Dawn after the storm

Bad neck drove me out of bed and down to the beach again. Dawn may not clear the pain as well as a pill, but it's not a bad substitute. At least I have now identified the bird that starts its single note chirp well before daybreak - it's a humming bird, a pair of them, in fact.

No beach rats sleeping under the palms today (nice change), last night's storm must have shaken them up a bit. Instead, I found three young girls from Manaus, in the Amazon, busy shooting selfies against the sky. Took some for them with their reflections in the water, like the runner above. When I left the beach, there was a man spreadeagled and fast asleep, shirt pulled up to shield his eyes, bang in the middle of the pavement. Catching up after the storm kept him awake all night?

Later went to get my hair cut and my nails done. The hairdresser has an endless selection of scandalous jokes and is an excellent mimic. He gets so carried away with his stories that he always cuts too much hair off.

The manicurist was telling me how two bandits with guns and two with hammers terrorised her bus ride lat week. Miraculously, they didn't rob, shoot or injure anyone, but everyone was in panic, some fainted, others dived to the floor in fear of bullets. Eventually, all except one of the hammer bearers got off - so did he, but only after smashing all the windows. The worst of it was that although she admitted to being terrified (naturally), she told the story as if it wad nothing too out of the ordinary...

Oops, shouldn't have told that tale, might make footie fans etc think twice before visiting our fair city :-( Foi mal, as they say here.

Headache eventually forced me back to bed, but an hour's kip seems to have seen it off. Good thing, because a friend is singing in a restaurant this evening and we want to go and hear her.

Excuse any tipos, sending from mobile - no other connection just now.