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​’Every now and again I am staggered by the extraordinary greed of these people,’ said Courilof. ‘An ordinary man has the right to be greedy, because he knows that otherwise he would starve to death. But these people who have everything — money, friends in high places, property — they never have enough. I just don’t understand it. The Courilof Affair – Irene Nemirovsky

Massive majority of doctors in Malta against euthanasia

“Massive majority of doctors in Malta against euthanasia”

Times of Malta 06 December 2016

(The on-line version of the same newspaper headlines the article as: Nine in 10 doctors oppose euthanasia.)

1007 registered doctors.

396 doctors respond to a questionnaire about euthanasia.

357 doctors say they are against euthanasia.

How exactly does this translate into a “massive majority” when it isn’t…

Adults follow paths. Children explore.

“Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences.”

The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman

The magrelinha does the finding, I do the posing!

Qolla Safra – the Q in Qolla rises from deep within the throat and is then spat out, together with the loose rubble of an O, double L and A.

Qolla Safra – a formation of yellow earth that emerges from the dry soil and scattered stones that surround it.

Qolla Safra – also known, in a cold and anonymous manner that belies the raw nature of its…

Today we made it four in one morning. We tried hard to make it five but one cache in Pembroke had to be logged as a Did Not Find, in spite of our efforts.

If yes, what are your thoughts about it?

Thanks for any feedback you can give me.

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Here’s hoping your new year celebration was an enjoyable one. We spent the eve having dinner in our hotel room while watching the partying and countdown on television, then viewing part of the fireworks display in the distance from our terrace. Of course we could have chosen to be present in person but shoulder to shoulder crowds smelling of alcohol is not the ambiance we seek out.

The real bang was the first of January, when we set out on a walking tour of (a very small part of) the city. We combined this with a hobby of ours – geocaching. This is basically a modern day type of treasure hunting, using the phone’s GPS to locate hidden containers. These come in various sizes but as a minimum they must have a log book inside. The idea of the activity is to find the cache (which can be ingeniously hidden), sign the log book and replace it. Anyway, we ended up walking 22 kilometres,  finding 3 caches of the six we attempted. This is the route we took…

and here we are geocaching…

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(You can watch a short video about the activity by clicking on this link: https://youtu.be/4SpBPkPfoC8.)

The first day of the year was also the first time I tasted “caldo de cana”. It’s the juice of the sugar cane, ever so simple to make. Take a 60cm piece of sugar cane…

put it through a roller, the silver contraption in the background…

and here is the result…

The only addition is ice, turning it into an absolutely refreshingly delicious, all natural drink. What still amazes me is how something that looks so solid can in fact contain so much liquid.

Saturday afternoon we were flying back to Natal for the final few days of this Brazilian stay.

So, this is also the final “greetings to all ” ending because we’ll be back on the pebble in the Mediterranean on Friday.

  The “Brasil, belatedly” series. Click for: parts 1 to 11

Do you know the term “snail mail”? It refers to correspondence which arrives in an envelope or as a postcard. This is to contrast it with the speediness of emails. Well, had I sent this missive the traditional way, you’d have noticed from the stamp on the envelope that it was from Brazil. Looking more closely at the postmark, you’d have also realized that this time it’s not from Natal, but from Brasilia, which is the capital city of Brazil. You might think I’m stating the obvious but there are still many who instinctively say Rio when asked for the country’s capital. Within hours of Christmas Day expiring, we embarked on a 2 hours 30 minutes flight to spend a week in this fascinating place which, until 1960, was just a set of coordinates marking a remote spot in vastness that makes this country. Even though over half-a-century has gone by, the architecture of the time – a lot of it by the famed Oscar Niemeyer – is still considered modern by today’s standards. We spent a splendid Sunday visiting some of these iconic structures: parliament house, metropolitan cathedral, national library, museum of art. This is really Sandra’s cup of tea but I, too, was thrilled to be inside places I had only admired in books or on the internet.

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Probably the timing of our break was unintentionally the ideal moment to be in Brasilia. With it being the holiday season, many of the locals migrate to the beach resorts, with Natal being especially popular this year. This population drought results in barren expanses of tarmac that form the multi-lane avenues mirroring the four cardinal compass points. For a city of 2.5 million people, we have been left wondering where everyone who decided to remain is hiding. Come Monday we will discover whether blood cells still flow through the city’s veins if the cars return to populate their natural habitat.

The “Brasil, belatedly” series. Click for: parts 1 to 10

Brasil, belatedly. Sun beckons, sea invites, sand accommodates.

Already half-a-year has (nearly) elapsed since the magrelinha and I landed on the hot tarmac of Natal airport’s runway. I haven’t written anything yet about my experiences there so, with the guilty conscience of a debtor being 6-months in arrears, I am going to make weekly repayments through this series of blog posts – Brasil, belatedly.

This particular email is not only crossing the Atlantic…

Brasil, belatedly. Tracing itineraries with thousands of footsteps.

Already half-a-year has (nearly) elapsed since the magrelinha and I landed on the hot tarmac of Natal airport’s runway. I haven’t written anything yet about my experiences there so, with the guilty conscience of a debtor being 6-months in arrears, I am going to make weekly repayments through this series of blog posts – Brasil, belatedly.

Our week in São Paulo came to an end last Friday. Another…

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – Judith Kerr

It says on the back of the book – When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr – that the target audience is those aged between 9 and 11. Even if it were possible for me to take a pair of scissors to my age and trim off 75% of it, I would still be outside the recommended range. In spite of this yawning gap, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, which is an autobiographical one. Although Hitler is in…