Stuart & Fi’s Last Day Patnem, India

Patnem, India

Today is the last one for Stuart and Fi, they leave in the early hours of tomorrow morning. It’s just gone so fast. Two weeks have flown by, much faster than they seemed to do last year. Probably because we took 4 days out to go to Hampi…. but still…… too fast. Can’t wait for them to retire n a couple of years and stay longer.
The first three times we came to India, the girls were with us and one or both of them were still in school and we too came for two weeks, or maybe 16 days if we could work the flights that way. We used to pack a lot in, but I have to say a major benefit of being retired is that we can now come for much longer. It’s different. In some ways, this is a place where we live for 3 months, rather than a place where we are on holiday….. We are on holiday in a way, but not in the same way. We know so many people here now. More than we do in Hawkinge. Today for instance, I was walking back from the beach and a tuk tuk stopped alongside me. “Hello, do you remember me?” the driver asked… I didn’t really, but I said “oh yes” just to be polite. “Yes, you remember me! You and Janet and Joe at the Tubki last year”, he said, so he was definitely remembering me. Anyway, he said “get in and I’ll drop you back”. “I haven’t got any money” I replied. “No matter, I’ll just drop you off” he said. Of course I had to tell him about Janet and he was quite devastated and so very sorry. It was a lovely encounter though.
So, anyway, our last day with Stuart and Fi. We walked down to the beach together at about 815 and had breakfast at Salida. Then pegged out under umbrellas for the rest of the day reading, walking, swimming and possibly some dozing! Another hot day and the sea just getting warmer and warmer. Tonight we had a lovely dinner down on the beach at Namaste. Stuart and Fi, ourselves, Pamela and Eddie, Roz and David and Joseph and Janet. Lovely to have Joseph rejoining us again. He seems back to his normal self. We had really delicious margaritas. Then I had fish tikka masala which was fabulous – great chunks of white fish. After dinner we walked down the beach to Nirvana where the GoaTs were playing. They also had Kevin Brown joining them (blues guitarist and singer) and a German chap who plays the sax. They played a great selection of mainly 60s/70s music. Turned in about 11pm. We benefitted from Stuart and Fi’s “leftovers” goody bag – some gin, vodka and tonics. Thanks chaps!!!! Missing them already…..