Vive Brasil

The Brazilian poet Adelia Prado (1935-) wrote a poem entitled The Impressionist, which goes as follows:

On one occasion,
my father painted the whole house
a brilliant orange.
We lived for a long time in a house,
as he said himself,
eternally dawning.

Well here is a building that is eternally Brazil. Well, at least until the decorators move in again. I wonder what Adelia would make of the tribute to her homeland?

It is, bizarrely, the Stag and Hounds pub close to Bristol city centre. And although it is right next door to my office, I had never before noticed the 'auriverde' ('gold and green'), as it is nicknamed.

Maybe it was painted before the start of the World Cup in the mistaken belief that the one-time glorious entertainers of football would once again triumph at the beautiful game.

But maybe it's nothing to do with football - perhaps its a celebration of a country's carnivals, beaches, Heitor Villa-Lobos, coffee and any other cliche you care to add.

Sadly, the flag is missing the words Ordem e Progresso ('Order and Progress') across the white band in the middle.

And it doesn't shine quite as brightly as the genuine article - 16 of the 27 stars are missing.

But it still brought a smile to my face when I saw it for the first time. Brazil is very good at that.