Well..........it's all been comparatively "happening" since Hannah arrived just after I got my crutches.....and to prove that most of it has been good, here's a photo of the sky not falling in, taken this morning.......we decided that after our busy day on the road yesterday, see below, we'd have a quiet day at home today.....so we spent the very hot first half by the pool at home.......

......and lo! ......as if it wasn't enough of a surprise to find the sky in the sky, there in the pool, before my very eyes were my legs....right there, just like that!! Well, I couldn't resist giving them a bit of a wiggle and a jiggle.....and lo! ....three hours later I was still at it .....lo! I thought. Fucking lo!
So, having thought lo! over and over, I eventually thought "....behold, behold my legs ...." ....so I did, I did behold my legs and I was so chuffed at that, I burst into spontaneous laughter, which I prolonged deliberately though obviously by now not very spontaneously, so that Hannah could take the picture shown below. But the idea to prolong the laughter was spontaneous at least!

And to the left of the photo below you can see my crutches, shown here for the first time! Funnily enough, I haven't had occasion to use them much, but yesterday in the bathroom I walked right out of them, and for much of yesterday I walked carefully on just my legs....which if you do it all the time, as most of you I'm sure do, is no big deal, but for me, after 6 or 7 weeks in a wheelchair or lying down, is no mean feat. That is not a deliberate pun, by the way. I'm not that cheap. As you will have noticed by now, far too much labouring goes into my humour for it to be cheap.

Amusingly, we finally managed to find a new wheel for the wheelchair yesterday....amusingly, because, firstly, as of yesterday I don't need a wheelchair any more, and secondly because I couldn't get a matching wheel I had to buy a whole new set which cost me thousands and thousands of centavos. Luckily thats fuck all in pounds.

So I am sort of walking again......hurrah!

.......and now pictured below, an incredible leap backwards in time to yesterday afternoon.....is everyone still with us? The journey is about to begin. Is everybody in? IS EVERYBODY IN????
Here's Hannah and Pedro at Arraial do Cabo......opposite is an island owned by the Brasilian Navy, and on it you can see what is rated in the Brasilian Guia 4 Rodas beach guide as the best beach in Brasil. Wot no discotheque????!!!

OK ............here we go.....ROAD TRIIIIIIP.......
Yesterday Hannah and I went off with our mate Pedro firstly along the coast to Araruama, which is the town behind the next lot of lagoons, and then on to Arraial do Cabo, the easterly point of land on the corner before the coast heads northwards past Cabo Frio and then on for thousands of miles up past Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Natal and beyond until eventually reaching the mouth of the Amazon. We didn't go that far yesterday as we had to be back in time for tea. So we just went as far as Cabo Frio.

So the first pic shows Arraial do Cabo which is absolutely beautiful.
Second pic is from further out.....that's where my head is at man......showing Arraial, behind is Cabo Frio, and if you get on the beach on the left in a Cobra (dune buggy) and let the tyres down to 8 kg per cc, and drive very fast, and don't stop (even if you break down), you end up in Saquarema at the bridge below the church. But don't stop or you sink.
This third pic shows the map view of the stretch from Cabo and Arraial through Araruama to Saquarema.

And here a map view of Arraial and on the far right is the island owned by the Navy, accessible only with a free permit and a sound system or mobile bar.
Below a pic from above Arraial do Cabo......Nice!!
Here remote beaches and headfuck house on the rocks, right opposite the Naval owned island and that beach.
Oh, and some cactussis. There are a lot of cactussis. Because it never ever rains here. And it's nearly always sunny (except when we were there). And a gentle sea breeze blows constantly (except when we were there) (.....it was a howling gale. ) Arraial is possibly the perfect palce to live. Oh, and did I mention the mosquitos there????

There aren't any.

Which would be good news for them at least.

Hannah and Pedro still staring inanely at the view across the straights, and the best beach in Brasil is still there and still without a discotheque or a bar. What is the matter with the Brasilian Navy? What is the matter with Hannah and Pedro? What is the matter with me? If you'd been paying attention, yes, you Nutman at the back, you'd know I'd broken my fucking leg. I won't tell you again.
OK you know the drill by now. View.Island.Beach.Cactuss. And some moron left a lamp post right slap in the middle of my composition. MISS??
Oh dear god give me strength. A bit of variation......two glorious beaches, two remote islands.....two thousand fuckin cactussis......two whatever.......whatever......

Amazing house on hillside above Arraial and an island. And Hannah. Her attention appears to be elsewhere.
Over here in fact. Arraial. You knew that. It's lovely.
Praia de Anju, Arraial. Great beach with marina. And cactuss.
Hurrah for the navy. I take it all back. Something different. An ancient and decrepit destroyer. Bought from the UK at an extortionate price. Hurrah.
Had a great day and got back knackered......Araruama looks like a good town....property is cheap and when they finish stopping the lagoon stinking in about 3 years it'll be a prime spot. Arraial already is a prime spot, though property is still quite cheap there. Cabo Frio is massively overdeveloped, but still has quite a nice city feel to it, though apparently has a few social problems to sort out.