Snapshots

Here are some snapshots of my family and you can find myself in the middle of my brothers holding a bucket, also I was given the task of taking the icecreams to my brothers but seemed to have eaten them on the way. The holidays when we young are vague and I think it would be difficult to write about them without consulting my brothers, sadly I would have phoned my mother in the past as her long term memory improved greatly with age and could be relied on as gospel. At 57 I think my long and short term memory is going just like my eyesight.
A few weeks ago I was feeling sick, having had flu symptons after my trip to Birmingham for my mothers funeral, there it was minus 8 degrees C and here it was plus 32 degrees C, I then caught Dengue, mosquito transmitted virus that leaves your head and eye sockets pounding, all your joints aching and not able to support weight, 5 to 6 days of fever (39 degrees was mine) and no appetite. The good news is that there are 4 types of the virus and the other forms can cause internal bleeding and vomiting, death for the young, this is very nearly epidemic in Rio de Janeiro where the problem is added to by the lack of fresh water, lack of sanitation and the hospitals have few staff and frequently run out of medicines. It is whilst I was unwell that Graca asked me to eat mingua (Scots porridge) as this would build me up since I had no appetite and that made me think of the fact that oats here are thought of as being Brazilian food
The food that I remember eating when I was a child in Birmingham and its similarity to the food that is eaten in Brazil possibly shows that there was very little difference in the past between the european countries and that the economy and trade links of the countries have provided and changed the eating habits worldwide. I think it would also surprise many Brazilians just how much variety of fruit and vegetables are eaten in europe and the quality of the food, clearly the best of Brazil's food is exported judging by what is in the markets of Salvador.