Year: 2009

We hosted our first dinner partyWe spotted our first snake in the gardenWe travelled into old Delhi looking for a restaurant. The guide book said “half the fun is getting there”. We entered one of the streets around the big mosque in the car looking for the restaurant. The congestion was overwhelming, at times frightening…

I know that its a cheap laugh looking at texts written in the English language when it is not the language of the land and India is full of that as the refrigerator manual shows, errors on bill boards and menus and some of the language used in newspapers. “Private Eye” the english satirical magazine…

I am now the proud owner of a new fridge freezer. In a country where the sweltering heat sucks up your mental strength and your physical energy it is no surprise that perishables are the biggest losers. Bananas melt, yes melt inside, and that is the end of them, carrots grow furry and potatoes sprout…

George and the girls visited Amritsar a few days ago and they came back with stories of beauty, simplicity, and humanity. This is a place of both stupendous beauty and sublime peacefulness. Originally a small lake in the midst of a quiet forest, the site has been a meditation retreat for wandering mendicants and sages…

This is the end of another year for me. Twenty one again, somewhat older and perhaps wiser but not always wanting to behave wisely and responsibly !The year has sped by and somehow my birthday is often celebrated in strange and wonderful places and this year was no exception. Eight years ago we celebrated with…

These are the lively vivacious girls, friends of G’s from uni, who were our first visitors at the house. V grateful for everything from a cooked english breakfast to having their laundry done to relaxing by the pool. They are off exploring Incredible India. And Shiva our driver who has just become a daddy to…

We have been in Delhi for just over a month No delhi bellyNo car accidents No power outsNo lack of water No floods, one rooftop waterfallNo temper tantrums, well only little onesNot bad

Our Kenyan bed finally died. Do I hear a couple of concealed giggles ? Well it led a productive and bouncy life but it was always going to be the product of a technical college on the outskirts of Nairobi and creaked and groaned for years. The fact that it survived for a quarter of…

Connectivity So how did we survive all those years back in Africa and other far off destinations? Here am I in this tropical paradise surrounded by hundreds of birds, chipmunks and monkeys and I have been Antsy ( superb word introduced to me by Catherine) because I did not have instant access to the outside…