It’s an intriguing phrase, I’m happy I have today an opportunity to pronounce it.
Congo is meant to be the real thing. Black Africa, Deep Africa, the Hearth of Darkness, explorers boiling in the big pot.
I’m going only for a while, but I might be back for a longer period.
Progressing in the production of different textile items, we met Madoubougie, the king of waxing and colouring, who’s producing several fabrics with the enterprise’s official logo.
In order to preserve their privacy, I have treated the image below, unfortunately through this process the variety of colours got lost.
Madoubougie is the business name of this African entrepreneur, made of the abbreviation of his name (Madou for Mamadou for Mohammad) and bugie (= wax candle) as for his main working tool.
He produced already a pagne in green and is now working on scarlet, violet and blue.
I look forward to seeing the outcome.
I sympathize with British people, specially Londoners, and with the police too, submitted to very difficult situation and stress.
I know that mistakes, sometimes horrible and dramatic mistakes are possible, and it is very sad when innocent people are involved.
But the phrase of Mr. Blair (as reported by The Guardian), after expressing soreness for the death of Jean Charles De Menezes is a shame:
“I think it is important that we give them every support and that we understand that had the circumstances been different and, for example, this had turned out to be a terrorist and they had failed to take that action, they would have been criticised the other way,” he said.
And the fact that this news -8 bullets shot at the head of this young guy guilty of wearing an heavy coat in London-, was not among the main news in the home page of The Guardian web site and was not at all present in Times home web page today contribute to the sense of misery.
And the ‘scoop’ on him being a student and on his supposedly expired student visa is desolating.
On the same web edition of The Guardian, Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty, said she was “disgusted” by the suggestion that someone’s immigration status might have any relevance to the value of their life.
At last, the declaration of Mr. Straw, Foreign Affairs Secretary as reported in Italian by L’Unità, that
the request for compensation will be treated in a short time and with the most of goodwill is the final injury.
No, we aren’t there, slightly more south, among Ivory Coast and Congo, but we were in that island just some weeks ago, and the photo could be a folklorist post-card.
All the elements are there, the savage nature in its multiform tint and the human labour, refined by centuries of tradition.
Notwithstanding the outbreak of motorbikes and Italian tourists, the island keep a certain charme and simplicity. Especially in June.
This is the last creation of the enterprise Mon mari m’a laissé (sorry, the photo isn’t very clear).
After ties, swimming suits, children clothes, now is the turn for bedspread.
Available on request.
While in Spain, I read an article about a woman. Her daughter, about thirteen, was raped by an old man.
He was put on trial and sentenced to several years of prison.
After a while, he enjoyed of some preventative measures and was freed.
He went to the neighbourhood where the other family was living. In a bar.
The girl saw him and informed the mother.
She went to the petrol station with a bottle. Filled it up with petrol then went to the bar, spilled the petrol on the man and put him on fire.
I couldn’t avoid sympathizing with the woman.
But I wouldn’t like to live in that neighbourhood.
While the little Paula is struggling for her growth, myself decided to avoid the nuclear therapy recommended by an urologist (it seems someone studying remote planets and strange life forms) to destroy my stones and to make use of the traditional knowledge of Brazilian Indian populations.
Therefore, we asked a Copacabana UN blue helmet going back home to find the quebra pedra, forest plant with evocative name (break stone) and curative properties, in order to prepare infusions and compresses.
Let’s hope everything will turn out well (especially for Paula).
It’s not a substantial problem, seen from here, but the other day, at Barcelona airport parking, while retrieving the ticket at the entrance, the machine looked at our plate number and registered it on the ticket (and somewhere else, I suppose).
I didn’t feel comfortable.
At my bank, in Italy, to enter you have to put your finger on some sort of futuristic device in order to leave a trace of yourself. The service is not so futuristic, though, and many times you leave there also a lot of time and money for different kind of ‘fees’.
Nonetheless, even if the service would be much more efficient, we pay it with the progressively stronger invasion of our privacy. I am not sure it is worth it. I am not sure it is constitutional. I am not sure I like it.
Sooner or later we shall have to choice: or enter clandestinity, using only cash, switching off the computer, wearing big hats and sunglasses or try to mislead them, creating hundreds of alias, opening counts everywhere, using internet for any transaction, but always with different identities.
Ah, chiare fresche e dolci acque
Some nights ago I woke up in pain.
It was not for humankind general situation neither for the current Italian political circumstances; the soreness was coming from inside. No, not from my soul, but from the kidneys. Actually, the right one.
I have got stones. Four of them, from 0,2 to 0,4 centimetres.
Back on the Coast I’ll have to make use of a ‘lithotripsy’ machine. Good luck to me.
Italian media are celebrating the ‘victory’ of the abstentionist faction at the referendum on medically assisted procreation.
I wonder: if they really represented the majority, why didn’t they go to the polling stations to vote NO ?
Would they have won?
Then, a political or ethical option has not won yesterday in Italy.
The winner is the lazy, unuseful, apolitical, unengaged, TV-corrupted section of the population.
Joined, for this occasion, by some lazy, opportunist, clerical, pavid political figures, already working to capitalise their move.
Nevertheless, 12 millions citizens considered seriously their responsabilities, voting yes or not.
This is good news.
MC7858attitude 