things that make you go eh?

Cherry! I like cherry as a flavour. In fact I could go as far as I love cherry as a flavour. Is it because when my father was at his most extravagant, he would order (for my younger brother and I) from the bar (non-alcoholic because we were under the age of ten), which he would bring out to the car park (in those days you were allowed to take animals into bars but not children) and present us with a bag of crisps, a pineapple juice with a cherry in it? Is it because when I was ill and had to take foul tasting medicine my mother would offer me a cherry flavoured Tunes afterwards? Or is it simply because I like the taste of cherry and all this latent psycho-babble is just twonk?

Love cherry!

Beside my side of the bed there is a discarded pack of "throat-sucky-sweets" and a half-empty bottle of Nyquil, on Maria's side there is also a pack of "throat-sucky-sweets" and a half-empty bottle of Nyquil. These are the left overs from a week in January when we both came down with a cold. The reason that we didn't share our medication was because of the chosen flavours - she chose "original" I went with cherry (which makes me believe that there is something in the psycho-babble and I am looking for a return to my mother looking after me). Mexicans don't like cherry flavour (they don't like Dr. Pepper either and I have always thought that there is an underlying cherry flavour to that too - I like Dr. Pepper). It is a very rare moment when you find anything cherry flavoured in Mexico, it just doesn't sell.  I bought my cherry flavoured medicines across the border in the United States.

Halls, the cough drop manufacturers, have just launched  a new flavoured cough drop, here in Mexico. They already sell the usual flavours - not-quite-minty, licking-the-inside-of-a-detergent-bottle, pre-added-fluff-that-furs-up-your-tongue - but they don't sell a cherry flavoured one. This is Mexico, what would be the point in launching a cherry flavour? Nope, they have gone for "Chela Limón".

Now, before you reach for Babelfish to translate that, you can't! Obviously you can find a translation for Limón but, I'm assuming, that you didn't need to translate that (except, of course, it translates as lemon but actually means lime!). No, the word you won't find a translation for is Chela. So, sit back and gasp in amazement as Will (the non-Spanish speaking one) translates.

Chela: it is actually a shortening of the name Graciela which is the Spanish version of the name Grace (my mum's name). It can also be the nickname for people who are blond (and yes, I am spelling it without an e!). So, what we are looking for is a flavour, a taste, that is comparable to receiving grace and is also blond in colour.

Have you worked it out yet? Think back to all you know about Mexico. Tacos? Food of the gods wrapped in a blonde (with an e because tortilla is feminine) tortilla? Nope, that's not it. Think what happens when you go out and order a Corona - they whack a wedge of lime in the bottle neck!!! Now you have it. A tall, blonde (cerveza is feminine) drink that, if you have enough, leaves you talking to god on the big white telephone! Instead of telling "the wife" you are going out to the bar for a few beers, you try to put her off the scent by mentioning that you are going to "receive grace"! Chela is a Mexican slang term for beer!

Yep, the latest flavour cough drop is "Beer and Lime" flavour!!! Shurley Shome Mishtake????

[At this point I would like to apologise for the over use of parentheses/brackets in the above post. I seem to have got a bit carried away with asides, which I realise is totally unusual for me (or not)]