COVER N.190 - BRAZIL

Postmark: AC -Carmo da Cachoeira MG 29.11.2022

Posted on the 29th November; Received on the 20th December 2022
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I'm always very happy to receive a cover coming from abroad that speaks my own language. On top of it, the envelope shows no less than 5 stamps, they too speaking the "romantic language of the Portuguese" as James Taylor once so fittingly proclaimed in is beautiful "only a dream in Rio" song.

So allow me to go back to what's really my own idiomatic second nature and say Muito Obrigado, José, pela magnífica carta que teve a gentileza de me enviar!

That said, why do I keep this blog in an idiom that is not my own, when there readily available and free tools that can help any potential reader, convert it to his/her idiom of choice?

I do think of this every once in a while.  The main reason, I think, is pretty obvious: English, as I often say, is modern day Esperanto, at least for the side of the world which I take for granted, the often referred to as the "West": Thus, using it (irrespectively of any less than optimal uses of  syntax and semantics in which I may incur, and for which I apologize) allows me to believe that more people will potentially waste some time reading the lines I drop into the main text box of the blog entry form (more on this later).

On the other hand it allows me to practice English as a second language, which is something that I am pretty keen to do because many were the times in my own personal and professional life that benefited from my being fluent in what I believe is the most used "exchange" idiom in the world in spite of not occupying the 1st place in the ranking of idioms with the most native speakers.

A third reason might be a more personal one: pleasure and knowing I can do it. I like to write even if I'm a lousy writer, So keeping a blog in a foreign language is a bit of challenge and everybody knows that the bigger the challenge, the bigger the reward when we overcome it.... (I know , I know, writing a couple of Lapaliçades in English is not such a great feat, but I do get a fair amount of pleasure and a feeling of accomplishment from it, trust me).

Now could this all be but a manifestation of pride? Vanity? One of the *cardinal* sins? a pure act of self-indulgence? Some sort of exhibitionism? After all, who gives a s**t about what I write or not? Who really cares?

And yet, as with any form of communication, writing presupposes that there is a recipient of the message at the end of the line, there, on the hidden face of my computer screen, that is, *you*, who have been kind (and stoic) enough to have reached this point of the text.

The question is: are you there? do you exist? or am I writing in a circular mode? am I the main recipient of what I write here? 

I check the blog statistics every once in a while, and these tell me that there are some "visitors" to these pages (which isn't a synonym of "readers" of these pages).

Further to that, some friends do actually tell me they have read or have visited or do visit regularly, and this type of feedback for me is much more relevant than the crudeness of stats based on click data.

I know how hard it is to retain one's attention on anything written of a screen, a constraint that leads to the  dictatorship of the short (or minimal, I should say) text. This, in turn, leads to semantic predation, with the number of words being used in conversation in spoken or written form decaying constantly. It seems to me that sustainability and biodiversity are notions that should also be applied to languages, We are loosing words by the thousands each year, So much so that sometimes I feel that we're progressing towards the Weissmuller speech norm, the ultimate tweet: "Me Tarzan; you Jane!". What more needs be said?

I will not follow the trend though. I'll keep writing using what words and what length of them I deem appropriate, assuming there is always someone, like you, who will be kind enough to reach the bottom of these blog entries, even if just to say "what a piece of rubbish".

All things considered  knowing why I do it, after writing almost 300 blog entries shouldn't worry me too much. as I enumerated above, there are sound reasons for doing it, and if the third reason I enunciated, - the manifestation of a cardinal sin - is the strongest of them (even If I will never admit it) then I'll be sure to take my lawyer along, come judgement day.

So, if you have reached this point, let me just offer my most sincere thanks for your attention, and this being the last entry for the year, let me also wish that 2023 may become your best year so far, and yet not as good as all those that are still to come, which I hope will be many!

Stamps left to right

- Domestic animals, pets, was the leitmotif chosen for the 2018 common theme stamp issue of the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal. 

The Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos, the Brazilian Postal Administration, took the challenge to the next level and decided it would promote an internal contest for its workers, asking them to provide photos of their pets for the creation of the stamps. The idea was a huge success, judging from the almost 1700 photos received, of which 30 were selected and then used in the 1,55€ stamps that feature in the mini-sheet issued on 06NOV2018. 

Cats. dogs, birds, fishes... sound proof that pet animals are as diverse as their owners, as the rabbit on my cover - named Orelhinha (little ear) the legend tells us - clearly illustrates.

- Bikes...there was a time when I thought they were a good idea,.. but I never took the plunge, the notion that the airbag is in fact your chest or that asphalt is but another coarser grade of sandpaper made me stay away from them, although for some years I chose the un-motorised version, a bicycle, of course, as my vehicle of choice for my daily comings and goings from home to work and vice-versa.

But, in spite of all that, one has to agree that riding a bike has to be a lot of fun and I do understand those that worship the 2 wheels, especially those that use it for long leisure travels, and I also confess that I am always in awe at the way  racing pilots handle the almost 300 BHP of their mounts in what looks to me like some sort of ballet as they roll from one side to te other, their knees even touching the asphalt (yes, the sandpaper) at incredible speeds...

On 29SEP2002, EBCT issued a mini-sheet containing 6 different 0,60 Real stamps dedicated to Motorbikes, of which a pair can be seen on my over.

The left stamp shows a Suzuki GXS - R1000, which was powered by a 999.8 cc 4 cylinder engine capable of producing 199BHP for a total weight without rider of 201 kg... 1 BPH per kilo... small wonder I am not that confident about ridding them....

On the background of the stamp there is the image of the very first Suzuki motorbike, or should I say powered bicycle...the Power Free as it was called available from 1952 had a  36cc engine with a maximum power of 1 horsepower at 4,000 rpm. I guess Suzuki rode a long way since then...

The right stamp is illustrated wit the image of a Triumph Daytona 955i centennial edition. 

This massive beast saw the light of day in 2002, with a production run of only 200 units. It was equipped with a 955 cc engine delivering almost 150 BHP and it weighed 191 kg. 

As it happens in all the other 5 stamps of the set, on the background of the image there's also a picture of the first  motorbike of the brand, in this case a Triumph, dating back to 1906, which was test driven by....a priest! 

Indeed, after manufacturing motorcycles since 1902 with parts from other manufacturers, Triumph Engineering conceived its first all in-house model in 1906 and asked Rev Basil H. Davies, a well known motor biking enthusiast of the day, who would write about motor biking under the pseudonym of Ixion, to test drive its product, which he did, achieving a total of 1279 miles, (about 2000 km) in six days without any major breakdowns.

This story only goes to prove that I am probably right being suspicious about motorbikes in general... inviting a priest to be your test driver isn't the best publicity stunt, I reckon...... 

- UCCLA - The Union of the Portuguese Language  Capital Cities was the brainchild of the then Lisbon Mayor, Nuno Kruz Abecasis, the institution having been created in 1985 with the aim of developing and implementing concrete actions with a view to sharing experiences and cooperation so as to improve mutual understanding. 

Besides Lisbon, the founding members were the  cities of  Bissau, Luanda, Macau, Maputo, Praia, Rio de Janeiro and São Tomé/Água Grande.

Brasilia as the Capital of Brazil would join in 1986.

In 1993, on the occasion of the Brasiliana World Philatelic Exhibition that took place in Rio de Janeiro, the postal administrations of the  members of the UCCLA  issued stamp sets celebrating their being part of the organization.

The Brazilian issue, which began to circulate on 30JUL1993. was a se-tenant two stamp set, with face values of 15,000 and 71,000 Cruzeiros (high inflation times, those were... hmmmm or should i say... these are....) depicting the current and the former capital cities of the country, that is Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.

The stamp dedicated to Brasilia highlights the modernist buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer which have given the Brazilian capital World Heritage status with the famous "Os Candangos" sculpture by Bruno Giorgi in the foreground.

The right-side stamp shows the image of  the no less iconic and also holder of World Heritage status “Christ the Redeemer” statue  spreading its arms over the beach of Copacabana, two images that are immediately associated with Rio de Janeiro.

The very large and clear postmarks indicate that the cover was mailed from the city of Carmo da Cachoeira in the state of Minas Gerais, in the Southeast of the country.