Two Weddings and a Confirmation

Sunday morning and we're admiring the view from our bedroom balcony at daybreak  (7-15) the birds are singing, buffalo grazing, and pigs having a wallow in the watering hole while we drink our Kenco. 

Today we've been invited to Joshua's confirmation, one of the villas has a wedding today so it's all going on. 

The gardens are being transformed by an event specialist. 

Joshua is looking very smart, gone are the jeans and trainers of yesterday.

We met some really interesting people, including a local dignitary who had just done 2 months in prison (all a big mistake ;) of course ) the same prison that he laid the foundation stone for five years previously! 

We also met some members of the local Harley Davidson Goan chapter and himself has decided to exchange the "chicken chaser" for a hog. Good job I packed the bandana then. 

We made a tactical exit and went down to a shady spot on the beach, where Wedding no 2 is about to begin st 5pm. 

As you know there are he haves and the have nots here in India, and we're certainly in the company of the haves. 

The rusty bridge has a new carpet, the beach  has a new carpet and everything is on a very grand scale 

Unfortunately the wedding planner didn't advise the cows who wander along the beach on their own :)

Roving reporter signing off 

PS tomorrow we fly to Pune 

Packing again

We've decided to move digs to one of the villas we looked at for next year. 

Fortunately we've only been drip feeding the landlord the rent so he has no issues with us moving, good news really as the building work behind us is beginning to get to our sanity!!

We spent a quiet day on the beach and met up with Simon

Who is a walking mobile shop, knows all the gossip on the beach, chats to everyone, speaks English, German, Russian, Goan etc. He sells beach wear, shirts and going home presents to order. I did barter for a Salwar Kameez  for our trip to Pune on Monday and a pretty sarong. It also gives me a chance to throw them into the washing machine to make sure they are ok! 

Off for a meal with John & Denise this evening to

Fishermans Wharf 

Goa Wedding of Sushma & Jerry

I've never been to a Goan Wedding before, it was an amazing experience. 

We were lucky Richard had bought his suit with him to go to a Masonic  meeting and I packed a smart evening dress - just in case. It was a baking hot day 34c and I watched the old boy pop his socks and shirt and tie on then his suit jacket I really felt for him.

All the ladies looked stunning in their brightly coloured sparkly cocktail dresses, all the men looked slick in their suits. Bridesmaids and flower girls (7) wore lemon and grey, Paige's (7)wore grey silk suits and walked hand in hand.

Jerry and Sushma looked stunning. The service was in Goan, interlaced with English.

We travelled to the huge reception hall where we danced and feasted on a delicious buffet of hot and cold Indian delicacies fruit and ice creams. The cake was  quite spectacular. The tables were decorated with ice carvings and novelties. 

500 of us danced the evening away it was joyous ! 

Our friends Suku and John invited us here with Jillian  & Shane

Ear we go again

Himself has visited hospitals in every country with ear problems. I can write you the script " my ears arnt right" and I say get them looked at before you go away. That obviously falls on very deaf ears! This time they gave him a loyalty card and in true Indian style a mass of paperwork. Healthcare is excellent here and a fraction of the price of private care back home.

Today we are going to Jerry and Sushma's wedding, and as Goa was Portugese it is Roman Catholic 

Really looking forward to it as there are 500 of us going! More pictures later 

Sal River cruise or Apollo Private Hospital?

I had a tricky decision to make today. I had booked to go on an all inclusive lunch cruise along the River Sal and then Dolphin watching off the coast, but my "better half" had blocked ears and could suffer the quiet no longer and decided to go to the doctors.

So alas I decided to run off to sea with friends Denise & John and left himself in the capable hands of the taxi driver who felt the hospital was his best course of action. 

The river Sal is a major fishing port catching prawns and a variety of fresh fish

These are the King fish which we had for lunch, caught this morning and cut into steaks and pan fried in butter with salad and rice. Our starter was garlic king prawns and fresh tropical fruit salad for dessert washed down with the odd g & t. I did feel a little guilty leaving himself to get his ears syringed on his own, but felt sure the taxi driver would hold his hand !!

As we turned the corner out to sea we saw lots of dolphins playing in front of the boat. 

More about the  Apollo Private hospital tomorrow ; needless to say normal service has been resumed in the hearing dept. 

Jack, Oliver and Isabelle!

This one is especially for you, we spent all afternoon with the help of some willing friends making it. 

Poppop and I can't wait for the school holidays to make these with you all.

With lots of love xxxx😊👫

Rural Varca

Lots of our friends seem to think we are staying in a dusty barren place. That couldn't be further from the truth. The area is lush and green from the summer monsoon with no water shortages here and we have solar heating for our water

Behind our apartment there are buffalo grazing and on our ride down the track to the beach we found "Rasher" again and he's looks to have a new family of four black piglets, they ran off in all directions. 

The Goans eat a lot of pork! 

The beaches are very quiet this year, it seems that tourists arnt coming to Goa. However, there are lots of Brits our age and younger here, who come to escape the cold winters. In our complex there are  five couples who have been coming for years. We get together in Glorios beach shack. Today one of the group said they just fancied some HP sauce and Gary conjoured a bottle from his rucksack. You can't ask this lot for the wrong thing!

Today the temperature was 34c dropping to a cool 24 at night. Daybreak is 7.15 and sunset is 6.30. It's light till 6.25 and then within 5 minutes it's pitch black.

In the evenings we walk down to the local restaurants, there's a choice of nine or ten, and the food is pretty good,all do carry outs if you want to stay in. 

Last night we had Albert (taxi driver) pick us up with Suzanna and James to go to Joes Cove for dinner and some dancing.

Thursday 21st

Today had to carry some cargo - Indian style, we have clean water in the apartment but heavy in minerals so we have a drinking water contraption 

Which works pretty well. We thought we were good at carting cargo but this guy had 60kg bag of flour

Today we had a ride out to look at some new luxury apartments with a view to next year

Still plenty of time for beach life ......, and there's plenty of it!

Shopping and the beach

Varca beach the quietist we've ever seen

After the birth of Isabelle yesterday we have spent most of the day showing our friends her picture. 

We went shopping into Varca for some essentials and to the petrol station for the scooter, and even though it's only two miles it wasn't without the odd hazard. On the way a big wild boar ran across and on the way back we played dodge the cows.  I'm not as adept as the Indians using my phone to take pictures and still hang on - yet! 

Lunch was with a couple of Ausies who are coming out with us tonight to Pedros Reggae night.

By the way Petrol is 45 p a litre here and 16 bananas 24 p. Limes for the gin were 3p each and the gins gone up to £1.90 a bottle - tough eh ?!

My birthday

Well it's been something of a hectic day,meeting up with two couples who we haven't seen since last year, phone calls from home wishing me a happy birthday; then  a FaceTime call from Sharon to say Annette our daughter in law had gone into labour. Isabelle Keira Kendrick was born 7lb 12 oz and what a little beauty

Isn't she gorgeous? Then on our way back from the restaurant tonight Albert our taxi driver screached  to a halt and presented me with a bouquet of flowers! That along with an invitation to Suku and Johns brothers wedding in Margao India next week has really made my day very special 

4 Airports in one day

We started our day at Birmingham airport our sterling driver 'coughing Ken' delivered us in style. We booked into the Aspire Lounge and I got chatting to the Indian receptionist Rajhid and explained we were going to miss our grandbaby being born. I also said I was starving and had skipped breakfast. Ok he said,would you like a bacon roll I can get some from the staff canteen, we thought he was joking but 10 mins later he appeared with four  crispy bacon rolls and brown sauce, what a star! 

As luck would have it we were surrounded by crying babies all the way to Dubai. We got our Emirates connection after a short G & T break and arrived at Mumbai 2 .5 hours later to the new terminal which is  just beautiful

 It has 90 gates all spectacularly decorated. We arrived in Goa and Albert our taxi driver greeted us, and bless him he even bought our breakfast supples, a bottle of gin and some tonics, and gave us his phone till our new SIM cards arrive. . True  Indian  hospitality. Weather on arrival 32c and that big yellow ball we don't seem to see at home .

2016 Destinations

This year we shall be staying in Varca, Goa for most of our stay which is 1 hours drive south of Panjaji on the map, but will be flying off to Pune, just short of Mumbai, where we are going to see, amongst other things the Aga Khan Palace. We have 4 days sightseeing in Pune. Hyderabad is another 4 day break we shall be flying off to, and to complete our wanderings we are going to Hampi by train! A complete day on 1st class air conditioned train carriage which should be a complete assault on the senses!