Gone fishin' but just something missin'



The boys have decided to book a fishing trip to catch enough fish for tonight’s dinner.  The girls decided to pre order lobster, crab, king prawns, mackerel, pomfret and seabass just in case they catch nothing.  Arrangements were made and they left really early 7am.  It  might not sound early to you but if we manage to get out of the apartment by 10.30 we’re having  really a good day!  Himself was shaved and breakfasted and travelling light.  He said that Steve,  the Captain, had everything sorted and as himself  was only classed as a deckhand he had nothing to worry about.

They travelled by taxi to Cavelossim and joined the boat on the Sal River before going out to sea.  It had clouded over and there was a light shower of rain, but not enough to deter the eager fishermen.

As in the tradition of the Navy when on exercise, a tot of rum, was dispensed by captain Steve to the lower ranks; on this occasion, a swig from the bottle. It was commented that it was only 8 o’clock in the morning and a prompt response from the crew was that it was opening time somewhere in the world!  Our intrepid fisherman then baited their rods and sat in anticipation of the first whopper.  They sat and they  sat until the captain landed the first fish a tiddler.  The crew commented that the boat boy had been absent for a short while and may have slipped over the side and hooked it on his line. 

Gene caught a particularly feisty eel, the boat boy took one look and cut the line and to set it free.

It was a good job the girls had pre-empted the enormous catch, three tiddlers and an eel so at least we will eat tonight.

This is Matt with his catch, above is Captain Steve and when the girls see this lot there will be some serious ribbing at dinner tonight. Needless to say himself caught his usual haul - nowt!

Unfortunately due to poor wifi I cant get pics etc to load...............more tomorrow

Change, chainsaws and chaos!



We shall miss our cool airy apartment, especially in the morning, having coffee on the balcony , watching the stork billed Kingfishers, with just the swishing of the palms, calls of the sea eagles and the bells of Varca church.  This morning was very relaxing especially as we rocked up to the Reggae night at Pedro’s in Benaulim last night.  Graham the trumpet player & singer, and Alan the guitarist played a couple of sets of Bob Marley and various reggae numbers that had the whole place dancing including me and himself. 

We popped to the ATM machine this morning, dodging “Pinky & Perky” at pig corner and Richard came out with a wad of notes! Rupees are not as filthy as they used to be.  We notice that there is a definite shortage of change.  The lowest denomination is 10r , so the shop owner has to either discount down, unlikely,  or give you something else in exchange.  From the supermarket it is usually toffees or on a really good day tiny bars of dairy milk! Mmmmm, cant see that ever happening in Tesco.  I think I told you I had bought half of Boots with me, well I’ve just bought the other half from the village pharmacy .  We bought himself some Naproxen, he strained his back lifting his wallet on the first day and has whinged steadily ever since.  Also on the shopping list was paracetamol 7p  ibroprufen 7p, Imodium  – you never know your lousy luck and at just 40p for 20 you cant really say no. We also bought our Malaria tabs those cost £7, just a little different to  the £90 each last time, same brand.  Of course there was no change at the Pharmacy so we had it in throat lozenges.

We’d just had Tandoori Chicken and a couple of beers and sat on the beach when the bar owners started shouting “everyone off the beach”.  It was dead calm out to sea, people started to panic, I thought there was a tsunami coming, they shouted with such urgency,  Waiters  pulled up umbrellas and started ushering people away I ran to find out what was going on, only to be told that the Police were on the way up the beach and they were confiscating sunbeds over the limited number allowed for each bar, and cutting them up with a chainsaw!  Yikes!  Then a couple of international incidents broke out when the first people they tipped off their chairs were the Russians.  These were followed swiftly by the Germans and when they tried to shift three Chinese things started to get out of hand. They flatly refused to be moved and commenced to make a makeshift fruit salad with pineapples and oranges and threw the peelings at the waiter.  Hells bells I could write a book about this lot.  The British were of course calm and collected and offered to bribe the police if necessary, but the bar owner raised his eyebrows and said I don’t think so.

I bought myself a new sunhat, my hair is not like its usual golden silk J but like straw.  My original hat I put in the washer, it said handwash, but I’ve always thought handwashing was for wimps.  I now have a hat suitable for an 8 year old.  I also bought some tat off the beach hawkers a nice little bracelet, bound to make the arm go green and a genuine pair or Ray Bans

Food for thought



When you think of Indian food you automatically think of curry.  Well, we haven’t seen a single one on any menus.  Anyone who knows himself, knows how passionate he is about food, and he’s been keeping a note of different recipes he’s managed to extract from people.  I’m sure that most of these will be easily accessible on the net.  For those foodies amongst you these are some of our favourites :-

Calamari Chilli fry (incredibly spicy but fantastic) – Joes at Feedmore Café

Dahl Makhani – (Rogers beachside)

Paneer Manchurian

Goan Chicken Xucuti (Mammas)

Yellow Fried Dhal

Afghan Chicken (superb from Joes)

Chicken Mughali  & Paneer Makhani  (Mahals beachside)

Tandoori & Chicken Tikka (Joes) the best we have ever had!

Vegi & Chicken Biryani (Mahans)

The mose sumptuous Cheese & Garlic Naan - everywhere

And many more



We have been spying on the Russians, there are a lot out here,  and note they only ever eat fish.  They also never barter for anything, big mistake.  They asked the price of the crabs at Mammas Beachshack and the waiter said he would get one for them to look at.  He promptly jumped on his Lambretta and sped along the beach, returning with a fresh one still moving.  He asked 2500 rupees for it (£25) and they had it! They pay through the nose for a lot of the stuff, we know the crab is generally about £7.50 for a biggy for four people.

I have been vegetarian for the most of the time, for no other reason than the food is so tasty, but got the aroma of cooking bacon from some neighbours nearby.  I also found out that the egg man also delivers fresh bread rolls (indian barms).  So I was up very early dashed down to meet the eggman and for 12 rupees (12p) I got four still warm barms.  Yummy bacon barms, himself asked what no brown sauce? But hey, you cant have everything. 

The Eggman





We think we are about to become dhal addicts, a lentil dish with chilli and spices, we cant do a meal without some – but the windpower has been epic, much to our amusement and  prompting complaints from 2 floors below!

I went shopping alone today, just odds and sods really and we usually walk across some waste land which cuts the corner into the village, but I had to make a hasty retreat after two pigs chased me.

Newsflash – We’ve seen a cloud, but just the one!

A close shave with Phil the Blade

I decided to go with himself to the local barbers shop.  Phil the barber ushered us in and we watched him cutting a gentleman’s hair, and a very good job he made.  There was another young guy in the queue but Phil called himself into the chair.  He cleansed his face then applied a moisturiser, then the shaving cream.  He put a new blade in and away he went.  I took a quick photo and legged it, I’ve never liked the sight of blood, but I don’t suppose it would show on the red silk gown.  He made a good job, ears, nose and sideboards, which appear to be getting shorter.  Lin and I wondered if he did women’s legs , but the thought of a brazillian/goan, put us right off!



I seem to remember that I said there were no wandering animals anymore – wrong, there was a frisky steer heading down the main road, helped along by a few whacks from the stall holders whose fruit and veg he’d taken a liking to.

Himself has started talking with an Indian accent,  its very disconcerting, I just hope to him above that he doesn’t start wobbling his head.

Eye up, himself  says I cant hold my stomach in much longer !!!

Birthday Blog

The egg man blows his bicycle horn at 7 .20 every morning, he has a huge basket of  delicious  white eggs at 40 rupees (40p) a dozen.  So yesterday morning I was up with the crows to open my birthday cards.

 I did intend to dance like a diva, drink like a student and sleep like a baby, but thought I really should act my age,

 It was a pretty normal day, rickshaw to the beach, prawn biryani for lunch and then out for the evening with friends who are staying nearby. Would you believe it they used to have a unit down on Honeybourne airfield!  We knew all the same places and some mutual friends – how weird is that?

This morning we woke to the sound of hymn singing and a marching band from the local Catholic Church; they are a very religious people in Goa, most people go to church on Sunday, they have 3 masses with 350 people at each in our village alone. It’s the festival of St Sebastian and there’s to be a parade through the village tonight.

Today we chatted to three very senior Brits who were telling us about their adventures around India. They have been coming here for nearly 60 years.  I asked them where they were staying and they answered in unison “Barking dog corner”.

I walk for miles along the beach every day and today the Police beach patrol were supervising a game of cricket – what else is there to do?  Well apparently the Russian ladies like to go topless, which is a complete no no here.  One was fined £50 for walking along the road from the beach in a very skimpy bikini and what was described by one of the beach hawkers as an eye patch for the bottoms!

Everyone loves to talk, the lifeguards always say hello Momma to me, and Nepal the security guard loves to have a chat.  Himself told him we were going skinny dipping last night in the dark and asked him if we could borrow his torch.  Bless him, he went into the guardhouse to find one – I had to tell him we were having a laugh. This afternoon when we came home Nepal had a very short haircut, himself asked him where he had it done and he said that damn barber who got you!







Circus comes to our beach shack

Festival of St Sebastian



Telepathically connected

Steve and Anns house




Two couples that we know both ride scooters out here, but we are convinced that you have to be telepathically connected, as no one looks right when they pull out of a junction!  The cars pull out in front of trucks, buses etc., and the vehicles all slow down.   Unfortunately the pigs and dogs are not on the same wavelength and cause chaos.  We declined our friends offer to wedge us three up on the pillion, local style, and got a rickshaw to the beach instead.

   

There were classes of school children on the beach today, singing songs, playing cricket, in fact the pitches are all marked out along the beach.  The children are immaculately turned out in their uniforms all with their ID around their necks.  They have to go to school 5 ½ days a week, yes Saturday mornings are included, Ollie & Jack you’ve got it easy!

I wont be blogging tomorrow as its my birthday, but just to say thank you for all the cards, I will open them in the morning, and for the presents too.  Himself has bought a cake, we don’t have an oven so could not insist on him making me one!  He also says to tell you that the wound inflicted by the barber when he sneezed is healing nicely.

                                            Leather flip flops a bargain at £1 each!

                                                                                      

Bazaar purchases



After dinner out with Steve and Ann, the boys decided they would go for a shave this morning. 

We had an early start as Amelia the maid rang the door bell at 8.15 to see that everything was ok with yesterday’s cleaning and pick up some bits and pieces.  Himself duly returned with his chin streaming with blood, much to the horror of Nepal the security guard who said he’d had a very close shave.  30 rupees (30p) the  princely sum that was paid for a double shave with a finish of some highly irritating facial lotion which apparently also worked as an exfoliant.



  Later we went shopping in Margoa , I’m getting really bored with going to the beach, warm sunny days and long cold drinks –  well maybe not.  Anyway, a change is as good as a rest .  Himself always has a list, usually food orientated, today was no exception.  I seem to spend half my time on holiday looking for the best saffron and vanilla pods etc., , which we bought quite quickly .  However, I did have a bit of a wobble in the shoe market.  Dozens of stalls full of shoes, there were thousands of pairs and I ended up buying a couple of pairs of flip flops, one with genuine diamonds!  Himself purchased a  holdall to take all the purchases back in and some most unusual shorts – pictures to follow, if he’ll let me!





Graham, this is the unique business opportunity that youve always wanted - and the seller even threw in the bike as well.  Well located property in up and coming area, on busy bus route, in need of a little tlc  xx