Mexico City when it rains

When it rains in Mexico City, believe you me, it really chucks it down. This video was shot in 2008 to show my friends in the UK what it is like and I thought that it might be a good idea to share it with you today.

In case you are wondering about the name of the ironmonger's on the left of the screen, the guy who owns it was nicknamed "Hoss" back in the 1960s when Bonanza was all the rage on TV. Half a century later nobody can even remember his real name, including him I suspect.

The problem is that just about every time it rains the power goes out, so people often end up spending an evening in candlelight.

If you want to know why the power goes out just have a look at this man in the photo. If you are wondering what he is up to, wonder no more, because he is nicking electricity directly from a power line's junction box. Just about every box has a myriad of highly unofficial cables leading from it that go down to the houses below. Since these connections are cobbled together by just about anyone who has a ladder, and the nerve to take his life in his hands at the top of it, then you can imagine that as soon as it starts to rain the water gets into the box and the system trips out. 

Every now and again the state-owned power company sends out its people to disconnect the unofficial cables, but the people just give the men a few pesos and they go back to work and report the job done. Occasionally a senior figure will accompany them just to make sure that they actually do the work. What happens then is that those same power company fellows will return later that night to do a reconnect, for a suitable consideration, of course. As a result of all this hardly anyone in those United Mexican States pays more than a few coppers for their electricity, but every time it rains the candles come out. 

Such is life. . .