Verão está a vir

Summer is coming.

I had a leisurely start but mooching around the apartment gave me a moist brow so I knew something in the air had changed from the relatively cooler winter of May to July. When I stepped outside it was indeed a hotter day than of late.

I cycled to a scrubby bit of park to read and look over my Portuguese notes, which of course I spent about five minutes on before reverting to play on my phone. A guy came by selling atlases but I wasn’t moved to buy one after I flicked through and saw how out of date the information was. He retorted that he needed the money to buy food. I told him I’d rather buy him food directly than have an outdated atlas, and then it took a while to ascertain that he wanted food from a nearby house where a policeman sells meat and rice on the side, to supplement a meagre salary. At first I thought he was telling me if he was seen with food, the police would commandeer it. This I wouldn’t find entirely unbelievable an act against the destitute. It was strange to hand over cash to a moonlighting policeman, who on any other day would be stopping me on the street and demanding documents. The atlas seller went away happy.

I cycled along the main road that leads north of the city to meet Gisela on the beach. As it’s still ‘winter’, the beach was almost devoid of people. It’s less hot and more windy during the winter and Mozambicans have told me it’s too cold for them to contemplate the beach at this time of year. Given that most days at the moment are like the best British summer days, this stance does make me chuckle. This picture contrasts sharply with the scenes here in January, the height of summer, when people pour onto the beach, drink heavily and party.

Now the sun sets early, at around 5.30pm. I cycled back in the dusk and had a quiet night on the sofa. More in recent months than possibly ever before, I am appreciating the benefits of recharging whenever I don’t have to work. Even though I now know some cool people here, I am doing less manic socialising than when I lived in the UK. This is probably for the best.