Tosca

Tosca:

an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini
the same magically transposed to film in a stirring and wonderfully performed production featuring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna asthe star-crossed lovers
a downtempo-chillout-electronic-trip-hop lounge duo
a fine Italian dining experience in the heart of Washington, D.C.
an awesome old school café in San Francisco’s Chinatown
a manufacturer of travel goods in Australia
a street in Singapore, and …

… dirt. Actually a type of crumbly rock (my scant knowledge of geology fails me), a mountain of which appeared last week on the rambla, probably for the repair of the collapsing stretch nearby, and destined to devolve into clouds of dust, tooth-rattling washboards, and suspension-testing potholes (pozos).

Tosca, the "dirt" for roads, Uruguay

I found this spot a little more inspiring a couple years ago, with a funky car and graceful pines.

Car, tree, ocean — Uruguay

They’ve gone, victim of a storm, as have the railings to the then-new boardwalk. And I haven’t seen that car in a long time either, come to think of it.

Not the start of a trend, we hope

Remains of plastic 'dumpster' in Uruguay

We saw this morning that our corner ‘dumpster’ had burned to the ground. None of the neighbors knows anything about it, though it must have happened last night.

This was the unit in happier days.

Anticipating collapse

Piles of sand block the street to car traffic. Apparently the exceptionally heavy rain last week carved out whatever caused the rambla (waterfront road) to collapse three years ago. You can see the new crack forming halfway to the missing chunk. When all is done, they’ll dump in a bunch of sand, pave it (maybe), and that will be that. Until next time.

Caution – trains

When the British ran the circus, they made train lines everywhere.

In most cases now, you really don’t have to worry about trains.

You might have guessed that already.