Prejudices...

Today was the last day to deliver the taxes in Belgium. As a typical portuguese, I delivered mine today (as a really typical portuguese I have a great excuse: I had just arrived from holidays)
When I get there, a surprise! There were many people still delivering theirs.
Where they all foreigners?

TAPping

I like TAP! The flights are not so expensive now and the service and planes are very good.
But my flight yesterday was a very bad example! The bus was late and quite old (maybe they found it on the exhibition for the TAP 60th aniversary). The plane departed with a 45 minutes' delay and they managed to loose my luggage. Diogo's flight last week was also late and some weeks ago they also lost his luggage on a direct flight!
Too many bad signs...
And the worse thing is that we have to stop making jokes about Iberia to our spanish friends :-(

Back in Brussels

I think Brussels likes me! I'm back from holidays and I have as a present a wonderful blue sky, shiny sun and 30 degrees...
The first days like this for the last several weeks... but it actually happens every now and then!

Let's Talk!

To talk! That's what most couples need: to relax, to share their problems, to speak to each other openly. There's nothing like a good one-o-one conversation...

Via "O Vizinho".

Song for everyone

You are tired
From all the golden coins you threw
In the well
That promised things it couldn't do

You have tried
To live by what your God has wrote
But those lines
They don't give you just what you hoped

Do you really believe that love
Will keep you from getting hurt?
Because when you find the one
You'll open your heart and then
Once it is open
It'll take a little raindrop
To get it broken
And then you'll know what is hurting
You're hurting
You're hurt

Days go by
And pile up crosses on your wall
Counting out
The hours that you wished for more

You're afraid
And you blame it all on yourself
As if guilt
Will give you strength to keep it on


Music and Lyrics by Little David Boy, aka David Fonseca

Song for L.

Drawn into a world choices
Bitter hearts and angry voices
I'm tired of promises constantly broken
Words are there just to be spoken
I can't comply

So I can't sit here through this mess acting just like all the rest
Waving to the crowds that pass me by
With a smile

Still

You and I we'll meet as soon this war is over
You and I we'll seize the dream
You won't be sorry

But now I have to go away
I'll save the world today

Gentle grins and perfect plans that turn out to reveal the monsters around
The werewolves holding silver bullets staring at me in my nightmares
It has to stop

It's my turn to stop them
Maybe I won't win but I'll surely try
I'll try

Still

You and I we'll meet as soon this war is over
You and I we'll seize the dream
You won't be sorry

But now I have to go away
I'm going to save the day

No surprises, farewell parties
Tears that fill your brown-eyed worries
I hate goodbyes.


Music and Lyrics by Little David Boy, aka David Fonseca

Song for myself

You locked your heart
You wake up with tears and stars in your eyes
You gave it all to someone that
Cannot love you back

Your days are packed
With wishes and hopes for the love that you've got
You waste it all to someone that
Cannot love you back

Someone that cannot love

Love, ain't this enough?
You push yourself down
You try to take comfort in words
But words
They cannot love
Don't waste them like that
Cus they'll bruise you more

You secretely made
Castles of sand that you hide in the shape
But you cannot hold the tides that break them
And you build them all over again

You talk all these words
You make conversations that cannot be heard
How long until you notice that
No one is answering back

Someone that cannot love

Love, ain't this enough?
You push yourself down
You try to take comfort in words
But words
They cannot love
Don't waste them like that
Cus they'll bruise you more

Love, love, ain't this enough?
This pushing around
To find little comfort in words
But words
They cannot love
Don't waste them like that
Cus they'll bruise you more

You know they'll bruise you more
Words they will hurt you more


Music and Lyrics by Little David Boy, aka David Fonseca

Viva o Benfica...

O descanso do guerreiro II

My turn to rest!

And to get some suntan.

Not much, just enough not to be too ashamed in Portugal but more than enough to get our friends in Belgium jealous :-)

The day after...

Close call! On both sides...

But the horizon is blue again...

O descanso do guerreiro!

A well deserved rest... ... but always aware!

How brown can the sea be?

We all are used to picture the sea as being blue… and this makes sense, as this is part of our ideal scenario: blue sea under a shiny and blue sky!

Up to know I’ve been so lucky to see many different colours of the sea in different parts of the world, some of them magnificent.

But last weekend I saw the sea has I don’t remember seeing it before: brown!

Why? Just because it was the reflection of the sky, filled with smoke from the several fires on the hills around the town.

Now the sea is blue again… I hope that it will be for long, but I’m not so sure!

Hot Birthday

Yesterday it was my birthday. And I can say it was as hot as it can be! Not in the sense we would expect a birthday to be...

Several hills around Viana were on fire. One of the fires was close to my sister’s apartment in Viana. Naturally they were very stressed, so around 1 am I chose to interupt a very nice dinner with some friends and go there to be with them. Diogo gave me a ride and what we found was a real Dante's scenario! The fire was close to the houses and buildings on the other side of the street.

I joined my family on the terrace of the apartment on the top of the building (from where the photos were taken). They were exhausted has they had been helping out to clean the woods around the endangered houses during all the afternoon and now where staring at the fire, just hoping that the firemen could handle it.

On the street there were dozens of people staring!

After a while we got more restless and I decided to go closer to see what could be done. From another side, a new fire was coming down the hill, therefore some people decided to clean the woods around a house that became endangered.

The choice between staying with the ones staring or joining the ones helping out was easy! It was amazing how much and how quickly we could gather wood close to the house and bring it down to the road. Appearing from nowhere there were tools, saws, etc, while the firemen co-ordinated the efforts. After this some of us helped to carry the hundreds of meters of fire hose needed for the firemen to go up the mountain to fight the increasing fire.

I don’t know how much time I stood by the water tanks, wondering how they were doing and what I could do. Finally I got the excuse I needed (and that I believe I wanted, even without acknowledging it) to go up: they needed bottles of drinking water.

I followed one of the guys up. Close to it, the fire didn’t look so scary. The calm of the firemen while fighting it was reassuring. They were creating counter-fires (I don’t know if this is the correct translation for the Portuguese “contra-fogo”), letting it burn in a controlled way, while from behind they were watering the flames and burning ashes, to cool them down.

I stood there, watching, trying to understand their methods, admiring their calm and waiting for the instructions to pull up or down the fire hose, so that it would stay stretched, while they moved up and down, watering the fire.

It was not much, but it was enough for me: I felt thrilled to help out and to be so close to the action. And, most of all I felt honoured to be co-operating with these guys and ashamed for all the people staring without doing anything.

I learned within civil society organisations that we all should try to be actors in our society instead of being just spectators! But it seems that a lot of people just love popcorn…

Beam me up, Scotty!

On Fire!

I just arrived from Viana do Castelo, where I left Pedro and some other friends breathing the smoke produced by several fires in the region, and especially the ones in the once beautiful and green Monte de Santa Luzia, close to the city.

Many people won't be able to sleep tonight, praying or just hoping that the fire can be stopped before getting to their houses... I hope they can sleep tomorrow...

Order of Liberty

One week ago, U2 performed their final European date for 2005 to a packed stadium in Lisbon. Pedro was there and can tell us how the final show of the hugely successful European leg of Vertigo tour was.

From my side, I only wanted to stress that a few hours before the show, the band was awarded the Order of Liberty by Portuguese President, Jorge Sampaio, who decided to honor their longtime humanitarian work.

I feel proud for being a U2's fan; but, above all, I feel proud for having contributed to elect Jorge Sampaio to become Portugal's President!

Faraway, So Close!

The same year when James released their "Laid" album, U2 released "Zooropa".

Picking up where "Achtung Baby" left off, "Zooropa" delves heavily into U2's newfound affection for experimental music and dance clubs. While the title track marries those inclinations to the anthems of "The Joshua Tree", most of the record is far more daring than its predecessor. While that occasionally means it's unfocused and meandering, it also results in a number of wonderful moments, like the quiet menace of "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car", the space-age German disco of "Lemon", and The Edge's droning mantra "Numb". However, as the album winds to a close, it drifts off track...

Being a long time fan, I've always appreciated the combination of zealous righteousness and post-punk experimentalism, their sweeping sound and their grandiose statements about politics and religion, and, above all, the fact that U2 were rock & roll crusaders during an era of synthesized pop and heavy metal. Therefore, I never bought "Zooropa", as I never bought "Achtung Baby" nor "Pop".

More than 10 years after, I have to recognize that "Achtung Baby" is an excellent album and that the best moments of "Zooropa" rank among U2's most inspired and rewarding music.

Especially, I have to recognize that the gentle, heartbreaking "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" is one of U2's very best love songs. At least, tonight...

Burn One Down

The night is hot, the moon is full and yellow, it smells like fire and smoke is all around, making it difficult to breathe...

This is Portugal, this is summertime, this is hell...

Fuelling choice

The day before yesterday, I went to a petrol station and put some gas on my rented car. I hadn't done this since April or May and I was astonished by the price of fuel in Portugal: more than 1,20 Euros per liter!

I know this is the result of the world oil market evolution in the last few years, I know this is happening everywhere, and I know this isn't going to stop soon. And I even know who to thank and I don't want to miss the opportunity to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Bush! The free world would like, however, to be consulted and exercise its freedom of expression next time you decide to drive us all to a deadlock!

Raphaël

Carla Bruni Tedeschi was born the 23rd of December 1968, in Turin, Italy. The heiress of a tire manufacturing fortune from her native city, Carla probably didn't even need to pursue the lucrative modeling career she presently has, considering the fortune that awaited her.

Carla Bruni is one of the world's most photographed models, and one of the most financially successful. Her string of high-profile romances with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Donald Trump also made her a regular in gossip columns. She is not only one of the world's most famous models, but also one of its most glamorous and in-demand, and one of its most controversial as well.

With a body worth of worship, whose nude frame has been photographed almost as much as Pamela Anderson, men love Carla Bruni because she could make ponchos look fashionable if she wore them! Actually, anything she wears looks good, especially when she wears nothing...

I have to confess, however, that I'm one of the few men that first knew Carla Bruni because of music... I think it must have been during the summer of 2003 that I first saw an interview on TV, enjoyed the songs and decided to buy the album. So, actually, my ears were faster than my eyes, at least in regards to Carla Bruni... That's why I wear glasses!

"Quelqu'un M'a Dit", Carla Bruni's debut album, caught everyone by surprise, especially because it is a very good effort, far beyond what one would have expected. It's an acoustic and intimate album, and the songs are from her own harvest. She also plays guitar.

Although she's Italian, most of the album is sung in French, with some Italian touches, like in "Le Ciel Dans une Chambre". The result is a kind and smooth album that mixes folk and "chanson française" in equal parts. Although she's not breaking any new ground, the result is compelling.

My moving to Brussels was anticipated by a series of events that deeply affected my personal life. Part of it was that I was forced to give away half of my CD's collection, and amongst this half was Carla Bruni's album... But the important part of the story is that soon after moving to Brussels I had a conversation with someone that shared my appreciation for Carla Bruni's musical talent and I started to miss this CD.

This person became very special and I decided that I needed to get this album back. Now that I did it, let me only add that this post could have had a different title...But Carla hasn't finished the song "Clara"... yet!

Back for holidays

I love holidays! Especially when, like now, I can spend them in my favourite place: my hometown, Viana do Castelo.

Even when I lived here, I always enjoyed staying some days around, spending some time alone or with family and friends. Doing things like: going to the beach and getting into that trance where I don’t know if I’m awake or sleeping, while listening to the sea; going to a nice terrace by the sea or river, speaking with friends simultaneously about everything and nothing at all; having a stimulating siesta after lunch; namely this sort of 3 hours lunch having typical food from the region (the best anywhere), accompanied by a refreshing bottle of Verde wine; going to bars at night and getting the idea that I drank a bit too much, again… until the next laugh and following drink.

I always loved it and I love it even more, now that I’m leaving abroad. All these things (except for the beach, because my availability and the weather are not matching) I’m enjoying double.

I even got pleasure from the typical festivities of my home town (these usual “romarias” that have so much of religious as of pagan), when I was always running away from it, to avoid all the crowds…

Well, I’m definitely on holidays! Lots of time with friends, family, eating, drinking and even sleeping. I just miss two things: going to the beach and spending some time on my own. But there’s one more week left!!!

I hope this week will be so good that I’ll feel ready to get back to work then. Because now I’m definitely not…

May I come in?

Following Diogo's invitation, it's a pleasure to be involved in a blog, after discovering recently this universe through a friend's blog, which is still my daily entrance door to this universe - thanks Miguel!

And it's a special pleasure as I start to post in 19 Paul Hymans (where else), after living there for 7 months (already) and collecting some nice experiences in that place!

I don’t know what is it, but there’s something about the place, some sort of charisma…

Maybe the neighbours that do not complain (and therefore must be nice); maybe the cosy living-rooms (and the revealing internal window); maybe the tiny elevator, promoting the union of humankind (or different kinds of humans); maybe the discrete garden and fountain in front (that I only use to get to the supermarket); maybe the vibrations of the metro, that goes just under the building; or maybe something completely different…

Of course I would say that it could be the “locataires” or “latinocataires”, with their pleasant conversations, hosting skills, games knowledge, cooking expertise, etc.

But I’m afraid that it’s just the bar (or bars, as the ones in both apartments complement each other), filled with drinks from different parts of the world: from black vodka to Viejo de Caldas, from ginginha to Tia Maria.

These can really help to lighten up any kind of “soirée“, helping people to loosen up and have fun. After a few drinks (because we drink moderately) we become more real, more relaxed, more giving, more sincere and, of course, funnier. And our friends just keep coming and coming, giving us the privilege of these moments!

And that’s the thing about the place: we already collected so many strong moments that it’s already a part of our future memories.

A lot of our thoughts, hopes, frustrations, joys, related to this experience in Brussels will be witnessed by those walls and this window.

Welcome to 19 Paul Hymans…! ("...such a lovely place..")

The Unforgettable Fire

When you live abroad, you develop this weird feeling that there, back home, everything and everybody is changing very rapidly. Consequently, even if you were only gone for one month, you can't help asking, to everyone you meet, "what's new?"

This was precisely what happened to me, this early morning, when I arrived to Portugal... I met one friend, and I immediately asked: "so, what's new?" And he thought a bit, almost hesitating, and started to mention sports' trivialities...

Of course this wasn't the kinds of news I was asking for! I wanted him to tell me about the deep changes that certainly took place during my absence! The big ones, not these ridiculous things I can check on internet!

As he obviously was missing the point, I decided to insist! And gave some examples: "I mean, what's new, for instance, with people we both know..." Then, he got it; and answered very quickly and very straightly: "I don't know... I haven't seen them much..."

(...)

I felt first tempted to start insulting him: "how come you haven't seen none of them?! what kind of friend are you?!", this style of things... But, then, suddenly, I realized how stupid my question was... and, in order to change subject, asked: "and what about Portugal?"

Then, I finally got an immediate and genuine answer: "apart from what you see, everything else burned..."

There was some kind of bitterness badly disguised by the obviously exaggerated way he had decided to put things... But we all knew the sad reality he was referring to... and what seemed to be a long silence followed his statement.

While driving from Lisbon to the north, I was able to confirm with my own eyes what he meant... Now, I actually have the feeling that the only thing that really happened in this country during my absence was an enormous, evil and disastrous bush-fire...

I know many people spend hours and hours discussing this problem, trying to find solutions or, at least, someone to blame. I don't have the time nor the knowledge to do it, but I do wonder if this shouldn't be something to keep in mind...

Camões, the Portuguese great poet, once wrote: "amor é fogo que arde sem se ver" (love is a fire that burns invisibly). This may be a good reason for some people to forget so quickly their previous loves... But this fire that hurts my country every single summer, is a very visible one and its effects remain for years. Wouldn't this be a enough good reason for us to be sure that it becomes unforgettable?...

La Flaca

Everyone likes the Sun. It's maybe because it is a source of energy, light and life. Over the years, many have praised it as a God, a sign of fecundity or used it as a mystical sign.

The Sun, apart from a star, is, no doubts about it, a symbol. A powerful one.

In that sense, we all have several suns, and I'm no different.

Tomorrow, when arriving to Portugal, I will meet one of my suns: my son! And this will make me as happy as I can be!

However, the problem of living in a planet with only one sun, is that, many times, in order to have one sun, we need to leave other behind. This will also happen to me tomorrow...

I will leave the sun that Brussels offered me behind... And this makes me feel as sad as I can be...

People are strange

I am Portuguese. And, as the vast majority of Portuguese people, I have a kind of "love-hate" relation with Portugal.

I mean, Portugal is great! But, on the other hand, Portugal sucks!

When you live abroad, the way you see Portugal slightly changes. Not that you can solve completely this "love-hate" mess... but it changes. After three months of living in Brussels, I think Portugal is even greater and that it sucks even more!

When you live in Brussels, one of the obvious reasons to love Portugal is the weather. I've spent the last six weeks complaining about the rain and the cold and dreaming about the Portuguese summer heat and sunshine. Even if I know that I will suffer from the heat and will get sun burned since the first day I'll be in Portugal, I have to go there!

And I'll go tomorrow! Tomorrow, at this exact time, I will be sweating like in hell, driving a rented car without air-conditioning from Lisbon to Guimaraes, my beautiful home town.

The issue is that today Brussels offers us a beautiful blue sky and a quite warm sunshine... and I suddenly start to feel that I will miss Brussels...

I definitely need holidays!

James

When, back in 1993, I bought my first James' album ("Laid"), I have to confess I did it because of the hit-song "Sit Down", which was the one I knew.

One of the things I appreciate the most when buying music is to be surprised; in that occasion, I surely was!

Compared to "Seven", "Laid" is a quieter and subtler turn on James' career. In a way, one could say it undercut expectations; but I still believe it was more like a creative benchmark for the band. And each time I play this old CD, I can't help thinking this was James' artistic peak!

The most well known songs of this album are probably the lead single "Sometimes", which almost drowns under its own weight and speed, and the title track, a celebration of love and lust.

My favorite songs, however, have always been "One of the Three" (an harrowing meditation on Jesus and his apparently meaningless sacrifice...), "Out to Get You", "Knuckle Too Far" and, above them all, the two last tracks: the heartbreaking "Lullaby", and "Skindiving".

Nowadays, I have to confess that I listen much more to the "Getting Away With It... Live" CD, but I always revisit the enclosed literature of the "Laid" album. In one of the pages there is a small text that I keep considering one of those absolute truths life insists in reminding me about:

So, eventually you find true love, the missing piece. Do you really think that will be the end of your fears? 'If it lasts forever hope I'm the first to die'

Simple... and yet so difficult to understand...

Cibertúlia

O Miguel fez o favor de me proporcionar publicidade gratuita naquele que foi, é e será sempre, para mim, o pai de todos os blogues: a Cibertúlia.

Para além da honra e do enorme prazer, fica a promessa de que seguirei sendo leitor assíduo das farpas do Miguel e de que tentarei acompanhar e alimentar as suas discussões.

Miguel: esta é também a tua casa sempre que quiseres (ou tiveres de) passar por Bruxelas!

Neighbors

I decided to invite Pedro to be a co-author of this blog.

There are very good and logical reasons to take a decision like that, but I won't give you any of those.

I decided to invite him because I like him. And because I know he likes me.

And because this is my blog and I invite whoever I want!

First words

I've been contributing to blogs since 2003, but I never had my own.
It's not like if I never thought about it; it's just that I never had the time, the patience or the guts to do it...
I ask myself what has changed. Actually I still don't have the time; I'm not sure that I have the patience; and won't even refer to the guts.
It's just that I feel like sharing some thoughts... I suppose.
And also that yesterday one recent, but very good friend challenged me to do it. And I guess I decided "why not?"...
Don't promise any kind of regularity, nor a fixed editorial line nor whatsoever; let's say that I will write whatever and whenever I feel like doing it.
Anyway, isn't that the blogs' spirit?