Old haunt revisited

A beautiful day, sun but not too hot, and after a properly slow Sunday start, our host took us all to a long sandspit we used to visit years ago with the family of another guest. Since then, the population of egrets (giant and small) has rocketed - I don't remember seeing any in the old days. The same is true in Rio, in the Guanabara Bay - they must like the pollution there. I spotted 16 or 17 of the giants, and any number of other sea birds, wheeling and settling and then wheeling again as the dogs approached. This is our host with four of his six dogs - the other two are old and couldn't have managed to get in and out of the boat.

Back on the pier, a visit from some new French and Belgian friends and we had a happy afternoon sipping caipirinhas, the somewhat lethal local drink.

In the evening, I received an appeal for a piper to play at the service for our murdered friend, at 7 a.m. Monday morning in Macae (up the coast from Rio). Brazil has a number of talented pipers, all Brazilian and mostly living in Petropolis, in the hills outside Rio, and São Paulo. To my amazement, the first one I phoned, at 7 pm, who has often played at the Caledonian Ball in Rio and the Macae ceilidh, said he thought he could find someone. An hour later, the Macae oilmen had sent a car to collect him (a 3-hour drive), reserved a hotel, and it was all under control. I have just (Monday evening) received a call from Vagner, the piper I contacted, to say that all had gone well. I'm so glad, although I'm sure there can't have been a dry eye in the church, with a pipe lament to underline the sadness of the occasion.