A Good Read! - - - - - - Chris Hunter - Eight Lives Down

Chris Hunter has just published his book "Eight Lives Down" about his experience in Iraq as a bomb technician. The most dangerous job in the world in the most dangerous place in the world. Good luck with it Chris! The "News of the World," UK Sunday Newspaper is serialising the book. This is surely going to be a best seller.


ABOUT THIS BOOK

Visceral and compelling, Eight Lives Down is the most exciting and nerve-jangling work of military non-fiction since Bravo Two Zero.

"If fate is against me and I’m killed, so be it, but make it quick and painless. If I’m wounded, don’t let me be crippled. But above all, don’t let me fuck up the task".

So goes the bomb technician’s prayer before every bomb he defuses. For Chris Hunter, it is a prayer he says many times during his four-month tour of Iraq. His is the most dangerous job in the world — to make safe the British sector in Iraq against some of the most hardened and technically advanced terrorists in the world. It is a 24/7 job — in the first two months alone, his team defuses over 45 bombs. And the people they’re up against don’t play by the Geneva Convention. For them, there are no rules, only results — death by any means necessary.

The job of a Bomb Disposal officer is a lonely one. You are alone with the sound of your own breathing and the drumming of your heart in a protective suit in forty-plus degrees of heat. The drawbridge has been pulled up behind you as you advance on your goal. It’s just you and the bomb.

But for Chris Hunter, just when life couldn’t get any more dangerous, the stakes are raised again.

Manaira in Paraiba

Sara on horseback

We have just returned from another brief trip to Manaira. If Extrema is a 'one horse town', and Pelo Sinal is a 'two horse town', then Manaira is a twenty horse town. It is lovely to see lots of working horses and donkeys. Unfortunately, this way of life has long gone in the Scottish lowlands.

Most noticeably, as you approach Manaira, the dirt-track roads are of a considerably higher standard than those in Pernambuco. As Romulo, our nephew who lives in Manaira explained, "People need to travel from Manaira to towns in Pernambuco. No-one from Pernambuco has any reason to go to Manaira!"

Don't air your dirty laundry in public!

This photo shows why it is not a good idea to air your dirty laundry in public. However, it makes a rather splendid colourful display and you have to show respect to the Dona or Dono of the casa because by bowing your head as you enter.

John Paul II Restaurant - note the place setting!

If you're hungry, I suppose a good place to eat barbecued meat, 'churrasco' could be at this churrascaria. I still can't make up my mind if the place setting logo on the wall is meant to be wrong to attract attention - or perhaps the graphic artist (and the owner) just didn't know the correct way to set the table. It usually doesn't matter anyway in north-east Brasil as with a beer you get one plate and one fork for four people to share and enjoy the freshly cooked salty barbecued beef and dipping flour. A very tasty and sociable experience.

Danceteria Night dance

....and for night entertainment, may I recommend Danceteria Night Dance!

Tourist trips are on offer, at very reasonable prices if you want to experience life as it really is in the sertão!!

House for Sale

Or, once you experience how good the life is here you would certainly be looking for a house to buy. You could probably get this one at a fantastically low price. If you are interested I could get you a good deal. Just let me know!

Festival of São João and when in Extrema, look up – not down

Perhaps we’re adjusting to living in the sertão. It certainly takes an unusual experience to prompt me to write these days. However, this month we went to four São João festas at various schools which were very entertaining and most interesting.

The São João festa at Sara's school

The host family buys the table and some individual entrance tickets and a good time is had by all. You can buy canjica and pamonha (corn dishes) but you can also get hot dog and barbecued meat as well. The usual selection of lemonade, lager beers, whisky, rum and pitu (sugar cane spirit) is sold at rock-bottom prices. It is a melange of dressing-up, dancing presentations of Xaxado or Forro to live music, story-telling, bonfires and fireworks.

Children handle fireworks. At one school a boy, delighted by the reaction of his victims, threw his fireworks into an area sectioned off as a playground where little children including Sara were playing.

The Church at Extrema

At the weekend, we went to visit Ivonete’s parents near Extrema for the São João bonfire and we went to the local church on Saturday. I sat down on an empty part of a bench seat and looked down at the floor which was littered with dirt which probably someone had brought in on their shoes.

Our godson Arthur, now 11 months old, was passed on from one member of the family to the other to keep him amused during the service. It was my turn to hold him so I took off my glasses and held them at arms length so that he couldn’t reach them. For me that is difficult as I cannot see much without them.

Just after the sermon but before communion, I suddenly felt a thump and felt a sort of scratching and clinging to my head as this creature tried to recover from its fall. I reacted by knocking it off my head into the middle of the church and being completely disorientated shouted a loud "EEEEeee --- TAAAaaaa!" It was either a very large insect or a more substantial beast. Someone grabbed the baby while Ivonete’s uncle jumped onto the creature and put it out of its misery.

The blind priest who was conducting the service must have wondered what the fuss was about but he carried on as if nothing had happened. I put on my glasses and looked into the rafters above my head where another two bats were hanging together. Those sitting next to me were most amused.

After the service the men organised a hunt and knocked these bats from their perches with a long stick. After a swipe or two, one was hit and killed. The other, having more sense, escaped.

So the moral of this tale is when you walk into an old church and see droppings on the floor, look up at the roof just in case a bat loses its grip and lands on your head too!