Musings Archives - Page 9 of 45

Are Brazilians capable of organising a Mega-Event?

28/05/2014/28 Comments/in Musings

Vanessa Barbara

Yesterday I stumbled across an article in the New York Times, Brazil Is Tired of Being Scolded, which takes issue with the criticism that FIFA and the IOC have been directing at Brazil recently. The article’s author, Vanessa Barbara, is upset with what she sees as the condescending tone from ‘Mummy’ (FIFA) and ‘Daddy’ (IOC), and quips that Brazil may soon be grounded by its ‘parents’.

Well, I guess patriotism can make us all say strange things from time to time, but for me, this article is not only incoherent, but also rather depressing.

Incoherent

Barbara appears to be taking all this criticism very personally, while at the same time listing all the failings and injustices that the people of Brazil have suffered at the hands of their incompetent government. Now I’m no fan of FIFA or the IOC, but the criticism they are making is not of the Brazilian nation/people – it’s of the organisers of these events, in other words the government.

Spotting Toucans in Rio

21/05/2014/6 Comments/in Musings

Picture the scene: it’s 9am and I’m sitting at my desk with a full day of work ahead of me. My phone is switched off, I’m logged out of all instant-messaging applications and Mrs Eat Rio is in São Paulo. Today nothing will distract me. Today will be different. Today I will achieve!

I start tapping away at the keyboard and it feels like things are going well. Then a strange noise starts up outside. It’s actually quite annoying and for once it isn’t man-made. This is the sound I heard:

See what I mean? It is pretty annoying isn’t it? It’s also quite hard to ignore and it sounded like it was coming from the trees just outside the window, so I decided to investigate.

As tormentors go this fellow was rather charming.

Pre-Copa Mayhem

07/05/2014/6 Comments/in Musings

Well, the deadline is looming, the tension is mounting and the financial backers are getting nervous. With just 35 days to go, everyone is asking themselves same question: Will it be ready on time? Well I’ll tell you – it had better be ready on time or I’ll be in big trouble.

Wait, what? What were you talking about? I was talking about my first proper writing job which has to be delivered before the start of the World Cup. You were talking about the Copa itself? Well yeah, fingers crossed for that too I suppose.

The reason I started Eat Rio

18/04/2014/5 Comments/in Musings

Next month Eat Rio will be 3 years old. During this period I’ve written over 400 posts and 48 static pages; you guys have left more than 4,500 comments, and I’ve filtered out almost 2,000 spam comments (if I ever do inherit 22.9 million dollars from a long lost uncle in Nigeria, I’m almost certainly going to miss out). The Eat Rio Facebook page has almost 1,000 likes (come on people!) and the Eat Rio Twitter account has almost 1,000 followers (are you trying to torture me?).

Now I don’t want to get too misty eyed here but, for me at least, Eat Rio has meant more than just the numbers. Writing this blog has pushed me to investigate and learn more about this great city. I’ve also made lots of friends through the blog, had several of those mythical ‘free lunches’ and just recently I was able to escape a less than satisfying job and switch career paths completely. Not bad for 3 years!

It feels like an age ago now, but I still remember why I started this blog in the first place.

The Rio bus experience

07/04/2014/20 Comments/in Musings

Scream if you want to go faster! Image source

Well, I’m less than a week into my new life away from the daily grind and so far things are going well! I had been half expecting to have lots of free time now that my working day no longer involves spending 3-4 hours on public transport, however it’s amazing how quickly new tasks appear to fill the space. Not that I’m complaining you understand – right now, being busy is a very good sign!

But speaking of public transport, some of you may remember a post I wrote last year “Rio buses: Accidents waiting to happen” – it was the day after 7 people had died in a bus crash, so you can imagine I was feeling pretty strongly about bus safety.

But as well as safety concerns, my everyday complaint about riding on buses in Rio relates to the style of driving. Corners are treated with utter contempt, with most drivers actually accelerating as if trying to throw as many passengers off balance. If a traffic light turns red up ahead, but the driver has a 20 metre gap before the car in front, the driver will accelerate hard, then slam on the brakes at the last moment. Everyone gets thrown around bus for no good reason!

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Incoherent