Mark Twain

Mark Twain, a few gems i found whilst looking for a quote:

We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know anything and can't read.

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.

A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.

Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.

Bush - a serious distraction

So the Bush twins want to chill out in Buenos Aires. Interesting choice of locale bearing in mind their dad is right up their with Satan in the public eye, probably more feared though as the other's existence is debatable.

They are obviously aware of this because they are wandering around with 6 bodyguards (interesting way of relaxing), 4 US and 2 Argies. Go for a nice meal. Unlike everyone else on the planet you take all your cards and phone with you, plus probably half Argentina's debt in cash. How they knicked this i don't know - but fairplay. To hide their embarrassment no theft was reported.

Unfortunately, for the Bushes, the thieves weren't stupid and realised who they'd robbed and sold their story to the press. Nice touch.

The only thing to discern from this is that the IQ gene of the family has obviously been successfully passed on.

Tigre revisited

Tigre comprises loads of islets. A few houses dotted about, only accessible by boat. Norfolk broads, meets the Riviera meets Miami. Beautiful at times but a bit antiseptic and most definitely smacking of exclusivity. This place is another classic example of the rich building big houses,then spending the next fifty years hiding in them worrying about getting robbed - along with the isolation comes the usual gin problem.

Walikng was much easier, the crowds had gone back to work. But the place is setup for you to walk only to the nearest restaurant, a shame the canal paths are cut so short, to see the area properly you need to take a tour ( don't - boring) or rent a boat (do but pricey). A new Fine Arts (Bellas Artes) museum is opening there soon, looks like the whole building was shipped over from France, wonderfully inappropriate for the setting. The novelty of the day were these industrial sized car parks for speed boats - huge warehouses stacked to the rafters.

Rotting lettuce

Nothing much had changed, my vocabulary was growing and my waste was shrinking. But then this pain started kicking in at the base of my spine. Ouch. I thought i'd sprained, pulled or bruised something due to excessive walking. Anti-inflamatories were taken, a day of lying in bed, feeling grumpy with ice on my back. Then i took the radical step of actually looking at the problem, genius eh? Having manouevred a couple of mirrors for ideal viewing i was face to face with the K2 of spots/zits, reminded me of a scene in "How to get ahead in advertising" except the thing was on my back not shoulder. The rest is obvious, the putrescence that spewed out was both foul and plentiful. Trust me the title of this piece doesn't do it justice. Not pleasant. Pain, however, was immediately removed and life could proceed as normal.

Set off for Tigre on Sunday, bit like the River Thames somewhere near Barnes, ate half a cow and most of it's innards and then lay down in the shade and took shots of a tree (mainly because i couldn't get up) before drifting off, don't think the Malbec helped either. Apparently, if you walk further along the scenery is stunning. This would require leaving the asado until dinner. Today i plan to do just that.

Books and Quotes

My flatmate was studying, i was wading through David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" and thoroughly enjoying it. A couple of quotes leapt out nothing earth shattering but worth remembering. This then reminded me of my grandfather who for a large chunk of his life wrote down passages, poems, or just particular lines that caught his attention and collated them in a book. A great read. Well blogs make this a lot less effort. Will try for a while and see where it leads......probably nowhere interesting.

"it provides.... the enemy required by any hierarchical state for social cohesion"
D.Mitchell, Cloud Atlas.

No guessing who he's having a pop at there but nicely put.

"No matter how many of us you kill, you will never kill your successor"
Seneca's warning to Nero.

Walking whilst shuffling

I had been studying most of the morning and was going a bit stir crazy. The idea of looking up another word that most three year olds would know was starting to do my head in. Thankfully, i had arranged to meet a few people later so decided to walk (approx 2 1/2 hours) rather than take the Subte (tube).

The sun was out, my i-pod was on and off i set. Two hours later i was knackered, more of a forced march than a stroll, dehydrated and approaching Calle Florida. Calle Florida is a pedestrianised version of the turgid hell that is Oxford Street (in London). Then something weird happened. Sebastien Tellier shuffled on to my i-pod, the song - La Retournelle, a chilled out dance track. I slowed down, everyone else speeded up. Just like watching a pop video, time lapse photography gone haywire.
Normally, narcotics are required for this, but then there's no way you'd be on Oxford Street.

The song is great, the experience bizarre but fantastic. Set me up nicely for a few beers and a bottle of wine. I should also pay credit to La Fajola Pizzeria that comfortably produced the weirdest pizza i've ever seen. When ordering particular care has to be taken, any ingredient is not lightly scattered around but swamps the thing. A whole layer of ham, a whole onion, a mushroom forest etc. However, the particular highlight being palmitos if you order this baby you also get a very generous spraying of thousand island dressing thrown in for free, truly disgusting. Still i ate my share.

Weekends

Weekends are back. I remember working in a Career's Office, about 15 years ago, giving advice to those poor souls who didn't know what to do with their lives. This was your classic 9 to 5, Mon to Fri job. Frustrating, bureaucratic, generally pointless, only the weekends kept one's sanity intact. Although, occasionally i did persuade the odd lost youth that they'd never know what to do and they may as well have a drink - even then i was in training for my next job.

So what's my point? Well, 8 years of Oddbins and a totally fractured existence, plus two years of permanent "weekends", i am now facing the normality of weekend release in Buenos Aires. The comfort that for 2 days i will not be at a desk trying to remember how to conjugate a verb or look up what pesadilla means. Obviously, i haven't made the foolish mistake of getting a job but there is a real joy in being guilt free doing nothing. Admittedly, this has never been a problem for me, but their seems to be added spice to the weekends now.

Lastly, i feel i should make it clear that in no way is this added spice a compensation for the hours at the desk. Personally i'm greatly looking forward to my normality - a permanent weekend when my Spanish permits, probably sometime in the 2010's!

El Ateneo

El Ateneo, wrote about this place on my last visit. Love it. Just sit, relax, have a coffee and read whatever you want with no hassle. Stunning building, a joy. Bizarrely this place isn't in the guidebooks. Probably a good thing, just me and a french lass bumbling around taking pictures.

Plaza San Martin

A famous doctor, whose name has been erradicated by several cervesas, killed himself. Why? He wasn't getting the funding or respect he felt he deserved. After his death a foundation in his name was set up and, suprise surprise, he was posthumously bestowed the accolades and funding flew into the foundation. All of which is deadly dull but lead to fund - raising events such as the sculpture exhibit in the plaza.

I loved it. Don't know why it's a bit cheesy, loads of different heart sculptures, but the light was great that day, it was hot, i had a beer and fag in hand and portenas were everywhere. La buena vida. Some pics for perusal.