rain stopped play?
Oops, we had a good start today, this morning was bright and sunny and I was beginning to regret not having any sunblock with me. I ambled downtown towards Simon Bolivar Square, where the preparations were underway for the inaugural fiesta, this is as close as Colombia gets to carnival (although apparently rumba is very big here). We, of course, had been carefully scheduled to have a nice lunch with the head of the British Council, thus keeping us safely out of potential harms way.Our welcome pack from our sponsors consisted of a plastic water bottle, a small backpack with 'British Council' (or 'mug me now') printed on it, and a few sheets of A4 detailing all the things it is not safe to do in Colombia, among which, had we chosen to follow the instructions to the letter, was going to eat with the British Council.
We were fed in a terrace restaurant, high above the town, and, as has been typical while we've been here, a rainstorm started while we were eating. We were high enough up to be above most of the storm (Bogota is at one end of the Andes), but it was very violent and quite exciting. I felt very sorry for all the hundreds of marchers we had passed on the way to the meal. Once we were done, en mass we spurned the festival minibus (on average it takes three times as long to get anywhere by car as it does to walk), and walked back to the hotel.
There wasn't really very much time to do anything much before I needed to be at the theatre, so, after a confused and ineffective attempt to talk to the Arts Correspondant via Skype, I headed for the theatre. I was greeted by a scene of utter confusion (and you must bear in mind that when it comes to confusion, we're working with pros), the last two days of very heavy rain might not have penetrated the shell of the theatre to any significant extent, but the bods who built the seating rostra and the stage upon sand, hadn't really taken the substrate into consideration, and certainly hadn't bothered to spread the load in any way. Consequently, after our first night full house, the seating was already sinking into the ground by as much as six inches in some places, and after the deluge this afternoon, the whole of the auditorium seating was starting to descend into the ground. I suppose if you use beer mats to spread the load then this is what will happen.
After a good deal of standing around and quite amicable pointing, this evenings performance was cancelled. I left the theatre to the sound of angle grinders, as they dismantled the auditorium preparatory to putting in proper footings for the rostra; if it rains again tomorrow they might need to consider pontoons.
Changing the subject briefly, assiduous readers may recall that I have an active interest in living things, and when I'm away I like to note any oddities or exotic specimens I encounter. Sadly, unless my observational faculties are very dimmed, all I have seen thus far have been a few dogs and some very scabby pigeons. There are no birds in the sky; I saw a small brown moth in a bar last night, and I think I have seen two flies. This leads me to the conclusion that, although Colombia is ranked ninth in the world for atmospheric probity (the UK is 13th, I was paying attention at lunch), this is possibly because the major polluters are concentrated in very small areas, and when they're bad they're horrid.
posted by Lampy @ 3/09/2008 02:33:00 am
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