Hey – cue the Mexican hat dance , da da da da   da  – da  da da da  – da da …..I see men with large sunshadey sombreros doing Mariachi classics, handle bar moustaches drooping to their waist. A floury taco shell filled with minced meat and chilly that bites your tongue off and the sun flapping its huge wings. Dancing in the street, Ondre ondre Yee-pa- Speedy Gonzales running up and down at the speed of light and those cartoon crows sitting around with outrageous hats, sleeping or being lazy… there I think I’ve exploded all the Mexican stereotypes that were planted in my brain as child. The power of TV ! 

It seems I’ve only had one or two amigos at a time – a real close friend, lots of aquaintances, but only a few who I’d rely on thick and thin. Like that time I was driving Betsy back from the bush on a Sunday afternoon and she expired [she's a corrolla by the way],  just about the last thing to go wrong before she was put down. In the space between Geelong and Bannockburn, at a grassy patch on a bend with an audience of sheep I rang my friend and said “how do you feel about driving to Geelong”. Without a qualm he was in the car – a real amigo. I suppose I could have got a train or something – as I did on return. But it felt reassuring while I sat on the grass with the crickets buzzing and the sun beginning to tuck itself into bed that there was someone to pick me up. 

Amigo doesn’t mean that someone’s in your pocket all the time either. Sometimes I don’t see my amigo for weeks – don’t talk but, I know we can rely on each other at a moments notice. Once I thought JC might have been my amigo and maybe he is, but there’s been a few let downs, a few expectations of where the friendship might go that have not been fulfilled – we talk rarely these days. Sort of like he’s in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean of my consciousness and he can’t communicate – maybe he’s trying – not sure. I owe him one at the moment for a small [oops -LaRGE] answered prayer a couple of weeks ago. Waiting for it to be called in- is that how it works?.  How do you know? Is it a voice in the head, is it someone else speaking to you about something that sets your mental bell ringing or something clicks and you go ‘a-ha’.