TDSounds

Heading back to London tomorrow. Its been strange staying so long after carnival - past the post carnaval blues stage and well into the normal swing of life here.

After weeks of unbroken skies and sweltering heat of 40+ degrees, a cold front swung in a week ago and temperatures have plummeted by 20 degrees or so. Suddenly everyone is wearing long trousers, boots, cardigans. The beach has been rained off for over a week.

Rio is changing fast. I´ve seen things that I wouldnt have believed possible after first visiting this amazing city 13 years ago.

1. Not only have they introduced a no smoking indoors rule, but it is enforced everywhere with general cooperation from the public (well prob not in the favelas)

2. The Lei Seca (the law about not drinking and driving) is being enforced rigorously with roadblocks pulling out random cars and breath testing the drivers. The road accident rates are already falling all over the state of Rio de Janeiro.

3. I have noticed speed cameras here this year. People are driving slightly less crazily. But its still not safe to for a car to stop at a red light in the wrong part of the city.

4. Municipal creches and community restaurants are now well established on the fringes of the poorer districts.

5. I´ve seen far fewer pregnant women this year - the birth rate must be dropping like a stone.

6. The current governor of the City of Rio de Janeiro is actually proposing legalising drugs, to remove the money flow that feeds the gang violence in the favellas.

7. The metro has opened a second line and has consequently become so innefficient and uncomfortable that I ended up taking buses everywhere. Improvements are promised by next year.

And here´s some of the things that have stayed the same

1. The complete lack of a concept of customer service in the shops here.

2. The violence - just last night bandits hijacked a bus in the suburbs, and set light to it with all of the passengers still inside. In a separate incident a roving reporter got closeup pictures of a shoot-out in the streets that left at least one person dead. And elsewhere somebody got shot dead for asking another passenger in a bus to close the window.

3. The warmth of the people. As long as they are not serving you in a shop, or participating in gun warfare, Cariocas continue to be welcoming and helpful and warm.

4. The dodgy infrastructure. Parts of Rio still suffer from random electricity and water cuts. The roads continue pockmarked.  The telephone system is dodgy. The sewerage system can't cope. Public officials continue to be paid so little that they can't live without either a second or third job, or a dependance on bribes, and can't put time or mental energy into the beaurocratic organisation that is needed to put this right.

5. The wierd attitude to animals - I´ve seen dogs here with sunglasses, raincoats, tutus, ribbons. In Copacabana alone there must be well over 50 pet beauty parlours.

6. The corruption. The papers are full of stories about various high officials being in trouble. But this has in fact changed - in years gone by it was never the people at the top who got caught, just underlings. Now they´ve just imprisoned the State Governor of Brasilia for accepting bribes. But jobs and promotion are still available largely on a 'who you know' basis, resulting in many complacent or incompetent people fouling up the organisation and running of the city, and many talented and capable people  stuck at the bottom with no chance of advancement.