Planes on schedule as of 6:36am

Just had to leave the office and go home to check in on everyone after I got the alarming message that our kitchen had exploded. Sita had lit the oven to make toast for her and Pat. The flame had gone out and the kitchen smelled of gas. She tried to light it again, only to have it explode, shunting the cupboards to the side of it about 4 inches, blowing open the doors and firing all the hobs/rings all over the kitchen. Obviously just the wrong combination of butane and air… Sita got off with a ringing in her ears and a sudden crowd of neighbours and Avon ladies advising her to eat bread to get over the shock… Blimey. Quite a morning. Anyroad, it looks like the stove´s alright and after putting things back in their place Sita seems OK too, and luckily she´s got the ever-reliable Pat for company. Looks like it´ll be The Waffle Factory on Avenida Mexico for breakfast though… The photo is of my little desk in me office, there’s a couple more photos on Flickr of the view of the plaza and the bar where Sita and I met, and where we took Pat last night before a meal of Ropa Vieja in the Cuban restaurant, La Bodeguita del Medio.

…long commute. Definitely taking the bus tomorrow.

Atticus made it through the day without problems (pending reports from neighbours), so to celebrate we´re off for a walk.

Meanwhile, does your computer screen need cleaning? *Edit* that link’s not working any more. Try this one for a variation on the theme.

While you’re waiting for something worth reading in these pages, have a stare at this…

Your horoscope for May 16th 2006: Taurus

Long lost relatives in Mexico will be trying to get in touch. A canine friend will want to be fed and will be unable to contain his excitement upon seeing you. Cards figure in the day. Italy beckons. Someone with a three letter name will make you a hot beverage. Cats related to Postman Pat with one letter off and he who summoned Mephistopheles will make brief appearences but appear indifferent. Stroke them and they will wish you well. Upper middle class children will continue to request bassoon scores. Humour them. And finally, cider will bring you good luck today and every day. Cheers!

Have a grand day, Beff, and muy feliz cumpleaos from Guadalajara.

Really extremely busy, and there’s tons going on this month so I really want to get as much done as possible as we enter September so I can make it to all the patriotic nonsense going on. Mexican flag sellers are back with their surplus stock from the World Cup and everyone’s got one on their house or car. Upcoming festivities include the city center becoming a night-long fiesta zone, paper balloon and martial arts demos in Ajijic and its Fiestas Patrias 2006, mariachithons… you name it. In fact I haven’t got time to be writing this post really…

Found out today after a bit of research what those weird smelling fruit in the garden are. For a while before the tree produced fruit I thought it was a pitaya tree. Then Ana came round and grabbed a bagfull of what turned out to be guayabas. Only today thanks to wikipedia did I find out that guayabas are guavas in English. Not that I’d ever tried one before. They taste vaguely like pears to me and I’m sure that since my prolonged absence from the british isles, they’re staples of every middle-class meal and 1 quid for a dozen in Morrisons. But they still seem exotic things to be growing in the garden. Our little agave’s coming along great guns too. 8 leaves. Eight!

And finally, I very much doubt that my neighbour, Seora Tere, reads me blog but none the less here’s a shout out to her because when I was leaving the house this morning she told me not to shut the door and bustled inside to get something. She said she’d seen me so many times waving newspapers and tin lids and blowing at the BBQ to get it glowing that she bought me a special barbecue fan thing. Which was splendid of her. Fair warms the cockles, so it does. Anyroad, behold, a hand-made mexican barbecue fan.