About me

ByGwyn Fisher

** 8+ years out of date info! **

Never sure how much info I can safely put up on the interweb without getting my identity stolen so I’ll leave out my mother’s maiden name and favourite childhood pet for now and just give you the basics… if that’s alright… good. Thanks.

I grew up in Kingston St Mary , Somerset with sojourns in Swansea, Seville, Massachusetts, California, Guadalajara, Mexico, Oregon, Maine and New York City. Now we’re in Salt Lake City, Utah and it’s proving to be one of the best yet…

I keep a fairly up-to-date blog where you can read, in more detail than you’d probably like, about my trials and tribulations. It’s more of an online diary than anything else and a handy way to keep me folks and friends abreast of what I’ve been up to. With the shocking state of my memory these days, it’s somewhat akin to a black box recorder… You’ll also find the occasional film review, book review and links to strange and wonderful sites on ‘teh intarwebs’. Chances are you came from it in the first place…

OK, brace yourself, here comes the self-absorption…

My interests include: foreign languages (well, Spanish, French and American “English”), digital photography, photoshoppery, guitar, computing, travel, Latin-American literature, cinema, and graphic design. And scrabble. And Boggle. On an industrial scale.

Dislikes include: Dentistry, MS comic sans and, increasingly, Papyrus fonts, FOX News and US cable television. The adverts more than anything.

Favourite authors: Jasper Fforde, Julio Cortazar, Borges, Louis de Bernieres, Iain Banks, Mil Millington, Garcia Marquez, Charlie Brooker. And okay, I’ll admit it, Terry Pratchett.

Favourite films: City of God, The Game, The Big Lebowski, This is Spinal Tap, Twin Town, Shaun of the Dead, Requiem for a Dream, Ghostbusters, Withnail & I, El Laberinto del Fauno, In Bruges

Favourite TV: The Thick of It, Peep Show, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Father Ted, Family Guy, Ivor the Engine, Spaced, LOST, Colbert Report, Life on Mars, Look Around You

Favourite music: Tricky one this… Black Box Recorder, The Smiths, Julieta Venegas, Suicidal Tendencies, Metallica, Spice Girls (first album), Levellers, Air, Fiona Apple, Coldplay, James, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Manu Chao, Pixies, Primal Scream, Kylie. I’m also overly fond of Happy Hardcore and is pretty much the only music I will consider dancing to.

11 Comments

  1. First I’d like to confirm I’m not an e-stalker. I’ve been married for 11yrs and a father of 1 boy and 2 girls. I was linked to your blog via a link in https://agaveweb.com/blog/about-me/
    I was searching for pulque in Dallas since I have family in Dallas via a google search. 1 of the results was the link listed.
    I initially thought you were part of this blog but it’s apparent after reading your bio that your probably not. However, you seem to have a photo of a pulqueria and was wondering if you have any idea if anyone distributes the drink in the US close to Dallas or Memphis. My mom is suffering from kidney failure and she retains significant fluid because her kidneys are functioning at approximately 10%. She received some pulque and it was more effective at reducing her fluid retention than her water pills. The person who provided the first quantity only travels to the US every so often. I’m trying to locate a pulque distribution that is reasonably close to Dalls or Memphis, TN. Any information would be helpful since it appears you travel to Mexico frequently.

    Strange story but true.

    Regards,
    Ramon Luna

  2. Wow, first off, I have no troubles with e-stalkers, the more the merrier. I´m just happy to get the occasional comment.

    I´m sorry to hear about your mom but I´m glad she´s found something that helps. I´m afraid I know next to nothing about pulque production in TN, however there´s been a recent development in pulque selling, it´s now available in cans. If you google “canned pulque” or “pulque en latas” you might just find a distributor. Normally it has to be consumed within a week or so of being tapped and fermented. http://www.pulque.com.mx/ has a contact email, and maybe they might now.

    I hope you find some success with this and wish you all the best. Here are some photos of pulque from near Tapalpa it’s also available in Guadalajara & Zapopan, but I think your best bet is the canned stuff.

    Good luck and thanks for writing,

    Gwyn

  3. Scary! I googled myself and saw I was linked here under ‘what I googled’ on your blog… confused.

  5. Hi Gwyn, good to here from you, had a good old chat to your dad today and have a blast round vivary park, I reckon its 20 years since ive been in there – scary

  6. Mornin’ Stodge,
    How could you go 20 years without a visit to Vivary park? With its er, newly painted fountain… and no alcohol policy. Glad you had fun. I read about it in the gazette online, seems like a fine idea and I hope it spurs a few young’uns orienteeringwards.
    Ta for the comment like

  7. What a great blog – found you from You Know You’re from Somerset When…… I grew up in Chard, worked in Taunton and Yeovil, and then moved to the States in 1980, now live in Texas. All my family still live in Chard and I love going back to visit. My accent comes back the minute I start talking to my sisters. And I love the Charity Shops.

  8. Thanks for commenting, Carol! I know Chard, “Birthplace of Powered Flight”- A long time ago I worked in a refrigerated meat packing factory there. For a day, then I quit… I get back at least once a year to zummerzet and after 10+ years in the states I still say tomato correctly 😉

  9. Dear agaveweb,

    My name is Joyce and I work for ExpatFinder.com.
    ExpatFinder.com is a free one stop website for people preparing to move or working and living overseas. We provide a myriad of services for expatriates and we have over 2,000 articles to help and support the people moving around the world and we are now creating an interview section to help the expats with real life experiences!
    We quite enjoy your blog about living in Mexico, it is very interesting and informative. Would it be possible to interview you to further share some of your tips and feature some of your first hand experience as an Expat and your interview will be published on our Expat Interview section as a guide for our expat readers. The questions are mainly about the day to day lifestyle of an expat. If it would be possible, could you also send some photographs that we can use?
    Of course, if you accept, we can add a link to your blog or some of your website.
    The questions are enclosed, feel free to respond freely. You can return the doc with your answers if you accept this invitation.
    Thanks in advance and do let me know if you prefer other means to conduct this interview and we would be happy to accommodate your terms.

    Best regards,
    Joyce

  10. Hi

    My name is Joyce, I am a marketing executive at expatfinder.com which is a leading expat information and services website.

    I saw on your blog that you are and expat. I wish to interview you to further share some of your tips. The questions are mainly about the housing, the daily life etc.

    It just takes 5 minutes (or more depending if you have lots to say 🙂

    Of course, if you accept we can add a link to your blog or some of your website.

    If you are interested to participate at this project, please send me an email at [email protected].

  11. Hmmm.. the years pass and a lot happens, I dip into your ‘back issues’ occasionally. Perhaps you’ll be doing an update on how Guad has changed soon? Saw Stodge briefly at an O-meet recently. Have had a busy day or two chain sawing and ‘trimming’ the magnolia ( see Flickr) as will have to avoid such jobs while I get back to normality after Friday’s op.

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