Bilingual English

In the world of modern, competitive parenting, not giving your half-Brazilian child his bilingual birthright is seen as a mortal sin. But however Sam's international language skills do develop, I'm already finding it hard not to give him at least two different versions of English.

What a squeam

Sometimes, nesting with a toddler is like living with a drunk: stumbling and crashing all over the place; an excess of extreme emotions; lightning fast mood changes from sunny to psychotic. And back again. Thus it was today - a day on which Sam chose to grace us with his most charming, smiley and all-round adorable self for the entire morning, starting from the very moment he opened his eyes. Presumably he'd had a great night. But with a suddenness that was head-spinning, as he (presumably) decided his lunch was overdue, he pitched headlong into a quite demented and deafening squeaky-scream. Or was it a series of squeaks and screams ? Or perhaps a screamy squeak ? Or a squeam ? How do you define all these baby noises ?

More damn stats

Brazil economy overtakes UK. And on the other hand, this.

Hitchens part deux

Not sure if my previous post said what I wanted it to. I also made the usual mistake of publishing long before I had finished editing (and no doubt will do so again on this post). Anyone who reads this blog soon after posts appear is reading something often quite different from a reader of the same post a while later. Hitchens was praised for his ability to write publication-perfect prose at 100 miles an hour, often after drinking "enough to kill or stun the average mule."

Unreadiness is all

Our hyper-connected age means we often feel closer to strangers than to kith and kin. What is it to be involved with someone we have never met in person, or to feel that their existence / non-existence is deeply affecting our life ? Christopher Hitchens railed against the bogus sentimentalism that swept his native country when "The People's Princess" Diana died. And he said so very publicly not long after her pseudo-state funeral. Now we must do his memory the courtesy of avoiding such misplaced sentimentality and hagiography.

Sporting chance

Last night I played badminton for a second time at the Bethnal Green Technology College, open to the public in the evenings. It's a fairly new gym and pretty decent. As I was leaving, I couldn't help comparing and contrasting it with Clube Hebraica, one of only two badminton venues I found in Sao Paulo.

Play it again, Sam

Well, here it is ... again. Six months (almost to the day) after dad first began trying to secure your exit from Brazil and now at the ripe old age of 14 months, Sam, you've just received your third passport.