80% and rising

ByGwyn Fisher

It doesn’t half take it out of you, being ill. I’m way past the worst of it but still have a slightly green tinge to my complexion and all the abdominal muscles I used recreating scenes from The Exorcist on Saturday night are aching like buggery right now. Still that’s one more strain of gastroenteritis to which I’m now immune, and one more torta ahogada vendor to strike off my list of suppliers… I made it to work this morning and got a fair bit done but when the internet disappeared I came home to carry on working.
Anyway I’ll try to stay clear of the subject just in case you’re eating, or thinking of eating.

Friday night we went out to Polibio again with an increasingly drunken band of folks. Had the same dish as last time and t’was delicious. Saturday was spend on web designery and paying bills in TelMex and Oxxo. TelMex have a handy machine that puts your balance on the screen and then you feed it bank notes/bills until you’ve covered your debt and then it spits out a receipt. If you’d like to collect Mexican swearwords, hang out in that area for half an hour with a notebook and you’ll hear more variations on chingar than in your average cantina, as everyone from business types to little old ladies try to get the machine to accept their money… Jose came round early evening for a photo trip to El Retiro and other barrios. I’m not sure how I’ve managed to be here without seeing this really old part of town. Definitely worth a visit. The light wasn’t perfect for the photos but there’s a few nice shots I’ll publish to flickr presently. Then we had a swift pint in La Fuente, then the aforementioned torta ahogada and tostada de lomo in La Alemana. We headed back and Sita had made cookies. I’d complained to Jose that there are no bars in Santa Teresita (the barrio next to where we live) nor El Retiro so he set out to prove us wrong by taking us to a bar called El Oso not far from our house. There was a football play-off going on there and one of the clients at the bar’s son/nephew/summink was the goal keeper and the atmosphere was grand. Unfortunately at this point I started to feel ill, and after demanding to go home things got worse. We watched the Eurovision Song Contest on telly on the Spanish Channel, TVE, I already knew who was going to win because of Flash’s blog, but Sita didn’t so there was some tension. It’s not the same without Wogan prattling on, but the fact a Finnish glam/death/metal group walked away with the prize was fantastic. Ireland’s entry “Every song is a cry for love” coincided with my first bout of gastric unpleasantness though. Coincidence?

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Finished with Yahoo

Just before the RSI crippled me. It was an interesting time to be contracting there, what with layoffs, buy out offers, general meetings and the like, however the job was not the most challenging I’ve ever done. On a par with tomato picking, I’d say, back in the old country. Maybe I can get out and take the occasional photo again now, it’s been a while. I’ve a couple of other projects on in the meantime and another interview next Thursday.

I finished stage 1 of the landscaping yesterday. 8 little solar lights and plenty of shade loving cover plants and aromatic ‘erbs. Next stage will involve turfing or mossing but first the neighbour’s going to rebuild the fence and gate so it may take a while. Try and spot the 15 differences between the two photos below…

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I’m off to see if I can find the latest issue of Q or Word because I’ve not heard any decent new music in a while. Any recommendations for albums, readers? Portishead’s new one’s coming out in April, but other than that I’ve no idea what the kids are listening to these days. Comes with getting older I s’pose. I even listen to Radio 2 online which can’t be a good sign.

Wish I’d thought of this. Non anglo readers may need this to explain it. We were on the French again last night trying to think of the word for donkey, in a mirror image of the Manuel/Basil burro/butter conversation. âne , according to the internets. And thanks, Martin, for your online French tuition. In Spanish.

Alright, more frequent posts from now on because I’ll have 3.5 hours extra a day where I won’t be commuting. Hasta pronto 😀

I do the heavy lifting, and Sita does the thinking

I can’t believe how good the house looks after less than a week. We’ve got cable plumbed in, the phone should be connected any minute now, and I’m expecting a package from SBC Global filled with DSL goodies to get back on the interweb… Still to do this weekend: Build the bunny-containment-facility in the garage, hang up me clothes, decorate my little corner of the office, investigate 5.1 surround sound possibilities for the living room, fix the truck’s indicator light, clean/sterilise 629 Koshland way and move the plants, mow the lawn, plant some “erbs”, reestablish contact with family and friends… I’ll be busy alright. The joyous news is that next week I’m on holiday and will relish the chance to relax and get things done at a slower pace. I’m planning on sorting out my electric guitars and amp and introducing the neighbours and anyone else within earshot to solo renditions of Levellers songs. Should even fit in a trip to Downey to feast on turkey, ham, pecan pie and mashed preta (which is Irish for spuds, though the spelling may be off a tad…) . Sita, meanwhile, has 800 pages of papers to mark (grade in American) from the Hip Hop Culture (nothing to do with rabbits) class she TAs for. Eeh well, more “news” soon once the information superhighway gets funnelled into the house.

A taste of Priti & Sammy’s wedding…

Here’s just one of the three 4′ tall ice sculptures:
{{popup ganesh.jpg ganesh 500×667}}Lord Ganesh
I took bloody tons of photos, but because I didn’t have a tripod, they’re all blurred to buggery due to atmospheric indoor lighting and shaky hands. I should’ve learnt by now. At Joop & Laura’s get together t’other night he showed me his new SLR digital camera. It was a sight to behold and to wield. I’m experiencing yet another bout of camera-envy… Anyone want to buy my Fuji Finepix S5000? One careful owner? 250 of your earth dollars… or 6 pounds, probably given the exchange rate these days.
Have you ever been to www.last.fm ? It rocks- enter 3 of your favourite artists, choose someone with a playlist that looks to your taste, then listen to streaming radio from that person’s favourites list. You rate the tracks as you go and teach it what you like and it should start showering you with nothing but tunes you like. It’s, like, a radio TIVO. And it’s free apparently. It might start weaning me off NPR and BBC Radio 4…

Au revoir, Martin

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Martin, Ana´s bloke has been here for the last month or so and today sees him heading back to Belgium. It´s been grand having him around and not just because he bowls as badly as I do… Don´t be afraid to leave comments, Sr. Devos 🙂

In other news, this video is painfully funny and comes from Sita via Notorious Fig…

Running Up For Air 2019

I’m in apple green, long hair… more info about the event https://runningupforair.com/

 

 

 
 
 
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A post shared by RUFA (@running_up_for_air) on

  • (c) janaherzogphoto

So, my fastest up and down time for this in the past was 1hr45m which I more or less did the first lap, then diminishing returns, 3rd lap’s ascent was brutal but it does help to be told ‘Good job’ by everyone flying past. Happy with me results. + a Personal Record for the descent on lap 3: 30m43s, I’ll take snow over rocks and roots any day of the month.

3 Comments

  1. I just had a bout of the stomach flu as well. Noting like 24 hours of convulsions to make you rethink a few things… At one point I was having feverish dreams that they had found a cure for my ills.

    I am glad you are on the mend. It took me a week before I felt normal and got off the bland food and Gatorade diet.

  3. Muchas thanks y'all,
    Sorry to hear you've been suffering too, jesse. I'm thinking the MA weather probl'y doesn't help much neither.

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