Reflections and home comforts

HOLA! So apparently I missed the greatest summer that the UK has ever had in the world ever?

The Olympics, The Paralympics, Chelsea winning the Champions League, Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France, sun for four days, Andrew Murray, Wimbledon... the list – as I have been constantly reminded – seems endless.

I have to say, watching bits and pieces online and on the Mexican state TV channels, I felt proud to be English.

But I quickly grew sick of it. Maybe it was the part of me who secretly wished I was at home enjoying the blanket joy and warmth among my fellow countrymen. Jealousy perhaps?

I’m not sure. You just kind of knew it was a temporary thing, a glimmer of hope, before it all turned to sh*t again.

And so it did.

The hotly-anticipated Indian summer quickly washed away down the drainpipe and of course, the even more hotly-anticipated Olympic-sized economic lifeline failed to materialize.

Our Olympians are great role models, and I hope the event will leave a lasting legacy.

In the meantime you can always rely on John Terry to add some entertainment until Christmas brings back the nation’s smiles.

Having now spent nearly four months living in Tijuana, I still can’t say I miss too much about the UK.

The weather? Yeh right. You’ve only got to log onto Facebook or Twitter to realize how gloomy the climate is, and always is, in the ‘Great’ Britain.

Here, despite the fact that we’re nearing October, the temperature has been around 29 degrees for weeks.

I’ve seen a combined total of about 30 minutes of rain in the past 15 weeks. Hardly enough to warrant me packing my rain coat and hoodies.

Of course I miss the friends and family I’ve left behind but hey, with the advances in technology it’s difficult to lose touch.

Skype is an amazing tool. It’s staggering that you can have a face-to-face conversation with anyone with an internet connection.

It’s also fairly easy to fake the ‘oh you’re breaking up’ line when you don’t want to talk to that person any more.

Bizarrely the material things I miss seem to keep popping up every now and again when I’m in need of a home comfort hit.

For instance, I’m in some Mexican equivalent of Poundland a couple of weeks ago and what do I see sitting proudly on one of the aisles? Tommy K – or Heinz Tomato Ketchup as it’s also known.

Mexico has taste!

Now, nothing and I mean NOTHING quite beats a bit of Tommy K on a bacon sandwich. Right?

That discovery made my week. The fact that a large pouch of it set me back about 10 Pesos (48p) only made me smile more.

Surrounded by aisles and aisles of weird bottled sauces and condiments – the labels of which are 99 per cent in Spanish of course – at times it’s difficult to know whether you’re likely to spread strawberry jam on your toast, or industrial-strength chili paste.

Considering that most Mexicans have never had milk in their tea, English breakfast-style tea bags are also a rarity.

Thankfully my mother realized this at an early stage and has been sending supplies.

My language skills are improving too. I can now haggle the price of a taxi with its driver, rather than insulting his pregnant wife, and I’m getting to know my way around TJ.

Thankfully Jacky and I and her family are based in the hills above the badlands so we’re away from the crazy parts.

That said though I was awoken a couple of weeks ago by three gun shots. Once you’ve heard gun fire (as I did a few times to say the least in Afghan) it’s easy to distinguish it from a back-firing car.

Hearing that put me back in the mindset I had in Helmand, so I spent much of the night on high alert. Jacky simply slept blissfully unaware of my anxiety.

Admittedly it has been a little while since I last blogged.

A lot has been happening this end but I can’t really talk about it as things are in the hands of lawyers.

I’m talking of course about a job offer.

First rule of Fightclub and all that jazz. Hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to fill in the detail about what could be THE most exciting thing that has happened to me in a very long time.

But for now I should really keep schtum. Fingers, toes, hair and everything crossed!

Hopefully these pictures of puppies will suffice for now.

Here are the three – as-yet unnamed – additions to the family household.

They’re only a few weeks old and they’re already trouble...

They’ve just learned to walk, and last week I caught two of them at the top of the stairs whispering to each other.

I’m pretty sure I then heard someone – or rather something – whistling the theme tune to ‘The Great Escape’.

"I'll create a diversion, you take out the main gate..."