Large photos

I can't keep trying to upload loads of photos to the blog every time I write something, so I've started uploading some of our photos to a Google web albums, and if you would like to view them I think you can access them at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/clive.maguire. I'll load more up when I have nothing better to do than sit and watch the upload screen for 5 hours. The whole idea was to save some time, but now it looks as though I may have to edit every photo to reduce the size etc. Gawd...

Rhythm of the Rain

It rained so much last night, and so hard, we thought the whole house would be carried away down the no-longer-so-little stream running by us. But here we are - another day, another Real. I looked up the average rainfall figures for Manaus and it looks like we're in for a total of around 300mm (what's that in inches anyway?) this month and next month. Interestingly, this doesn't influence the river level as much as you might think at first - in March the level is pretty static at around 25.5m amsl (it actually falls in the first part of the month), but we can expect a whopping 2m+ rise in April and May. So the level is determined primarily by the rainfall further upstream, which I suppose is pretty obvious when you think of it. Duh.

The practical impact of all this rain is a) my tan is fading and b) it's almost impossible to dry any clothes. So now I'm turning white again and the whole house smells of badly dried clothes (isn't that the name of a pop group or something?) Ah well, never mind

MFI in Brasil?

Naice and I have just finished putting together the most appalling piece of cheap MDF/chipboard/hardboard bedside cabinet I've seen since the 1970s (or rather, that I've been told about - I'm much too young to remember personally). True, it came with the correct amount of screws and nails (nails, hmm..), which technically elevates it above 1970's MFI standards, but then it had a marked absence of pre-drilled holes, which puts it right back down there again. And of course the diagrams were made for the little men in blue coats who designed the thing in the first place, and to whom no doubt it is quite obvious where everything should go. But for we of the great unwashed, it's a case of 'guess where this nail goes?'.

Yes. Nails. Around the back of the unit, where presumably no-one is supposed to look once the thing is backed up against a wall, there is clearly no need for either any finish, or any screws. Just raw chipboard/hardboard full of nails. However I'm pleased to report that previous experience stood us in good stead and when we'd finished, all that was left over were 5 nails. The drawers were almost square and there was barely a wobble from it. It now has pride of place in the double en-suite. The wardrobe I put together, on the other hand, is in the twin en-suite, screwed to the wall for extra support and from where it will never be moved in case it completely collapses. I think a picture of the latest effort is warranted, don't you...?