Sun, Sand and Socials Patnem, India

Patnem, India

It’s been hot for the past few days. Well…. let’s be honest…. it’s always hot here but I promised not to go on about that….. Anyway, we’ve been spending our days on the beach, in the sea, on the beachbeds, in the shack playing games, walking the sands etc. Hellish stuff but someone’s got to do it for god’s sake… Yesterday was Republic Day in India, one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year, uniting all faiths across the country. Many businesses are closed for the entire week. None that affect tourists of course. There are parades too and fireworks in the major towns. Needless to say, none here in Patnem. There were however more people around on the beaches than usual.
Monday night we went back to Nirvana on the beach for the classical Indian music concert. Really good although sadly no fireworks this week. They are really heavy on the chillies there. Joe had a vegetable fried rice that might as well been called chilli fried rice as that was the main ingredient. Crazy hot. Before dinner we had drinks and nibbles outside their room at the Tubke, by the pool which was lovely. Such a nice environment.
Gloria’s friend Jean arrived last night to stay for a week. She is in one of the frontline beach cottages at April 20, one of the best hut resorts on the beach. We had dinner together — all 8 of us – at April20 last night which was lovely. We probably won’t eat much together for the rest of the week as Jean likes to eat really early which we just can’t do in hot weather. We’ll no doubt see her for cocktails though some nights.
One of the downsides of being away from home for a while is that I miss the girls very much and particularly if there is any problem for them at home. Daisy is having a bit of a stressful time in her first job. Nothing in particular and nothing out of the ordinary really but she hates to have anything go wrong and inevitably in a first job, things do go wrong. So have had a couple of Facetimes with her where she has not been her usual bouncy self. This always worries me a lot and I’ve had it muchly on my mind the past few days, even dreaming of her. However, just before we went out to dinner tonight she rang and is having a better week and that and seeing her smiling again just felt like a major weight lifting off our shoulders. Lulu also facetimed us from the top of a mountain in the alps where she had just completed her first black run. This was a worry of a different kind but she was so happy and full of it…. Technology is a wonderful tool when you are separated as we are.
Tonight we had drinks up in Mick and Maureen’s room and Joe and Janet were there too. Lovely g&ts and nuts and olives as the sun set. Then Suresh came with 3 tuks and we went off to Octopus on the Chaudhi road. A new restaurant run by two English fellas. Really really nice food and fantastic cocktails. Will definitely go back. I had a brilliant cheeseburger, excellent bun and meat. The chips were fantastic but I gave all but 2 to Bob. He had a chicken Caesar salad which looked excellent. Maureen had fillet steak, Janet had mushroom risotto, Mick had salad Nicoise and Joe and fish and chips. As you can see it was a British menu. Very nice for a change and they deserve success. They gave us 2 free drinks with 2 mains and they were fantastic. The evening was made by the company of a lovely kitten and an even more divine puppy. P_U_P_P_Y!!!!!!!! Sooo cute……