…people should think deeply before spending 1 million pounds?

 Ok, by now, even you know me just from reading this blog, you should know I am a kind of hippie person, who think the world should be living some kind of not-imposed-but-chosen-socialism system, where everyone would live, work, grow and prosper together – cutting out all the power-trip-fear-controlled-sh*t which in my view is the instigation for violence, sadness and frustration age we are witnessing these days.

 

That said, I was the first one (if not the only) to be outraged with news of a brazilian entrepreneur opening a brazilian restaurant in London – but wait for it – spending ONE MILLION pounds for such plan. The restaurant was in Knightsbridge, same plot where Harrod's is by the way. It spread across 3 floors. It had not wonderful but good reviews when it first opened - but one million pounds? Come-on!!

For someone who came from the very country indeed where the social differences are appalling, he knew what this money - oh, what the heck – half of this money let's say for the sake of the argument could have done for kids in the streets, families without a job, hopeless souls who have nothing to loose turing to the bad side of the story of a country that is either too weak or frightened to fight back.

 

So when I had some friends asking me if I wanted to go to visit Mocoto, I usually was even afraid to sound rude and boring with all my lecture about how I found everything wrong with this place. I was adamant I would never ever set my foot there. I preferred much more, if I had to, help honest brazilian people trying to make a living from honest little restaurants where you can have the real deal. Much more with a friend who works at the embassy, I have contacts of wonderful brazilian cooks who can make traditional brazilian meals with delivery at your door step and a fair prices. I would never pay gold money to a guy who was obviously sitting on the dosh (as we say in Brasil) and just wanted his pockets to be even fatter.

 

So today I rejoiced read this news , which one of these friends who heard my hippie-lecture sent to me.

Mocoto is closed after 6 months on the go. No more money for those who don't know how to spend it wisely.

It's a shame one million pounds is already gone, but at least it is good to know people are not gullible, are not stupid just to do something because its trendy or expensive.

 

I am happy to see life is, after all, fair.

 

 

PS: The head chef of the restaurant was called Darryl Healy. Makes you wonder, how authentic the "first authentic brazilian eaterie" – as it branded itself – planned to be, and in fact was.

...it takes a politician to understand one?

I've promised myself I would not join the debate about the plane crash in Brazil, after posting about it last week.

But today, once again I was astonished by claims made by the BBC and it was just pretty damn hard not to write about it.

What made me even angrier was the fact these news are nowhere to be seen on Brazilian news websites, what is a pity in my view, this should be broadcasted for everyone to know what the so-called govern-for-the-people is doing to the country!

The issue now is hundreds are turning to buses or cars as a resort to travel and I seriously think this is more dangerous in Brazil than any flight. Even with the risks. Sources tell us that in average, 30.000 (thirty-thousand) people die on the roads every year in Brazil (see the Brazilian source here). Let's remember there were 353 dead from the last two air accidents. And that is another thing the press keeps quiet about. I am afraid now bus companies will start trying to take on more than they can, and that's another tragedy waiting to happen.

 

Here is the BBC article, with my comments:

 

Brazil rejects outside air help  

Now, why on Earth Brazil would refuse that? Help should always be welcomed. Even more when there are lives on the line.

 

The head of Brazil's airport authority has dismissed calls for the country to accept foreign help to address concerns over its aviation system.

An international air traffic controllers group said foreign experts should intervene in the wake of the crash in Sao Paulo that killed 199.

I completely agree with it. Something must be very wrong for the country to have two huge crashes in less than a year. When you have people coming from abroad, it is international interest to intervene.

 

A radar outage worsened the air traffic crisis in the country over the weekend.

But Infraero head Jose Carlos Pereira said the proposal was just an attempt to intervene in Brazil's affairs.

And what is wrong with that? Its clear to me Brazil does not have the competence to sort out its own problems.

 

Efforts to return Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport to normal are meanwhile being hampered by heavy rain which caused a landslip near the main runway.

Yeap, this just shows it is all falling apart - quite literally now - and how "efficiently" people responsible for running Brazil air control are taking care of the situation.

 

The head of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations, Marc Baumgartner, said on Monday that Brazil should bring in foreign experts to oversee its aviation system.

He said the Brazilian authorities were trying to save face following the crash at Congonhas and accused them of putting the travelling public at risk.

"We think they need an independent view," he told Reuters news agency. "It has the advantage of being neutral and it has worked before in other countries facing aviation crises."

He is so right, I can't put it into words. This is exactly what is happening. It is known fact by now the whole issue with air traffic started after it was demilitarized and became another place for nepotism and corruption. The last thing they want is someone independent and knows what they are doing to tell the whole nation what is wrong and how to fix that. It is disgusting how they put power and money over safety and life.

 

But his comments prompted a scathing response from the head of the national airport authority.

"They're a bunch of idiots wanting to intervene in our affairs," Jose Carlos Pereira told reporters.

"Brazil doesn't need international help. They should care for their air space and we'll take care of ours."

Typical ignorant Brazilian politician reply that is. This Jose Carlos Pereira should be put in jail for the last two accidents we had. No matter what reason, if the runaway was slippery, or the plane had problems, or was human fault from the pilot. This should all been identified and corrected before the crash. The runaway should not have been reopened, the plane should not be allowed to take off, and the pilot should have been better trained. There should be an organ to investigate, regulate and enforce what is right from wrong. The feel I have is they are treating air travel as good as road travel in Brazil. Terribly disorganized where anyone does what they want, when they want and how they want, under terribly maintained roads and along terrible drivers and dangerous vehicles.

 

Air travel in Brazil has been severely disrupted since last September, when a Boeing 737 clipped wings in mid-air with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle, killing all 154 people on board.

And still, no one was blamed for that, and no action to avoid that in the future was taken, if not the contrary.

 

Flight delays and cancellations have become routine, as air traffic controllers, fearing they were being blamed for the accident, have staged periodic work slowdowns to protest at what they say they are bad radar and radio equipment and poor pay.

Who would not believe them? The poor situation they work under is being alerted for ages before the accident, but again, the press played dead.

 

On 18 July an Airbus A320 skidded off the wet runway at Sao Paolo airport and hit a cargo terminal and gas station, killing 199 people.

It was the deadliest air accident in Brazil's history.

 Lets hope is the last.