01.03.16 - Nem pintado de ouro quero te ver

Guten tag, meine kartoffelkopf - hope all well across the Atlantic. 

The headline news here is that I've finally started my driving lessons, albeit at the crack of dawn and on alternating days only, due to scheduling difficulties and general bitterness and unrest at the driving school. So far I'm pleased to report that it's all coming back to me; I've only stalled the car a few times, my instructor has already invited me to stay at his brother's house in Rio, and is considering taking me out on the motorway during our next session, which is a little more advanced than I was led to believe but can only be a good sign. 

 On Saturday we were planning to walk to the Pedra Grande (or "Big Rock") overlooking the city but obviously it was raining, so we went for a stroll along the Avenida Paulista instead, stopping for burgers and a wander through the Livraria Cultural. We also visited the nearby Parque Trianon, which was very green and peaceful despite an abundance of massive spiders, which freaked Gaby out a bit and ultimately led us to fall back to the street. Then in the evening we ended up at an Irish pub, imaginatively called Dublin, quaffing Guinness as the house band pulled off a pretty decent cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody", among others.

Elsewhere work is rattling on at a fair pace - we're planning our next think tank knees-up at Cliveden House and are trying to arrange a date that suits everyone, probably mid-November. Gaby is a-mastering away; I made another coconut cake, which was a total success this time and has inspired me to further baking exploits (when I can be bothered to get round to them); and yesterday we watched a bit of Globo's coverage of the Oscars, which went viral once it became clear that the leading soap actress who was doing the commentary either didn't like, didn't understand or simply hadn't seen any of the films in contention. 

My saying of the day means "Even if you were painted in gold I wouldn't want to see you", which is a very vivid way of describing a falling-out (and a minor hit for the late accordion-botherer Cristiano Araújo, since you ask) - I like to imagine someone who's exhausted every possible way of winning someone back, and decides to paint himself gold as a last resort. I got it from my instructor, who was telling me about the ongoing feud between the driving school's owner and his son-in-law, although I missed the whole story as I was trying not to get run off the road at the time.

That's all for noo. Speak soon, bassoon!

Fredders