Category: travel

Always exotic

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brazil zero moment

Thoughts turn to Book 3

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I’m not trying to make anyone feel jealous. I just want a nice image to look at.

I usually try to avoid going on holiday to hot countries whilst it’s miserable and cold at home – inevitably you return home to spend three weeks going around looking at the grey drabness in disbelief and thinking ‘Why do I have to live here, again?’

I can see I’m going to have to make my list of Great Things About Living In Oxford, England.

Or I can pretend I don’t, continue in denial and write another book set somewhere warm.

Warm and inevitably, rather threatening.

I lay awake in bed at some very late hour this morning thinking about book 3 of Joshua, I had forgotten that in my bedside notebook I’d once written an idea to use a certain song as a symbol (a sort of literary synecdoche, if you want to get clever) for a certain character in the book. But in the work of constructing the plot, I forgot.

Screenwriters often use a visual image – or colour as a symbol. Oranges in “The Godfather” symbolise death; fallen leaves in Alfonso Cuaron’s “Great Expectations” – and also “Y Tu Mama Tambien” symbolize encroaching chaos. The main symbol in ‘Joshua Files’ is the natural body of water – it spells mortal danger for Josh. And characters in Josh’s family are sometimes referred to via a song.

So I’d had this idea to use a song like that…and then totally forgotten. But just as my subconscious mind used to kindly wake me at 3am after a long day in the lab with the reminder that I’d actually thrown my experiment in the bin instead of the freezer…this morning it woke me with this great suggestion for book 3.

I was dreaming about this fox in a garden that suddenly started being very friendly, and then saw it’s cub, even cuter…meanwhile music was playing and I recognised the song as ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’. And I remembered that I’d had this idea to use it in book 3, but hadn’t been able to decide how.

Well, the dream gave me the idea…from that came a way to develop what will be probably the most important subplot in the last 3 Joshua books.

When it strikes really full-on like that, inspiration can be very fruitful.

I think I have dengue fever, by the way. I have a slight temperature, headache in an unsual part of my head, and a disastrous stomach…

Categories
brazil

One Last Caipirinha

One Last CaipirinhaOriginally uploaded by mgharrisWell it’s come to this…As Ali and I down one last caipirinha we contemplate what a terrific place North Eastern Brazil is for a holiday. None of the insane commercialism and sheer dedication to tourism that you find in Mexico’s premier resorts, but a warm and well-organised welcome in all the hotels…big and fancy or titchy and family-run.

Lots of great activities to do; but the rough-and-ready type that make use of natural beauty without bending it to the will of the tourism magnates. So it’s sand-dune buggy rides, zipwire into a lake, snorkeling off a platform into a coral reef, all the tasty seafood you can eat washed down with any lime-based cocktail you like; caipirinha (cachaca), caipiroska (vodka), caipirissima (rum).

Ooh…there was an aqua theme park…is it the thin end of the wedge?

I’ll miss the coconut, cashew and mango trees, the bareback horse-riders and the cheerful buguieros (buggy drivers).

And I’ll miss the limey afterburn of endless caipirinhas…
Emailed from my BlackBerry®

 

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brazil zero moment

Capoeira Boys on a Beach in Brazil

Capoeira Boys on the Beach in BrazilOriginally uploaded by mgharris
We came for the sun, the vibe, the comfort of their native country for our Brazilian friends, and for the capoeira.

It’s Josh Garcia’s favourite sport and has got him out of more than one tight spot when it comes to dealing with enemies. And capoeira forms an important part of the plot for book 3.

So we came to see capoeira in it’s natural form, on the beach, in the streets of Brazil. Okay we didn’t see it used in rough Rio neighbourhood streets as a fight, but we did catch plenty of graceful displays, both rehearsed and impromptu.

Here’s a lovely photo that my husband snapped earlier this evening, as the sun was going down.

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brazil

Being and Doing

Boy on a raft in Sao Miguel de Gostoso, BrazilOriginally uploaded by mgharris
Serenity, I’m told, requires a balance between Being and Doing.

Some people know how to Doing rather well; they get up early and go for brisk country walks with the dog, or to the gym, they hit their morning workplace with a sense of achievement already under their belt. They can structure their days around all manner of routine or even productive tasks. Such people, apparently, are good at avoiding bouts of depression, having already adopted exactly the kind of strategies that many psychotherapists suggest for lifting oneself out of temporary misery.

But are they happy?

Because it is also important simply to Be. You know, as John Lennon said in answer to a question like “What do most want to achieve?” – “I want to be here, now”. Or Elaine from Seinfeld who once confessed to have spent an evening doing “Literally nothing. I sat in a chair and I stared.”

Well any good holiday needsa balance between Being and Doing. I’m not very good at Being, usually – I feel there has to be a certain amount of Doing in order to earn the Being.

In the most peaceful, restful beach resort I’ve ever known in my life in the tiny town of Sao Miguel de Gostoso, I have been working on Being. And it kinda works…I feel a bit more serene, that’s for sure.

I did take some photos though, like this one of a`little boy rafting out to the fishing boats on the gun-metal grey sea. I made three beds. I watched the kids a little.

Mainly though, I did Being.And it’s not bad!

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brazil

Sunset and Hormones at Sao Miguel de Gostoso

Sunset Sao Miguel de GostosoOriginally uploaded by mgharris
Out for the afternoon stroll through the heady urban delights of Sao Miguel de Gostoso in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, we happened across this fabulous sunset.The trip through town – a single street lined with colourful bungalows and coconut trees – was livened up considerably for our daughter by the sight of cute young Brazilian guys whose heads turned to check her out.

“I love it when guys check me out,” she murmured to me as she and I walked slowly down the avenue. Meanwhile I nervously adjusted my sarong in case their gazes accidentally strayed. “Look at that one,” she laughed aloud, identifying one of the boys with a flick of her finger. “He’s actually stretching and flexing his muscles in front of me! He likes me! OMG he’s so hot… When we walk back I’m going to give him a Look,” she said. And then set about considering which Look from her repertoire to deploy.

“How do you know this stuff?” I said, amazed. “I didn’t know any of this when I was fifteen.” She replied, deadpan, “Instinct. And I’m just a lot sexier than you.”

Actually my mother could have taught my daughter a thing or twenty about how to mix sex appeal with (apparently irresistable) vulnerability. But sadly she passed away before my daughter was born. So my daughter has to resort to discussing such matters with her mother-the-geek.

I sneakily took a photo of the boy she likes. He was wearing a blue sleeveless shirt that showed off a fairly beefcakey physique. He’s around 18 and has a dimple in his right cheek, which made her swoon. We have decided to refer to him as Blue Boy.