Something you may or may not know about TIM.....

"TIM" is very frustrating, annoying, funny, strange and sometimes quiet amazing. We refer to "TIM" quite a lot, usually though when either of the afore-mentioned descriptive words have been used usually in an exasperating manner, as for example.............

when feeling irrate due to some very weird mexican plumbing defect ( frustrating) or.................

when someone says they will be at your house on Monday but forget to tell you which Monday (annoying)  or ................

they say they will do something manana ( man yahna ) silly me , of course it doesn't mean tomorrow ?
( strange) it means some indefinite time in the future.

 Oh and last but not least .................. you will find TIM  accompanying you in your car on almost every journey in Mexico.

Let me  introduce  "TIM".................."TIM" is an expression sometimes used to convey annoyance at any of a million and one ( not known to exaggerate) incidents that can only produce the exclamation........    'This is Mexico.' ...In short TIM.!!

Often  Tim is accompanied by the rolling of eyes and the upward display of open palms to the heavens with the addition of the expletive ' Huh'.

We have all come to accept that This Is Mexico and things just don't happen the same here as they do 'back home'. It is the most frustrating and amazing place and there is never A Ground Hog day here.

For those of you that don't live in Mexico I thought it would be fun to give you an insight into living here and for those that do live here, remember  ( before I offend someone) it is purely as seen through my eyes only ( all though you may find yourself agreeing to some elements I'm sure) .  It is my point of view albeit slightly warped and tongue in cheek at times. Also,  as we are heading back to the 'frozen tundras' of Canada soon so I thought  this might be a good time to remind myself of some  of the phenomena that can only be Mexico  .

So every now and again I will throw into my blog  a little Mexican 'blogette'.

Thus , here is my first  first blogette on  the wonderful world of Mexico and all her  many facets. Oh just one last thing.... when I say Mexico I say it as a rather sweeping statement. We live in the Yucatan and the Yucatan can be different in some ways to the rest of Mexico... but that's another story. For now 'Mexico' means here in the part of Mexico where I live.

SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES


SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES, SHOES.








I love shoes, always have done ........ you can't have too many pairs of shoes. As Imelda Marcos once said " I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes. I had one thousand and sixty"

If Imelda had come to here she would have had a ball. One thing that is not in short supply is shoe shops  The big shopping malls have more than their fair share that's true but everywhere you venture here there are shoe shops. Almost every corner, be it down town in centro or in the surrounding small villages and towns you will find shoe shops of some description.

Ticul which we would probably call a fair size market town is about an hour & 1/2 from here. It is where they manufacture shoes so you can probably imagine what thats like. The sandals here are , for the most part amazingly cheap  costing around $8.00 or so . These are mainly  flip floppy type sandals , very pretty and as a rule all you really need . You can of course  get really nice leather sandals and styles that are more 'dressy' but I have to be honest in many instances you get what you pay for.

However , on the practical side , it is recommended to invest in a good pair of sandals as well, as the very flat cheap flip flops are ok for a vacation but if you spend any length of time in them you eventually end up with a duck waddling type gait . Honestly, you hadn't noticed? I can't wait to get my plates of meat into some good sturdy winter shoes I can tell you.

Mexican women love their shoes and really know how to wear them....... well there are some exceptions of course. This being one of them.......

A bit tarty don't you think?

They love the high heals with jeans look. It could have something to do with their height or lack of? It is after all a nation of smaller than average height and we all like to look taller and leaner don't we.

It isn't just the younger women  that like to put on those heels either. Meridian women are very stylish and very smart and can often be seen shopping or out to dinner in their fancy high heels. Whereas I on the other hand have got quite out of the habit  of dressing up and tend to dress more casually. There's no way in the height of summer would you get me into anything other than the coolest of clothes..... to hell with style when you are a constant sweating blob...... one of my many reasons for returning to the 'frozen wastes' who would have ever thought I would want to swop summer for winter....... bliss bring on the hot tub baby.

 My  footwear tends to be of the .... and I hate to use this word ( Stacy and Clinton would kill me ) but comfortable variety too.  What has happened to this fashionista I ask myself............. Can't wait to get into some nice high  fashionable leather boots, you know the kind... impractical for -20 degrees and snowing but look really chic. Yes!!

Sunday afternoon at the Plaza in Merida centro.

Last week at the symphony the soloist was  a piece featuring the piccolo. I have now come to the conclusion that I can live without ever hearing a solo piccolo piece ever again. Bare with me I'll get to the shoes. However during this time of piccolo playing one tries to elevate ones mind to another level to escape the catawalling  of this tiny but piercing instrument . Failing that I began scrutinising the orchestra, as I have been known to do on occasion and here's what caught my eye.........

Very classy.

By the way some people actually loved the piccolo solo .... go figure....

Nowt nor Summat

     Last week was a neither something or nothing ( "Nowt nor Summat" in Yorkshire text) kind of week.
     Fortunately I had an art class to go to on Thursday otherwise the week would have been a wash out. I really love my art classes, well  to be honest its a kind of love hate relationship I have with painting. In my mind I AM a great artist but my brain is having a hard time transfering that knowledge to my hands. I have tried for years off and on with watercolour but I am now trying acrylics.

 

The patio work area.

 I go with a couple of friends  into    Merida every fortnight ( fortnight =  two weeks to the non Brits) The class is 10 till 2 . For  concentrating for  four hours is nigh on impossible, hence lots of wondering around looking at other peoples stuff. I really need to have two paintings on the go at one time..... which is how I read books actually, two at a time.


Classes are held at Greenwood's home in Merida. ( Greenwood is our art teacher) It is quite the setting for an art class, outside in the garden which is wonderful at present as the temperature is perfect. Unfortunately it is already starting to get hotter and with the summer comes the dreaded humidity.... can't wait , I jest of course as everyone here knows I hate the humidity ( but that's a whole new blog)

  

Outside work area.

Work in progress.

 Greenwood and his wife Cherie (pronounced Cherry) are really nice people to be around. Very calming, relaxed, spiritual people. The kind of people I wish I was but know I never ( well it's too late now) will be. Cherie is also an artist too but in wildlife photography.

Greenwood and a couple of my early paintings behind.

 I have tried my hand at crafts too but I have decided I am just not a crafty person. In fact just before Christmas, Carol and Paul who have our local eatery Taco Maya decided to try hosting the first  local Funky Market . Paul is a also a fellow Brit ( lived in the States many years before coming to Mexico ) and Carol is a French Canadian but we don't hold it against her. The Funky Market has since become a regular event but I only attended the one. As you know I get bored easily so one was enough for me. They are fun though and I love seeing such a diverse arena of talent. It's amazing what people can do.




However I did do well   and people seemed to like the stuff so I will let you see some of my work......now contain yourselves I don't want to be swamped with orders ?????.....

My table showing shell balls and other stuff which is hard to see in this picture.

Wood flip flops wall hooks.

Christmas wreath.

Made from palm pods.

These could be used as bread baskets or wall decor.

As usual the week ended with the Symphony on Sunday... another great day.


Maybe the week wasn't such a "Nowt nor Summat" kind of week after all.