Ticket, anyone?

Drove HH to the once-beautiful suburb of São Cristovão for a check-up with the opthalmic surgeon. All well so far, though apparently the success of a glaucoma op can only be confirmed after 6 months, in two months’ time.

Dropped him off at the doctor’s and went off to park – camera in hand. This cheery lady was distributing tickets to display on the windscreen. She nearly lost out to a man we met at the clinic, who looked like a battered version of Dunga, former captain of the Brazilian football team. The clinic is shabby, as are the patients, and always very crowded, unlike those in smarter areas where the health plans spend heavily on marble and chrome, at the expense of decent pay for the doctors. The doctors here are young and good, and seem to be doing pro bono work. Today people filled all the available chairs, spilled out into the corridor and were sitting all the way up the stairs.

Later caught the end of the fruit and veg market. I love the badinage between stall holders and customers. At the egg stall, someone asked why there were no large eggs. The answer - “Ah, my hens are all menopausal, they don’t lay for me any more” – his tone of voice and gestures were hilarious. Sad news about our favourite ‘feirante’, though, who appears to be losing her long battle against cancer . Her son and daughter-in-law are doctors and she’s had the best treatment, but after being in an induced coma for two months, they have turned off the apparatus and it unlikely that she’ll pull through.

Choir in the evening and just because I didn’t take the camera and tripod this week, there was a beautiful pink sky behind the Christ statue, and a wonderful rainbow in the other direction.

And g-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-a-l to Flamengo!! In the 42nd minute of the final of the Copa Brasil, Flamengo has scored against Atletico Paranaense. Can Rio’s most popular team hang in there for another few minutes?? Even as a Botafogo supporter, I have to hope they do.
And they’ve done it! Now nobody is going to sleep – fireworks, shouting, music, Rio’s on fire!