Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 3 degrees, bitterly cold but sunny with blue skies.
In the morning, it was a beautifully sunny day with blue skies, but in the afternoon, it was shitty weather with a lot of rain and bitterly cold.
I usually have a class at 11 a.m. in England, which is 7 a.m. in Brazil. I sometimes expect the pupil to cancel, as I am familiar with her schedule and workload, but she usually only cancels at the last minute.
What I wanted to do before the possible class was to walk to the canal, feed the swans, and then have tea at my favourite cafe in the village, and then return to give the class if it wasn’t cancelled.
I went to the canal, it’s about a 10-minute walk from my mother’s house, and it was as if the swans were waiting for me. A couple of swans that I have fed many times along the stretch of the canal have recently been staying inside the basin, the nearest part of the canal to the park and where my mother lives.
They came to me from the other side of the basin before I had even taken their food out of my bag. One of them, I don’t know if it is the male or female, is the larger, an enormous bird. Besides being beautifully elegant, it is extremely powerful; you must be very careful.
If they attack, they can easily break a man’s arm and have been known to do so with such strength, which is not uncommon. It came right up to me. If I stretched out my hand, I could almost touch its neck or head.
It is truly amazing how beautiful nature is, and having contact with it and these gorgeous creatures is quite sublime. I’m trying to muster up enough courage to touch it, show affection, or caress it. I almost did today; I tentatively tried, but it was clear that they are still wary of me, and probably I of them.
Let’s see if I can do it before I go back to Brazil.
In Brazil, the political turmoil is worsening as Lula’s clueless statements and declarations increasingly reveal that the country is becoming a dictatorial state. Freedom of speech no longer exists in Brazil; one must be very careful about what you say, especially if it opposes the government, as failure to do so could result in charges, the loss of all social media accounts, or even imprisonment.
The government is gradually dismantling Brazil’s welfare state. What was precarious in supporting the population is now completely torn apart, effectively abandoning the people once again, especially the poor and those in need.
I recall an ex-girlfriend of mine, a psychologist with a postgraduate degree. Besides being an attractive woman, she was also academically well-prepared. My only real turn off with her was that she was PT, the socialist political party supporter, an obsessive supporter blindly supporting a leader who was imprisoned for corruption at the time.
How stupid can you be?
How can such a well-prepared, intelligent person support a government that is plainly and obviously corrupt and does not care about the people, only about power and looking after themselves? No country in the world has a solid future with a corrupt government! It is a geopolitical cancer!
I recall that the 2018 FIFA World Cup was held in Russia. Brazil was one of the favourites, as always, and when Brazil plays, the whole country stops. This is similar to other countries where football is the most popular sport, a literal cult or religion for some nations, where people meet, eat, and drink while watching the match.
My ex-girlfriend had invited friends and family to watch Brazil playing at her flat in Tijuca, a middle-class neighbourhood in the north zone of Rio. There was food and drink, and everybody was happy; it was enjoyable for everyone to be together watching the game, and when Brazil scored, she would go to the window of her flat on the 9th floor and shout, “Lula livre”, to the whole of the neighbourhood, which means free Lula in English. Sometimes her beautiful little 9-year-old daughter would go and copy her mother, crying the same, obviously trying to please her.
When I saw this, I didn’t say anything; I just observed, but inside, I was shocked and disgusted. How can somebody so intelligent be so ignorant and lead and corrupt her children down the same path of ignorance? My words and judgment have been justified by the confusion, scandals, and mismanagement of the country since Lula’s return to power, with the help of the corrupt Brazilian high court and its ministers.
Brazil is a mess!!!
I am not a very academic or intellectual person, but life, through a lot of suffering, has taught me a great deal about common sense, which is pure gold in itself and what, in principle, is right and wrong. Brazil, at present, is led by a corrupt government that prioritises power over its people, with a leader who appears to know little about right and wrong, likely more wrong than right.
To me, it is sinful what is happening to Brazil, with more than a million companies closing since Lula took office, less than a year ago. However, in some ways, perhaps people must suffer again and again until they learn, choose, and fight for a better leader, and understand the importance of voting properly, as well as standing up for what is truly right for them and the country’s future.
It is clear to me and many people that Lula wants to destroy Brazil and put it in chaos so that the people will be too weak to fight back. If they are on their knees, they will only be worried about surviving from day to day, like a rich man, throwing scraps into the street for the beggars and homeless. Brazil is becoming a nation of beggars, the homeless, and the ignorant, like Argentina, Venezuela and other countries in a dictatorship regime.
I took my mother to the supermarket by taxi, and after we had lunch in a lovely little cafe next to the supermarket, we went home. I drank a bottle of wine in the evening while watching a film with my mother.
In bed by midnight
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
