Tweets for Today

• 20:28 Watching @stephenfry and mark carwardine in Last Chance To See #
• 17:57 So Orange will get the iphone 3GS. Not sure if I'm happy about that or not? bit.ly/13ofKf #

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Just When You Thought Apple Couldn't Get More Devious

Sometime ago I wrote a post about why I wasn't going to be buying an i-phone.  Since then the i-phone has grown, it got 3G and has now become much more of the phone it should have been in the first place.  Now this has happened.  Which removes one of my last reasons for not going i-phone.  Plus my mobile (the one I use for a lot of my video blogging etc has died).

 

I've been onto the Orange website and registered my interest.  Now all I need to do is wait and see.

Tweets for Today

• 20:26 Watching "The Boat That Rocked" on DVD #
• 07:10 So today is going to go something like: walk dog, allotment, lunch, F1, gardening, roast beef, upload allotment vid (if recorded), bed #
• 09:16 @Documentally enjoy #
• 09:28 Doing battle with the weeds - not sure if I'm winning myloc.me/Ni1b #
• 10:56 Finished refelting plot neighbour's shed roof - a good job if I do say so myself #
• 11:15 12seconds - Saving Seed tiny12.tv/J858W #
• 11:16 Saving seed twitvid.com/785BB #
• 11:26 I uploaded a YouTube video -- @tontowilliams [Saving seed] bit.ly/3Y9DwE #
• 12:11 Settling down to watch grand prix #
• 12:13 New Post on www.talesofthewild.blogspot.com #

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Allotment - Late September Update

Is It Really Only a Week Since Our Holiday?

It's strange but this time last week we had just got back from our holiday. It seems much longer. Work has been particularly frantic this week, and next week is shaping up to be the same. There's been no blogging and hardly any tweeting, so for the time being at least I thought I would re-live at least part of our holiday with a video. The safari video.

Tweets for Today

• 08:42 RT @thermalsatsuma: Just checking that ur not throwing any fud away #caturday twitpic.com/j68pl #
• 09:21 @thermalsatsuma have fun #
• 09:25 Work's been so unbelievably busy this week have had little time for anything else, first time this week to visit allotment #
• 11:53 Done on allotment today going home to do hoovering and then watch grand prix qualifying #

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Tweets for Today

• 05:56 12seconds just launched 12mail and it looks freakin' sweet: 12seconds.tv/12mail PLS RT #

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Tweets for Today

• 19:42 Haven't tweeted for days. Been busy back at work boo! #
• 22:01 @WestonGreenMan yep mine went in last Sunday. Hoping the winter is milder this year. Frost got some of 'em last winter #

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Tweets for Today

• 07:29 Awake early. I thought you were supposed to sleep better in your own bed after a holiday? Time to walk dog then off to #allotment #
• 10:14 Buzzard just flown across allotment. Now sitting in neighbouring oak tree watching proceedings myloc.me/HOPY #
• 11:48 @david_hewson is your civic not the hybrid version then? #
• 12:22 @david_hewson sounds like you got the best deal all round #
• 17:35 @willkay allotment was fine thanks - notice you didn' t do any weeding either, but thanks for looking after the blog! #

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Tweets for Today

• 19:27 Must update my twitter profile which, at the moment is blank. What should I write? myloc.me/Gs1R #
• 19:33 RT @paisleyofficial: Topic for 2day:favorite Dinosaur.mine would be either Allosaurus or Giganotosaurus. => brontosaurus for me #
• 20:47 @langley when I emailed Kodak they said mid-sept but it's still not available so I don't know now myloc.me/GukX #
• 22:41 @mariarocio that's a great photo of will and a great post too myloc.me/GxGq #
• 22:42 RT @MDuette: For sheer creativity..ding ding ding! RT @RusticLad The waterKoi #petfilms #
• 07:33 Headin' for home soon #
• 07:48 RT @thermalsatsuma: I haz a soft pillow #caturday twitpic.com/i9ssx #
• 09:00 Setting sail (I mean hitting the road) #talklikeapirateday myloc.me/GS9G #
• 10:05 Yarr putting into port for supplies (need caffeine) myloc.me/GUEg #
• 12:26 Home again twitvid.com/E573 2 #
• 16:26 @langley kodak Zi8 listed on amazonUK as a pre-order for availability 1st October '09 £149.99 kodak have online for same price but no date #
• 16:45 Big thank you to @willkay and @mariarocio for posting on my blog whilst I've been away <3 tinyurl.com/mkg399 #
• 17:13 Posted a videoblog - day one of our holiday tinyurl.com/nm4ce4 #

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Holiday Day One - Getting My Bearings

A Really Big Thank You To Will and Maria

Thanks for posting on my blog while I've been away guys. Excellent job!

cry havoc

Last post! Yep, this is definitely my last guest post (for now). At some point (the mighty) Alan should return home and take back the reins of his blog. I hope I've managed to do my part in looking after the blog. I've tried to stick to topics that should be covered (or would be covered) in Alan's blog - good news, I deleted the whole political rant and the libellous attack on Phil Collins. Which means that I'm left with talking about dogs.

Here's something you can try at the next cocktail party you're at. As you mingle, occasionally nibbling on a carrot stick dipped in humus, swallowing a vol-au-vent whole, attempting to drink around the fly in your Chardonnay (wouldn't that be ironic) casually drop into conversation one of these two bon-mots:

I really don't get on with children.

I really don't get on with animals.

And discover which one makes you the most unpopular. Oddly enough, it is the not getting on with kids that is the more socially acceptable. Society tends to be quite understanding about the fact that some times people just don't like/understand children. However, casually mention that you don't like/understand animals and you can suddenly become a social pariah.

I don't really get on with animals. Don't get me wrong, I like animals, so long as they are in the wild, far away from me, or behind bars. I really don't get on with a specific group of animals, pets. Oh, it's not a medical condition, I don't suffer from allergies or asthma. I'm just not comfortable around animals. I don't like them up close.

...and this is where I alienate myself from all of Alan's readers....

Anyhoo, what I really wanted to write about was dogs, dogs in Tijuana. There are many dogs that run wild on the streets of Tijuana. They survive how they survive, and sometimes they don't. In theory I shouldn't have a problem with them (the street dogs) because at no stage do I have to put up with them sniffing my crotch, licking my face, shedding hair. However, there is one major problem with street dogs - the dawn chorus.

There's this bit in 101 Dalmatians, and I mean the original cartoon because I haven't seen the real life film, where the dogs bark at sunset? They send out a message looking for the missing puppies. I think there is a special name for it? The Dusk Discussion or something daft like that. It's been so long since I've seen the cartoon that I might have got this wrong, but bear with me. Well, that doesn't happen here. What does happen is that, round about 5am, every morning, a group of street dogs come down our street. This sets off all the dogs in people's houses - except they aren't in their owner's houses, they are outside, patrolling the grounds, waiting to bark. And bark they do. And the street dogs bark back. And total and utter bedlam ensues for the next five minutes. Every. Blummin'. Morning. Except Tuesday morning. Tuseday morning is slightly different. Tuesday is bin day, and the binmen come whenever they want. So, most people put out there rubbish on Monday night. This means that the street dogs don't just walk down our street, they stop at every bin bag for a good sniff. This means that Tuesday's bark-a-thon lasts for a good thirty minutes. I'm really not that keen on dogs, especially ones that bark at 5am every day.

And on that note, I'll finish. I hope that you've enjoyed my guest posts. If you have, you can find me here. If not, don't blame Alan.

Tweets for Today

• 19:40 RT @CharleyBoorman: BAM 2 is coming out on Sunday 27th of September in 10 days. Tell your friends. X #
• 17:51 So we have to go home tomorrow! Can't help wondering what state the #allotment and garden will be in. Feels like we've been away longer #
• 17:56 RT @AllotmentAli: RT @BAAF: BAAF is gearing up for National Adoption Week. Help spread the word www.nationaladoptionweek.org.uk. #

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Tweets for Today

• 18:37 @willkay post to your hearts content. those are some amazing trees! #
• 18:40 @Documentally tee hee, how does he pull a pint? #
• 18:44 RT: @thelittleidiot New post: Moby begins extended tour of USA, Canada and Mexico! tinyurl.com/pnevtl #
• 18:45 Cooking dinner (well stirring a pan of beans) and reading tweets #
• 19:46 @documentally twitpic.com/hybar - Cheers - hope you're having a great holiday ! #
• 11:00 Reading a James Lee Burke novel and trying to enjoy the last few days of holiday #
• 14:48 A bit of religous architecture pic.gd/315889 #
• 14:54 Despite being one of God's creatures - he's barred! pic.gd/33220b #

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raised like royalty

Weirdly, we were all raised as if we were not ever going to have to get our hands dirty. I thought it was just my mother, but speaking to one of my kids' godparents the other day, he said to me that he was having trouble starting a new business because he's having trouble charging.
So. He works, but people don't pay him.
I asked him why he couldn't just say "It's going to be this much" and he said exactly what I would say in his situation. "Money is so vulgar!"
It is. It's how we were raised. How does one get through that hurdle? I've given him some advice - things that I think I could muster, given his circumstances -, but I really don't know the right answer nor do I know why we would both feel this way. Is it our parents? Did they never discuss money or, maybe, argue about money so much that we in turn find it infinitely pedestrian?
I don't know. But I don't like it. It impedes my own development. It's very frustrating.

Tweets for Today

• 22:09 @mariarocio yay day off! Enjoy :) #
• 07:15 @willkay hey thanks for posting again, twice in one day on two blogs! Enjoy your day off #
• 13:57 twitpic.com/hxdxf Gonna climb this next #

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would photos help?

Re: the post below (no, not that one, below that one, further down, the one about gardens and stuff). It occurred to me that mayhap my words weren't explanatory enough. So, I nipped out with a camera this morning (try to feel special dear reader, try to feel that I stepped out especially, in the early hours of this morning, on my day off, just for you - in reality maria wanted to get some photography done so I tagged along and then banged off a couple of shots) and took some photos just for you, yes you.

Now, I'm not sure how to get photos in Blogger, nor how to position them. Plus I don't want to flood Alan's blog with pictures. So, I'm going to load them in small and hope that you can click on them to biggerize them (or is it embiggen? never sure what the correct name is). The picture here, on the left, is a roundabout. You can't see the real work that goes into it, but you have to remember that this is Mexico. You need to think how hard it is to grow stuff in a place where there is (on average) 20cm of rain a year. Then think of the work that goes into keeping this roundabout green, clean, and growing. The picture on the right is of trees (just in case you don't recognise trees), not mushrooms. And on the left they are cut into cuboids. And this is what I was trying to say in my post. The trees are all cut into shapes, not left to grow willy-nilly. And the thing to note is that this isn't some important road, in the middle of the city, that might help attract tourists. And this is what helps to make Tijuana beautiful. It's all in the details. A side road off a side road, reveals how a tree has been cut to make a shelter for a car. This morning, as we driving around looking for photo ops for maria, we came across countless examples of trees, roundabouts, and weird bits just off the pavement that someone had gone totally mad with. Considering that it hasn't rained now for nearly five months, it's surprising how green and pleasant this city is.

Enjoy.

I'm on holiday too

It's 7:48pm in Tijuana, which makes it 9:48pm in Mexico City, and 3:48am in London. It is Tuesday 15th September. In an hour and a bit (9pm my time, 11pm in Mexico City, 7am Alan's time) the President will ring a bell. Several times. This is because nearly two hundred years ago Miguel Hidalgo rang a bell, summoning the Mexican people to war. Mexicans celebrate their independence on the 16th September. However, the celebrations start now, on the evening of the 15th.

They don't have 'Bank Holiday Mondays' in Mexico, but they do have days when the banks are shut. These are national holidays. They are fixed to dates rather than Mondays. Tomorrow (for me) is a day off work. The country will (semi) shut down, and everyone will get a chance to sleep off the hangover, that the majority of Mexicans are casually working their way towards as I type. As the President rings the bell he repeats the call to arms, he calls out the names of the heroes who have died defending Mexico, he mentions the names of the leaders of the independence. Each time he says something he prefaces each statement with ¡Viva! When he finishes, the crowd respond ¡Viva! At the end he will ring the bell another three times, ¡Viva Mexico! The reply is ¡Viva!

So, now you know, in case you are stuck in a Mexican bar tonight and a bell starts to ring. It isn't last orders, it's a call to arms. And the bar will be full. All the bars are full. And the streets are full. The majority of Mexicans will be out of the house tonight, together, waiting for that moment when they proclaim their readiness for Independence. It's a great evening. On of those things you should try to do before you die. Get yourself into a bar full of Mexicans on the 15th September.

And tomorrow is a day off work. There is a great advantage to having holidays on fixed dates, and there is a tremendous disadvantage. The good news is when the day falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, because when that happens I also get the Monday/Friday off, making it a very long weekend. This is fantastic in May when 1st, 5th, and 15th are days off. It is possible to get the 1st of May on a Thursday which means I don't go to work until Tuesday. If it falls on a Friday, no work until W*dnesd*y. However, there is a problem. When the date falls on a weekend, you get no day off work.

May 15th is my birthday (make a note), it is also teacher's day. Teacher's Day is a day to celebrate teachers (that's me), and to celebrate, they shut the schools! Whoot! A day off on my birthday! How cool is that? In four years of teaching it has become something I (sort of) expect. Therefore, can you imagine my disappointment when I discovered (as you discovered when you went to make a note of my b'day) that in 2010, the 15th May is on a Saturday. In 2011 it is on a Sunday. I don't get my day off work.

And those days off work are important. The majority of Mexicans work 9/10 hour days. Vacations are 6 days in the first year, 8 days in the second, 10 from then on (basically, after 3 years you qualify for two weeks holiday a year). So, national holidays are important because they are the "free" days, the days that don't count as part of your holiday allowance.

So, enjoy your holiday Alan. Know that I am also on holiday, and so is the whole of Mexico. However, we will all be back at work on Thursday. There are no "half term" holidays in Mexican schools, so the next day off is November 2nd. Hey ho.

Tweets for Today

• 07:50 RT: @mariarocio posted at @tontowilliams's blog. bit.ly/weMj3 more than I've written in ages. => thanks for the post :) #
• 14:10 twitpic.com/htcyb On safari #
• 15:23 twitpic.com/htjh8 Still on safari #
• 15:27 @mariarocio don't think you can break a blog - and yes i did like the post #
• 17:07 My guest bloggers @willkay & @mariarocio are getting comments on their posts. Thinks I should holiday more often #

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