Our boys in Brazil

Sao Paulo celebrations

The boys landed in Brazil on the day of the presidential election, and last night they were out celebrating with the masses. São Paulo, where they are staying for a couple of nights, is home to the new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who visited the street party after winning. Yet for all the gaiety, music and fine food, Brazil is on the list of the world's most dangerous countries. Unlike many poor countries in Africa and the Middle East, it is a wealthy country, but suffers from the usual problem of inequitable wealth distribution through corruption, greed and mismanagement, so such a degree that many citizens are in poverty and turn to crime. Naturally, the ones with the wealth are the big company bosses who are reluctant to share it, so da Silva may have difficulty wresting it from them, despite his socialist ideals. In Brazil, as in Britain though to a lesser degree, entrenched self-interest backed by 'the establishment' have many ways to hide money and avoid taxes and responsibilities.

Edwin is arranging a grand, costumed, 80th birthday party for me in December. Already we have 39 people who've agreed to come, so it promises to be a grand do. Costumes are optional, but there is a wide theme, with anything from the past eight decades. Making the most of the warm sun and my improving strength, today I delivered two more invites while walking the dogs locally. At home, Ann remains ill, clammy and with a poor appetite. Additionally, she has anosmia. Loss of the sense of smell is a profound loss, yet is unremarked compared to other sensory losses. It renders food tasteless and limits our guard against noxious substances. At a social level, Ann can't smell if she has perfume on, or if the room needs airing or the dogs are causing a problem. We just hope it is a reversible side effect of this Covid.