I feel really shit this morning. Totally exhausted. Too much standing around yesterday at the awards ceremony.
I drag myself downstairs at 9:30 for a fruit breakfast. Maybe that will help. The cough has resurfaced. After breakfast, I lie in bed until checkout time, coughing my guts up every few minutes. What a joy it is to be alive.
A few other judges are in reception when I check out and I say good bye to them. A nice bunch this year, with quite a few people I've never met before.
I'm taking it really slow today. I get to my city-centre hotel around noon and spend a couple of hours just relaxing in my room. It doesn't help that it's much warmer today - 32 C. I'll go out for some food later when it's cooled down a bit.
Searching the internet for beer and food destinations, I come across Beer and Pork. Sounds perfect. Two of my favourite things. It opens at 6 PM. Which is exactly when I jump into my Uber. It’s a bit of a ride away, on the mainland.
The doors are still locked when I arrive at 18:20. I’m not the only one hanging around outside. Fortunately, we only wait a minute or two.
Inside a band is finishing up its soundcheck. Obviously, this is a live music sort of place. Pretty sure I’ll be long gone by the time they hit the stage for real. I’m planning an early night.
Handwerk American IPA sounds the best of the 14 draught options. It’s OK, but there isn’t a huge amount of hop character. Which is sort of what you expect in an American IPA. On the hazy side, too. Thankfully not too sludgy. Lovely copper colour.
I take a seat outside, where there’s an amazing view of the island. Clouds shroud its hills While water laps just a few metres away. Joggers jog along the narrow beach. Florianopolis is so beautiful. So much so, it’s hard to do in justice in words. Only what looks like a wastepipe spoils the scene.
Of course, there’s no printed menu. I have to log onto the wifi and scan a QR code to pull it up on my phone. And then order via the phone. Why can’t you just order from a fucking waiter any more? What do you do if you don’t have a mobile? Just as well I’m getting all modern.
I’m not 100% convinced that I’ve ordered my food. I wander over to the bar to enquire. While I’m there, my sandwich is delivered to my table. I had ordered it, then.
A pork sandwich with barbecue and stuff. Quite nice. And not too much.
Darkness has thrown down its blanket. Lights glisten like crystals on the island opposite. Two men cast nets from the beach, an arc of seabirds waiting hunched behind them. It’s all very scenic.
Only the one beer. I don’t really fancy another. And I want to get back to my room early.
Soon I’m in a cab weaving through the night-time city. A blur of light and colour flowing by.
Back in my room, I lie on the bed and watch football. There’s always football in TV in Brazil.
A rum sambas me to sleep.
Beer & Pork Brewery
R. Des. Pedro Silva, 2019
Coqueiros, Florianópolis
SC, 88080-700.
Thank you for the affirmation.
ReplyDeleteI still do not have a mobile telephone. There is this thing in the U.S.A. known as the Fourth Amendment. It reads that (the key part of the first sentence, which is quite long) "..against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated".
One element which is nearly impossible to avoid is that a mobile telephone absolutely violates this amendment. Because the party doing the "unreasonable searches and seizures" is not the U.S. Government. It is your mobile telephone service provider. Of course, the U.S. Government can, and absolutely does, demand the data your mobile telephone service provider collects about you.
You can deduce why the U.S. Government would want this data. Anybody on the planet could be involved with "terrorism", "drug dealing", "child abuse", or "copyright violation". All of which are felony crimes illegal in the U.S.A., and which the U.S. Government would like to keep appraised of. {What is that about the fourth element? Entertainment producers [c.v.: music, movies] are mostly in the U.S.A., and they insist about knowing who are the people stealing from them. And this most likely involves everybody.}
When I encounter a venue which insists I access its menu(s) via the Internet; it had better grant access to its World-Wide Web site. A number of venues do not recognize my Windows 8.1 laptop computer as a device which can reach its Internet network. It is a 2.4 Ghz device. The more recent level of Internet accessibility is to a 4 Ghz device. Enabling access to 2.4 Ghz devices is as simple as logging on the Internet router and ticking a box to allow 2.4 Ghz devices access. I know this, because here at the abode on my 1 GB (symmetrical) Fiber Broadband network, I had to tick that box to grant access.
The excuse is that wait staff do not know what is the router password! It was set up by the cable guy. Where is the venue manager? How many hours a day does he work the front of house? The venue manager is never there when I am there, even if it is late in the afternoon on a weekday. Result: That venue drops off the list of spots I will go again.