Today I would mostly like to say a big Happy Birthday to my Mum! It’s at times like this that I feel the downside of living in Brazil. The sun and adventure is all very well, but it’s tough to be away from so many loved ones for such long periods. I have also just recently missed my niece’s birthday and (unfortunately for her) I am one of those people who is useless at planning ahead, buying presents or using the postal system (AKA a man).
Happy Birthday Mum!
They say that anyone who actively wants to be a politician should be prevented from being one on principle. It’s a cynical way of looking at things, but then it’s not exactly breaking news that politics attracts its fair share of dishonest characters. If we take the example of the UK over the last decade, scandal after scandal has emerged with depressing regularity – politicians accepting money to ask questions in parliament, widespread cheating of expense allowances (i.e. stealing), and over-cosy relationships with evil media moguls to name just a few.
Despite the regularity of political scandals back home, since coming to Brazil I have been shocked not only by how widespread the corruption here seems to be, but also by the sheer audacity and greed with which it is perpetrated.
Sadly it is all too easy to become desensitised to all this dishonesty, but even against this background, every once in a while a story comes along that takes my breath away.
Those of you who’ve been paying attention will know that I started a new job recently. A simple version of the situation is that I am employed by a British company to provide services to a client of theirs which happens to be a good-sized Brazilian company based in Rio. It was a fairly demanding selection process – 4 interviews, one in Portuguese, one involving me giving a 20 minute presentation) – which stretched over a period of 2 months. At the end of all that, it became clear that they liked me and so I thought my troubles were over. In fact my troubles had only just begun!
My future portrait?
Ideas for blog posts usually pop into my head when I’m on my way to work. Sometimes I spot something going on and decide to do some investigation, other times the subject of the post actually gets on the bus and takes the seat in front of me. There have been occasions when a little undercover filming/photography was required and at those time I fearlessly pursue the image in order to present it to you, my dear readers.
Well a combination of these things came together recently and allows me to finally write about something I’ve had on my list for a long time. Carioca women have a very distinctive style when they’re going to/from the academia (gym). Like I said, I’ve been wanting to write about this for ages, but I had one big problem – images!
Put yourself in my shoes – if I want to tell you about this then I really need to be able to show you what I’m talking about. “Fine,” you say, “so go to a gym and take a few photos”. This is where we get to the problem. Hanging around outside a gym, taking photos of women doesn’t look good does it? I played with the idea of approaching some gym-goers and explaining why I needed a photo, but again, it just sounds a bit weird doesn’t it?
And so the idea hit a stumbling block. Until a few days ago when I was walking to the Metro station and a girl came out of a door in full gym gear and strode briskly down the street just a few metres in front of me. I realised that this was my chance to whip my phone out and take my chance.
In my growing series of “Bus stalking” posts, I wanted to share this amazing sight from this morning:
