Stuart and Fi arrived yesterday and so our gang at Eve’s has grown to 8! They were tired after a long overnight flight and change of planes in Delhi, but were determined to keep going.

We all met up at 7 and then split into 2 groups. Joseph, Janet, Joe and Gloria went off in 2 tuk tuks to Palolem to eat at Zest, a fab vegetarian restsurant, now situated on the beach. It used to be on the main street. Stuart, Fi, Bob and I headed down onto Patnem Beach and ate at Tantra; Food was good as usual and Stuart tucked into a king fish steak with salad. I shared palak paneer and mutter paneer with Bob and Fi had butter chicken. It was a lovely warm summer night with lots of stars and they were very glad to be back here.

We all had breakfast together this morning and then headed down for a day at the beach. It was calm today, the breeze has disappeared and we had a lot of swims.

Tonight, we ate at Cafe fiesta on the beach in order to sample their famous dish, Fish Pollichatu. This is a thick king fish steak, covered in a spicy paste and wrapped in a banana leaf. served with vegetables. Delicious. Several of us had it. We had many laughs and told life stories etc. Came back to Eve’s and had a nightcap and more tales. A very good day. It is one of the joys of coming here: that we have a group of friends to socialise with. We’re not joined at the hip, but we are here for each other and it makes for a very congenial winter.

A nice surprise back in our room. Bob had ordered me another waterproof watch after mine failed on the first day, had it delivered to Stuart and Fi and they’d brought it out to me. I had really missed having one.