We fell asleep about half past midnight and I woke up at 230 wondering why I was swelteringly hot in what felt like an oven. I could see that the air conditioning wasn’t working! Why had Bob turned it off? Answer: he hadn’t! Our bedroom unit had decided to turn up its toes….. what a time to choose. We opened the balcony doors and brought the floor fan up from downstairs and with that, managed to get back off to sleep.

We were meant to be going back to Lord’s Palace Hotel today and had hired a cabana for the day, but we decided this wasn’t a wise move. Instead we decided to go to Escape Beach. This would allow Bob to go to buy the a/c first thing and then to go back to the house from the beach whenever the men were coming to fit it. I would go to the beach with the kids and we’d all meet there. Luckily, we’d already picked out the unit we wanted which was a 12000btu Fuji Cool Inverter. It was £376 fitting included and they agreed to come at 3pm to do it which was great service. A/C is much more common here and it’s a lot cheaper than the UK.

So, we all set up camp on Escape Beach for the day. Daisy, Lucy and Leon had breakfast at the water’s edge and we had a good day of swimming, wallowing, walking, visiting the island…. Bob joined us at about 1030 and then left at 230 to get back for the men. We shared the burger lunch again. Delicious. Lucy had a massage in the afternoon. She said it was good and it was about £20 for the hour. We called it a day at 430 and came home

Habibi was there when we got back. He’d been working in the garden since 2pm having got out of his quarantine yesterday. We had a good walk around and looked at things that needed doing and admiring what had done well. He had already made a great start on cutting down errant saplings and hedge trimming and the bougainvillea trimming. He’s a very good gardener and a good man. It is very good to have him safely back from his visit to Pakistan.

The a/c men came promptly at 3pm and got it all fitted and working. It looks very spiffy and of course it’s a great relief that we will be cool to sleep tonight.

Showered the beach off and then Lucy and Leon went up to Etel Winery for a wine tour and tasting. We’ve done it before so we stayed behind and enjoyed an icy glass of prosecco on the terrace in the breeze. It was 35C today easily and still 34C at teatime. Tomorrow and over the weekend it is set to rise to 37/38C. There is no humidity which makes it bearable but you have to drink a lot of water. I am writing this late at night and it’s still 33C.

So, Bob, Daisy and I drove up the hill to the Etel Winery at about 730 tonight to meet Lucy and Leon after their wine tour. We could have walked in 15 minutes but we had a sneaking suspicioun (correct) that there would be bottles to carry back….. We found them on the terrace of the wine bar looking down the valley, planted thickly in vines. They’d loved the tour and had a bottle of Chenin Blanc already on the go. We started to order dishes from the tapas/small plate menu: a cheese selection, spicy chicken wings, popcorn shrimp, middle eastern salad with yoghurt and crispbread, spicy beef rollades, 3 types of bao: chicken, fish and lamb, maybe more…. several bottles of wine – 2 rose and one red…… and then purchased bottles… A lovely evening watching the sunset. They had live musicians playing who were brilliant – songs from ELvis thru modern day. Just a great night.

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I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have the freedom to go out, associate with people, hug them, eat in a restaurant, enjoy the company of others……. Daisy has noticed it. She is rather dreading returning to the restrictions of London next week and would give a lot to stay on…… we feel the same. We have a lot to return to in August but otherwise we would definitely stay here and enjoy a full life…