I saw this nice little animation about what Skype is and how you use it. I got the English accented one, maybe ‘cos of the settings on my computer, or maybe it’s just standard issue. Anyway, if you haven’t got it yet, you need:

• A computer, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
• ANY internet connection (ideally broadband, but dial-up’s fine too)
• a microphone (cheap from Radio Shack or Target or Tandy o Gigante) or maybe your laptop has one built in somewhere…
• Speakers/headphones
• OPTIONAL: A USB webcam for the full-on Livin’-in-the-future-OMFG!-I-can-like-totally-see-you-talking-on-my-screen
  experience

Then you head over to skype.com, download the appropriate version and follow the simple instructions. Add contacts, such as “gwynfisher” and you’re away. No excuses now. You know who you are. And are generally Mac users, strangely…

So back to the minutae of my life, let’s not forget what this blog’s all about after all…

This is our letter box where we receive our bills and letters from banks, credit card agencies and Interpol addressed to Carmen Malagon (previous occupant shrouded in mystery… apparently wanted by every financial institution in Jalisco. When the phone rings, if it’s not someone requesting a song for the Top 40 Radio Show whose number’s one digit off of ours, it’s a bank trying to catch Ms Malagon by surprise. I’ve told them she doesn’t live here anymore, but they’re determined to catch us out and have her answer one day…)

Here’s our spanking new barbecue, $10 or 5 pounds 70 pee from Soriana. Note the charcoal is actually charcoal, practically log-sized pieces. None of your oh-so-dainty briquettes in Mexico, nosiree. Gert big chunks of trees they be. And I didn’t even use parafin nor firelighters to get it going. It’s nice to be BBQing again and it keeps me away from the interwebs and channel 40 for a while. Only the onions (‘campay’) were bought for cooking, the rest are objets trouvés from the fridge/freezer defrosting session.

Yesterday evening was going to involve doing some filming for Propaganda but we’ve misplaced our video camara. Which isn’t good but it will turn up somewhere. It’s a big house and though we’ve few belongings there’s a couple of places still to go. Jose’s sort of on his Semana Santa break so the plan is to go and film on Thursday and if we’re lucky there’ll be lots of people nailing themselves to crosses and whipping themselves. Seriously. Some people go to doctors who tell them whereabouts on their hands they can ‘safely’ put nails through without smashing your bones apart. Then they use sterilised nails and hang from crosses (using string). And I thought Easter was all about eggs and bunnies. You live and learn…