Home town controversy

Scanning through the headlines on the Guardian website, I found this story, which scared me a little. I used to live around the corner from that school and I think it all boils down to the fact that girls aren't allowed to wear jewellery there. To go to court claiming religious intolerance is just mad. Lydia Playfoot should be a character in Harry Potter...

...speaking of which, I saw the new Harry Potter film on Saturday. The women liked it, the men were apathetic. It wasn't that bad, though (says he in apathetic mode).

I've also just finished another translation, which came in at somewhere over twelve thousand words, so not bad for a week's work. Although I paid the price by being utterly unbearable on Sunday.

Real del Monte

Just come back from a trip to a little town in the mountains called Real del Monte. We went there to celebrate my birthday and had a really relaxing time. There were plenty of places to go exploring, and the town's hilly streets made for good exercise. This was just as well, because the food was very filling!

It rained a bit, which wasn't surprising, seeing as it's one of the highest inhabited areas in Mexico. What was surprising was that this meant that the electricity got cut off whilst we were down in the Acosta Mine. Our guide was the only person who had a torch, but he wasn't scared in the least, because he used to be a miner. The rest of the tour group weren't so enthusiastic.

The English weather also seemed appropriate, as the Cornish played an important role in the town's development. English history runs throughout the town, including the Panteón Inglés (English Graveyard) which is full of the Cornish names of miners who lived there. To this day, pasties (or pastes) are sold all over the place, making it feel like a Cornish town in Mexico. The only thing missing is the sea.

New address

It appears that this blog's change of address went without a hitch and is now running from its own domain. I've also now got my own website, although there's not a lot to see there at the moment. Hopefully this will change with time.

The teaching's going well at the moment, and the meeting we had the other day to talk about strategies for our "virtual students" gave me some useful ideas. Now I just have to put them into practice.