                Last Days with the Burtons |
Patnem, India
Kirsty and Tony’s two weeks have just flown by. So quick. And last night was their last. It has been such a pleasure to share their holiday and see the children enjoying Goa so much. On Wednesday Joe and Janet took them off to the waterfalls and to ride the elephants which they seemed to very much enjoy. Yesterday was their last day on the beach.
It has turned very hot. 37C yesterday and you just wanted to be in the sea all day. We spent a long time “bobbing” ie submerged to the neck, going up and down with the swell and indulging in some mild calisthenics! The sea is also warming even more and has calmed down greatly from when we arrived. Almost too much effort for it to make a wave.
Our tussle with the ICICI has resolved itself predictably. They had announced a change in the card’s rules which we had received together with various examples of how things would work. However, clearly the left hand does not know what the right hand’s doing because their system change has not mirrored their stated regulations and all existing cards (before Feb 8th when the rules changed) are now no longer able to be loaded with cash. So we can draw out the remaining 650 INR but the £1500 we had sent cannot be credited and will be returned to our Lloyds account. Very very annoying and we will be corresponding with them further on this after we have received our refund. What a shower.
I have had to order some new swimwear from M&S to be delivered to Sue, Bob’s cousin to be brought out when they come on the 25th. Swimwear takes an absolute beating here. You live in it day in day out and the sun is so strong, it fades and loses elasticity really quickly. My two main sets that I bought for Cyprus in October are now pretty ropey really on a close examination at least. I have given up worrying about sparing humanity and now mainly wear two pieces: boy shorts and bikini top ones. M&S do a great range. There is not a good selection of swimwear here unsurprisingly as Indians tend to swim in their clothes, or at least women do. In fact, many Indian people don’t swim at all. So, you can buy the sort of one piece that your Victorian ancestor might have worn or you can buy tiny string bikinis that lithe young backpackers wear. Neither option is good for us ladies who need a bit of…..infrastructure support, shall we say. Anyway, thank you M&S and thank you Susan!
Had a fabulous last evening with the Burtons last night at Roundcube on the beach. Rapidly becoming our favourite. Enjoyed delicious food and drink and met Amelia’s friend India and her mum who is a top dj over here to play at Leopard Valley. After dinner Rocky from Roundcube helped the children launch two Chinese lanterns which we’d bought as part of Joe’s birthday. Thank heavens he did because they are not as easy to launch into the heavens as they look. Amelia’s was a bright pink heart shaped one and that took a run down into the sea to get it soaring. A very very nice end to the day.