So many forts in Asia, so many lattes, and so many forts in Asia later, and... sadly... os meus amigos, its time to hang up ye old blogging mouse, and sail into the unknown waters of Luca Antara.
Hoho, just kidding! What a classic blog cliche, the threatened departure! As if. You and I both know the Portuguese forts in Asia scene has never been hotter. And I didn't come this far to yield the parapets and hoist my lateen sail for Lisbon, just because of some pesky lack of widespread interest in my deliberately obscure blog. You didn't see the Forte São João Baptista administrators abandon their post, just because they controlled less than 100 sq foot of territory, and no one sent them a letter for 200 odd years, did you?
No, and likewise, we're made of sterner stuff here at BmL.
Instead, let's dwell briefly on life as a small blog. Here's some random stats, in lieu on any actual desire on my part to analyse it properly.
Days since first post: 588. That's a post every 6 days. So don't tell me I never get ya nuthin!
Number of visitors: 4279. That's a massive average 7.3 per day! Those stats don't include me either - only genuine vistors. Somebody call google ads, we've got a live one!
Number of comments: 460. Subtracting the 40% that are mine (which is how it tends to go) that's a monster 2.7 punter comments per post. Mother, hire a letter-opener!
Record number of post comments: 24. Twice! Renegotiate the 1856 border, Capitão, this enclave ain't big enough!
Number of CPLP Countries on my counter: 4 full members (Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, East Timor); 1 associate member (Macau); and 1 associate observer (Senegal).
Aos novos fortalezas! Até a vitória sempre!
13 comments:
If the Portuguese Forts in Asia scene were any hotter it'd have its own reality TV show. That's how totally FIERCE it is.
Just remember, meu capitão: when you bring the thunder, don't get lost in the storm.
And should the pirates board, just serve them the raspberry cordial and keep them talking till Mother comes in.
(An allusion to my fave-ever historical novelist, possibly my fave-ever novelist. Fyodor should recognise it.)
Sage words, Fyodor. I've seen people get into PFnA - and never come out the other side. Take for instance this guy. None of your soft edit stuff - this is hardcore PFnA. NSFW!
http://www.colonialvoyage.com/
And Pav, Id like to know who you fave ever novellist is - and I fess Im not getting the allusion!
Leftisto, just to goad you further, Mme. Pav's favouritest-evah historical novelist was shockingly unknown to me until she introduced me to Teh Awsum, now that novelist is also my favouritest in the genre. Who says blogs are a waste of time? Fortalezas and fiction: what more could you want, I ask you in a rehtorical manner?
Fortalezas and fiction... what more indeed, Fyodor. And why not combo up? I know I did!
http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/
luca-antara/2006/12/08/1165081141046.html
(aside: Can somebody one day show me how to hyperlink in the damned comments box?)
Meanwhile: go on, tell us then, Pav. I wants to read teh awsum!
The NLA's celebrating your ton, Izquierdista.
Love it Liam! Ta.
The earlier (1500s) Portuguese charts (upon which many of the original Dutch ones are based, from bribed induced leaks out of the Sagres map office in Portugal) are scarce as Hen's teeth - owing to the secrecy with which they held (from the Spanish as they worked out where the others side of the Tordesilla meridian was in Asia) and also because so many were lost in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. However, there's a few about in UK and US museums.
Teh awsum:
[The year is 1550; Philippa is fifteen; they are sailing from Marseilles to Algiers; Lymond and Francis Crawford are the same person, full name Francis Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny; the ship is carrying a priceless and hideous bejwelled clockwork spinet, a gift intended for Suleiman the Magnificent from Henri II of France. NOW READ ON ...]
'The striped sails bucked and flapped and swelled again as the galley's beak swung round, and Philippa thought, clinging to the prow rail with Jerott balancing beside her, 'Tonight we shall be in Algiers, and perhaps we'll wish ourselves back, and in a worse storm than this.'
Then Lymond, arriving noiselessly from the direction of the helm, touched her arm. 'Magna pars liberatis est bene moratus venter. Meaning, the girl with the well-mannered stomach gets the most fun at sea. Would you mind, my formidable Philippa, if I asked you to retire to the captain's cabin for a spell, along with Marthe and the melancholy Fogge? There is a galley advancing towards us in a profoundly single-minded way. You know what to do?'
Philippa smiled back, her hands cold. What to do when attacked at sea, lessons one to ten. They had spent their first morning at sea being trained, remorselessly, by Francis Crawford for this precise event. 'I know what to do,' said Philippa. 'Offer them the raspberry wine and keep them talking till Mother comes in.'
'They're not allowed raspberry wine,' said Lymond. 'But you'll think of an alternative, I'm sure.' He hesitated.
'You told me so,' supplied Philippa.
'I told you so, quite mistakenly. You are a perfect asset to any ship. This is only a precaution: I shouldn't worry yet,' said Lymond cheerfully. 'He's probably only coming to ask for a try of the spinet.'
From Pawn in Frankincense(1969) by Dorothy Dunnett, fourth in the six-volume Chronicles of Lymond.
Lady Dunnett (her husband was founding editor (I think) of The Scotsman and was knighted for it in 1995) is alas no longer with us, but I managed to sit across the table from her and monopolise her shamelessly at a Writers' Week dinner once, and she was adorable.
Wikipedia has more, obvs.
Yes, I believe she was known as "Who" Dunnett in the mystery/ thriller milieu.
But seriously, that does sound like the awsum! I'll track it down, TA paV. I'm already liking the non-Anglosphere scenery.
WV: Slaxona. Hmmm.
I couldn't be sure, LE, but I think the Dunnit joke may have been made before ... She did, in fact, also write six incredibly funny and brilliant thrillers, collectively known as 'the Dolly books' (Dolly is a yacht) starring one Johnson Johnson, portraitist, spy and master sailor. My favourite is the one narrated by the Scottish makeup artist with dyslexia. ('He decided to divorcify into short films.')
Re non-anglosphere: the book I've quoted up there takes place mostly in the Mediterranean, North Africa and Turkey. Vol 1 is nearly all Scotland, Vol 2 France with a bit of Scotland, Vol 3 mostly Malta (Knights of St John v Suleiman), Vol 5 mostly Russia and Vol 6 England and France, with Philippa in Vols 5 and 6 first as a lady-in-waiting to Bloody Mary in London and then to the teenage Mary Queen of Scots, about to marry the dreadfully unpromising Dauphin in Paris.
It's followed by a prequel series whose hero is Flemish, some of which takes place in Iceland, some in Africa and some in the Holy Land. Dunnett herself was an intrepid traveller -- one of the Writers' Week Retreat days was 41 degrees and after lunch most of us just sat about gasping, but -- at 76 -- she picked up her hat to protect her exquisite Scottish skin and sallied forth into the inferno for a refreshing after-lunch walk. Terrifying.
Great story, Pav - and I like the locations! Vaguely related: are you a fan of the McCall- Smith's 'Portuguese Irregular Verbs' series?
You poor anonymous little blogger you, I guess that's the price you pay for being vaguely witty but unbending to the popular masses clambering for scurrilous tidbits of celebrity gossip or recycled fashion tips. Perhaps a sojourn abroad to more conducive climes in the company of like minded individuals might act a restorative balm to your troubled spirits ;)
Good suggestion David - now that you mention it, I think a trip to Malacca is well in order. And welcome fortside.
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