diners; three or four times a month, so they tend to look after me. Especially after an affair a couple of years ago when a request was refused and I boycotted the place for 14 months. Eventually the maitre (the one who had refused my request) found me in another restaurant and apologised, inviting me back for a free meal.

I did go back and I learned he got shit from the owner over the affair, considering the restaurant lost about R$1,500 over the period due to my boycott.

I get treated ever so well.

I got home just in time to see the music pack up and the van drive off, perfect… but not quite. There was a guy there with a mini disco system and they played on until 1am, needless to say I was sleepless until then.

Words will be spoken. Loud music until 1am across the road from my gate is just pure ignorance.

Later

Updated the Music & Stuff Page

Remember these guys?

…Boy are you old!

Yeah, I know, I am too.

Steppenwolf 7 was among the first albums that I ever bought; along with Deep Purple’s Hush.

I have just added some tracks to my Music & Stuff page (link at the top). I wrote an intro blurb too, something that was lacking.

It’s on this page that you will find my tastes in music; as I said in the blurb “from classical to the banal.”

The page opens with Axel F’s ‘Crazy Frog’ (an example of the banal) and works its way alphabetically to Vangelis. There’s a lot in between.

For some this page would be a stroll down memory lane, for others (younger) it would be more like “WTF?”

TGIF

Yes, always a happy time of the week.

Normally Fridays are part of my weekend, but I have a lesson today.

After that, it’s beer o’clock.

This is also the end of the month for me. Pay day is Monday and I have made it with cash to spare. That’s always a good sign.

I have been moderately busy this morning, not busy busy, just busy enough not to be bored.

It’s noisy outside. A group of the neighbours and hangers-on have decided to have a BBQ in the park right across from my gate. They’re not the neighbours I associate with, they are far more considerate when it comes to making noise. These guys have got music being played through an amplifier, far too bloody loud. It’s one of the down-sides of living in Brazil. I hate to say it, but they’re part of the poverty, lacking education part of Brazilian life.

A pleasant little interlude. I went out to water the plants and scowl fiercely over the fence. Didn’t make any difference. I mean I really wouldn’t mind if they were playing music, but the crap they have on is not music, it’s the banal nauseating repetitious beat of rap. It’s the absolute pits. I’m not expecting them to play Beethoven, just something that is at least pleasant on the ear and not a neuron wrenching blare.

Well, it has arrived. The time to get desmellified and assume an acceptable appearance. Who knows, somebody might take me for a teacher.

Later.