Ho bloody ho

I bumped into a friend of a friend (so to speak, as I don't think they are anymore) on the way to Costa today; the type of person that does the me me me thing to perfection. Pretty early on, he told me he and his wife were pregnant (he actually said "We're pregnant" - what's all that about?). After soaking up my congratulations, he then told me that she was three days 'late'. Jeez. I mean, what do you say to that?

The coffee stop involved the usual failed beggar avoidance - "Meester, meester, inta quais?" over and over again. I wish they'd all bugger off. There is nowhere in this dreadful place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and a muffin in peace, and so I've perfected the art of eating and drinking on the go, trying to avoid all the leering eyes and shouts from people dying to test their four words of English out on me. I miraculously managed to find a tiny bit of non-piss-stained wall to sit on next to the abandoned railway track where I was completely free from eyes and traffic. I sat there, and ate my muffin, all the time hoping I could do so before the inevitable break from peace came. Two minutes later, a bloke scuffed up the stairs, mouth-agape, eyes assessing me, and I got up and carried on walking.

Worryingly, it appears my camera is dying. In addition to the unfixable Err99 message, I now have a temperamental shutter release button and the autofocus was being extremely erratic. Perhaps I need to write a letter to Santa to ask for a new camera like the ones that the big boys have.