Border crossing

Over 130,000 Venezuelans streamed into Colombia over the weekend after the border was opened temporarily.

They came to shop, looking for basics such as flour, oil, toilet paper and medicines.

On average they spent $40,000 (Colombian pesos), just over ten pounds.

Last month, a video of a little girl complaining about the situation went viral.

Take a look beause even if you don’t understand Spanish, you’ll get the punchline.

Share this post:Facebooktwitterredditlinkedin

So close to a great gag

Flicking through the news online, a headline caught my eye.

It said, Labour branch suspended in row over defibrilators.

There’s a joke there, somewhere, I thought.

Looking more closely, I realised that the headline actually said:

Labour branch suspended in row over infiltrators.

Share this post:Facebooktwitterredditlinkedin

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

So I could tell you about the growing anxiety about a 40-day-long trucker’s strike which is now threatening food supplies to the city or the wonderful new system in the main bank I go to.

I think I’ll go with the good news.

Instead of a tedious 30 or 40 minute wait, standing in a queue, you now get a number, depending on what it is you need to do in the bank, you sit on a comfortable seat and are served wtihin a few minutes. It’s great!

Share this post:Facebooktwitterredditlinkedin

A trip to the supermarket

First, I spotted these:

20160713_125342

Then, I noticed that the woman bagging my groceries had a badge that said, “I help without hearing,” so I used the British Sign Language sign for thank you to thank her.

And the cashier at the checkout was called Nairoby.

Then, I couldn’t find a taxi to take me and my shopping home, and that wasn’t so much fun.

Share this post:Facebooktwitterredditlinkedin

Just when I thought I could get back to work

For the last two weeks, I did all my work (until mid-afternoon that is) with one eye on Wimbledon.

Now that’s over, I thought I could get back to working in a slightly less  distracted way.

Only now I have to keep an eye on the Tour de France! There are Colombian exploits to cheer!

Nairo Quitana is currently 4th and Sergio Henao 7th in the overall classification.

Share this post:Facebooktwitterredditlinkedin

Justified fears

20160703_182555

Here’s a cartoon taken from last week’s Semana magazine that neatly expresses many people’s fears about the peace process.

Translating from the top left, anti-clockwise, the woman says:

Long live peace! Of course….but watch out: here, every time one war ends, the next one starts.

And these fears are perfectly legitimate. One unit of the FARC has already said it won’t disarm.

Share this post:Facebooktwitterredditlinkedin

Apology

I’m sorry if you came to this blog yesterday looking for a response to Brexit that was a bit more profound than my glee that I can now buy Cadbury’s chocolate in Medellín.

Now that I’ve had a week to process the shock, the best I can come up with, and it’s a lot, maybe everything, is that I am a citizen of a different kingdom and all the political folly in the world cannot take that away from me.

Share this post:Facebooktwitterredditlinkedin