My dog is on Prozac!

Well, something had to change. The dog is over a year old now, but so incredibly clingy that he cannot bear to stay alone at home. His behaviour was starting  to get destructive, we had to do something.
Either find someone who can help fix this issue, or we would not be able to keep him.

Scruffy had to go the vet after cutting his foot on something last Thursday. so, once at INPA (in Copacabana- rua Santa Clara- warmly recommended!), I discussed with Cesar, Scruffy's regular vet, about his behaviour. Cesar recommended a vet who visits INPA on Fridays mornings, Joao is a dog behaviorist. So I booked the dog in and next morning, with Alistair, we were at INPA again.

We had a long chat with Joao. It seems the dog still behaves like a puppy. When they are adults, they should be able to mind their own business and stay on their own, not follow us everywhere. This behaviour is common with adopted dogs. So we need to start some training, but also deal with his separation anxieties crisis when left alone. Medication helps a lot.

So the vet prescribed anti-depressions tablets and some beta blockers that seem to slow down the heart beat.
I never took beta blockers but in my 15 years in Investment banking I have been through 2 phases of such high stress that I had terrible panic attacks, non stop weeping, shaking, not able to sleep etc... I just got to a  stage where I could not cope with the job. And on those 2 occasions, I took anti-depressions tablets. I must admit it did the job of reducing and dealing with the panic attacks and gave me the time I needed to continue working while looking for another job. Eventually, on both occasions, I left the bank. There is only so much sh*t you can take!

So I can see how these tablets can help the dog cope with his crisis. When he loses sight of us in the park, we can see him almost panicking until he see us again....

Since he has been taking his tablets he seems much quieter and seems able to sleep on his bed while I am in another room. that is progress. Usually he follows me everywhere all the time, including the toilets or even when I take a shower!

We will see how it goes. We have tablets for 2 months. In 2 1/2 weeks we are off 3 weeks to the USA, where we have arranged to book 2 motorbikes. We plan to ride in North Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. it should be awesome! Fantastic mountains rides in the area.

So the dog will go the his usual kennel but will continue his treatment. When we are back we will see the vet again.

I hope he will get fixed. We cannot keep a destructive dog in a rented flat otherwise!

Back from Europe.. and ready to ride!

Nice bike! Alistair could not resist and got himself a V-Strom few weeks ago, despite having no MC gear at all. He had to rush to buy a helmet!

For me, I was desperate to get a bike....
Well, I went to Europe and when I came back, our container had finally arrived! With all our motorcycle gear!
So off we went with Alistair's bike to Barra, investigate the local dealers! And I found the One! I emailed all the docs required and pay a reserve fee yesterday. I should get my brand new bike early June!

Just need to wait now and keep patient by riding pillion!


To keep me sane there are 2 bikes event coming.

The first one is an "International"  gathering on 3rd, 4th and 5th of August in Penedo, organised by the Penedo Motorcycle Club ( http://www.penedoridersmc.com.br/ ).

I sent an email asking if we need to register to assist. I wrote in English as it is an "international" meeting!  I explained our motorcycle background and many travels. They answered using Google translate telling me we would be welcome and to let them know where we would be staying as they want to interview us for the local newspaper! It seems our travels have impressed someone! Hehehe!

The second event is organised by myself. I am setting up the 1st "Horizon Unlimited" Meeting in Saquarema (RJ) on 14th, 15th and 16th of September. If you are passionate about Motorcycle travelling, be it in your backyard or around the world, come and join us. Details in the HUBB:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/hu-travellers-meetings-other-parts/brazil-hu-1st-mini-meet-63047

Let me know if you are joining us as I need to have an idea of numbers!

That's all for now!

I leave you with a couple of pictures of Scruffy in his new rain coat! See the little hood!

The art of war!

Well this is war, as simple as that!

3 weeks after I treated the dog with Frontline, the dog was still full of fleas. I treated again with the same remedy, only to find that 2 days later they were all happily partying on his belly. I was horrified.

I could not blame Frontline as I brought it with me from the UK, last January. So it is not a fake copy.

I thought maybe fleas in this country have some sort of superpowers? After all when you see the size of the cockroaches (almost big enough to have a mouse for breakfast!) you can understand my doubts!

Always the proactive one, I got into the Gringoes’ forum to explain my predicament and ask if this is normal. (And yes there is such a thing as a Gringo forum: www.gringoes.com).

After various answers I realised that, no, fleas here don’t have superpowers and that I most certainly have an infestation. I then proceeded to go my local “petshop” where they sell all sort of products and pet food and explain my problem. I was explained that I needed to disinfect the flat and floor boards as well as treat the dog.

Back home with a product called Fortis, I dilute it in a bucket and I disinfect the whole flat: mop the floors, spray the sofa and carpet and wash all the pet beddings with an anti-fleas shampoo. I also bath the dog in the same anti fleas shampoo.

I believe if you are going to strike, you have to strike so strongly that whatever you strike at won’t come back to bite you. Ever. That is my take on “the art of War”. Hit once, and hit VERY hard! So there. I’ve been hitting pretty hard, surely the dog won’t have any fleas left?

2 days later a close inspection shows fleas still partying on the dog belly (he has very little fur there so easy to spot them!). Argh! I go back to the petshop and explain my predicament again. The shop  hasn’t got any solution of Fortis so she gives me a bottle of Triatox.

Back home I look at it but the leaflet is written with such small letters that I can’t read it. Even with glasses! I manage to decipher that I need to dilute 10ml into 5 litres of water and proceed to do just that in a bucket. Without gloves. Or goggles. Or any protective stuff. I pour a liquid into a measuring cup and put in a bucket, pouring a vast quantity into my hands.  After dilution I put some of it into a spray bottle. I spray all the sofa and carpet again and wash the floors.

The dog has another bath with that solution (diluted as 10ml in 10 litres) and I wash again all his bedding with some of this solution.

Few days later another inspection of his bedding show tale tell signs of flea’s dropping. I grab the dog and check him again. There, dirt flea in his bottom and one flea wandering around!  Damn it! Scruffy fleas definitely have super powers, no way!

I use a cloth dipped into diluted Triatox to rub the dog with it. Flea dead. Once again all bedding is being disinfected. And flat.

I will win this war. I hope the dog can make it though!

(Polite notice: no pet was not harmed in the process ok? Don’t send me complaints emails! Find your sense of humour! )

As for me I’m not so sure! Not using gloves when pouring the concentrated solution into a bucket was not a good idea. AS not wearing a surgical mask to spread. It happens that Triatox is highly toxic and used on cattle and pigs! I’m pretty sure this would not be sold over the counter in Europe!

On the plus side, there is not risk of me of getting any fleas any  time soon, that must have treated me for life!

On a totally different topic: our container.

If you remember, the packers came, at end of June, last year, to take away all our stuff. Then the container was stuck in the UK, waiting for our “permanent “ visa to be granted. At the end of January this was done. By mid-February, the container left the UK and arrived at Santos on 3^rd of March. After a month it went through Santos custom, only  to be told by the shipping agent  that the container would need clearance from Rio customs too! Why? No clue!

Anyhow, on the 2d of April the container arrived in Rio and we continued waiting.

And finally, at last, some good news! Rio’s customs has put us on a fast track (!) as we had already be cleared in Santos, and they only took  2 weeks to inspect our stuff. We had confirmation yesterday that we are allowed to get it! Not that the stuff is on its way just yet! But at least we can hope to get it by end of this month? Please? Maybe?

So in total, 10 months to London/Rio. One year and 1 month after Alistair arrived. Don’t we love Brazilian bureaucracy? ;-)

What sort of business is that?

Things have turned a bit surreal with the neighbour upstairs.

Few weeks ago he did lots of “home improvement” or work by the sound of it! Since then we have not heard the “printing press noise”. What we hear now is from  the bathroom: constant water running down a big fat toilet pipe coming from the upstairs’ flat, and running through our en-suite bathroom (Brazilian plumbing!!!!) . Sometimes it stops but most of the time the water is running pretty much all the time.

So there it is, the guy upstairs is not printing false money anymore (or whatever his dodgy business was!) he has changed his business model!

I mentioned it to my friend Nayla (one of my neighbour) and she reported back to me after the “condominio” meeting.

Apparently there is a massive increase in the water bill. It went up from 5,000 reais monthly to over 9,000 and climbing! Nayla mentioned at the meeting about the water running nonstop. Now we do not have individual water metres so the bill is shared by all.

I could have predicted what would happen next.

First the lady in charge of the “condominio” put a notice about this but no one reported a leak. Then they decided to inspect the 2 flats above mine. Obviously dodgy neighbour refused to let anyone in. After putting pressure from the owner of the building he agreed. By then the water running stopped. After checking his flat the building’s taff said the noise I heard was from a washing machine. Yeah right! 24h, 7 day a week nonstop full blast water running!

And predictably as well, soon after the flat inspection, the water running noise started again.

Now I ask the question: what sort of business uses so much water?  I am wondering if it could be related to drugs. After all, now that the local favela Rocinha has been cleaned and local super villain Nem recently put in jail (he got caught fleeing Rocinha hiding in the boot of an Angolan diplomatic car – you could not make it up!!) there must be a gap in the market for supply of drugs!?

I vaguely remember a documentary  about the Amazon forest and the cocaine production. Did it use lots of water? Anyone specialised in Cocaine production please kindly let me know. We could be onto something here J.

I am afraid I am rather ignorant of that stuff! I am old school, my only drug is booze!

On another totally unrelated subject I am pleased to report that Alistair bought a V-Strom! (That’s a bike for those not on the know!).

 

For me, we went to BMW dealer in Barra yesterday , and stuffed our face with free cakes, sandwiches and coffee (hehehhe!!) , but came out empty handed. I had my eyes on the G650GS because they offer a very low seat for vertically challenged people like me! Bad news is that despite what it says in the Brazil website, BMW do not offer that choice in Brazil and when I sat on the bike it was too high for me. Can’t be bothered to lower it. So BMW is out!

I will make my way to the local Honda dealer and I think I will get the much cheaper and smaller CB300 with a full tank of 18.4l! Cool baby!

 

Now I just need to get my container (still detained by custom) and get my riding gear so we can actually pick up our bikes!

Soon we will start our road adventures!  The Franglais-riders are back J! Well almost, depend on Custom! L

 

How hard can it be...

…to get an appointment with your bank manager at an HSBC Premier branch.

Now the HSBC Premier account is used by many expats as they (in theory) speak English. The branch I talk about is in Centro.

1^st email sent to 3 contacts at the Branch; I ask to have an appointment so I can be included in the bank account of my husband now that I have my permanent Visa and docs sorted. No answer.

2d email: asking that someone acknowledge my email. My email is forwarded to another person who came back to me saying she needs all the docs (my passport etc… to include me in the account)

3^rd Email: I have the docs when can I come to show them to you and sign whatever needs to be signed?

Asnwer; I am being dumped to a 5^th guy, saying again that they need my passport and docs proving I am resident here.

4^th email: Yes I know you need these docs, I have them, when can I come to sort this out?

No answer.

5^th email (5 peoples cc-ed by now): Can I get an answer? (I start to be pissed off by then!)

Answer: for inclusion into my husband account I need  to provide my passport etc…

6^th email: (I am starting to lose my sense of humour at this stage): I (f*ck*ng!!!) have the docs, when can I come?????????? I enclose photos of all docs to prove I have all in order.

Answer: we cannot use picture we need to see the real docs.

7^th email: that’s why I am asking for an appointment!! (GHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!)

8^th email: So???????????? Any answer?

Answer: we need to see the docs.

9^th email: ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Tempted to send abusive email). I know I need to show you the docs, can I come next Friday lunch time

Answer: come Friday lunch time you will meet XYZ.

Moral of the story: don’t ever try to get an appointment, just turn up and make their life hell until you get what you want!

How hard can it be … to do a bill payment online using your HSBC website.

Our container is about to arrive in Brazil. Hurray! Now we just need to get through custom clearance (twice for some reason! Once at Santos where the boat arrive, then again in Rio. Oh dear we will never see our stuff ever again!!! ).

Anyhow, the company dealing with Custom is called FINK. They send us a bill we need to pay for their service. It is expensive. I decide to do the payment online.

I manage successfully to log into our account. The website has so many threads and links it is very confusing to know where to go. After a while I manage to find a link that seems to be for financial transfers. The only issue is that I cannot input the bank details of FINK.  I can only key a bar code! I don’t have one in the bill.

I phone HSBC Premier Branch in Centro. 1^st person: does not speak English (or Spanish, or French! How the hell did she manage to get this particular job then? This branch in Centro has MANY expats banking there!). I get passed to someone who “speak English”. He does not understand anything. I mix English with some Portuguese. After a long time navigating through the website he tells me that it is not possible to do a payment or transfer without the “bar code”. It is impossible to do a transfer using bank details only! What the hell?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I have to send an email to FINK asking for a “bar code” to do the payment. They finally send me one.

Now if someone can tell me how I can pay my rent online without a bar code, please send me urgently an email!

After 8 months in Rio I feel like I seriously need “Anger Management Classes”…

On the plus side there may be a way to get a work permit for me… all thanks to “Jeitinnho”. Let's see! 

Meanwhile we will be off kayaking in Botafogo Bay this Saturday… beats a raining cold run round Tesco in grid locked London any time J

little by little...

Carnaval is over, our friends are back to London and now things are moving again, slowly!
We finally have a bank account, I managed to get included in Alistair's account at last (although I don't have any card or anything yet!)! Our local ID cards (RNE) are being sorted...

There *may* be a way round getting a work permit for me (shhhhht ! Don't say anything... this is Brazil, it's all about "Jeitinho"...)

AND... most important, our container is on its way. Which means one very important thing: we will get (soon!) our motorcycle gear!!!!

So you know the drill! We are off bike shopping this weekend! :D
We won't go far, just to the Botafogo BMW dealer. I have (almost!) made up my mind. Al wants an F800GS, I will probably go for the G650GS. I know! Those who know me, heard me saying that after my experience with my previous F650GS I swore never to buy another BMW! God that bike was a DOG! But then the G650GS has a seat of 78cm, so no faffing around lowering the bike, and it is the cheapest lowest dual bike in Rio! So it might be a good choice. Although the Kawasaki ER-6N is still very tempting. But considering the state of the roads here, a dual bike is best!

Anyway we will have a look soon!

Meanwhile, I have been organising our next bike holiday, in June. We plan to rent a couple of bikes from Colorado and tour Wyoming and Montana for 3 weeks. They have some of the best (bike!) roads in the US apparently. We shall see! :)

Europe IS poor indeed!

I read this interview of the former Malaysian prime minister in the BBC and thought I should post it. It is so spot on!

That's why so many of us have left (or are about to leave) Europe....

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For decades the West has lectured the East on how to manage its economies. Not any more.

Now the emerging economies of Asia look like models of steady, consistent policy and sustained growth while Europe, America and Japan are mired in debt and are growing achingly slowly, if at all.
So what can the West learn from the East?
According to former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the message is simple but devastating: Europe must face up to the new economic reality.
"Europe... has lost a lot of money and therefore you must be poor now relative to the past," he reasons in an interview with BBC World Service's Business Daily.
"And in Asia we live within our means. So when we are poor, we live as poor people. I think that is a lesson that Europe can learn from Asia."
Dr Mahathir is well qualified to pass judgement.
If any Asian leader can make claim to having laid the groundwork for his country's economic expansion, it is he.
During his two decades in power, Dr Mahathir helped transform Malaysia from a sleepy former colony into an economic tiger.

But his advice will not make happy reading in the capitals of Europe.
Dr Mahathir believes European leaders are in a state of denial.
"You refuse to acknowledge you have lost money and therefore you are poor," he says.
"And you can't remedy that by printing money. Money is not something you just print. It must be backed by something, either good economy or gold."
Dr Mahathir may be 86 years old, but he still holds very strong views.
In particular, he believes Europe and the West must begin the long slow process of restructuring their economies to reduce their dependence on the financial sector.
"I think you should go back to doing what I call real business - producing goods, providing services, trading - not just moving figures in bank books, which is what you are doing."
His big bugbear is still currency trading, which he believes did huge damage to the Malaysian economy during the financial crisis that hit Asia in the late 1990s.
"Currency is not a commodity", he says.
"You sell coffee. Coffee… can be ground and made into a cup of coffee.
"But currency, you cannot grind it and make it into anything. It is just figures in the books of the banks and you can trade with figures in the books of banks only.
"There must be something solid to trade, then you can legitimately make money."
Tough message
But even if Europe takes his advice, Dr Mahathir believes there will be no quick return to economic health.
"To recover your wealth you have to work over many years to rebuild your capacities, to produce goods and services to sell to the world, to compete with the eastern countries," he says.
European workers are overpaid and unproductive, Dr Mahathir believes.
"I think you have paid your workers far too much money for much less work," he says.
"So you cannot expect to live at this level of wealth when you are not producing anything that is marketable."
His message is tough, he acknowledges, before adding with a laugh: "We used to get tough messages from you before, remember?"
"And now, what is the result? Sometimes you undermined our currency and we became very poor. Well, we learn from each other. We were Euro-centric before. I think it should be a little bit Asia-centric now."
A tough message indeed.

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