Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 23 degrees, warm, sunny and slightly overcast
Half the month has passed, and I have already been in Rio for more than a month. I arrived on the 7th of June, Yasmin’s birthday, and it is already past the middle of July.
Time literally flies. Sometimes we think it is slow, but really it is quite fast, and it doesn’t stop for anyone. In the blink of an eye, you are 30, 40, 50, 60 years old and almost dead, if you have not already died.
This morning, I had a bit of a shock. I was without internet because Nalva had not paid the bill, and without internet, I cannot work. Without work, I do not receive money, and without money, I cannot pay Nalva’s bills or rent.
I know I have already paid her this month much more than I should have, but I do it to keep the peace. And that peace is another thing that seems elusive in this flat at the moment.
Without peace, we can’t do anything.
I sent Nalva a message asking whether she had paid. She replied that she would pay in two days, when she received the second part of her salary. However, I had already given her the money to pay. Where did the money go? I transferred some more money to her account. She paid the bill, called the company, and the Internet was back shortly after.
But why accumulate bills if you have the money to pay them?
It is better to get them out of the way. Done and paid, we pay them. Besides paying interest for paying late after the right time, anything done right, including paying a bill on time, reduces unnecessary stress, and anything that reduces stress is excellent.
I could not exercise today because I have an early class. However, I did a hard workout yesterday, and I will for sure do one tomorrow. I prepped a blog post, taught classes, bought crypto, and journaled. The cherry on the cake for today was paying Dona Vera, my favourite optician, for my new glasses and picking them up from her shop.
I knew when I came back to Rio that I would buy a new pair of glasses from her. I do not like collecting anything because it can be seen as an obsessive trait and nature. But it is a pleasure to buy glasses from her.
- She’s competitively priced.
- It is a pleasure to buy from her.
- She is willing to facilitate the payment.
- She provides excellent service.
- She is a lovely person. If you live in Rio, in the South Zone, and more specifically in Copacabana, I suggest you go and buy glasses from her. It is an experience in itself, and you won’t go wrong.
I picked up my new glasses. They are perfect, with a light green frame and a transition blue tint for when walking in the street with the sun. Something I had noticed when I was in England was that, nearly always, when I was in the street during the day, my glasses would be in dark transition mode, even when it was overcast.
What I noticed was that the sun is much lower in the sky there, so it is always in your face, whereas in Brazil it is much higher, so it is above you but not in your face, as in England.
I gave a class to Dona Vera, my pupil, another Vera in my life, not the optician Vera. At the moment, there are a lot of Veras in my life, most importantly Dona Vera, who I buy glasses from, and Dona Vera, who I give classes to.
The day has been good and productive. This is the week when, hopefully, my blog will be monetised, so let’s see how the week ends. So far, it has been going very well.
I feel alive, especially with my new beautiful glasses.
In bed by 11p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
