principe
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🐔 We are back, thankfully, to the markets! These first couple of weeks on the campaign trail aren’t, officially, campaign. So a few things are banned. Candidates have to figure out what they can do, while staying on the right side of the law. The kind of things the candidates do are, for that reason, not the part I love: with people attending, visiting markets, having meals with dozens of people. More toned down events, visits to factories, firemen, endless meetings. Those days are, finally, mostly gone!! Once in a while it turns out to be very cool, but mostly they are not. This week was better for photos.
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🇸🇹 movieStar is gone, to the islands. tinyMovieStar is gone too. This was a very dark cloud, looming over the whole week, worst now that it’s here.
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🚗 Car broke down. No time to figure out what’s wrong with it, just dumped it, got another one, and keep on driving. Will take care of it when this job is done.
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☂️ New Boo! post. This time about a visit to Macau. Hope you like this one.
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🦠 Virus still here. Still coughing. Nose still stuffy.
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📺 Tokyo Vice. One episode. That was it, that how much TV I managed to watch this week.
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⭐️ Manton announced the new pricing plans on M.b, and I just upgraded. No idea what I’ll use the extra blogs for, or bookmarks, or notes for that matter, but it felt like the right thing to do. It’s not a perfect service, but it’s not too far either. It’s a great deal.
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🛼 Of course my bedridden day had to go off course, and it happened because one of tinyMovieStar’s friends goes to roller skate classes. Obviously she wanted to try that as well! It’s, as usual, not far from home, but the heavy rain made it impossible to walk there. I drove the girls, with pleasure. She tried it, and loved it. Maybe we’ll have to add this to the ballet and swimming activities. Soon we’ll have one of these every day of the week!
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🇸🇹 movieStar has a trip to the islands scheduled for the end of February. We’re staying behind this time. She used to do it a lot when we first met, she’d go every couple of months, and we’re all glad she does not have to travel so often at this point in time. The little one will miss her dearly, as will I, she has never spent so long away from mom. It’s going to be interesting.
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🎉 Saturday plans were back on track, and we had another birthday party to attend. Two cousins, sisters, celebrated their 76 and 78 birthdays together. It was huge. We arrived shortly after lunch, and went on until well past dinner time.
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🐌 The week slowly moved forward. I quite enjoy this routine, but like to have work days sprinkled throughout the week. January is, I’ve said it before, usually a slow month. But not this slow!
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📷 Work! Finally! Two days, but it’s better than none! Nice trip too. Spending time away from the girls is no fun, though, and neither is seeing tinyMovieStar crying on the video call we did when she was going to sleep.
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📺 Criminal Record. YouTube (Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, hours long LoFi videos)
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📓 Boo! launched. Really happy with how it’s turning out, Ghost really is awesome for this format, and there are three posts already up: Walking Meditation, The River Girl, and The Popcorn Stand. Hope you like them, and feel free to suggest photos you’d like to know about.
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✏️ notes.maique.eu is also getting some love. Impossible not to do it, when Vincent keeps adding to this wonderful service.
🇸🇹 If you’d like to know more (a LOT more) about São Tomé, and its Roças, here is what you need to read:
THE FIELDS (ROÇAS) OF SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE — A LUSOPHONE HERITAGE – Estudo Prévio
thingsThisWeek 106
Back in the city, for a little while, and off we went again. This post was published when we’re already in Africa! Definitely a very strange week, there’s not a lot to share. We were too tired to do anything worth recording, and mostly dealt with the trip’s preparation.
💨 Spent half a day in Lisbon, straight from the Azores, then moved to the in-laws. Car wouldn’t work, so used one of my father’s. I’ll have to deal with that when we’re back.
We (the little one and I) rested, while the older girl had meeting after meeting. Three days of this routine.
We then moved back home, and had to deal with the trip: barber, bookstore, dentist. Packing. Checking in. Returning the car to my father. We had a very busy, and very stressful, couple of days.
On the night before the flight, only the little one got some sleep. We had to wake up early, and kept doing double takes, trying to figure out if something was going to be left behind.
I got up at 3AM, to add another lens to the backpack. Then back to sleep. Then awake again, for no special reason.
And on to the airport we went.
💺 I inherited a cousin when I got married. Well, I inherited a few, but one is worth mentioning today. He’s an airline captain, at the company we flew this time (and, truth be told, whenever we can). We get upgraded to executive when there are empty seats, and that’s always good. We did on this flight. Better food, always nice. Another (very) good thing about the upgrade: never a line to use the loo.
The plane is a small A320, not the most glamorous of planes. The flight seems endless, and the fact that we must stop for 90 minutes in Accra is just a shame. There’s a direct one, but only once a week. Bigger plane too for that one.
🇸🇹 I’ve said it before, but trips to this island are special, in the sense that there’s next to nothing there. We have to take everything we need with us. There are no shops on the island, except grocery stores, and handicraft shops, and other assorted establishments, of no practical use for us. And there’s no way I’ll be able to find a cable, or a card reader, or a battery. There’s also no ATM for our cards, so we’re always taking a lot more cash than we’d like.
All this. while also trying to keep the total weight of our luggage as low as possible, since there’s an allowance of 15kg (33lbs?) per person on the internal flight to Principe. Yeah. My camera gear alone is close to that.
I never got on that flight without being charged for the extra weight. It’s been 9 years now since I first came, the local airline has made a ton of money from my flights! The flight, in case you’re wondering, costs an insane amount anyway: close to 250€ for a 35-minute hop.
💸 Purchased a few more presets, just because they were cheap. Will probably keep using the same old dozen, but I’ve seen a couple on this pack that look very cool. And it is very hard to resist a well designed ad, and $9 for a few hundred presets.
🍿 The Union. What a load of nonsense. SOOOO predictable, from start to finish. Free Guy, a little better. Enjoyed this one.
📱 Settled on Castro again, for all my podcast needs. I missed the playfulness, and it seems to be working. Please don’t screw this up, new owners.
📝 Wrote a longer post, concerning blogging workflows. Everyone seemed to be doing it, and the posts were inspiring enough to get me to write my own.
📚 The book I picked up just before the trip was my entertainment during the flight. The airplane has no other means of keeping you busy, even on an 8 hour flight (please fix this, TAP, it’s not acceptable). Loving the stories, and theories, about the horrific 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
⌚️ Worth noting this is the first time I’m spending time in STP without the Explorer. I’m still wearing the 5000U, that’s why. After Menorca, Chaves, the Azores, it’s now time for the Japanese to visit Africa as well. It’s a comfortable watch, the feature set is perfect for traveling, and it’s awesome to know it will be able to handle everything. The other one did as well (it’s built like a tank), but one always worries a little.
🇸🇹 We made it!
thingsThisWeek #89
One more week of on the road. This update was very rushed.
thingsThisWeek #85
New online project started. Not a lot else to rave about. Short edition, I’m afraid.
🇸🇹 Limited Edition 2023
Every year there’s a photo exhibition in town, organized by the good people at CC11. Dozens of photographers are invited to pick one photo. As usual, whenever I’m asked, I’ll immediately go to Principe. This year I did the same. Picked a classic.
