Month: februari 2009

February 14.
It is sunny outside but I write inside. Had a great lunch that filled my belly like it hasn't been filled for weeks. All the chemicals that will be involved in the digestion, plus the cafeine intake that I'm used to after a meal make me write like a fertile hen. It's a typical working ...
February 13. Fumar mata.
Fumar mata. That's what it says on Portuguese cigarette boxes. Zé forgot his pipe. Friday the thirteenth was just a lucky day like every other day. I had to take my vaccination and it all worked out fine. In Barrio Alto I walked up to a private hospital where they sent me to the health ...
February 12. Sintra.
Sintra. A wonderful, sunny day. Portugal has been a monarchy but the coward royals went off to Brazil during the Napoleontic invasions. In Sintra, you can visit one of their flamboyant castles. It's very beautiful as you can see on the pictures. The opulence of the crown was paid for by the poverty of the ...
February 11. To whom it may concern.
For writing perhaps you need loneliness. Loneliness for breakfast, loneliness for lunch and loneliness for dinner. But that will never be enough. You'll need to sleep with her, caress her cheeks, she'll have to be the muse in all of your dreams. And what is it you can write then? A really-real account of that ...
February 10. Pasteleria and abstractions.
There are very good Pasteleria's in Lisbon, and the coffee is very cheap. I can work fast without caring too much about quality, about what the reader might think. I can't put the bricks of words together when I know what the building must look like. I can't guarantee you the building isn't going to ...
February 8,9. Pombal built this city.
Marquise de Pombal is the Hausmann of Lisbon. The streets of Rossio are laid out like a chessboard, like Barcelona or Manhattan. That's Pombal's work. They have Pombal-style houses that are made of wood in order to make them earthquake-proof. In the 1755 earthquake the city was almost completely distroyed by the tsunami and the ...
February 7. Adamastor and the human condition.
In Lisbon don't miss the Miradoura Adamastor. Adamastor, a great Portuguese discoverer, an icon of the empire that has been. His statue looks out over the Tejo now, and there are always young people drinking and laughing in the square of the Miradoura. The sun heated up the scene, a drunk Scottish boy mooched about ...
February 6.

Consumption and religion. If you buy a cup of coffee or a Patéis de Lisboa, you just put your coins on the counter without any other emotion than the great taste of this combination. It's my reason (in fact, one of my reasons) to be here in Lisbon and write in the February sun. ...
February 5. At the Docks again.
I went to the docks again, wanted to find out if a crossing is possible in early February. Here's the result: no. The freighters have their European Union regulations with safety measures and every human being on board needs a certification for everything. It would take me months to do the necessary paperwork and besides, ...