está lloviendo a cántaros

It's rained for a week. Not all day but every day. It has rained solidly from Friday night to Sunday evening.

Now, I realise that I might have been a bit cynical about the rain here in Mexico. I might have just complained (just the once) that what Mexicans call rain I would call a fine mist. There have been moments when the rain isn't heavy enough to actually reach the ground - it gives up falling about a metre from the ground and then disappears. Of course this non-rain doesn't bother me, 40+ years of living in England and I hardly notice it. However, it isn't the same for my fellow citizens.

Tijuana has a huge population but this is a fluid population. No-one stays in Tijuana long. If you move here, you move for one reason - to get into the States. If you stay here you find it is expensive compared to the rest of Mexico. So, you either make a success of yourself or move back home. If you make a success, you move across the border. Unemployment in TJ runs at less than 1% - you work, you earn or you move. Of course there are some people who are born in TJ and stay in TJ but they only make up 15% of the population. The rest of the people here are from somewhere else and in that somewhere else it doesn't rain. To be honest, it doesn't really rain here in Tijuana - TJ is in Baja California...that's CALIFORNIA, the place where it doesn't rain. My fellow citizens aren't really used to rain nor is the city.

The roads don't have a camber, which means that the water doesn't drain to the side. There would be no point anyway because there is no drainage system. Restaurants are open-aired, schools are open-aired, garages don't have roofs - you just park your car through the door, basically on the patio in front of your house. When it rains it is a shock. Worse for Tijuana is that it is built in a bowl. Through the centre of TJ there runs a river (the river Tijuana) which, once was a huge river that carved through the landscape. Now it is a small dribble and the city is built on the sides of the valley that it cut. Unfortunately this means that there are huge expanses of mud/dirt/clay/soil around the city. This is open to the elements and when (if) it rains these can wash down the streets. Fortunately it doesn't rain much. Except for this week.

And this week it has rained - proper rain. Big fat drops and lots of them. Normally when people ask me if the weather reminds them of England I just smile. However, this week it has been like living in the Lake District in April (and let me assure you, I have lived in the Lake District for a week in April [every year from 1968-74] in a caravan).

The first time I heard about acid rain I was about ten (which means Helly was walking and Maria still hadn't been born). Like any child who hears the term acid rain my imagination ran riot, probably towards the more cartoon-esque part of my imagination. I saw rain falling and everyone melting - like the wicked witch. As I grew older I realised that acid rain was a long term problem - it would take years and years of rain to actually burn through anything. Except, it appears I might have been right with my first assumption and not because people run around acting as though the rain burns!

It's the roads. I live in earthquake country. Fortunately I have yet to experience my first earthquake (and I am in no rush to do so either) but, thanks to having had to cover a missing teacher (and I can't express how bitter I am about that) I know all about moving plates. It appears that the world is made up of huge plates, fitted together like a badly made jigsaw. These plates are constantly moving. No problem if you live in England, slap bang in the middle of a plate - no earthquakes! If you happen to live on the line that two plates make - bit of a problem. This means that mysterious holes will appear in roads from one day to the next. Here in Tijuana there is a constant road crew who travel the city filling holes that have appeared over night. Because we travel the same route every day, we rarely come across new holes - maybe one a month. However the day after it has rained is a totally different thing. On Friday nine new holes had appeared on our journey (yes, I am sad enough to have counted them). And when I say holes I mean HOLES. These are big enough to swallow your tire down to the rim, some will make your exhaust bottom out on the road. They are damn big holes!

To tell the truth I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow's journey to school (although I am still hoping that school will be cancelled because of the rain). The car has not been very healthy (yesterday it refused to go into reverse for a while) and I am slightly worried that the state of the roads will kill it totally. How concerned am I about roads in TJ? Well, much as I love the fact we have a red sports car (because, according to certain internet gossip, I am only here as I am going through my mid-life crisis) and as much as I hate SUVs/trucks, I think the time has come for a change in motor vehicle. It's time for a Jeep!

Only problem is, Maria likes the Jeep Liberty. Is it me or does that just sound like a tampon?

Comments

[Vanessa]

"Is it me or does that just sound like a tampon? "

You are turning into a latin male, Will!

[Vanessa]

And by the way, to continue a theme ... you have tarmac?!