Whizzing towards Easter

And if I'm in one more shop where a poorly disciplined child chucks a big tanty because mummy won't buy it an easter egg at least as big as its empty head I don't think I can be held responsible for the outcome. There I think that is my whinge out of the way for today.
It's a beautiful sunny day and so I have been doing a spot of gardening - cutting back the cardamom on the advice Robin got from planters in Kanchenjunga. That way I should get some pods - apparently the price of pods has skyrocketed - I wonder if they are more expensive than diesel or a decent lettuce?
Robin has finally procured an Indian SIM card with national roaming and my goodness it has crap reception in Delhi. Apparently that is OK, because the company doesn't have many towers there but has the most extensive country wide coverage. We shall see. So I can now avoid another horrendous phone bill - last week I got one for $832 for the month - with my fabulous Mr Phones card - all I need to do is dial 34 numbers and I'm through for 5 cents a minute. Which is better than $6.60 for Robin on global roaming - Global Robbery more likely.
I believe I am still in the lead (jointly now) in the work footy tipping comp. Go figure.
Bob, Robin's trekking partner, arrives in Delhi today and they have to get everything organised for an early morning drive on Monday out to the eastern border to start walking. Better them than me! So the Indian section of the GHT finally gets underway soon. Stay tuned.
Currently on a mission to find a new GP for mum - the one she goes to now is indescribably rude, arrogant, unhelpful and uncaring. She was really rude to me last year when I took mum, but I thought maybe it was just me, or she  was having a bad day. Seems like every day is a bad day for this ghastly woman. How someone hasn't smacked her in the face is a mystery to me.  Wish me luck.
Right now I am recovering form my first 45 minute zumba class on the xbox. I had a bit of a skid in my merengue and my knees aren't feeling too flash! As you would expect. And as for my salsa, don't even ask.

Best news of all is that Vic and Franca are back in their wonderful Italian restaurant up the road - they left about 8 years ago and that's when we gave up eating out. Now they are back and the food is just as wonderful as ever.
Here I am with my neighbour Neal and the short but highly irrepressible Vic by the VERY hot pizza oven. It's great to see them back and I plan on going there at least once a fortnight. AND he is STILL playing Dean Martin on CD player.

Easter fun in Delhi

Well I managed to survive the karaoke night (mostly because apparently I didn’t sing loud enough!) and had loads of fun, except that I never want to hear Metallica again.
Robin called yesterday from the middle of nowhere to report that they were STILL about 12 hours drive away from Tuting, their first destination where they can start walking.They have been caught by landslides caused by heavy night time rains, and were hoping that the road would be cleared by 2pm. Fortunately the people in the village where they were stuck were extremely photogenic and hospitable, and yesterday morning they put on a fashion show. One of Robin’s boys, Nawang from Tawang, showed them how to pose and strut the catwalk, much to everyone’s delight.They are mostly animist people who live in bamboo and palm huts, and for dinner Robin and the gang had fish head curry. MMM may I please have seconds?
So what is on the telly? Well, this morning I can choose between stories about Hanuman the monkey god or Ganesha the elephant headed god – both involve grown men dressed up in gold headdresses, way too much makeup, ‘pearls’ and ‘rubies’ and appalling superimposed backdrops. Fabulous. There is also news/TV in: English, Hindi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Urdu, Bangla, Marathi, Oriya, Gujerati, and possibly my favourite: "Topper TV”. Topper TV is currently educating me on the comparison of different types of crystalline solids – I have no idea what it is talking about. Earnest professor types present all sorts of educational programmes, with a test at the end, so that the kids will become class ‘toppers’ (as they are called here). Oh look, the molecular arrangement in glass! Way too scientific for me, think I’ll go back to Hanuman and Ganesha.
The resident cat here, Hydra, has loads of thick fur and now that summer has come (it was 39 the last few days) she is struggling to stay cool. So I have appointed myself in charge of combing her regularly to get rid of her excess fur. In the interests of ‘fitting in’ I have given myself a title(everyone in India has a catchy title with acronym): District In Charge of Keeping Hydra nEat And tiDy. Yes I know what it spells.
Have had some more pool time which is a nice bit of sanity and coolness – don’t know why there aren’t more people there but I guess they are all working or shopping.
The rest of the house has gone to church for Easter Sunday, and I am here lying in wait for the cat to appear. Then I'll head to the pool when the driver comes back, then us girls are off to the golf club for lunch followed by a spot of shopping in a market. Life goes on.

Love me, Love my Safari Suit

That’s right the Safari Suit is IN – well I suspect it was never OUT as far as India is concerned. My driver today had a rather splendid bone SS (with tasteful self stripe), of course with short sleeves due to the rather excessive heat we are experiencing. Add to that the fact that we were whizzing round Delhi to the strains of Dean Martin on the CD player and you will see that it has been a rather surreal sort of day. And now I am singing along to Led Zeppelin on the telly…Was there EVER a better band than Led Zep, especially for this part of the planet? I think not.
Well since I wrote last time, Robin has been on the phone again (against all odds I might add) to explain that they were in a place called Along, but that they had travelled at 5kph in 1st gear most of the way and were looking for another car and driver as they had so far to go and so little time. Needless to say he was a little annoyed.
This morning the local Catholic church had their Stations of the Cross and outdoor Good Friday sermon out the back of where I am staying – thank goodness they didn’t start till about 7am(unlike last week when they were at it from about 6am). We had a lazy morning till Carmen decided we would go fabric shopping so she could get lots of new curtains, and I bought some material at stupidly cheap prices – hopefully the tailor I found can make one top the way I instructed then I shall get the other material made up – cheaper than ready made and it SHOULD fit perfectly… ask me in a week!
After a morning burning our eyes and brains with the kaleidoscope of colours and patterns in the fabric shop we retired to the Indian International Centre for a delightful lunch washed down with more Kingfisher beer -I should have bought shares before I arrived. Seems like breakfast is the only meal where beer doesn’t appear!
I got up this morning to discover Hydra, the enormous cat-in-residence, sprawled out on the dining table with her head on my breakfast place setting. Charming. Naughty. Just like every other cat I have ever known.
Tonight I am supposed to be going out for karaoke with a friend but he hasn’t called to confirm yet so perhaps the population of Delhi will be spared my dulcet massacring of some timeless classic…or not. Oh dear, Manish just rang and we are on for 9pm - I wonder how long it will take me to get voted off Karaoke Island? Wish me luck and not too many beer bottles!
And in the news: a bus driver here in Delhi had an accident - nothing new there. He was seen talking on his mobile phone - nothing new there either. He allegedly had his pet monkey clinging to his back...only in India. There was also a report about a crazy Japanese man who attempted suicide by hara kiri - usually that involves cutting your stomach open, but this fellow decided to use a cucumber in a most unusual way. All it did was perforate his bowel, and several other bits besides no doubt, and his highly embarrassed daughter rushed him to hospital. How mortifying.
Bye kids