Our last family visitors departed a few days ago – it has been wonderful if at times a little overwhelming to have them, indeed, so many of them, visiting at the same time. The washing including the borrowed bed linen, is almost done…. the plumbing service people have been to clear out the overloaded and apparently tree-root-bound drains… the security alarm people have been to restore the system to its normal state (the beeping when we went into some rooms indicated little fingers had explored the keypad somewhat during their stay) Perhaps in sympathy or for some other more closely connected reason, the computer decided to go haywire and has been totally overhauled with some upgrades. At the same time we had all the software reinstalled in english, since over the past couple of years it/the computer seems to have become confused and has increasingly been giving responses in one language or the other, at times within the same program. With technical messages this has become quite impossible despite our improved Spanish, and I am wondering if it’s sudden deterioration had anything to do with kids quietly downloading stuff while they were here….

Then there’s the category of stuff that had just been put aside for later in various parts of the house, and is now being dealt with: for example, as I write I sit here with a gold medallion in the olympic style on red white and blue ribbon…..wearing it, over my nightie if you must know, is a reminder to email one of my sisters who sent it for my recent 60th birthday. Inscribed “World’s Best Sister” and arriving in a presentation box bearing a very nice and rather corny citation, unfortunately it did not arive in time for me to wear on the evening of my party – she and I know I would have if it did.

So, things are catching up. There’s masses of old invoices and statements to either file or ditch, most of them will go into the bonfire I will be conducting outside in the parilla later today. (when I get dressed… ) So, clearly, as part of the great tidy-up a throwout has commenced of other kinds of stuff we just don’t need to keep. Example:- a ‘spare’ piece of vacuum cleaner pipe and head – now how could that have happened?…too long ago to remember the details, but it did…. bits and pieces, gadgets, lids, some spare cables that came with, well, some computer stuff some time ago…

So just now, at first glance most of the place looks as if we are hosting about 10 extra family visitors… until you realise this is not luggage or family equipment clogging the passage way but stuff, too much of it, on its way to the skip bin up on the corner. Actually some of it will be useful to someone (needing a new piece of vac. hose + head, for example) and so contrary to regulations we are just going to place some of these things beside the skip bin so they don’t get fouled with all the other stuff people toss in. Montevideo still has a lot of horse and cart men who take care of anything scavengeable and recyclable in no time flat… barely half an hour goes by without one trotting by. And now instead of the canastas/baskets up on poles outside each residence for 3 x weekly collection of household rubbish, almost all the city has skip bins placed within about 300metres of each residence, and we can all put our stuff in there, at any time, for 3 x weekly collection. And although I have no idea whether the system works – but there is meant to be a once weekly rinse out and sanitisation of each bin’s interior. With a foot operated springloaded lid, theroetically the bin and all contents are safe from rain, scavenging cats and dogs etc – but sickeningly not safe from scavenging humans. Occasionally you see a bin tipped over with contents strewn everywhere… some recycling people have developed a couple of handy long handled hook-tools they use to insect the contents from outside the bin…I am told that people who gather up packaging stuff, cardboard, styrofoam and so on, can sort and sell clean stuff to make a modest living. I can understand what looks like an occasional act of sabotage to the system as a protest against the changes which are gradually eroding this source of income, but what makes me really sick in this country is people who just dump rubbish on vacant blocks or on street corners, and who just toss wrappers, tickets, butts, and empties wherever, and this is still happening despite the close coverage of the skip bins around the city.

On the other hand, there is the water. THE WATER FROM THE TAP IN URUGUAY HAS TO BE ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST POTABLE SUPPLES. I am a very keen drinker of water and have never got used to how good it is compared with mand places we have lived or travelled. In Perth it is “OK” but with heavy overtones of chlorine where we live, and as for Adelaide or Sydney… terrible.