We had breakfast in the apartment this morning! The first time I’ve ever cooked anything here in Patnem. Bob had Greek yoghurt with bananas (little tiny ones) and honey and I had fried eggs on brown toast. The hotplate device works very well and we have plenty of pans, utensils, forks, spoons and sharp knives. No ordinary knives at all. I don’t think they are in common use.

Got down to the beach about 0930 and set up camp at Sea Front. The boys were all delighted to see us again and gave us front row beds!!!! It was very hot already – got up to 34C today and just a light breeze. We sheltered under an umbrella all day, just making forays down to the sea every so often. The sea was clear and calm. Funnily enough it felt a bit chilly at first and not sure why. Whether it was just that we were very hot or whether there is colder water on the surface. Once you’d been in a few minutes it didn’t seem cold any longer but definitely at first.

The beach was very, very quiet till early afternoon when a few more people showed up. Bob played cribbage with John and Janet in the afternoon. I read on the beach till the sun started creeping under the umbrella, then I retreated into the shack.

Did some shopping on the way home. Got strawberries and some more of the Greek yoghurt. It was so nice.

Tonight we met up with Chris and Heather who are our friends from Cyprus here on holiday. They moved into their new apartment today and it looks very nice. It is in the lane opposite the chai shop. Going to look at it tomorrow for a possible future. It’s not as big as this one and there isn’t a pool but on the other hand, it is in a very central location and very near the beach and the village centre.

We had dinner at Casa Fiesta which was quite busy as the evening went on. I had palak paneer and Bob had aloo gobi with rice and a butter naan. Very very nice evening with a lot of chat and catching up. All very convivial.